Eight Intertwined

117 - Shackle

After the travelers indulged in a massive and much-needed midday meal, they split up to enjoy the rest of their day in Victors Hollow. They were leaving to investigate Duskbarrow in the morning before using the Warp Staff to teleport to Stillsnow so H'aanit could search for Susanna once they arrived. In other words, they were looking forward to another fight against a god at the start of another long day, so they needed to be ready. They hadn't been given much of a chance to relax thanks to Tressa's impromptu treasure hunt, but it had still been a nice experience. 

Tressa was confident she was the one who had enjoyed it the most though. When she started back toward the inn, she continued to stare at the eldrite, utterly infatuated by the sight of it. She didn't broadcast to anyone that she had it on her for the sake of not letting it get stolen, but she also couldn't seem to avert her gaze for longer than a few seconds. She had never imagined she would find something so valuable, much less that it would be given to her by a dear friend like Leon. Life was full of surprises, and even if she had started the day hoping to find a treasure for the Merchants' Fair, it still caught her off guard seeing just how precious the stone really was. 

Tressa reached for the doorknob of the inn when she was cut off by a hand on her shoulder. She could have sworn she was going to jump out of her own skin as she whirled around to face her would-be assailant. Instead, she was met with the worried expression of Cyrus as he winced. "My apologies, Tressa. I didn't mean to frighten you," he said quickly and softly. 

"It's alright," Tressa replied, though she pressed her free hand against her chest in an attempt to slow her screaming heart to a somewhat normal pace. She took in a careful breath before pushing it out again. "What do you need? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong," Cyrus was quick to assure her. "But I was hoping I would be able to take a closer look at the eldrite. I understand you mean to sell it at the Merchants' Fair, but before we reach Grandport, I would like to study it in more detail."

"Oh," Tressa said shortly. "Of course. I was thinking you would do something like that before we got there anyway. I guess it makes sense that you would want to take our afternoon off here in Victors Hollow to do that. Do you want to go to the library in town?"

Cyrus nodded. "If you would like, you can join me. I understand you must be defensive over the stone now that you have something to hold dear."

Tressa thought about it for a moment before nodding. She liked looking at the eldrite, but she wouldn't have gone so far as to say that she held it dear, especially since it didn't even come close to matching up to the one true treasure Leon had described. Still, she was more than happy to help Cyrus with his research, so what reason did she have to object? "I'd be happy to." 

"Perfect," Cyrus beamed. With that, he started through the crowd toward the library of Victors Hollow, and Tressa trailed behind him. They wove through the people of the city to arrive at the archives a few minutes later, and Cyrus easily found his way to a table resting far from the rest of the building's occupants. Afterward, he reached into his bag to pull out the map Barham had given him, and he turned toward the nearby bookshelves as soon as he had set all of things down. Tressa had seen Cyrus at work before, but it always seemed to surprise her just how quickly he could dive into his research when he set his mind to something. 

Tressa slid into one of the chairs at the table while Cyrus pulled a few books from the nearby shelves. "So... What do you think you're going to find when you study the eldrite?" she asked, trying her best to keep her voice down so as to not disturb anyone else in the library. 

"Before I set out on my travels, I had a theory regarding magic," Cyrus began. "I believed there were more elements of magic that had yet to be uncovered beyond the six we have come to know. Since then, my theory has been proven to be true. We have found both earth and plant magic thanks to Brand and Dohter. There are four other gods for us to speak with and four other shrines for us to find. That means there are likely four other elements of magic for us to discover."