The cookies, of course, were not the reason I eventually accepted the old librarian's invitation to tea. He seemed to know a lot and, more importantly, was willing to talk about it.

"How is the tea, Miss Grey?" He asked, sipping from his cup. "I find the jartine tea very soothing."

Whether it was the tea, the silence, or the lack of stares sending chills down my spine, I had no idea. However, sitting there at the table under some sort of enchanted window, I found myself in an unusual peace.

"It is. The cookies are delicious, too," I said, nibbling on one - savoring the delicate balance of sweetness and spice, with a hint of honey and a whisper of vanilla - while my eyes traveled the vista outside the window. Instead of some side street between the library and the building next door, as I would have expected, I found myself looking at a meadow under a mountain with snowy peaks. It wasn't some cheap painting pasted on the wall outside the window - the grass in the meadow waved in the breeze, butterflies fluttered on the flowers, and birds moved across the sky. The sight seemed so real that while sitting there one might easily forget they were sitting in the middle of a bustling city.

"Fascinating, isn't it?"

"That's an understatement. Is it some kind of magic?"

"Enchantment, runes carved and maintained over the years. One of the many prides of this library, gifted by Emperor Sahal VI himself."

"O-oh."

'I mean, what could one say to that?' Obviously it was a big deal, but I had no idea whether Sahal VI was the current Emperor or his great-great-great-grandfather. So, instead, I focused on something I knew I wouldn't offend the librarian with.

"Is it - is it some kind of recording or a live feed? I mean, if what we're looking at is real?"

"Are you interested in magic tools, Miss Grey?"

"No. Well, yes. They can do so many things. But if you're asking if I'm interested in how they work, then no." As cool as it would be to know how the spatial ring worked - after all, it might as well move me closer to finding my way back home - I was under no illusions that the rune rings making that enchantment were something beyond my capacity to understand, ever.

"I'm glad to hear that because if you were, I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help. My interest lies in the obvious," he said, hinting towards the library and the books. "And I assure you there are books on those shelves meant to teach you how to master Standard. The question is, what exactly do you want to learn, Miss Grey."

"What do you mean?" I asked, sipping from my cup of jartine tea and reaching for another cookie.They were delicious.

"Well, if it's just to talk, I think you have a better chance of learning by listening and talking to those around you. I have seen some enchantments that made books talk, but it was as impractical as it was ridiculous."

"But how can I listen to someone speak Standard when weave translates everything into the speech I understand?"

"How indeed? I wonder, though, isn't it obvious?"

To be honest, whether it was the intent in his words or not, what he was implying was kind of obvious. "Are you telling me to get rid of the weave?"

"Terrifying, isn't it?"

'Was it?' To some extent, yes. The mere thought of not understanding a word he was saying sent a chill down my spine. But the thing was, how else did I expect to learn to speak Standard? The whole point of me learning to speak the local language was to get rid of the weave.

"While that fear is not without justification - after all, with the loss of the weave you lose years of your efforts - however hear my words. You see, as I got older, I began to wonder if I had put the effort into Lattice or myself, for that matter."

"I'm sorry, but I don't follow."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Nothing to hold against you. The musings of a man nearing the end of his life. For the love of the Emperor, I cannot ask of you what I myself was incapable of. Though gifted with an adventurous mind, my heart is of the opposite nature. And so all my adventures take place on the pages of books."

"O-oh, I see... wish I could say the same," I stammered, once again having no idea where this old librarian was going with this, what his love of books had to do with learning Standard.

"My apologies, Miss Grey. I did not mean to imply that all adventures are as glorious as those depicted in books. I just meant to say that I don't have the brave heart to, let's say, verify my assumptions myself."

'Hold on a minute.' Did the sweet librarian offer me tea and cookies to talk me into letting him experiment on me? 'NEVER!'

"Sorry, Mr. Sandoval," I spoke, my voice laced with the growl of the beast. "But I didn't come here to be used to verify some assumption."

"Please soothe your anger. I ask you for nothing but an open mind. You have come to enrich your knowledge, to learn how to speak Standard - and may I assume, wondering how to achieve that, when your weave lets you do just that. Please tell me, am I wrong?"

"N-no, you are not?"

"At some point, you're going to have to get rid of that weave. But have you asked yourself when that will be? After your weave reaches the second circle, the third circle, or higher? Instead of that, you should be asking how you're going to reach those. Do you know, Miss Grey?"

Not really what I was aiming for. I had no desire to reach another circle with [Eleaden Standard Language], but an interesting question nonetheless. 'What would I have to do to accomplish that?' The recent engraving of the 15th rune on [Spatial Domain] came immediately to mind.

"I'd have to push myself further, learn more of Standard, and perhaps write with it."

"Exactly," beamed the old librarian, more than thrilled that I came up with the apparently right answer. "You will have to "learn" more. Actually, talking to you like this makes me believe that you already did."

"Did what?"

"But of course, learned to speak Standard."

"W-wait a minute, Mr. Sandoval. Are you telling me that if I get rid of my weave, I'll be able to talk with you as if I still had it? Because when I got rid of my Slave weaves, I lost those... well, abilities."

The old librarian smiled wryly, a shadow of sadness in his eyes. "If that were the case, we would not be having this conversation. What I do believe, however, is that should you get rid of your weave, you will find yourself not entirely without knowledge of Standard. After all, to get to where you are, you had to listen and talk."

My first reaction was to dismiss the idea and growl, "Bullshit." Given my own experience and everyone's seeming insistence on having the right arrays and weaves - the benefits of which were undeniable - it just didn't quite add up for me.

However, giving it a thought, other things quickly came to mind.

I remembered Mrs. Scoresby's words about how I didn't need a weave to learn to dance, and especially those nights when I farted under the covers. There was no need to have a weave in order for Sage to form poison. Actually, as a beast, I was able to control the orange cloud without one. Hell, I turned into a beast without a weave - not to mention my ability to talk to animals and give off bestial might. All that without any weave.

"W-wait!" I blurted out as excitement gave way quickly to a chilling realization. "Does that mean I'll never lose what I had learned with a weave?"

"I guess it depends on what you actually learned while having the weave and how long has it been since you had it, but yes... that's what I believe, Miss Grey. An unpopular view for sure. It's mentioned across the books, yet you’d be hard pressed to find anyone talking about it. I guess it's easier, and I'm guilty of that myself, just to..."

"M-my... my Slave array weaves," I managed to stutter out, dread gripping me. "D-does that mean that I still... still... will be eager to serve that deranged asshole?"

"Ehm. I imagine you mean your former master?”

A nod and a beastly growl escaping my throat were my answers.

“W-well, Miss, Grey, that depends..."

The rest of the librarian's words got lost to my raging thoughts, remembering the descriptions of those hateful weaves carved into my memory - especially that of [Master's Toy].

─◇────────────────────────────────────────

Master's Toy

Array Weave

[72] glyphs - ⦿⦿⦿

⦿

With your master the only one on your mind,

you will be thrilled to fulfill whatever you were assigned.

⦿⦿

To hear at least once a day your master's voice,

will make carrying out his orders easier and your heart rejoice.

⦿⦿⦿

To serve often entails to selflessly sacrifice, even to suffer,

but one look from your master and your guts will flutter.

─◇────────────────────────────────────────