"Coat of arms?" Kryschenn wondered aloud, having been a bit too preoccupied to really study it. "I'll have to look." She gestured for Cassandra to follow a little ways down the hall until they came across a banner with the symbol of the proud city of Yarfell."Hm. Well, it's kind of like a clan crest," Kryschenn said after a moment. "I don't know what the words say. We'll have to ask Zak if she can find something in that book of hers that can translate. But the rest of the stuff I can make an educated guess on. A red background like that usually represents strength. I think those are supposed to be laurel leaves bordering it, and that pretty much represents victory. That staff there, well, that could symbolize just about anything. But see how the staff is superimposed over that hand that's holding the silver light?" She waited for Cassandra's nod. "Hands can represent friendship, or generosity, but I'm guessing that it represents some sort of divine or otherworldly protection or benefactor, because of the flame." She paused to study the details a little more closely. The tapestry was a little faded, and it wasn't the greatest exapmle of needlework in existence, but Cassandra was right, part of the did look a lot like the object the mystic was holding.
"Can I see that a second?" she asked. She took the orb in her hand, and gasped in surprise. It wasn't vibrating or emanating a temperature or anything, but nonetheless, the highlander felt something immensely powerful about it.
She also vaguely noticed that her sheathed sword felt like it was humming against her hip.
Closing her eyes, Kryschenn concentrated her senses on the orb, all of the senses outlined in the medical textbooks plus all the others that science denied existed. She had to admit she wasn't very good at this, but she had to try. Energies beyond comprehension were out there, everywhere, forces as real as gravity, and all it took was the strength and willingness to attune to them. It wasn't magic. It was just awareness.
"It doesn't feel evil or cursed," she decided after a long moment, handing it back to Cassandra. "In fact, it seems benevolent in some ways. Ruthlessly benevolent, I guess is the way I'd put it." She sighed in frustration at the limitations of language. What were the right words? "How do I say this? It doesn't mind us. It felt like it was good, as far as we're concerned. But at the same time I don't think I'd want to cross it. I don't know what it would do, but I think it would know who's holding it." For some reason, she was suddenly reminded of what Hank had said earlier, when she and Fairalin had sensed something that Presto had referred to as the "Guardian" and Krys had asked if it was friendly: It all depended on who it was looking at.
Strange, but it made sense. "I think the coat of arms is describing a great protector that they believe holds the city safe," she finally ventured. "The staff must belong to him or her or it. So why do we only have this one piece?"
"I say we keep that real safe," she suggested, regarding the orb. "And where did you get that, anyway?"
