A/N: I'm pretty sure with this chapter we've slide solidly past the 2/3 mark. Probably about 3/4 in terms of word count, but don't hold me to that! Thanks to those of you who reviewed! You really made my day :D

Scholarly Insight

Though he was easily frightened by pretty much everything in the outdoors, Alfred actually found Feliciano to be a good traveling companion. So long as Alfred made his scouting trips short. What Feliciano lacked in bravery, he more than made up for in good cheer and a slightly terrifying ability to make good food out of their small supply of provisions.

They had been sure to grab Alfred's boots as they fled Albion, and so were able to navigate to the shrine with little difficulty. Feliciano, despite fearing every shadow and sound, was determined to see the shrine. Alfred had to keep him from bolting a couple times at the sudden appearance of animals from trees or underbrush.

Like before, the valley that held the shrine was deep in mist, despite the day being more or less sunny.

"Down there?" Feliciano asked. He tried and failed to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

"Yep," Alfred said, oblivious to Feliciano's discomfort. "You can't see it because of the mist, but the hill slopes down until it hits the valley floor. Then, boom," Alfred made a dramatic gesture with his good hand, "shrine of mystery!"

Feliciano huddled closer to Alfred. "Stay close," Feliciano said.

Alfred looked over at his friend, and gave a put upon sigh. "Nothing's going to happen to you, Feli. But if it makes you feel better." He offered his non-broken hand to Feliciano, who grabbed onto his whole arm.

As they entered the mist, Alfred felt the feeling of being watched return. Feliciano kept stopping and peering through the mists. After they'd stopped for the fourth time, Alfred tried to keep pulling him along.

"Something's out there," Feliciano said, his voice squeaking.

"No, it's just this place."

"I can feel it—Something's watching us right now!"

"I know it feels like that," Alfred said. He sighed and glared at Feliciano. "When I was first out here I felt like it all the time. It's not real."

"But what if it is?" Feliciano said. Tears were starting to shimmer in his eyes. "Maybe we should go back."

"We're not going back," Alfred said. "Look, there's the first statue. We're almost there."

Feliciano almost, but not quite forgot his fear in the face of academic interest. He didn't let go of Alfred, but pulled him to the statue and examined it.

"Uh, it's pretty much all worn away," Alfred said. "There are better ones inside."

"There are things I can still tell from out here," Feliciano said.

"Like what?"

There was silence, as Feliciano ran his hands over the stone, with a frown of concentration. He seemed interested in a few particular parts. Finally, he stepped back.

"There's absolutely no remains of whatever was carved here," he said triumphantly.

"I just told you that," Alfred said, irritably.

"But not even any sign that they had been carved! Just smooth stone that we can guess was carved because you saw similar statues inside the shrine."

Alfred waited. When Feliciano didn't elaborate, he said, "And that tells us…?"

"That tells us that these statues are old."

"That's it?" Alfred said disappointed.

Feliciano shook his head in frustration. "You're not grasping it. They're old, ancient! Do you know how long it takes for rock to wear away so thoroughly?"

"I guess not."

"Thousands of years!" said Feliciano, waving his arms around. "These are older than any city. They perhaps were here before the gods!"

"You can't be serious," Alfred said, looking at the statue with new eyes.

"It makes sense," Feliciano said. "The gods have tried hard to get rid of the daemons and anything associated with them. If they knew about this…" he trailed off. Abruptly, he spun and looked Alfred in the eyes.

"We can't let them find this place," he said. "They'd obliterate it."

Alfred patted Feliciano, trying to sooth him. "We're not going to just lead the forces of Aenea here," he said. "And if the god's haven't found it in this long, I think something might be protecting it."

"Arthur?"

"No," Alfred said, shaking his head. "It's not something I can really put my finger on."

"Perhaps this place has some destiny that has not come to pass," Feliciano said.

Alfred laughed, but Feliciano seemed serious.

"You're joking, right?" Alfred said.

Feliciano looked thoughtfully around, then back to Alfred.

"It took you just two days to get here the first time, yes?"

"Yeah, it was funny," Alfred said. "I basically walked here," he slowed as he realized what he was saying, "in a straight line."

"As if you were being led. As if your feet were set on this path on purpose."

"You sound just like Arthur," Alfred said irritably. "I wasn't fated to be here. Fate doesn't make me do anything!"

"Fate leads us all," Feliciano said, like it was a well-know adage. "That may be the one thing gods, people, and—if what you say is true—even daemons agree on."

"Come on," Alfred said grumpily. "Let's see if you can get anything from the shrine."

If Feliciano was bothered by Alfred's mood, he didn't show it. He seemed energetic and cheerful as they made their way down the stairs and into the shrine.

They entered the shrine, and the bubble of glass lamps lit around them. Feliciano stared in awe. He drifted over to take a closer look, but Alfred grabbed him with his good hand and led him deeper.

"Come on," he said. "There's a ton of them inside."

Feliciano was silent as they walked down the stairs. Like before, the lamps lit before them and dimmed behind them in a way that made them feel like they were in a bubble of light. Alfred pondered them, but still couldn't come up with an explanation for how they worked. Except "magic," but that was incredibly unsatisfying.

When they reached the central chamber and all the lamps burst into light, Feliciano almost fell over.

"It's so beautiful," he said. Alfred was startled to see actual tears leaking from his eyes.

"I guess it's pretty nice," Alfred said.

Feliciano drifted into the cavern as if in a dream. His eyes were stretched wide, trying to take in as much as possible. He tried to speak a few times, but eventually fell silent. He studied the statues of the daemon children, then moved over to the wall nearest them, with its enormous fresco.

Alfred watched him for a while, but soon found him self wander to the central pool where the statue of The Sleeper stood with her heavy gaze.

Alfred wondered if she was like the other daemons, and her swirling robes hid some sort of animal features. She seemed to look disapproving at this idea, and Alfred found himself breaking the heavy silence of the chamber.

"I was just wondering," he said petulantly. "There's no need to look at me like that. I'm sure lots of people wondered what you looked like under those robes."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he rubbed his face in frustration. "Not like that," he said exasperated to the statue. He smelled the rotting stench.

"Uck," he said, as Feliciano joined him by the water. "You smell that?"

Feliciano sniffed the air. "Smell what?"

"That gross, rotting—" Feliciano just stared at him, so Alfred shrugged. "Never mind. What do you think of her?" he said, pointing to the enormous woman in the water.

"I think you're right," said Feliciano. "She must be She Who Sleeps Below."

"You think so too?"

Feliciano nodded. "She's in a place of distinction, her statue is the largest, and her pose suggests someone of immense power and knowledge."

Alfred let out a low, impressed whistle. "You can get all that just by looking at her."

"Yes. You understand it too, though you don't think you do. I just know how to explain it in words."

"So what else can you tell?" Alfred asked.

Feliciano tore his eyes from The Sleeper. He motioned for Alfred to follow him to one of the frescoes. It was a image of her, huge and robed in swirling layers. In her hands she cradled a ball of flame. Her face, the same broad features as the statue, were the color of freshly turned soil. Her hair was hidden under a bright blue scarf the color of a cloudless sky.

"It begins here," Feliciano said. Slowly, he moved from panel to panel. He said little, but pointed out symbols and characters they knew. There were images of daemons, though none that either Alfred or Feliciano recognized. About halfway through, Feliciano pointed to a corner.

"And here is where we first see humans depicted. These are few and scattered. Later on," he pointed farther around the room, "We see a city."

As they approached the final battles, the frescoes turned darker. They depicted fire and blood. Though Feliciano insisted that they were not showing war.

"It's something else," he said. "But the daemons are dying. Perhaps of some sort of disease? The people seem to mourn them."

"So does she," Alfred said, pointing to the second to last panel. It was The Sleeper again, but her eyes were closed and her hands held small bodies, presumably of the daemons.

The last panel was set up the same as the first. The swirl of robes that clad the Sleeper was the same, though they looked darker and faded. Yet, though the swirl of robes was there, they were empty. No face peaked out from under the scarf. No hands cradled the ball of fire, now a glowing ember in the center of the panel.

"She's gone," Alfred said.

"Yes," said Feliciano. He seemed troubled.

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know."

Alfred sighed, frustrated. "Do you know what this is then? What this whole chamber is about?"

Feliciano looked down and around the room. "It's a timeline. Of some important event that happened a long time ago."

"That's it?" Alfred said. "That's all you have for me? Something important happened a long time ago."

Feliciano flinched under the heat of Alfred's words. "I have some thoughts about what it might be depicting, but that is all I can say for certain."

"I thought you were some great scholar!" Alfred said, not noticing his own voice rising. "I thought you'd be helpful for a change!"

Feliciano looked as it he had slapped him. Alfred immediately regretted his words.

"No," he said, as Feliciano started leaking tears. "I'm sorry, Feli. We know more now than before, right?"

Feliciano nodded but still sniffled.

"I'm sorry for being an ass," Alfred continued. "I just thought, since you know so much about this stuff…"

"It's okay," Feliciano said. "I know the pain of not being able to put the pieces together."

"So we're okay?" Alfred asked, holding out his hand.

Feliciano took it. "Sure. We're okay."

"So what do we do now?" Alfred asked.

Feliciano gave one last sniff and straightened up. "We need to eat. Food makes everything better."

That surprised a little laugh out of Alfred. "All right," he said. "Let's go."

Alfred could still feel Feliciano reeling from the insult Alfred had given him. He wanted to keep apologizing, but figured once was probably enough. He'd just have to try and be more patient.

The two of them chatted about nothing while they ate their lunch. As afternoon crawled on, Alfred's full belly made him sleepy.

"I could use a nap," he said with a yawn.

"Would you mind if I returned to the chamber?" Feliciano asked.

"No. Let me know if you find anything new, okay?"

"I will. Have a good nap."

Alfred was asleep within minutes.

"What on earth are you doing here?" a voice shouted, disturbing Alfred from his dozing.

He looked up, and was startled to see Arthur glaring at him. The daemon looked a little haggard. Alfred wondered if he was still recovering from his display of power at the fire.

"Arthur!" he said, getting to his feet. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to hug him or yell at him for his absence. Before he could decide, Arthur continued.

"How did you even find this place?" Arthur demanded. "You're not supposed to be able to find it."

Alfred shrugged. "I don't know. I was just chasing a rabbit a few days ago and ended up here."

"You were chasing…?" Arthur sighed and put his head in his hands. "I don't why I'm surprised by anything you do anymore."

Just then, a voice came from within the shrine. "Alfred?" called Feliciano. "Are you talking to someone?" He walked out into the misty valley.

"Arthur," Alfred said. Then he looked between the two of them. "Have you two met?"

"Not formally," said Feliciano.

"Where did he come from?" Arthur asked.

Alfred was used to Arthur being prickly, but he seemed to be just on the edge of rage.

"This is Feliciano. He lives with Antonio."

"I know who he is," Arthur snapped. "I'm asking why he's here!"

This was not exactly how Alfred had wanted his reunion with Arthur to go.

"He's a scholar. I wanted him to take a look at the shrine."

"Perhaps Arthur could…" Feliciano started to say.

"No!" Alfred said, shushing him. He didn't want Arthur storming off when he'd finally found him again.

In his haste to quiet Feliciano, Alfred moved his broken wrist and wobbled as it throbbed.

Arthur noticed the splint on Alfred's wrist for the first time.

"What did you do to yourself," he demanded, stalking into Alfred's personal space.

Alfred tried to pull his arm in close, but Arthur deftly caught it and pulled it out to investigate. He frowned, and with practiced movements, felt along Alfred's wrist.

Alfred cried out in pain and while Arthur's rage seemed to evaporate, none of his grumpiness did.

"You smashed it pretty thoroughly, you clumsy, foolish man," Arthur said. "You've set it pretty well, but it could be better." Without asking Alfred or giving him any sort of warning, Arthur unbound Alfred's wrist and did something to it that made Alfred see white.

When he came back from the land of white and agony, he found his wrist rebound and splinted in a way that was noticeably more stable. Arthur was tutting over him, and Alfred realized he had collapsed against him.

"You're not going to vomit on me, are you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Alfred shook his head to clear it. "No. No. It feels better now."

Arthur nodded. "Then get off me."

It took effort, but Alfred managed to stand on his own. He and Arthur stared at each other for a moment, both frowning.

"I went looking for you," Alfred said finally, not quite managing to keep the hurt from his voice. "Every fortnight for months I looked for you."

Arthur shifted. "Well you found me. Now what do you want?"

Alfred hesitated. He wasn't exactly sure now that he thought about it. "I don't know," he said. "I thought we were friends. I missed you."

"We are friends," Arthur said.

"Then why the silent treatment?" Alfred demanded.

Arthur flinched. "You were pushing too hard," he said after a moment of trying to collect his thoughts. "I couldn't deal with it. And when you wouldn't listen when I told you to stop…I was angry."

"You've been angry for months?"

"Alfred, the gods and daemons have held grudges against each other for hundreds of years. Do you really doubt that I could remain angry for that long?"

Alfred glared in response. Arthur sighed, and some of his prickliness dropped away. "No. I wasn't angry with you the whole time," he grudgingly admitted. "I was…not in a condition to meet with anyone for the past few fortnights."

Alfred put two and two together. "From the magic you used at the fire?" he asked.

Arthur looked up, surprised. "How do you know about that?"

"We were there!" Feliciano called from behind. Both Alfred and Arthur turned, having forgotten he was there. Feliciano took a step back.

"Sorry," he stammered. "I'll not interrupt."

"No," Alfred said, gesturing for Feliciano to come closer. "Sorry. We got a little wrapped up in…us."

Feliciano came to stand by Alfred and stared with wonder at Arthur. Arthur in turn looked rather disconcerted by Feliciano's gaze.

"You were at the fire," Arthur said. "And you saw me?"

Both Alfred and Feliciano nodded. Arthur paled.

"You can't tell anyone about that," he said.

"Why not?" Alfred asked. "What was it? I didn't know you had that sort of power."

"That's the point," Arthur said. "We'll lose our only advantage if that knowledge gets out."

"Advantage?" Alfred said. "Against who?"

"Who have I been at war with for hundreds of years?" Arthur snapped. "The gods! You recall them? Old, self-righteous pricks who are literally immortal."

Alfred and Feliciano looked at each other. "Fine, fine." Alfred said. Feliciano nodded. "We won't tell anyone."

Arthur gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell us anything about this shrine?" Feliciano ventured.

Alfred flinched as he said the words.

Arthur's demeanor shifted. There was a flash of pain across his feature that was quickly covered by anger.

"No," he said. "You should drop it."

Alfred watched Arthur, worried he would storm off like he had done months ago. He let himself relax a little when Arthur made no motion to leave.

There was a long pause in which none of them knew what to say. Arthur finally broke the awkward silence.

"So I guess you won't be playing for a while," he said, indicating Alfred's wrist.

Alfred stared at his hand. "Yeah. I guess not. Unless I learned to play with my other hand. And I wouldn't want to inflict that playing on you," he said.

Arthur gave a little laugh. "I hear you play when you first started. I think I could bear anything."

Alfred glared. "That was cruel Arthur. I wasn't that bad when I started playing for you."

"I suppose not," Arthur said, his voice trailing off. After a moment of thinking, he continued. "I suppose you could visit even if you can't play."

Alfred felt a huge grin spreading across his face. "You miss me, don't you?"

Arthur scoffed, but he was still smiling. "Of course not," he said, not even trying to sound convincing.

"Now," Arthur said, his voice growing serious, "You need to leave this place. I can't risk anyone following you here."

Alfred looked at Feliciano. "Is that alright?" he asked.

Feliciano looked at Arthur with apprehension. "Of course. I don't want to upset the high daemon."

Arthur gave overly dramatic, evil laugh, which made Feliciano flinch back. Alfred glared at him as if to say, "Really, Arthur?"

Arthur gave a little shrug and turned and walked away.

"We shouldn't stay. In case he comes back," Feliciano said, clearly frightened.

"Arthur wouldn't hurt us," Alfred said, but started walking. "He was just being a ass to scare you."

Feliciano was quiet until they were out of the mist. Evening was falling, but it was a rare, clear evening on the moors. The two men enjoyed the fading sunlight as they walked. Feliciano became more animated as they put distance between themselves, the shrine and Arthur. He and Alfred talked out loud about She Who Sleeps Below, throwing out hypotheses of increasing imagination and decreasing plausibility.

Finally, as they were settling down for the night, Alfred said, "I just wish we could have gotten more from the shrine."

Feliciano nodded. "If I just had more context, perhaps more would become clear. But the daemons are unwilling to talk, and everything the humans and gods know is locked up in Aenea's library. It's too bad we can't go there."

Alfred thought for a while, then posed his question.

"Why can't we go there?" he asked.

"You mean besides the fact that I am banned for life and if you showed your face there, the dedicates would capture you and never let you leave?"

"What if we snuck in?" Alfred said. The thought made him excited as much as it intimidated him.

"We can't break into the Library of the gods!"

"Feli, I can fly. I bet we could do it."

Feliciano considered this for a long time.

"I will be…bad…if we get caught."

"Then we won't get caught," Alfred said. "You said you found stuff about The Sleeper there, right?"

"That's why they banished me," Feliciano said. "I wouldn't stop my research when they told me too."

"It's the only way we're going to learn anything more."

"There will be guards, and dedicates. So many people who could catch us."

"Is Albion the only town under Aenean watch?" Alfred asked.

Feliciano paused, then shook his head.

"No. There are many inquisitions going on now. The city will be emptier than usual. At least for a little while."

"So if we go now…" Alfred said.

"We'll have more space to work with," Feliciano finished.

The two men grinned at each other. The idea was mad—but despite that (or maybe because of) it filled them both with wild exhilaration.

"You know, Feli," Alfred said. "You're braver than you think you are."

A/N: If you like my work, please consider leaving a review!