On Bated Breath We Wait

Chapter 7 (part 1)

I woke up my heart racing, I had dreamt of something strange but I could not remember what. Rather than dwelling on it, I got up and started my day; it was like any other but I had planned to go to the general store. As I made my way there, I could hear that pouch of money Nathan gave me made noise with every step; it filled me with unease to have so much money. Even when I got home yesterday I couldn’t bring myself to see how much was in there. As I got to the store and began talking with its owner about all the items I wanted, they stopped to ask if I would have enough coin. In the end I ended up getting a calendar, materials to write with, a dozen candles, matches, various things to cook with, as well as various things to cook. Without batting an eye the owner said it was going to cost me three and a half silver to get everything I wanted. I hesitated, before opening the pouch to peak inside. Every coin was gold. Nathan, or should I say grandfather, gave me more coin than most people see in their entire lives. I held my breath, pulled out one coin and asked, “Can you make change for a gold?” I can say I had never seen someone get so happy instantly, just to make change. I knew that most of the Temple’s people had never seen a gold coin, there wasn’t a need. Almost everything in the Temple could be bought for a few copper, and it was only in the event that someone bought something extravagant or someone got married that several silver would be spent all at once. The owner happily packed up my things before sending me away with them. As I walked away I could hear them excitedly calling their partner and their children to come and see the coin.

With my arms full of everything I had just bought, I made my way back to my room. It felt as if everyone that saw me had their eyes glued to me; because of the sheer volume of things I had, anyone could tell that it cost a lot. But it felt as if I was always being watched, as I rounded corners into empty hallways I still had the feeling I was being watched. I brushed it off and made it all the way back, as I got inside I got to work finding a place for everything. The calendar and writing supplies I put at the desk, anything cooking related in the kitchen. But I couldn’t think where to place the candles and matches. I ended up settling on having the majority of the candles spread around the room on the various bookshelves and for the matches I placed them in the drawer of the desk alongside the key to the chest. With everything put away my mind started to think on where I wanted to start in my efforts into looking into my father’s research.

Rather than actually starting, I procrastinated by starting a list of things to do. Number one on that list was to figure out what he was researching. Second was in case I can’t figure out number one, ask Meryl; being that she was the attendant to this hallway she might have an idea. The third was to read and understand the books and other materials my father had in this room. Lastly, I wanted to see if I could use any of the knowledge I had to help others in the Temple.

I started to look through my father’s loose papers to see what he had been writing, as I thought that they would provide a clue to what he was researching. I ended up finding a large collection of them that had been placed on a bookshelf, but luckily for me my father dated his work. The majority of those notes were random ideas on things he could do to help either the Temple or someone, knowledge that would be helpful if I ever got to number four on my list. Three papers I felt were important, as the papers mentioned something my father thought was strange in the Temple. The rest of the page was his comments on it and a little bit of information if he looked into it. I decided that I would look into each of them and see if I could get a better insight into my father’s thinking, but which one to start with. The three pages were about the following subjects. Missing goods within and around the Temple, paranoia in people in the Temple, and lastly strange plants growing around the Temple. As I looked over them, I ended up picking the one about the plants as I had both grandfather Nathan I could ask but also Duran’s father.

But whom to choose, in the end I picked Duran’s father as I believe he might have a better idea of what my father considered strange plants. I made my way to their home only to find an exhausted Duran who I believe I had woken up. As I asked where his dad was, Duran struggled to keep his eyes open and started to give me instructions on how to get where he was. I thanked Duran, wished him well and headed off. It wasn’t much of a trip through the Temple to find where Duran had directed me to, but as I tried to open the door it didn’t budge and so I knocked assuming it was locked.

Duran’s father cracked the door and saw me, “What can I do for you, Nikos,” he asked?

“I have questions about something my father had noticed, something he called strange plants,” I stated looking him in the eye. He opened the door fully and waved me in, my eyes struggled as sunlight washed over me. So many questions I had about this room, a greenhouse in the Temple; but rather than get off topic I asked again, “So do you think you can help me?”

“Yeah, I think I can help you. Your father often asked me about plants too, so you might just be asking about something I already looked into for him,” he continued to walk around the greenhouse before stopping at a tall desk that was tucked against one of the walls. There he opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of papers, “Okay, let’s figure out which one of your father’s requests you are asking about.”

Dumbstruck by the volume of papers that he had just pulled out I asked, “Are all of those my father’s requests?” He informed me that my father wasn’t shy to ask questions; as I read off the page I had he flipped through the pages.

As I read the final part off, he looked up at me and said, “ I don’t think I ever got that request from your father, I guess we should figure it out then.” As I handed it over to him, he commented that my father was very detailed this time. Each strange plant was described, lightly sketched, and notated where the plant was. He broke his focus from reading the paper and stated, “It looks like your father has plants listed all over the Temple; I don’t have time to help with today. If only Duran were here like he was supposed to be.”

“Suppose to be?” I asked, wondering what he meant.

“Duran started training with his mother yesterday, and he was suppose to be here today with me. But this morning he could barely move; that i***t was bruised so badly he is at home resting all day,” he ranted before adding, “Unless, you can help me. Consider it payment for my time; but I’m also going to teach you. Everyone should know a bit of botany.” It sounds like a fair deal to me and so I agreed.

We started with something he called simple, how to harvest from plants. Simple it was not as each plant had its own rules for how to harvest from it to not harm the plant; even more so some plants had different rules depending on what your were harvesting from them. From there we moved on to harvesting from several different plants and as we harvested from them he described what the plant was good for and its many uses. As we finished up each plant, he questioned me on the plant and its possible uses. Before long we finished up what he wanted to do for the day and he led me back to the door; as we left he locked the door behind him. We quickly made our way to the first strange plant on the list. As he inspected he used a small wooden rod to move the plant so he didn’t touch it. He traced the stem of the plant back to a c***k in the ground, “Hmmm, interesting. It has the attributes of several plants, but I’ve never seen this one.” He began to walk away from the plant before mentioning that he would come back later to collect all of the plants, if they were unique like that one was. The second plant ended up being a pumpkin vine, being nothing special he removed the plant and tossed it outside. From there he suggested we skip to the last plant on the list, as it was much closer. As we rounded the corner he stopped; confused I asked him about it. He said that he thought he heard something but was mistaken. Down that hallway we found the plant, he was instantly enamored by the plant.

He motioned me to come closer, and as I bent down beside him I saw him pointing to the plant, “Now, what is special about this plant?” As I looked at the plant, he egged me to guess what was special. I admitted I didn’t know, only for him to ask, “Where is the sun?” I looked around and it dawned on me, the plant was growing without sun. The nearest window was easily twenty feet away. The last two plants on the list were equally interesting to him but he only said they were used in medicine but were rare and difficult to grow.

I still felt that something about this paper was important however I didn’t know what and so I asked, “Do you think my father was going to ask you about anything interesting this time around?” He shrugged, and casually mentioned that not every time my father asked about plants turned out to be anything interesting. We ended up walking back to his home, I thanked him for his time and insight and as I began to leave he mentioned, “You should look into a book your father had, he liked to talk about it with me.” He paused, attempting to remember the book's name before saying, “Light eaters, that was the name.” I thanked him again and left.

Back at home I searched for the book and quickly found it. I had passed it off as fiction but even so it might be a good read. I was right, it was an enjoyable book about a boy and his fear of darkness; in the boy’s efforts to not be afraid of the dark learned there was nothing to be afraid of. As I finished the final page I saw that my father had written something on the inner side of the book‘s back cover it read….

*It’s not the darkness one should fear but the things inside it. A little girl once explained to me what lies in the shadows and what they are. Do nothing in the darkness of a room unless you wish to invite them to see. Ask the Kelts and you too shall learn.*

Clearly my father left that note for me, but what was he referring to. It ended up taking me until the next Livus to run into Meryl. In the brief moment I saw her I asked her about shadows only for her to say I should ask her father. When I asked where I could find him she told me that if he wasn’t on an envoy mission, one could always find him in the library. Before I had a chance to thank her she was already gone.

As I walked into the library I could tell that it was going to be difficult finding him here. Rows upon rows of bookshelves filled the large room. Walking around I found countless people sitting down reading with either a stack of books in front of them or taking notes from the book they were reading. Eventually I found him, but I hesitated; not knowing how to address the subject, “Um, Meryl’s father?”

He turned to me and asked what I needed, I quickly said, “My father left a note in a book, and it said to ask the Kelts. I tried to ask Meryl but she told me to come and find you.”

He raised an eyebrow before saying, “Did she know and what was your question?” I explained what the note said only for him to stop me. He asked me to follow him, as the knowledge of what I wanted to talk about wasn’t for everyone. I ended up following him out of the library, he led me down a series of hallways and up several staircases, before long we were in the Summit Sanctum. Light flooded into the room from every angle illuminating the heavy detailed stone floor and as he reached the center of the room turned to me and stated, “This is the place to speak of such things. You ask about the darkness and the things that are in it, yet do so where they can be. Before I get started I will let you know that I’m only willing to tell you because it’s clear your father knew and wanted you to know. We called them Shadows, as that is what they are. They are creatures of shadow that exist only in the darkness; we do not know of their purpose but we do know they are great in number. From what we have learned, they are always watching and listening so it is best not to do anything important in front of them. As per how to get rid of them, light is the answer; the stronger the light the less likely they are to return. I cannot say how to see them as it isn’t my place, nor do I have the authority. You would need the permission from the elders to be allowed to learn what the envoys know. Any questions?”

I was in disbelief, the idea that something was in the shadows of the Temple seemed farfetched. Before long I realized something and asked, “Are the Shadows the reason I always feel like I’m being watched?”

“Very astute of you to notice,” he commented. He continued on, “Very astute indeed, maybe I’ll send word to the elders giving you my blessing. I don’t know if it will help get you the permissions you seek but it might be a start.” Instantly his voice began stern, “This is not something that can be undone. If I give you my blessing you will be taught many things; not just the things you wish to know.” From there he asked if I had any more questions and I couldn’t think of any but one.

“Why is that I cannot look away from this place,” I asked; hoping to have an understanding of this place. Only for him to place a finger to his lips and begin to shake his head no.

I tried to repeat the question only for his eyes to fully open and I thought I heard him say, “Please don’t.“ From there he quickly let me out of the sanctum all the way back to the library. As he sat back down to continue his work, he pulled out a small piece of paper and wrote, “To know more about that place find the blueprints to the Temples first design.” I nodded as I grabbed that small piece of paper and left.

The next few days I tried to piece together what I had learned. The strange plants, Shadows, and the mystery of the Summit Sanctum; each one led me to the next was coincidental or by my father’s design. But the whole thing seemed like a big puzzle, and I had only just connected the first few pieces. I turned my attention back to the papers that started this. I had looked into the paper about the plants, and I believe that the other one about paranoia was really because of the Shadows. Now was to look at the last one, maybe it would have another clue to this puzzle. Looking over it I really didn’t understand what I was looking at, as it was mostly just a list of several dates with numbers beside them. It became an obsession, as I spent night and day for about a week trying to figure out what they meant, only for the answer just to be given to me by someone passing by me while I was in the mess hall one night at dinner. I had been so focused on the dates while trying to figure this out that I had ignored the numbers. They informed me that it looked like a merchants log of sales, so really the list was the date and whom the merchant sold to.

I sprinted home once they pointed that out to me; I had seen something like that in my father’s books. It wasn’t any merchant, it was him and his logs of who he helped; it was an old journal labelled, “odd jobs”. I quickly panned through the book looking for the dates, within a few pages I noticed that I was already past the first date my father had noted on the paper. Flipping back I searched for 278,5.5.5.3.7 otherwise known as the 278 year of the Fifth Era the month of Grunk on the third Deavus and there I found it; on the first page as the first entry with just one word beside it, “Envoy”. It seemed the more I looked into what my father did, the more it tied to the envoy. I hoped that something would come of Meryl’s father or should I say Valentine Saverm‘s recommendation. Getting information about the envoy wouldn't be easy as many details about the envoy were kept as closely guarded secrets; but it seems that maybe those secrets weren’t as closely guarded as a thought. Rather than press my luck, I decided to wait and see if my recent luck would pay off.

For weeks I heard nothing from the elders and my hopes were diminishing. But as I woke up each morning to read I slowly noticed something. Each morning when there wasn’t much cloud cover, something in the distance from my window would shine a bright beam of light into the room. The moment I realized what I had seen, countless times I rushed to get Meryl; lucky for me I found her at home reading after a day's work. As I eagerly asked her to come to my room to show her something she laughed and said, “Oh? Did you finally realize?”

Only for me to respond, “Yes. Yes! Come and see,” before running back to my room. Minutes passed before Meryl came in, and in the short time I was waiting she had changed into a dress. As I asked her to close the door she blushed. Once it was closed a blurted out, “Okay, question…” as I started to point to the window, “… on clear days like this one, in the mornings something out there reflects light into this room lighting everything up. Would that be enough light to destroy Shadows?”

I looked back to her to see her biting her lip before saying with a deep sign, “Yes, it would. Now is that all?”

“I think so, but I think my father figured out a way to make this room self cleansing of Shadows,” I said excited by my own discovery.

Meryl started to leave before saying, “Sounds like you still have a lot more to learn then; maybe next time learn something about yourself.”

About myself. I began to wonder what she meant by it. Maybe she meant something that my father had already taught me? As I thought about everything he taught me over the years I couldn’t think of a thing that Meryl would have known he taught me. Various things like how to cook and clean were basic knowledge that most parents taught their children but my father had a knack for teaching me the weirdest things he knew. Things like don’t whistle after sunset, never answer a voice you cannot see, and my favorite always carry salt, as you will never know when you need it. Now that I think about it, my father was superstitious and believed some strange things, but I don't think Meryl knew about any of them. In the end, I concluded that she meant that sometimes you need to improve yourself and not just learn things. Practical knowledge only goes so far.

Since I had no new leads on what to do, I chose to follow Meryl’s advice. Over the next few weeks since I helped out Duran’s father I had only run into Duran at dinner time. Normally he was now either tired from his day training with his mom or his normal talkative self at dinner. In one of our conversations when he wasn’t exhausted I asked about his mom’s training and what it was like. He described it as tough but rewarding but wouldn’t go into any details. Fully expecting to get turned down, one time I asked if I could join him one day; his eyes lit up with both joy and worry. In the end he said he would have to check with his mom first. The timing seemed to line up perfectly, the same day Meryl told me to work on myself, Duran got back to me saying I could join them tomorrow and to get ready for a workout.

I showed up the next morning at dawn at their door, as I knocked his mom answered the door. She signed letting me know that Duran was still asleep and I could go wake him; since I knew how grumpy he could be when he was tired I passed. About an hour passed before he woke up and during said time his mother explained to me what we were going to be doing for training today since I was joining them. In her words, “Duran has been practicing combat with a staff lately. While he had gotten good with it, nothing can train you against someone who is untrained.”