15 Cylus 720
Yeva had not slept well for trials.
The discovery in Havardr had made the idea an impossibility for the woman that she was. She had stayed for four nights, hoping to have heard from the Order and allow for any other informants to come forward but she could not sit by idly forever. Linca's condition had not changed. He remained stable, slumbering in a coma that had baffled her, and Tio Silver's visit had ignited a thirst for action that was stronger than she cared to give him credit for. Now it was her turn.
She had stormed to the library the very moment her Scalvwing had set foot on university soil, requesting a private room of study and wasted no time prowling the stacks once the mount had been boarded appropriately, "I know there's gotta be something in here..." Yeva lifted her dark eyes to scan the accumulation of knowledge, grabbing a folded brochure from the reception desk without pause and unfolding it is she moved in the general direction she believed the information she sought might be.
The brochure, however, was for surety.
Within it was a floor plan of the stacks available for the public, although few visitors had actually taken the offered resource. Each area was categorized by topic and genre, some listed with even further specifics. Many were far larger than others, science and history among them. Yeva eyed the map, finding that for once, she wasn't entirely baffled by what she saw. This place, the setting, was familiar. She had spent many breaks among these books simply browsing at leisure. Now she would scour it like a miner searching for gold.
She searched first for information on the Lisirra. For information on curses - any stories on their breaking. She had discovered in her search that divine afflictions could be nullified by the intervention of another Immortal. Tio Silver and Cassion might have wished for her to solve this conundrum herself, but that required earning their aid. What did that even mean, exactly? Yeva knotted her fingers into her hair and paced the stacks, unfazed by how she must have appeared to others. Crazed, she skimmed and snatched at tomes and scrolls, hefting them to the reserved room in the back of the library.
There were few rooms for such purpose but with a bit of sway from the Hero of Faldrass (Yeva was ashamed to admit she might have flourished a bit of the story to the curious librarian in hopes for a favor), a special place was reserved, equipped with a table, eight chairs, ink pots, loose sheets of paper, and a blackboard. For the chalk, she had to make a special trip to the front desk for, but by midday, Yeva had accumulated dozens of leads for her journey and very little direction on where to go next.
Hunched over the desk, she flipped through the pages with an intensity that would one day lead to wrinkles, scribbling tidbits of nearly nonesensical notes that might be useful.
Lisirra is an enemy to Moseke.
Lisirra oversees Pestilence, disease... More? What else?
Bugs?
Theory: Butterflies = Sign of Lisirra?
She looked for reoccurring themes and symbolism in the stories she read, hoping to make connections that could resemble a unified truth. But what she found were a collection of largely unpredictable retelling. Sometimes, the stories claimed, Lisirra took the form of a small girl. Others claimed her to be a pale woman.
Yeva turned the page, her handwriting uncharacteristically scratchy:
Immortals can take many forms of disguise?
That wouldn't be surprising. She had heard as much in Rharne, although Ilaren was said to be seen around the city without an ever changing mask. The thought of the Lightening Queen made Yeva crave a drink and shortly after her stomach rumbled.
She leaned back, rubbing her tired eyes.
How is it connected?
A headache pressed against the back of her skull and made her jaw ache. She reached for another book.
Why Linca?
Why Scalvoris?
"Okay!" Yeva practically shouted at herself, the frustration she felt echoing off the walls of the room. She took a deep breath and massaged her temples, reminding herself to be patient, "To first learn what we don't know, we have to know what we do know."
She groaned and then pushed herself to her feet, the legs of the chair screeching against the floor. Yeva turned to face the hazy blackboard and stared at it, picking up a piece of chalk.
In large, bold lettering, she wrote at the top:
S C A L V O R I S
and stared.
"What do I know... What do I know..."
There was something she wasn't seeing. Like cryptography, there was a message she couldn't read. A meaning.
"Basics. Start with the basics," Yeva began to jot down the first facts that came to her head.
"Scalvoris has.... one, two, three, four, fiiiive.... regions?" fingers opened as she tried to count. To better help, she began to write a list.
Scalvoris Town
Alumund
Egilrun
Havardr
Immortal's Tongue
That wasn't right. Yeva stopped to fetch one of the books and began flipping till she found a drawn map. It was simple, but it allowed her to finish her list.
Gunvorton
Darbytown
Her eyes flickered back and forth and she wrote some extras for good measure:
Scaltoth Jungle
Mountains
Sweetwine
"Seven regions, ten depending," She began to draw stars next to Scalvoris Town, Almund, Havardr, Immortal's Tongue, Sweetwine and Scaloth Jungle, "I've been here. So..."
That was useless alone, but it showed her what area her knowledge would be entirely lacking. "Slags Deep is Egilrun. Council Hall is in Almund..." They would be easy markers that should be noted. They were enemies, after all, "Linca in Havardr...."
Yeva worked best when she could practice a concept, experience it in a tangible form. Still, nothing stood out to her. She drew a great, angered line beneath the list and started another one:
Pirate Lords of Scalvoris made a pact, created modern government
Pirate Ties in Almund?
Slags Deep is a Prison
Smooglenuff history
Faldrass***
Heart of Scalvoris
"Faldrass erupted because something was wrong," she closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind, pulling the memories of Smooglenuff forward. She paced around the table, "He said there were shadow beasts and dark ships." Plagued by too many legend and stories, he had said. She added these to the list, along with a dash and the word Truth?
Yeva recalled Faldrass, "The core of the elements," she muttered, circling heart repeatedly, "It exists. I've been there, but..."
The discovery in Havardr had made the idea an impossibility for the woman that she was. She had stayed for four nights, hoping to have heard from the Order and allow for any other informants to come forward but she could not sit by idly forever. Linca's condition had not changed. He remained stable, slumbering in a coma that had baffled her, and Tio Silver's visit had ignited a thirst for action that was stronger than she cared to give him credit for. Now it was her turn.
She had stormed to the library the very moment her Scalvwing had set foot on university soil, requesting a private room of study and wasted no time prowling the stacks once the mount had been boarded appropriately, "I know there's gotta be something in here..." Yeva lifted her dark eyes to scan the accumulation of knowledge, grabbing a folded brochure from the reception desk without pause and unfolding it is she moved in the general direction she believed the information she sought might be.
The brochure, however, was for surety.
Within it was a floor plan of the stacks available for the public, although few visitors had actually taken the offered resource. Each area was categorized by topic and genre, some listed with even further specifics. Many were far larger than others, science and history among them. Yeva eyed the map, finding that for once, she wasn't entirely baffled by what she saw. This place, the setting, was familiar. She had spent many breaks among these books simply browsing at leisure. Now she would scour it like a miner searching for gold.
She searched first for information on the Lisirra. For information on curses - any stories on their breaking. She had discovered in her search that divine afflictions could be nullified by the intervention of another Immortal. Tio Silver and Cassion might have wished for her to solve this conundrum herself, but that required earning their aid. What did that even mean, exactly? Yeva knotted her fingers into her hair and paced the stacks, unfazed by how she must have appeared to others. Crazed, she skimmed and snatched at tomes and scrolls, hefting them to the reserved room in the back of the library.
There were few rooms for such purpose but with a bit of sway from the Hero of Faldrass (Yeva was ashamed to admit she might have flourished a bit of the story to the curious librarian in hopes for a favor), a special place was reserved, equipped with a table, eight chairs, ink pots, loose sheets of paper, and a blackboard. For the chalk, she had to make a special trip to the front desk for, but by midday, Yeva had accumulated dozens of leads for her journey and very little direction on where to go next.
Hunched over the desk, she flipped through the pages with an intensity that would one day lead to wrinkles, scribbling tidbits of nearly nonesensical notes that might be useful.
Lisirra is an enemy to Moseke.
Lisirra oversees Pestilence, disease... More? What else?
Bugs?
Theory: Butterflies = Sign of Lisirra?
She looked for reoccurring themes and symbolism in the stories she read, hoping to make connections that could resemble a unified truth. But what she found were a collection of largely unpredictable retelling. Sometimes, the stories claimed, Lisirra took the form of a small girl. Others claimed her to be a pale woman.
Yeva turned the page, her handwriting uncharacteristically scratchy:
Immortals can take many forms of disguise?
That wouldn't be surprising. She had heard as much in Rharne, although Ilaren was said to be seen around the city without an ever changing mask. The thought of the Lightening Queen made Yeva crave a drink and shortly after her stomach rumbled.
She leaned back, rubbing her tired eyes.
How is it connected?
A headache pressed against the back of her skull and made her jaw ache. She reached for another book.
Why Linca?
Why Scalvoris?
"Okay!" Yeva practically shouted at herself, the frustration she felt echoing off the walls of the room. She took a deep breath and massaged her temples, reminding herself to be patient, "To first learn what we don't know, we have to know what we do know."
She groaned and then pushed herself to her feet, the legs of the chair screeching against the floor. Yeva turned to face the hazy blackboard and stared at it, picking up a piece of chalk.
In large, bold lettering, she wrote at the top:
S C A L V O R I S
and stared.
"What do I know... What do I know..."
There was something she wasn't seeing. Like cryptography, there was a message she couldn't read. A meaning.
"Basics. Start with the basics," Yeva began to jot down the first facts that came to her head.
"Scalvoris has.... one, two, three, four, fiiiive.... regions?" fingers opened as she tried to count. To better help, she began to write a list.
Scalvoris Town
Alumund
Egilrun
Havardr
Immortal's Tongue
That wasn't right. Yeva stopped to fetch one of the books and began flipping till she found a drawn map. It was simple, but it allowed her to finish her list.
Gunvorton
Darbytown
Her eyes flickered back and forth and she wrote some extras for good measure:
Scaltoth Jungle
Mountains
Sweetwine
"Seven regions, ten depending," She began to draw stars next to Scalvoris Town, Almund, Havardr, Immortal's Tongue, Sweetwine and Scaloth Jungle, "I've been here. So..."
That was useless alone, but it showed her what area her knowledge would be entirely lacking. "Slags Deep is Egilrun. Council Hall is in Almund..." They would be easy markers that should be noted. They were enemies, after all, "Linca in Havardr...."
Yeva worked best when she could practice a concept, experience it in a tangible form. Still, nothing stood out to her. She drew a great, angered line beneath the list and started another one:
Pirate Lords of Scalvoris made a pact, created modern government
Pirate Ties in Almund?
Slags Deep is a Prison
Smooglenuff history
Faldrass***
Heart of Scalvoris
"Faldrass erupted because something was wrong," she closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind, pulling the memories of Smooglenuff forward. She paced around the table, "He said there were shadow beasts and dark ships." Plagued by too many legend and stories, he had said. She added these to the list, along with a dash and the word Truth?
Yeva recalled Faldrass, "The core of the elements," she muttered, circling heart repeatedly, "It exists. I've been there, but..."