"Don't worry, I'll give you extra warning on any opportunities like that."

"That's a thoughtful apprentice."

"Always anticipating what you want?"

"It's the real key to advancing up the ladder around here, you know."

"And climbing is where my real talent lies."

"Right!" Sal claps her hands together. "So have fun, make friends, and come back alive!"

"At least two of those."

"Well, if you need to make compromises, you need to make compromises."

"I'll be intelligent about it."

She winks at Temoa.

"I've got other things needing my attention, so take some time to read the brief in full. I'll see you later."

And like a ghost, she's gone.

And Temoa reads through the file before heading off to requisition supplies. 

There's quite a bit of detailed information, geography, climate, personality assessments, force distributions, cross-references to cover identity themes that have worked in similar situations...

She has her work cut out for her even before she sets out, it seems. 

That's why she was given the phenomenal cosmic power of the Five Maidens.

And she's taking that phenomenal cosmic power - not to the South where the Sidereals are already active, nor to Kama where the baby Solar is. Not directly. 

She has a hunch, is all. 

The Caul has an ancient history- more ancient than some realize, perhaps. Temoa's hunch leads her into a piece of that history.

There is a certain mountain, close to the middle of the continent, which is carved into the shape of a face. The details have weathered and worn over the millennia, but the mouth is open, a doorway to a cave.

She moves cautiously - makes sure she has gear for whatever she may face - and she enters the cave. 

The path is broad and smooth. The stone is expertly carved, all impurities scraped away. At the back of the "throat", there are steps leading down. Beyond those, the walls of the tunnel begin to have inscriptions, Old Realm glyphs that illustrate a story at the same time as they tell it, though those stories may not be the same one.

Temoa is more than a little bit of a nerd, and she knows Old Realm.

Her steps slow as she reads the stories laid out. 

The story being told is a version of Creation's beginning, when the Primordials gathered together to fashion something enduring out of boundless chaos. It focuses on the interactions between Gaia, who gave the world its base substance, and many-faced Luna, who was tricked into safeguarding the fringes. By the time the tale gets to the rebellion of the Incarnae, it's clear that this is, above all else, a love story.

(The illustrations chart a pair of lovers dancing back and forth across a wild meadow, running up a hill and tumbling back down arm-in-arm, building a small cairn of stones to mark their presence.)

The broad strokes of the story are familiar, though this is... Different details than she's seen before. It's interesting. 

The stories Temoa has heard focus more on the tragedy, not the joy. 

Their parting at the end is noted, though it comes with a promise of return.

It's sweet, in its own way. 

She keeps moving.

The hallways, outside of the light that Temoa brought with her, are very dark. Full of shadows.

She comes to something like a control room or monitoring station. It's a rough semicircle, with the entrance on the curved side and the flat made up of a pane of thick glass fitted to the ceiling and floor without any obvious seams. Inert runes are lightly etched upon the surface, mystical diagrams tracing around- perhaps intended to highlight certain features beyond the window. It's hard to tell what those might have been, since the view through the glass is a yawning black void. There are several altars/diagnostic stations set throughout the room with various panels and buttons.

She moves slowly, taking in everything she sees (alert for dangers, for opportunities...), and her fingers itch for paper to record the runes and diagrams - but she needs to check the area at least somewhat first.