Abandoned Shadows

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A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

Traveling down the hallway, she trusted Tarhuinn to guide them through the house since at this point it was pitch black in the place. She knew that he would stop if he saw anything odd lying about. As they made their way down and took a left turn, he told her to step a little to her right to avoid some stones on the ground. After she had passed them, he increased his pace a little. They took a right turn next, and he stopped. "I'm going to let go of your hand for a moment, (f/n). Just remain where you are."


Reluctantly, she allowed him to pull his hand away. She intertwined her own fingers together before she fiddled with the fabric of her cloak. "What are you doing?" she asked to hear his voice. The surrounding darkness kept her imagination on high, so knowing that he was still there would help.


"I'm going to try to light the fireplace in here. We can then light the lanterns using this. It might take awhile, but I'm sure that no one will mind us spending the day and possibly the evening in here." He grabbed the firesteel and chert, and the fire was soon lit. Placing the items down, he stood up and glanced over the kitchen.


(F/n) was just happy that she could see in the place. "Tarhuinn, how could a kelremm house become abandoned? Your population seems to be quite stable according to you. And, there doesn't seem to be conflict between the three complexes. And, I haven't seen anyone who looks ill."


"Illness does strike us occasionally, but we have tougher bodies than humans. If a human partner takes ill, it becomes a community matter, and the complex works to form a cure. The same happens if a kelremm falls ill, but again that rarely happens. So, I doubt that was the reason for this abandoned house. Perhaps, it was built to be specifically abandoned so that the authors would have a secret way out."


"Then, why furnish it? There's still pots and pans in here. Along with a ready supply of wood. In fact, who would keep bringing the wood in?"


"It might just be an elaborate illusion to make it seem like it was abandoned. We could go back out and ask one of the wood traders. It might just be that they supply wood to this house since the other trader mentioned that almost everyone has explored this place."


"That's something that I've been wondering. How is wood supplied to the complexes? Your ceilings aren't high enough for pine trees, yet there seems no way to go outside except for that water passage you used to take me to our home."


"Kelremm used to have to bring in cut-up trees from outside the mountain, but that was rather risky due to unwanted humans possibly spotting us. So over the years, we developed a new kind of tree. We took the shortest of the trees and bred them together. Eventually, we were successful in getting a tree to be a little over my height. This allows the trees to be grown in kelremm homes."


"That must have taken years, though."


"According to history it took many generations of kelremm, but the amount of years still seems to fall short. Some have just stated that we always had the trees in the mountains and that the history is a fabled myth. Others have mentioned that magic may be at work, but a mage has never crossed paths with our kind. Or if they have, there have been no records of it."


"Maybe, that's where this possible extra life energy is coming from. A mage might be involved. Perhaps, mages have been interacting with your kind all of these years, but it's been hidden from the general population. Those five authors might not only have been trying to keep this source of life energy a secret but also their knowledge of kelremm dealings with a mage or mages. That would garner the reason to make this house seem like it was abandoned."


"That could very well be the case. It would explain why these five authors took out that phrase in that line. We won't know until we find them, though. So, let's begin lighting the lanterns and searching. Who knows how long it will take us to find the secret passage."


"Right, I don't want to be in this house for too long, especially if spies are around and they know about out inquiries," she responded as he grabbed one of the lanterns from the kitchen walls. He lit the candle within before the two of them joined hands again and made their way throughout the house.

As they went around and lit the candles, she did wonder who was replacing the candles. It was far too odd. Maybe, it was one of the kelremm from the complex, or Tergii and Bimaa replaced them to keep up the grand illusion of things. At least with the light, they could finally begin a decent search for this hidden passage.


They started with the bedroom since they had lighted the lanterns in that room last. Dust had gathered like in the other rooms, though; there was more in here than the hallways. Maybe, the kelremm from the complex thought not to search too far in. When they had finished with the room, every section had been looked through. Both of them even tested the walls and floors. Tarhuinn had managed to reach certain parts of the ceiling by standing on the bed. Nothing popped up. "No kelremm have magic, right?" she questioned, thinking that there might be a magic seal involved.

"Correct. If they have magic, they either gained it by some forbidden means, or they made sure that no other kelremm would have magic. Still, it's unlikely, but we don't know exactly what we're dealing with. So, my knowledge of my kind might not even be correct when concerning those five."


"Could they possibly bring a mage with them and have the mage wait in the house until they return?"


"Yes, that's a possibility. We shouldn't dwell on that, though. If that is the case, however, then we can't move on. I have no magic, and as far as I know, you don't either."


"I know for certain that I don't have any. Otherwise, I would've escaped my room back in my parents' house a long time ago. In the end, it worked out since we're now exploring. I doubt that we would've done this if I had come to you sooner."


"That's true. Then again, I would've had for certain more years with you. This is all riding on chance."


"But things keep pointing to my theory," she commented as they left the bedroom and headed to the laundry area next. A sigh escaped his lips as he nodded in response, and a triumphant smile graced her lips. On their way to the laundry area, though, she noted the pool of water off to the side. That path could very well be the secret passage, but it was so obvious that no one considered it. "Do you think that pool could lead to where Tergii and Bimaa went off to?"


"It's a possibility, but I'd rather not travel down some abandoned water tunnel unless we have to. We'll check the rest of the house first. If we can't discover anything, then we'll test out that way."


Agreeing to that plan, they continued on looking through the other rooms. The laundry, kitchen and library provided nothing. They even tested all of the books on the shelves. Several hours had also passed by that point. Neither knew what time it was, but they decided to take a short break and eat something. Chewing on a dried apricot, she looked over the library once more. Unlike back in their home, there was no window in the ceiling. Only more lanterns lit the room up.


The books were back on the shelves, but she was hoping that it would be one of the book lever activations. Granted, those seemed too obvious since they were always mentioned in tales of mystery. Hopping off of the desk, she landed on the stone and stretched a little. Tarhuinn had finished eating as well, and they went off to their last location, which just happened to be a room with the shorter pines.


When they had been lighting the lanterns, this was one room where there was none. Only a large window in the far left wall provided light into the area. This room did answer the question of where the wood was coming from, though; it raised the question of whether Tergii and Bimaa took care of the trees themselves.


From the large window, they could see that it was late afternoon, but that light barely penetrated the trees in the center. It was amazing that they still grew so well. They must have come from some variant of pine that could tolerate partial sunlight. Something could very well be hiding within those trees. Both of them shared a similar thought, and Tarhuinn made sure that he had a tight grip on her.


Advancing into the trees, they both watched carefully around them. They would need to use the afternoon sun to their advantage. Thankfully, not too many clouds seemed to be blocking it at the moment. Occasionally, they stopped a few times since one of them thought that they had heard something. It turned out that it was only their imagination getting the best of them. Or, at least that's the conclusion that they made.


Each of them remained wary, however. As the light from the sun grew dimmer, they found themselves still examining the trees. By now, they could barely see in the center. "We'll need to go back and grab a lantern. Then, we can come into here again. We don't want to be caught in here in the dark," Tarhuinn advised. The idea sounded like a good plan to her, and both of them headed back to the library to grab a lantern. What was odd, though, is that it looked darker farther down in the house. It looked as though the lanterns had been blown out.

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