He had wallowed in his shame and wounded feelings for longer than he ought, but he allowed himself a little leeway for the fever that had laid him low. Now he had to try and pick up the dropped threads and weave them back into a semblance of order. Walking among the places where lost souls might have lingered had been an easier place to begin, in some ways, than returning to the place where it had all begun to unravel. Still, Jigano steeled himself as he stepped into the Atheneum where he had done so much of his work, around which so much of his life had come to revolve. He trailed his fingers along the spines of books he had come to know as well as the regular patrons of the place, walking slowly back towards the guild he had locked behind him when he and Kiada had absconded with a treasure trove of books.
The notices for renovation and the warrant were torn down easily enough, but Edrei had marked the doors so deeply that only magic or a complete refit of the portals would be required, and his fingers lingered over the carving there, grief and melancholy sinking into his bones.
He took a shuddering brief and pulled out the key he had kept with him, though Amalia now bore the official title of Provost. She had taken it upon herself to save the guild from Zariah's tyranny, but many of the Hall's secrets remained Jigano's, even if his fingers shook and fumbled the key before slotting it into the lock.
Down the stairs he went, Isuma bounding merrily ahead, the shuttered lantern in his hand shedding dim light as he reached the hall proper and began to light the lanterns kept for those times when the glowstones in the chandelier were uncharged. There were doors to open, traps to disarm, and reflected sun to return to the hall from the sunken windows in his office and the reading room along the southern side of the building.
He smiled wanly at Isuma's antics chasing dust bunnies as he began to clean, sweeping and dusting as his hands shook and his temper balanced between melancholy and anger that there was no one to help him.How could there be, when he had told no one that he was returning? As he cleaned a shelf in the main room his eyes caught upon a manuscript that had been stored there by some helpful hand, out of order with the rest of the books on the shelf. Curious, he pulled it out and went to sit at the table, opening it gently to discover what was written within.
This is the Leafchange 309 use of the Broken Spectacles
The notices for renovation and the warrant were torn down easily enough, but Edrei had marked the doors so deeply that only magic or a complete refit of the portals would be required, and his fingers lingered over the carving there, grief and melancholy sinking into his bones.
He took a shuddering brief and pulled out the key he had kept with him, though Amalia now bore the official title of Provost. She had taken it upon herself to save the guild from Zariah's tyranny, but many of the Hall's secrets remained Jigano's, even if his fingers shook and fumbled the key before slotting it into the lock.
Down the stairs he went, Isuma bounding merrily ahead, the shuttered lantern in his hand shedding dim light as he reached the hall proper and began to light the lanterns kept for those times when the glowstones in the chandelier were uncharged. There were doors to open, traps to disarm, and reflected sun to return to the hall from the sunken windows in his office and the reading room along the southern side of the building.
He smiled wanly at Isuma's antics chasing dust bunnies as he began to clean, sweeping and dusting as his hands shook and his temper balanced between melancholy and anger that there was no one to help him.
This is the Leafchange 309 use of the Broken Spectacles
