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RESPITE BARRACKS - AFTERNOON
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Louma has vacated her office for the day, having finished the paperwork quite quickly, but she's not left the barracks just yet. Instead, she's taken over half of the canteen, pulling two tables into an L to giver herself more room to spread out her current project over more space than her office can provide. In her arms and clenched in the wrap of her tail are two bulky boxes, the first she drops onto a table tearing apart at one corner from the weight of the books within. She reaches to lift the second box with a determined grunt.
Nesseth enters the barracks, having spent the earlier part of the day conducting his duties as normal, though with a bit of distraction from the current goings on. He hears someone having some issues in the canteen, then peeks in curiously to see if whoever it is might need some help. He blinks upon seeing Louma present and practically swimming in books. "Uh... need some help there, Louma?"
Louma looks up on hearing Nesseth's voice, setting the last box down and flopping the lid aside. "Mmh, yes actually. It would be faster if you help me skim through some of these. I think most will be of no use, but there could be something here. Did you have any luck searching Xochi's home?"
Nesseth nods as he goes to join Louma at the table, grabbing a chair from nearby as he goes. He sets the chair down on the opposite side of the table, being careful to avoid Louma's tail, and takes a seat with a nod. "I found Xochi's journal, so that helps a little, maybe, at least knowing the ingredients for the ritual, though details are a little lacking here and there." He reaches into the box and grabs a book at random, "Also, I ran into Xochicoatl at the same time. She wanted to see Xochi's garden."
Louma blinks, pausing only for a moment as she glances about the other books. "Oh. Well I suppose we might not need Elizabeth's collection after all, if that journal will tell us everything we need to know."
Nesseth shakes his head. "Might not be a bad idea to sift through it all anyway. A couple of details are a little vague, and I'm not really sure how knowing this ritual will help, since neither of us are mages."
Louma grunts, nodding to that. "You are right, unfortunately not a peep of Sammi has come up yet. Miss Teis may not want to help much either, after she stumbled upon us hauling all of her mentors belongings out of the house."
Nesseth hums as he looks at the book he pulled out and turns it around this way and that to examine the cover. "Mmh... so that leaves us with no real professionals, so much as just us trying our best, then?"
Louma sighs as she opens a large red book, starting to flip through the pages. "Not as far as I know, unless one of those elementals is somehow versed in rituals. Or that lizard fellow at the clinic, perhaps? We are far out of our realm of expertise here."
Nesseth tilts his head as he looks up from the book he's flipping through. "Tarbin? We could ask him, but I don't know if he knows anything of this sort, unless it's something somehow tied to Nature magic."
Louma hums, snapping her book shut halfway through. "This is mostly old tales." She sets it aside in an existing pile of unlikely candidates before lifting a more worn looking book up. "Do we even know if the ritual actually requires any magic? What did the journal say about it, specifically?"
Nesseth shrugs a bit as he leafs all the way to the end of the book and shuts it. "Not much. The last entry she made was preparations for the ritual after we all came back from the Prominence, and it sounded like she didn't really know what it'd involve on Sammi's part." He falls silent for a few seconds, "...Though, now that you mention it... I think I remember something from earlier."
Louma hums, thumbing through the book as she asks, "Go ahead, what is it?"
Nesseth shrugs a little as he sets the book aside and grabs another. "Well, I didn't know what to think of it when Aurelius first told me, but he'd mentioned that belief would make things work out. I guess he meant the ritual."
Louma hums, scratching her chin as she pauses to read a page more carefully. "Belief? Well considering we've met Xochicoatl, I do not think believing that a ritual works would be too much of a stretch for us. It must have worked the first time, correct?"
Nesseth nods "Exactly. It'll work because it already did once. I just wish... y'know, we had more info to work off of, at least. That would make it easier once we're out there and working on it for real."
Louma continues thumbing past the page. "Maybe knowing less is the key? If we know too much, it might break the illusion and make the ritual impossible." She sighs quietly, setting the what is now obviously a cookbook aside. "If only it were so simple to return Sammi, then she could undo this mess. Part of me feels horrible that we're trying to send Xochicoatl away, the same part wishes I had never gotten involved in this... Nonsense."
Nesseth nods as he sets another book aside and sifts through the box a bit more. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't like the idea about sending Xochicoatl back to the manor, but that's still a better fate than being stuck in the Dark Sea." He sighs as he sets another cookbook aside without even opening it, "At least Xochicoatl seems fully ready to help, though..."
Louma looks to Nesseth, tilting her head a bit. "She does? You've spoken with her again, then?"
Nesseth nods at the question. "Yeah, she ran into me when I was about to start searching Xochi's house. We got to talking while we were searching around and I told her everything I knew about the situation, since we sort of scared her off by beating around the bush. Once she got the details filled in, she decided that she'd help get Xochi back, whatever might happen to her." He trails off, clearly still uncertain what that last part might entail.
Louma looks aside, shaking her head a little. "I... Should have been forward with her from the start. I had no idea what was happening with her... I just..." She sighs, "I almost jeopardized everything..."
Nesseth gives Louma a sympathetic look. "We both did, but she knows we did it for her sake, at least. We didn't want to scare her off or anything, after all. Thankfully, she doesn't hold us poorly for it."
Louma huffs, nodding. "Right. We can worry about that later. Still, I would like to apologize to her properly."
Nesseth hums quietly. "Yeah. I did have an idea, though, if you think it'll help." He sets the book he'd been holding aside and tilts his head, "If we're sending her back to the manor... what if we put together a little package of stuff, like... memorabilia or something, she can take back with her? You know, to help keep her spirits up?"
Louma: "...Will that even work? I am not against the idea, of course. I wonder what we could send with her... Something personal?"
Nesseth shrugs. "I mean... I don't know if it will, but it's the thought that counts... and besides, if belief is what powers this thing, maybe it'll work if we believe she can take stuff back?" He shakes his head a little, "I don't know, stuff that lasts through time, because unless she escapes early, thanks to her wings, 35 years is a long time."
Louma chuckles quietly. "45. Xochicoatl is 16." She hums, settling back into her coil as she thinks. "You probably have a point there. I think. Perhaps. I don't know, this is all well beyond me, but a gift I can do."
Nesseth chuckles in turn. "It's all way over my head, too. Magical rituals, time travel, mythical dimensions... Makes me glad I'm not a scholar, or I'd probably get lost trying to research it all." He sighs and sits back in his seat, "I'm open for ideas for the gift. No idea what we'd give her, myself..."
Louma takes a few minutes to think about it, the two eventually managing to list a number of things that wouldn't last long, though they do manage to whittle their thoughts down to a handful of options over the course of some hours. All the while they eliminate every one of Elizabeth's books and journals as possibly useful guides.