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~~((The 12 Pages of Christmas + Double Monday = Page 14 of 14))~~
Diego took the Kag from Jasirok in order to inspect it more closely. “So of course you can’t tell us what this key unlocks. You wouldn’t recognize the lock that it belongs to even if you saw it every single day for the last seven hundred years.”

“I...” Jasirok’s shoulders slumped a little, and he returned to his seat by the large mirror.

“Ah--I didn’t mean that as an insult,” said Diego. “It was just an observation. I wasn’t blaming you or anything.”

Still, the Hun’Sho man looked rather disheartened.

‘Nice going,’ said Yangéra privately.

‘Agh.’ Diego didn’t know what to say to him. ‘Could you help me out here?’

‘Uh, so this Ettol guy,’ said Yangéra publicly, ‘he wanted to know about the Sosho’Diyu, too, right? But do you know if he actually learned anything? Do you remember any of the specific questions that he was asking about it?’

Jasirok was quiet for a bit longer. “I... recall him asking about Guong Seyos quite a few times. He expressed an interest in meeting him.”

‘Oh, that’s right,’ she said, apparently trying to sound more optimistic, ‘you guys are all immortal, aren’t you? So if Seyos survived like you said, then he could still be alive! And if anyone knows where the treasure is, it would be him!’

“Indeed,” said Jasirok. “However, I do not know if Guong Seyos was a real person.”

“What?” said Diego.

“The elders appear to believe he was, and they lived through those events, so I do not wish to doubt them, but I have lived in Himmekel for my entire life, and I have never met anyone named Seyos, Guong or not.”

‘Hmm. Perhaps he changed his name.’

“If that is true, then I do not know how we will find him,” said Jasirok.

“We could ask one of your elders,” said Diego. “It sounds like they would know everything we need.”

Jasirok’s expression soured. “You will not find them cooperative. As I said before, I was ordered not to speak to you of this matter.”

“Maybe we can convince them. I can be pretty persuasive, when I want.”

The molten man shook his head. “You will fail. I assure you. Even Ettol could not sway them, as I recall, and they all seemed rather fond of him.”

Diego frowned.

“Additionally,” Jasirok continued, “when you do not succeed, the elders will know that someone spoke to you against their wishes. And they will likely realize that it was I, as they have heard me voice my dissent before.”

“Ah...”

The conversation all but died there. Jasirok was already looking defeated.

Diego couldn’t see a reason why the Hun’Sho would want to keep such a secret. But then, he still didn’t really understand the Hun’Sho themselves. Perhaps this was some sort of cultural thing. Pride or embarrassment, maybe.

Whatever it was, it was obnoxious.

‘C’mon, Diego,’ said Yangéra privately.

‘What?’

‘You’re weirdly good at figuring this sort of stuff out,’ she said. ‘Can’t you think of something?’

He actually could.

“...Who was the first person to go missing?” said Diego.

“Oh, that--”

Without warning, an enormous red-and-orange hand lunged out of the mirror on the wall. It grabbed Jasirok by the torso, yanked him out of his seat, and pulled him back through the mirror before Diego could so much as blink.

The mirror shattered, and Diego and Yangéra were left staring.