Lunch passed quickly, as Snow was engrossed in her thoughts. She realized that she had, in fact, learned nearly a dozen shocking things by lunch. In addition to her discovery with Grenarin, the locked basement, and the healed palm, she could now add the interaction between Whitaran and Navormal she had witnessed, and all the interesting tidbits she had found doing the ledger work. Really, it was no surprise she had a lot to think about.
As lunch broke up, Snow followed Grenarin out of the room. As soon as he realized that he was being followed, he turned around. He paused, and said, rather apologetically, "I don't believe we will be able to continue today. I have requested the use of some books concerning Rùn, but until they arrive, and I have a chance to read them, there is not much we can accomplish."
"Oh." Snow was disappointed. Just when they were finally getting somewhere, they hit another roadblock. "About how long will that take?"
Grenarin smiled knowingly. "It depends on how soon the request is approved. No sooner than tomorrow afternoon, but it could be – ah – much longer."
From the way Grenarin said "much longer" Snow had the feeling that what he really meant to say was "never". Which was not encouraging. "Well, in that case, I suppose I will let you alone." Plastering on a pleasant expression and ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach, she turned and walked away.
After a few minutes of frustrated pacing through the house, she abruptly decided that she might as well go exploring – she had been here for a day and a half, it was about time she took a good look around. Unfortunately, as soon as she had made the decision, she was immediately reminded of the locked basement she had found earlier, and with it the desire to go back and investigate.
She resisted quite valiantly. She managed a full half hour of avoiding the basement. She wound her way up a cramped spiral staircase and examining the stained glass window set into its walls. She walked around the humid and fragrant greenhouse and smelled flowers that she had never seen before. She slipped into a room on the ground floor filled with weapons and armor, she lifted a few of the swords and were surprised by their lightness, she traced her fingers across a few breastplates and marveled at the fine metalworking that created such delicate detailing. She peeked into bedroom after bedroom that looked just like hers all in a row along the upper walk. She skipped the ones before hers, she was pretty sure her hosts slept there, and that felt too much like an invasion of privacy. She waltzed with an imaginary gentleman for a full minute directly under the gorgeous glass 5-tiered candelabra in the center of the ballroom – that seemed to shine despite the fact that it was unlit. She even walked back down to the garden and attempted to find a path she hadn't walked down yet – unsuccessfully.
Eventually, however, despite all intentions to the contrary, she found herself walking out of the music room she had found earlier and down the hallway toward the basement stairs. The half hour of resisting her curiosity had only made it stronger, and it drew her down the stairs like an irresistible force, until once again she was standing in front of the locked door.