Mauri had been right as it turned out. With just a little over two more days of rest, I had recovered enough to move more than a few inches and speak without pain stabbing my every nerve, and by the end of third day, I was able to leave the bed and get around without issue. During that entire time, Qaedis hadn't once shown himself, and all I really had to go on were Mauri's descriptions of the man. To hear her tell of him, Qaedis was old, but a strong man—both in mind and body. He was also cunning and stubborn.

I was somewhat surprised.

The image I had in my head of the man was of an old man, so that wasn't all too surprising, but I'd expected some stooped and scraggly bearded man with a twisted smile and eyes full of hidden malice and deceit... or something along those lines anyway. It was probably just my recent experiences coloring my picture of him, but I couldn't really help that, not until I saw him for myself at any rate.

I'd also found out that Mauri had taken the time to go back and retrieve my bag and rifle from the camp, which I was thankful for. The letter I was supposed to deliver to Nox Atra was in that bag, and without it, I'd have no real reason to go to Ruvenbor. The entire trip would've been rendered completely pointless. In light of that realization, and to hopefully avoid another situation like it in the future, I resolved to keep the letter a bit closer to my person. She'd taken my sword with her when she brought me to the mansion. According to her, 'it seemed like it was the most important thing I owned'.

In a sense, I think she was probably right on that front. Though I knew practically nothing about why I had it or where it had come from, it was the first and only thing I had with me when I first woke in that place. It had been with me from the beginning and I'm fairly sure it was what had saved my life when the Headhunter was about to kill me. It was magic that had saved me in the direct sense, but I don't think that would've happened had it not been for the sword itself.

It felt like a part of me, and it was only now that I was thinking about it that I realized I felt kind of incomplete without it. That said, There was one thing I noticed about the sword that I had to question. I hadn't exactly had the opportunity to put the sword back in its scabbard after everything was said and done, yet when I went to thank Muari, thinking she'd done it for me, she told me it had simply been that way when she picked it up. On a hunch, I had taken it back out earlier to check and sure enough, there wasn't a speck of blood to be found on the blade.

No nicks, no scratches, no gore... no sign at all that the thing had even been used. It was as though that night had never even happened as far as the sword itself was concerned. The whole thing kind of weirded me out if I was honest, but then again I was also sort of glad I didn't have to deal with any of the clean-up, so I didn't make too much of a fuss about it. Still, it did make me wonder what other mysteries that blade had to reveal.

Overall I was more or less grateful for the way things had ended up, even if we were in debt to Qaedis; things could've ended a lot worse than they did. What I was less happy about was the fact that the man in question had demanded to hold onto my Spellblade while I was recovering. The way Mauri told it, he wouldn't take no for an answer and refused to help treat me until she complied. I got the feeling that his interest in my Spellblade was probably the only reason he agreed to help at all.

It was then that I realized Darmund had been right all along; this weapon was going to garner all kinds of attention for better or worse if Qaedis and that Havik woman were anything to go by. Naturally, that made me worry about what the future might bring if I continued to carry the thing around in public, but at the same time, I wasn't going to abandon something that felt like a part of me, even if I didn't know why that was the case. Thankfully Mauri was able to get it back from him once I was well enough to move around again, and I now had the blade, along with the rest of my possessions, in hand.

I'd decided to tell Mauri almost everything that had happened to me, both before I'd met her, and after I'd gotten kidnapped and dragged into the bandit's camp. My words were awkward, uncomfortable, halting, and painful in some cases, but I persisted through the entire explanation, and to Mauri's credit, she didn't interrupt once. I was grateful, but at the same time, I didn't like the stony expression on her face; it was a look that grew more and more unreadable as my tale went on, and by the end of it, I was fairly nervous about her reaction.

I hadn't told her everything of course. I didn't tell her about the white void, nor did I tell her about where I was originally from, but that was mostly because I couldn't. I tried to tell her about Owlowiscious, but that had resulted in exactly the same outcome as when I'd tried to talk to Rose about the world I came from and what I'd been before. That made me wonder if the creature had been connected to my original life somehow. As for why I didn't tell her about the white void...

It just wasn't something I could bear thinking about. I didn't want to think about that bleak white emptiness, I didn't want to think about how long I might've been stuck wandering about with no aim or purpose, and I certainly refused to think about the nameless, faceless thing that had chased me out. I didn't know what that place was, and frankly, I no longer cared. I wanted nothing more to do with it, I wanted it gone from my mind, and as far as I was concerned, no one else needed to know about it. Ever.

Meanwhile, I sat on the edge of the bed I'd been confined to for the last two weeks or so and waited for Mauri to react in some way. The woman had once again taken up the seat next to the bed and had fixed me with a cold and calculating look that lasted just long enough make me fidget uneasily. After what felt like far too long, her hard gaze finally eased up and she brought a hand to her chin, humming in thought. Eventually she nodded and she looked at me, her gaze an odd mix of wariness, curiosity and amazement.

"As I suspected, that sword is more than a fake," Mauri finally replied, shaking her head in slight disbelief, "I knew there was something strange about you from the beginning, but this..."

"It's a lot to take in, yeah," I said, still feeling somewhat awkward about the whole thing, "like I said, I don't know a lot about what it all means, and—"

"Can you show me?"

I frowned in confusion and surprise.

"Um... show you?"

In response, Mauri reached down and plucked the sheathed sword from where I'd set it on the floor against the side of the bed and held it out for me to take.

"This magic of yours," she clarified, motioning with the sword, "even within my homeland there are stories of those chosen by the Goddesses to wield the sacred weapons. It was said that those who took up these blades could weave powerful miracles the likes of which no other warrior could ever hope to match."

"Well, I mean..." I began, somewhat perturbed by her evidently high expectations, "isn't the leader of the Unyielding Blade supposed to be a Spellblade user? Haven't you already seen her use one of those powerful miracles?"

"I have witnessed Hrist in battle only once," Mauri replied seriously, "what I saw that day could hardly be classified as true combat. Her opponent was felled in one stroke, faster than even my well-trained eye could see. A superhuman feat to be sure, but there was no true magic to be found in that fight, not like you describe. That is what I want to see, Amethyst. True magic cast by human hands."

There was a strange, childlike gleam in her eye as she looked at me—almost as if I was fulfilling some childhood fantasy of hers. I got the distinct feeling that's exactly what I was doing, and that made me feel all the more self-conscious about what I could actually do. Still, I saw no real reason to deny her, especially since I'd told her everything already anyway. Honestly, I was just glad she didn't seem to be mad at me or even just reject me outright, given the atrocities I'd committed just recently.

"It's... not really as impressive as you make it out to be," I tried, reaching out to take the offered weapon, "I can't really do anything too flashy..." as a demonstration I raised the scabbard and used my magic to pull the sword up and out, "...this is about all I can do. Just... kinda make things float around. Maybe there are some other applications I haven't tried yet, but that's more or less it..."

I removed my hand from the scabbard and Mauri watched intently as it rose alongside the sword, both objects wrapped in a soft magenta glow. In truth, this was the first I'd noticed—or rather registered the fact that I could lift two objects at once; the only other time I'd done so had been when I was writing with a pen and paper, and that hardly felt like it counted for anything. My curiosity now piqued, I turned my attention to my heavy bag sitting near the wall next to the entrance and with a bit more effort and a deep frown of concentration, I managed to pull that into the air as well without regard to the combined weight of everything inside. I thought back to when I'd killed the Headhunter and idly wondered just how heavy the creature had actually been.

"Huh," I murmured to myself, "I wonder..."

I turned to a bookshelf I'd failed to notice while I was incapacitated and, probably against my better judgment I furrowed my brows and raised a hand towards it. A moment later the sound of rapidly flapping paper filled the air and before I knew it, I was surrounded by a ring of books. They hovered around me and I added the sword, its scabbard, and my bag to the circle, an oddly wistful smile crossing my face as I watched everything float by. Just for a moment, the rest of the world seemed to fall away and I swore I could almost feel it, that other place—that magical fantasy land where I'd evidently originated from.

"Simply fascinating..."

And just like that, I was snapped out of my pleasant reverie. A cry of surprise escaped my lips, my heartbeat went into overdrive and everything I'd been holding aloft in my magic dropped either to the ground or atop the bed. Eyes wide with panic, I whipped around to meet the owner of the deep and scratchy voice and locked eyes with what I could only assume was the master of the mansion himself, Qaedis the Seeker. Here was the man who was said to have been so good at his chosen profession that among the countless scavengers and collectors scattered all over the world, he alone held the distinguished title of the Seeker... or so I was told by Mauri. Personally, I didn't quite understand the significance of such a simplistic title truth be told, but the man certainly did cut an impressive figure.

He stood tall at about six feet—not as tall as Jack, nor as built, but that was to be expected; Jack was a mountain of a man and it seemed ridiculous to compare him to anyone else. His frame was thin but incredibly lean and just all-around fit, exactly as Mauri had described. His skin, at least what I could see past his dark red loungewear, was lightly tanned and the only real features that gave away his advanced age were the many wrinkles upon his thinly bearded face and his shoulder-length mop of greying hair. Everything else about the man, from the playful smile that didn't quite reach his twinkling amber eyes to his loose and confident posture as he stood in the open doorway, spoke of an active, youthful character brimming with life.

No... definitely not what I expected at all...

"U-Um," I stammered, trying and failing to come up with a cover, "this isn't—I mean... I-I was—sorry about the books, I just... uh... y-you must be... Qaedis the Seeker?"

I finished with that stiff and awkward question, realizing there was really no way I could talk my way out of this situation and not knowing what to say otherwise. I'd been caught unaware and it was nobody's fault but my own. I turned to Mauri for help, but she looked just as surprised as I did to see the man standing there. Had she not been paying attention either or was he just that stealthy? Whatever the case may have been, the man merely chuckled and raised a placative hand.

"Now there's no need for all the fluster," he replied calmly, "just Qaedis is fine, although I would appreciate it if you'd return my books to their rightful place—ah... without touching them if you please."

I froze just as I was about to reach out to grab a tome and turned back to Qaedis with a quizzical frown. Mauri snorted beside me and I looked to see her glaring at the grinning man.

"He wants you to demonstrate your magic again," she clarified with a hint of bitterness in her tone.

"Oh, um... okay?" I replied, not really seeing a reason not to now that I was exposed, "I guess I can I do that... let me just..."

With another wave of my glowing hands, each book rose from the ground and was set back on the bookshelf, exactly as they'd been before with every book in its proper place. I'd made a mental note of where each book had been placed, already intending to put them back before anyway, so it wasn't a particularly difficult task. That done, I returned my uneasy gaze to Qaedis, who directed his gaze to the bookshelf and nodded in satisfaction before looking over to me with almost as much wonder as Mauri had only moments before.

"Truly fascinating," he repeated, awe clear in his deep cracked voice, "the advent of another Spellblade and its wielder—not another fraud, but the real deal... to bear witness to such an impossible development in my lifetime," he chuckled again and shook his head in disbelief, "blessed be the Goddesses for this fine gift, this miracle upon miracles."

"Is it... really that big a deal?" I found myself asking as I retrieved my sword and returned the weapon to its scabbard by hand. His words made me feel as if I was missing a far bigger picture, and the thought put me off a bit, "I'm not some great warrior or anything like that. I don't even know how to use a sword—" I grimaced at the statement "—well, I... I've never had any formal training anyway."

"Doesn't matter," Qaedis replied, giving a single shake of his head, "the way I hear it, those weapons don't just choose any random buffoon that can swing a sword around. No, there's something special about you, Miss Sparkle... and to answer your question, this is a very big deal, especially for someone like me."

He paused suddenly and fixed both Mauri and me with an odd look. It only lasted a moment, but it was enough to put me on edge. He scratched his head and hummed in thought for a second before giving a careless shrug.

"Ah, but enough about that for now," he continued, once again wearing that smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "I believe we have some business to attend to now that you're finally up and about," he turned to leave, speaking to me over his shoulder, "do me a favor and meet me downstairs once you're ready, would you, Miss Sparkle? I'm sure that one there has already told you a few things, but we can discuss the matter of your repayment for my kindness in detail over some breakfast. Little Miss Green Locks can show you the way."

With those parting words, he retreated into the hallway, down the stairs, and was gone a few moments later, his footsteps echoing loudly behind him. I looked after Qaedis with a worried frown, unsure of what to make of him after the encounter. He sounded old, but he certainly didn't act like I thought an old man should be acting. He seemed a nice enough sort at first glance, but there was air about the man that made me slow to trust him. Very slow. I constantly got the feeling he was hiding something from me, and after meeting him, I wasn't particularly thrilled about having to do him any favors. In that, it looked like Mauri and I were in full agreement, as the woman rose from her chair and snorted again, glaring out at the now empty hallway.

"I am almost certain he heard more than he saw, the bastard," Mauri growled. Her eyes narrowed slightly, "there is no telling what he will do with the information he has now, though in his line of work I can think of a few possibilities."

"What do you..." I began before trailing off as realization sank in, "oh..."

This is a very big deal, especially for someone like me...

I hadn't even thought about what his answer really meant until Mauri pointed it out. Qaedis was a collector—one of, if not the best collector in the world if Mauri and others were to be believed. What he collected didn't stop at just material objects; information could be just as valuable as anything you could physically hold, if not more so, and if my having a Spellblade was as groundbreaking as I'd been led to believe so far, then he was now sitting on what might've been the most valuable piece of information imaginable right now, nevermind whatever else he might've heard from my story. The fact that he might be willing to sell information about me to some random stranger made me more than a little uncomfortable.

"How much do you actually think he heard?" I asked, my worry slowly turning to fear as I thought about what new enemies the future might bring, "if he was standing outside the door—"

"If he was standing outside the doorway, I should have felt his presence, but I sensed no one beyond the door," Mauri interjected grimly, "it is possible his sudden entrance may have been a coincidence, but the fact that I could not feel his presence until he opened the door leads me to believe otherwise. He is no ordinary man, Amethyst, that much I can assure you," she finally turned away from the hall to give me a serious frown, "think well before you speak around that man, lest he use what you say against you."

I swallowed and nodded in response to her warning. She didn't need to tell me twice; once we met with Qaedis for breakfast, I'd intended to say as little as possible and let him and Mauri do most of the talking. Of course, if he had heard everything there was little point in that course of action, but we didn't know for sure if he had or not so it was better to play it safe. With nothing much left to say, I changed out of the simple cotton nightwear Qaedis had provided for me and donned my travel tunic which had evidently been cleaned and repaired at some point, no doubt another 'kindness' from Qaedis.

"You said you could sense people?" I asked Mauri as I re-strapped the scabbard to my back. I decided to make some small talk so I wouldn't have to think about what lay ahead, though that wasn't to say I wasn't actually curious, "Is that something everyone from your homeland can do or...?"

"Not necessarily," Mauri replied, leaning against the wall near the bedroom door. She'd already donned her weapon and armor and was waiting for me to finish as she explained, "my father called it këdhu—warrior's intuition. It is an extremely rare trait that my people possess. It was said that the ability was common among Djävagoan warriors once long ago, but has since faded with time, no doubt due to the peace that has reigned for several ages.

"Now only a handful of us can use this ability, and even then it is a skill that must be forged in intense training and honed in constant battle," a slightly frustrated and embarrassed look crossed Mauri's face for a brief instant before she continued, "I myself possess the skill, but despite my training and the battles I have fought, my grasp of it is... still somewhat lacking. I can only sense those at a certain distance, and that distance is... not very far, unfortunately. Still, it should have been enough to know if Qaedis was anywhere near this room."

"Maybe he... I don't know, has the ability to mask his presence or something?" I guessed. I had no real idea if that was possible, but it seemed like Mauri was kind of self-conscious about her meager ability despite her presumably long and intense training, so I felt I had to say something, "you said yourself that he wasn't normal after all."

"Maybe..." Mauri replied, sighing heavily as she stretched her arms and pushed herself off the wall, "that aside, if you are ready then we should head down and get this over with. I would rather not stay here any longer than we have to."

"You and me both," I muttered as I adjusted my tunic one more time. I pressed a hand to my chest and let out a few calming breaths before giving Mauri a single nod, "alright, let's... go see what he wants, then."

It's not like I wasn't grateful for the help Qaedis had provided—far from it. It may have been for selfish reasons, but the man did help save my life and I planned on thanking him for all that he'd done for me. The problem was that he wasn't the kind of person I wanted to be indebted to, especially given the possible leverage he now had over me. Not only that, but I felt like he wasn't the kind of person who particularly cared about being given a simple 'thank you' and leaving it at that. Then again that was just an assumption on my part and I wasn't really sure how he'd react. These were the thoughts that plagued me as Mauri led me out of the room, down the stairs, and all the way to the dining hall.

The mansion itself actually wasn't all that big, at least not nearly as big as I expected it to be. As I was being led straight to our destination, I didn't get to see a lot of what the mansion had to offer, but I did see enough to notice that for someone who was supposed to be a collector, there was surprisingly little in the way of decor. Certainly, the interior was nice—the mahogany-paneled walls were nice, the dark red carpeting the lined the halls was soft and lush beneath my boots, and the arched windows I passed added even more class, but other than a few displays such as the occasional suit of armor, some paintings here and there, or an artistic marble bust of some figure I didn't recognize, there wasn't much to see.

I wonder where he keeps everything he's collected... maybe there's a hidden vault somewhere?

As much as I tried not to think about that night, I couldn't help but remember the fact that those bandits had probably intended to rob Qaedis, so he must've been hiding valuables somewhere. That thought led me to the realization that, intentionally or no, I had actually stopped a potential break-in. The means by which had accomplished that feat still made me literally sick to my stomach just thinking about, but it was no less true.

Maybe I should bring that up? But he probably already knows that and it's probably not going to change anything... still, it probably wouldn't hurt to mention it.

As I thought more on the matter I failed to notice as Mauri stopped in front of me. I just managed to stop myself from bowling the much shorter woman over, and I went to apologize, but she either didn't notice or care. Her attention was focused on an older man and younger woman standing on either side of a gilded set of closed doubled doors. Both stood rigid and formal in attire that suggested some sort of servile role. Judging by his fancy black trousers and dinner coat, stiff posture and polite smile, I surmised the older balding gentleman to be a butler. I couldn't tell if he was as old or not; he had about the same amount of wrinkles, but his hair, while thinning, was still a light brown color.

The younger woman, on the other hand, was clearly a maid given her plain black long sleeve dress and full white apron. Her auburn hair was cut in a short bob beneath her lacy white cap. She looked about the same age as me, maybe a little older. Upon seeing us, the man gave a short bow and an indulgent smile. The woman did the same, but I noticed her bow was a bit more stiff, her smile somewhat strained as she laid eyes on me. I raised an eyebrow at that, but before I could say anything, Mauri spoke first, gesturing to the two.

"Qaedis' servants," she pointed out with a playful smile, "I took the liberty of getting to know them a bit while we were here out of boredom. The butler is a little too by-the-books for my taste, but he is a sweetheart once you get to know him," her smile dropped a bit as she turned to the maid, "this one is Miriam. She is the one who did most of the work cooking your meals and treating your wounds, at least while you were unconscious. She is nice enough, but the poor dear is far too jumpy..." she leaned towards me and continued in a stage whisper, "...especially around you. Take that how you want, but personally, I think she has a thing for you, my little Amethyst."

I groaned at that and pushed the snickering woman away before giving the affronted maid an apologetic smile. Miriam had obviously heard Mauri and, perhaps not knowing how to respond, looked away and said nothing at all. Despite what Mauri thought, it looked more to me like she was afraid. I wondered why that could've been, but then I thought back to Jack's cabin and what he'd said about my unnatural recovery speed. Maybe something similar had happened and spooked the maid? That might've explained why I'd never seen her until now, and why it was always Mauri that brought my meals and removed my bandages while I was awake.

"I'm sorry about that," I decided to say aloud, "Miriam, was it? Thank you for taking care of me. I don't think it's a stretch to say I might not have made it if it weren't for you."

"I simply did what the Master told me to do, nothing more," the woman replied in a clipped and uncomfortable near-whisper, "still, your gratitude is... appreciated."

This time it was my smile that grew strained at the response. It was clear she didn't want to speak with me, so I left it at that and turned instead to Thaddeus.

"It's nice to meet you both," I continued, "I'm assuming the dining hall is past here?"

"The pleasure is all mine, Madam Sparkle," Thaddeus answered with another slight bow. Like Qaedis' voice, his was deep, but unlike the collector, there was a smoothness to his tone that made him sound far more... charming for lack of a better word, "and yes, the dining hall is this way. Master Malouveus is already seated and waiting for you and Miss Bandal to join him. Now please, if you would..."

At that, he stepped in front of the double doors, grabbed each handle, and gently but firmly pushed them open. With a loud click, the doors gave way and as Thaddeus invited us in, I once again hoped everything would be okay, but braced myself for something else to inevitably go wrong.

Next Chapter: Episode V – The Mansion ~ Part II Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 50 Minutes