It’s impossible. When Joshua said the writing on the map was gibberish, he was being generous. No matter which way I look at the cube-like symbols sprawled across the yellow tinted paper, I can’t even begin to make sense of it. 

Captain Swift sits at the table in our room, eyes glimmering with expectations I can’t possibly meet. I lift the paper up to break eye contact with him, but the wall of indecipherable symbols hurts to look at just as much.

It would be so much easier if I could just put the paper down and walk away, but both Vio and Captain Swift are counting on me. The only reason I’m on this ship in the first place is so I can help them find the treasure that this map should talk about, so if I can’t even do that, I’m useless. 

Unfortunately, I’m completely stumped, but one of my aer might know something. As much as I’d like to ask Winry, she’s been silent ever since she temporarily took over my body. Eren usually isn’t very knowledgeable about anything that doesn’t involve sleeping, and Wallace tends to confuse me more than help whenever I ask him. That only leaves Flandre.

My fingers find their way to his crystal and with a jolt, my mind connects to his. “I need help. Do you know what this says?”

He responds with silence.

“Flandre? Can you not read it either?”

“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to see the Aerian language today.”

My eyes narrow. “You and I both know aer can’t write. Please, I need you to be serious here.”

“I am being serious!” he shouts in my mind. “This is the language we used to communicate back before you humans came around and we had to learn your language instead.”

 “But, how? Aer can’t write.”

“A strong enough aer can manifest a physical form. It may not happen anymore, but it used to be normal. Over time, our homes, the crystals, have been lost, destroyed, or broken purposely, like mine.”

“Like yours? What—”

“I’d rather not talk about it, so how about we talk about this letter in front of you instead? It’s been a few centuries since I’ve had to read Aerian, so bear with me.”

First Winry took control of my body, and now Flandre tells me that his crystal was broken for some reason. Even though they’re centuries old, it never occurred to me that they led lives before meeting me. That means there’s so much I don’t know about them. If only I had the time to learn.

I nod to signal to Flandre that I’m ready for him to begin.

“If you’re reading this, it means he won, and this device may be the only way to defeat him. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, turn back now. It’s not worth it. If you do, may the Goddesses bless you. I’ve hidden it away, deep in a secret basement of my atelier. To get in, you’ll need two keys. One is buried in a cave in the Barren Mountains. Befriend the Master of the Mountains and it will lead you to it. I entrusted the other to my dear friend, the chief of Chi’lin. Show her this letter and she will understand. Once you’ve collected the keys, you will have to face one last trial. All I can say is good luck, and I hope you are able to do what I was not. Sincerely,” He pauses for a moment. “Reimel Strauss''

A chill runs down my spine. “The academy’s founder wrote this? What’s going on?”

“I can’t believe it. That idiot really went and lost after all his talk.”

“Flandre? You know Reimel?”

“He…” Flandre falls silent for a moment. “He was an old acquaintance.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me you knew the founder?”

“You never asked.”

“Th-that’s true. But still—”

“Uh, not to be rude or anything, but you’ve been staring at the letter for a while now.” Captain Swift stands and walks over to my bed. “Can you read it or not?”

I sit up as far as I can in bed. “S-sorry. Hold on.” I sever my connection to Flandre and recount what he told me as best I can. 

“This doesn’t sound like treasure to me anymore,” Vio says from her bed. “Maybe we should listen to the warnings.”

Captain Swift shakes his head. “You’re thinking about it all wrong. If whatever device the guy is talking about is wanted by The Third, then it must be worth a lot. We can sell that and make it big time.”

“And who exactly is going to buy this crazy device from us? The Third?” She scratches her head. “I don’t think it’s worth it anymore. I’m not willing to put Aliyah in danger for something like that.”

The captain chuckles. “Isn’t it a bit late for that? She’s already raised her hands against The Third, and it’s not like they’ll leave us alone even if we hand the letter over to them.”

She grimaces. “That’s… dang it.”

His gaze wanders to me. “You’re awfully quiet for someone who’s involved in this. What do you think?”

“I…” Unprepared to talk, I freeze for a moment. “I promised to help you find whatever this paper led to, so I’ll do exactly that.”

“That’s not good enough, Miss Krehn,” he says, shaking his head. “I want your opinion. Do you want to give up and hope The Third changes their mind about us, or do you want to find this power?”

I glance at Vio, hoping she’ll answer for me.

“Come on,” the captain says. “Don’t think about it. I want the first thing that comes to mind.”

“I want to find the device.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to learn more about Reimel. If I do that, I might be able to learn more about my aer.”

My own words surprise me. A few weeks ago, if the captain asked me to speak my mind, I would have frozen and said nothing. And even though I know it’s pointless to get to know my aer better with how much time I have left, I’m surprised that I still want to. I wonder what Leorio would think if he could see me now.

“Well, you heard her, Vio. It’s decided.” Captain Swift takes the letter from me and walks to the door. “To the Barren Mountains we go.”