Dark Touch

Research and a Red Dress

As we entered the library, it was huge and filled with my favorite thing in the world. Books. And even better than that, it was all history. We walked to an area in the back, past many people who studied the art of history passionately, feeling surrounded by my people. In the distance, I noticed an older gentleman who looked at something sitting on the table with a microscope. He looked up seeing us approaching.

"Henry! So good to see you!" he spoke as they shook hands.

"You as well, Coast. Once I heard what you got your hands on, I had to come and see for myself," he spoke, staring at the table already taken by the photos and samples.

"Before you dig in, are you going to introduce your guest?" He asked, looking towards me with a smile. While he was an older gentleman, he still was handsome in a silver fox kind of way.

"Oh yes, this is Angel Lewis. She is my apprentice and I brought her along for observation," he said as Coast reached out and shook my hand firmly.

"Very nice to meet you, sir! I read your theory on bone extension from the Middle East to Australia, and it was very inspiring," I said, getting a chance to dork out and fangirling at once.

"It's good to know someone agrees! That theory is still being fought and rejected from every known philosopher," he said as I nodded my head.

"Well you know what they say about philosophers. Theology is a game whose object is to bring rules into the subjective," I said, receiving a huge laugh from Coast, making Henry look up.

"I like this one. She's witty," he said as Henry peaked my way, seeming to edge the smallest smile into his face. After that, we sat and began to dig into the history of what Coast has found. We sorted through documents and researched old lands and tribes that could have lived in that area, getting so close, and then the trail going dead. As we seemed to continue down the line, we began to lose hope of a connection, Henry clearly getting agitated. I couldn't stop looking at the Golden pendant knowing I spotted it somewhere before. After searching my mind over and over it struck me.

"The Ziro Valley!" I hopped up, grabbing the photo in excitement.

"What are you talking about?" Henry spoke as I tried to remember my research.

"My junior year of college, I had to do a paper on an extinct native tribe, and I found a book in the far back of the library on the Ziro Valley, They were native to the land of India for a long time, but a drought washed out their agriculture and most of them died from famine. There were stories of a few children being taken and sent to live in other parts. Maybe Apatani is one of them," I said, as Coast shot up at me.

"Ziro? That also sounds familiar," he said, scrambling through a stack of books he had next to him. He then pulled out the biggest one, flipping through the pages until he landed on one. I peaked over to see Henry looking intensely towards me, probably hoping I didn't speak too soon. "Aha! Here it is. The Ziro's had native pendants specific to their land. There are only six documents in the world, and one of them is printed in this book of Indian jewels and gems," he said with a wide grin.

"So the Ziro migrated? I have a friend who can trace these pendants now that we know where they came from," Henry said, leaning forward.

"There's our trail!" Coast said standing and throwing the papers down as I smiled wide in excitement. "Angel, you are a true gem!" He said, making me blush a bit as he winked at me.

"It was just luck," I responded, shaking my head and looking down.

"No, it's research," Henry blurted out, making me look up towards him, seeing the same intense look fall on his face.