Sonder followed.
The barrow sloped down into the earth, its passage narrowing and winding, the ceiling pressed low so that even she had to bow her head.
Roots dangled thick from the soil overhead, brushing her shoulders as she walked.
It was hard to see, and she stumbled a few times, but she didn't think lighting a flame would be a good idea, so she kept moving through the dark.
Then the tunnel opened into a chamber, much wider than Sonder expected.
It was evident that the creature had been busy in the past.
More chairs, tables, wooden beams, and cabinets, all carried from the House of Lustre, had been placed here.
A line of broken chairs suggested to Sonder that this was supposed to be a dining hall.
It was as if the creature had tried to rebuild the house, piece by piece, deep beneath the earth.
The creature drifted onward, and she trailed after.
In the next chamber, she saw that tiny shapes stirred in the dark.
They were like the creature, but smaller. Much smaller. Wisps barely able to hold shape, no more than faint knots of shifting dark. They slipped across the floor and up the walls.
One of them paused near her ball of darkness, wavering, then pulled back as though shy.
Her heart ached unexpectedly. Family, she thought. Or children. The creature, whatever it was, was not alone.
The larger one turned its head once, glancing at the smaller shadows, before moving deeper still.
The final chamber lay beyond, its entrance marked by two great stones leaning together in the earth.
When she entered, she almost gasped.
The creature had gathered all that glittered here. Piles of cracked silver platters, dented goblets, rusted swords and daggers. Rings and chains of tarnished gold. Shards of glass and bits of polished mirror.
Every piece that had once caught light in the House of Lustre was now hoarded here in the dark.
She had expected something like this, but not as much as there was here.
She dropped to her knees and began sifting through the heap.
She struggled to find the tears in the dark.
Goblets, trinkets, blades—she cast them aside, searching.
Behind her, the creature moved. Its shifting form drifted closer to the mound. One uneven limb stretched into the hoard and withdrew with surprising care. When it turned back, it held a short sword.
The weapon itself was plain with a smooth hilt, but the blade shone as though light had been trapped inside the steel.
Its surface flared with a blinding pulse, enough to force Sonder to squint.
The creature extended it toward her.
For a moment she hesitated, unsure what to do.
Maybe the creature misunderstood her, and instead of trying to help her find the small artifacts of power—the tears—it thought she wanted the thing that gave off the most light.
But no matter. She took it.
Her own sword had been lost in the ruins of the Irath palace, and the emptiness at her belt had weighed on her more than she realized. Better to have one instead of none.
She reached out and took the blade. The light steadied at her touch, dimming to a manageable glow, as if the weapon had been waiting for a hand to claim it.
"Thank you," she said, even if the creature didn't understand. "But this is not what I am looking for."
With the sword at her side, she pressed deeper into the mound of treasure.
The dark creature wobbled, though not with hostility. Not like it thought Sonder a thief, but more with curiosity. It was trying to understand, as if it was puzzling over what the girl would want if not the sword of light.
Sonder pushed aside chains, pried open a dented chest, shifted aside handfuls of dulled coins.
Her fingers brushed against something colder, smoother than metal.
She drew back her hand, and there it was.
Spheres, larger than she expected.
She took one into her hand, and its surface was clear, pearly white.
She could feel its power, and the air around it stirred faintly.
The tears of the goddess.