On the high terrace, the desert below shimmers under Huarti's new mana cycle. Merek Vale stands at the edge, watching the hatchlings play in the red haze, then turns with that same knowing look the archive has been hiding.
Merek Vale
I did not come to steal them. I came to prove whether the brood could endure a keeper, or only a cage.
The terrace answers with a low pulse from the archive. The truth behind Merek's old trail settles into place, not as treachery alone, but as a test shaped around the hatchlings' future.
Merek Vale
I set the trail for someone who would notice the brood first, and the danger second. If you had failed, I meant to take the hatchlings below, away from every hand that would use them.
Merek Vale
If you passed, I would stand aside and record what you built. That was my vow.
Below, the hatchlings keep playing, untouched by the revelation. Merek lowers his gaze to them, then back to Huarti, waiting for judgment, ally or exile balanced in the red wind.
✓ Quest Accepted
Judge Merek Vale's place in the archive
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the hatchlings safe from hidden threats
“I say, so you raise them for a specific person only like a secluded behind trick walls hermit”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -3)
The terrace quiets under Huarti’s question. Merek Vale lowers his chin, considering the dunes and the hidden hinge of stone below them.
Merek Vale
Specific? Yes. The hatchlings are not for the open archive. They are for the sealed work, the private ward, the places I keep from careless hands.
Merek Vale
They come from a buried line beneath these spires, old as the first vows here. I was brought into that duty, not the making of it.
Huarti
So you keep them for one hidden purpose, behind the walls.
Merek Vale
For one ward, yes. For one charge. Not a beast’s whim, not a toy, and not a public trust.
Merek Vale
His hands tense on the ledge, then ease, as if choosing honesty over pride.
The red trail of force beneath the terrace steadies, its pulse matching Huarti’s new mana cycle as Merek waits for the judgment to land.
Quest Complete
Keep the hatchlings safe from hidden threats