The chamber soon filled with brief flashes of light and frustrated calls of, "It's time to shine!" But eventually there was the sound of ancient stone moving for the first time in a thousand years. Wiping her brow, Hestia gave the now gleaming edges of the doors a stern, triumphant glare before marching through.
The next area was huge, possibly the largest so far. At first, she was a little daunted at the idea of lighting the whole place. It'd take up the rest of her day and then she'd only have one left! But finding that water source was probably the most important thing she could do on this trip. No longer needing to bring her own would free her up to stockpile more food and other supplies for these trips, and she could get so much more done on the surface.
The situation was one for both resignation and determination, and it was Hestia's nature to fix herself firmly in the latter mindset. She was going to light the hell out of this place! Gearing herself up, she focused on the nearest torch, feeling the air flow for just the right spot, and crisply snapped her fingers.
And froze as a large section of the area gained a dim glow of light. A much larger section than a single torch merited. Scrunching her face in consternation, Hestia spent awhile inspecting the nearby area before determining the cause.
It seemed that some of the marble surfaces here, particularly on the walls and ceiling, had been polished to such a shine that they were practically mirrors. Even with a layer of dust on them, they were able to reflect a bit of light. Once she cleaned off a few of them, the effect was greatly increased. It didn't take long for the area to brighten to something almost resembling a sort of daytime light.
Or a modern mall on Earth, Hestia mused to herself, because this had undeniably been a marketplace once. Raggedy banners, tents, and canopies in all sorts of colors gave the place a more festive look than any she'd seen so far. There were stalls everywhere and permanent shop fronts along the walls. Most wares were damaged but not all, and some might only need some careful piecing to be something whole again. It was, more than anything, overwhelming.
Even the ruins on the surface didn't fill her with this immense sense of loss. Of things that she needed....wanted to fix, and make whole again. Of a world to regain. A sense of life still echoed here, even a thousand years later, she could practically...
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Scrunching her face, the little Initiate leaned away from the nearby hawker's cry. Then scowled further at the laughter in her ear.
"Brighten up," the boy chuckled and rubbed his head. His hair was just as shaved as her own, but it looked normal on him instead of weird and egg-like...
The girl glanced away from her reflection in the mirror marble.
"You don't have places like this on Quarry, do you? We have some on Farm but, just small markets on festival days. Nothing like this." The boy kept smiling and gesturing with such sincere excitement as they wandered from stall to stall, that the sullen girl next to him was soon infected.
There wasn't anything like this on Quarry, one of the small resource asteroids that followed alongside the temple world of Hestia. Maybe this was why people were so excited to leave home and stay here as Initiates until they were sent back, or, very rarely, allowed to stay and become Keepers. Maybe this was why her parents were so wistful when they sent her off, rather than sad that she'd be gone.
She still felt a bit of a grudge thinking about that. Maybe she'd get herself something nice here, and not get them anything at all. Inspecting a colorful glass container that had some sort of fire? Light? Bug bobbing inside and barely listening to the offworld trader explain the matter of friendship, not ownership with the creature, the girl didn't bother to hide her smile. Not even getting irritated by the passing Initiate splashing her shoes with a bucket of water from the nearby well...
The nearby well.
Peering over the side, Hestia didn't see any sort bottom, and when she tossed down a piece of rubble, there was a long silence and then...
Splash.
