In thought Gael was walking through the hallways of the University. His footsteps echoed in the empty hallway. He was on his way to the dorm where Estelle had assigned him a bed. Gael tried to make sense of the whole journey. He was ruling out places to search for the flower. The file said that the little hindsblue was a typical meadow flower. From his experience Gael knew that these kind of plants were notorious for also growing in forest clearings. But doubt had set in. Signing up for the case was the easy part. The University was where he wanted to be, and now he let himself been send of on some treasure hunt. Maybe he could still go back to the professor De Brún and apply for the internship.

Then he felt someone grab him by the arm. Gael jumped and forcefully pulled his arm free. There stood a surprisingly small woman in blue professors robes, whose unkempt appearance made her look older than she actually was. Two wide open eyes looked at Gael from under a sea of dull brown curls. Behind the woman was a door with a sign: Department of the Inexplicable.

  ´Oh sorry, I didn't mean to startle you´, she said with a soft voice.

  ‘Is it you who is going to search for the little hindsblue?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Gael slightly surprised, ‘That travels quickly’.

  ‘I have a special interest in that flower. Do you have any idea where it could be?

Gael hesitated for a second. He knew the department of the inexplicable. It was meant to be a place where the life's mysteries could be theorised. But it got overtaken by the superstitious and now it just delves in the spiritual and the arcane. Gael always thought the department made more questions than it answered. He doubted if a professor of this department could be of much help, but it wouldn't hurt to share his thoughts either.

  ‘Well it being a small meadow plant, I think it would be best to look in clearings within hunting forests in the region where the flower had been sighted. And I can’t really believe it will bloom for only one night, so in the week of the full moon I will just visit several of these forests. That’ll give me the highest chance of finding it’.

Hearing himself say that made him feel more confident about the whole search.

  ‘Interesting’, the professor said and turned around and went inside the department. Gael stayed behind in the hallway, asking himself if this was the end of the conversation. The chaotic mess of curls came around the corner.

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  ‘Come on’, she said and made a quick hand gesture. Gael entered the department of the inexplicable. The room was filled with curiosities. On the walls were drawings of plants Gael didn't know. He saw a frame with what appeared to be a skeleton of a man the size of a hand. In the department there was also a young man behind a desk on the other side of the room. He was reading a book. When their eyes met Gael nodded politely, but the young man slowly turned back to his book.

  ‘You might want to visit the forest of Yeavinkhall’, the tiny woman said, as she was staring at a map.

  ‘It matches your description. There is believed to be mysterious energy there.’

Gael sighed as his suspicions seemed to be true.

  ‘The local villagers are very protective. They won’t allow anyone to leave at night’, The woman added. Gael snapped out of his disappointment.

  ‘There is a forest, which people won’t enter at night?’ Gael asked in disbelief.

  ‘The town has walls and gates which no one is allowed to leave at night’.

  ‘If people won't go into the forest at night, they couldn't have picked the hindsblue’, Gael said excited.

  ‘That may be, but there has to be a reason why they have the walls’, she said. But Gael wasn't listening. He wasn't superstitious at all. Gael had spent enough nights in forests to be utterly unaffected by the fear of the supernatural. He even somewhat enjoyed himself out in the woods at night. This would be his best chance of finding the flower. The thought of going back to professor De Brún left his mind. He thanked the professor, and with newfound courage he left the department of the inexplicable.