{-Myr-}

“Sorry for scaring you earlier! And this mess. Oh, were things really this out of place when I left..? I swear I’m not usually this organized. Or maybe not. I—I don’t get a lot of visitors so I’m usually not prepared! I swear if I knew I’d run into you I would’ve cleaned up!” Esaphi gave a nervous chuckle at the ‘mess’—everything seemed pretty standard for a cave, in Myr’s eyes, except for a carefully-cared-for blanket in the corner—and turned to the twins. “Really, I didn’t think I’d see you two out in the middle of the mountains!”

“I wasn’t expecting to see you, either!” Myr said excitedly. “But I’m glad we did. We were looking for you! I was beginning to worry we wouldn’t be able to find you!”

“You were? Is it something important? Do you need me for anything? I don’t get visitors unless they want something. And usually not the good kind of something.”

Llewel shook his head and managed a small smile of his own. “No, we’re just here to talk. It’s been a while since we were last together, we figured we’d take the time to do it now that we’re in Ilataesi.”

Esaphi immediately let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s good. I’m guessing you remember what we did, then..? I’ve heard a bunch of things, from some NPCs that would wander up here and my parents. I didn’t get my hopes up because I didn’t know if it was really you or if you’d remember me…”

“Of course we remember you! Pretty much all of our memories are back now,” Myr answered in a bright tone, even if all three seemed to have some nervous feelings about it. She decided there was no point in dwelling on it for long. “So, is this where you’ve been living..? It’s… emptier than what I was hoping it would be. There’s not really anything in here at all…”

“This is… temporary,” Esaphi explained. She went to fix the blanket, if not just in an attempt to occupy herself. “I was actually staying at where those workers are now. They came suddenly enough that I didn’t have time to collect it all before I had to leave. I hope they didn’t do anything to them…” She shook her head. “Let’s not talk about that right now. All of you can have a seat over there, sorry it’s not the most welcome of places. Have you two been okay? I heard you’d been going around the other regions of Masylm again, is that nice? Who’s the other three with you..? I don’t recognize them.”

Myr was more than happy to clear things up. “Zetai, Reynneak, and Tinath! They’re all players. We met Zetai and Reynneak while we were still in Nafrius, but Tinath joined us while we were at Kehnore.”

“So they’re all friends of yours?”

“Mhm! We’ve been traveling around Masylm with them.”

“It’s good that you’ve got company. You never know what you might run into…” Esaphi shot the players a small smile. “It’s nice to meet you. I feel a little more at ease already knowing that Llewel and Myr have you two with them. You all look pretty reliable.”

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Zetai confidently declared, “Trust me, you don’t have to worry about them as long as they’re with us. We’re not going to let anything happen to them.” The other two expressed a more subtle agreement, one that perhaps lended better to their actual capabilities of doing what she said. They wanted to, sure—but they’d had some experience by now to know that there’s a difference between want to and can.

Myr then took the risk to prompt, “What about you? You’ve been doing okay, right?”

Esaphi seemed to consider it rather deeply, before nodding. “I guess it’s about as good as it can be. I’m talking with my parents again—they’re both doing well. There’s a couple more understanding players who always come back to deliver other letters for me, even if they’re not for quests. I had a pretty good arrangement, too, at where I was living before the workers showed up.”

“We wanted to ask about that,” Reynneak said in a casual but cautious way. “We probably don’t need to mention why. Do you know anything more about what they’re doing there?”

“Not a lot. Well, not enough to be useful, anyway. I didn’t stay around for long, I didn’t want them to know that I was there. Only one of them is actually nice to me whenever I run into them, but she wasn’t there, so I didn’t want to risk getting seen.” She took to nervously wandering around the cave, eventually sitting down next to the blanket and fumbling with its edge. Seeing her like this, Myr almost wanted to divert the subject for her, but she knew that this was something important. “They’re in a lot of the mountains around the area—especially the ones with runes in them. What exactly they’re doing in them I’m not sure, but it’s definitely something. I don’t know if they realize or not that I can feel a portion of whatever it is.”

“So whatever it is has to do with runes?” Llewel asked with a concerned frown. “Here I was hoping it might be something slightly less worrying…”

Tinath seemed to remember something important but, instead of sharing, insisted, “Are you sure you don’t know what they’re doing? Any bit helps. Even if it’s just a feeling.”

“Do you think you know what it is?” Zetai questioned, glancing at Tinath. “Willing to share it with us?”

“I’ve got a guess, and I would tell you, but I want to make sure I’m right first. I don’t want to stress anyone out for no reason.” Tinath’s hawk gave Esaphi a seeming-unintentional glare. “So?”

Esaphi nervously shuffled and mumbled something none of them could hear.

“Can’t we try to figure it out on our own?” Myr tried, happy to see that she’d earned at least a bit of Esaphi’s admiration. “Or at least not demand to know something? She’s not comfortable answering…”

“Well, it’s definitely something with the runes,” Esaphi muttered after a moment. “I don’t think they have a reason to make less of them. So that just leaves them trying to make more.”

Everyone’s next question they turned to Tinath for the answer for, given the fact she definitely didn’t like what Esaphi had said.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. And trust me—it’s worse than what it sounds.” Tinath paused, though. “I just want to confirm something. Myr, have you had a headache since we encountered those workers?”

Myr slowly nodded. “Mhm.”

Tinath sighed. “Then I’ve got a little bit more explaining to do.”