Swamped

Now that you think about it, Mantis mentioned issat once or twice. Maybe sharing your knowledge will lead to some insight.

"I've heard of issat, actually. The person who told me about it said it wasn't quite the same thing as an aura, more like a shadow of it."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" the priest asks. He seems annoyed. And in fairness, you never fully grasped the concept yourself, so you're not that confident in your explanation. So you focus on the part that you did understand.

"I was told that only living beings have auras. But when someone thinks an inanimate object is important, they leave traces of their issat on it."

"I think I read something about that, yes. So what's your point? I don't know how to see them, and unless you've got something important to this person you're looking for it wouldn't matter anyways..."

"As a matter of fact, I do," you reply.

The Marshguards come to the swamp to escape their pasts. But few can bear to leave it behind entirely. Nearly everyone has a keepsake, something that reminds them of their old life.

Your whole conversation with Mantis started when he observed that most of the Marshguards carry those keepsakes on their person, despite the risk. Only a few feel secure enough to keep it in their quarters.

And Corvus gave his to you. Oh, he said he never wanted to see it again, and it made him so sick he couldn't even stand to throw it away so that was why he was handing it off, but his eyes told you everything you needed to know about what he really wanted.

"I still don't know how to see the issat," the priest grumbles.

"Well. Humor me for a moment and look at this, would you? Perhaps you'll understand once you do."

"I doubt it, but I suppose there's no harm in trying," he sighs.

You reach into your pouch and pull out Corvus' keepsake.