Fienna lay on the couch and slowly stirred awake, draping herself over the cushions. Her face turned bright red when she turned her head and saw that Firth and I were looking directly at her. She definitely wasn’t ready to see me there, so she grabbed a pillow and covered her face.
So cute.
I should probably consider letting people call me goddess. To stop people from getting overwhelmed by the added thought of upsetting me. Slowly, it had started to feel as if it was right, like being curled up with a book on a warm spring day. Which I didn’t think was possible. It wasn’t clear if it was because I was giving up from all the people’ messing up’, wearing me down, or if it was another reason. The feeling had died down quite a lot when I wasn’t casting, but it still felt omnipresent. With spikes coming in at seemingly random times.
“Fienna, would you like to come with me and put your book into the library?” I asked, trying to sound as gentle as possible.
The pillow moved up and down, and I couldn’t make out the muffled voice that was coming through it because it was too distorted. Her shyness was too cute!
“Fienna, enough of that. You need to put the pillow down and be more respectful of guests. Our Lady may not mind formal standards, but you still need to maintain a basic level of decorum.” Firth said in a fatherly tone, scolding her ever so softly.
The pillow moved down, revealing her still bright red face. “I would love to, Lady Astrid! How could I not want my book in such a mythical place? Is there anything I need to do to come?”
“Just grab the original, of course. The library is more likely to accept it that way.”
“Yes, Lady Astrid, one moment. I just need to grab it off of my desk.” She said as she ran to her room and slammed the door. There were loud sounds, things being slammed open and closed, as well as tossed around. Random words like “No, no, no,” and “No, that doesn’t look good” were coming out of the room.
Firth just sighed, and facepalmed. If he wasn’t worried, then I wouldn’t either, but I still didn’t know what she was doing. When I thought about it, though, I realized that I, too, would have been excited my first time if they hadn’t been under such a sad situation. Then I realized the Valwrecks were also pretty off-kilter when they came in as well. Well, not the kids, but they probably didn’t understand much yet. All Tara and Thon saw were books to read, which was the proper view to have in the library.
She came out wearing a long blue dress with blue lace flowers adorning her body’s natural curves. It looked very cute on her, especially with her hair done up and her fur combed. She was clasping her book tightly in her hands. OH, I get it. She was getting dressed! I needed to work on recognizing what other non-magical girls had to do to get ready. It was easy to forget when all I had to do was use a spell. That gave me an idea to put some of my beauty spells into gem form. I would consult Liz and Mais later to see how good the idea was.
“Very pretty. Maybe you could assist Lizlin in getting me some more outfits. I know the one I am wearing is a symbol of me, but it gets boring having it on all the time.”
She blinked a few times before her face turned pink. “Yes, of course, Lady Astrid, it would be an honor.”
I snapped my fingers, and an open doorway to the library appeared. When I went to the entrance and looked back, I saw that Fienna had locked her knees and was wobbling. “Hey, Fienna, come on. You got this.”
She shook her head and snapped out of it, and came with me through the doorway. She looked around, awestruck, with stars in her eyes. Her mouth hung partially open as she took in everything in view. “It’s amazing. I can see soooo many books, and the directions to different areas on the map mean this place is huge and filled to the brim. The stories didn’t lie at all.” She said breathlessly, like the library had stolen her heart. Which made sense considering she had almost no books in the refuge pre me returning.
“It is a really great place to be. Let’s get your book put in. Place it on the stand that says ‘New Book Donation,’” I said, pointing to the wooden stand with a polished cherry stain and circular carvings.
She took a deep breath and walked over, and placed her book on the stand. It was covered in a soft golden glow before disappearing. She looked at me, face drooping. “Where did it go?”
“It was accepted into the library and has been put in an appropriate section. I would guess the romance section, but it could have wound up in the coming of age or in the new editions section. Probably the latter since that display has been empty for a millennia. Fun facts: if there are too many new books on there at a given time, then the library will just pick the highest quality books to display. Cover paintings are always a surefire way to stay on there for a while.”
She squealed in excitement and ran over to me. “Thank you, Godde— Lady Astrid. We should return now. I don’t want to waste any more of your time.”
“We can if you want, but I would rather show you around.”
She turned pink and took deep breaths while she just nodded her head.
At least she didn’t faint this time. She remained awestruck the whole trip through the library. The bears looked at us as we passed through all the different sections. I told her some good places to find some books she may like. It wasn’t surprising could barely hold her composure when you considered how she and everyone else responded when seeing just the front entrance of the place.
When the tour came to its end, I finished off with. “And that is the library. I have other things to do, so I, unfortunately, can’t stay longer, but if you just open the front door, you will be taken back to your room.”
“Wait, I can stay?” she said, sounding strained.
“Well, yes. You can get some inspiration for your next book. Just remember to eat at the cafe.”
“THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!” she exclaimed before turning around and hiding her face from me. She took deep breaths before speaking. “Thank you for your kindness, Lady Astrid. Please don’t tell Firth about my immaturity. He wants me to succeed him someday.”
SO CUTE! “Why would I do that? We are friends now aren’t we?” I said as I left the library through the main entrance.
All I heard was an “Eep!” and her collapsing as I was whisked away. I wasn’t worried because the bears would help her out since they had a protocol for this situation. I had locked in a new friend like a bookmark in the middle of a really heavy book.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Lian and Mais had joined Firth in his living room when I returned.
“Where is Fienna? Did she do something to offend you or the library?” he said, sounding a little worried.
“Nope, we are friends now, so I let her stay and explore the library after I showed her around,” I said, not realizing the consequences of declaring Fienna as my friend.
“Well, good for her,” Firth replied haughtily, coming off rather jealous sounding.
When I looked around, the other two in the room had similar looks of jealousy. I should probably take them on a tour once things settle down. I knew a change of topic would help. “Hey, Mais, would some of my morning beautification spells sell if I pushed them into gem form?”
“Yes, of course, they would. Could I sample one now?” Lian replied for Mais.
“Anything of yours will sell. Especially beauty supplies. Kobric would also probably add that it would do your image good to the women of the kingdom.” Mais said once he got a chance to speak.
“Well, add that to the list of products to work on, but for now, we have bigger things to look into. Let’s head to the truth circle room and start this interrogation.”
“Yes, but I have news for you. The local church has denounced the attack the other day and has come out in support of you. They fully believe you are the goddess and are just waiting on official approval from a main branch of the church to meet with you. They put this policy into place due to so many fakes,” Lian said as we left for the truth room.
I don’t even believe that I am the goddess... but it is good I have more support. I need to have a talk with them, though. It is really weird I have not met my own church leaders yet.
The rest of the council was waiting for me in the library. “How should we do this? I have only really interrogated single individuals, never a group of co-conspirators.”
“Well, we could do them one at a time so that they don’t know who said what,” Lian stated
“I would agree with you, but the truth circle really overrides the need for that,” Firth said, challenging her.
“You were the corporation’s pet, so you would know,” Lia replied with a smirk plastered across her face.
I wanted to interject, but a playful jab, even one that was rude, was a step in the right direction. Then again, maybe Firth didn’t mind because he only rolled his eyes while still glancing at her.
“We should do it separately to sow discord in the corporations and with Donna since they seemed to be aligned at the moment,” Peri said, coming in with a brilliant suggestion. Sowing discord was a great idea. It would leave less on me and it all on each other. I didn’t think Peri was so manipulative. I expected Firth or maybe Kobrik to say such things.
“I like it. There will be less blow back on us and more between them. It will leave them blaming each other for who said what,” I said, ending the conversation. They were still free to speak up but rarely did. I guessed I should stop expecting them to jump in all the time. Maybe they weren’t comfortable with it yet. How could I expect them to be confident when I wasn’t?
I opened a doorway straight to where the prisoners lay sleeping. While they slept peacefully, I floated them out of the room with ‘minor telekinesis.’ Using the spell on top of the normal drain of my shield felt really good, but not as good as using the translation spells as well. Later I would need to look up more active spells.
After I lay them all out in the room, I recast the spell in its active state, ‘greater telekinesis field’ allowing me to use telekinesis at will while in a certain area. I had that idea that I could just walk around and read books with this spell while still practicing to engage with others. Then, if I got tired or anxious, I could pretend like I was focused on the book, and they’d leave me alone. Wait, if I embrace the knowledge goddess thing, they will embrace me reading as part of my visage! I would, of course, need to also shield the book so nothing would happen like in the kingdom when they attacked me.
“Okay, who should we pick first? Firth, do you have any idea who these people are besides Donna?”
He inspected each of them and pulled his back, tilting it sideways. “This is Martin Frisded, the regional manager for the oversight committee. The rest of them are pretty inconsequential. They would be good to grab tech information from, but if Martin is here, then we will get all the details we need on the attack. I am surprised he involved himself so directly. Protocol states to keep yourself separated from such actions. He definitely overstepped his bounds or got lazy about information security.”
I used the already activated telekinetic spell I had to whisk the others away into the holding cell room. This skill will definitely come in handy. I ensured that the effects of my fear spell were being suppressed. With my council behind me, I woke Martin up over the truth circle with a not so gentle mind slap.
He shifted on the ground and opened his eyes slowly. His head immediately started jerking around, observing everyone in the room. “Huh, where am I here? Firth, DID YOU KIDNAP ME TO THE REFUGE?!” he shouted when he saw Firth. Once his eyes landed on me, he finally pieced his situation together and stared at me, giving himself time to try to formulate a lie. “I am so sorry, Great Goddess Asrtid, Overseer of the mythical library and all knowledge, savior of all humankind.”
What is it with all those titles? I am definitely not quick enough with knowledge to be an overseer of all knowledge. Nor am I the savior of just humankind. He likely isn’t including otherkin with that. The lie detection hadn’t gone off, so he truly believed what he said. That gave me an easy list of questions to ask. “It is good you recognize me correctly now, but that leaves a lot of questions. You are currently in Astraville in an interrogation room. There is a truth circle beneath you that will force you to answer any question asked of you to the fullest of your ability. It won’t feel that good if you try to hide any pertinent information.”
His discomfort was obvious, with his eyes furrowed and lips pursed together. “Listen, I plead to you, Godde—”
His asking for forgiveness or salvation wasn’t a thing I cared about at the moment since his reasons for being here were his own fault. “You are Martin Frisded, Regional Manager of the corporations located in the kingdom, correct?” I asked, cutting him off. I didn’t care to hear his weak attempts at gaining my favor.
“Yes, I am currently the Regional Manager here but will soon be transferred to another region as soon as the gem mine is completely mined out. They don’t want to waste my talent or resources here if there is nothing of value,” he said, eyes wide, trying to cover his mouth, but his arms were immediately pulled to his sides. He strained against the magic, but it was far beyond his level.
“That would be total economic collapse,” I heard Mais say in the back, gasping.
“Weren’t there enough gems for another hundred years?” Firth asked quickly.
“At your time, yes, but new technology allowed us to mine faster. We have been moving larger shipments in secret.”
“What about all the people? How are people supposed to get by? Are you just going to leave them all behind? Don’t even try to tell me you are going to abandon all the otherkin. They are your main labor force.” Lian said, jumping in on the questioning. It filled her voice with worry.
He strained against the spell but eventually let it all out. “There is nothing here for us. We aren’t obligated to stay, contractually, we can leave whenever we want. That is one of the reasons we let the kingdom have its separate dome. Past rulers didn’t think about the consequence of that choice. Also, we are following the goddesses’ position of ‘utility of good.’ We can do the most good by saving those who are worthwhile and trim the fat by getting rid of those who are useless.”
My eyes shut tight as I squinted in anger. That was a heavy misinterpretation of a paper I wrote long ago. “It seems that whoever took it out left out the part where you have to save people even if it takes away the comfort of others. The long-term effects of abandoning people are far greater than sacrificing some comfort at the moment. It was far more nuanced than that.” It made me wonder how many other things I had written have been misused by others.
“Who are you planning on taking with you?” Lian asked.
“Some nobility, Donna, due to a deal and as many otherkin we can get since they are the strongest workers.”
“Lady Astrid, can we take a break? I need to make some notes. This is deal-changing information. This is really earth breaking. The amount of chaos this will cause is immeasurable.” Firth pulled on his beard as he stroked it.
“Alright, let’s meet back up again later. I am going to go back to the library and check on Fienna. I will send you all a mental message when I get back. If I take too long, use the emergency contact gem to get me.” I said, putting Martin back to sleep before he could say anymore. I really didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with this right now. It felt like even more work was being heaped on my shoulders, which meant less time to read. While some were guilty in the kingdom, not all deserved to suffer, and even more annoyingly, those who deserved it were probably going to be saved.