“Kaala?” The old herbalist asked, a few moments after she strode through the door. The look on her wrinkled face was tired, and worried, and tinged with uncharacteristic fear.
“Quite,” the former air elemental replied, thumbing through the wares hanging by the entrance compulsively. She was always in the market for bio-luminescent butterfly blossom, either fresh or dried, and so the first thing she always did upon arrival in an herbalist’s shop was a quick scan for the tell-tale rainbow petals. Mais alas. “I’m all person-y, Mag. Did something happen?” she asked distractedly, taking the most oblique path possible to the old woman’s desk in the back. Mag gaped at her.
“The Dome came down, and the Ancient Creature came in, and everyone lost their magic,” she answered slowly, appraising the odd hermit before her. “I would ask if you lived under a rock but I know that, until recently, that would have been impossible.” Her wrinkled hands searched a nearby pile of paper, retrieved one, and slid it across the desk. Kaala swept into the guest chair and lifted the missive with delicate, alabaster fingers. She was distracted by her fingers for a moment, so it took her some time to refocus on the content of the letter.
Mag had already summarized the bulk of the note, but the bit about rune stones caught her eye immediately. Rune stones. Where had she heard that, before? Her eyes – startling blue, against the solidity of her face – scrutinized the little drawing of the stone at the bottom of the page, looking both outward and inward. Unmistakably, she had seen something like this in the past...time of some length. Kaala tapped her nose with one perfect fingernail, then shoved the paper in Archimedes’ direction, causing him to zoom about in alarm.
“Archie, don’t you think we have seen something like this?” she demanded cheerfully. The hummingbird hovered before the paper, tilting his head to-and-fro.
“You have one in your cabinet,” he confirmed, a little reluctantly. They had travelled all night to get to the Olive Grove, and now that he reminded her where she had seen the stone, no doubt they would be travelling all day back to the ruins to retrieve it.
“Excellent. Let’s go get it.”
“Couldn’t we rest for a bit?”
“You can,” Kaala replied, astonishingly. Archie gaped at her. “Stay here with Mag, and I’ll come fetch you when I am done.”
Archimedes considered this offer. It was likely that, if he were to stay, he would be there a long time – between his fairy’s complete inability to focus on a task, the unlikelihood that she would be able to find the stone quickly, her propensity for side-trips, and the possibility that she would forget she had left him, altogether...on the other hand, a vacation from her antics might be just what he needed.
But what did the realm need? Not a babbling recluse with a strange look about her and relentless curiosity, for sure.
“Nevermind. I’ll go with you, he muttered, flitting to her shoulder. “But you’re doing the walking.”
Kaala patted him cheerfully on the head, and danced back out the door.
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