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Lienna had hardly expected any response at all from icy Professor Tomai, let alone a positive one, but it seemed she’d chosen the right topic given his enthused response. Truth be told, she didn’t even know Crests were a subject of research at all; having been told it was something she was born with, she’d always assumed a Crest was like an arm or a leg, hardly a subject of mystery that needed untangling. But of course, the last few days had shown her there was much and more she didn’t know, and more and more she felt like over all those years sequestered away in Hima she’d fallen behind the rest of the world.  

More than just curiosity at the idea of a previously unknown field of study, though, was the Professor himself. Even if the topic itself had just been an excuse to start a conversation, the way Professor Tomai [i]talked[/i] about it drew her in. Though he used simple terms, they spoke to a much deeper understanding; it was clear they came from a vast wellspring of knowledge, his expertise apparent even just from his ease of explanation, and that alone was enough to pique Lienna’s curiosity. She recognized that sort of knowledge and passion from long ago, gleaming in her priest’s eyes when she asked him to tell her about the Ten Elites and the Four Saints, back when she had time to be delving into the stories of things long dead. 

Back when things weren’t so complicated. 

[color=baa7c7]“New possibilities?”[/color] She interrupted that dark train of thought with a question, latching onto something that had caught in her mind. [color=baa7c7]“I didn’t know that… I didn’t realize there was so much left to learn.”[/color] She caught herself before she made it too clear that she was some north country bumpkin who’d never heard of Crest research, smoothing it over with something more vague. 

She noticed the book in Tomai’s hands, with a large, unfamiliar symbol on an open page surrounded by writing so small that the very idea of trying to read it made her head spin. The adjacent page was thankfully written in larger print, and while most of the words there were still hard to make out, one jumped out at her: [i]Gautier[/i]. Oh, that must have been the symbol of the Crest of Gautier; if she recalled correctly, it would have flashed from that device in the church all those years ago, and she knew all the Crests had symbols from their appearance in artwork in the church. Her gaze lingered on the page for a moment longer before she looked up; she’d never paid much mind to the specific symbol of Gautier, but she made a point to memorize it now. Unlike years ago where the mere mention of her Crest would send her grandmother into a panic, she had more than a hunch that it would become important now. 

[color=baa7c7]“What could have come along to turn something like Crest research on its head?”[/color] she finally continued, ignoring the Professor’s question in favour of her newfound curiosity. [color=baa7c7]“I was under the impression that Crests hadn’t changed since the days of the Ten Elites. How could something so old and important suddenly become a mystery all over again?”[/color]

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