Nyssa's Point of View

Chapter 20

In the end, none of the story spirits had felt comfortable coming with us to the festival except for the knight commander. And even he had only come after we promised that nobody would capture him in a jar again like a bug. Right now he was hidden away in Roan's jacket pocket, only visible when he peeked out to look at our new surroundings.

The Tales and Tomes Festival went on for an entire month and was the biggest story festival of the year, taking over the streets of the capital and spilling out into smaller cities beyond it. Thousands of authors spent the time writing new books while readers got to meet their favorite authors and join bookish events.

The whole thing culminated in a special ceremony held at magical libraries around the world where authors offered up their newly born books to the story gods and were blessed with good ideas for the year to come. The libraries were also blessed if enough people showed up, proving the public wanted them to thrive.

And I was going to make sure that our library was one of them.

As Roan and I walked onto the festival grounds, the sounds of groans filled the air. The festival only had a week left, so most of the writers were reaching their limits by now. Everyone started off all excited, but after pumping out the words day after day, their minds went a little mushy.

We entered the grounds by Nightmare Alley, the inspiration for many a horror novel. Haunting screams filled the air along with rattling chains and strange lights.

Roan frowned. "Is this what all festivals are like? It looks...a little grim."

"Not exactly," I said, coughing as smoke tendrils coiled in front of me. "Maybe we should head over to the Enchanted Realm a few streets over, it's to the right of Lover's Cove."

Roan raised an eyebrow. "You've been here before, huh?"

"Of course, I'm a librarian."

Actually I'd tried my hand at writing a novel once, but mainly just brainstormed ideas without actually getting any words on the page. The experience was amazing though. All these writers in one spot, cheering each other on, motivating everyone to just write one more chapter.

One more page.

One more sentence.

"You can't find another festival as bookish as this one," I said, excitement coursing through me as we left Nightmare Alley. "There are book themed crafts, food, plays, and a lot of authors even do book signings! It's my favorite time of the year."

"I love how much you love it here." Roan grinned widely, offering me his hand. "Mind showing me around?"

"Uhhh, sure. I'd like that." The back of my neck warmed as I slipped my hand into his. He'd been sleeping on the floor again ever since we kissed a few days ago, but we kept finding small moments like this to be close without any pressure to do more yet.

But this was not a date, it was a mission so I had to stay focused.

"Actually," I said slowly, "we need to sign the Misty Mountain Library up for the final ceremony first."

He curled his fingers around mine, tracing circles on my palm with his thumb. Warmth blossomed in my chest as we walked around the festival, hand in hand. Okay, maybe it was a little bit of a date.

As we made our way to the center of town, Roan's gaze kept wandering to the stalls.

"Don't even think about it," I warned. "We're in the magical food section. So unless you want a Mystic Mocha that'll keep you awake for three days and then knock you out flat or some Bard Biscuits that'll turn everything you say into song, I'd steer clear."

"Could be useful," he said, studying the menu. "Clarity Crystals are hard candy that bring focus to your mind and this Stamina Sourdough boosts your endurance." He turned to me, eyes wide. "The guild's chefs are always looking for new recipes, maybe they should visit."

The guild and Sylas were two things I didn't want to think about today. Today was all about beautiful book magic that the library so desperately needed and Roan.

"I'm going to go sign us up," I said, squeezing his hand before letting it go. "Why don't you get us some food? Normal food."

"Okay," he said, "but you're kind of taking the fun out of it."

I rolled my eyes. "Try the magical food too then, I'm not stopping you."

I wound my way through the stalls until I found the administration building and walked up to the counter.

"How can I help you?" a young woman with pencils stuck through her buns asked.

"I'd like to sign the Misty Mountain Library up for the festival."

"Of course, I'd be happy to help." She smiled a bit too brightly as she pulled some paperwork out. "Name of the library, address, and name of the writer who's sponsoring you."

"Name of the...writer?"

She frowned, fiddling with one of the pencils in her hair. "Yes, you need a writer to present their new book at your library, otherwise the festival would be kind of anticlimactic for people."

A sense of doom settled over me. I'd forgotten that key piece of the festival because my last library always had tons of writers visiting it, so having one was never in doubt. But a supposedly haunted little backwoods library like ours? Yeah, that might be a little trickier to convince anyone to bring their new book to.

"There are a few undeclared writers still," the woman said. "Maybe you could talk to one of them?"

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Hope surged through me. "Can I have their names?"

"Well, we don't give out that kind of information," she said, leaning forward to whisper, "but once the writers are done with the noon writing sprint, you can ask around. I'm sure somebody would give your library a chance if it's nice."

If it was nice. I thought that it was the best library I'd ever been to, but I'd admit a lot of that was nostalgia and my personal connection to it. We'd all worked so hard to make it beautiful, but the rumors of it being haunted and the difficulty getting up the mountain might still be issues.

"Miss?"

"Oh, sorry," I said, "thanks for the information. I'll be back later."

She nodded and waved as I walked away, still trying to think of ideas. Would I be better off trying to find a local writer, one who would remember the library from their childhood like I did, or find a writer here where hopefully nobody had heard the rumors about it being haunted?

We could even do a little story spirit show-and-tell if the knight in Roan's pocket was up for it.

"Nyssa, over here," Roan said, waving me over to a table in the courtyard piled with all different kinds of food.

The scent of freshly baked bread washed over me, warm and toasty, mixed with delicate spices from a taco platter and some kind of meat and veggie skewers that the knight was drooling over. Then there were the desserts. Oh the desserts. He'd purchased tarts and cookies, pies and bars, a whole treasure trove of delicious-looking food.

My mouth was watering by the time I sat down, unable to choose what to try first.

"I wasn't sure what you liked," Roan said. "So I got a bit of everything."

"That was a very good plan." I reached for the bread, still warm to the touch. "We'll need to find some good food for our festival too."

"Think Mochi could do it?" he asked, munching on a fruit skewer. "I still have no idea where that food comes from, but it always makes me feel happy. Like he puts some secret ingredient in it."

True, Mochi's food did have a heartwarming quality. Nostalgic and warm, like this bread. I smeared an herb scented butter on a slice and took a glorious bite. It was so soft it practically melted in my mouth.

"Of course Sir Mochi could do it," mumbled a tiny voice from inside Roan's pocket. The knight climbed out, almost falling onto the table. He put his hands on his hips, all proud once he reached the table safely. "I'll just try some of this food and give him a full report so he can recreate it."

The knight carefully walked around the piles of food that were almost as tall as him. I slid an extra plate over to him so he could put his bite-sized pieces of food on it and he bowed in return.

"Thank you, Lady Nyssa."

Then he proceeded to try every single piece of food Roan had purchased. His happy little noises made me so glad he'd decided to join us. The other story spirits had said they were worried about traveling so far away from the library, but really I had a feeling they were worried about how people would react to them.

I had to show them that people cared about the library so they would give people a chance to care about them too. Once everyone got to know the story spirits, they'd love them like I did. It had been working out great so far with the few people we'd had one on ones with, like the apothecary, but now we needed a more widespread plan.

"This is so good," Roan said, closing his eyes in delight as he bit into a fruit tart. "If I'd known festivals had so much good food, I'd have come to one sooner."

"Wait, you've never been to a festival before?"

He shook his head, brushing a crumb off his lip. "My parents thought festivals were a place people went to spend money and drink, so they never let me go. And once I was on my own....well, festivals felt like a place you should go with friends, you know?"

Was that implying he didn't have any friends? I picked at the piece of bread in front of me. I knew he said he liked to move on before he got too attached to people, but that seemed extreme. I knew he had some friends, like Jade, but maybe they weren't actually that close?

I wanted to say something meaningful, something to take away the kind of sad look on his face, but a theater troupe was setting up on the center stage and we wouldn't really be able to chat.

"Are there plays here?" he asked, leaning forward. The trace of sadness was gone, almost like I'd imagined it.

"Yeah, they act out famous stories throughout the festival. Based on the costumes and props, it looks like this one will be about the story of creation."

Roan sat at rapt attention as they announced the title of the play, only moving to eat some more of the good food. I smiled, happy we'd come here. Helping the library was great, but we needed to keep our spirits up too otherwise we'd be no good to Misty.

I pulled some squid ink pasta over to me and sat back to watch the show. The troupe used magic to enhance the story while actors played the roles of the three story gods: Terra, Solas, and Orion.

A narrator spoke up, guiding the actors through their parts. "At the birth of the universe stood three gods who yearned for a good story, and what do all good stories need? Settings, characters, and plots."

The knight sat down and tried to focus after noticing how intrigued Roan was, but he obviously cared more about the food than the play. I smiled, enjoying the moment with the two of them.

"Terra came first," the narrator said, "shaping the world out of magic, forming the mountains and rivers, the forests and plains. Her imagination formed the very land we walk on and grow food from. But a world without people was lonely, so Solas created gods, people, and beasts to roam the land, filling Terra's dream with life."

As the narrator spoke, illusion magic swept over the stage, showing the land being created and people walking across it aimlessly. Roan shifted his chair closer to me, smiling softly as his arm brushed against mine. My stomach fluttered. Yes, this was definitely a date.

"But simply living wasn't enough either," the narrator continued, "we had to learn and grow, struggle and love. So Orion wove our fate across the stars, giving each of us reasons to live and things to strive for. From their imagination, our stories were born. From our minds, we create new stories to offer them."

As he finished speaking, the illusions grew brighter, glowing beautifully even in the daylight. I bet we could do something similar with the demon lord's shadows, using them to put on a play like these illusions. If I could get him to cooperate.

A gong sounded and the crowd cheered. I would have joined, but spotted some exhausted looking people coming into the courtyard as if they'd just been set free from some terrible hardship.

I knew who they were: writers. Mentally exhausted writers.

"Come on," I whispered, nudging Roan. "We need to get one of those writers to sponsor our library for the festival."

"That was not part of the plan," he said as laughter crept into his voice.

"Well, it's part of the plan now," I said, sizing the writers up. "We're not going to get anyone famous, probably not even anyone experienced, but I bet we could convince a newbie to give our library a try."

"Do you think it'll work?" he asked. "Not trying to be mean, but the Misty Mountain Library hasn't been open in years. Will anyone really agree to bring their book there?"

He had a good point. Anyone who had heard of the library had probably either heard that it was closed or that it was haunted, neither of which were good for a festival.

"We'll just have to get creative," I said, "with a bit of good storytelling, you can get people to do just about anything."

He raised an eyebrow, swallowing a bite of food. "That's....a bit manipulative isn't it?"

"We wouldn't be lying or anything, just making sure we show off all the good points about the library." I nodded overtly at the tiny knight who was wolfing down pie. "Show people why our library is so unique."

Roan's mouth opened in an O. "Got it. Let's go nab you a writer then."

I grinned, leaning over to hug him tight. He was always so willing to help out with whatever I needed and he seemed to enjoy it too. I'd gotten so lucky the day he'd walked into my library. So very very lucky.

The knight cocked his head at us. "Wait, so what's the plan?"

"Come with us and find out," I said, offering him my hand.

He brushed crumbs off his armor before climbing onto my palm. "You know, it's not exactly knightly to be carried around like this."

"Would you prefer to be on my shoulder, like a little spirit guide?"

Roan laughed. "I don't think that would end well."

"Sir Roan, don't talk like that!" the knight protested, but he was smiling as he did it.

Together, we walked toward the writers, ready to convince them why our library was the best in the world. With Roan and the knight by my side, I felt like we really could do just about anything.