At one point in time, there was a treasure.

It was a massive, shiny, amazing treasure - a treasure to end all treasures. All treasures would see this treasure and be totally jealous, in fact. But this story is not about emphasizing the glory of the mighty treasure of lost empires, but to examine the journey that was involved in finding it, centered around a group of four individuals shoved together by some cruel fate.

Whilst out adventuring on their way back to the capital, the four were stopped in a road by an old man who lay dying. This man left them his gold-tipped cane, three cans of beans, and a treasure map. West, being the greedy little thief that he was, chipped off the cane's tip while the other three mulled over a map. He couldn't read the funny symbols on it anyway, so what was the point? He feigned paying attention as he pocketed the gold.

"Now, he was a tad hard to understand through all of the coughing, but I think he mentioned he was searching for a treasure, but never managed to find it. Think this map could help?" Tsane traced his finger over the myriad of scribbled and erased pathways across the map. It was clear that this old man had been at it for a long time and never actually succeeded at getting anywhere.

Frankly, West thought the whole idea was stupid once he noticed the tangled lines on the parchment. If that man started looking when he was young and died without making progress, what the hell kind of chance did they have?

But still, money was money, and they'd make a hell of a lot of it if they managed to find it. Also the old man had one brain, and this group had four. And magic. And swords!

That guy had a cane without a tip.

Oh god damn it, they were at it again.

The one thing he hated more than the girls themselves was their constant bickering every chance they got. One would make some kind of comment, and the other would have to sneer back with some sarcastic remark, and it went on from there. He'd love to shove his sword through their faces... well, if it didn't mean adding onto his curse he would.

Instead, he opted to groan loudly and rub at his forehead as if soothing a brewing headache. "Will you two just shut the fuck up? As helpful as your arguing is-- oh wait, that's right. It isn't."

And Tsane, poor Tsane! His face softened into a deep frown as silence fell over the group, him now glancing back and forth between the three.

"... So, Draconian." Tsane started, "can you read it?" If she recognized it, he reasoned, chances were high she could!

"Oh, right. Because he'll definitely be using it now." West replied with a roll of his eyes. What a bitch, she always had to act like she knew everything. He gave them that cane, he could do what he wanted with it! "And unless you expect one of us to be crippled sometime soon, I don't see us using it either. Get over yourself."

"I honestly haven't seen you do a useful thing in a long time." Useless with a sword, shrieks when she sees a snake or worm. Best she would do was make a lantern. At least Ai was capable of decent conversation when she wanted to be. Ismene? She just yelled. And complained. And criticized.

... Well, Ai was like that too. Damn, are all people from her country utterly intolerable?

Tsane forced himself to look away and focus on the task at hand. "So if it is Draconian, we need to find someone that knows for sure." Meaning either an intelligent scholar, or a dragon.

... the scholar was probably a better, safer bet.

"In case you haven't noticed, your sister is a (somewhat) capable adult and you being here is a bother and unneeded." One of them was bad enough! And two was starting to really piss him the fuck off.

"Okay, uh. Kids? Let's just head off. We have something else to do and this isn't... getting anywhere." Tsane tried to add in. Either way, Ai was already heading off, and where half the group went, the others would surely follow.