Chapter 110 — Delivering the Findings

Chapter 110: Chapter 110 — Delivering the Findings

Arlen found Eldrin in his usual cluttered study two days after the capital team’s departure, the professor’s desk considerably more chaotic than Arlen remembered, stacks of correspondence and half-unrolled maps competing for space with a scatter of reference texts Arlen didn’t recognize.

"Arlen!" Eldrin rose from his desk with genuine, unguarded delight the moment he noticed him at the doorway. "I’d heard you were back, of course, but I’ve been buried in preliminary reports from the guild archive since the expedition’s return. Come in, come in — I want to hear everything, properly, not the fragmented secondhand accounts I’ve been piecing together."

Arlen settled into the chair across from Eldrin’s desk, the same worn seat he remembered from their very first conversation years earlier, and found himself, unpacking the careful bundle of notes he’d brought, genuinely looking forward to finally sharing everything with the one person who’d understand its full significance.

"I brought copies of my documentation," Arlen said, laying out the pages carefully. "Sketches of the site, notes on the ruins we uncovered, and a formal account of everything Sister Ashwood and Osric managed to piece together about its purpose."

Eldrin’s eyes lit with the same scholarly hunger Arlen remembered from their original expedition together, and he began working through the pages with careful, methodical attention, occasionally pausing to ask a sharp, probing question that Arlen did his best to answer thoroughly.

"A structure, not a marker," Eldrin murmured, studying Arlen’s sketch of the main building’s foundation. "This matches something I’ve suspected for months, honestly, comparing notes with colleagues at the capital archive. The original fragment I found — the one that started all of this — I’ve since learned it wasn’t isolated. There are traces of similar work scattered further than even the two additional sites I originally identified."

"How much further?"

"Uncertain, precisely. But considerably beyond what any single scholar, or even a single archive, could properly track alone." Eldrin set the pages down, his expression carrying a weight Arlen hadn’t seen from him before — genuine unease beneath the scholarly excitement. "Whatever this actually was, Arlen, I don’t think it was a single, isolated incident. I think we’re looking at evidence of something considerably larger — an organized, sustained effort, conducted across what may have been a substantial span of time and territory."

Arlen felt a familiar, cold weight settle into his chest at that, the same unease he’d carried since first standing in the vault’s ruined chamber. "Do you have any theory about what they were actually trying to accomplish?"

"None I’d feel comfortable stating as more than speculation," Eldrin admitted. "The book you recovered may hold answers, once proper restoration allows anyone to actually read it. Until then, I have only fragments, and fragments make for poor foundations to build firm conclusions upon."

He studied Arlen a moment longer, something gentler entering his expression. "I understand you’re planning to leave the Ashen Frontier soon."

"Word travels fast."

"It does, particularly regarding someone the guild’s come to value as highly as they’ve come to value you." Eldrin managed a small, genuine smile despite the conversation’s heavier undertones. "I won’t pretend I’m not disappointed, on a personal level. You’ve been an excellent partner in this work, Arlen — patient, thorough, genuinely curious in a way most adventurers never quite manage."

"I’m grateful for everything you taught me," Arlen said honestly. "About documentation, about taking discovery seriously rather than simply chasing quests. I don’t think I’d be the adventurer I am now without that."

"High praise, and undeserved, mostly," Eldrin said, though the warmth in his voice suggested he appreciated the sentiment regardless. "You brought your own curiosity to this work long before I had any hand in shaping it. I simply gave it somewhere useful to point itself."

They spent the following hour working through the remainder of Arlen’s documentation, Eldrin’s questions growing increasingly technical as he worked to properly contextualize everything against his own accumulated research, and Arlen found himself, watching the professor’s careful, methodical engagement with the material, genuinely comforted by the knowledge that this mystery, at least, was being left in capable hands.

"I intend to keep pursuing this," Eldrin said, once they’d finally worked through the last of the notes. "Properly, carefully, however long it takes. The capital archive’s taken a serious interest now, given the scale of what you all uncovered, and I suspect I’ll have considerably more resources available going forward than I’ve ever had access to before."

"I hope you find real answers eventually," Arlen said. "Whatever they turn out to be."

"So do I," Eldrin said. "It’s the kind of question that could occupy a scholar for the rest of his career, honestly. I don’t mind that prospect nearly as much as I probably should."

Eldrin walked him to the study’s door once their conversation finally concluded, and paused there a moment, something reflective entering his expression.

"Do you remember our very first expedition together?" he asked. "The minor ruin, out past the outer boundary. You were still Rank F then, if I recall correctly."

"I remember," Arlen said. "You told me you’d keep an eye out for postings suited to my rank, once something appropriate came along."

"I did, and I think that promise served us both rather well, in the end." Eldrin’s smile carried genuine, unguarded fondness. "I’ve had many escorts over the years, Arlen. Few have mattered as much as you’ve come to."

Arlen felt something warm settle in his chest at that, the accumulated weight of years spent building genuine, meaningful connection finding expression in the professor’s simple, honest words.

"Thank you," he said. "For everything."

"Go see the world properly," Eldrin said. "And when you find something worth documenting, out there beyond everything the Ashen Frontier could ever teach you, I hope you’ll remember the lessons you learned uncovering it here."

Arlen made his way back toward the guild hall that evening, the weight of the conversation settling into him with quiet, reflective clarity, and wrote in his journal once he’d finally reached his own quarters.

Delivered everything to Eldrin today. He confirmed what I’d already begun suspecting — this mystery extends considerably further than a single site, further than even the two additional locations he originally identified. Whatever happened, centuries ago, it wasn’t isolated.

I don’t know if I’ll ever learn how that particular mystery ends. I’m not sure it matters much to me either way — that’s Eldrin’s work now, and he’s better suited to it than I ever was. I’m glad to have played some part in uncovering it, and gladder still to leave it in his hands rather than my own.

He asked if I remembered our first expedition together. I do, clearly. Strange, how a single kind gesture from a scholar willing to take a chance on a Rank F rookie eventually shaped so much of who I became.

He closed the journal, the evening settling comfortably around him, and found himself, turning toward whatever remained of his time in Greyhaven, increasingly aware of exactly how close that departure had finally, genuinely become.