"Perhaps the star is nothing." Felam says. "Still, how hard would it be for us to go there and inspect the site? If there is nothing, then so be it."
"We have the location," Zaris says slowly. "Erin could open a gate to the site easily enough I suppose. And then open another after an hour or so, or longer. Whenever you'd need to return."
Garth gets himself some food, sits down, and looks from face to face. "What did I miss?" he asks quietly.
Alessa shrugs, "No news on Lorgalis, and they can't seem to find the stone that fell from the sky. A clearing where it hit, but no actual stone. Felam was asking about checking it out."
Felam looks around. "What do you think? Just a small excursion, if for no other purpose than to satiate my curiousity."
Torn nods, "I have no objections, as long as the gate is available for us to return through. I'm not up to moving us all myself you know." He smiles.
"I don't have any objections, says Garth, "but I have a few cautions, such as, we will need for someone to keep an eye on us in case something happens, such as our going some distance from where the gate was -- or being captured or otherwise dragged away."
Zaris nods, "I understand. We would watch, after opening the gate in the immediate area."
"Also, Zaris, have they told you about the shard creatures yet?"
"They have," she nods, "But I'd like your version of the events."
Garth tells her about their adventures in the demons' tower.
She listens, concernedly. "We need to address this quickly. I'll get word out to all our contacts. Meanwhile, eat, and we can send you to the site of the falling star after lunch."
Felam smiles, "That's a practical order of events."
Torn nods, "I have no objections, as long as the gate is available for us to return through. I'm not up to moving us all myself you know." He smiles.
"Well, there will either be something there or there won't be," Felam says. "I'm sure if we need more than an hour, we can come back and arrange for something longer."
"Zaris, how would you go about telling whether a bottle of wine was poisoned or not? Without anyone drinking it, I mean," says Garth as he eats. "And could it be done without opening the bottle?"
She blinks at the change of subject, "There's a simple work for detecting poisons. The wine can stay in the bottle, sealed."
Garth fishes out of his pack the bottle of wine he got from an unknown benefactor in the Brass Pelican. "This one?" he inquires, holding it out.
Zaris takes it, examines it, and passes her hand over it. The bottle glows faintly for a moment, then fades. "It's clean." She hands it back. "Why would you think it poisoned?"
"Er, it's a long story," says Garth. "Thank you, Zaris."
He passes the bottle to Alessa. "So, is this a good vintage?" he asks her.
Alessa takes the bottle and gives him a look. She then inspects the label. "Well," she drawls out, "Nothing to write home about. But it's a decent enough table wine."
"I shall leave it to you two to discover its worth," Felam responds. "I will stick to tea and water."
Garth nods and tucks it back inside his pack. "Then we'll open it tonight," he says, "whether here in the dining hall, or wherever we have dinner."
He rubs the stone cat between its stone ears. "I don't think we should take you," he says, "Since we're going into an unknown situation. Once we come back and have some idea of what's going on . . . we don't have to worry about weight limits now that we're not dealing with Navigators, do we?" he asks, looking at Torn.
Torn shakes his head. "A gate stays open, any amount of material can pass through, during it's existence." He chuckles. Anything halfway through when a gate closes is -- well -- sheared off."
"Yich," says Garth. "But I meant, in case you need to move us somewhere yourself. As for this trip, well, in theory it's just a scouting trip, so why shouldn't Gem come with us? You haven't been out on a mission in a long time, have you, Gem?"
Torn shrugs, "As long as you aren't carrying the mass of another while person, no, no major limit."
"Gem weighs fifty pounds, he's solid stone, and in magical terms I believe he's what you call a 'golem,'" says Garth. "Does that make a difference? And do I have to carry him when being transported, or can he stand inside the circle or walk through the gate on his own?"
Torn leans forward, "He can walk through a gate alone or carried. For a teleport he would need to be carried or he will count as an extra passenger."
Garth nods. "Understood. So, when do we leave?" he asks Zaris. "Usually it's Felam who wants to leave so we can be back by dinnertime, but in this case it's me." He grins at Felam.
Felam laughs. "You're learning! Gem has been quite useful to us before. I wonder sometimes whether our last troubles might have been a little less frightful if we had had Gem along. If at all possible, I would like Gem on this trip."
Zaris chuckles, "I don't see why we can't arrange it for as soon as we can get Erin to open a gate, after Selena gets him the location. Just a few minutes."
"Well, I'm certain this will be a wonderful trip." I say smiling. "No troubles whatsoever."
"Erin didn't want him to leave until he'd recorded the things Gem had observed," says Garth, "so we should ask him, but I would think he'd have finished by now." He rubs the stone cat between his stone ears. "Can anyone think of any preparations we need to make while we wait for the gate?"
Alessa pipes up, "Finish lunch." She proceeds to do so.
"Good idea," says Garth, following suit.
Felam laughs again, "You are my finest pupils! Indeed, no adventure should ever be started on an empty stomach. One never knows when a proper meal might be forthcoming again."
After lunch, Zaris leads the group to the Scrying room, where Selena looks over the world with the Ilarisir. Erin is called for and arrives shortly thereafter.
"You want to go look at an empty spot where there should be something, but isn't. Fine, Selena?" the grouchy old man calls.
"Already bringing it up Erin," Selena says softly, sadly, from her post by the great crystal.
"Well, there's nothing, and then there's nothing," Felam says, turning to Erin. "I'll beg your leave a thousand times if this turns out to be a wasted trip."
Erin waves it off. "A minor thing, but if you bring something back like last time you sleep in the mountains for a week.
"Is it all right if we take Gem with us, Erin?" asks Garth.
He shrugs, "Up to you. We've squeezed every last element of the Vault out of his memory."
"Hear that, Gem? Are you ready to travel?" says Garth to the stone cat as he watches Selena.
"Then there's nothing at all to worry about." Felam says. "Let's get underway then, shall we?"
In the crystal, a small wood surrounded by farmland is revealed. The rocky soil allowing trees, but apparently too much for the plows to turn and allow grains. In the wood is a small clearing with fallen trees.
Erin gestures and a gate opens. "Outside the wood, on the edge of the crops, just to be safe boys and girls. I'll be watching with Selena, and re-opening a gate in about an hour, same place."
"Me first, then Alessa to check that we're alone, then Felam and Torn," suggests Garth. "Gem, stay beside me."
He settles his pack and steps through the gate.
"We'll be as safe as ever," Felam says taking his usual place behind the others and awaiting for them to pass through before following.
The woods are quiet. The day isn't as advanced here with the sun shining at barely the midmorning level.
"People about, but not near. Mostly in the fields," Alessa whispers.