Chapter 3098 Binding Contract (Part 2) "What about the Forgemasters?" Strider chimed in, sure that he wasn't interrupting anything. "Are you willing to release them?" "We are no prisoners, hatchling." Barham said. "We came here of our own will. We have been paid to do a job and will leave when we are done. Not a second sooner. Our honor and reputation as Forgemasters are on the line." "Does everyone share Elder Barham's opinion?" Strider patted the backs of the Awakened one by one, establishing a mind link to allow them to speak without being heard if needed. "Yes, we do." Words and thoughts matched so Strider and Ryka could sigh in relief. The mission was a success and no one was in danger. Also, the Council would be pleased to hear that news and probably reward the two of them handsomely for their initiative. Unlike Lith, they were operatives of the Hand of Fate and loyalty had to be rewarded for it to be kept. "How did you find us?" Erslan asked. "I have my ways." Lith shrugged. "Let me guess. You are the one who set the bounty for Menadion's book." The Dawn King was no fool and even though his information network couldn't trace the bounty back to Haug, Erslan could still connect the dots. "Someone noticed the disappearance of the idiots and tipped you off. What a rotten luck we have." He sighed, looking at the scene of the battle. "As a sign of good faith, I'll help you. Cathras there has a book that matches your vague description." He pointed at a woman who was over 400 years old but didn't look one day past thirty. She yelped at the accusatory finger followed by the greedy looks of her colleagues. 'If that's really Mom's grimoire, we might learn enough to restore the tower's Ears or at least I could recover more of my memories!' Solus thought as her heart started to pound in her chest. "I stole nothing!" Cathras said while holding a grimoire the size of an encyclopedia volume. "My father was one of Menadion's apprentices and she gifted this book to him. He was an honest man!" The other Forgemasters already knew about it because she consulted the grimoire often during their experiments but prolonged exposure had only aroused their interest more. "Can I see it?" Lith asked, extending his hand. "Fair warning. It's imprinted." Cathras grunted. "You can't store it and you can't read it. All of my father's notes are in code. Also, I want you to swear on your daughter you'll return the grimoire to me if I'm telling the truth." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂 "You have my word." Lith nodded. He took the volume and started flipping through its pages. It was indeed coded and the penmanship was so bad that it reminded him of his own. 'Solus?' She was shoulder to shoulder with him, reading and exploiting the physical contact for an invisible mind link. 'That's not Mom's writing.' She inwardly sighed in disappointment. 'She had a beautiful penmanship with wide-spaced letters and vowels ending in a flourish that-' Lith had reached the first page of the grimoire and there were a few lines in a writing that matched Solus' description down to a t. It was coded as well, but she could read it like it was Tyris' universal language. It said: "To Colmin, my good friend and student. May the foundations of your family be as strong as those of your Forgemastery. In faith, Ripha Menadion." The final a and n in the First Ruler of the Flames' name ended with a wide flourish that looked like a mystical rune and took a lot of space. Lith needed to triple-check with the Eyes to make sure it wasn't some piece of the legacy she had left for Solus. 'Nothing.' He sighed. 'It's just-' A drop of water fell on the page, quickly followed by more. Lith lifted his eyes and only then did he notice that Solus was crying. The enchantments of the book wiped off her tears but didn't help her to relieve her pain. Solus' fingertips traced every single word on the page, but lingered on the signature much longer than on the rest. She took pleasure following the flourishes with her forefinger, putting particular emphasis on Menadion's autograph. Suddenly, Solus wasn't in the underground cave anymore, but in a painfully familiar wooden house. She was sitting at a table, right beside her mother who was manipulating a small blot of black ink with water magic. From her raised chair, the young Elphyn could look at Menadion as she wrote down lists of mystical ingredients, groceries, or just day-to-day tasks in the hope of not forgetting about them before Threin's return. She remembered how Elphyn had taken Menadion's habit, writing her name on the list of her chores and then presenting it to her father with pride. "You did all this? All by yourself?" Threin would say that every day in playful shock, never failing to make the young Elphyn puff out her chest with pride. She always signed them at the bottom like a contract, considering them as a commitment she had made and intended to honor. Solus remembered Ripha signing Elphyn's homework after checking it out and the little girl adding her own signature right under her mother's. She remembered how Elphyn had taken Menadion's habit, writing her name on the list of her chores and then presenting it to her father with pride. "You did all this? All by yourself?" Threin would say that every day in playful shock, never failing to make the young Elphyn puff out her chest with pride. "Yes, Daddy!" "That's my girl!" He held her close to his chest, the pungent smell of paint thinners invading Elphyn's nostrils yet she didn't care. That wasn't the stench of chemicals to her, it was her father's smell. "Look, I worked hard today as well." In the memory, Threin took a small painting depicting Elphyn compiling her first grimoire out of his dimensional amulet. It was actually more like a diary since Menadion didn't trust the little girl even with fire chore magic, but Elphyn loved it like it was the real deal. "Thank you, Daddy!" She grabbed the painting with one hand and her father with the other, rushing to show them both off to Menadion. "Daddy did it for me, not you!" She said with the silly pride of a daughter in competition with her mother for her father's attention. "Oh my!" Menadion gasped in mock envy. "I need to be a better wife or Elphyn will steal you from me, dear." "Don't worry, honey. At the moment the bar is really low. It won't take you much effort to improve." He said playfully, making Ripha blush in embarrassment. She knew of her own shortcomings and how her obsession with her work affected her family life, but she was trying hard to correct her bad habits. "I'm trying!" "I know it, baby. And I love you for that." Threin hugged Ripha to reassure her that her efforts hadn't gone unnoticed. Their marriage wasn't perfect, but they made it so. "Don't worry, Daddy." Elphyn hugged his leg. "I'll take care of you all my life." "Promise?" Threin asked, offering her his pinkie finger. "Promise! I'll put it into writing." She shook fingers and rushed to take a piece of paper to draft the "contract". The memory ended as Elphyn signed the paper, trying to write her last name, Menadion, as her mother would to the best of her abilities.