Lilith sat back, reorganizing her questions. “Did he mention any path he was going to take to get there?” She asked again.

“Did he?” Bram mumbled his question quietly to himself as he thought back to any conversations he had. “I doubt he had anything planned or at least he never mentioned- well, no. That’s wrong.” Bram grumbled, going through his memory the best he could. “Rula!” Bram yelled out. “Do you have a map!?”

“A map!?” A voice yelled back, a familiar one from the night before. 

“Do ya have one!?”

There was no response, but after a moment of silence, Rula appeared. “You mean one of these?” She tossed Bram a map, who then unfurled it onto the table.

“Perfect,” Bram responded.

Lilith watched the back and forth, and when Bram showed her the map, her eyes widened in disbelief. “I have never seen a map like this,” she muttered.

“That’s because it’s only for dwarven eyes and now yours, so you better keep quiet.”

It was hard to tell how serious Bram was. It came off as a threat, but the tone of his voice did not differ from usual. “I don’t plan to,” Lilith said.

“When I was a young chap, the previous king had a fascination in understanding what was beyond our mountain. So, during his reign, he sent out groups often to scout the north. Sometimes going through the tunnels and sometimes from the front door, they mapped out a decent amount around our mountains and one spot I mentioned to him was this one.” Bram pointed to a green dot on the map.

“What’s there?” Lilith asked.

“Elven ruins.”

“Elven ruins?” Lilith repeated his words. “How?”

“What, did you think the north was always like that?” Bram asked with a hint of disbelief. “The current elves are only a shadow of what they used to be. All they do now is hide away in their little forest and never come out.” Bram spat the words out as if he had an unpleasant taste left from a meal. “If you want to know more, you’ll have to go ask them yourself or visit their ruins. Although we dwarves don’t care for their books, I do know there are a ton of them in those ruins.”

“If that is true, then there’s a natural barrier, but would it be strong enough for what the north is currently?” Lilith asked. She struggled to fully understand the limits of these barriers even when humans used the ones around their Inns and cities which were from elves of the past as well.

“They should be fine. Plus, the north isn’t as scary as it used to be. Trust me, I’ve seen it.”

“Really?” Lilith asked, without realizing it. What Bram said contraindicated what she had been told up to now. Something that kept happening ever since arriving here.

“I’m sure there are still dangerous things out there, but there are far less of them than before.”

"That is... amazing information," Lilith said, jotting down the information, then refocusing her attention back on the map. If what Bram said was true, then the location was probably safe. It helped that it was so close to the mountains as well, so she doubted the dwarves would let anything too worrisome to hover around.

“I would suggest going there first. He said he would leave a trail expecting someone like you, so if it ended up not being safe, then I’m sure he would lead you to somewhere else.”

“A trail! Perfect.” Lilith looked at the map in front of her. Although it may not cover the whole of the north, it was way more detailed than any other map she had seen. It was strange to her that the dwarves never tried to sell something like this or release it into the world. There was never a mention of it before. It may not show everything, but it was far more than what she knew of and could assume most people knew of. An amazing start, if anything else.

“Do you think I can get one of these maps?” Lilith asked. 

Bram looked at Lilith, studied her, then rolled up the map and handed it over. “Remember, don’t show anyone else.”

“Thank you,” she said, honestly surprised he gave it to her so willingly and so quickly. It was a shot in the dark and she didn’t think he would say yes, but having the map will help tremendously going forward.

“When do you plan to leave?” Bram asked.

“In a week at most. I’ve had everything prepared that I need, but I should probably double check and get anything I am missing.” Finishing up her notes, she looked them over, and after confirming everything was in line with what Bram told her, she closed it and tossed it back into the void.

Bram stood up, grabbed his hammer that rested behind him and left, saying, “Best of luck to ye then.”

“Oh, one last question!” Lilith yelled out to Bram.

“What is it?” Bram yelled back, stopping at the door.

“Did you find out his name?”

“Name?” Bram asked. “Ah, if I recall…. It was Arthur."