Minos PoV [https://i.imgur.com/GH6c1ra.jpg]

"What are you doing here?" Minos asked the cloaked figure.

"Looking for you." The figure stepped closer, pulling down the hood of her cloak. She was a drow, tall and fit, with a skin that glowed like an amethyst under the sunlight, and long wavy hair dyed a dark brown.

"And how did you find me?" asked Minos again.

"You really have a knack for asking the stupid questions..." the drow mocked.

"Smart men ask stupid questions."

"Said who?"

"Read it in a book, some philosopher. He said people of great intelligence know that they don't know everything, hence they won't shy away from asking questions, even those that others might deem, stupid"

"Kind of ironic, coming from you."

"As if you were surprised."

The female drow slowly stepped closer to Minos, with a motion that could be reaching for a hug or aiming to thrust a dagger.

"Minos! A drow..." Robb gasped as he re-emerged from the undergrowth, his finger pointing at the new arrival,

"It's okay kid, she's my friend," calmed Minos.

"Friend? Minos?" the drow whispered to the nobleman with a raised eyebrow, to which he only replied with a wink.

He beckoned for the young boy to approach. Robb took careful steps moving towards the two adults, still carrying the dead rabbit by its ears.

"This is Lira, a very good friend of mine from the Capital." Robb cautiously looked up at the stranger, quizzically studying her from her head to her boots. Lira leveled down on the young boy and met his gaze.

"Hi. And you are?" she greeted with an affable tone.

"Robb." The boy glanced up to Minos and back, before flashing a reluctant smile.

"Nice to meet you Robb," she replied. Something moved from over her shoulders and what Robb thought was fur lining was actually a small but long and slender cinnamon-colored rat-like creature. "And this is my friend, Scout."

"A weasel?!" Robb gasped in surprise and the furry thing hoisted its head up and started sniffing his face.

"He's a ferret," said Lira.

"What's the difference?" Robb asked. Scout's paws started reaching towards the young boy and Lira nudged her shoulder to urge the creature to hop and land on the young boy's shoulder. He then crawled towards his other side and climbed down his arm that was still holding the dead rabbit.

"Weasels are awful animals. They're vermin," answered Minos. "Ferrets on the other hand, are fun and lively pets. And they're cute."

"That doesn't mean they're not as mischievous." Lira added. Scout inched closer and closer towards the rabbit and the drow clicked her tongue. The ferret turned to her as if asking permission. "No, that's their food, we'll hunt later," she said to the creature.

Robb let the Scout climb around his body, slinking in and out of his tunic. "Oh, I found a stag," the young boy said to Minos in between his giggles.

"Where?" asked the young noble.

"Over there..." the young boy pointed back from where he came from. Minos bent down with a grunt and followed his direction.

"What happened to your leg?" asked Lira.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later," answered Minos.

The two crouched through the foliage, trying their best to be quiet, while Robb followed behind. Coming out on the other side, Minos and Lira beheld a lone stag grazing on the forest floor, oblivious to its surroundings.

"Pretty big game, don't you think?" asked Lira.

"I only need the antlers, I can sell the rest of the meat to the villagers by the mountain," said Minos. He raised the bow up and pulled back an arrow, carefully aiming for the stag. Lira took a curious gaze at his new weapon and gave it a quick study.

"That's a fancy bow, where'd you get that?"

"Another long story. What time did you get here?"

"Break of dawn, why?" Lira reached for Minos' drawing arm and adjusted it half-an-inch higher. A force of habit that suddenly made Minos felt like a student again.

"My ass was getting kicked a few hours ago, could sure use your help."

"The foreigner was with you, wasn't she?"

"He was... is... I mean, he was wounded very badly, that's what the antlers are for."

"Hartshorn?"

"Yeah..."

"I got some."

"You do?"

"Yeah, put the bow down. Let that poor stag go."

"I'll just shoot it in the leg..."

"What? Stand down and let it go." Lira ordered.

"Come on, I just wanna shoot something!"

"You already shot that rabbit earlier."

"That was too easy."

"You hit it, yeah, but your form was terrible."

"I was tired, had a long night."

"Then rest." Lira stood up and clapped her hands together, alerting the animal. The stag propped its head up and after seeing the drow, quickly scampered away.

"Great." Minos sighed sarcastically, "you're the only hunter I know who doesn't like hunting."

"I don't hunt excessively. I only hunt for food, for medicine, and for warmth. I don't hunt when I have enough, and most importantly, I don't do it for pleasure."

"Whatever." Minos groaned like his old student self again.

"Plus, that's a three-hundred pound stag, how are you gonna carry that back to the village? With your wounded leg, huh? You didn't even bring a horse with you, wise-ass."

Lira was right, she was always right. Still, he couldn't help but feel compelled to refuse defeat, "I can drag it back..."

Lira flicked Minos' forehead with her fingers. Robb bit his lips to keep himself from laughing with amusement. He may be the youngest among the three of them, but Minos was the one getting schooled.

"Hey, you can't do that to me," Minos complained, "I'm a--" he stopped himself as he realized where he was and who was with them.

"You're a what?" Lira dared.

"I'm a grown man. You can't treat me like a child anymore."

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"I can treat you however I want. And right now, I got half the mind to drag you back to the Capital, gagged and bound if it can't be helped."

Minos sighed and pouted, dropping his shoulders in defeat.

"Come on, let's bring this hartshorn to your bodyguard so we can finally go home," Lira ordered.

"Rei's not my bodyguard," denied Minos.

"Right, cause you don't pay him."

"You're damn right, he keeps my ass safe for free. If not for him, you'll be dragging back a corpse."

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The three arrived back at the mouth of the village, with Scout snuggled comfortably over Robb's arms. Minos stopped for a moment and pulled Lira to the side.

"Put your hood back up," he whispered to the drow, "this village got attacked by a group of drows last night, seeing another drow walking about might set them off."

"I saw the burned-down house, what in Seti's breath happened here?" Lira asked Minos, as she pulled the hood of her cloak back up.

"I'll tell you all about it later..." Minos faked a smile and nodded at a villager that passed by, Lira turned her head to the side to hide her face which ironically made her look more suspicious.

"This ain't gonna work, I'll meet you back at the house with the garden." Lira motioned for Scout and the animal hopped out of Robb's arms towards hers. He scuttled up back to her shoulders and in exchange Lira gave the young boy a small clay container from one of her pouches. Robb returned his gaze back at the road for a second, then turned back again to bid his new friend goodbye and to ask about the small earthenware only to find that it was just him and Minos walking side by side.

"What? Where did they go?"

"She does that all the time," Minos said matter-of-factly, "come on." Robb raised the small container he received and showed it to the young noble, "That must be the hartshorn, hold it tight." He ushered the young boy forward and continued walking back to Trev's house.

Arriving outside the hovel, Minos checked upon the other drow he left bound on a tree. He motioned for Robb to go ahead inside and the young boy hurried towards the door, with the rabbit on one hand, while the jar of hartshorn on the other.

Minos inched closer to the captive drow and started studying the blisters that were now forming around her skin. "I realized I've never really seen what happens to an unmedicated drow when exposed to sunlight for too long. When I was a kid, I heard people saying that you would melt into a puddle, or burn to ashes. This is worse."

The drow could barely move her mouth, as a thick pus-smelling gunk had started oozing from her orifices.

"My offer is still up... maybe you'd rather die with dignity."

"What makes you think she cares about her dignity?" Lira sprang out of nowhere. If he wasn't used to it by now, she would've taken Minos by surprise. She inched closer to meet her fellow drow's face.

"Silver Moon Order." Minos said.

"Didn't know they have a cell this close to the Capital." Lira asked.

"They're not from here. Apparently, they travelled all the way across the Roewing Sea for one thing..."

"No way..." Lira fretted.

"Not the sword. The Felwyr."

"So you found him?"

"Nope, he's dead. But I found his daughter. She's right there inside," answered Minos pointing at the small hovel in front of them.

"Does she know where it is?"

"She said she doesn't. But I'm sure now that there's more to what she's letting off. You know what, let me show you something..." Minos started walking away, but Lira stayed put.

She glanced towards the horses tied on the side of the road and recognized Minos' palfrey and walked towards it. She pulled a blanket from its side and motioned for Minos to confirm it was his. She then pulled the blanket over the bound drow and made sure to cover all its exposed skin.

"Oh come on, I wanna see her melt."

Lira gave Minos a side-eye and stepped back.

"She deserves to suffer," Minos commented, "the likes of her betrays the rest of your kind."

"In her mind, I'm the one who betrays the rest of my kind."

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After getting lost among the hovels, Minos was able to lead Lira towards the tree house that Robb showed him earlier. Along the way, he caught her up as to what he had been up to since arriving at the village. He climbed up and the drow followed behind. They both crouched inside awkwardly, barely fitting in the small space of the play house that was obviously made for kids.

"We're gonna break this tree-house." Lira said.

"No we won't, come on," dismissed Minos.

The young noble pulled the box he got from the manor, the one filled with books and notes and showed them to Lira.

"And this is?"

"Everything that the Felwyr has written. Look," Minos showed to Lira the bindings of each book, as well as the covers and first few leaves, "these are not published materials. These are personal journals, notes, diaries, whatever; written by the very person who stole the sword."

Lira studied the tomes one by one, quickly flipping through the pages. She pointed out the year that was inscribed on some of the pages. Minos could be up to something. She wasn't as familiar with books as the young noble was, but even she could tell that none of these books looked like they came from a library or a stationer. She picked another one and handed it to Minos, the latter opened it after recognizing that the year matched up with the time the sword disappeared.

Minos thumbed through the book diligently, devouring its content as fast as he could. Each and every time he would find something interesting he would show it to Lira or lay it down on the floor, then he would grab another one. The exercise was slowly but surely grabbing Minos' full attention, a circumstance that the drow hunter was all too familiar with. The world around Minos disappears when something piques his interest, and all that remains is him and the object of his obsession.

Time passed slowly for Lira. She would lean on the creaky walls of the tight abode, or look and watch the village outside waiting for her protege to call her name for assistance. But for Minos, everything was passing in a tiny moment, a short splice of time stretching between research and result, between reading and knowledge, between not knowing a single thing, to knowing everything he could ever figure.

"This is it!" exclaimed Minos, awakening the drow from her glib reverie. She glanced back at the young noble, who for a brief moment appeared to her as an eleven-year old boy sprawled on the floor, too excited to read the books that were assigned to him. She tried to move closer but the wooden floors were covered with dozens of paper.

"It's a map," Minos continued. Lira tried her best to see what he was pointing out. Across the multiple pages on the floor, she could see a shape forming, but nothing that looked like a map of something, or anything. "Look..." Minos gestured towards the top part, "that's Havensport, or at least what became Havensport. Look at the shape of the river-delta."

There were moments in the past when Lira wasn't sure if Minos was talking in any sense or was merely beguiled by his own delusions. She fastidiously stared at the part that he was pointing at but to her eyes they only appear as formless shapes or scribbles.

"Look, follow this..." Minos traced his finger to the right, and as Lira's eyes followed, a uniform line became much more pronounced, "That's the northern shores of Roewing sea, that's Velais lagoon, then the Dunstig lands over here..."

The nobleman's finger continued, creating an arc until his fingers were moving in the opposite direction. Lira's eyes popped. She recognized the outlines of the coast and the shape of the land where she spent much of her childhood. "City of Soliton, and then Leona's Bay," he concluded.

Lira could not believe what she was seeing. Hidden in plain sight, across multiple pages, was a map of the continent, or at least a quarter of it. "How did you figure this out?" She gasped.

"Some of the books have coded messages, very tricky and very hard to decode, but here, on this one..." Minos started. Lira knew him well enough to know that once she let him continue, it will be harder for her to make him stop so she gestured for him to shut up.

"You know what, I don't care how you figured it out, my real question is, are you sure about this?"

"One hundred percent." Minos declared.

"That's what you said about this Felwyr business, before you left the Capital. Yet here you are now with nothing to show for it aside from a wounded leg."

"Okay, okay, sixty-ish...? No, eighty, I say eighty. Eighty percent sure." Minos grabbed an arrow from his quiver and planted its pointy head on a part of the map, right in the middle of what was supposedly the Roewing sea. "And here, on this uncharted island here, this is where Cassana's father hid the sword."

"There are hundreds of islands in the Roewing sea. You want us to go island hopping? That will take us moths, maybe even a year."

"No, I got our clues right here," Minos grabbed another tome, which has no effect on Lira because to her these books look all the same. "He documented his travels on these journals, I got our directions covered, you, being the best hunter-ranger in the whole kingdom, can easily navigate and find this place. We got this."

"I appreciate the flattery kid, but your father specifically ordered me to drag your ass back to the Capital once I see you. Island trotting with you for some stupid treasure is not part of my job."

"So what? He wouldn't know. Tell him you found me on this island, right after I found the sword. Then you can bring me back safely. I'll even let you tie me up for drama!"

Lira paused to contemplate. Minos had a point, and she remembered how much she hated it when Minos argues knowing he has a point. She will never win and the only option she had would be to grab a paralyzing melange from her pouch and knock the young noble unconscious, tie him up at the back of his horse and ride back to the Capital.

But then what? He will only escape to run away again the next day, then she'll be ordered to find and bring him home again. Minos will never stop once he is onto something. It was his sickness, his curse.

"We will need a ship." Lira added.

"We can charter a ship from Soliton, I still got gold."

"And an expert navigator who is well-versed with these waters."

Minos gestured towards her.

"I'm a navigator on land, I'm useless on the water."

"Fine, navigator, add it to the list."

"And a whole crew. This is more than just treasure hunting, this will be a full-blown expedition."

"We'll have Rei, of course. And I'm sure we can find some thrill-seeking, money-hungry adventurers in Soliton."

Lira sat still, maybe if she stalls, she can think of another way to convince herself out of this.

"So, are you in? Come on, when was the last time you had an adventure like this?"

"When your father was your age."

"See? You want this, come on, say yes."

She was about to open her mouth when she sensed footsteps coming below. "Someone's coming." She quickly disappeared in the shadows and Minos popped his head out of the tree-house's entrance.

"Minos! There you are..." It was Ashvell, standing at the bottom of the rope ladder.

The sky outside was almost dark, and Minos could feel the strain on his eyes and the fatigue on his bones. "What's up?" he asked the young driver.

"Cassana is looking for you..."

"Did she get the hartshorn?"

"Yeah, but.. it's your friend Rei, he's getting worse. Cassana wanna talk to you now, she says it's important."

"Alright, we'll be there," the words slipped out of Minos' mouth.

"You're with someone up there?"

"No, no, I mean, I'll be right behind," he excused.