Saia only noticed it was almost midday when Serit awakened.

“Found a solution to face Beramas and not die horribly?” they asked, stretching their arms.

Reading had become a mechanical thing, so she kept skimming two books at once while she returned most of her attention to the room. It was like trying to follow multiple conversations at once, but the gist was enough to be sure that neither of the volumes contained a mention of the monks, the mountain, or spheres.

“No,” she said.

“You haven’t even thought about it, have you?”

“No. We’re staying here until I find out the truth.”

Serit looked around the room, as if noticing it for the first time.

“Beramas will find us, eventually.”

“You’re free to leave.”

They glared at her. She felt a stab of guilt: of course they couldn’t leave on their own, as much as she couldn’t when she was trapped over the clouds. Even if they weren’t being followed around by birdguards, they couldn’t go far without everyone realizing they were a shilvé on earth and taking advantage of that.

And they had been useful in the fight against Mayvaru.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I'm just frustrated. I've examined every single book in this library and there's nothing about the mountain."

Serit flung the covers aside and headed toward the wardrobe, where they had placed their few clothes. Saia deactivated her vision, then turned her head as a courtesy.

"There was no mention about these monks and the monastery in the books I've read about Aressea," Serit said, voice periodically muffled by whatever garment they were putting on over their head. "Maybe they hid it on purpose, but it's unlikely they don't know. Try asking the abbot."

"Asking questions is my last resort. We shouldn't attract too much attention."

"Then you should have thought about it before we came here. I'm done."

When Saia reactivated her vision, they were looking at her with crossed arms.

"So? What's our next move?"

Saia considered a few options.

"I want to talk to Aili. She's the expert with libraries and research and... Anything, really."

Serit's eyebrows raised, but they didn't comment.

"And she deserves to know what's going on."

"Don't waste too much viss."

Saia smiled bitterly.

“Because you’re worried about being sent back to your city?"

They managed to keep a blank face, but she saw the irritation in their viss.

"No, I'm worried about you dying."

"Only because you feel what I do. You wouldn't care otherwise."

"Maybe. At least I'm not going to betray you at the first chance I get.”

"As if you could blame me."

"I don't, but do you seriously think everything I say has a hidden meaning? I know the point of me being here is to get punished for kidnapping you..."

“It’s not.”

“…But I’m risking my life too, and I won’t gain anything from this.”

The bells rang before Saia could reply. Serit finished tying their headscarf.

“I’m going to eat something decent, now. It would be nice if you waited until I’m finished before doing something rash.”

Saia nodded. Once they were gone, she took out Aili’s shard. She wondered what to tell her, exactly.

Found huge library. You would like it.

She set out to reread some of the books while she waited. She had only skimmed the pages, jumping here and there, changing book as soon as it was clear that the topic had nothing to do with monks and mountains. A lot of the volumes were in different languages, and even Arissian wasn't completely familiar, despite the dictionary she’d found. It was boring, but she had somehow endured it. Her body didn't itch to move anymore, but her mind craved the quiet of the sea and the excitement of fishing snakes.

Where are you?

The question felt like an accusation.

Still Aressea.

She considered mentioning Mayvaru and Beramas, but she didn't want to make her worry. Besides, explaining everything might have required more viss than she could spare.

Looking for Dan. How are you? Zeles?

Busy. Might know soon what's inside crater. Viss doesn’t float, tied to objects. Don't know more.

Saia could feel an echo of worry, but she didn't pry. Aili could probably feel the same coming from her.

Found monks like ours, but different.

She explained about the monastery and what she was trying to find.

Do you have idea where to look?

Don't know. Secret passage? Is one of foreign languages code?

Saia considered the answer for a few seconds. She'd expected more enthusiasm from Aili at the idea of having a huge library at their disposal and the existence of some monks that looked like they were the same as the ones on the mountain.

Everything fine?

Busy, told you.

How's it going with telling truth to villages?

The answer arrived late, and it wasn't an answer at all.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

What plan if they refuse? What society would we create?

Saia looked at the monks from above. She hadn't given much thought to it, besides imagining to steal the mountain's viss and redistributing it somehow. She only knew there would be no monks and no people looking from above. Probably even no gods, even if after seeing what Mayvaru and Beramas could do, after witnessing Aressea's domain over the Golden Lands, she wasn't sure anymore.

Don't know, she admitted in the end. Want to think about it together.

She waited and waited for an answer to arrive, but it didn't. Aili had said she was busy, after all.

She stood from the bed. She didn't feel like checking every book again, so she decided to follow Aili's first suggestion: finding secret rooms, other libraries, hidden books. But first she needed to move to where her domain could include the entire library and every corner around it. She left a message for Serit on a piece of paper taken from her bag. The cube of viserite pressed down on everything else it contained: the graphite had broken, but a fragment was enough to scribble a few words.

She left the room and walked along the corridors with as much carefulness as she could muster. She could see the monks moving around and avoided them on her way up to the third floor, where the library's entrance was. Not that there was a reason to fear being found out, but she didn't want the abbot to know about her movements and get suspicious.

The library was a bit bigger than anticipated. She slipped into a side room full of baskets with dirty laundry to examine the books, but they didn't seem to contain anything that set them apart from the rest. The walls at the far end of the library, the one that faced the sea, were more interesting: there was a door behind two bookshelves, hiding a spiral staircase that plunged deeper into the rock of the cliff in complete darkness. Even with her domain expanded, Saia couldn't perceive the end of it. She'd have to enter the library, but the double doors were closed and it was already full of monks. It wouldn't have been easy to enter without anyone noticing. Still, she could knock and pretend she was interested out of pure curiosity.

As she approached the library, which on its own could contain her house back at Lausune at least six times, she became aware of other things happening at the periphery of her attention. People came and went from the dining hall, filled every available table and laboratory, cleaned the corridors. A monk was crossing the monastery from one branch of the building to another, carrying a basket of bread and vegetables. He entered a room on the bottom floor, with a separate door to the outside. Most of the people inside were local inhabitants of various ages. There was just one monk, standing in front of them with a blackboard to her right. It was a classroom, Saia realized. The lesson seemed to be wrapping up, at least according to the teacher's words.

"For next fourthday, I want you to reflect on the influence Aydaru has on your life. Every time you touch a metal object, think of the way she protects us from evil with her chain wrapped around the universe. Lastly, here's a prayer we recite every sixthday morning..."

Saia had reached the library. She pushed against the closed door until it was clear she couldn't open it without breaking it off its hinges, then knocked. A monk opened shortly after. He looked straight at her face, then her clothing, and shook his head.

"The library is monks only."

He closed the door before Saia could reply. She checked the secret staircase: she could see another piece of it, but it still went down for who knew how longer. She put a hand against the wood, testing again the solidity of the door. She could put everyone inside to sleep, enter and check what was on the other side of the stairs before breakfast was over. But what if there was nothing worthwhile at the end of the staircase? What if the abbot got news of what happened?

She retracted her hand, then retraced her steps. She had an idea about how to enter, but she needed Serit’s help. Until they were back, she could only follow their suggestion and ask around. Of all the monks that were likely to know an answer to her questions, a teacher seemed to be the one less likely to find her curiosity suspicious.

She arrived at the classroom while the students were standing from their desks and gathering the few things they'd brought with them, if any at all. The basket of bread and vegetables was now waiting on the teacher's desk, while she controlled that everyone took their portion and nothing more. Saia saw traces of viss in the food. They were only flecks, sparse enough not to seem intentional. If it had been prepared by the monks back at the mountain, she wouldn’t have doubted it was.

"Are you a new student?" the teacher asked while the students filed out of the door.

"No, just a guest. I wanted to ask you a few questions about the gods."

The monk smiled openly, even if Saia could spot a bit of irritation in her viss. Maybe she’d hoped to be done with the lesson.

"Of course. What do you want to know?"

"How many are there, exactly? I've heard nine, but the families are ten and apparently each of them has a god..."

The irritation grew to the point it started showing on the surface. The monk must have realized it, because she stopped smiling and breathed deeply.

“Gods have always been ten. Whoever told you about nine gods has never followed our teachings. You shouldn’t listen to them.”

“But the governing families haven’t always been ten.”

The monk took a piece of chalk, but only turned it between her fingers without writing anything.

“You’re talking about the beastforgers. Their demise has been a tragedy, and we don’t yet know which god has willed it. We’ll wait for Lunusu to choose another governing house.”

“How would he do it?”

“She. Probably through a vision, or a dream. By letting the designated family grow and be successful. The gardeners might be a candidate, but the goddess hasn’t spoken in their favor yet.”

“Sure.” Saia remembered the words of the elder, but she had enough control over her voice to not let the bitterness show. “What about nine gods?”

“They were never nine.”

“I know for sure they were,” Saia insisted. She caught glimpse of resignation in the teacher’s viss.

“Our predecessors thought they were nine in the distant past, but we’ve since amended the offenses to the god we had forgotten with prayers and sacrifices.”

“These predecessors didn’t seem very bright.”

She had intended her words as a joke, but the teacher’s viss flared.

“If our order didn’t crumble after the betrayal, it was all their merit. We owe everything we have to their wisdom.”

“Which betrayal? What happened?”

The teacher feigned perfect calm again.

“It’s forbidden to discuss it.”

“Who betrayed you? Other monks?”

The teacher started gathering the few documents on the desk.

“You don’t care about the gods, you only want to pry.”

Saia considered forcing her to reveal what happened in some way. Maybe manipulating her viss, even if monks were more likely to be experts at detecting it. Or by intimidating her with her powers.

She set her ideas aside. There was still the question of what was hidden at the end of the stairs. She could always look for the teacher later, once she and Serit were ready to leave the monastery.

“I won’t insist, I’m sorry,” Saia said, and couldn’t think of a better way to convince her to stay than asking her another question. “Why do you teach your religion? The locals already believe in..."

She remembered the elder’s words, but couldn't actually pinpoint what their beliefs were.

"In something else," she concluded.

"Of course, but we're offering them an alternative. The truth."

"How do you know it's the truth? Do you have any proof?”

For a moment, she expected the teacher to be offended and walk away. Instead, she set down her documents on the desk.

"We've had many proofs during the centuries. Visions, miracles. But the same structure of our religion proves that it's true. The local beliefs vary from village to village, sometimes from person to person. Only very few points are consistent. While our religion is immutable, with rites that are older than two thousand years.”

Saia thought back at their earlier conversation about the number of gods the monks believed in. She decided not to insist.

"So you don't have anything concrete? Like an object or a statue?"

"No, of course. That's the kind of thing the old religions did. But ours prevailed, while they all disappeared over time. People have a tendency to adore the objects rather than what they represent."

No spheres then, at least not publicly.

"Why were you giving them food?" she asked, more out of curiosity than hope of finding something else.

"Because they need it. The soldiers are too harsh on these people. We can bring relief, a better equilibrium. Hopefully avoid more blood spillings."

"But you're still on Aressea’s side."

"We're on our gods' side."

“And they protect the families.”

"A temporary favor that can be revoked at any moment. As long as they keep acting in accordance to the gods' teachings, they'll keep having our help, just like everyone who embraces our faith.”

"Why not all the inhabitants of the Golden Lands? Why don't you just give them all food?"

"We don't have enough for everyone. And we need to nourish the soul, not just the body."

Something in her tone reminded Saia of another teacher, back at the monks' village. Back when she and Aili hadn't yet been accepted as monks.

"What about sacrifice?"

The monk blinked. Saia made sure her confusion was genuine before continuing.

"I've heard that you believe in the sacrifice of a few for the good of many. Is it true?"

"It's a noble intention, and there are many monks here that seem to follow it. But it's not part of our teachings."

Saia nodded. She hadn't learned nearly as much as she’d hoped.

While she was returning to her room the floor quivered again, as if the monastery itself was laughing at her.