A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

In the dim light of the house's cozy hallway, Erik stood in comfortable clothes with Elora on his shoulder. The air around them was still a little charged with the remnants of their somewhat emotional discussion with Viljar.

After Elora's polite demand, Erik sighed and continued to hold the medallion up to his shoulder so that Elora could inspect it. It wasn't like he was actually getting tired; it just wasn't very comfortable.

Luckily, it didn't take her more than a few seconds to finish.

Elora released a sigh, her tiny shoulders drooping ever so slightly, indicating her investigation had tired her out a little. Although, not too tired to toss another small jab at Erik. So she giggled, "Alright, I'm done; you can rest your oh-so-weary arm now."

Erik rolled his eyes and grinned as he lowered his arm, "Keep it up, my slutty little ember, and I'll make sure to make you beg for mercy later."

Of course, that just caused a teasing, lustful grin to appear on Elora's face and a mischievous sparkle to ignite in her eyes. "Promises, promises." She whispered in a teasing voice.

Erik chuckled and shook his head. He really couldn't help but love this girl. But now it was time to hear what she found out. He raised a questioning eyebrow and asked, "So, what did you discover?"

Before answering, Elora puffed out her chest with prideful confidence, causing Erik to wait with anticipation for his partner to share her amazing discoveries.

Yet, her next words made his eyelids twitch. "Absolutely nothing!" she said with supreme confidence.

Despite letting out an exasperated sigh, affection was evident in Erik's eyes as he looked at the mischievous fairy. With a gentle motion, he flicked Elora's tiny forehead.

"Ah!" she yelped and reacted exaggeratedly before rubbing her forehead and glaring at Erik. "Brute!"

"That's exactly how you like me." He grinned with confidence. "Now tell me what you found!"

Elora chuckled teasingly at him. "I already told you. Absolutely nothing!"

Finally realizing she meant what she said, Erik raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You mean the sigil was too high level for you?" Erik's surprise came from the fact he had never seen Elora stumped in front of a sigil before. The only reason for that he could think of was that the sigil far surpassed Elora's third rank.

Immediately, Elora waved her hand in dismissal. "What? No! The sigil was easy. I mean, it was of a higher rank than my sigil craft, but it was still easy to recognize as a sigil key."

Erik nodded as he recognized the term for a sigil that was linked to another one and acted as a key for activation. Still, he wondered what Elora was talking about then.

Losing her playfulness, Elora then sank into a thoughtful expression, frowning with her tiny eyebrows in a way that seemed more cute than anything due to her current size.

She lightly chewed on her hair, something she often did when thinking deeply. "That sigil is boring. Instead, that metal is much more interesting." She mumbled, as much to herself as to Erik.

Erik blinked as he didn't expect that answer. He raised the medallion again in an attempt to take a closer look at the material it was made from but couldn't find anything interesting about it.

He just noticed the same things he did earlier. It was a little heavier than expected, and it felt warm to the touch.

He turned to Elora with confusion in his eyes. "What's so special about the metal?" he asked.

Still appearing to be lost in thought, Elora decided to answer him. "That's the thing! I don't know! I don't recognize the metal, nor can I figure out its exact properties!

Back on Söl, my mother gave me an extensive education, and considering her power and influence, that means something. Particularly that this metal is something even the Obsidian Enclave doesn't know about. All I can say with some certainty is that it is likely a blend of two metals."

Beginning to grasp the importance of this medallion, Erik now looked at it with interest, wondering how his mother got her hands on something like this.

Erik, too, now began to show a thoughtful expression. His brows furrowed, and he asked Elora. "The Obsidian Enclave is spread over multiple planets, but not all of them, right? So what are the chances these metals originate from planets that the Obsidian Enclave does not have a presence on?"

To his question, Elora shook her head. "Low. Even if they don't have a presence in a world, the Obsidian Enclave would still make sure they gather information about it. After all, experimentation, research, and knowledge are the cornerstones of ou- I mean, their way of life."

Erik noticed how she almost said our as if she was still a part of the Obsidian Enclave. Even now, seven years later, it is still hard for her to fully let go of her old home despite the fact she made this choice herself.

He smiled at her and caressed her head. "Any regrets?"

Knowing what he was talking about, Elora chuckled and shook her head before locking her emerald green eyes on his amber ones. "Nah, I'm happy with the choice I made."

After a moment of looking into each other's eyes, Erik brought the topic back to the medallion. "So what do you want to do about this thing?"

Finally losing her thoughtful expression, Elora sighed. "Nothing, for now, I suppose. Nothing we can do. I'll experiment with it later, but we should probably first check out that place your mother wants you to go to.

I assume that whatever sigil this one is connected to is there, and if I somehow damage the sigil key on that medallion, we might not be able to activate it."

Erik nodded and put the medallion in his pocket. "Good idea. But we should do that after we leave Frostvik. That place is still at least a day's travel from here, so we should finish up here first."

Elora nodded back. "Fair enough." Then, her eyes began to glitter with barely concealed lust. "Now… I remember something about making me beg for mercy?"