Ratface had gone exploring through the mansion after her talk with Suncat. She’d started in her room, but the conversation kept running through her head and she couldn’t sit still. So here she was, wandering around someone else’s home.

It was a big place, that’s the main takeaway she had. She’d started in the tearoom and just kept wandering further. There was a kitchen which looked like it could fit a whole kitchen staff. Next to it was a dining room that would fit all the patrons of a crowded inn in it easily.

Big, but empty. She hadn’t run into anyone while walking around and she knew there were at least two other people in here. Ratface shook her head, no wonder Suncat felt so alone. Imagine spending all your time in a place like this. Feeling alone in your own home.

Ratface’s house had been small, and she’d like that. It didn’t matter where in the house she was; she could hear her mother. Sometimes it was her mother arguing with older goblins, sometimes she sung to herself, sometimes she was just moving around. No matter where Ratface went in the house, she knew she wasn’t alone. It was hard now, without her. The glamour must have been weakened by Claudette’s examination. She could remember more about her mum, enough to feel the loss a little bit, but she still couldn’t remember her face. In her memories her mother was always a room away. Always looking somewhere else.

Ratface made her way through the hallway to a room with double doors; they were thicker than the rest she’d run into. She snorted, must be one of those ballrooms she’d heard about. She pushed them open to look around. It wasn’t a ballroom.

It was a library. She’d heard of them but never seen one. The most books she’d seen before this was the bookshelf her mum had, or maybe the ones she’d seen in the inn when she’d been stuck.

This was a lot more than that. The room was the size of a ballroom, and it was filled with books. She walked around the shelves and the telltale scribbles of common stared back at her. Of course. Ratface laughed bitterly. A room filled with knowledge, and she couldn’t access any of it. It was like magic, there was always something in the way. She’d thought with another goblin in the building there might have been something.

Ratface paused as she came across a smaller bookshelf. It had its own little corner and a rug and nest of cushions to sit in. The books were in goblin, but they were smaller than the ones in the rest of the library. Ratface recognised the story of Halmir on the shelf. She looked around and noticed they were all goblin children’s books. Almost all. Two books were a little thicker in the shelf. One was a book on common to goblin, and the other was a book on goblin names. Huh.

It could be that the book was the only one available but it being common to goblin and not goblin to common was telling. It’d still work for her purposes.

She picked a book at random from the library and grabbed the translation book. It took time, the book was organised for readers trying to translate goblin rather than the other way round, but eventually she was able to start reading through the books title; a Beginners Guide on Rune crafting.

Rune crafting is the magic of humans. While other races naturally connect with the aether, most humans must shackle the arcane to their will through runecraft.

Ratface frowned, this must be an old book. A lot of humans she’d met could do magic. Tiffany of course, but most adventurers Ratface had seen had some form of magic.

“I guess they learnt,” she muttered to herself.

“Yes and no,” said Claudette.

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Ratface jumped as the demon appeared from behind a stack of books. The woman smiled at Ratface’s reaction and Ratface would bet all the gold she was carrying that she hadn’t been there a moment before. She’d left her gold in her room, but the point remained.

“Pure humans can still only use runecraft, or something similar, to access the aether. It’s just there’s not a lot of pure versions of any of the races left and even weak blood still blesses their children. Goblins are unique in that regard. No matter the parent they’re never born with access to magic.” Claudette frowned. “Pure is an outdated way of phrasing that with unfortunate connotations. Exclusively human?”

“You say goblins can’t learn magic, but Suncat did.”

Claudette raised a finger.

“Correction. I said they can’t be born with magic. Can you guess how she gained it?”

Ratface thought about the forest they were in, then back to her conversation with Suncat. The other goblin had mentioned something about goblins being similar to rats when it came to other creatures blood. She’d looked so haunted as she talked about it.

“Drinking blood,” she said.

Claudette nodded.

“Specifically, demon blood. Other bloods have been tried but its results are… not ideal.”

“She drank you blood?”

Claudette smiled.

“You make it sound so dangerous.”

“It did change her,” said Ratface.

Claudette nodded.

“My comment wasn’t a criticism. It is dangerous. I can only promise you she did it with eyes open. It was the best choice she could make at the time.”

“Why?”

“That’s not my story to tell.” Claudette held out her hand. “The offer of my blood is open to you as well, but I wouldn’t make it lightly. Talk to the red goblins who have already made it before doing so.”

“Why make the offer?” Ratface asked.

It felt too open, and the woman was a demon. Any story that had them offering deals universally agreed it was a bad idea. Yet Claudette hadn’t forced her into it, she’d even encouraged her not to take it straight away.

“Part of it is that Abigail would expect me to offer. My blood is power which she acknowledges even if she refuses it. The other part is your glamour problem.”

She went and grabbed a book off the shelves and placed it in front of Ratface. She placed the book like the treasure it was, which Ratface approved of.

“I see you’ve already raided the bookshelf, so when you get a chance read this book on glamours.” She held her hands behind her back and put on a lecturing tone. The way she moved suggested she’d done this a lot.

“Glamours are different from most magic in that they are autonomous and varied. In a sense, they do whatever their owner needs them to do.”

“That sounds annoying,” said Ratface.

Claudette bared her teeth.

“Oh, it is. Demon magic is varied too but it has a cost and it’s unpredictable. This forest is the result of decades of research. Some parts aren’t safe for even me to go to.” She hissed a little and her tail swished side to side in irritation. Ah, the frustration of elves. Ratface felt it too, when she wasn’t being terrified of them.

“In general, they use them for illusions and memory spells.” Claudette paused at that. “Actually, illusions are a bit of a misnomer. It’s not really an illusion if it can hit you, is it? Still, they are weaker than full conjurations.”

She looked at Ratface’s increasingly confused face and stopped her tangent.

“The point is that they don’t require fuel to keep going so they have to be defeated rather than outlasted. You and I are going to have to unravel the glamours from your mind.” She clapped her hands.

“That would be a lot easier if you were part demon! Particularly if you were made so by my blood. The raw authority I had over you would allow me to kick out the glamour in the span of an afternoon.”

Ratface tried not to let the eagerness show. Magic plus being able to remember her mothers face was worth a lot of prices, even if the idea of authority made her hackles raise.. Some of the eagerness must have shown because Claudette fixed her with a stare.

“Not a decision I’ll let you make until you’ve talked to more demon goblins. I won’t allow the change to be something you regret.”

They both looked down at that, both thinking of Suncat. Ratface shook herself to fight off the feeling.

“What do we do in the meantime?” she asked.

“The first step we must do is get you used to the feeling of me in your mind. To that end I want you to lie down into those cushions and sleep. If you’re ready.”

Ratface nodded and settled down into the cushions. She watched as Claudette pricked her hand to draw blood. She came over and drew a rune onto Ratface’s forehead. It burned but it wasn’t an unpleasant burn. It felt like aloe vera but warmer.

Claudette hovered over her.

“Sleep Ratface,” she said, “sleep and dream of whatever brings you joy.”

Ratface closed her eyes and thought of home.