An Herbal Adventure [Canterlot] (Conor Colton, Armony, PM for Invite)

[Armony]

Sage couldn't help but chuckle, silently to herself, at her companion's reaction to the information she whispered to him, and walked him over to the table with a mischievous grin on her face. She hadn't meant to insult him, but she realized pretty quickly that she had, and without any idea why, she found it absolutely hilarious. It took a fair amount of self-control to stop herself from just bursting out with laughter in the middle of the library, but she managed to seat herself back with the books with a mostly straight face.

Now that the two were working together, she grabbed one of the books she had already gotten into, glancing back through for anything she might have missed. There were a few passages about small villages, as there seemed to be in all of these books, but none that carried a crest matching that of the recipe. Letting out an exasperated sigh, she tossed that book onto a slowly forming pile of materials already searched, grabbed another, and set it in front of herself, perhaps a little more forcefully than intended. Just like Colton, however, she pressed on, determined to find the information they were looking for, even if it took them all night to get through all of these darn books.

The stallion's voice interrupted her as she was reading through a passage about a completely underground settlement, and she marked the page to come back to later before moving on and responding. "Yeah, I guess you could say getting out would be a nice change of pace. I've never really been outside of Canterlot, as far as I can remember, and it's always seemed like I'm cooped up in the restaurant for one reason or another. I like it there, but everypony needs a vacation every now and then. Getting out, seeing some more of the world, having an adventure... all things I haven't ever gotten to do, and I probably wouldn't even get away with it now that I'm a grown mare without a good excuse. An excuse like looking for a new ingredient for the restaurant, solving the family mystery... it seemed like the perfect opportunity to me."

[Conor Colton]

Colton nodded, partly in acknowledgement and partly in appreciation. A niggling worry shot through his mind that Sages excuse to go out on an adventure would result in her being way too in over her head, but he put such worries aside given he didn't even know the full extent of what danger may lie ahead, and he had confidence in his ability to be somewhat of a bodyguard...he hoped anyway. Regardless he found his companion's determination and apparent wanderlust endearing, and reminded him of himself when he first discovered his passion to explore the unknown; maybe that's why he liked the idea of helping Sage out, aside from himself wanting to get back into his comfort zone, which was arguably the most dangerous zone. Go figure.

The monotony of sorting through books continued as the stallion formulated a response to the mares answer, "I hear you there, Sage. Back before I even started exploring Equestria I had some issues with being cooped up all the time. I won't go into too much detail in case it comes off as boring but I got raised with ponies that weren't really...fly-ey." he stated, flapping his own wings slightly for emphasis, "What I mean is, I was the only pegasus in the family, and they had these little 'height restrictions'. Celestia knows they cared about me but it was soo frustrating having wings and hardly being able to do anything with them...but once I got out there, out on my own, things changed. First thing I did when I really felt a sense of freedom, I shot up above the clouds, not a care in the world...and my oh my...was it scary. But, a good kind of scary..." he smiled to himself, Sparks flapping his little wings gleefully. The stallion almost forgot they had company when he caught himself before his next sentence.

"Eh, sorry, I sort've rambled a bit there. If nothing else, we at least have some insight on each other right?" the pegasus smiled over at Sage, still idly turning pages in the books upon books upon books.

"Hm, shouldn't be far off now, a lot of these seals are staring to look familiar. Stuff you'd find in the same area like forts or different plants, I think we're almost there."

[Armony]

Listening closely to her companion's response, Sage couldn't help but feel the similarities between the two of them; the same restrictions, the same desire for adventure... she felt like he understood her plight, and that she understood his. That, and it was nice to listen to a story as she continued looking over books, to have something to break through the monotony. She looked up from the books when he flapped his wings, blowing the pages about a bit, and smiled along with the stallion, his story somehow giving her more hope that this adventure thing wasn't a fool's errand.

Sage set aside yet another book, hesitating on opening the next dusty tome and getting a good look around at what was happening with the rest of the library. It seemed much more empty than when they'd arrived, and she bet it was both due to how late it must be, and that the weather must have finally cleared up. She couldn't find a clock nearby, but the chef was certain they'd been at this for quite a long time, just judging from how little motivation either of them had left to keep turning the pages. The conversation was definitely much more interesting and fun than researching through countless volumes of history, looking for one tiny seal.

"Oh, it's not a big deal, I like hearing stories other ponies have to tell." Sage responded, starting her way slowly through the next book. "Probably a good thing, too, because I get customers that are a lot worse about rambling than you are, I can assure you of that. I've had a couple older stallions insist on telling me every little detail about their lives, their children's lives, and so on, and they weren't even aware of how long they were talking. I didn't mind terribly much, mainly because they kept ordering drinks, but still... you'd think that after two or three hours, they would have something else to go do. But, no, there was one that managed to go on from breakfast until dinner, non-stop, and..." The mare stopped, chuckling to herself and breaking off from her little story-turned-rant. "And I'm just as bad, too, so you don't need to apologize."

[Conor Colton]

The white pegasus stallion couldn't help but chuckle in response to Sage's self-realization of her own ramblings, and somehow little bits of personality amidst the conversation made this seemingly boring task all the more eventful. Her talk of older stallions gave him pause. Colton was still young by adult pony standards but this dry spell of adventuring lasted for much longer than it should have, yet oddly enough it didn't feel like it. Compared to past escapades and crusades he and his avian companion went on, the time in which they were out of commission seemed to fly by a lot quicker; which was strange considering this absence from excitement lasted longer than any one of their jobs that had come before. It made him wonder about an every-ticking clock of sorts, hovering around him and driving him forward constantly, a fixed reminder that would occasionally prompt him to pursue seemingly random acts of adventure, and he even had the small cuckoo bird, or at least an equivalent by his side in the form of Sparks.

"Funny thing is, one of these days I may end up becoming one of those older stallions that like to talk. I'm pretty much halfway there on that description already, just need the factor of old age to kick in one of these days." he chuckled somewhat remorsefully but without a hint of sorrow at all, "Makes me feel like a bother already, that I'd be going into fine establishments like yours and badgering the ear off some poor young mare." he shrugged with a sincere smile in Sage's direction. Before he could continue to ramble and contradict himself by doing so Sparks gave him an almost playful tap across the ear with his minuscule wing. Colton turned and tilted his head quizzically, being met with a straight point of Sparks' wing towards a the book, as if it were some form of stick or presentational equipment. The stallion leaned down towards the book, looking all the more confused, "...Sparks there's nothing here." he commented.

With a seemingly large amount of distaste for his master's negligence, the young sparrow swooped down and began to lift the pages; backwards. Colton felt the need to interject, "Aw c'mon buddy we just went through all of those pa-" he was promptly silenced as Sparks raised a wing, as if to say 'Give me a second'. Said second passed and the tiny bird clamped a claw down on a certain page, pointed at a rather familiar symbol, "-...Oh." Colton remarked in a rather embarrassed fashion. It was at this point he wondered how he could have missed it. Did he just lose himself in his thoughts? Has he ever been so careless before? Did Sage notice? There was an air of professionalism wanted to keep up but, it would be safe to say he didn't want to be seen as a fool for the sake of not being seen as one. He locked his eyes back and forth between the mare and the bird, the bird and the mare, before finally clearing his throat and pointing, "Nice find little guy."

The seal was there alright, clear as day, and the family name, inscribed in rough early Equestrian was written below. He attempted to translate:

"...Family of...many mysterious herbs..." he facehooved. Sparks quickly reassured him, pointing to a bit more information. Colton read again, "Ever....Free..." he blinked a few times then turned to Sage.