Elder Tharah guides you to a beautiful room filled with sprites. Even with the ground rumbling from time to time, the sprites were in rapid motion, nervous like the ones you saw at Lake Vera before the quake but now aren't moving as fast. Tharah's presence seems to soothe them.

She motions you to remain quiet as she falls, crosses her legs and lowers herself into a sitting position. She hums and rocks until she falls into a deep trance. You feel awkward and are unsure of what to do.  Should you look at her while she had her eyes closed or should you look away,  you felt as though you shouldn't speak and break the peaceful silence of the room even though many very funny comments about the situation were flashing though your mind and you were dying to share them with Talik and have a good laugh. Then you were thinking how hard it is not to laugh when you are supposed to be quiet, like at temple or when your teachers are talking about something serious and your friend does something ridiculous like blows up their cheeks and crosses their eyes and you are forced to let out a humph of laughter. As you think all this you smile and let slip out a little stifled giggle and Haden suddenly turns to you and signals to you silently, with a scruched up face and beady eyes, that you are making a scene and then it was really hard to not laugh. Thankfully Alster saw all this and kicked you hard in the shins which took away any of the comic value of the moment and returned you to an awkward silence not knowing where to look. After a short while, Elder Tharah opens her eyes, clapping her hands happily three times which echoed in the domed chamber, crack, crack, crack as loud as a breaking branch. Then she slowly raises her hand and points at the crystals in the circle around you. You and Haden move closer, trying to see what she sees.

"They're glowing," you say, surprised. Soft light filled the centre of the crystals at first and then slowly became brighter until they were almost too hard to look at. The room became as well lit as an open field on a clear summer's day. 

Tharah turned to Alster, who we could all now tell was her favourite, probably because he is Eldonian and treated her like royalty. You don't want people to take that the wrong way but in Karaz, you change your leaders every 2 years and then they return to their former role whether it be for groundskeeper of the statue of Ky or fishmonger so in daily conversation with townspeople you are quite likely to be talking to a former supreme councillor or council member and not even know it. What you were saying is respect for leadership is different in Karaz. Regardless Alster was her favourite and her royal highness addressed him, (ok, maybe you were a little jealous of her wisdom and respect at such a young age, maybe). 

"When you mentioned the sprites helped you, I had to meet with them," Tharah explains. "Crystals are like an energy vessel. They fill up when there's lots of good energy in the ether, like the tree you grew, and all the plants that are blooming and growing around the island. Something has sent the energy in them to overflow and something big is about to happen."

There's a knowing look in her eyes. 

"Perhaps she's more knowledgeable about the entire system than she is letting  on to us." You think to your self but realise you say it loud enough for Haden to hear. "Evidently here in Verdalia, it's not age that makes an elder, but their, what is it? Bonds with the sprites? Connection to the energy in the ether?"

Haden steps forward. "I'm sorry I was so rude earlier. I judged you too quickly." 

Alster was so embarrassed by both of us and Talik was smart enough to be silent and stay out of the whole thing. Talik is so smart sometimes. 

Tharah smiles. "It's all right, a great man once said, 'Where there is love, nothing is too much trouble and there is always time.' I'd like to show you something else now, if that's okay. I think you'll be interested in what's underneath Vera temple."

Explain what the crystals are like when you compare them to things in the modern world. 

Next: E2Q1 The Root of the Problem