Will You See How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes?

The Loreseekers were expanding and becoming a Name in the Settlement, something that filled Jigano’s heart with pride. People were starting to come to them with questions in need of answering, and quests in need of fulfilling, minds hungry for knowledge and learning. One such mind had made its way to Loreseeker Hall while he’d been poring over his cipher for one of the languages he’d finally cracked, after months of studying it from a variety of books he’d pulled from the shelves. It was another herbal, like the first book Samuel had shown him, but this one—

Ah, but he was digressing. A young woman who looked passingly familiar had introduced herself and requested directions to the Underground Shrine. He had been there once before, in Remi’s company, and while he was far from comfortable with the maze of subterranean passages he wasn’t sure any of his fellows were any more experienced with it.

Besides, he needed a break from staring at the tiny, cramped script in the margins of the book. So, catching up his Spark Bird feather lantern, his rapier, and his cloak – it could get clammy, down beneath the surface of the world – he’d left Isuma sleeping in her basket in his office and joined Phoebe in heading towards the entrance to the underground. Standing before it he found himself taking a long look around at the vigorous spring, inhaling the fresh wind and watching the clouds scudding playfully across the sky before he turned to his companion and offered her a half-bow of invitation. ”Normally I’d let the lady go first,” he murmured, blue eyes sparkling. ”But perhaps just this once you’ll permit age to go before beauty?”