Quinn took a deep breath and counted to five. Barely. Frankly she was still ready to pop at about 3, but it wasn't anyone's fault in here. More spies in the Library wasn't what Quinn wanted to hear. She liked everyone she'd had a proper chance to meet. She loved most things about the Library too. So this constant deliberate sabotage made her grit her teeth.

"Isn't there some magical sort of truth serum we could give every single person who works here to make them tell us the truth?" Quinn asked, finally. It wasn't that she wanted to yell and scream, but she was quite certain doing so would at least relieve some of the tension she felt.

Milaro cocked his head to one side, "Of course there are those sorts of potions and serums, even some tonics I believe."

"But?" Quinn butted in, knowing it was coming.

He grinned. "But, those are in the advanced wing of the Library. Granted, there are people scattered all over the universe who won't need the books to create such a concoction. Why, I bet your friend Jasper would have some familial related recipes written down back at her home."

Quinn brightened slightly. "Do you think that's something we could talk people into taking?"

Milaro shrugged and Lynx spoke up instead. "We can only ask. It's not like we can force them to take it. But most people who are working here? I doubt they'd say no. And if they did, wouldn't that mean they have something to hide?"

"Exactly!" Quinn was happy to know Lynx was at least on her side, although Milaro hadn't been against it.

"The thing is," Milaro said, his brow furrowed thoughtfully. "There are many types of ingredients, and not all species can ingest or inject all of them. Some of them may cause allergic reactions. Basically you need an expert in not only the creation process, but also the application process to allow for any incidentals that might crop up."

Quinn sighed, and realized the room around her with all its sparkling glory was slowly sucking her into a lull. She wanted badly to just nap. But, at least for now, there was no time. The Library tossed her a feeling that resembled a chuckle. Like a short wave of laughter that soothed her soul. "Stop that," she muttered.

"Sorry." The Library said. "You just seemed a little stressed."

"It's not stress as such. I'm just intent on getting everything fixed." Quinn crossed her arms and looked at the shadowy form. "I'm genuinely relieved and happy that your connections are reawakening. But we still have so much to sort out and I can't afford to lose focus."

There was a momentary damper that rippled through the core chamber. But then the shadow nodded. "You make a good point. Lynx... head upstairs. You need to calibrate with all the system access points too."

"Mhm." the manifestation said, as if he was only partially paying attention. But then he moved away from the core and began, very slowly, heading toward the stairs.

"Take care of him for a bit. He's still got a lot to process. It'll probably come back in fragments and waves. I'll see you soon." And then the Library's shadow form was gone, and Quinn could feel the presence settling into the back of her mind like a warm and comforting blanket.

While it had never actually left her, the Library's presence had been faint at best while she was in Halschius. Quinn hadn't realized just how attached she'd become.

She activated her flight and hovered herself up the stairs, following directly after Lynx. When she arrived at the top, she turned and glanced back at Milaro. He still seemed paler than usual. "Are you sure..."

"I'm fine, Quinn." Milaro said, preempting her concern. "There are other things we need to attend to before we worry about the fact that I'm a bit tired."

"You have been doing a lot." She continued anyway.

"Astute observation." He smiled. "Let's concentrate on getting ourselves sorted first. Deal?"

"For now." Quinn narrowed her eyes at him as they continued to follow Lynx toward her office.

Dottie was trotting around the large conference table when they entered the room, while Geneva hovered in the corner, flipping through something in her interface.

"Hey." Quinn said, genuinely happy to see them, although she'd thought they'd gone back to their tasks and hadn't realized they were waiting for her.

"Librarian!" Dottie was positively beaming. The bench always gave Quinn that little rush of dopamine just by being herself.

"Dottie!" Quinn said back, trying to put as much enthusiasm into her own words as the bench. She could see Geneva not only roll her eyes, but also the small smile that tugged on the Firionas Fae's mouth.

"We have all the updates for you! All prepared. Along with our recommendations." Preening. That was the right way for how the bench held herself, for the pride she took in having something for Quinn to do.

Information flashed up in front of Quinn's face, and she realized it had been a good while since she'd gone through the book retrieval statistics.

Main Branch Tome Report

4823 are still outstanding from the initial overdue amount. 13219 books returned. 1 book being reproduced. 417 in repair status. 18 missing restricted books.

Horticulture: 536/720

Bardic Musical: 604/897

Crafting: 493/730

Alchemical/Medicinal: 342/384

Combat: 661/837

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Academy: 608/785

Culinary Arts: 282/282 - Culinary Branch Open - 3281 Books of 3795 remaining, 514 culinary specialist books returned. Would you like a categorical breakdown?

Yes or No?

Quinn shook her head absently. No, she didn't want categorical breakdowns until they'd cleared all the remaining books in the Main Branch. But this...

"We only need another 42 books to open the Medicinal and Alchemical Branch?" She asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Exactly!" Dottie said, practically jittering in the spot with excitement.

Quinn laughed. "That's pleasant news." Considering she really wanted to get whatever tomes memorized that would allow her to shove a truth serum down every assistant applicants throat... She took a deep breath. Thinking like that was only going to have her suspecting every single person around her. Which, in a way, she sort of did.

"That's the plan then?" Milaro asked as he let himself fall into the couch, very unceremoniously, and not at all king like in nature.

"Yes." Quinn said. She observed him for several moments and frowned. "Malakai..."

The elf peeled himself from the station he'd never even left by the door, and crossed his arms, staring at her. "What?"

"Take Milaro home please. Get him checked up..."

"Quinn!" Milaro actually snapped out, and then sighed softly. "I am fine. There's nothing to worry about when it comes to me. A good night's sleep is all I need."

But Quinn shook her head. "I don't think it is. You're pale, and you even said your shielding had cracks. So no. Go home, see your physician or whoever takes care of your health, and please, rest for a day or three." She tried commanding on for size so she didn't worry herself into a minor panic attack. Milaro had been a rock since she got there. Training her, giving her confidence, teaching her the ways of all the worlds around them. She didn't even want to contemplate him being sick.

"You have to take care of yourself." she continued, "You owe me a feast, remember?"

Milaro actually chuckled. There was an air of confusion from both Dottie and Geneva, but they wisely remained silent.

Malakai frowned. "I'm not sure I should leave your side..."

Aradie hooted loudly and indignantly enough that Malakai cringed. "Fine, fine... she's safe if you promise to stick around then."

The owl fluffed her feathers up and turned her back on the elf as if to say, I've been around longer than you, of course she'll be fine.

Malakai sighed. "Time to get home you old geezer."

"Show some respect, runt." But there was a tired smile on the King's face. He paused to make direct eye contact with Quinn before allowing himself to be ushered out of the room. "Just a bit of a rest. That's all."

Quinn nodded slowly. "But you have to recuperate some of that energy. Promise?"

"Promise." Milaro nodded as Malakai practically pushed him out of the door.

He paused before following his grandfather. "I'll make sure he really does get himself checked out. Thanks, Quinn." He flashed her a smile and then dashed after Milaro.

Quinn watched them go, fighting this odd melancholic sensation she could feel rising within. She gave herself a bit of a shake as she headed to her chair and turned her attention back to Dottie. "So. Tell me all about all these reports!"

Dottie padded over and joined her behind the desk while Geneva hovered above the desk.

Quinn scrolled through the forty-books in front of her and frowned. "So most of these are actually still with the people or families who borrowed them in the first place?"

Geneva nodded. "Yes, but they haven't responded to any of the pings to return books."

"And we're sure they're getting them?" Quinn asked. After all the Library had been on such low power for so long... maybe long range attributes were also glitchy.

"Yes. Definitely the last few ever since the fourth filtration tower went online. With yours and the Library's levels increasing your reach and efficiency has been expanding." She smiled as if that made all the sense in the world.

"Any reason they won't have returned them yet? Are they perhaps with Serpensiril allies?" Quinn asked hesitantly.

Geneva and Dottie exchanged a glance, which was quite interesting on its own considering the bench's lack of facial features. But it was more of a sensation that flowed through the ambient surrounds.

"Spill it." Quinn said, "I know there's something you're not telling me."

"You know the locations we're currently narrowing in on to find the three restricted books we still need?" Dottie asked, like she was speaking to a child.

Quinn decided not to let it bother her for the moment, because truth be told, she still wasn't used to magic to such an extent that everything came naturally to her. "The ones that Jasper located on the map she conjured?" Also, Quinn couldn't remember having told Dottie or Geneva this, although the latter probably learned it from her aunt who appeared to be close with Milaro. To be honest, Dottie had probably just kept her ears open at the right time. She could occasionally be a sneaky bench.

"Those very same ones." Dottie continued. "Anyway - a few of the books are located in close proximity to those books."

"Okay, and what's stopping us just activating the homing beacon and making the books walk back to us like some of them did last time?" Quinn really didn't understand why some things worked occasionally but not always. Then again, perhaps the artefact or book's own affinities had a huge part to play too.

"Because most of these are still attached to a living family line." Dottie said the last slowly and delicately.

"And that family line doesn't appear to want to return them?" Quinn pursed her lips in thought.

"Well it would seem not."

"What about the other books?"

Geneva cleared her throat and took over. "Well, those are being summoned as we speak. We've sent out a category specific retrieval message."

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "That's a thing?"

"Of course. Wide recalls are generally frowned upon and more often than not, completely unnecessary." Geneva explained, and then caught herself. "Except in the case that we're rebooting the Library and require every single book to be returned for better power distribution."

Quinn digested that. It was a bit of a mouthful. "I get it. And I guess we'll go get those ones that are in troublesome spaces too - especially since we already have other important things to retrieve there."

Dottie was jumping from one leg to another, which was a normal thing for someone to do when they're excited, but for a superellux futora that involved hitting each foot once in a weird staccato rhythm.

"What is it?" Quinn asked.

"Does this mean we're aiming to open the Alchemical and Medicinal branch as soon as possible?" Dottie asked, her excitement barely contained.

Quinn watched the bench closely. She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out what was so exciting about that. Nor could she figure out a reason not to answer in the affirmative, even if Dottie was being extremely out of character in that moment. "Well, it's the one that needs the least books, and the sooner we open another branch the more power we'll get flowing, right?"

"Yes. Correct." Geneva said with a sigh that sounded oddly like she'd given up.

"Okay you two, what am I missing?" Quinn couldn't shake the sense of bewilderment she felt.

"I win!" Dottie said, her voice so high pitched it was almost a squeal.

"It was a lucky guess." Geneva said, pouting.

"No it wasn't. I used my expert powers of deduction and I win." Dottie said smugly.

Quinn held up a hand. "What do you mean you won?"

"Oh!" Dottie had calmed down ever so slightly. "A few of us bet on which branch would be opened next! And I won!"

Quinn laughed just as Geneva groaned. Apparently workplaces and groups of friends were the same all throughout the universe.