It felt like such a big, important thing for Haris to bring them all together—even if it wasn’t uncommon, especially before dinner, for him to share a story from the Commandments. But he didn’t have a book with him this time and he didn’t pray at the beginning. This had to be for something special. Little Minne’s excitement over what it could be was clear, squeezing between Umber and Zenas in order to see what was on the table.
“I’ve told you all about the Minotaur,” Haris mused. “How it’s a beast locked within the Anysia Caverns, the same cave system that follows the paths of the ley lines… Now it’s time I share with you the story of the Keys and how they can open up these caverns.
“When Peiros created the caverns, he made a lock and its keys. The lock is an old willow tree right here in Idale. The keys are five specific mortals—characterics that the five of you possess. These characteristics are those of the Bear, the Fox, the Rabbit, the Cat, and the Eagle, belonging to Minne, Kiraat, Takane, Umber, and Zenas, respectively. I believe it’s time that you open up the way to the caverns.”
“Won’t the Minotaur escape?” Zenas asked, more curious than fearful.
“It takes more than that to let it out,” was his simple reply. “In order to let him out, we would need to unlock several other locations, which we can’t get to right now. But one is enough to enter.”
Takane sighed. “You’re insistent on getting this done as soon as possible, aren’t you?”
“None of us know what tomorrow might hold for us; we might as well do whatever we can today so that, if we leave tomorrow, we have no regrets.” Haris stood up, grabbed his coat, and gestured for the rest of them to do the same.
Minne couldn’t be bothered by the way the neighbors watched them, at least not at that age; it wasn’t even something she cared to acknowledge until looking back at the memory in hindsight. They had looks of confusion, some showing a kind of superstition creeping into their expression. Haris always attracted a crowd. Not only was it uncommon to see a child of Fleyw Bresh (or his goblin friend, for that matter) in this part of Seothia, but there was generally thought to be something off about him. The kids, though, saw nothing but a father figure in him until they were old enough to wonder about the strange circumstances themselves.
He showed them to the weeping willow tree right in the center of town. The other families and children that had been gathered there quickly dispersed, leaving them to do whatever they needed to.
Haris instructed them each on where to go. He sounded so excited that the rest of them got excited too (except for, perhaps, Takane), despite no one else truly knowing what was going to happen. Then he gave one last piece of instruction: that they walk up to the tree, one by one, and let the spirits of those who came before them guide them towards what they needed to say.
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Minne didn’t remember what she or any of the others said. That wasn’t the part that made the memory stick with her. It was what happened after that that left the biggest impact.
Every little part of Idale seemed to light up in that moment. Specks of colorful light danced around in the air as it passed through the entire town, creating life wherever it fell. The bushes and grass that had been dulled by the coming winter were brightening back up as if it was the peak of spring. It did, somehow, become a little warmer as Idale formed something of a bubble around itself; it was in the perfect state, even while everything else around it remained as seasons demanded it be.
Haris smiled. “It works… Perhaps one day I’ll truly be able to see all that’s locked away in those caverns of mysteries.”
Takane seemed to notice something that no one else did. “Admire it all you want, and be sure to try to explain it to them, too. I’m taking the kids back home before they get in the middle of whatever they’re thinking of.” She nodded to the other townspeople; if they weren’t giving the six of them wary glances, then they were mumbling to each other in a way that didn’t sound particularly friendly.
“Ah, good idea,” he remarked after he looked around. “Get dinner ready and I’ll meet you there as soon as everything’s settled.”
Takane wordlessly ushered the other four back through the streets and into their home. Another thing only to be noticed afterwards was that she locked the door and pulled the curtains closed, too. She was expecting a lot more than slight concern and protest.
None of the kids paid attention to her actions, however. Zenas and Umber, though they probably should’ve been quieter, immediately went to talk about it. Kiraat eventually joined in with a more subdued excitement and Minne would’ve if Takane hadn’t asked for her help preparing dinner.
What they did never really sunk in during the time where it mattered the most. She, at least, didn’t piece everything together until after Haris died; it took her several more years to even begin to scratch the surface of why he’d been so set on doing what he was, or what he sacrificed to bring all of them to that point.
Takane, the single time Minne dared to ask, had given a much vaguer response than she’d been hoping for. “Haris was always curious about the Caverns and the ley lines. He wanted to do whatever he could to learn more about them and never stopped trying to get to them himself.”
Casper never let her actually talk to Kiraat, but what little she was able to find in a brief visit to Idale had a bit of information. A letter with Haris’s handwriting somehow hidden in the kitchen read, “Thank you again for all that you have done for me so far, Sarah. It is through your generosity and Orestis’s careful planning that I find myself so close to another discovery. I pray you have just as much luck as I have and we are both able to live fulfilling lives in this unfamiliar land.”
Minne even asked Kamila, after their relation to each other came to light. The only thing she could say was, “Mom helped Uncle Haris get to Seothia. She’d already been living here for a while and they were able to pull enough money together to get him and his goblin friend to Idale. They wrote letters to each other up until the day he died.”
Eventually she had to settle with the hope that it was something she could ask him herself one day; the day that they were reunited in Vriuh’s domain.