"... and so the epic battle came to an end. The last of the evil necromancer's foul creations lay in pieces on the floor of the underground chamber. With the all of the villains defeated, the brave crew of the Reef Runner was able to reclaim the Treasure of Rul from its resting place. The first step towards the rebirth of Mer had been taken."

Even before the last notes of the song had been played, the audience voiced its approval with applause and cheers. While the old rawun's previous stories had been interesting and exciting in their own way, this most recent offering was the best they'd heard. The tale of the Seventh Treasure had everything that an epic story should - danger, excitement, humor, battle, and of course, triumph. The gathered residents of Kinja enjoyed it so much that they wouldn't notice they had learned something of Mer's true history until much later.

The storyteller lifts her voice to the audience once more, but not in song. Instead, she simply speaks to them, once again using her simple magics to spread her voice to the far corners of the room. "My friends, I thank you for your kindness. I trust that such a reception is meant to honor those who these tales are about, and simply she who tells them." The old woman joins the crowd in a small laugh. "I thought so. I have been bending your ears for many an hour now. I am tired. Please, join me in some nourishment so that I might be able to continue these tales." With that, she lifts herself from her place on the stage, finds her legs and slowly walks from the common room. Behind her, the staff begins to move through the crowd, bringing food and drink.

The old rawun's meal is finished and pushed to the side. She is bent over her diaries, reviewing the events of decades past so that she might sing of them tonight. A sudden coughing spasm racks her frail body and occupies her entire being for a short time. Upon recovering, she looks up to see one of her grandchildren in the door to the room. "Are you alright, grandmother?" he asks.

She waves away his concern. "I'm fine, Dar. It's simply the temperature of the sea breezes this late at night. Please see to it that the rocks are nice and warm again, won't you?" The boy nods and leaves to see to the task, although the worry has not completely left his face. The elderly woman leans back in her chair and sends a quick prayer to Shanda. "Goddess, please don't let it be yet. I still have more tales which must be told." Receiving no omen one way or the other, the rawun takes this as a favorable sign and rises to her feet. She leaves her room and makes her back to the stage.

By the time she has returned to her place, the audience has had food and drink is content and ready to hear more of the tales. Although it is quite late, no one is tired. Not even the island's children, who do not disappoint the old bard with their expected flood of statements and questions.

"That's why there's no more pirates - 'cause Triangle killed 'em all!"
"They used the Treasure to destroy the Dark Water, right?"
"I don't care if he can fly, I still think the Korb's icky."
"How'd Yamalla turn the fish into a whale?"
"This is when they attacked Bloth, right?"
"When does Armondo defeat the Dark Disciples?"
"What'd they do next?"

"Slow down, younglings. The tide moves no faster for being yelled at. You shall have your answers in due time. But let me assure you, most of what you ask has not yet happened. The brave crew of the Reef Runner has only found the first of the remaining seven Treasures. They still had much sailing and adventure ahead of them. And pirates were still a very large problem, as you shall soon hear. But the most important part of my saga is indeed what they did next."

"What they did next was to sail onward, using the genie's map to discover the hiding place of the next Treasure of Rul. However, as they were to find out, none of the other artifacts would be as easy to recover as this first one had been. For you see, all of the other ancient pirate lairs were still occupied - in one way or another. But you shall hear of this soon enough. For now, rest assured that the heroes of these tales sailed forth from the Isle of Al-Sartan with the location of the next Treasure firmly in mind."

"Sit back and listen now to my words as I sing of the voyages of the Reef Runner and her crew..."