Submission (#4704) Approved

[RQ-B-1] Abandoned Abodes

Quest: Resonance - Act 2
Act Type: Exploration
Word Count: 1120
Adult Elnin Present: Aria [ELN1800]
Regional Affinity: Ealei
Claiming Regional Affinity for: Pollux [ELN2697]
[Adventurer] Rank Unlock Mini-Requirement: Exploration + Adventuring Outfit

After his morning meet-up with Apollo, their mum had come looking for them, as Pollux had agreed to help Aria do some shopping. After saying goodbye to his brother, the two went back to town. While Pollux didn’t mind helping out, he wondered why his mother didn’t bring Apollo instead. Well, he supposed aside from him already making arrangements with dad, it seemed like his brother would be the better option, considering how outgoing and social he was. It wasn’t hard for him to make small talk with the local townsfolk, and appease the Ieldi whenever they dropped by to coo over how cute he was.

Perhaps Aria decided to bring Pollux instead since he was more reserved, and considering the townsfolk knew he didn’t enjoy chatter as much as his brother, they generally left him alone. Despite his mother worrying over his antisocial personality, she herself was more on the timid side and often got overwhelmed with crowds. Having Pollux as a slight deterrent to the amount of folks who would approach them probably helped.

Well, speculations aside, it wasn’t like he disliked spending time with his mother. The two got along fairly well with minimal chatter. They focused on their shopping list, dropping by the various stores to pick up some ingredients for tonight’s dinner. After they had gathered most of what they could in town, it was time to do a bit of traveling. For fish, they would have to go to Port Pthalo. They reached their destination a bit past noon, and while Aria talked to the fishernin at the docks to negotiate a price for their recent catch, Pollux decided to have a look around.

While Pollux had met Apollo at the docks, it was closer to Nalnalo, a short distance from Yggdrasil. He supposed this wasn’t technically a gulf, but the water here did lead out towards the sea. It was hard to see the rocky outcrops from here, as a majority of Port Pthalo was the docks and mangroves, but he did recall them passing through here when they traveled here from Silveil by sea.

He heard footsteps, and turned to see his mother approaching him with a troubled expression. At first he wondered if she wasn’t able to work out a deal with them for the fish, but he saw her carrying a small bundle which he assumed was the wrapped fish.

She explained that the fish she got needed various herbs to be prepared properly, but they could only be found in Skyhaven. Considering their current location and the time it would take to pretty much make their way all across Ealei, it would be well into nightfall. Nevermind the trek being quite arduous, the fresh fish they had gotten likely wouldn’t last until then either.

She supposed she could try to make do with what they had, but similar to Pollux, she didn’t like to cut corners, nor take the easy way out. While trying to figure out what to do, Pollux asked if the fishernin had any ice on them. If they could at least keep the fish cool, this should prevent it from spoiling quickly. And during their first week in Ealei, he and Apollo had done a lot of exploring (or perhaps more accurately, Apollo had dragged him around on his excursions), so he had a rough idea of some shortcuts they could take to shorten their travel time a bit, even if it meant the paths were a bit less traveled.

After discussing this with his mother, she agreed that they would at least try. If they felt they weren’t up to the trip part way through, they would just return home and do the best with what they had.

To prepare for the trip, Aria wrapped a cloak around Pollux, and provided him with a pair of gloves and boots. Their bags were already partially full with some of the groceries they had picked up in town, but he made sure they had some of the travel essentials they’d need, such as rope, matches, and the fishernin were kind enough to provide him with a compass and telescope as well as an extra map.

After making sure they were thoroughly prepared, the two began to make their trek. Over rocks and roots and pools of water, Pollux made sure to keep an eye on the terrain as he and his mother made their way to Skyhaven.

Despite taking the best paths possible, they still ended up reaching Skyhaven just before nightfall. The ice had all but melted, but it seemed the fish were still ok for now. While his mother talked with the locals on where to acquire the spices, Pollux walked around the vicinity, fascinated by all the glowing crystals around. Considering the city was nestled deep within Yggrasil, he wondered if they got their power from the eldertree itself, and perhaps the crystals were powered by the mana from the tree.

As he walked around a bit, he stumbled upon an abandoned abode. It looked like it used to be a shack of some sort, but had fallen to decay, overrun by mangrove roots. Broken stone pillars were scattered about, while the crystals offered a bit of illumination. Curiously, he peeked in, seeing weathered journals and discarded papers with writing much too worn out to be read. Did a scholar once live here? He wondered how long it had been.

The light from the crystals reflected off something that caught his eye, and it turned out to be a rusted sword with some etchings in it. Considering how weathered it was, it was probably quite old. Excitement coursed through his veins, as he wondered if it was from a previous era, or if there were other artifacts nearby. Apollo would probably be interested in this kind of thing, and he-

“Ah, there you are.”

A voice made him jump, and he turned to see his mother looking at him with a soft smile on her face. Unable to help himself, he gushed to her about the possibilities of the sword and the things he could discover if he was able to examine it closer.

She laughed and nodded. The locals had told her about this place, and that the resident who had once lived here had moved away quite some time ago. If Pollux wanted, he could take the sword with him, as it no longer belonged to anyone nor did the residents have any use for it. They also told her that the mana from the crystals should help light their path and keep their produce fresh.

With sword and spices in hand, the two began to make their way back home.