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The ruby tuning fork given to the PCs by the captain of the sunset ship in The Jackal's Price is never explained in The End of Eternity. I understand that's because of a lack of communication between the writers of different adventures, and can accept that. But here's a suggestion for how to use it:
In my campaign, all four elemental seeds still exist in Kakishon, and each is responsible for a persistent magical effect related to its element. The Earth Seed, as in the published adventure, is in the lair of Obherak's shaitan on Khandelwal, and it powers the flow of the sandrivers. The fire seed is in the Fireforege on Salenax, where it powers the perpetual eruption of the volcano. The Water Seed is in the lair of Khartosk the dragon turtle, described in the set piece, where it provides a constant flow of water to replace that which is lost in the cataract over the edges of Kakishon. The Air Seed is at the top of the tallest mountain on Aliskiren, where it causes an eternal blizzard that keeps the ice island cold.
The tuning fork, meanwhile, is a focus component that allows the spell plane shift to operate to and from Kakishon, crafted by Nex himself. This provides a way to escape from Kakishon independently of the proteans or Obherak. Before it can be used, however, it must be attuned to the four elemental seeds. Once attuned, it remains so for decades or even centuries, but it has been long since the Sunset Ship traded on the shores of Kakishon, and the tuning fork is now silent.
The PC who is carrying the tuning fork when the party first comes in close proximity to one of the elemental seeds (most likely at the Fireforge) will notice it begin to ring with a pure tone. When each additional seed is encountered, another note is added, and when all four seeds have been encountered, the fork exhibits a slowly pulsing glow.
To learn about the elemental seeds or the tuning fork as its powers, the PCs can use knowledge (arcana), or talk to several knowledgeable NPCs, including Artel Norrin, Dillix Mahad, Obherak, Venema Shodair, and Nalla. Of these, Venema Shodair and Nalla have the most complete knowledge; Artel knows about the fire seed, and may speculate that the ringing of the tuning fork has something to do with it. Obherak likewise knows about the earth seed. Dillix might know something about the other two seeds, and recognized the tuning fork as an artifact that was created by Nex. Any character capable of casting plane shift, including as a spell-like ability, intuitively knows that it can be used as a focus for that spell if they study it for at least a full round once it is attuned to all four seeds.
The locations of three of the seeds are detailed in the adventure and set piece. Venturing to the Air Seed on Aliskiren involves facing bitter cold, high winds, low visibility, and steep, potentially icy slopes. Use the environmental rules for these. In particular, note that flying is not really an option. The seed floats in the air above the peak of the mountain, which is also the nesting site of a thunderbird (Bestiary 2) which will attack the PCs if they come too close.
All four elemental seeds interfere with spells of the teleportation subschool, as described for the fireforge in the adventure. This preserves the difficulty of the environmental hazards on the way to each, and conveniently prevents the use of scry-and-fry on Obherak while he is in his lair.
If folks are interested, I might give this a more thorough write-up.
Hope it is not kept in a bag of holding :)
It has negligible weight and volume, so there's no need to... however, some players/parties put everything they don't need to equip into bags of holding, and for them, the tuning fork would continue to be a mystery, unless they are smart enough to show it to Venema Shodair or Nalla (because they would recognize it) or Artel Norrin (because he's near an elemental seed) to ask about it. In the Director's cut, showing it to Dillix Mahad or researching it in the library at the pleasure palace would also work.