Sir Plucki thought on his answer before giving it. "Sometimes, young Sir Knight, a thing is invented with unintended consequences. We gummies may be smart but we can't foresee everything. Take the medallions for example." It tumbled past his lips before he realized it was the worst example to make at this given time.
Cubbi's eyes rounded at how pale his mentor got. And he could guess why. Still, he pressed. "What about the medallions?"
"That's... a story for another day. Let's just see if there's a response."
Cubbi didn't want to let it rest. This was the opportunity he was looking for. Only a few things could possibly scare Sir Plucki. Emi was one of them. The whole medallion thing had to do with her, he bet. He opened his mouth but the tikka tikka of the working mechanical hand paused him as it delivered its message from New Gumbrea.
"Well? Try sounding it out. What's it say?" Plucki asked.
Forced to examine the text, he couldn't bring up the matter just yet. Sigh. He sighed for real at trying his luck at reading again. The message was not short. After several messed-up words, he got through the whole thing. Chummi had been to New Gumbrea and was gone but he'd picked up two gummies there who wanted to travel with him to do a proper census of all the gummi folks left still and it said also that he'd be by Gummi Glen and Gummadoon eventually to drop them by for their turn and to catch up on news.
"Okay. Time to head back, Sport. Let's go see what the others are up to."
Cubbi followed Sir Plucki all the way, trying in the silence to come up with a good way to insert his queries about Emi. He failed.
Everyone had gone out to the courtyard. Plucki and Cubbi found the others awaiting them.
"Bout time," Gumlittle joked. "Time for a field excursion." And, a hand on quiet Toni's back, the big gummi knight led the way out of the city entirely.
Gummadoon's Hidden Inner Self
Tavi knew her aunt was probably looking for her by now. She'd taken too long in the hidden passages. But she just couldn't leave yet. She felt she was actually getting somewhere. And not just because she learned she could make the gold streaks in her hair glow if she wanted them to. Boy, did that shed some light for her to move around by! No, it wasn't just that. She really felt like she was getting very close to something. Just a little further...
The cub was at present squeezing between two wall columns and wondering how any adult could possibly get back here when she noticed a faint bit of light just ahead. It looked like any other crack of light she'd seen on this excursion but she vowed to check them all. Namely because she wasn't sure exactly where she was each time she came across one. She didn't normally get lost in Gummadoon but being on the inside and looking for secret rooms and passages left her guessing where exactly she was in relation to all known rooms. She didn't feel lost and knew she could simply backtrack or exit from one of these points in order to leave the secret passages but she was tired of nothing getting accomplished. Risking punishment, risking scaring her aunt, Tavi pressed on toward the crack of light.
The passage door was small, narrow, and suspiciously cub-sized. It was also locked but from her side. She used the power of the medallions inside her to call the rusted iron lock open, pulled the antique away from the door latch, and lifted it to take a peek.
The room within wasn't lit aside from Tavi's hair streaks. The eerie glow cast weird shadows about the old abode. It sent a little chill down the cub's back but she dropped the short way to the dust-covered floor and began exploring.
This was once a cub's secret room. It had really old toys and children's books and drawings. It looked like it had been used by more than one cub. It looked REALLY old. The crudely made bed was rotting, the wood having not been dipped in the special preserving solution gummies usually used. There was a little bookcase with only two shelves which housed most of the toys and books. A nightstand held a candle and holder, long since burned to the puddlewick. The bedding was bug-eaten but she could tell it was once bright red cloth. And on the wall, written in chalk, were three names. On the bottom was Destini. On were two names side by side: Merlinni and Emari.
Emari... Never heard that name before, thought Tavi. She continued her search.
She found, under the bed, a beat-up journal but it didn't look ancient like the rest of the place. Tavi could feel a magic spell on it to keep the bugs away and the creeping yellow of age. Someone wanted this book protected. The cub's mind raced with excitement. She flipped the book open and sat on the floor to read it in eager anticipation.
The book had no title whatsoever, nor anything on the first page except for the names Merlinni and Emari. Tavi turned to the next page. Blank. The next? Also blank. She flipped through the entire thing and not a word was written in it. On the last page was a weird picture or symbol that she couldn't read or define.
"Well, book, what are you protected for if you don't have anything inside?" she asked no one in particular. Who'd answer? No one even knew of this place anymore.
Tavi was about to put the book back under the bed when she noted a faint glow coming from within. Quickly, she opened it. She saw the last traces of glow around words that appeared just as it faded. The glow left but the words remained. It read:
Much lies within for they who are worthy of knowing.
Tavi stared long on the words. Was that an answer to her question or did they just take time to appear? She tried another query. "Well, how do I become worthy? I need answers."
The glow came again, a dim rosy hue, and then the words appeared below the first set.
There is no becoming. You are or are not. What do you believe?
"You're a book and you're asking ME questions? Well, I believe that anyone truly needing answers should have access to that knowledge. So if you got it, spill it! And by the way, talking to a book is really weird."
A brief glow and short message: Hahah.
"And getting laughed at by one! Don't DO that! It's creepy! What are you? Are you locked inside the book just so you can answer questions?"
The words came again: No. I am a book. I am a copy of the knowledge of Wizard Merlinni Gummi.
"Okay, Book, it's nice meeting you but can we get to some answers? What is this place? Who's Emari? And is this where Merlinni stored all he knew about Emi Gummi?"
The book didn't answer her for a while. Tavi started to feel really silly talking to a book but kept looking at the previous responses to confirm that she wasn't going crazy. It really was writing responses at her. After many long moments of counting to twenty, Tavi was about to ask again or put it down or shake it or something when it started glowing brightly. Words filled the first page, and the glow travelled to the next page where more words followed. Tavi read as quickly as she could.
This room was created by Merlinni and Emari as cubs so they might have a place to go whenever they wanted to practice magic away from adults or whenever they wanted a place to go when sad. Emari and Merlinni were close friends. Emari moved away to Gummi Glen when she fell for a gummi lad there. Merlinni remained in Gummadoon and later told his pupil, Destini, about the room but that she must find it on her own. This is how cubs find their way to this room.
Why do you seek knowledge of Emi?
Tavi blinked at the question, still absorbing the history lesson. "I... I think she's been trying to contact me or get out or something. I wouldn't be digging through cobwebby secret passages if I didn't need answers, Book."
It again waited before responding. How could Emi escape her prison?
"Don't ask me. I don't even know what the Gummadoon council did with her. Look, I know this is scary stuff and you're trying to protect me but if she really can get out I need to know all the details. I've fought really bad people before. I do magic and even have access to Gummi medallions inside me. Destini's dead. I contacted her spirit and she said to look for answers in Merlinni's old study so here I am. Will you tell me about Emi's trial now?" She was being very open and forward with the book, and maybe a little stern, but she wasn't about to be talked to like a little kid by some old book who didn't know a thing about her.
After a long pause, the glow came and was followed by many more pages of words.
Emari was Emi Gummi's mother and where she got her strong magical inclination from. Emari did not live to see Emi's second birthday. Her father died in an attempt to find curative herbs to save Emari's life. Emi was raised by her aunt who thought that magic for a cub so young was inappropriate. Emi desired to learn more to become closer to her mother in a spiritual sense. Merlinni tried reasoning with her aunt to allow him tutelage of the cub but she declined. Emi harbored resentment toward her aunt and also the other magi who held such knowledge but could or would not share it with her. She felt deeply alone and outcast and fell into a depression she hid with silence and appearing to accept her aunt's wishes. Then, one day, everything changed.
It is not known for certain when or how but Emi Gummi became crazed and designed a plot to kill her fellow gummies and acquire as much magical power as she could and by any means necessary. She killed the magihistorian of Gummi Glen and took her medallion. She killed her young cousin next and many more gummies before leaving. When she came for the magical power within Gummadoon, she was eventually trapped, captured, and put on trial. Do you want the full record of the trial or a summary?
"Let's start with the summary."
There was never any doubt of Emi's guilt. Many witnesses to her horrible actions remained. What the trial determined was that they could not cure her at the time, nor could they kill her. Gummies by nature do not harm one another. This was the quandry. The trial was strung out over many weeks as the Gummadoon council tried to determine what had caused Emi's madness. Emi escaped once during this time and was recaptured again. She was found to be too dangerous at present and imprisoned for an indefinite amount of time in a magical prison from which she had no chance of escaping. Or so it was believed. Are you certain Emi has been reaching out to you?
"Pretty certain. Destini was, too. What else can you tell me about the trial?" Tavi began to suspect that all their searching for a key was meaning just a symbolic key. Someone worthy of asking this book for the transcripts for the trial. And if this book had all the answers she needed to take to the council, she was gonna find out.
The entire trial is transcripted within. Shall I show you its entirety?
"Yeah. Please."
The trial began with the reading of a message from the gummies of Gummi Glen...
We write these notes on our lost gummi sister with heavy hearts. So much hurt has invaded these halls and we cast the full blame on our own hearts. We beseech our fellow gummies to approach our gummi kin with mercy in their hearts. There was much that we should have done, had we seen the signs. We do not know what drove her to such darkness but we pray with hope in our hearts that time will heal her soul, so weighed down with anger and hate.
We could not but bind her with the fullest of our power and magic and love. We bound her with the very medallions she consumed in the once-heart of the place she was born, in the hopes that it will help heal her, remind her of who she was before all of the madness. Please, Gum, let our sister come back to us.
May Gum remind her of the greatest joy that is life! Time is a gift with the curse of the bind. May we allow time to heal her!
In these journals presented during the trial, we hide nothing that she has done. We just ask that you all, our dearest gummi sisters and brothers, remember that Emi Gummi is also a gummi sister. We throw ourselves out with pleas of leniency. Never before has one of our own been on trial for murder. Never before has one of our own come before us and we question if she should remain living for her crimes. She is contained. Ending her life is no mercy. It would torture us all. We gummies forgive, but we do not forget. Let us remember this above all things as we weigh our decisions and cast our vote on the fate and life of Emi Gummi.
The Gummies of Gummi Glen, [868 AD]
Tavi continued reading, losing all track of time. After the trial had spilled out before her in a great many pages of words, she sat in silence and debated what she should do. Destini told her to take the transcripted trial to the council because they'd need it but whe she'd read... They'll be too busy trying to figure out if Emi's escaping to pay attention to her own worries. For now, she'd just take the book back to her room. Tavi stood, brushed off her rear, and headed for the unmusty and familiar common hallways of Gummadoon.
She'd just checked whether anyone was coming or going in the hall where she was to emerge when a tawny hand grabbed her by the scruff and pulled her from the secret entrance behind a tapestry.
"Gum, you've scared us!" her aunt Toffi griped, her eyes wide with anger and anxiety. "We've searched high and low for you! What did you think you were doing?"
"Uh..." Caught off guard, she glanced at the book. "I-"
"Enough of this, Tavi. You can't be sneaking off to play little adventures. These are serious times and I've no time for games!" her aunt said as she led Tavi back to her room. "You are to stay in your room until supper. I thought you had more responsibility in you. Instead I find you sneaking around the hidden passages of Gummadoon, making us sick with worry!"
"But, Aunt Toffi, I found this book and it-"
The elder sighed mightily. "Tavi, I am glad we found you safe but I simply don't have time for an old story. Into your room. I'll come collect you for supper and you had better not leave until I do."
As her aunt started away, Tavi continued to try and get her to listen. "Aunt Toffi, wait!" What could be going on that would make her aunt so distraught and needing to rush off, even after finding her wayward niece?
Gummadoon Sick Bay
Councilor Wooddale sighed mightily before composing herself and entering the room where a huddled Karleni sat. Sarrani was beside her with a mug of something hot, trying to get the poor gummi woman to drink.
Councilor Berrybottom turned a worried face her way. "Did you find her?"
"Yes. But I don't believe my young niece is ready for this yet. If we must determine whether Karleni was touched by Emi or some other force then it must be by ourselves. The child is behaving rather recklessly of late. The less she is involved with any knowledge of Emi Gummi, the better."