Office and Sickness

The second floor of the house wasn't truly much different from the first, in that it seemed to be built around a central hall with glass doors and smaller hallways branching in every direction.

Its main difference, it seemed, was that unlike the lower floor, the upper floor seemed to be built with comfort in mind, with soft blue rugs lining the floor and ornamented chairs resting behind the railings of the balconies that protruded from both ends of the hall.

To Wanderer’s luck, the servant didn't seem to be on the second floor, having in all likelihood disappeared within one of the many halls down stairs, or otherwise in one of the many rooms.

Despite this, the Vessel did not intend to take any chances, they maintained the same stealth they always had, in case the servant wasn't alone in their duties.

Wanting to get out of view of the stairs, Wanderer began at the end of the hall, near the furthest balcony and opened the first door with silent caution.

This room was some variety of miniature bedroom, abandoned like all the rest, complete with a little bed and shelf and a dimmer, yet still bright flame lighting up the place and adding an almost homely feel to the little abode.

In the corner was a chest and a wooden wardrobe made of the same pale wood that could be found in the streets of the city, its natural palette contrasting the ornate white walls severely.

The Golem took a second to just admire the furniture pieces, full of nicks and scratches and handmade imperfections, and for some reason, despite the grandiosity of the house around them and its intricate carvings and shining glass, the humble wardrobe seemed the most inspiring thing inside.

“I wonder why that is,” Wanderer pondered.

Certain that no evidence of their presence remained in that room, they instead entered the one next to it.

To their luck, this seemed to be the room they were looking for, a regal office with maps already stuck to the walls.

The Vessel scurried in, incensed by their discovery and glad that they had already managed to find their target.

As with most other things within the mansion, the study held themes of blue and white, with many of the more structural furniture pieces being carved of the same stone that the house was formed of.

The desk and seats were cushioned with blue padding and there were a few small plants hung from the ceilings and sat on the window sill, adding a touch of life to the otherwise sterile environment.

Strewn about the central desk were sheets of white-brown paper, each beautifully inscripted with writing foreign to the Golem.

The sheets of paper seemed to hail from one massive ream that was wrapped into a scroll in the corner of the room, a pair of metal shears doubtlessly responsible for the sheet's liberation.

Finally, what they had been searching for this whole time sat next to the door, a massive cabinet filled with documents, books, and most importantly, maps.

After a quick check to be sure that neither of the maps on the walls were what they were looking for, Wanderer began to carefully pull out and check the maps one by one, until they found their target.

Of course, they didn't truly know what they were looking for, the Vessel couldn't read the names of places in the maps nor tell one city apart from another, yet Wanderer looked nonetheless, hoping that something would stand out to them.

The maps were fascinating, there were maps for the desert and maps for the valleys, maps that marked roads and maps that marked mountains, even maps for places they had never even heard of before, Wanderer made sure to commit each one to memory.

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In the end, Wanderer had three maps in front of them, each undoubtedly of cities yet they had no way to know which was theirs.

All three had a wide wall that went the whole way round the abode, all three had a central tower that rose above all other places.

The first, and biggest of the maps, showed a city mostly indistinguishable from their current one, with the similar layout and tower, yet the map expanded out from the walls and showed some variety of farm, which Wanderer was quite certain wasn't based around the current citadel, so they discarded the map.

That left only two remaining, unfortunately, unlike the first, there were no real distinguishing factors between them.

The Golem was sure that if they could read the writing or knew more about the city's layout they could have distinguished between the two, yet no such luck befell them.

Wanderer tried everything, but it was useless, both cities were roughly the same size, with roughly the same layout and gate placement, only minute differences in street positioning signified that they were even different.

Even the orientation was the same, as marked by a helpful diagram of a sun rising and setting in the corner, which signified which direction things faced.

The Vessel was about to give up when they had perhaps their largest stroke of genius yet.

They noticed that one of the maps was far more worn than the other, filled with little nicks and tears, while the other was in mostly pristine condition.

“If one of these maps depicted where its owner lived, would it not be used more, and as such, be far more worn?” the Golem concluded.

A rush of excitement coursed through Wanderer at their realisation, impressed with their own genius.

The Vessel snatched up the map, intent on using it to guide their way through the city once they escaped back outside.

Yet the same genius that had once saved them now betrayed them, as they soon realised that it would be far better to leave the map behind.

Perhaps, if the map was one of the lesser used ones, Wanderer could get away with taking it, yet as it was if they took the map its presence would surely be missed.

If the owner of the house found their map missing, then the whole point of their stealth in the human city would be reverted, everyone would be searching for them and the missing map, and as such, they would likely be caught and judged based on their looks rather than their wishes.

Besides, the map was rather large and wouldn't fit in their satchel anyway.

Disappointed at having to give up another useful trinket, Wanderer took one last good look at the map and memorised it to the best of their ability, marking the location of what they assumed would be the base of the militia, marked by two swords side by side.

They placed the map back in its proper location and snuck back out into the hallway, eager to get out of the house and fulfil their quest.

But as Wanderer crept their way toward the stairs, they were interrupted by an odd sound coming from one of the rooms.

It was some mixture of a breath and a bark, repeated over and over to the extent it almost sounded painful, coming from a room on their right.

At first, the Golem thought it came from some strange animal they had yet to encounter, yet as they listened more and more, they soon realised that the source was a child.

“This must be the kid who wouldn't leave their bed.”, Wanderer realised.

The Vessel knew at once that they should just leave, go out the way they came and move on with their task, yet as was their nature, curiosity overtook them.

They wanted to know why a child would willingly remain in one room for so long, and why they were making the strange sound.

Wanderer warred with themself for a far shorter time than such an illogical decision should have warranted, but their curiosity was simply too strong.

They didn't even have a plan about what to do once the child saw them, or how they would prevent them from telling others of their presence.

The Golem had their hand on the door handle when they hesitated, resisting their curiosity to the best of their ability.

They wished that their Spirit was there to guide them, to tell them yes or no as they always had, but the guide was still in their docile state and no such advice came.

But just as it seemed that logic would win out over curiosity, and the Vessel would turn and leave, the choice was made for them.

Light footsteps sounded up the stairs, the servant returning once again to fulfil some duty unbeknownst to Wanderer.

In a split second decision, the Vessel crept inside and closed the door behind them, already anticipating resistance from a lively, young child.

Yet as their vision rested up the singular, small bed, the figure they saw had no trace of youth or levity, and instead a tiny child that was well and truly sick.