THE BOOK
Dusk came quickly, and I was not entirely ready to begin my third quest. I stood on the steps of the Shears with a bouquet of flowers, a riot of colors against the white granite shell of the building. I craned my neck at the massive structure in front of me, often referred to as The White Jewel of the South.
If the Institute was one of the oldest buildings in the city, then the Shearson Library was its grandest. Larger than even the Institute, it housed more knowledge in the form of scrolls and books than any other single place in the known world. Stewards from every kingdom and country pilgrimaged to the Shears to study, scribe, and learn. The height of the building was only superseded by its depth—an underground labyrinth of rooms and halls that may never have been fully explo
