Treasure

 

"Oh!"

The two figures emerged from the cave, the taller tightly holding the hand of the smaller. "Yes, Yeesha," the tall man said, "it is quite a sight, isn’t it."

The journey through this strange Age had been a series of exclamations, each one covering a new and even more fabulous sight. Yeesha had marveled at the cleverness of the obstacles, the mis-direction built even into the design of a building or the placement of a door. But now this - an immense cubic building floating in the misty cavern that lay just beyond the ledge, this must be their goal, the vault Atrus had described when they had started their journey.

"Oh, the treasures it must contain!" Yeesha said.

Atrus looked at her. "Treasures? Oh, it certainly contains some of Guildmaster Kadish’s possessions. But treasures?"

Yeesha turned and looked up at her father. "I don’t understand. All these obstacles, this incredible vault, clearly set to protect what must be so many wondrous things."

Atrus took the water bottle from his backpack and opened it. "Yeesha," he said, "put your two hands together, as a cup."

Yeesha did as her father asked, and he poured some water in her hands. "Now make a fist, hold it tight!"

As she curled them shut, the water dribbled out of her hands, down onto the ledge. "I can only keep a drop or two, father."

"Your open hands held a treasure, did they not? Yet your fists could hold little more than themselves."

Yeesha looked at her father, and then at the vault. She wondered what they would find inside.