The sun and stars may have hidden their faces for a week but Torchline's coast glittered in a display of fire and light that echoed the sky's more usual glory. Large bonfires crackled and burned, leaping a dozen feet and more above the revelers below but smaller, cozier campfires dotted the beach as well among the eponymous torches that gave the region its name.
One of those little fires, conveniently near a deep tide pool, had been abandoned by its original makers and subsequently adopted by a mermanta who used his goddess-given trident to spear driftwood that was out of his reach and drag it over to keep the little conflagration going.
His circlet of rule was conspicuously absent for the moment and his silver hair flowed unbound over his bare, dark shoulders as he relaxed half-out of the water at the tide pool's edge, watching the fire dance with meditative fascination and sipping from a large jug of rice wine.
Open!
From the side of the tidepool, caught carelessly between two rocks is a small vial of glass. It'd likely have gone unnoticed but for the light of the fire which caused it to sparkle and shine with a warm golden light.
Ray, he rumbled back, pleased and not entirely surprised at the herbalist's appearance. It was a time for finding friends, by luck or fate, and as he looked away from the fire and towards the lady his eye caught on a flicker of glass. Look ou-- ah. His warning came too late, but there was no harm done.
Emerald eyes contemplated the vial curiously and then widened in recognition. May I? He reached for the glass bottle but paused his hand politely to be certain that Ray was willing to relinquish it. I have been looking for a glass bottle in the water. He paused, looking up at his friend solemnly. I had an... encounter. At Aumakua. An owl with stars in its eyes. Perhaps this is related to its message.
Yes. It is the second strange encounter I have had while praying at Aumakua. He took the vial gratefully and patiently examined it in the light of the fire while they spoke. Both benign. But I have not seen Safrin there in some time. Perhaps it was time to return to the Shrine beneath the sea for his personal prayers, though he would be with Ray when she went to ask her boon after LongNight.
He nodded at Ray's concern and held the vial carefully over a dry, shallow depression beside the tide pool where the water had yet to flow in. If something fell out he wanted it to be safe from the waves but close enough for one of them to catch it.
Thumbing the top off, he attempted to peer within.
Once there had been a man in the Hollowed Grounds who had been known as a Lorekeeper...
Hadama was not that man. But he watched with curiosity as Ray scratched out the message and explained what she was about, changing letters and describing the cipher. He tilted his head and pointed to one word in particular. That is 'kraken,' he decided with confidence. So that must be 'Maw.' 'LongNight' quickly followed, and he recognized 'Aquiex' soon after that.
It was a pleasant way to spend an evening by the fire side, and Hadama shared his drink and enjoyed the company while they translated the message in its entirety.
Wait until LongNight. Take a sun-bleached stone and a live aquiex to the kraken in the Maw. Trade for the map.
Hadama settled back into the water thoughtfully and then reached out to lift a pale stone from the side of the tide pool. Here is a stone. Tomorrow I will seek an aquiex. It is not wise to disturb the kraken. But I think this is important. He turned to Ray, teasing challenge and invitation in warm emerald eyes as he looked up at her. Will you join me?
