"I'll be here," Ella said.
Ella looked around while she waited. She had been directed here by some priests on their way from Salvation to Stonewater, following a path that led for a time outside the mountain before an arched entrance took her inside. She guessed she was somewhere half way up.
This particular level, carved out of the stone just like she'd always been told, smelled of paper and leather. A sign simply named it "Records".
The clerk returned, looking more nervous than before. Ella resumed her irritated expression.
"I am to let you in, and also to assist you," the clerk said.
Ella breathed a sigh of relief.
"I need to ask, do you carry any liquids on you?"
Ella shook her head. "No."
"Any igniters or flint?"
Ella thought of her dress. With it, she could set the entire floor on fire. The templars weren't known for their experience with lore. "No."
"Good. Please, come with me."
~
WHATEVER the clerk's fussy manner, he knew how the records were catalogued, and Ella made swift progress without giving too much away about what she was looking for.
She felt excitement grow in her breast. She wished Killian was with her, but she promised herself he soon would be.
She was going to discover his past!
Ella soon found that at the time of Killian's youth there had been four orphanages in Salvation. There was one, larger orphanage in Seranthia, also run by the templars, but Ella knew Killian was from Salvation so she started there.
The records of the four orphanages were each kept in a different location in the archives.
It took Ella most of the day to search the records of each orphanage in turn. She was initially pleased to see that next to the names of the children the hair colour and eye colour were recorded, but there was no mention of a child matching Killian's description.
"Where are the records of the orphanage in Seranthia?" Ella asked.
The clerk licked his lips. "They're stored in the vault." He gestured to a locked door at the end of the room.
"Why?"
"The records are private." The clerk gave Ella a significant look.
"I don't understand."
"There are a lot of lords and ladies in Seranthia," the clerk said.
Ella was growing frustrated. "Just tell me what you're trying to say."
"Well, sometimes ladies have children before they're married. Sometimes to men who aren't lords. Those babies sometimes end up in orphanages. The families of the ladies are powerful, and they don't want the records available to just anyone."
"Oh," Ella said. "Open the vault. I don't care about any of that."
"I can't do that," the clerk said. "I've never been in the vault myself. Not even my superior…"
"I see," said Ella.
She walked over to the heavy door. It was made of stout wood, probably oak, and banded with strips of metal. The lock was made of good steel. The door looked thick, and the lock looked strong.
Ella reached into a pocket inside her dress and took out the wand.
"Evermen protect us," the hovering clerk drew back, his eyes suddenly wide with fear. "Please, Enchantress, no flames… The records, they must be kept for posterity."
Ella looked at the wand, a device she'd constructed herself, as long as her forearm. It was made of dark hazel wood, with three facets rising to the tip, crowned with a prism of gold-flecked quartz. The wand was warm to the touch, and tiny runes covered its length, so small Ella had needed a lens to draw the symbols with the finest of scrills.
Ella spoke the activation sequence, and the symbols lit up, a sparkle of blue travelling up the wand's length until the prism burned with yellow fire. Ignoring the clerk, she turned to the door.
"Please," the clerk said again, and she had to admire his courage. "The records…"
Ella had no intention of destroying the records, but she was going to open this door. "Stand back," she told the clerk, before walking up to the door.
"Tourahn-ash-tassine," she said softly, words that would moderate the wand's power.
The prism's radiance dimmed by half. Ella touched the wand to the lock and then called forth a bolt of energy.
She quickly pulled her hand back as the lock liquefied, molten steel bursting out with a spray of sparks.
The door fell open.
Ella deactivated the wand and put it away.
She turned around. The clerk was nowhere to be seen. Ella entered the vault.
Ella had learned the templars' system of filing now, and it took her only a short time to find the records of the orphanage in Seranthia.
She scanned the list of descriptions, ignoring the names; a name could always be changed. Although Killian's name fit him like a glove, she thought.
The arrival records were organised by day, and Ella scanned them swiftly, perplexed when she still saw no mention of Killian. Then she scanned the dates again.
There was one day missing.
Ella calculated how long ago it would have been. Killian looked to be a year or two older than her.
The date matched.