“Can I get you to help me? The guard outside flew off and I can’t lower the lift down myself.” Aeron pointed back down the tunnel to the outside. The guard in the large room frowned.

“Flew off? That doesn't sound right.” He walked across the room towards the tunnel entrance. “Come back down with me, we’ll get this sorted out.”

“Of course, I really appreciate your help.”

As soon as the guard was close enough he too got a face full of powder. He dropped to the floor, his metal plate armor making a loud clanking sound. Aeron looked around worriedly, but there wasn't anyone there to see. He hefted the guard up and leaned him up against the wall. As he did he took a moment to calm his breathing down. He was used to sneaking around bandit gangs and such out in the wilderness. Here there wasn't any room to move around, you couldn’t sneak around someone in a narrow tunnel. He looked back into the room. The crystals on the wall glowed with a dim light. The walls suddenly seemed closer than they had before. He felt more exposed here than he would in an open field, which seemed strange to him.

He made his way across the room and looked into the tunnel the guard had been standing in front of. Stairs led upwards further into the tree.

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“Top hollow.” He muttered to himself, then started up the stairs. They spiraled up into other hollows, each one the same size as the room below. Each one was filled to the brim with shelves lined with wooden tablets. Each cavernous hollow he passed was empty of Sao-Vaarie guards as well. The dim honey colored lights on the wall gave the place a warm feeling that made the silence eerie. It felt like there should be Vaarie bustling around, yet everything was silent and still. He continued quietly up the stairs, peeking into each hollow until he came to the final one.

The spiral stairs straightened out into a hallway. Two guards stood at the end in front of a large door. Aeron stayed behind the corner, barely peeking out just enough to see them. One of them yawned and Aeron ducked back. They would see him coming for sure. He checked the bag at his side. Dusting even just the two guards before had used up quite a bit of it. He needed a distraction.

He snuck back down the stairs until he came into the hollow below them. Shelves filled the room and the only other exit was a balcony on the other end. Against the walls were desks stacked with blank wooden tablets and metal styluses. He walked over to one of them and picked up some of the empty tablets. He set them near the metal stylus and pulled out his fire starting flint.

“Oh Teshi, forgive me, but it's for a good cause.”