Thousand Suns Twilight

Chapter 3: A Crumbling Foundation

The Chief Caretaker looked at the tower in the distance with sorrowful eyes. The junior Caretakers that had followed him to this spot by the bay were chattering amongst each other, sharing rumors in attempts to understand what had happened on this day.

"I heard that this tower has stood for centuries, and even after today, no one has come out. I bet it's been abandoned!"

"No, it's been here for thousands of years! I bet they finally decided to demolish it for renovations. There's nothing interesting here besides our little village, chances are they went elsewhere."

"Hush! Don't you understand the great things we do here? This was obviously an attack on Erendlure!"

Ariane and Talador gazed out towards the smoking tower. A dark look overtook Talador's face. Ashley stood to the side, looking down at the ground with his hands in his pockets.

The junior Caretakers continued to gossip, but Ariane broke the silence between the three of them.

"Father, did you see--" She cut herself off mid-sentence, as she noticed dirt crumbling from the bottom of the Earthmote on which the Red Sky Tower stood. It seemed that the magical force which held everything in place was beginning to wake.

"No matter, child. Focus on your duties." Talador reached into his robe and pulled a small bottle from his herbalist's belt. He popped out the cork with a flick of his thumb, and held it out to Ariane, as if he was silently telling her to drink it now. "You might feel fine now, but look what you did to that tree. Whether this act on the tree was done by your hand, or whether you were an unwilling participant, it doesn't matter. Something is going to hurt later. You'll feel terrible when you wake up tomorrow morning."

The cork flew through the air. This caught the attention of Ashley, whose eyes perked up as they followed the trajectory of the cork. He snatched it out of the air, catching it between two clawed fingers. He took a few steps closer to Ariane and the Chief Caretaker, and then offered the cork out to anyone who would take it.

Ariane accepted it, then replaced the cork back in the bottle.

"I'll just gather my things and go home. I'll take this before bed." She stowed it away in her own belt, noticing that the few vials she kept there had all shattered. She turned around and looked back at the ground. She saw broken glass from her vials on the ground surrounding the location of her impact, and was shocked to find that her Zawlin and notebook were nowhere to be found.

"My-my Zawlin..."

Ashley's hands shot up to his cheeks. He knew exactly how much the instrument meant to Ariane. He knew that she would quite literally lose her mind without it. Music is what made Ariane's world go round. Ashley and Ariane had spent many a night under the starry sky sitting together, neither person uttering a word as Ariane played heavenly tunes on that treasured Zawlin.

"Oh no... Oh no no no no nooooo..." said both Ashley and Ariane at the same time, speaking in tandem. Their eyes met, and a single tear streamed down Ariane's face. Ariane wasn't sure what she was going to do without it, as playing this Zawlin was how she relieved her stress.

"I'll find it, I swear!" Ashley did his best to reassure her.

It wasn't that Ariane couldn't find another way to make music. She may have been the only Zawlin player left in Erendlure after her father left, but there were many other instruments she could pick up. There were a few pipe players and percussionists that frequented the village square and were always up to perform at an event. There was even a small shop that made instruments and sold various books of songs. They even had a Zawlin on display, which Ashley had been eyeing for himself for quite some time, wondering if he could play along with Ariane. The problem was with this specific Zawlin -- after all, it was passed down to her by her father, and its construction was unique. There was just something magical about this one in particular, and not just in the way it looked, it also had certain qualities about its sound that made it a treasure. It would be a slap in the face to suggest that it be replaced.