Mr. Tanner’s home turned out to be a very small cottage on the border between the lower and upper ring. From the outside it seemed like a rundown old place, however Elsie soon learned that the interior of the cottage was remarkably neat and tidy. It was furnished sparingly; a bed, a few bookshelves, a small table and a bathroom. But among the furnishings, hidden away behind all of his books, was a vault that had been chained to two heavy iron weights. Tanner explained that most thieves here didn’t think of knowledge as treasure, so they would never bother to search his shelves; but on the off chance that one did find the vault, they’d have a hard time carrying it away with all that extra weight.
Mr. Tanner made Elsie some tea, and they began to discuss this task that she was required to assist him in. Mr. Tanner was a romantic, you see, and like all young souls he had been grappled by the inescapable hands of love. He desired to earn this fair lady’s love in return and dreamed of spending the rest of his days with her, somewhere bright and beautiful in the upper ring. Much like how Tanner listened to them aboard the VS Rosanne 7, Elsie now quietly sipped away at her tea and listened as the young thief explained his story:
ns 172.70.43.130da2
