The sun was high in the sky when the Eramir family put their heads together again. But despite the combined sum of their codebreaking, the riddle proved to be too twisted of a python to untangle. They needed a cipher, some sort of reference to which they could compare.

But where in the world could they obtain one?

“Why don’t you try the Library?” his mother suggested. “Not our local library a couple of blocks over, but the Grand Library of Ascension?”

“The Grand Library?”

“Only the most distinguished librarians across our republic can ask to walk its halls as a bibliothecarius. There’s a saying that each is a walking encyclopedia in their field of expertise. Won’t they be able to help us with the riddle?”

Elwin could count on his mother to make the call whenever he couldn’t make headway himself. He was still a boy, after all. A part of him was enormously relieved, because he was still reeling from the weight of the revelation the night before. But another part of him was frightened beyond belief, because going to the Grand Library would be his first time venturing beyond his familiar neighborhood. Six years ago, when his father was still with him, Elwin felt like he could take on the world. But now – buffeted, jostled, and pushed around by a world that did not want him – he felt home was the only place which was safe. The son of an explorer now feared to explore.

Worse still was that Elwin was aware of this change, and it was not something he could so easily hurl off. Without knowing, he began to fidget and tremble. Anna, sensing her son’s heartbeat through the table, put her hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright. You don’t have to rush. All of us can go together.”

“No, I’m going alone,” insisted Elwin, hoping his words would overpower the squall within him. “What if someone breaks into our house when all of us are gone? That won’t do,” he reasoned. But he knew that this wasn’t the actual reason; he knew that he had to go alone, or he’d always be stuck here, and as frightening as it was to venture out beyond his comfort for the first time, he had to do it. He had to prove to himself that he could, and throw off the chains with which the world had bound him. Otherwise, he couldn’t look at his father on the Elysian Shores out of shame. It was all too obvious what Elwin was thinking.

“Elwin,” Anna continued, stooping down to see him eye-to-eye, “I understand. It’s alright. But whatever you do, don’t punish yourself for not being the way you are supposed to be.”

She placed her finger to Elwin’s heart. It was drumming like that of a hummingbird.

“I know your father gave you a mission. But above all, he said that it is your time now. When you go out there, know that you are you – don’t feel that you must be just as great as your father, or despise yourself because you cannot be. Rather, think of it as a chance to find yourself anew, okay?”

Slowly and gently, her son’s heart began to beat more serenely. There was a newfound, rhythmic assurance in each beat.

“Okay.” Elwin replied, raising his head once again. He normally didn’t let things get to his mind, so there was no need for this to get in his mind, too. But unfortunately, he wasn’t ready to come to terms with who he was just yet.

***

“So, you’re Oliver Clarke,” said Andre, pointing to his brother.

“And you’re Alex?” asked Elwin.

“Yeah.”

“But why, though?”

“What did you think? Were you really going to introduce yourself to the Grand Bibliothecarius with ‘Hullo, I am Elwin Eramir, notice me and recognize that I am totally the son of Carl Eramir and so I know everything about the secret stuff that he didn’t tell the public, it’d be a shame if no pairs of eyes ever fell on me in curiosity!’?”

Andre delivered his reasoning with an intense impromptu of comedic gestures.

“Oh!” Elwin laughed. Andre was indeed right! He’d need a sort of plan or protocol, including a name he could naturally give to people to avoid raising suspicion.

“Where did you even come up with these names?”

“From an inspiring story I’ve read. It’s pretty good, right?”

“In what sense?”

“In that it’s like, common but not too common so that people think we’re using a made-up name.”

“Huh, but why ‘Clarke’? You mentioned there was an ‘e’ at the end of it, too,” asked Elwin.

“Sounds classy.”

“Does it?”

“I think so.”

It was clear that Andre was fervently involved in the name-making process long before Elwin had actually thought of the idea. Now seemed like a good opportunity to use it.

“Okay, I’m fine with ‘Oliver.’ Doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as Elwin, though. It’s totally different.”

“I know, but to keep us safe, I think it’s good.”

“Wait, Andre, you don’t mean to go to school and then introduce yourself as ‘Alex’ all of a sudden, right?”

“Of course not! Why would I do that? It’s only for people who haven’t met us so far. So school’s out.”

His little brother really did think this through. Elwin was quite impressed.

“But what about mom?” he asked.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Andre replied, grinning with mysterious energy. “Oh yes, I’ve thought of that already.”

“She will be ‘Mary Clarke’!”

“Huh?”

“Mary! It’s a good name.”

“Hmm,” Elwin pondered. It sounded inconspicuous enough, but wondered whether his mother would actually use it when time came. Hopefully she didn’t have to.

“I’m going to let mom know about our new names,” said Andre, dashing out into the corridor and into the kitchen.

“Hey, wait!” shouted Elwin.

“Mom, mom, I came up with our made-up names!”

“Made-up names?” asked Anna.

“Yeah, for when we need to be extra careful about revealing who we are!”

Her sons were trying to come up with a way to keep them safe. How much they’ve grown! But...

“Okay, what is your made-up name, Andre?”

“It’s Alex. Alex Clarke.”

“I see, Mr. Alex,” said Anna, gently pinching Andre’s cheek.

“What about you, Elwin?”

“Andre decided that I should be ‘Oliver.’ I think it’s good enough.”

Anna took a good, long look at her two sons. To her, both of them were still so precious and adorable as the day they were born. In a corner of her mind, she wished that they’d keep being their innocent selves, just as any mother does. But the fact that her two sons – still in the midst of their youth – thought of ways to protect the family drove her to quiet sorrow. They’d been burdened with the prospect of danger and risk from such a young age that they didn’t have time to fully enjoy the innocence of their youth. Could she be proud? Proud of herself for failing to lift them to a better place?

“Oliver, Oliver Clarke...” Anna repeated, reminiscing back to the time when she and Carl were thinking of names to give their children. They’d spent months thinking about the best names to give them, and the winners were ‘Elwin’ and ‘Andre’. Both derived their roots from old Eltanic, the ancient language spoken in times of mythological memory. Elwin meant ‘Friend to all Souls’, while Andre meant ‘Protector of Man’. They were very precious to her. And now they had to mask their precious names with something else to protect their identity – if at all, what could she as a mother be proud of herself?

“Mom, mom, are you alright?” asked Elwin worriedly.

Anna tried hard to put on a reassuring smile. “It’s just – it’s just you two have grown so much already.”

“Good names, Andre. You want to protect the family too, right?” said Anna.

“Yeah, mom.”

“Have you thought of a name for me, too?”

“Yeah! What do you think of Ms. Mary Clarke?”

“Mary Clarke... that’s not bad!”

Andre pumped his fist in the air, but Elwin knew there was something more to it. Elwin saw a corner of his mother’s eyes moisten with tears; he would not find out the meaning of his mother’s sorrow here and now until much, much later.

***

By now it was late morning, and Elwin had studied the maps enough and practiced enough questions to float that he felt ready.

Elwin armored up with a backpack filled with sandwiches from his mother, an atlas of the entire city of Ascension, a notebook, an extra pair of pants, an explorer’s sextant, a compass, a spare jacket and shirt, some socks, an extra shoe, a frying pan, a couple slices of bacon, a whole baguette to ration, and – it was so excessive that he looked in the mirror and realized how ridiculously overpacked he was. He burst into laughter, reminding himself once again that this was not a camping trip or a trip out to sea, and removed everything except the sandwiches, atlas, and a few coins. But that moment of packing reminded him of the time with his father, and he felt the burden of his questions lighten briefly.

“When will you be back?”

“Not sure. As long as it takes for me to find an answer,” he said.

“Alright! I’ll see if I can get an extra pair of hands today,” said Anna.

“See you!” both of them waved, as Elwin waved back and walked towards the tram stop near The Marlin on his first trip to downtown proper, head full of questions. What answers would he find in the Grand Library? What would such an answer mean for him and his family? What would it mean for his life after? His entire world could change after today.

It was Sunnadeya, the ninth and final day of the week, so the streets were bustling even with the crisp chill of winter. Elwin observed the people passing by, hoping that he wouldn’t run into anyone from his school. Happy couples and laughing children made their way on the pavements; men galloped to the market, jets of fire on the soles of their shoes; others were returning from that market, with enormous baskets of groceries suspended in the air by inconspicuous chants. Some were dressed moderately well, most dressed humbly so, but none of them were dressed as well as the two distinguished guests the month –

Wait, that was just yesterday evening! Goodness, it felt like ages had already gone by. Everything changed after their visit. Who exactly were they? He prayed to the FOUNDERS SERA and ARTAIA yesterday before The Marlin opened. Could it have been a sign of some sort?

“Next up, Fishery Street!” announced the conductor, as Elwin boarded the little violet tram and the doors closed behind him with the swish of his fingers, little handles on the doors filled with water and metal for people to draw close at a distance. He clunked his denaros down the fare machine for the first time on his own, rattling down the funnel and joining the murmurs of its friends. Elwin found himself a seat by the window at the back, and neatly folded out his city atlas as if he was on a treasure quest.

17 stops! And change to the orange line at the central junction for 3 more stops! He thought to himself, exasperated. Until now, he hadn’t fully taken in the scale of his home city properly. He had read maps and city guides before and he knew it was big, but to experience it in a new physical dimension beyond paper was new to him. To think that the son of a man who had traveled the entire known world and sought to go beyond didn’t ever travel farther than the small sphere of his hometown! He’d gone out to sea, of course, but that was with his father.

And as the past surfaced beyond the waves, he recalled that his father had briefly spoken to him about the Grand Library and the many artifacts he brought back for it long ago. Memory of that exchange had since been buried deep in sediment, but this first mission of all was beginning to unearth it once again.

The Grand Library of Ascension was founded some seven hundred years past, and was once the greatest trove of knowledge throughout all of the Mythrisian Republics. Carl quipped to Elwin that other republics became envious of the commercial and philosophical clout of Ascension, and tried to emulate its success in a myriad of ways. Nowadays, he said, each of the seventeen Republics throughout the island continent of Mythrise, Ascension included, has their own ‘national’ libraries that are open to the public. But none probably has as many artifacts of antiquity as The Grand Library of Ascension does, thanks to the efforts of the city in curating and collecting items of trade and exploration in their busy seaward ports. Elwin, the son of an explorer who also contributed to the Library’s collection in the past, was visiting it for the first time on his own. But now that he possessed knowledge the world did not, he would need to keep his wits about him. He had experience dealing with guests at the Marlin, his window to the world outside. He could do it without losing his cool. He would just need to be more careful and observant than usual.

Elwin watched the scenery unfold and metamorphosize as the tram glided over the studded rails. The once-humble street, cobbled and lain on both sides by red and white of brick or drab brown customary of fisheries and workshops, gave way to boulevards of finely smoothed stone, with rows upon rows of neat hornbeam trees curtaining the balconies of cafés and restaurants, many dwarfing the size of the Marlin. Many of the shops seemed to be built out of finer wood and stone, and the people outside dressed much more handsomely than those in his humble neighborhood. Elwin found himself surrounded by what could only be beauty; he gazed with wide-eyed wonder at witnessing it all for the first time, realizing that ever since his father had left him, he had been a frog looking out of a well, thinking that small patch of sky he could see to be the entire world. How wrong he was!

Thunk! Came a sound from the ceiling, making Elwin flinch.

The conductor pulled a lever that retracted a central portion of the tram roof, and let in the crisp wintry breeze to ruffle Elwin’s hair and flutter the pages in his hand. Every passenger’s mood seemed to rise, and Elwin saw the grey-haired conductor do a little wink and salute in the mirror towards him, which took him by surprise. Did he know Elwin? Did he figure out the secret of his father’s letters?