The core never failed to make Quinn stare in awe. She loved the lights, which were slightly duller than usual, and nevertheless reminded her of frosted trees in a twilight. They lit up leaf like centers still reminded her of starry nights. And she was most happy to see that despite everything else... despite all their trouble that this whole procedure might actually have worked.

There were barely any red, orange, or yellow instances of lighting left.

Sure, there were several holes, but nothing that exhibited a sign of warning or infection. She let out a small sigh of relief.

“Feels like that, doesn’t it?” Milaro sounded slightly strained.

Quinn glanced over at him, wresting her eyes from the beautiful sight of the lights in the cavern. He seemed a little drawn, his face slightly thinner than she remembered, even though it could probably be the lighting down here as well. “Is everything okay?” She asked, suddenly concerned.

He didn’t glance down at her, but a small smile spread across his face. “I’m as well as I can be when I’m practically splitting myself in two. But thank you. It means a lot that you care.”

Quinn frowned. “Of course I care.” She didn’t like him completely and utterly avoiding the question like that. But for now, they had bigger concerns. She’d be sure to hassle him about his wellbeing a little later.

As they approached the core, Quinn realized Lynx’s presence was strong. And yet, she couldn’t see him anywhere.

Until they got right up close.

The trunk of the core was practically luminescent, and at the base of it was a pod filled with multicolored constantly changing iridescent light. It swirled around and moved in synch with the way the lights faded in and out all around them, almost like it was dancing.

Reinstatement in five minutes.

Quinn paused and looked up at Milaro, who’d obviously also heard the announcement. “Does that mean the process is almost finished?” she whispered.

He nodded and smiled. She could see so much relief in the expression. She only hoped this forewarning everyone did of how long it would take for them to properly regain their information, was hugely exaggerated.

It was easy to pass the time watching the lights. She loved the way they lit up, how they illuminated the surroundings and, at the same time, expressed such a sense of peace and wellbeing. And the swirl of lights in the pod fascinated her. Mesmerizing in the way it moved and swapped colors and light density. She didn’t need to be told that was Lynx’s true form.

Here he was in his natural state, without trying to be anything for anyone else. It made her wonder if he enjoyed being able to take on different forms, or if he preferred just being light.

Process completed.

Initializing reinstatement.

The pod opened, and the light spilled forth. Somehow it danced with enthusiasm, with this complete and utter joy, just for a few precious seconds. It refracted and shone, somehow, all at the same time. Surely he had to know they were watching, but he didn’t seem to care.

The light swirled into a multitude of different shapes, so fast Quinn couldn’t even keep up with it. But he was there, suddenly, just like when she’d first seen him. The deep purple Lynx with the gorgeous runic stripes running all around him. His eyes were bright and focused solely on Quinn as his face split into a huge grin.

“Welcome back, Lynx.”

He continued to smile, even as his eyes flickered and she knew he was checking out all manner of things that he’d missed.

“It worked...” he mumbled, a look of shock coming over his feline face. “I think it actually worked.”

“Well, that’s good.” Milaro said dryly. “Or we just wasted a whole heap of time and energy.

Lynx laughed, and it was the first free and hard laugh Quinn had ever heard from him.

“It’s good to see you.” She said.

“And you. How...” but Lynx paused, a frown on his face.

At the same time, the Library stirred within her, and the shadowy figure that was the Library when it chose to be, emerged from the core.

Together, they both stared at her and spoke. “What the hell happened? Who poisoned you?”

Quinn blinked. “That was days ago now. How is it that easy to tell?”

Milaro cocked his head to the side. “It made a few obvious changes, that’s all. For anyone who knows you and views you through a filtering lense, it’s very apparent.”

Quinn narrowed her eyes, peering at him. “Filtering lense?”

“Oh, because of your situation, I frequently make sure we took everything into account and that you’re not having unforeseen interactions.” Milaro shrugged as if it were the most natural thing in the universe.

She nodded. It tracked well enough. He had to monitor the experiment, after all. Even if she was still adjusting to having been one. “Enough about me for now, Lynx! How are you feeling?”

The manifestation grinned and slowly morphed into his human form. “I’m feeling... fine.” He stretched out each arm and wiggled the fingers as if testing them. “Yep, all functional.”

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“But how is your head feeling?” Quinn frowned and looked around. She’d thought there was something for her to do down here...

And that’s when Lynx stumbled.

She caught him, confused as to why she had to. Usually he was able to adjust his form enough to pass through objects and the like if he fell or moved even. “What’s wrong?”

Lynx laughed. “I’m fine... it’s just this whole weird manifestation thing right now. All the information that’s slowly beginning to unlock is propagating and putting me a little off kilter here.”

The Library took a few steps forward, hesitating. “Lynx is still processing. WE literally had to delete pathways of information and rebuild them from the ground up. A lot of new points of transfer were reopened after being addressed. It’s been a lot to handle. For both of us.”

Quinn grinned. “I do believe I know something about being a lot to handle.”

Milaro rolled his eyes.

“Okay, so what do I need to do here?”

The elf king blinked at her. “You have to make sure your connections with the Library and Lynx haven’t been affected in any way.”

Quinn nodded. “Because the process could have disrupted things?”

“Precisely.” He paused. “And I’m here to make certain nothing has gone wrong and that you don’t accidentally get sucked into the system in ways we can’t retrieve.”

Quinn stopped and looked at him. “Excuse me?”

“Ah, yes. It’s a side effect. Although the finalization of the sequencing seems to have gone perfectly according to plan.” He paused and gave her a wan smile. “You can just never be too careful.”

She took a deep breath, counted to three, and spoke. “Next time, it might be nice to be prepared for anything untoward that could potentially happen. You know, just in case. Can’t be too careful.”

Milaro cringed. “I was being a tad insufferable, wasn’t I?”

Quinn didn’t even deign that with an answer. Instead, she sat down in her little sitting spot, where she rested against the tree trunk and beckoned for Lynx to do the same with her. Once he joined her, his busy eyes blinking rapidly, she spoke. “So. How do you feel connection wise?”

Lynx pondered that thoughtfully for a bit. “It’s full again, but not as full as it once was. There are elements I still need to get a hold of. There are pathways still being forged and others that are warily renewing themselves. But, I don’t feel that constant sense of loss, the overwhelming sense of missing parts of me. The complete blank holes are still there, but now I can see a way to get to them, eventually anyway. Once everything has reestablished itself. Several memories have come back to me with the initial flush, nothing I believe pertinent to our current situation, but... I do think this worked.”

“Well, that’s just wonderful.” Quinn was relieved. “How long do you think this whole recalibration process is going to take?”

“Days, no, actually more likely weeks. There are convoluted paths in place now where there was once easy access. Rebuilding the roads or crafting new ones will take time, but now I have the tools to do so.” He looked at Quinn with so much hope, and a smidgen of the cockiness he’d shown when she first met him. “It won’t be too long in the grand scheme of things.”

“That’s good to hear you say.” Relief swept through her. “And you?” She turned to the Library.

“I am unexpectedly well. Rejuvenated. Again, the full amalgamation of this refresh will take a while, but...” It’s voice sounded like it was smiling. “I do believe we can right the wrongs that were committed and get back on track.”

Quinn felt a sudden calm come over her as the Library around her practically revved up. Energy flowed in a renewed way, in a more efficient way. If she closed her eyes, she could sense everything around them with so much more clarity now. With a sense that she hadn’t realized was lacking before. All of the areas appeared clearer. The stacks, the kitchen, the whole culinary branch, heck, even the check-in desk gave her more information from where she was right now.

Her sense of the entire structure was more in tune with the Library flow. She could sense the power underlying everything, from the books to the patrons, from the filtration chamber to the check-in desk; it was all in one big spiderweb of power. One she’d instinctively known was there, but never actually witnessed.

At the same time, it made her aware of just how much damage had been done to the Library. The saboteurs had done their best to destroy and mangle everything it meant. But they had done so subtly. Not having anything to compare it to before, she realized now that her entire connection to the Library had been tainted.

It was extremely subtle about it, but it had colored her ability to read anything about the Library. In fact, even the vibrance the patrons brought to it had been dampened. Not to mention now she could feel the species specific chambers just by reaching for them. She could check on each individual in them and throughout the entire Library.

It was like they’d been running on half broken generator power beforehand and everything had been operating at a bare minimum.

And now, the whole entire thing was lit up like a Christmas tree.

“This is wonderful,” she said. “It feels brand new.”

“That’s because it is, in a way.” The Library said. “There were a lot more sequences that needed to be replaced than I’d thought. The suggestion was a good one. Thank you Quinn.”

Quinn waved the thanks away. “Someone would have come up with it. Was only a matter of time, really.”

“Perhaps, but now we can truly rebuild. And we can begin to truly weed out those areas that were infected and investigate the restricted vault with so much more precision.” Even the Library sounded more upbeat than Quinn remembered, just more alive, more determined.

Lynx shook himself and stood up, springing into action next to Quinn.

“You’ve got a lot more energy.” She said, standing up with a groan. She was still tired from all the training she’d just done with Hal. Not back in the Library for two hours and she already felt worn out. Not to mention the amount of knowledge she was still processing had taken a bit of mental strain.

“Not all of us were poisoned via Etridilelum.” Lynx shrugged. “That’s going to drain your energy for days regardless of how healed up you got yourself.”

“Excuse me? What did you say?” No one back in Halschius had told her what the poison was.

Lynx blinked at her. “You were poisoned by Etridilelum leaf. Very potent poison, although not nearly as useful on those with some reptilian blood in their ancestry. They obviously had no idea about your heritage.” He finished off with a laugh.

“We’ve established that. But is that a poison they could have tested what I am with?” Quinn had a growing suspicion that the poisoning incident hadn’t been meant to kill her but to help determined why they’d been so unlucky in killing her thus far.

Lynx frowned for the first time since waking up. “I mean, sort of, although that wouldn’t give a definitive answer depending on how long it had been since you ingested it, your surroundings, your own magic and that of those around you. All the factors could tell them a lot, but I don’t think that’s what this is. For anyone that would have been a risky move to make in Halschius, and I’m quite certain they only made it because Aradie wasn’t with you.”

Aradie hooted angrily.

“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to worry about singing your feathers by going to visit with me next time.” She pet the bird on the head. “I think Hal has it sorted now. They basically hijacked our door portal in.”

“They what now?” Lynx and Milaro asked, turning to stare at her.

“They hijacked our door portal into Halschius and hid behind the signature of the two containment blocks we had the prisoners in.” She shrugged. “I mean, Uncle Hal seemed very put out by that, but I don’t believe anyone will be able to do it again now he’s aware of it.”

Milaro grunted. “That’s ingenious. And would have had to be perfectly timed.”

“Oh no.” Quinn groaned.

“Oh yes.” The Library said, its tone stern. “That means we haven’t weeded out all the spies yet.”