Pantaleon - Light to the Darkness

Arrival.  I found myself on a small balcony in what appeared to be D’ni.  The walls of the building were lit by the orange glow of the cavern water below.  I noted a linking book in the corner.  The pellet rest on some sort of scanner which activated.  A blue light tested the pellet and then dropped it into the water below.  A glow; at first dim, grew and grew until the room was lit with a brilliant light.  The light faded and the orange glow of the cavern water returned to normal.  I returned to Ae'gura and to my relief found Laroon where he said he would be.

I excitedly told Laroon what had happened.  He nodded and asked "So, what do you think it's for?"

"It produced a light,"  I said considering the implications.  After sometime Laroon explained to me that the characteristic light of the cavern was the result of a particular algae that lived in the water.  That made sense to me as I had noticed how the light seemed to cycle between light and dark phases.  This was the result of the circadian rhythm of the lake algae, which in turn dictated the cycle of the cavern time.  The pellets were a mechanism to keep the algae alive.

"Apparently some explorers spend a considerable amount of time baking pellets to keep the cavern lit."

It made sense.  "Wait.  I thought you said you had never been to Er'cana."

"I never had a reason to go before, but it didn't take me long to connect what I was seeing there with what I had heard from other explorers."  He opened his KI and moments later my KI flashed.  It was a KI mail from Laroon titled Pellet Recipes.  I was glad to have someone as knowledgeable about the cavern helping me figure things out.  I thanked him thusly and we headed back to Takotah II.

Laroon was rummaging through the apartment for food and opened the dresser when it fell. A backpack ensemble came crashing down it must have been placed on the top of the dresser out of sight. Laroon groaned in pain.

"Are you okay there Laroon?" I inquired.

"Been better but thankfully its not too heavy. Whoa, this backpack is cool! I could really use this while going through the ages." Laroon said.

"But it matches my eyes, Laroon." I said jokingly. "Not to mention it would be a great place to store the journals to keep them when we need them."

"Bah! You can have it then." Laroon said sadly.

"Thanks, I promise the next thing we find you can have." I said trying to cheer up Laroon.