The Inscrutable Door (Pad, Faith)

[Oracle]

30th of Saun, Arc 718

It was sweltering. The oppressive heat of Saun beat down on the Augustin household with no regard for the inhabitants of the house. Even resting on the edge of Lake Lovalus the damage dealt by the most recent drought was quite clearly seen. The water level had dropped considerably, exposing a portion of the lakebed and rather ruining Faith and Padraig’s view from their living room. The trials were marked by climbing temperatures and likely a bit of boredom as everyone across Rharne tried in vain to find a cool place to lie low until the drought had passed.

However something interesting had arrived earlier that trial at the lovely old lakehouse. It was a letter, addressed specifically to Padraig and held a rather important looking purple wax seal with the image of a tower crossed with a lightning bolt. Inside the silky, linen infused envelope was a single sheet of carefully folded paper that was written in a precise looping hand. Dear Professor P. Augustin,

I cannot say how delighted my colleagues and I were to hear that you and your wife, Mrs. Augustin had moved to Rharne. Your work has been the focus of a great deal of study on our part and we would love to have the opportunity to collaborate with you on a rather special project. This seems like something that you and your wife would be rather uniquely suited for. We will be sending a carriage to your residence tomorrow and you may make your decision to join us then. My contemporaries and I are located in a rather remote location and our need is quite urgent; so we dare not wait for your reply to come by way of the post.

I’m afraid that I cannot provide you with more information. This is simply due to the sensitive nature of our work. Our order serves Ilaren; the beloved Lighting Mother and it is in her interest that we request your aid. Time is short and if you do choose to accept our request, please know that we will do everything in our power to assure your and Mrs. Augustin’s safe return…however it might be advisable to bring your sword.

Respectfully,

Miss. Maria Savile – The Archivist The letter ended there, in a flowing signature of a woman seemingly known as the head Archivist. The letter itself lightly tingled in the hands, as if static electricity clung to it. But perhaps this was nothing surprising as it was rather obvious that the Archivist served Ilaren in some form or another.

That afternoon a knock came at the door of Faith and Pad’s home. Outside a young man with mousey brown hair, beady bespectacled eyes and a dusty robe was waiting for them with a modest carriage pulled by a beautiful golden coated Rharnian thoroughbred.

“If you are ready, we can be on our way.” The young lad said brightly with a wan smile. He looked more the part of a librarian than a carriage driver.

“Miss. Savile is eager to meet you both.”

[Padraig]

The exposed lake bed and extended shoreline was nearly as much of an irritant to Padraig lately as the stifling Saun temperatures were. Mostly because his grandfather complained about the drought, just about every morning over breakfast. He'd been looking forward to living right on the shore, Cyrus claimed, because he'd looked forward to teaching his grandchildren to fish. The first morning that Padraig heard the complaint, he'd raised his incredulous gaze over the rim of his cup, before setting the thing down on the table.

"Since when have you fished?" he asked, his tone dry. The younger Augustin couldn't remember a single instance from his childhood, when his father, make that grandfather, had taken him fishing. He did recall any number of visits to the fishmongers stalls during any number of market trials. "What's so hard about fishing?" Cyrus had shot back. "Drop a line in the water, take a snooze until something comes along and gives it a tug." Unfortunately, they'd all be doomed to hearing the same complaint every morning, and maybe the same debate between the older and younger Augustins, until the rains started up again.

Suffice to say that the letter arrived at an opportune time. The wax seal was interesting to say the least. And the content was all rather curious, and a little bit secretive too with talk of colleagues and orders and remote locations, but very few specifics. How had they heard of him? In what capacity, he wondered? Of course they had him at the word lightening, and in spite of a warning to come armed, which almost seemed like an afterthought. How could he say no, when the actual letter itself was tingling in his hands as if the paper it had been written on, had been charged.

"We're going, yes?" Padraig said after he'd handed Faith the note to read. Of course they were going and neither of them had required the extra advice of traveling armed. He couldn't remember the last time they'd gone anywhere without preparing themselves for just about anything. But assuming that Faith would be by his side, since it was both of them whose presences had been requested, Padraig would be ready and waiting when the carriage arrived, complete with its unconventional looking driver.

[Faith Augustin]

Faith was cool. One of the things which delighted her most about her Zuuda mark was the ability to keep herself cool in Saun, warm in Zi'da. That morning, sitting and feeding Madison, she had looked up at Padraig and Cyrus and watched the two of them as they'd snipped at each other and she'd bitten back a sigh. She planted Madison firmly in her grandfather's lap and took Noah from his father. "It's so nice," Faith said, her voice calm and without any emotion, apparently. It wouldn't fool either of them for a bit. "That we can sit and listen to the same argument, every morning. No, there's no water so no, you can not fish. But then, you never did. Never. What an unfortunate thing for you both. We are truly regretful." Katie snorted but said nothing and even Luna dipped her head and smiled. "For the last five trials we have pitied you both and the dreadful traumas you have undergone. Can we stop now?" It took a lot for Faith to get snippy, but snippy was where she was. Especially to-trial.

Because to-trial should be all about him. He was so much better, so much stronger. The dreams were still an issue but she was helping him and, compared to how he had been, Faith was delighted with how he was. He was eating better, sleeping better, he was much much more himself and Faith glanced at the letter he showed her and then raised an eyebrow as she read the contents. "Professor and Mrs? Hmm. I think I will need to disapprove on principle," she said with a smile and then reached down to the empty chair on the table. Nestled on its seat was a box. It was wrapped up in ribbon and she handed it to him.

"You will need to take that with you," Faith said and she held it out. "Happy birthday." Should he look, the contents of the box were, quite simply, a spelunking kit. "It was the first thing I bought as a free woman. In your home in Andaris, which was the first place I went as a free woman and with you, who was the first person I ran to as a free woman. It has been quite useful," and that was an understatement and then some. "But considering the wonders you have crafted with your two hands out of nothing more than a slave, newly freed and deeply in love, I wonder what you can transform this into." Stepping into his arms and unconcerned at the others in the room, she lifted her chin and kissed him. "I am so very glad you were born," Faith whispered.

But would they be going? Of course they would. As for the suggestion that he bring a sword? It was the closest Faith had ever been to being affronted by a letter. "We will both be appropriately armed and armoured. I hope they know that your wife is not likely to be a wilting flower, professor? Missus she might be, but still."

That said, she was ready and had her own Domain bag and medical kit with her when the door was knocked. Her sword was at her hip, both magic rings on her fingers. Just in case. Glancing at her husband as he ushered her through the door and then offered her a hand to get into the carriage, Faith gave a prayer to Vri for the love she had for this man. For them. Together. Then, sitting back in the carriage, she took hold of his hand and turned her head out of the window. Utterly seriously, as they traveled, she said. "I spy, with my little eye..."

[Oracle]

The journey itself was rather uneventful. The carriage was pulled through a lovely piece of countryside that was resplendent with greenery. It was still sweltering outside but at least there was a bit of a breeze if the couple kept the windows open. Their driver and attendant was quick to stop for breaks and offering refreshments for his guests. In the trunk of the coach there was a blue chest with star sapphires inlaid in the lid that somehow help the food and drinks lovely and cold. It was only when they were with a half trials ride shy of their destination that Pad and Faith would spot a dark rusty colored landscape to the south, just at the edge of the horizon.

“Aye the Stormwastes.” The driver said as they passed. The wind turned from the south and the scent of sulfur assaulted their senses.

“Lot of ugly things out there, but we will be perfectly safe once we reach our destination. The Spire protects its own,” The last comment was made with a self-assurance that clearly indicated his confidence that they would at least be quite safe from the dangers of the nearby desolate Stormwastes.

Breaks continued to pass and eventually a the silhouette of a tower could be seen in the distance, but this was no ordinary tower. It was made of a deep green and gray stone that flowed together almost like solid water. There were no seams or splits in the surface of its exterior, leaving no hint as to how it was actually constructed. The Spire was so tall that it seemed to touch the clouds themselves, standing several hundred feet in height.
Dense woodland surrounded the structure and hints at ancient stone ruins could be seen peppering the landscape around the tree trunks. To the side of the tower itself stood a barn for a couple horses as well as a place for the carriage to be stored. A scant number of servants busied themselves with chores. There was a kitchen maid tending to a small vegetable garden and a couple lads that were likely stable boys and laborers that were repairing a wagon.

The carriage slowly pulled up to the massive stone doors of the tower and the young bookish driver hopped down to open the door and allow Faith and Pad to exit.

“We’re here.” He said with relief.

“Welcome to the Spire.”

At that moment the doors to the tower creaked open and a woman emerged. She had graying locks that were tied back in an intricate bun and wore a silken sheath dress that was draped with a scholars robe. Jewelry ornamented her fingers, wrists and hair and she wore a pair of golden spectacles that gleamed brightly in the sunlight.

“It is such an honor to meet you Professor Augustin.” She breezed over to them to offering her hand on Padraig. Almost as an afterthought she also reached out to shake Faith’s hand.

“I am Mrs. Savile the Head Archivist of this collection. Let’s get you both inside and settled, then I can explain everything.”
Mrs. Savile looked at Pad with something akin to adoration, as if she was meeting something of a celebrity but with Faith she gave her nothing but a passing glance.

[Padraig]

Faith made a good point, no matter how she chose to make it, that the ongoing debate between Augustins the elder and younger had dragged on for some time, perhaps ad nauseam, and might be at the point of wearing out its own usefulness. But in response, Cyrus only grunted in a non-committal way, and Padraig had grinned a little behind the rim of his cup while muttering his apologies. He even resisted pointing out that it was much like scientific debate, was it not? So long as the conditions did not change, that being the weather, how could the debate be considered a settled one?

It would have gone too far, he knew. So would have the assertion that it was Cyrus who'd started it. What he did know what that what was a silly and childish argument, had gone a long way towards keeping his sanity this side of secure during his equally long time spent abed and at rest. He was grateful to his grandfather. Though he guessed that now, they could leave the disagreement by the wayside.

As for his birth-trial. Truth was he'd forgotten, and the strange letter only served to further distract him. "I think we both should," he said, referring to the style of the letter's opening. "Clearly they don't know that I've married my better." And it was true for him, in every sense of the word. Considering Faith's position and her accomplishments, the letter should have been addressed differently. But perhaps this miss Savile wasn't aware, or was simply misinformed? Padraig didn't know the woman, so from this outset, he'd opt for assuming that was it, and it hadn't been from outright rudeness.

But then Faith distracted him with the box. Grinning, he picked it up. "I try not to remember, you know. Every arc older, another of my students back in Scalvoris who sort me over into the old and stodgy category." It probably hadn't helped that at some point he'd taken to having a cigar, now and then, while in his office at university. He laughed aloud though when he opened the box and saw the spelunking kit packed inside. "I remember," he said. And she couldn't have chosen better. It was more than a spelunking kit, after all. It was a symbol of how far they'd come. "Thank you," he said, leaning over to kiss her. "And so am I. After all if I hadn't been born, there'd be no you and me." And there would be the real tragedy.

But no. His wife was no wilting flower, though later inside the carriage he could easily say they'd be wilting in the heat, and it would only get worse before it got better. At least the food and drinks were cold, Padraig noted once they were settled inside and on their way. And Immortals, it was a long way. An appropriate name, the Stormwastes, he'd quipped when the driver named the source of the smell. If there were ugly things out there, Padraig wouldn't doubt it. Surely nothing agreeable would want to live in a place such as that. But in spite of the driver's insistence that all would be well, he'd come as well armed as Faith had...just in case.

The spire though, that was a sight, and as soon as he saw it, Padraig pointed it out to Faith, there, on the horizon. And as they drew closer he'd had to lean out the window in order to see the top of the thing. "It's a wonder how it's put together," he said. "It's not like any structure I've ever seen before." At least, not man made structures. Once you'd seen and experienced a barrier between worlds, and seen what was on the other side, your definition of what was possible, and what wasn't, tended to change.

"Thank you," he said when they finally arrived, and he reached out a hand to help Faith down from the carriage. No sooner had he turned around, then their apparent hostess was coming out to greet them. He smiled and extended his hand in return. "Missus Savile, a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for your kind invitation. May I introduce the other Professor Augustin, of medicine, and my wife, Faith Augustin." It might clear things up, he hoped as they followed the woman inside.

"I have to say, the nature of your letter has intrigued me," he added as he walked beside Faith. "We haven't been in Rharne long and I'd hoped sooner or later to pay the Spire a visit." What scientist wouldn't want to get an up close and personal look at the place? Especially a physicist such as him. He remained curious though, in regards to just what it was that had compelled the archivist to send the letter in the first place.

[Faith Augustin]

As they'd sat around the breakfast table, Faith had planted a kiss on Cyrus' cheek. His gruff sound of what she assumed to be disapproval enough to make her worry that she had offended him. But a glance at him and she saw the same mirth that she saw in Padraig's and she did not speak the apology which she had been thinking of. "Will you take the children fishing, when the water comes back and they are older? Memories like that would be true gifts." Glancing at Padraig, with an entirely straight face, she added, "You could go together." She would pack them a picnic, she promised and the four of them could go and make wonderful memories, thus alleviating all issues. She looked at him in surprise, though, when he said he'd married his better. "Only if you've another wife secreted away. You did what I did, I believe, and married your partner. You are not the better half of my soul, you are simply half of it." Faith frowned a little, thoughts creasing her brow and she looked at him with a very earnest gaze. "That was meant to be a compliment. My apologies if it did not come out that way." But he liked the spelunking kit and she beamed in delight when he said why he was glad he was born. "The world would be an awful place with no colours, were it to be so."

But they arrived, having spent a good amount of time looking at the curious structure. It was beautiful and impressive and many other things and, as she looked at it, Faith suddenly realised something. She and Padraig were the only two people who had seen through that barrier. Him because he was there and her, because he had shared the memory with her, a physical sharing thanks to the blessing of Vri. Turning, she rested herself against him. "I love you," she said - rare words for her. "Thank you for making the mundane so wonderful and never, ever, even once making the wonderful mundane." It was true and it needed saying, to Faith's mind. Or deserved to be said. Either way, she nestled against him and watched the world go by.

When they arrived, of course, she made sure to thank the driver,most sincerely, and she held on to Padraig's hand as he helped her down. Then, the woman in the unusual outfit with the gold glasses appeared and she positively gushed over Padraig. Faith smiled in pleasure at that, it was right that here, in a place of science, engineering and discovery, he was the one that they wanted to see. She couldn't be any prouder of who he was, or of being there with him, so she had no concerns about not being the focus. As a slave, not being the one others were looking at was a relief, but as a free woman, as a wife, Faith could not be prouder of her husband. So she shook Mrs Saville's hand and smiled. "It's a pleasure to accompany my husband, thank you for extending the invitation to us both, Mrs Saville," she said. They walked and Faith looked around with fascination. The woman was an archivist and therefore, there was information and knowledge here - books. Things. Learning. Faith took Padraig's offered arm and suddenly, clearly remembered the first time they had met. Her a slave and him hired as her tutor. He had asked her what she wanted to learn and she had told him, clearly. All of it. All of the things. That been what she wanted then and to think that she was here now. She didn't add to Padraig's question, simply waited to see what happened now and observing, carefully, all that was going on around them.

[Oracle]

The massive doors to the Spire creaked open to Faith and Pad. A noticeable tingle of electricity seemed to pass over their skin as they moved through the threshold and into the lobby, almost like a sleepy cat brushing up against your leg with disinterest. There was a presence clinging to this place, and it was clearly not threatened in the slightest by the woman and her husband.

Within the Spire itself the pair were shown into a beautiful rotunda that served as the lobby. There was a circular desk at the center where a lower ranked scholar was riffling through a sheaf of papers. He looked altogether uninterested in the visators however a young slip of a girl that was perhaps no older than fourteen scurried toward Faith to take any luggage from her that she might need help with. The girl had dark brown hair that was pulled back in a smart bun and she was wearing a pale ivory robe that over the top of sat a green and gold edged cloak. She was clearly a novice member of the Order of Adunih and her brown eyes looked at Faith as if she was awestruck.

“It’s an honor.” She whispered excitedly before taking any and all of Faith’s bags and spiriting them away to wherever the pair would be staying during their visit. Ms. Saville’s nose seemed to visibly wrinkle at the young girl’s apparent adoration for Professor Augustin’s wife but said nothing.

“Young Alice will take care of your things and ensure they are delivered to your quarters.” The Archivist said with a flat expression.

“If you would come this way.” She added with a crooked finger before leading the pair toward a hallway that led to a large circular room filled with a massive spiral stair that led upwards into the higher levels of the structure. Giant windows, flecked with occasional panes of stained glass allowed copious amounts of light into the area, allowing Pad and Faith to look up and see several levels of books that were stored along the side of the stairway. There was an unknowable amount of knowledge here and these were only the first few floors that were open to the public.

However it seemed that Ms. Saville was not planning on leading them up towards the books, but rather toward an inconspicuous wall just beneath the stair. She pressed her hand against the stone and after a split trill there was a soft click and the wall released to reveal a narrow doorway that led downwards beneath the Spire itself.

“These corridors have been well mapped by our scholars, but we are constantly unearthing new ones every trial.” She explained coolly as she stepped through the secret doorway and into a tight spiral stair made of wrought iron. The stair went on for some time until it opened up into a large stone tunnel with a low arched ceiling. The stones here were older than those up above within the Spire itself and bore far more wear due to the passage of time.

Men and women in in sensible cotton shirts and breeches moved to and fro, caring crates of unknown objects from room to room. On each side of the tunnel were a series of rooms that had been excavated and turned into laboratories and areas of study. This place was a dream for someone like Padraig. Scientiests were allowed to do their work uninterrupted and undisturbed by the world up above.

“We did not build the Spire, it was already here when Rharne was founded.” Ms. Saville explained crisply.

“The tower itself is a masterwork of masonry and it gave us a safe place to store the amassed knowledge of Rharne...but below it lies the hidden Spire of sorts. It is a place that we are only beginning to scratch the surface of. This tunnel is extensive and contains many branches that possess artifacts left by those that built this place.” She gestured toward the many laboratories manned by the Spire scholars.

“This is where we study what they left behind. However we have found something that not even we can decipher. It is our hope that you can help us Professor.”

As she spoke and explained this, a woman walked by with one of the many artifacts they were studying. It was a gleaming drinking horn made seemingly from bright blue glass. On it's surface ice crystals constantly formed and reformed in an never ending dance. Clearly the items the scholars were digging up were far from ordinary.

However the drinking horn was nothing compared to the reason that Padraig and Faith had been summoned. Thirty feet or so down the wide tunnel the path branched off to the right and left of a central wall that was facing them. The wall had appeared empty when they had emerged down the stairs but now out of thin air, an iron double door had appeared. It was a feat of the finest metal working, bearing intricate woven bands of iron that were tangled together in a way that was both somehow chaotic and orderly. On each door face was the impression of a sunken hand print, clearly indicating that those that wanted to enter were to place their hands in the aforementioned indentions.

A voice boomed suddenly within Faith and Padraig's mind. It sounded somehow both male and female but would sound as if spoken by two different voices at once. Somehow they would know that the voice had come from the inscrutable door.

"I am the thing that binds and the thing that breaks,
To know me truly you must be equals in all things
You must come to me alone, but you can only move forward together
Know me and pass"

[Padraig]

When the rains returned and the lake level rose and brought the fish back right up to the shore of Lake Lovalus, Padraig and his grandfather would take the children fishing. That much had been promised but it was a long way from this sweltering trial in Saun, when surely there were better ways to spend a half dozen breaks or more, than to be confined to a carriage rolling over a parched landscape. But the destination, Padraig had thought, would make the uncomfortable journey worthwhile.

And the company wasn't half bad either, in spite of the awkwardly turned and almost backhanded compliments that had brought an amused grin to the scholar's face. "I love you more," he'd whispered in her ear when he helped her down from the carriage. "and thank you for not thinking I'm stark raving mad when I show you what's rattling round in my head." Even having dipped into his memories and viewed firsthand, or rather secondhand, what he'd seen on the other side of that barrier. someone who didn't know him as well might still have thought he'd been dreaming it all up.

Faith clearly was feeling more forgiving and more gracious than him, in response to their reception. The nature of it, the sense that their hostess viewed her as just more than an afterthought. But if it didn't get under Faith's skin, it definitely got under his. Admittedly however, what they experienced and saw while being shown into and through the spire, was so wondrous and curious that a great deal of the rub was temporarily forgotten or at least put to the side. "That static sensation," he said quietly to Faith, though presumably their hostess could hear him just as well. "I've felt it before. The barrier. The surface of it, the air, all of it," he said. Like bleed off from an accumulator, he'd thought then.

He drew his focus back to the moment however when Alice appeared in order to take their bags, and he smiled and thanked her. He could spend trials and ten-trials there, he thought when he looked up, just looking through all the titles on the bookshelves. It must be quite the experience as well, to be that high up during one of the lightening storms that the region was so famous for. The passed the books by however and traveled into what Padraig could only assume to be the underground. Where the way might prove to narrow, he'd released Faith's arm and taken her arm instead.

The wonders were two or three fold at the least, compared to what they'd seen above ground. He could spend a cycle or more exploring this place and examining the things that revealed themselves in the process. "Has there been anything uncovered that reveals the identity and the nature of those that built this place?" he asked the archivist. Surely, numbers of antiquities pieced together would eventually result in the unfolding of a more detailed story.

That door though. Well, there it was. This was why they'd wanted him to come. Dryly, and with the slightest of grins he thought to himself, only the fool would do, who'd reportedly waltzed through into another world, presumably to his doom, without giving a thought to life or limb. A gang of dragons, apparently, had poked and prodded around in his mind and zapped him with lightening for good measure before tossing him out of their domain. So one would think that Padraig had learned his lesson last time around. He hadn't really. Were they asking him to go through it though? Or only asking him to somehow figure out the door's nature before they did it? No matter the archivist's intentions, the temptation was strong and helped along by that voice in his head. And Faith's too, presumably.

The only problem though was that there was a riddle to start with. Padraig hated riddles. He'd never seen the point of them. Have something to say, just say it, was his point of view. It didn't help that he was also terrible at them. Looking Faith's way, he grinned when he asked, "How are you at riddles?"

[Faith Augustin]

If the woman's reception to her was meant to annoy her, it did not. Faith found it vaguely ironic that it did annoy the very man that Ms Saville was trying so hard to impress. She recognised a woman infatuated when she saw one and Faith couldn't blame her. Her husband was an inordinately handsome man and he was beyond a genius when it came to the world of physics and so on. Ms Saville adored the man she thought he was and that man's wife was an inconvenience. However, that was because Ms Saville was, unfortunately for her, infatuated with the man she thought he was. Faith, however, knew him and she knew that Ms Saville's treatment of her would never do anything other than irk Padraig. When that irritation crossed his expression, or she saw it in his eyes, Faith gave ever such a slight shake of her head. There was no need, it was of no consequence.

When he lowered his head and spoke to her about the sensation, she nodded. "It's like Quattro, too, isn't it?" Their four tailed, static-charged cat. Frowning, slightly, she considered and asked him. "At the barrier, did it intensify the closer you got? If there was some means of measuring it, that would allow a very basic navigational tool to lead you to the center of whatever is making it. Can it be measured in intensity with any accuracy?" She asked Padraig that question, of course, but Faith made sure to include Ms Saville in there, too. Rude was something she tried very hard never to be.

She smiled at the girl from the Order of the Adunih and replied. "It's an honour to be here. And a pleasure to meet you." Once they'd handed over their bags, she considered in a quiet and conversational tone. "That's very impressive. She seems very young and is already wearing a trimmed green cloak. She must be a natural. Do you have a lot of medics here, Ms Saville?" It had to be said, Faith looked longingly at the bookshelves and nudged Padraig slightly. "All of the things, please, Professor." It had been what she told him she wanted to learn, after all, when he had asked her when they first met. All of the things. She shot him a smile.

The sights which they got to see intrigued them both and Faith had to admit that she could happily get lost down here. Yet, there was a danger to that, she knew - all theory and hidden away meant that reality could get further and further away. But still, a few seasons or cycles wouldn't do any harm, she thought. But then, there was the door. It was beautiful and the voice that reverberated in her mind, presumably in his too, made her smile. Padraig looked at her and asked about riddles and Faith shook her head, but her smile told him a different story.

"It isn't a riddle," she said, looking between the two of them. She turned to Ms Saville and repeated the words, word for word. Ms Saville confirmed that she had heard that previously, although it was not something she heard right now. Faith nodded and thanked her. "It's an entrance requirement. It's a reminder, too that science has a purpose but it must be tempered with wisdom." There was a danger in science, she said, to work in isolation and to forget the greater good. "I imagine that, since there are two handprints, you have tried one person opening it and all sorts of combinations of two people and it hasn't budged?" That, she asked Ms Saville. Whatever the answer, she turned to Padraig and her eyes met his; as so often happened, she lost track of everything else, standing there he was all she saw.

"I imagine that the hope was that you would work it out and open it for them, and then you and a group of them went through. Maybe I could tag along dutifully, hopefully keeping quiet and not distracting you from the Important Things. Or maybe I could wait in our quarters. Probably the second since I am, at best, a distraction from your work, an inconvenience which takes you from what's important. To some eyes, anyhow. We know differently, and so does whoever made this door." Faith's voice was, as always, soft and gentle. She didn't mind in the slightest how other people saw them; they knew the truth of themselves. There was no accusation, no concern. Just an awareness of what she thought and believed to be true. At no point did her eyes deviate from his, he was the only one she needed and right in that moment he was the only one she saw. "You could try that door with every person in this place and it wouldn't open." Faith reached out and took his hand, her fingers curling into his. "It is guarding whatever is behind there, demanding that those who pass are very specific people." She reached out her other hand and touched his forehead. "It needs you not to just live here. It requires here, too." Her hand moved to his chest and she smiled at him, though her expression was completely serious as she took the 'riddle', line by line and explained it how she saw it.

"Losing you would break me. Losing me, the same for you. What we feel for each other could break us as individuals because it is stronger than either one of us alone. But it binds us together and thus, we are unstoppable. Equals in all things, partners in every aspect. Never an inconvenience or distraction, only ever an inspiration and source of determination. We act alone, a person whole and individual, yet we move together. It's love. True and selfless and all encompassing love." With a smile she lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. "That's my theory, anyhow. Care to test it, husband?" If he or Ms Saville wanted to test it with Padraig and others first, she was more than happy to wait. But she was quite convinced that it was only when they put their hands on the doors together would they open.

[Oracle]

Ms. Saville gave a scathing glance toward the retreating figure of Alice. It was clear that she had very little respect for the medically minded of the world. Science was meant to be a pure thing in her eyes, not muddied by real world applications.

“I’m told that Alice is a natural surgeon Mrs. Augustin, apparently she has wonderful steady hands if that gold cloak from Rharne is to be believed.” The woman’s nose wrinkled slightly.

“She is also a studious girl, which is why she is here…to study medicine and theory. Personally, I think she would be better served by books than by sick people.” She uttered dismissively before turning to escort them down.
Once they were below the Spire itself and the matter turned to the work of the scholars, Ms. Saville seemed to instantly brighten up.
The Archivist beamed when Padraig asked about the originators of the artifacts.

“We don’t know the name of the civilization that created this place but we simply refer to them as the Makers.” Ms. Saville said with a soft bemused smile. All scholars loved mystery and this place was drenched in it.

The thin older woman’s face turned to a subtle frown when the couple began speaking about the static charge that they had felt upon entering the Spire. She seemed easily irked by Faith, although it appeared that Faith cared very little for her poor opinion of her.

“The Spire has always naturally attracted lightning strikes; we’ve discovered extensive metalwork in the walls of the tower itself that seems to conduct the strikes to somewhere deep beneath the ground. Our current theory is that the building collects the energy from the lightening to power the defenses that the Maker’s built, including those that appear to keep the tower in such good condition even over the centuries. It’s clear that they intended for this structure to continue operating regardless of the passage of time.” The woman tilted her head back and daintily slid her glasses up her nose with a single wrinkled finger.

“You’d both be welcome to study this phenomenon at your leisure once the issue of the door is resolve of course.” She added, her voice fixed somewhere between frosty and polite when looking at Professor Padraig’s wife.

When the conversation turned toward the door itself the older woman’s face grew cold and her frown deepened at Faith’s theory. It was absurd to propose that science was somehow imperfect and even incapable of solving this problem.

“I’ve never heard something so absurd in my entire life Mrs. Augustin!” she exclaimed before her face turned beet red at the words that spilled one by one from Faith’s mouth.

“Of course we’ve tried with dozens of people to get past the door!” she hissed with her eyes bulging. However before she continued shouting at the woman Faith’s words seemed to hit a particular nail on the head and Ms.Saville paled in response. Her breath caught in her throat and the thin woman took a step back from Faith, now that she had been fully and properly admonished. It had been clear from the start that she had been downplaying Faith’s work, along with her role in Padraig’s life and clearly Faith had taken notice.

“You...you must let me apologize, I meant no offense madam.” She said, now wilted from the preening peacock she had been only moments earlier.

“If you believe that you have the solution then of course I would value and appreciate your help.” Ms. Saville said weakly as she nervously wrung her hands. The other scholars that had been bustling around the area were now silent and watching the exchange.

Fully ashamed of herself the archivist went silent and allowed Faith to have her say. Perhaps not everything could be solved by the careful application of science. She stepped aside and nodded, indicating for the pair to try Faith’s theory and attempt to pass through the door. The rest of the scholars watched on wordlessly, to see what happened next.