The mine was something Cora wasn't expecting. Instead of something that screamed its newness or age, it was a simple cavern entrance shored by thick beams of wood. A sign over the entrance proclaimed it 'Kylen's Claim.'
"My brothers had it put up," Kylen explained with a heavy sigh. "Said it was to show everyone that I had a proper claim." He scowled.
Cora blinked at him and then walked towards the entrance. The closer they came, the more obvious it was that the mine was older than it seemed. The toolmarks on the beams were weathered with time, and the faint wagon marks on the road to it had worn a thin trail of their own besides being faintly coated in dust.
"Is no one working here other than you?" Cora finally asked as she came to a stop just shy of entering. Her own mine showed more use than this poor place. "Didn't your family give you a miner or a worker or something?"
"Well—," Kylen began before a shout interrupted him.
"Oy! Kylen! You're finally back!" The owner of the voice emerged from the mine, covered in a fine black powdery substance.
"Enlais!? What happened to you?" Kylen asked, taking a step backwards.
"What? This?" Enlais looked down at their stumpy figure. Then she scrubbed a hand through short shorn hair. "Just some coal dust. I think. Maybe? Perhaps?" Enlais reached into one of the many pockets adorning her outfit and pulled out a square of paper. She carefully tamped some powder onto it and twisted it shut. "I'll have to ask my brothers to be sure."
"They gave you a dwarf?" Cora asked. Then she paused and cleared her throat. "I mean, they sent you a dwarf?"
"Not really," Kylen said as he walked towards Enlais and circled her. "There's not even a clean patch. What did you do? Roll in it?"
"It just showered down," Enlais said defensively. "It's not like I wanted to be coated in coal. I think. Maybe? Perhaps?"
"Enlais is my childhood friend. My family originally seconded a couple of older miners to help me explore the claim, but they said that this was a useless old mine and left." Kylen gingerly patted Enlais' back, sending up a greyish black cloud of powder. He jumped back, coughing.
"They just left?" Cora took a step backwards, faint memories of an old movie about miners with black lung surfacing. "You do know it's dangerous to inhale that stuff, right?"
"Oh, yeah, but one of my greats was half Earth elemental." Kylen paused and shook his head. "No clue how that worked, but there is that. I'll just hawk a chunk of coal a little later, and that's it."
Cora digested this as the 'de-powdering' continued. A few minutes later, a somewhat clean Enlais was revealed.
She had short brown hair that looked as if it was cut too short for the natural curls to abound, an oval face with lovely features and a bristly personality that Cora figured was mostly defensive in nature. Cora had met a few girls like that; their backstories hadn't been pretty.
"I decided to come help Kylen out when those two cowards bailed," Enlais said, tucking the paper twist into another pocket. She eyed Cora curiously. "Are you really thinking about that?" She asked Kylen who looked away towards the entrance to the mine.
"It would solve some things, okay?" Kylen retorted without any heat. "Did you still want a tour? I have shielded lamps." He smirked at Cora's hesitant expression. "I am from a mining family. I know that coal dust is combustible."
"Then lead the way," Cora said stiffly. She eyed the lantern Kylen fetched from the little shack beside the entrance warily.
Kylen shook his head and gestured at the lamp. The inside obligingly started to glow, becoming slowly brighter.
"Follow me, then," Kylen said, walking into the mine.
"It's okay. You probably won't get dusted like me. Maybe? Perhaps?" Enlais added, tapping her chin with one finger.
Cora sighed. She decided that if she was going to deal with Enlais in any way for any length of time, she was going to have to learn to tune out that annoying habit Enlais seemed to have.
*****
The mine showed signs of being productive once upon a time. And much like that phrase, that time seemed to have been quite a long while ago.
Time had worn the signs of pickaxe and shovel to more rounded and mellow shapes. There was a sign of someone trying to dig in one of the walls near the entrance, a pickaxe leaning forlornly against the wall. The gleam of fresh harvested stone seemed out of place against the worn color of the surrounding material.
"I was trying to see if I could at least coax a granite out of it," Enlais said with a slightly embarrassed look. "Then I went exploring."
"Down that tunnel, right?" Kylen asked with a sigh.
Cora felt a little uneasy about the whole thing. They were clearly arguing about something without saying anything. It was something she and Nate or she and Heidi would do sometimes. Cora couldn't do it with Lorenz because he insisted on verifiable facts for his arguments.
Now that she thought about it, Cora couldn't remember ever really winning an argument with Lorenz. He would usually give up and stalk away, leaving her to assume her victory.
"We have to go down, not the deepest tunnel, but the secondmost deepest tunnel," Kylen explained to Cora as they continued on.
"Is that the reason they don't believe you?" Cora asked.
"Not the only reason." Kylen huffed out a sigh. "If only they would listen, but maybe this is for the best? I don't know. I guess it would bring hunters and alchemists and research mages, and that might be worst."
Cora frowned at that statement. They continued walking on for a little bit more. Their footsteps were the only sounds she could hear—that, and a weird echo that seemed to echo their steps every so often.
That echo bothered her more than she wanted to admit. Kylen and Enlais didn't seem to hear it, walking while occasionally trailing their fingers along the walls. Cora figured that that was a miner thing. She had no inclination to touch anything so far.
Kylen jerked to a stop as a shower of black dust cascaded from the ceiling. Cora looked up but saw nothing except a plain rock ceiling that looked hewn out of the stone.
"That's not funny," Kylen said very seriously.
Cora felt shivers run up her back as she heard a series of childish giggles. She glanced around, seeing no one other than herself, Kylen and Enlais.
"They're just having some fun. I think. Maybe? Perhaps?" Enlais said before giving herself a shake. "My uncles say that I'm not decisive enough," she told Cora as she stalked past where the fall of dust had been.
"Come on before Enlais gets coated in something worse," Kylen muttered.
"What could be worse than coal dust?" Cora asked.
"Gem dust. Gets in your lungs and cuts them up. Have to go see a mine healer to get it scooped out before it does deadly damage," Kylen explained absently. "Of course, I don't have one of those. Have to go to the main offices to see Ms. Sheila." He shuddered. "Beautiful but deadly. After one of my older brothers," he tacked on.
Cora blinked at that. She'd never heard of a mine healer before. Cora pulled up her status screen and covertly tapped the little used 'Notes' tab. She jotted down 'mine healer' before closing up the whole thing, noting the flashing purple dot on her quest tab now sported a cute '3' covering the upper right.
She blew out a sigh at that.
"Oh? I'm not complaining. At least it's not me," Kylen hurriedly said.
"She's a vulture in a pretty elf package," Enlais muttered as she stalked down the tunnel, deftly avoiding another shower of minerals, this time little pieces of some gemstone.
"Oh, come on," Kylen complained, following after her.
Cora shook her head before hurrying after them. The weird falls of stones, minerals and dust only happened when Kylen or Enlais were walking. She wasn't targeted at all. From their reactions, neither of the two leading expected her to be targeted at all.
That made Cora wonder about the invisible title that was supposedly floating over her head. She had a feeling that if she concentrated, she could probably see it or if she could find a mirror. So far, Cora hadn't been anywhere long enough to actually find one of those mythical things. She'd had to make do with quick glimpses in pools of water or reflections from bottles or window glass.
She nearly bumped into Kylen as she was wondering. She looked up to see him and Enlais standing before what was clearly a crudely made hut.
Cora looked upwards to find the ceiling dotted with gently shining fluorite crystals. The cavern they had entered was huge, and set in the center was the anomalous hut.
"Someone was living down here?" Cora asked, glancing around.
Aside from the hut, there was no other signs of civilization. Instead, there were simple carved toys scattered about and a bench and table set near the entrance.
"We had to make the table," Kylen said, sitting down. He set his lamp on the table. "There was just a bench before, and I think it was just an experiment."
As Cora was wondering about the 'experiment,' the door to the hut opened. A head jutted out, peering in their direction. Then it ducked back into the house.
Cora blinked, trying to parse what she'd just seen. The head had had hair made of a million filaments, and their eyes were clearly crystalline.
"Just act like you didn't see her," Kylen said, pulling out slightly battered pastries from his pocket.
With a sigh, Enlais pulled a plain stone plate from one of her pockets. Then she proceeded to dump a variety of wrapped candies next to it.
Cora was the only one who jumped when a little girl materialized at her side, staring at the candies.
"Are they like the last ones?" The little girl asked, eyes darting between Kylen and Enlais. Then she turned to Cora and paused. "What's a mayor?"
"Something rare and mysterious, or at least this one is," a more mature voice responded.
Cora looked up, eyes wide as a face formed on the wall next to the hut. Eyes made of shining crystals and ore raked over her as the face smiled, causing a small tremor.
"I would think you're the one who's rare and mysterious," Cora replied, feeling her heart race.
"Meet my crazy myth, 'Heart of the Mountain,'" Kylen said, unwrapping one of the candies and popping it into his mouth.
*****
Heidi answered the door, absently scolding her younger sister in the process. For her efforts, she was rewarded by a middle finger and the eye-opening sight of her 'only' bank account displayed on the girl's smartphone.
"Is this a good time?" Nate asked, peeking into her house and after her sister's fleeing form.
"That little—," Heidi began before calming herself. "Just a moment. I have to deal with something."
"Deal away," Nate said, closing the door. He glanced around the interior of the entryway, spotting the fresh camellias blooming in a gold vase. "I should have brought flowers," he muttered to himself.
"It's good that you brought you," Heidi's grandmother said, sweeping around a corner. She paused. "Where's Heidi?"
"Um, I think there was an incident with Chi-Lan and Heidi's bank account?" Nate said, smiling at the diminutive woman. "How are you today, Grandmother Wen?"
"Much, much better," Grandmother Wen said, tucking his hand in the crook of her arm. "Now, I know you didn't come to just flirt with an old lady."
"What old lady? Where?" Nate asked, looking around and making her laugh.
"Such a kidder. Sit, sit," Grandmother Wen said, sending him towards an overstuffed couch done in dark wood and reds. "Now, why are you visiting such an old lady?"
"I was really looking to talk to Heidi," Nate responded. He brightened as Heidi's mom zipped in, a tray of tea and pastries in her hands. "Oh, those look good!"
"Heidi? I'm sure we're much more motivated than Heidi," Grandmother Wen said, accepting the cup of tea Heidi's mother poured.
"I won't last another month," Heidi's mother sighed, handing Nate a cup before pouring her own.
"Um?" Nate paused in drinking his tea. It was a perfect citrus flowery blend that didn't need sugar. He'd driven Heidi crazy asking for more one summer. "Why won't you last?"
"I keep telling her. 'Get them a capsule, too, and they will be too busy to get in all this trouble,' but no! She has to be stubborn," Grandmother Wen said with a frown.
"They need to concentrate on school. Not everyone is a Cal, Grandmother." Heidi's mom and grandmother paused for a long second before sighing in tandem and sipping their tea.
Nate fought to keep from smiling. They'd had that same reaction to Cal ever since Cal's mother flaunted his near perfect college exams. Being that Cal had only been nine at the time, it had made an impression. Even his Great Aunt Addy had been impressed.
The thought of his Great Aunt made him pause, his amusement dying. Cora had gone into a money making frenzy, surprising even herself with her prowess while he'd turned into some thrill seeker. That had been why she'd had to go through whatever this Gerald mess was.
"I was wondering if you'd heard of Gerald Stone?" Nate asked.
"Oh, him!" Grandmother Wen lit up. "I have so much to say on that subject."
"We can't say it to Heidi. She's too soft." Heidi's mother said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"What happened?" Nate asked, leaning forward.
"Oh, Xiao Yi, grab the maotai. This demands some fortification," Grandmother Wen ordered, setting her teacup down.
Nate blinked as Heidi's mom sped off. She was back a few seconds later with three glasses in one hand and a dusty bottle in the other.
"Now, why can't she cultivate a like towards liquor?" Grandmother Wen lamented as the glasses were set on the table. "She has such excellent taste in dumplings, after all."
"I would be happy if she developed a liking for anything other than dumplings. She's going to be fat otherwise," Heidi's mom, Xiao Yi added.
The maotai was deftly opened and poured.
"Now, let's start with when we," Grandmother Wen gestured between her and Xiao Yi, "first heard about Mr. Stone."
Nate picked up his glass. He had a feeling that he was going to need a few refills.