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Over the winter; Jon learns how to read better and studies the pages. Elly, who is letting him stay with her, gets closer to Jon as well. Her interest in him that led to her following him eventually lead to more- though Jon is too focused on his current problems to really reciprocate his feeling. She knows he'll come around soon.
<span class="mu-b">”Thank you for letting me stay here Elly. It means a lot to me to have a person I can trust to stash my gold and valuables to pay off my debt.”</span>
“You still never told me who exactly you owe this debt too. There's no way they'd chase you to this tiny village, right? Blackwater is so far away!”
<span class="mu-b">”Ehh, I don't want to bother you with it. Maybe another time.”</span>
“...Well, did you figure out those pages yet, Jon?”
<span class="mu-b">”I can read them, yes, it's just the word choices and language. It's very old and archaic- and it just uses big words. A lot of it just seems like nonsense- like listen to this bit- “...And so Eno begat the one named Apsu, who layeth in the waters beneath the earth, and so from him do all creeping things come. And the one named Abazuzu came to rest beneath the food of this mountain, who only came when the world was no longer under the gaze of the North and South stars. And the one named Abazuzu fears no weapon, except the point that lays in the fire that never stops burning, and the one named Abazuzu can rend through any armor, except-” And then it cuts off there, because we don't have all the pages. And no, sadly, no spells.”</span>
“...Well, instead of being cooped up in here all day, why not come outside with me? I hear the first wildflowers are going to bloom soon. The first person in the village to see one is said to be lucky for the rest of the year.”
<span class="mu-b">”...Ok. Sure.”</span>
In the meantime, Richard has not been hoard his wealth. Spreading it around the village, a sense of prosperity has overcome the people. At the same time, Richard's newfound charity and his position as an inheritor of the oldest family in the village means people are beginning to look up to him. The villagers take Richard to a secret place nearby the village and give him the chance to lead the secret procession around the mountain- carrying a symbol of warding. It is a great honor- and the experience of walking around the mountain in the deepest part of the night while it wails, pacing the very path that will keep that curse trapped within, has given Richard a certain <span class="mu-i">spiritual authority</span>.
