Despite Hefler's suggestion that Daezin trust Aetran for answers, Daezin knew that he had very strong reason to hate her. Instead, Daezin went to the motherlode of know-it-alls, the bastion of belief and trivia, the museum of Corethe. She had visited the museum once before and was promptly kicked out for laughing at every display in the first room. It seemed that every artifact in the place was dedicated to or created by a deity or magic or both. She didn't believe in any of those things, but Daezin figured that the people after her may believe in it--after all they hired a magician to magic the truth out of her--and it was their beliefs that might be motivating them. And Daezin considered herself a master at manipulating the superstitions of others. But first, she had to understand the superstition before she could weaponize it against her attackers.

If this didn't work, she could always run. She'd call that option number two.

The sea winds and storms hadn't been friendly to the exterior of the museum. It's pale grey limestone was pitted and scarred but still pretty... if you were into architecture, and stone, and stuff like that. Double wide wooden doors of a dark blue greeted visitors while the quill and scroll symbol of Deja, god of knowledge, leered from above. Daezin tossed a rude gesture at the symbol before pushing her way inside.

Scholarly types wandered up and down the quiet chambers lined with curious artifacts, scrolls, and other ephemera of history and flimflammery. By scholarly types, she meant folks who were pale from lack of sun and squinty from peering at tiny, and in some cases, imaginary details on parchment or stone. She didn't trust these guys much... most of them were devoutly dedicated to religion and the belief in magic... but they were so-called experts in the weird and mystical. In other words, someone here would be the perfect person who ask about the talisman she had seen... and maybe even about the tattooed weirdo whose spit had started this whole thing.

A petrified half lizard, half bird the size of a loaf of bread caught Daezin's attention. She moved closer to read the placard. "The axovian was a native of the jungles of Eruvia. Pejan Seguant recovered this specimen on a trip to the ruins of Furxe in 3009. Legends tell conflicting stories of this beast. In one, they are described as ravening beasts who breathed fire and were just one of the many dangers of the jungles of Eruvia. In another, they are described as beloved family pets and familiars of the Xavi. Whatever their true history, these creatures have long been extinct and answers to their true natures are in short supply."

Daezin snorted. In other words, they were guessing. She shook her head. Maybe this wasn't the best idea.

Daezin turned to go but was intercepted by a petite woman with white hair and burnt orange robes. 

"May I help you, young lady?" The voice whispered into the quiet space.

Daezin schooled her features into an expression of politeness. "I need to speak with an expert on antiquities. Is there someone that has a moment to speak with me?

Again, a whisper issued forth from the small woman in the loud colors. "I'm afraid you'll have to be a bit more specific than that, young miss. There are many areas of expertise in this museum. Not just anyone will be able to help you with anything. Do you have an antiquity you'd like evaluated?" A hint of curiosity flashed across the attendant's placid face.

"Umm... I don't have it with me and this is a sensitive manner." Daezin nodded knowingly, all the while completely not knowing what she was doing here. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. "The antiquity has a... umm..." Daezin leaned in and lowered her voice even lower than the attendant's. "It has a spider on it. Does that help?"

"Oh indeed, it does. A spider is a symbol of Deja, the deity of knowledge. You're in luck. We have the foremost expert on Deja's history and antiquities working here." The attendant turned and led the way into the bowels of the museum.

[Describe more of the museum here]

"Archivist Aschengael prefers to work in the basement... she says it's something about the way the energy eddies down here that makes it ideal for her." The attendant knocked on a wooden door. At the sound of a gruff, "Enter," she opened the door.

The door swung open on a kaleidoscope of artifacts and detritus. Rocks in a variety of colors perched next to bits of string and small handheld tools that had no obvious use. Just inside the door lurked a knee-high statue of some six-legged beast with smiling teeth but scary eyes made of some kind of blue stone. Fabric in nearly every color of the rainbow and a few that definitely didn't exist in any nature Daezin had seen draped from the ceiling to the floor in one corner. And the books... and the scrolls... the sheer amounts of paper crowded out every corner of the desk, most of the floor, and nearly every available cranny of the shelves that lined two of the four walls of the room. 

And in the middle of the room, at the desk sipping a mug of something, sat the most unusual person Daezin had ever seen. And Daezin liked to lie to herself about how much she had seen, but she had never seen anyone like this. The person had pale black hair--yep, pale black. It wasn't grey. It wasn't white. It was pale black and cascaded well past narrow shoulders. In fact, the entire body visible above the desk was narrow. Skinny to the point that the worry about this person's diet crossed Daezin's mind. Skin of a paler hue than most and eyes that were nearly colorless were offset by bright orange robes with a dozen woven bracelets and necklaces encircling bony limbs. In the pale black hair, bits of carvings and beads were seemingly haphazardly slung. But somehow, Daezin sensed that this person rarely did anything without a purpose despite the chaotic appearance of the room and their adornments.

Archivist Aschengael stood from her chair and Daezin couldn't help the widening of her eyes. This person stood taller than anyone else in Daezin's acquaintance, and not by just a little bit. This person redefined the word tall. 

"This person has questions about an antiquity of Deja that crossed her path. I told her that you were our foremost expert here in the museum. Do you have a few moments to help, Archivist?" The attendant's voice wasn't any louder here in this chaos, and in fact, seemed somehow smaller still surrounded by the loud colors and clutter. 

Colorless eyes scanned Daezin from toes to top. Seemingly, it took barely a moment, but Daezin still squirmed under the intense gaze. "I see. Yes. Come in." The archivist gestured to a chair lost under a stack of books and a coil of some sort of cord. "Clear that off and please sit down."

Figuring that cooperating would lose her nothing, Daezin moved the stuff to the floor and sat. Once she sat, the clutter in the room and the odd colorless gaze made Daezin squirm, and strangely, fight to breathe. She would have to see if she could replicate this set up for her act. The gullible might be more likely to part with their wealth if they felt like this too.

"So, you found an antiquity of Deja?"

"I, uh, didn't know that it was related to Deja... umm... I'm not a devotee of the gods." Feigning expertise in this circumstance wasn't likely to get her very far. "Not too long ago, I witnessed two gentlemen with a medallion of some sort. It was about a hands-breadth wide and made of copper, or at least copper-colored metal. On the front side was a very stylized image of a spider. On the back, there were faint markings that I couldn't make out."

The archivist nodded and stood up. "Yes. Yes. The spider is an obvious symbol of Deja, sitting in the middle of a web of information and knowledge. The copper is a bit unusual but... hmm." Aschengael rummaged in a stack of scrolls balanced on the back of a stuffed spotted creature that Daezin didn't recognize before fetching a stack of parchment from beneath a jar of green liquid. She laid it out across the top of the detritus strewn on her desktop. She pointed to a corner of the document. "Is this what the spider image looked like?"

Daezin scooted to the front edge of her chair. On the faded document, a spider made of faded blue ink crouched amid regimented lines of text in a language Daezin did not recognize. "Yes. That's the spider. What can you tell me about it?"

Aschengael grinned. "Only that it is the symbol of Deja, a goddess of knowledge and prophecy. She is considered a bit of an odd one among her many holy siblings. She has a sense of humor but also a lot of power. I mean, after all, knowing everything and everything that will happen before it happens means that she can literally do anything she wants. Yet, she maintains a low profile among the gods. She doesn't court favor among you mortals. Some question why she is one of Nykt's children that even bothers with Kadegan."

"You mortals?"

"I misspoke. We mortals." The archivist winked and returned to her seat. "So, it is apparent that this antiquity isn't in your possession. Why would you go through the trouble of doing research on something you merely witnessed in passing?"

Daezin ran her thumb under the leather band she wore around her right wrist. "The trouble is in that I am now being chased by the owners of said antiquity. And I want to know why. I didn't take anything from them. I hardly spoke with them, and yet, they have followed me here to Corethe and they've endangered my livelihood and my companion. I need to understand why, archivist."

"Call me Aunum. I sense we'll become great friends."

Daezin snorted at that. She tried to turn it into a cough but the expression on Aunum's face indicated that she wasn't buying it.

"All right. Let's work through this." Aunum stood and came around to lean on the front of her desk. "You only saw this artifact and now they are after you? You sure?"

"Definitely." Daezin's thumb slowed and stopped on her pulse point under the leather band. 

Aunum met Daezin's gaze and held it.

And held it.

And held it.

"Fine. I tried to get a better look. They grabbed me. They spit on me during some sort of mumbo jumbo ritual wherein I touched the thing. And I skedaddled. I got out of there and didn't look back. As I said, I only saw it. I just left out the in between parts. I wasn't lying." Daezin swallowed with a suddenly dry throat. 

"Hmm."

"Hmm? That all you have to say? Hmm??" Daezin jumped up. "I should have known that this was a waste of time."

Daezin turned to leave. Aunum stopped her with a hand on her wrist. 

A swooping glide of time whooshed by in which mountains rose and fell, forests grew from nothing, rivers changed in their course, cities grew to greatness and fell to ruins, and through it all, Aunum stood unchanging in the middle of it all. 

"Crap." Daezin yanked her wrist free of Aunum's grasp. Or rather tried to. Aunum's grip didn't change, didn't ease, remained completely unaffected by Daezin's efforts.

"Interesting." 

"What is?" Daezin would have pouted if she didn't already feel like she came off as a child in her present company.

Aunum's eyebrow rose for a moment before she grinned. Ripping off the leather band, Aunum revealed the mark below. The mark that Daezin had kept hidden for as long as she could remember. The mark that her family made her keep hidden. The mark that caused her brother to betray everything they loved.

Her gods-touched mark.