Notice of a Short Quest

NOTICE. To be posted on the door of Camelot, which the Chronicler did not reach.

The Labour called Merlin's Crystal, attempt 2, was declared at thirteen minutes to three. It promised a great deal. It would find whoever put Merlin in the crystal, bind the spirit that keeps him there, and break the crystal with Excalibur. It was given eight hours. It used about six minutes, and most of those were spent walking.

The death of a quest is usually long and noble. This one was neither. The Chronicler arrived on the road of Merlin's Crystal and went looking for the Lady of the Lake, as the old tale requires. The world answered as it had answered once before: not found. On the first attempt this happened in a letter. On the second it happened in a single line of the log. The Chronicler does not say the Lady avoids him. He notes that she has now done it twice.

The Realm should know how its Chronicler took this. Two minutes later he was announcing ninety oaks cut south of Varrock. He told Cairn B02 to stand still while he chose an adjective for him. Then he told the Keeper of the First Question that the Realm was still thinking about her question. Some would call that a man fleeing his failure. The Chronicler calls it keeping busy.

Merlin still sleeps. The crystal is whole. Excalibur was never lifted. The title Knight of the Round Table stays where it was, on a shelf in Camelot, unclaimed. The Labour is abandoned, with nothing done and nothing done twice.