“That was quite the gift, Elisdrasil,” the human said, gesturing at the departed barmaid.

Elisdrasil eyed the man cautiously, keeping his hand on his sword. He had come to Tediore Salle anonymously, and prior to that had travelled through Raiaera as just another nameless refugee. It was easy to be just another face in the crowd when half the nation’s population was still trying to get their feet back under them following the end of the Corpse War. And yet here was a human who somehow knew Elisdrasil’s real name.

“Do you think she knows the coin is mythril?” the human continued, very obviously making no hostile movements. The man’s bland face stuck out from his short haircut, and the plain clothes he wore blended in well with the background. “I think it was fairly obvious that she was attracted to you, you know. I wonder just what she’d do if she knew you’d just given her half a year’s wages. Not that I’m accusing a member of the Phoenix with …”

A faint click echoed between them, cutting the human silent. The human glanced at the hand on Elisdrasil’s sword, and then at the hand which had stealthily slid under the table. He narrowed his eyes, impressed at how smooth the motion had been. He’d been watching for something like that but hadn’t seen a thing. There weren’t many people who would have been able to catch him off-guard like that.

“Sit,” Elisdrasil said, his finger resting tightly against the trigger of his crossbow. The man hesitated for a moment, then nodded and slowly sat.

“Believe it or not …,” the man began but Elisdrasil cut him off with a hiss.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Elissa said, hustling over to the table, “I didn’t see you come in. Welcome to the Silver Oak. Can I get you something to drink?” The human looked to Elisdrasil for permission, but the elf had put on a pleasant smile.

“I’ll just have another of what my friend here is having,” the human said politely. Time seemed to hold still for the two of them while Elissa fetched another tankard. Finally, once she’d returned to casting furtive glances from behind the bar, conversation continued.

“Now, you’re going to tell me who you are and how you know about the Phoenix,” Elisdrasil began.

“Or you’ll take it as an unkindness, I suppose,” the human said. He dipped his head in the general direction of the crossbow still cocked at him. Sighing, the man picked up his tankard, and took a swig. Elisdrasil’s dispassionate eyes followed his every movement.

“As I was saying before your young paramour interrupted us, I am not your enemy, last of the Phoenix.”

Elisdrasil’s scowl darkened at the title. “There is no last of the Phoenix, human. The Phoenix are gone. And I still haven’t decided whether you’re my enemy or not.”

“Fine, if that’s how it’s going to be. My name, elf,” the human had the satisfaction of seeing Elisdrasil flinch as he threw the racial epithet back at him, “is Kell Winters. I am a member of an order of scholars. We work for a lore master who goes by the title of Keeper.”

“Never heard of him,” Elisdrasil said.

“I assumed you wouldn’t have,” the man continued, nonplussed. “Very few have, as a matter of fact. We are a rather small order and the Keeper, if you’ll pardon the phrase, keeps to himself most of the time.”

“But somehow your small order knows about a secret Raiaeran sect which was destroyed in the early years of the Corpse War?”

Kell shrugged. “Yours is a special case. The Keeper was recently given an ill-omen. While researching the meaning of it he discovered that it had something to do with the Phoenix.”

“I told you,” Elisdrasil snarled, “the Phoenix are gone.”

The hand under the table shifted and, for a moment, Kell expected to be skewered. But then another click echoed between the two of them as the safety engaged and Kell visibly relaxed.

“You think I’d give a passage coin to a pretty girl if it still meant something? Faded remnants like that are the only things left of the Phoenix now. Nothing but echoes of bygone days.”

“What about the seer stone?”

Elisdrasil blinked. He’d almost forgot that it’d been the carved stone he’d been playing with when Elissa had approached. He’d hidden the crystal and produced the mythril coin without thinking, secretive habits dying hard. Not needing a flourish to impress the human, Elisdrasil simply produced the carved crystal and set it on the table in front of him. Though the stone itself was worn smooth from use, the markings carved into its face were still plainly visible.

“I found this trampled into the dirt inside the old monastery. It’s not valuable,” he said spinning the crystal on the table. “Seer stones only work as a set.”

Kell watched the sword mage with calculating eyes. There was an air of brokenness around the elven warrior. But there was something else there too. A hint of hope, perhaps. He’d come to take Elisdrasil’s measure, to see if the man was worth recruiting to the Keeper’s cause. Elisdrasil was broken inside, but all he was lacking was direction. Kell made up his mind.

“The Lorestones of Nyx,” he said.

Elisdrasil’s head shot up. “What?”

“The Lorestones are why the Keeper was looking into Phoenix. They’re what the omen was pertaining to.”

“He knows where they are?”

“He knows something of them, but the information is clouded.”

“The Lorestones are potent artifacts,” Elisdrasil said. “In the wrong hands they could be used to devastating effect.”

“Which is why the Keeper would like to enlist the aid of someone who knows something about them.”

Elisdrasil take long to make his decision. “I’m in this with you.”

Kell Winters smiled. “Excellent, but I should warn you, you’re not the only one that I need to find. There are others that the Keeper has seen.”

Elisdrasil merely nodded.

Elissa came out from the back with another drink in hand. Despite Othrick’s chiding, she’d thought of at least a dozen more questions to ask the stranger, and even a few that she could ask his companion if the need arose. She sagged a bit when she saw the stranger and his friend preparing to leave. The coin in her hand radiated warmth, as if the fire etched into it were the real thing. It called to her, and she responded.