Serenity knew what a librarian was, a person working for a library that helped get information or otherwise interface with the patrons. That probably wasn’t a perfect definition, but it was close enough generally. Not everyone who worked at a library was a librarian; there were all sorts of other jobs that had to be done, from administration to cataloging to janitorial duties. In a library like this one, there were probably also mages or at least specialists in maintaining old documents if the protections on the library didn’t take care of it. Depending on the size of the library, some or all of those tasks might well be handled by librarians, but they didn’t all have to be.

Library defense didn’t seem like it fell into the category, but maybe the word simply meant someone who worked at the Great Library. That would make sense if it was about the right to sleep here.

Rules about who could sleep in a library seemed odd anyway.

Honoria led the seven of them - Serenity, Rissa, Blaze, Kerr, Ita, Raz, and one of Legion’s bodies - to the side of the round ground floor, to the right of the entrance. They were under the balcony and there were no windows, but it seemed that the underside of the balcony itself glowed slightly. It wasn’t bright, but it was still enough to read by. The bookcases in front of him were huge in both height and length; they were clearly not set up for the top shelves to be reachable without a ladder, yet there were no ladders. There wasn’t even really room for a ladder.

Honoria led them between a pair of full bookshelves, to the wall that was not easily visible from the center of the floor. “This is one of the entrances to the back areas; I need to get you to the central Library node to get you set up. Follow me.”

The door led forward into an area that couldn’t possibly fit within the footprint of the building, yet there was no feeling of spatial magic. Serenity glanced back towards the entrance and realized that there was a second reason he hadn’t noticed the door: the floor of the Library was slightly sloped. He was several feet lower here than at the center of the building. The height of the bookcases must have hidden the slope as he walked towards the outside.

Now that he thought about it, there was a set of steps or a ramp to enter the library; he’d assumed that was an architectural statement, and it probably was, but it also helped to hide the staff areas. It was always fun to see things done with clever design instead of magic.

As it turned out, the staff area was a half-circle around the outside of the building; they had to walk quite a ways to reach the stairs going even farther down. “There are shortcuts for Librarians,” Honoria mentioned as they reached the stairs. “If I went through one of them, you wouldn’t be able to follow. I’ve never been sure if this was a defensive measure or just hazing for new people.”

Serenity chuckled. “It’s clearly defensive. Look at the ceiling. I bet if we tried to get off the path you’ve led us on, we wouldn’t be able to, even though we could see books and work areas in that first semicircle.”

He’d noticed a series of holes and cutouts in the stone ceiling ever since they entered the back halls; they were especially common in the stairwell. He’d also noticed some odd magic whose Affinity he couldn’t entirely identify that seemed to form a wall. It was Solid, yet at the same time it wasn’t. Those clues together told him that this was a far more comprehensive defense than he’d expected.

There had to be some way to get above those holes; they could be useful for anything from spying to attacking if they were properly set up. Given how absolutely sneaky the architect seemed to have been, however, Serenity suspected that the obvious holes were only the visible part of the defense. They were probably designed to pull attention away from the real defenses, whatever they were.

Honoria glanced up. “We’ve tried filling those in, but whenever we do they reappear. It’s like the library thinks those holes are supposed to be there, even though they just let stuff get at the books that shouldn’t be able to. We had a real problem with mice a while back, lived in the passageways and came in through the holes in the ceiling. They passed through all the wards as if they weren’t there.”

That was actually something some mice could do. Prey species often got some odd abilities, and mice were one of the ones that could pick up an ability to slip by magical barriers. “Magical mice in the walls? I can see how that would be a problem. What did you do, get a cat?”

“Several, but only one of them seems to catch the magical mice, and Cheshire only works when he wants to. Fortunately, that keeps the mice controlled enough that the library can keep up with the repairs.” Honoria sounded annoyed; her face was hidden since she was ahead of Serenity on the stairs. “Sometimes I think that’s deliberate on his part.”

“The Cheshire Cat is supposed to be mischievous,” Serenity agreed. How exactly had a character from Alice in Wonderland ended up here? Or perhaps he should be wondering instead how Lewis Carroll knew about the Cheshire Cat. “How long has he been here?”

“A hundred years?” Honoria’s shrug was visible from behind her. “Maybe two? I’m not sure.”

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Honoria must be older than Serenity had assumed. He’d guessed her age at a little over a century, which wasn’t particularly old but was still not young for her Tier. She couldn’t be that young if she were misplacing centuries. Serenity was pretty sure Vengeance hadn’t started doing that until he was at least five hundred, and that made her noticeably older than most in her Tier ever reached.

Which wasn’t the same thing as saying it was impossible; even at the lower Tiers, there were all sorts of ways to extend one’s lifespan.

None of which were important right now. Serenity tried to focus again on what was going on. Cheshire cat, right. “I’ll have to see if Curio wants to do some hunting. Maybe after we do whatever you’re leading us down here for?”

“To become Librarians, of course!” Honoria declared that just after she reached the bottom of the stairwell. “Come on in, let’s get started. Serenity last, please; you randomly break things and that’s the last thing I need.”

Serenity’s reflex was to object - he didn’t break things! At least, not deliberately. Well, unless there was a reason to break them. Breaking things accidentally really only happened with dungeons. Well, other than that time on Tzintkra when he accidentally took over the Necropolis.

Okay, maybe she had a point.

“Legion, you’ll be right before Serenity. I’m not sure how the Great Library will react to you. Kerr, you can go first. Please put your hand on the Library Node. It won’t react.”

Kerr followed Honoria’s instructions while everyone watched.

Honoria placed her hand on the other side of the Node. “Now, Kerr. Do you agree to work for the Tahkittinakt Library and support the Library’s mission of preserving knowledge for so long as you are employed here?”

There were so very many things wrong with that oath that Serenity didn’t even know where to begin with it. It probably wouldn’t be too big a problem without magic, but if it was binding it didn’t even come close to specifying everything it needed to. They really should have discussed this more, maybe tried to change the wording, before they got down here.

Kerr didn’t share Serenity’s caution. “Yes.”

A message appeared, visible above the Library’s main node. Honoria read it. “Welcome to the Library staff, Kerr.” Honoria glanced at the group. “Blaze, how about you next?”

Serenity had to say something. “That oath is pretty broad and missing a lot of conditions.”

Honoria nodded. “It’s the fast version. There’s a long version with all sorts of limits but that version of the ceremony takes days for each person. What problem did you notice?”

“How do you end it? I mean, how does Kerr end it?” Almost all of the issues with the oath were minor as long as there was an easy way out.

Honoria blinked. “I thought I said that. Maybe not. All you have to do is go to any of the Library Nodes - there are several per floor as well as this one - and resign your position as a Librarian. It’s not intended to hold people who don’t want to belong.”

Serenity felt tense muscles he hadn’t realized he was clenching relax. He let out a long breath. “That’s good. I didn’t actually think you were trying to set us up, it’s just…” He shook his head. He wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence.

“You’ve been burned before,” Honoria finished it for him with a slight smile. “I forget other people don’t know what I do about the Library sometimes. I’ve been here my entire life, so I’m just used to it.” She looked at Serenity and waited for a moment before she turned to Blaze. “Are you ready?”

The oaths for Blaze, Ita, Raz, Rissa, and even Legion went almost identically to Kerr’s. The only difference was in the name.

When Serenity set his hand on the Library Node, however, it wasn’t unresponsive. Instead, words appeared above it. The words weren’t a welcome to a new librarian.

Instead, they said “Tahkittinakt’s Library welcomes a Hand of the Order.”

Everyone stared at the message for a moment, then Honoria summed up the feeling with a few words. “I knew you’d find a way to break things, Serenity!”

“I didn’t even do anything,” Serenity protested. “How was I supposed to know it would recognize me?”

Guildmaster Tirmanak definitely hadn’t mentioned anything about the Grand Library of Asihanya, and Serenity knew he’d mentioned that that was where they were headed next. In fact, Serenity had asked if they had any information about the library and the Guildmaster had admitted that they didn’t have much, but he’d still let Serenity look through it. Apparently there simply wasn’t much written about the Library other than the fact that it was impressive with a large collection.

Honoria frowned at Serenity for a moment longer then set her hand on the node. Serenity could tell she was making her way through the information presented to her quickly, but it still took her a bit before she was done. Serenity left his hand resting on the crystalline object the entire time; he didn’t want to interrupt her if for some reason she needed him to touch it for whatever she was doing.

Honoria took her hand away from the node and shook her head sharply once as if to clear away a fog. “You can put your hand down. It looks like a Hand, whatever that is, has more or less the same rights as a Librarian. There are a couple differences, but I don’t think you’ll mind not being able to add new things to the collection and you may well like being able to enter the locked rooms without pre-approval.”

Serenity blinked. After that statement, he just had to ask. “Locked rooms?”

Honoria shrugged. “A large enough library should have rooms not everyone is allowed to enter. Sometimes this is to preserve the books; other times, it’s to preserve the visitor. We have both.”

Serenity got the feeling that Honoria was hinting that he should really ask before he went into any locked rooms, even if he didn’t have to.