A Family Matter

-Desierto, Nebdoui, mid-afternoon-

Wearing her green-and-gold outfit and Argent Gloves, Leona also wore her backpack and Silver Longsword. Cradled in her arms and wrapped in white cloth was a very special object that she had brought all the way from Silver Wolf Guild Hall. It was the stone tablet which had defied all of her efforts to translate for the past week. Faced with no other choice and with no one else to turn to, Leona had to turn to help from the person she least wanted to consult... her mother.

Leona landed on the outskirts of Nebdoui on the back of her Winged Lion. Leona gently dismounted from the summon and dispelled it, then began the short walk to the village she had once called home. Technically it was still her home, but ever since joining Silver Wolf and climbing the ranks her attachment to the village had dwindled to almost nothing. She had had too many adventures and had seen too many wonders to return to the remote village and be satisfied with "life" in the desert.

"Hey Leona!" Leonidas called out to her. In his left hand was a basket of iron ore and on his left hip was a steel longsword. He was garbed in blacksmith's attire and looked like he had not gotten much sleep in the past few days.

"Hey Leonidas!" Leona greeted her older brother. The two Jarnefeldts met and briefly embraced.
They then separated and stood a short distance apart.

"How's it going?" Leona asked him. Leonidas grimaced.

"You know, the usual. Bandit raids, shrinking population because of bandit raids, trying to train the next generation of blacksmiths despite not being really ready for the responsibility... the same as always." He said in a grim tone of voice. Leona was hardly surprised by the revelation. Nebdoui had always seemed to hang on by the skin of its teeth despite being subjected to disasters both man-made and natural. It had been that way since Leona's childhood and it had been that way since long before she was born. It had taken a passionate speech by Chief Elijah to keep the village from disintegrating after a particularly bad famine carried off over one hundred people when Leona was a child.

Leona was not sure how much longer the village could hang on. She thought that the alliance with Berreb, Regudo, and the Blue Sky Clan would have bought Nebdoui some time and possibly even reverse its decline, but it seemed that buying time was all that the alliance was doing. Even if Leona were to abdicate her position as Guild Mistress of Silver Wolf and return to Nebdoui to stay, her presence would only be delaying the inevitable decline.

"Things are that bad, huh?" Leona asked dryly.

"Yep." Leonidas replied tersely. She could tell that part of him was tired from having to train new blacksmiths, but she could also feel his resentment towards her for leaving him to bear the responsibilities of keeping the village going and for giving their mother the grandchildren she was longing for. He did not need to say a word for Leona to understand that.

Leona was torn. Maybe she did desert the village to a point by not returning to live after her exile was officially rescinded, but she felt that the village had deserted her by throwing her out despite the circumstances of her exile. She refused to let Joshua have his way with her and when he tried to beat her into compliance she fought back and won.

Why was it on her to have grandchildren? Why did she have to give up her life to stay in a dying village and try to keep it going by giving birth to children who would either starve to death in a famine, be killed by raiders, or be captured by slavers and sold into slavery? Leona was uncertain that Nebdoui was a safe place to have children even if she were inclined to settle down and marry. She would be more tempted to go to the Tri-Council City and have children there. While it was not a bastion of democracy, it was far safer there than it was out in the unforgiving desert.

"Um, what's that in your arms?" Leonidas asked his younger sister. Leona looked at the covered stone tablet and carefully unwrapped it to show him. He looked to be mesmerized as his eyes darted over the angular letters glowing all across the tablet.

"It's something that Erica and Whitney found months ago and were on the way to deliver to me before the Crimson Sashes captured them. I rescued Whitney and Erica, stole the tablet straight from the Crimson Sashes commander's tent, and got out of there." Leona told him a very brief version of how she came to possess it. Leonidas looked equal parts disturbed by her recklessness and impressed with her audacity.

"I just now found out that it reacts to a mage holding it. I still don't know what exactly it does or what the writing says." Leona admitted to him.

"So that's why you're here?" Leonidas asked her, cutting straight to the point. Leona nodded.

"I figured. So you think mom knows what the writing is." The blacksmith surmised.

"My other two contacts are busy with their own projects, so I decided to pay a visit and see if mom knows. She's the scholar of the family and she knows a lot about the desert." Leona agreed. Leonidas shifted the bucket of ore to his right hand.

"Yeah. She knows more about desert lore than anyone outside of the Tri-Council Cities." He agreed with her assessment of their mother's knowledge. As if talking about her could actually summon her, Sophia Jarnefeldt herself walked up and joined the conversation.

"It sounds like you really need my help, Leona." Sophia said to her daughter.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 1,000/3,500]

"Yeah. Yeah, I need help." Leona freely admitted to her mother. There was no use posturing and pretending that she had things under control. The younger blonde was completely stumped by the tablet's writing and did not not even know where to begin translating it. The guild library had nothing and she had not thought to drop by Capital Crocus and check their bookstores for something that could help. It was too late now... Leona had already come this far, so she might as well consult her mother.

"Let me hold it." Sophia said to Leona. Leona obligingly handed it over, being careful not to drop it during the transfer. Sophia took it and the letters almost instantly began to glow silver just like they had when Leona held it. The older blonde read over the tablet and seemed to understand what it read.

"Huh. Ancient Muserian. It's been a long time since I've seen this language." Sophia casually said to Leona and Leonidas.

"Ancient Muserian?" Leona asked.

"It's an old language that hasn't been used for thousands of years. It's the predecessor of Court Heiromesh... in a way. You see, the people of Museria thought of writing down their language long before anyone else did." Sophia patiently explained to her children. Leona felt like she was back in the village school run by her mother. She had no idea that the lessons she had rejected as impractical would come in handy later in life.

"And what you're holding is a Muserian Focusing Stone. Not too many of those are left in the world. Follow me to our tent and I'll tell you why." Sophia said to Leona. Leonidas took this as his chance to politely disengage from the conversation.

"This is really interesting, but I'd better get back to the forge. I'm late as it is and the apprentice blacksmiths won't train themselves." Leonidas said before leaving the two scholars to their business. Leona faced Sophia. Together mother and daughter walked back to the family tent to discuss the significance of the Muserian Focusing Stone and what exactly it could do.

-Inside the Jarnefeldt family tent-

Leona took off her backpack and set it down on the floor under a rectangular wooden table. Sophia gently laid the stone and the cloth it had been wrapped in on the table, then walked off to a wooden bookshelf to search for a book or scroll of some kind, presumably one related to Museria. Leona kept her Argent Gloves and Silver Longsword on because she never knew when bandits would ride into the village looking for trouble.

Her mother eventually found what she was looking for and came back holding a heavy square book with a gray cover. The book was thick enough to cause blunt force trauma if someone were hit with it. It also looked like it could stop a few arrows if raiders attacked the village. Sophia laid it on the table with a soft but audible WHUMP. She then pulled up a wooden chair and sat down at the table while Leona stood up.

"OK, here's a copy of Ancient Languages of Desierto: Fourth Edition. It's older than you and Leonidas put together, but it should suit our purposes." Sophia commented on the age of the book. She then used both hands to slowly pull open the cover and began to skim the table of contents. A curious Leona looked over her shoulder as the older blonde finished looking over the table of contents, then began flipping pages to the appropriate section. It took almost a full minute before Sophia found what she was looking for and pointed it out to Leona.

"Here it is, Leona. Roughly one hundred pages of content on Ancient Muserian. Well, more like eighty-seven pages of actual content and thirteen of fluff, but you get the idea." Sophia stated. Leona grabbed the wooden chair at the other end of the table and sat down next to her mother for the first time in a long time. It felt like another lesson was about to begin.

"The civilization of Ancient Museria was around for roughly six hundred years and its principal city was located in Eastern Desierto." Sophia started the explanation of the civilization's significance to her daughter. Leona paid attention the best she could as her mother continued explaining the history and culture of the long-gone civilization. Sophia then discussed the kings of Museria and how it was their idea to preserve their language for posterity by having it inscribed onto clay tablets, which were then baked in ovens to preserve them. That was where things got interesting.

"King Murmahabi, the third king of Ancient Museria, was a scholar who was interested in preserving both the history of his kingdom and that of other kingdoms of Desierto. He was a patron of libraries and late in his reign he ordered the construction of an enormous library named The House of Knowledge." Sophia gave a rundown of the king whose idea it was to preserve the language of Museria. Leona was starting to grow more interested in the kingdom the more her mother read about it. Maybe there was a reason the Focusing Stones were commissioned.

"The Palace of Knowledge was built in Eastern Desierto and took roughly twenty years to build, but once it was built it was worthy of the name Palace of Knowledge. It contained books and scrolls pertaining to the lore of over twenty civilizations. Just imagine, Leona. Imagine what knowledge was lost when King Saarghon burned it down after roughly five hundred years of existence." Sophia told Leona wistfully like the former had witnessed the burning in person. Leona's eyes narrowed when she heard the name of King Saarghon. He seemed to be everywhere in Desierto and to have shaped the region's history long after his demise millennia ago.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 2,000/3,500]

"After destroying the Palace of Knowledge, King Saarghon went back to his kingdom and boasted that he was the supreme power in Desierto. But as you know through your studies of Court Heiromesh, his kingdom barely survived his demise. He was more focused on finding a way to achieve immortality instead of actually governing, so once he died his kingdom slowly disintegrated." Sophia explained the fate of King Saarghon's domain once the king had died. Leona had gleaned as much from her studies of the king and his life. From what she had learned of him to date, King Saarghon had made himself the center of so much of the kingdom's life that when he died the kingdom inevitably declined because no one else could unite the nobility like he did. She was pretty sure that the egotistical monarch did not hold his kingdom together by being a patron of the arts or being a nice guy. If she could find the secret archives in Southern Desierto where the king's records of his less scrupulous activities were hidden, she could learn more about the real king and not as his propaganda portrayed him.

"That's great and all, but where do the Muserian Focusing Stones come in?" Leona asked her mother in an effort to get her back on track. The latter had promised to tell Leona why there were so few of the stones left in the world but had gotten sidetracked with the history of Museria. While it was an interesting lecture, the Silver Wolf Guild Mistress wanted to know what a Focusing Stone did.

"Oh, right." Sophia said, more than a little disappointed that her daughter did not share her enthusiasm for ancient Desierto history. Leona did not comment and let the older blonde begin her discussion of the new topic.

"Anyway, the Focusing Stones were made by the Muserians as a last-ditch weapon to fend off the forces of King Saarghon. They could focus the magical energy of mages who held them and make any spells they cast faster and more powerful. No one knows where the source of the magically sensitive stone used to make them came from because the Muserian kings kept the knowledge a state secret." Sophia explained to Leona. Now Leona had a faint idea why the letters of the tablet were glowing.

"As powerful as it was, the weapon wasn't enough to help the Muserians repel King Saarghon's armies and Museria fell. King Saarghon destroyed most of the captured Focusing Stones, keeping only a few for his personal use and the use of his most trusted mages. But the story doesn't end there. Once King Saargon's kingdom fell the few stones still left were scattered further and their true history lost because Saarghon kept their existence a secret. He wanted people to think that they were just a rumor so no one would suspect the real strength of his armies." Sophia gave a little background information on what Leona already knew. Leona was sort of surprised to find that she was holding an ancient weapon that only a few of existed in the world. She was also surprised to learn that it could boost the speed and power of a mage's spells; a Muserian Focusing Stone could turn even a novice mage into a force to be reckoned with. She was afraid to think about what a Wizard Saint or God of Ishgar could do with one in their possession.

"And I'm holding one of the only ones left in the world." Leona said to her mother. Sophia nodded at her daughter.

"Not for long, anyway. As soon as the sultan hears you have one he'll come here to claim it. For his collection, of course." Sophia bluntly told Leona. The younger blonde sighed. She should have known better than to bring the artifact here where the sultan could send his army to take it.

"Easy come, easy go." Leona dryly remarked.

"Don't despair yet, my dear. Right now we still have it, so let's see what we can find out." Sophia said, walking over to a wooden chest and digging out a thin sheet of paper just big enough to cover the stone and a piece of charcoal. The scholar placed the paper on top of the tablet, then rubbed the charcoal on top of it and continued to rub the charcoal on the paper until the letters formed on the paper. Ten minutes later and the process was complete. Sophia triumphantly pulled the paper off of the Focusing Stone and held it up for Leona to see.

"And done. Now that we have this charcoal rubbing, we don't need the Focusing Stone anymore. We can still translate it by using the rubbing as a base to work from." Sophia explained. The letters were as clear and legible as they were on the stone, which would make translating them a lot easier. Leona could still give the sultan the Focusing Stone to get him off of her back and Leona could keep the paper to translate and learn more about the Muserian language. That way everyone got what they wanted and no one got hurt.

"Great!" Leona exclaimed with some measure of hope on her voice. She would have preferred to keep the Focusing Stone to experiment with, but maybe it was for the best that she did not keep it. She was currently one of the most powerful mages alive and she might destroy the Special Experiments Room with the power boost that came from holding the Focusing Stone. That would bring a lot of unwanted attention onto the guild.

Sophia set the paper down beside her and thumbed through the pages of the book, hmmming all the while. Leona did not like the sound of that. Sophia continued to look through the gray tome but eventually gave up on the endeavor and turned to Leona with an unhappy look on her face.

"Sorry, Leona. This book's just too old to be of much use. It doesn't cover the New Muserian that's written on the Focusing Stones. It only covers Old Muserian." Sophia informed Leona. Leona was not happy to hear that.

[Word Count: 1,050]
[Total Word Count: 3,050/3,500]

-The Jarnefeldt family tent-

"OK, so what do you suggest I do?" Leona asked her mother.

"If you know of any good bookstores, I suggest that you go to one and purchase the latest edition of Ancient Languages of Desierto. It should be your best bet to find information on New Muserian." Sophia counseled her daughter before pulling the book closed. Leona was disappointed that she could not wrap up the mystery today, but she was encouraged by the fact that she had gotten somewhere thanks to the help of her mother, who had come in handy for explaining the significance of the stone tablet and the culture from where it had originated. This was something that had to be researched carefully lest it draw the wrong sort of attention. News of an actual Muserian Focusing Stone would attract anyone from Dark mages to the Rune Knights.

"I know of a couple bookstores in Capital Crocus." Leona informed her mother.

"Just in case they don't have what you need, I know a bookstore in the Tri-Council City that might have an updated version. I know the owner personally, but they're a bit... strange." Sophia added. Leona looked at her mother quizzically. What did she mean by "strange?"

"The owner's a former resident of Nebdoui named Kemal. He moved to the Tri-Council City almost fifteen years ago and set up a bookstore that specializes in selling scholarly works both old and new. He's a good guy, but he's odd. He might ask you to help him with something." Sophia continued. The more Leona heard about this guy the less she wanted to hear about him. She hoped that Kemal was not up to anything sketchy like human trafficking... or worse.

"Like what?" Leona asked her mother.

"He might ask you to do something like find a rare vintage of alcohol in exchange for a particularly rare book. He's an amateur connoisseur of fine wines and is especially fond of vintages from Minstrel, which cost a pretty penny to import. He also likes Pergrandian wine, but you can't just traipse across the border to Pergrande and go shopping because they don't let mages into the country." Sophia explained. Leona's face sported a quizzical expression. Kemal liked vintage wines?

"OK. That's a bit strange, but it's not too bad. I could think of worse things to ask for in exchange for rare books." Leona said to Sophia. Sophia wagged a finger at her daughter.

"Such a form of barter can get... expensive. Neither Minstrelian nor Pergrandian wine are cheap. However, getting them might be the only way to get the book you need. Before you go spending your money on fine wines, I'd check the Capital Crocus bookstores first before visiting Kemal." Sophia strongly suggested. Leona took the woman at her word and made a mental note to check Jobaasa's Rare Tomes or Written Antiquities before going to the Tri-Council City.

"OK." Leona replied. Sophia rolled up the charcoal rubbing of the Focusing Stone and hauled Leona's backpack onto the table. She opened the pack and gently packed the rubbing away. She then rewrapped the Focusing Stone in its protective cloth and handed it back to Leona.

"You'd best take the stone with you. I don't want slavers or bandits getting their hands on it. I especially don't want the Crimson Sashes to get it back." Sophia explained the decision to send the item back with Leona despite the risk of the sultan getting angry. Leona was about to protest but decided against it when she saw her mother's stern facial expression. She would keep it at Silver Wolf Guild Hall and only bring it if her mother or Chief Elijah told her to bring it.

"OK. I'll set out for the guild hall immediately. It'll be safe there." Leona assured her mother while cradling the precious stone. Sophia nodded and opened the tent flap to let Leona out. Leona was about to exit the tent when she turned around and said something to her mother.

"Thanks for the help." Leona said appreciatively to her mother. Despite their past differences, Leona owed Sophia a debt of gratitude for cluing her in to what she had and how to translate the writing.

"No problem." Sophia said to her daughter. Leona left the tent and walked to the village outskirts, summoned the Winged Lion and climbed on board, then set out for the safety of Silver Wolf Guild Hall. The Muserian Focusing Stone would be safe in the guild vault because Leona and all the other guild members would be there to protect it should someone try to steal it.

[Word Count: 800]
[Total Word Count: 3,850/3,500]