Adventure!

Henry
Dusk is just settling in over the town of Golden when Elijah pulls up to Henry's place. The house is looking less abandoned, of late. This is, by and large, Elijah's doing. The mass of leaves in the gutters have been cleaned out, the windows washed, the shutters repainted. The lawn was mowed fairly recently. It feels more like a home than it did when Henry first invited him for tea.

He answers the door in an elaborate red and gold velvet houserobe (despite it being evening and not at all the normal time to be traipsing about in a robe and slippers,) tying the sash more tightly about his waist as he ushers Elijah indoors. His hair looks a little wild tonight - like maybe he forgot to brush it. He does that, sometimes. Gets caught up reading or writing or plotting some big adventure and forgets to do things like dress himself. There's an excited air to his countenance - some barely-contained delight that he can barely manage to keep to himself until he's got the door shut.

"Elijah, dear boy. It's almost time! We're going to go and find ourselves a crown!"

Elijah
There are things he takes note of when he comes to Henry's place now, notes where he might have to edge in a couple of weeks because the flowerbeds were looking a little off- he didn't consider himself the type to actually care about flowerbeds but Jenn was looking at houses and now, on top of having a father who worked construction (and accidentally having learned something about roofing once upon a time because he had been a particular shit when he was sixteen and had to work a summer), he now had strong opinions about the quality of crown molding in places.

Jenn was totally using this to her advantage. Promised to send his mentor flowers at some point, even if Henry was blissfully unaware of this. Flowers or a painting. We digress.

Basically, he'd spent the day reading and drawing on the walls of the apartment again, though this time he took the paintings off the wall and drew there instead of on the bright. When the work was done he'd scrub the chalk off again but there was a summons and the motorcyucle was parked nearly in the driveway, helmet under one arm and jacket ready to be discarded. His vest was buttoned, hair a tossled mess- so he couldn't say anything about Henry looking a little wild. It's a pot-and-kettle situation.

"Wait, seriously?" drops his helmet off at the door immediately and his green eyes are bright and alight and his lips upturn in a vibrant smile, "What all do we need to do, like, what's left? What can I do? What am I doing."

I'm doing something. Because we're doing this. Eeeeeeeeeeeee

Henry
"Indeed. If my calculations are correct, and they usually are--"

"That's debatable." Red's dry intonation sounds from somewhere in the sitting room, to which Henry offers a wounded huff and a dismissive wave of his hand.

"If my calculations are correct, a Shallowing will be opening in the mountains this Monday. When it does, we'll be able to pass through into the Umbra easily. I have a map and a legend, and Red knows a few good Moon Bridges to help us get around. You need only bring your wits, your Will, and your sense of enthusiasm. Of course, traveling the Spirit Wilds is always a bit of an adventure. One can never really plan how things are going to go. But that's part of the fun. You have to learn to roll with the punches."

There are probably many mages in Denver who would not count this as overly reassuring news. Elijah, however, is very much like his mentor in that respect. (A pot-kettle situation indeed.) Henry leads the two of them into the kitchen. The appliances are old, but in surprisingly good condition. A round white wooden table sits in the center of the room, currently decorated with a slim vase of purple wildflowers. Henry's dishes from his last meal are still laid out on the table, and he begins to pick them up and set them in the sink. When he's done, he puts the kettle on to heat.

That's another thing with Henry. In his world, every time is tea time.

"Now, I must tell you. We will have to be careful not to tell many people what we're doing. The Order, in its infinite wisdom, would rather prefer that this particular artifact remain undisturbed. Because heavens forbid we actually cherish our history." Henry makes an offended little clucking sound in his throat. "On a more rational note, it would put us at risk if word were to get out. Great treasures attract great attention, you see."

"I'd still feel better if we had one or two other people with us," Red points out as he trots in to join them in the kitchen. "Three's a bit small to go artifact hunting. Especially if we run into a fight."

Elijah
This was like being told that he was being invited to go to Disneyland, if Disneyland were a place that would potentially kill him (which would actually make Elijah actually want to go to Disneyland, truth be told). He follows along, every ounce of his form is saying that he is trying incredibly, incredibly hard to not hop or clap or grin like a dumbass- whelp, nope, can't stop grinning. He's looking at Henry like he's laid something bare. Something raw and exciting and new.

In the kitchen, he puts his hands on the counter, taps out triplets on one hand and quarter notes on the other- some of the years of piano and harp were actually paying off as an outlet for nervouscited (nervous+excited) energy. They have to keep it on the down low, though.

A nod. Yes. Okay.

"So... what is it? I know it's a crown, but... whereabouts does it fit in historically?" a second before he's patting himself down for his phone, flipping through and finding a picture of a particular Verbena- grant you, without her makeup on- and shows it to Henry.

"That's my friend Kiara, we run around and explore things together sometimes, she's really cool. She's a Verbena, she's personally made sure that I haven't, you know, been rendered into multiple pieces before. She's got a really good, solid head on her shoulders, and, like, actually isn't uncool about going off and doing things.

"Whatdayathink? I think she'd be completely down with coming with us."

Henry
"Ah yes, I do remember Kiara. Lovely girl. And clever. Very good at puzzles." Henry squints a bit as he looks at Elijah's phone, tapping one finger against the screen.

Red hops up onto a chair, then the table, settling himself into a seated position beside the flower vase. His long tail tucks around his paws like a furry boa. At mention of Kiara, his ears perk forward with interest. "If I remember correctly, she had the good sense to question your enthusiasm. We could probably use someone a bit more... grounded." There is a kind of loving humor laid beneath the fox's little jabs, but teasing or no, he makes a valid point.

"Oh Red, what do I need an adult for when I have you?" Henry smiles at the fox in a charmingly patronizing sort of way, reaching across to pat his familiar on the head.

Red flicks back his ears and sighs.

But Elijah asked about the crown, and Henry is hardly going to let that opportunity pass without an answer. There's a bright sparkle in his eyes when he turns, putting a finger to his lips as though he's about to tell some great secret.

"It's called the Crown of Souls. And legend has it, it once belonged to one of the Aeduna." He reaches up to fetch a pair of teacups from the cabinet. "A powerful Priestess named Amara Renata. History is a bit sketchy as to her origins. We believe she hailed from the Mediterranean sometime before common era. But there are stories that place her in many locations and across a a great many years. This is how legends go, of course." He sets the cups down on the table along with a couple of saucers, then pulls out a chair to settle himself down.

"It is said the crown can turn mortals into gods. Though I suspect it is not quite that powerful."

Elijah
"She has a great track record for being the voice of reason," doesn't scroll through the rest of that text message, which oddly enough had included the discovery that Elijah actually likes orange juice more than screwdrivers. Truth be told, since his apprenticeship had picked up, he hadn't hadtime to drink as often, and the desire hadn't been there. He had a number of things he could be doing and the prospect of exploring the universe and getting to find out new and exciting things sounded a little more fun than getting blazed on a Saturday night.

"That would make sense," he said, "a god could be omnipresent and if the stories put her all sorts of places it could stand to reasont hat she could be at any of them, or all of them, in a moment's notice. I think, y'know, for time periods and stuff the definition of what could make you like a god could be, y'know, a lot of things."

His brows rose, "when did it get lost? What happened to Amara Renata?"

Henry
"If the legends are to be believed, and there is always some truth to legends, Amara Renata lived a very long time. Centuries. Millennia. People called her the Firebird Priestess. But as is so often the case with these stories, pride and power would eventually become her downfall. There was a war among our kind, and Amara Renata was drawn into it. Then one night while she slept, her enemy stole the crown from her. Those fighting under her banner were nearly wiped out. There are... conflicting accounts as to whether Amara Renata died in that war. Some say she did, others say she escaped. I suppose we may never know."

Behind them, the tea kettle begins to whistle as the water heats up. Henry lifts himself slowly from his seat, sighing as the joints in his knees give an aching creak.

"The story gets darker, after that. I'm told the crown eventually landed in the hands of the Nephandi, before the Order finally managed to liberate it from them. Fearing further war, we eventually chose to banish the crown to a secret location in the Umbra. And there it has been ever since."

Elijah
He settles into his seat. Tries to sit still. This is a problem, as Henry had no doubt become aware. Elijah didn't like to sit still. He didn't like to be sitting still and idle and waiting, even if he was there in rapt attention he was a creature of perpetual motion. Always striving, pushing, railing against whatever boundary he seems to find if only because he can't wait to see whether or not the levies will hold.

"So... like... the whole godlike power thing kinda goes to her head, gets drawn into a war like ya do when you have the ability to rewrite the world and have a specific way you wanna see it shake out, shit hits the fan, symbol of power- or actual source of power gets stolen, and Amara Renata falls out of history.

"Then, time passes, crown falls into Nephandic hands, proves to be a Huge Freaking Problem-" look at him, successfully avoiding saying fuckaround his mentor, "and the Order is like hey, we should keep this in the Umbra just in case."

A beat.

"I mean, that sounds like a good idea, but when I think about it that really doesn't sound like a good idea. the umbra's not, like, just some forbidden place where nobody goes- I mean we're going, which I'm totally fu-" don't say fuck "-reaking excited about. Like, did they do anything to make sure it wasn't fundamentally altered after it was just chilling out with Nephandi? This isn't going to go all one ring on us, is it?"

Henry
Elijah sums up the story quite succinctly, to which Henry chuckles and offers him an approving nod. He pulls the kettle off the heat before the whistle can get too shrill and begins to dig through his tea cabinet for something worthy of the occasion.

Elijah's Tolkien reference gets another huff of laughter.

"Oh, I'm sure they would have cleansed it prior to stashing it away. That's just good sense. And as much as I like to complain about our Order..." He says our Order, despite Elijah's apprentice status. Henry has, in fact, always referred to it as our. Our House. Our Order. Not my. It's telling, his willingness to consider Elijah family. "Carelessness is not a quality I would typically ascribe to them. However..."

Henry pulls down a tin of loose black tea. When he opens the lid, the scent of black currant reaches Elijah's nose. "I will check it thoroughly upon our acquisition, should we succeed. One can never be too careful with these things."

"Not like that book, right Henry?"

"Oh, will you never let me live that down? We found the other spider and no one got hurt."

"Other than you. And that deer."

"Yes, well. Giant spiders need to eat."

Red snorts.

"Getting back to Elijah's concerns..." Henry clears his throat as he prepares the tea, scooping leaves into a small ceramic pot to steep. "I have no doubt that the crown will not be easy to access. If it was, it would have been stolen long ago. But the thing about the Umbra, you see, is that it is, in its way, infinite. One could easily lose something there and never find it again. The roads change. And every realm has its own rules. In order to get somewhere, you must first know where you want to end up. I know the place we're heading, but not what we'll find when we get there. Only that it is likely to be... inhospitable."

Elijah
There is a little perk when he says that, doesn't exclude Elijah, and it makes him hopeful, lets delight run across his features. He's actually includedwhich, in all truth, was something he had wanted for a long time.

"... are there going to be giant spiders? I've been informed that I'm delicious, I'm not sure I want to test this. Giant anything else is fine, just... Well, I mean, we're going to the umbra there might be giant spiders, there's webs everywhere, it kinda makes sense that there would be giant spiders."

He exhales, attempts to make peace with the fact that there were giant spiders.

"Do... we have any regular kind of inhospitable? I kind of suspect it's going to be a realm of really impolite dinner guests," though, once the nervousness has a chance to sit there, he beams. Eyes bright and grin brighter again and there is a look to him that says it all- this is a challenge. This is going to be his first, legitimate trip into the umbra and they are going somewhere dangerous to retrieve something wondrous.

"There's probably not just gonna be a bunch of terrifying golems and stuff, that would be too easy, right? It would mean that anyone who can throw enough meat at the doorway could get to it."

He's off musing again.

"...cool."

Henry
Elijah's nervous-exciting musing - likely something that Henry is used to by now - gets a prolonged chuckle. Henry sets the teapot on the table while he waits for the leaves to steep, relaxing slowly (his joints give another creak) into his chair again. He lets out a long exhale and closes his eyes for a moment, as though suddenly very tired. (As though all of the excitement of the day has worn him out.) When he opens his eyes, he considers Elijah's question.

"Honestly I don't know. We should be prepared for anything. It could be a maze or a puzzle. It could be laid with traps. Likely it'll be guarded by something."

"I'm telling you, Henry, it's going to be a dragon."

"Oh, don't listen to Red. He worries too much. Besides, even if it is, we've escaped dragons before."

Red folds back his ears and gives Henry a look.

"Now, I think this tea is about ready for us to try. Would you like sugar?"

Elijah
"You know it's going to be? It's going to be a puddle. A really flipping deep puddle, and we will be screwed," dead serious, that. Or at least, he seemed like it, mused over what could possibly be the worst thing they could encounter and he comes up with deep water. Dragons? No problem. Spiders? Sure, that made sense? Deep water?

Noooooo.

"I don't suppose you have a how to escape dragons primer in the library somewhere, do you?" brows rose, also a serious question. Then, a smile, "oh, no sugar, please."

Always drank his tea straight. Damn you, Ian Lai.