~Jumping to Conclusions~
They'd gone over the stateroom for over an hour, and the sun was going below Emma's comfort levels, into early evening. Killian was checking behind portraits, as Emma was carefully looking over documents, not that she could read any of them.
They were at the end of the adventure, finally arriving, looking all over the damn place, having gained nothing. The corpse did not have a ring on any finger, nor in any pocket, nor was there anything else of interest on his person.
"Wait a minute-" Emma found something. "This one's written in elvish!"
"Can you read it?"
"Finally, princess lessons have prevailed…" she murmured, more to herself.
Killian shook his head, deciding to keep searching the portraits while she read. There was no rushing her, and he could be patient.
"Nothing behind these awful paintings."
"I may have something here." She absentmindedly waved him over. "It appears to be from another kingdom, written to someone named Tsarra. Sounds like a concerned friend, someone close."
"Emma." That got her attention.
She cleared her throat. "Sorry. It's mostly news, a marriage, a child born healthy, but at the end of it, the writer asks if Tsarra needed help to escape."
"Could be the queen."
"Jones… have Elves ever existed?"
"I've never met one." Her arms fell heavily onto the desk, the look she gave him being one of grave impatience. "I've no idea, truely, though the existence of the language does make one pause to consider the possibility."
"Yes, but that is not a hard rule."
"If she were an elf, as I assume you're suggesting, it doesn't change a thing. We know nothing of the race, even less about her. We're here for a needle in a haystack."
She sighed, sitting back into the dusty seat, thinking. "Ok, going off our theory, the queen made up the stories to get away with murder and escaping a bad marriage."
"With you so far."
"Why create the legend of the ring?"
"Aye. People like us would come and seek it, despite the rumored danger. It doesn't fit the narrative."
"But the story had to have come from somewhere."
"Perhaps it was already well known that he had it before she made her escape."
She allowed her head to fall onto the desk. "Can't think." She groaned.
"Okay, the one thing we know is the device was forged from fairy dust. Every story I've read agrees on that point. We know dwarves mine fairy dust, fairies keep it close to them. Sorcerers use it, if they get their hands on it, but anyone can use fairy dust if given the opportunity to use it."
"I can't think of anyone who knows how to smith fairy du-"
He snapped his fingers, laughing excitedly. "The king was short!"
She raised her head, blinking rapidly at him. "The sky is blue, I'm irritated at you."
"No, Swan, he may have been a dwarf!"
"A dwarf.. king?"
"If I'm right, we need to start looking for maps. He would have lived near a mine. He may have made the ring in the first place! Perhaps several. Having ready access to the dust could explain your theory of him landing an elven wife."
"How did you jump from 'short king' to 'evil dwarf mastermind'?"
He shook his head. "It's a lot of history to boil down, love." He bit his lip for a moment, leaning his arms onto a chair on the other side of the king's desk. "At the beginning, every race was equal, though leaders of every race were needed for some reason or other, thus creating the royal bloodlines. Back then, there were no need for wars. Each race worked together. Dwarfs mined, Ogres, well, smashed, giants gardened beans, and so on. Trade was established, everyone was happy."
"And…?"
"The ogres didn't start the wars, but it ended the peace. If elves existed, they went into seclusion like the giants, while other races - fairies and dwarfs - banded together with the humans to defeat the ogres. Humans are the only ones truly stuck in this realm, not to mention the least predictable, so they're the only ones still relying on the royal system to survive. This kingdom is as old as the first ogre wars, Swan, events here could have started it!"
"Alright, as historically interesting as this is, what does it have to do with our situation?"
"You're the one who asked for a history lesson. My point was this could have been a prominent place in the old days if he really was the king of the dwarfs."
"Dwarf equals mines."
There was a twinkle in his eyes. "If I'm right, he would have had a stash of fairy dust or wish rings, or close access to the mines. Hell, all of the above. Hence, the map."
Thank you for reading!
