ruined answers // karsis [c]

Karsis had been performing at a tavern in the nearby town when he overheard a conversation about the ruins. They were old enough nobody knew much about them, and only slightly monster infested- it sounded worth checking out, at least.

Armed with nothing but his blade and the small amount of magic he knew, he ventured out into the forest and eventually stumbled upon his target. Taking care to avoid the lone Moblin he spotted lazing around, Karsis began searching through what remained of this place looking for any records. Most papers he found in places like this were ruined by the wear and tear of time, but occasionally he found something legible.

Karsis knew he was searching for a needle in a haystack with this- the odds of the information he needed being here in the first place, not to mention protected from the elements, were incredibly low. Still, he had to try.

After a while of searching fruitlessly, Karsis was startled by the sudden sound of another person speaking. He quickly turned around and unsheathed his sword, eyeing the newcomer warily. "And what danger would present itself here?"

Karsis hesitantly returned his sword to its sheath, still somewhat suspicious. While he wasn't going to go making any accusations, it was still possible this stranger had ill intentions.

"I avoided the monsters well enough. As for the rest.. well, I've been unharmed so far, and this isn't my first exploration."

"And I wouldn't call myself quite a scholar," Karsis said, leaning back against a half crumbled wall as he did so. "I just have an interest in knowledge that's been lost to time."

"Might I ask your purpose in coming here?" he asked. Perhaps they shared some similar goal. He definitely wouldn't mind the help in searching.

The sword put away was certainly a step in the right direction. His answers seemed simple and straight forward enough; they hummed as if deciding before they spoke.

"To investigate things of the past is a type of scholar, you do not have to belong to an institution to be one." Countered the other. Though they could hardly call themselves a scholar by the same definition.

What they were doing here.. Well. How could one describe it? "To put it simply, I am looking for my sisters. This place may lead me to them, but it is a lot more... eh, in ruins than I had anticipated."

"What sorts of things are you looking for in the past, my boy? I may be able to help."

The stranger was looking for their sisters, hm? What in this ruin would help with that goal? Perhaps they had been in the area or something? Karsis glances around the ruin, unable to fit this mental puzzle together. "How would this place help you find them? Were they in the area recently?"

Perhaps they had been in the area recently. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your family name? If they're somewhere nearby perhaps I ran into them in my travels."

What was he looking for? Karsis racked his mind for a good excuse. "I am... looking for old stories. I'm somewhat of a minstel and occasionally I can find something good in ruins such as these." There, not a complete lie, just mostly.

Up on their perch, Praxis opened their mouth only to snap it shut. Family name? Really, were those so important beyond the city walls? They seemed to process, wading through their mind for one.

Ultimately all they spoke was truth. "We do not have one." To need a surname when a name or title did the trick had always been overkill. "My family is very old but we lost touch generations ago. So ruins seem the best place to find answers of old stories."

A minstrel.. They tilted their head at him the other way, like a confused cat. No Hylia traces didn't exactly mean... but with the Labrynna development and the tree.. Ugh how chaotic this got since they've been gone!

"Tell me what kind of story you would like. I have plenty." With grace, they jumped down and bounced on their heels towards him; They kept their distance despite their excitement. "Adventure? Tragedy? Romance? All kinds to sing of!"

They didn't have a surname? Curious.. Karsis didn't quite understand what the situation there was, or what they meant when they said 'generations.' However, he didn't want to pry too much out of politeness. "I see. Well, I wish you good fortune in finding them. Perhaps you'll find a tale or two around here."

So, the stranger was offering him a story? Karsis mused for a second. Should he tip his hand and reveal what in particular he was searching for? Certainly not the reason, but the story itself could be of use. "In truth, there's a particular story I've been searching for for some time. I found fragments of the most intriguing tale, but several notable parts were missing. All I could make out was about a family cursed to transform into beasts under the light of the moon."

In truth, he had found no such story, and knew nothing other than what little his mother had told him. It was a long shot, but perhaps the stranger would know more?

"That is truly the problem with old tales. So much lost in translation, in time, and in mouth." They sighed, their fingers tapping their own cheeks. Gods knew how much of their own tales that have been damned by fragility of written history.

A story of a cursed family, one to make them become animals come the moonlight hours... Many fantastical tales of the premise - each with a different variation. "Then tell me, dear, what are the parts you cannot seem to grasp.

"It sounds simplistic when you leave it so plainly." All that build up for a tale of curses.. but surely there was more to the story than he led on. "Or are your gaps that large?"

"Well the bare bones of the story is there, yes, but where is the meat? Where did the curse come from, and most importantly, how did it disappear?" Karsis sighed, frustrated.

"There's no tale in a problem without the solution. It's interesting enough for me to want to find out more, but I can't exactly write a song about it."

"Normally I'd just make up something," Karsis lied, embellishing a little, "But it just didn't feel right for this one. So I'm searching for the rest of the fable anywhere I can."

"Well, the issue with the part of the story I learned is that it doesn't exactly start at the beginning. It was about a member of the cursed family that was too young to know of the curse's inception, and simply had to live with the burden."

"Powerful magic users, ancient beings..." Karsis mused, thinking back through tales he had heard of such beings. "Perhaps something of similar power today could help answer my question. There's rumors of dragons with magic in some coastal areas, or if I wanted to really grasp at straws I could search for one of those Fairies. Heard a few wild stories about where they are."

Karsis chuckled. He had never put much thought into it, but occasionally he'd come across tall tales of travellers getting lost and meeting those wondrous brings. He figured most of them had simply had too much to drink, though. "I'm curious.. what is it you've come to these ruins for? I won't profess to be an expert in anything but perhaps I can be of service."

"I don't know much more than I said already, sadly: a family cursed to change form with the rising and setting of the moon. I understand it's not much to work with." Karsis shrugged.

"You're searching for fairy fountains, hm? Well, I wish I could give you any advice of substance, but that I lack. Tales of their location vary as widely as descriptions of what they even are. I even met a man who swore he met one, and that it had a great horse head."

Karsis looked around the crumbling ruin. "What is it you're looking for the Fairies for? Is there something they can grant that no other can?"