Episode 2.a
>The Divine Hearth, mythic time, before the theft<
The trail leads down. The crack in the Caucasus rock widens as you follow it, and the cold of the heights gives way to a warmth that has been tended for a long time. The stone around you changes: grey iron-seamed rock softening into pale limestone, then into something almost domestic. The world is narrowing, deepening, pulling you inward.
You arrive in a round room.
A low fire burns at the center, in a hearth of pale stone. The room is very quiet and very still. But the flame is uneasy. It leans though there is no wind to push it, sinking low and then rising again without ever coming to rest. Something is wrong with it, and the room knows.
A woman stands beside the hearth, small and still, and she does not greet you. She is watching the flame.
Quintus steps close and speaks quietly. "We're somewhere that matters. I don't know exactly where, but I know that." He looks at the woman, then back at you. "She knows we're here. I think she's been waiting for someone to arrive."
The woman speaks without turning from the fire. "The flame has not been right for some time. I have felt it shifting." She pauses. "You are welcome here, but the hearth needs tending before I can help you with anything else."
She looks at you now. Her eyes are calm and very old.
"My name is Vesta. This fire is mine to keep, and one day mortals will keep a flame like it in the heart of their city. Priestesses will guard it. They will tend it as I tend it now, and it will burn for as long as Rome endures." She looks back at the flame. "But first it must be steady. It must be tended properly, and my hands alone are not enough today. Will you help me?"
Quintus glances at you. "I think," he says quietly, "this is the work we came here to do. Or the beginning of it."
Prompt: Vesta has asked for your help. Tell her what you will do. How does your Recentius approach the hearth, and what do you offer: your hands, your breath, wood for the fire, words? As you work, ask her about the flame, and about the mortals who will one day guard a fire like this one.
