This is the first chapter. It narrates Jaaf's theft of Yvirra the Cup of Prosperity from the Royal Palace of Drifeyer, her almost getting caught and escaping through the sewer system and over the city walls, where she is seen and shot at but not hit.
The sacred relic of Drifeyer has been stolen by an unknown entity. No one knows where it is, who stole it or how it was possible to get stolen. Everyone is in uproar. The palace residents have been woken by the guards, we take Auun's perspective as he and many other residents try to find the queen to figure out what is going on. The queen appears and calms everyone down but she's vague about what's happening and wants to talk to her advisors. Auun follows and listens at the door where they hear about the theft of the cup. Now much more than just good story material, Auun wants to help his friend the queen and starts thinking up possible ways to find the thief but to no avail.
Auun is in pain from all the dreams that have increased in frequency lately. He decides to go pay Fehnym, the royal physician, a visit. They brew him a healing tea and he sleeps for a while. When he wakes up he goes back to his room where a letter from the Storyteller Association is waiting for him. It tells him that his admission to the exam for Master Storyteller has been accepted. Auun is torn in two about it because on one hand he wants to take the exam but on the other hand he wants to stay at the palace and research the story with the cup as it is unfolding.
The inquiry is successful, the guards on the wall describe a small green creature fleeing over the city walls and disappearing into the darkness the same night the relic was stolen. Thanks to that clue the tracking team was able to find the remains of a tunnel outside the city walls (Jaaf likely didn't have enough power left to perfectly collapse the tunnel, she's 14 and incredibly exhausted after all). The tracking team follows the tunnels and they track them to the borders of MIVIAN, where the trail loses itself and they're forced to return. Mivian is the official culprit in the case. We see Lerym Tizenyr report to the Queen about it. We are in Ebyerel's POV.
This chapter starts off with Auun bringing the letter for the StA to a magical post office? The letter gets sent by being thrown into a magical fire. Then Auun finally manages to talk to the queen. She is severely demoralized after having tried and failed to solve the issue with diplomacy. Mivian denies all claims of having stolen any relic and is outraged at the audacity of proposing such a thing. Ebyerel's only option left is to get the relic back by force. She sent out a call for help to Deya and Hatnar, but they refused the call because they are scared of the military wrath of Mivian. Auun is trying to comfort her, and tells her that he has an idea, they then get interrupted by an informant that tells her a letter from Pyktyrr just arrived. She tells Auun to tell her his idea at the next council meeting. Auun goes to the council meeting the next day, where he tells the queen about Kishay and his sword. The other council members are strongly against dispatching personal for a useless mission like that. Auun, as he'd palnned, volunteers for the job and the queen reluctantly agrees. She would search for other alternatives while Auun is taking on this risky mission with very low chances of success. She also starts training her warriors for the worst case: a battle without any allies. As she sends Auun off, she tells him to be back before winter arrives otherwise it would be difficult to return for him and she doesn't know how long the conflict can be pushed away. This is giving Auun roughly 10 months (until the beginning of ghostlight, which technically counts as an autumn month) to complete his task or fail and return home empty handedly. She only agrees because Auun has an incredibly vast network of contacts and places he knows could help him find clues. Also before his departure he gets access to the archives that are kept in Anyr because the royal library in the palace didn't yield much information.
There is a short scene taking place in the city of Anyr, the religious center of Drifeyer. Auun is seen searching the archives and finds maybe 2 or 3 accounts that claim Kishay had moved west after his banishment. Drifeyer had obtained this information from an undercover team of estirian woodelves that were tasked with tailing Kishay to make sure he didn't commit any more crimes and that he would leave the realm of Estira. The reports only go on for a few months though, after that the team was pulled back, after they lost track of Kishay in a heavy thunderstorm. A dwarf SCHOLAR helps Auun with finding the documents.
Auun starts searching for rumours and threads that could lead him to Kishay. He does that the way he gathers informations for his stories: He visits a TAVERN and listens to people talk, when there is nothing interesting, he starts telling stories about a sword and an elven prince, always fragments, never the whole thing and often the versions he tells vary greatly from one another. It get's people talking and speculating, but there is nothing helpful. Auun then decides to ride east towards Estira and to look around there, as his chances are a lot higher.
Some time has passed and we see Auun in a VERY SHABBY TAVERN with a drink in hand, agitatedly telling a story of a great sword. He's in a SMALL VILLAGE at night time and it's raining outside. The people in the tavern laugh and grunt and are generally very drunk and none of them seem to know anything about a great sword. We see Auun opening their STORY BOOK, taking out a wrinkled piece of paper and crossing something off a list. They look at the next point of the list, get up and leave. In the rain a lone rider can be seen galloping along a muddy road.
Auun sits in a SPACIOUS TAVERN in a town and it's nearly dawn. Their voice is hoarse from talking so much and they're finishing a story to a very small audience. You can tell that compared to the last scene he seems a lot less enthusiastic, like, he still kind of has fun but he's also slowly getting discouraged. They seem a bit subdued. When his story is finished, the INNKEEPER comes to throw him out as they are closing. He smiles weakly at them, takes out the list and crosses off another name.
Auun gets increasingly frustrated as 4 out of 10 months have passed and they still haven't found anything. They're slowly getting sick of telling the same story over and over and they've ran out of versions to tell. This time he's in an StA Guildhouse. It's a place where a lot of storytellers tell their stories and get paid a fixed amount of money. Although a place Auun usually loves, as he can bask in the spotlight of a more educated crowd and can converse with fellow storytellers, this time he looks glum and sits at a table in the corner while another storyteller is on the stage telling some story with musical support. Auun is clearly drunk and their head hurts. They think about how they haven't been in contact with the queen at all and that maybe it's all for nothing and they should give up and what if war is already upon them? Then he spots SOMEONE in the crowd. His eyes light up and he stands up, wobbling slightly and makes his way across the room. They greet the SOMEONE who turns out to be a SCAVENGER Auun knows well. They go back to Auun's table and he starts telling the informant about the elven prince and the sword. The informant actually has a clue for them and tells Auun to visit a certain tavern where someone who fits Kishay's description has been seen. The savenger also gives Auun a necklace for conacting them if he needs more info and promises to keep an eye out for more info on Kishay. Auun, drunk and happy to finally have a lead accepts the necklace without thinking twice.
We see Auun enter a RUN DOWN TAVERN in the middle of nowhere. It's a small human village near some woods with nothing but one narrow road passing it. Auun had never been there before but they were desperate and hoping that the clue the Informant gave them leads to finding Kishay because they're running out of time. He sits there, telling his story with fake enthusiasm and the entirety of the Tavern hangs on his lips. They don't usually get storytellers so this is a special event, especially because Auun is an elf and over the course of them arriving it seems like the entire village has gathered in the tavern. Someone makes a remark about Auun being an elf and that there had been someone just like them here a few days ago, joking that the village is becoming a hotspot for elves. The Innkeeper and a few of the regulars then talk about how a few days ago someone had come by who fit that description, but the person was only there once during a rain shower, didn't say anything or interact, just wordlessly sipped his mead and then left. He hadn't even paid but since he looked so scary the Innkeeper hadn't dared to say anything. They talk about a dangerous kind of aura that made everyone in the Tavern uncomfortable. Auun gets excited and the villagers can tell. He's pressing them about the whereabouts of that person but no one knows. Auun deflates and is ready to admit defeat to himself. It's the first time they'd failed at obtaining information and finding someone. Someone then mentions seeing Kishay leave in northwestern direction, away from the road.
Auun finds KISHAY in the WOODS of some uninhabited strip of land by what can only be called sheer luck. A storm had driven them into these woods to find shelter and they more or less stumble upon Kishay. Kishay gets ready to fight but Auun makes clear he just wants to talk. Kishay doesn't want to at first and retreats farther into the woods but Auun manages to pin him down. They offer him some food and Kishay reluctantly accepts. Auun starts telling Kishay why they're here. Kishay doesn't want to help Auun at first, but then they get attacked by someone who'd been following Auun since searching for clues 3 and who wants to steal Tilestras in order to sell it to the highest bidder. Auun and Kishay fight the attacker. After putting the attacker out of commission Kishay freaks out and demands Auun what he's really doing here. Auun realizes that there are probably a lot more people out for Kishay and or his sword and that they need to disappear. Kishay reluctantly agrees to go with Auun, because Auun promises Kishay to pay for food and a place to sleep and it's been decades since Kishay had slept with a roof over his head or eaten food that he didn't have to hunt down. However, he makes clear that that doesn't mean he'll fight for Drifeyer.