Long time no see, my old friend.

The place where I spent the better part of a month in perfect solitude, free of having to utter a single word to anyone or anything, scouring book after book and arranging chart after chart.

Awash in a sea of information.

Paradise.

...ahem.

Of course, my current situation is completely different from what it was back then, what with the adorable lightning girl who's standing right here next to me

holding my hand

"Er-"

A quick slip free.

"Sorry about that, I forgot that I was-"

"Think nothing of it," Yahanaseara shakes her head. "I find holding your hand to be quite comforting."

"......"

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

"Anyways," I clear my throat, "this is the section of the library that has the books that eventually led me to the place where I found you."

"Hm," she nods her head. "What exactly did that entail, if I might ask?"

"Entail?"

"Well I very much doubt that it was anything as obvious as a map with my location clearly marked out..."

"Ohhhhh."

Yeah... if it was that obvious then someone else would've freed her a long time ago.

"It was just kinda one thing leading to another," I shrug. "At first I was going through some pre-Fall documents and records just for the hell of it, and I happened to notice that a bunch of them had mentions of outsiders snooping around in the region south of here. The idea of something as seemingly minor as that being considered important enough to be included in official records got me curious, so I ended up digging around for other sources from around the same period of time."

Fortunately, stuff around here is mostly organized by date so that wasn't as much of a headache as it could've been.

"And after like two straight days of chain-scouring books and diaries and almanacs and pretty much every last type of written document this place has, I was finally able to put together a rough timeline of events."

Yahanaseara's expectant gaze is all the motivation I need to keep on rambling.

"So to start with, a group of people obviously not from the area showed up at a village located to to the south of here, about two days away by carriage," I explain. "They claimed to be looking for workers to help them out with an unspecified construction project out in the middle of the woods. The locals were more than happy to do as they asked since the pay was apparently really good, and the whole job seemed to last around six months."

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"Mm."

"Of course, several more days of searching this entire damned library didn't turn up any information on what exactly that construction project was," I grumble, "so in the end, I decided to just go out there and find out whatever the hell it was myself."

"...heh."

A faint vocalization, paired with a faint smirk.

"How many people would have ever noticed something so minor, much less consider it worth acting upon?" Yahanaseara asks. "And then use those same minor clues to somehow put together a timeline of events which took place well over a thousand years ago?"

"I mean it was mostly just pattern recognition..."

All I can do is shrug.

"And given the context, I assume that this 'construction project' turned out to be the place where I was imprisoned?"

"The one and the same," I confirm.

"And that this is exactly what I-..." her voice drifts off as she begins to pace around in front of me. "I could have never managed that! Not with such little-...I mean, it was hidden behind a waterfall! How did you even think to look in such a place!?"

"I, uhh... just thought about where I'd put a secret facility if I was the one building it?"

I mean waterfalls make for pretty good natural camouflage, especially if the actual entrance is further inside the natural cave like that one was...

"So there was no other evidence, or clues, or-" She finally stops her pacing and heaves a long, exasperated sigh.

The thought of bringing up the artificial-looking placement of hills in the area that then turned out to be composed mostly of rubble when I dug around for samples does come to mind, but that would probably just frustrate her even further.

...which actually kind of makes me want to mention it even more.

"Honestly... I do not think that you understand just how amazing you are."

"Bwuh?"

compliment out of nowhere turn brain to mush

"If I may ask, what were you hoping to find?"

"Secret wizard lair," my mush-brain immediately blurts out.

...though to be fair, that's always what I'm hoping to find.

And one day I actually will, dammit.

"But usually when you have a mysterious unknown construction project built within the vicinity of a village which then mysteriously burns down when said project is completed, it's something like a treasure vault or secret prison or whatever," I say.

"...now I understand."

That cold look in her eyes returns.

"It may have taken centuries, but those abhorrent depraved murderous f-..." Yahanaseara cuts herself off and starts breathing heavily.

"Uh, you okay?"

I mean she obviously isn't okay, but I did just resolve to be more proactive in asking her about how she feels and this definitely seems like an appropriate time to do so.

"Like I said before, if this is too much..."

"No."

She takes one of my hands in both of hers and just kind of squeezes it for what feels like way longer than it actually is.

...so I guess she wasn't just teasing me when she said that she finds it comforting to hold my hand?

"Everything you just described? It all matches their typical behavior."

The lightning girl's uncharacteristically cold grip finally loosens up.

"They would feign friendliness and generosity in order to get what they want from their victims, and then immolate them afterwards. Preferably while still alive."

"Uh, wow," I mumble.

I'd already figured that it was a coverup, but these fuckers were burning people alive?

"To think that those disgusting bastards would maintain their pyrophilic obsessions even after I slew that thing..." Yahanaseara growls.

"Thing?"

"Yes, that hideous, disgusting abomina-"

She cuts herself off before I can.

"...I never actually told you why they held enough hatred towards me to go as far as they did in the first place," she sighs. "My apologies."

"Don't worry about it," I reply with a nervous smile.

Better for her to offer the information herself than me trying to drag it out of her and risk causing another breakdown.

"I acted as my people's guardian," Yahanaseara says, "Anra had his swordsmanship school, Zaraliara was a wandering mercenary... despite being Elemental Spirits, we all lived amongst humans as one of them. One of you."

She looks me dead in the eyes.

"But that thing..." she snarls, "...it styled itself as some kind of deity. One that saw humans as nothing more than fuel to stoke its flames."

I can practically feel the hatred emanating from her gaze.

"Gnirazekna, the creeping embers of madness."