This branch now sported a treehouse.

It was a big one, comparable to the Guild Hall. It fit snugly onto that branch, surrounded by plank-and-netting walls and floors similar in style to the original Sky Barge. There was no question in either Remian's or Mindy's mind that this treehouse was built by their people.

"What happened here?" they went over to investigate.

Inside were stacks of supplies. Food supplies, tools, camping equipment…

"Aren't these the things we offloaded and left for the adventurers to set up the excavation camp?" Remian asked. "Why are they still on the branch? And why is there now a treehouse over them?"

"You took the airs.h.i.+p and almost all the wolfcats. How were we supposed to get them down from the branch?!" someone yelled from the treehouse's second floor above. A carrot-head of a tomboy made a face at him. "A dozen tons of equipment and not a single rope long enough to reach the ground from here!"

This was one of the six adventurers they'd left behind(1) … Sandra, if Remian remembered correctly. She was one of the most energetic younger teens they had in the Guild.

"You could have moved them to a lower branch that your ropes could reach and on and on until you reached the ground." Mindy argued. She didn't get along very well with Sandra for some reason.

"Those branches belong to other flying Wilds! They're already not too happy with us here, and you want us to trespa.s.s into their homes?!" Sandra flared. "Eagle Lord or no Eagle Lord, that's just asking for trouble! Are you trying to get us killed?!"

"Sorry!" Remian cut in before they could start arguing furiously. "So, how's the investigation?"

"I don't know! Gammie and I just guard the supplies!" Sandra grouched. "We don't have wolfcats! We can't even get down from the tree!"

"But the others can?"

"They all have their own exclusive wolfcat friends to help them down. We don't." Sandra grumbled.

Remian paused. "Exclusive wolfcat friends? Is that a thing, now?"

"It started some time ago." Mindy explained. "It's like how you always stick with Carrie. Some of the adventurers have just this one or two wolfcats that they especially get along with. They go everywhere together, and take care of each other."

"Like… their pets?" Remian frowned.

"No, they're not pets, not really. That's not the kind of bond they have. They're… friends. Traveling companions. Comrades."

"Comrades." Remian tested the word. "Okay. That doesn't sound too bad."

"You know what sounds better? Longer ropes."

They left some for Sandra, but Remian and Mindy took the airs.h.i.+p down to the ruins. Despite leaving most of the supplies and equipment on the tree, the adventurers there seemed to be doing quite well. They had practically taken over the 'town square' of the ruins, moved into one of the st.u.r.dier structures and had delicious smells drifting out from the 'kitchen'.

"I think this used to be a restaurant. But the upper floor looks decent enough. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms." Dennis told them. "Each of us have a room."

Oh, right. Dennis was another of the six adventurers left at the Three Pines Ruins. This was the first guy they met upon reaching the new 'campsite', which was starting to look more like a camp 'house'. There was another guy, Greg, in the kitchen, currently cooking lunch, which had been some small critters they'd hunted and trapped around the ruins. The rest were currently out exploring.

"There are bathrooms?" Mindy blinked.

"They didn't work at first, but we got them fixed and working eventually." Dennis said proudly. "There's something wrong with the old runes and we can't find any converters, but if we channel mana manually, we can manage."

"So tell me about the ruins." Remian requested.

Dennis brought them to the biggest table on the 'restaurant' floor. On it were four large sheets of paper stuck together. "There seems to be five different areas in this town. This front area around the village square has the biggest and strongest structures. There's one particularly badly damaged place that used to be the biggest building in the whole town; it looks like a shared residential area, like a dorm. We found a lot of old weapons there, but most of them are in really bad shape. I got this from there." He showed them a dagger with two runes, one on the blade, one on the hilt. "The area around the main road seems to be a market area going all the way to the back, which has tall thin buildings. My bet is they were windmills, but Greg thinks they were monoliths for some sort of religion. In the middle left, houses are smaller and there are more workplace-looking buildings. The middle right has bigger houses, and places with larger halls. I'm thinking concerts and shopping, but Greg thinks they were schools and colleges. In any case, there's the poor side and the rich side, and that's about it."

He brought them around the hall. "Each of these tables represent one area. The weird stuff we found here in the front clearing is on this table. That table holds the artifacts we got from the main market street. This one over here has the things from the back, that one has the stuff from the poor side and over on that table are the items we got from the rich side."

There weren't many. Each table only had a handful of items.

"There's more stuff in boxes under the tables, but those are more like pieces of items. The stuff that are intact are on top." Dennis added.

Remian grimaced. This did not look like a professional archaeological dig by any stretch of the imagination, but at least they hadn't run around looting mindlessly.

"So what do you think these are?" Mindy asked, picking up one of those strange devices. It was like a small square that fit comfortably in her palm, made completely black with a gla.s.s screen facing her.

"Isn't it a mirror?" Dennis blinked.

"Not reflective enough. These people were supposed to be more advanced than we are. There has to be more to this thing than just looking at your reflection." Mindy frowned, staring at it. "Besides, if I were to make a mirror, it would be a lot bigger than this."

She handed it over to Remian. He inspected it, then went over some of the other weird items on the tables, and mused. "This rune here… what is it?"

Lines, circles and waves. Mindy frowned. "I have no idea. Why?"

"Because it seems to be very popular. A lot of these items have that very same rune." Remian pointed out.

"Maybe it's a brand? Or some sort of insignia, like their country's flag?" Mindy guessed.

"It's a rune. It must be able to do something important."

"Something important that all these items have in common?" Mindy thought about it. "Maybe it's a durability rune? Or self-repair?"

"I don't know. Maybe Andros or Arnold could figure it out." Remian grunted. "We should get more people here. Experts who deal with device making and runes in particular."

"Great. While you're at it, perhaps they could set us up with a power source." Dennis said hopefully. "I'm getting tired of channeling mana manually into literally everything we want to use."

Remian and Mindy both jumped. "Power source!"

Dennis scratched his head. "Well, yeah, I mean… the bathrooms can't even pump water without it, you know?"

But Mindy wasn't listening. She grabbed up that 'mirror' device again and put her finger on that 'popular rune'. She channeled mana into it.

Light shone out from the mirror device. There was a flash of color, and then smoke and sparks began to fly…

"Watch out!" Remian knocked the device out of Mindy's hand and pulled her aside. "Light!"

A barrier of light rose up just as the device exploded, sending burning pieces in all directions. Remian, Mindy and Dennis stared, stunned, at the green and blue flames consuming what was left of the mirror device.

"Be careful!" Remian urged Mindy. "Didn't I warn you before?"

"S-sorry…" Mindy apologized. "Um… you don't think… those weapons we found… would also blow up?"

"I don't know." Remian said. "But just in case, let's be really, really careful with them. All right?"

***

Thankfully, they didn't. Remian and Mindy were nervous when they tested them out at a clear spot on the mountain, but the runes on those weapons didn't cause explosions.

One made the hilt spit out a firebolt. One raised a s.h.i.+eld similar to Remian's light barrier. There was one rune that both weapons shared; that one lit up the edges of the blades with some sort of energy. Another one actually amplified sound, so that even a whisper could be heard from ten feet away. One made Remian's weapon heavier. Three more didn't seem to do anything, or maybe just didn't work.

"Heavy blows, s.h.i.+eld, power-edge… I think mine is the front-line sort." Remian figured. "Yours has a firebolt shooter and sound amplifier. Yours is more like a support or command type."

"Wanna switch?" Mindy asked.

"No, no. That amplifier could come in useful if you want to shout at another airs.h.i.+p." Remian shook his head. "I'm fine with mine."

"It's amazing that these still work." Mindy shook her head. "Or at least, have one or two functions that still work. Still… I can't help feeling like we're using them wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we're channeling mana into them manually, and the amount of power it takes… it's quite a drain. I can't imagine bringing these into battle and trying to fight while manually channeling mana at such a high drain rate." Mindy shook her head. "I'd be exhausted in minutes!"

"It's odd." Remian agreed. "But we'll figure it out eventually. I'm happy with just the power edge function alone. Imagine what Markus or Song Chen could do with these."

"If we gave them our weapons, they might be able to take down Spike." Mindy agreed. "But we're not going to do that, are we?"

"No way! At least, not unless we have to." Remian laughed.