Quinn blinked at Lynx, her mind, for just a second, completely blank. It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard him; it was more than she didn’t comprehend what he’d said. “Wait... come again?”

“Ashiron is straining at the bindings holding it just outside of our pocket dimension.” Lynx said, as if everyone everywhere knew.

“And I’ve just not felt these tremors before?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lynx stared at her for a second, his purple eyes flickering in and out of focus. “Ah. Sorry. The ah... vault,” he glanced around at the others in the room as if hoping they wouldn’t catch on that he didn’t mean the restricted vault. “...is restricted for a reason,” he finished lamely and out loud.

But he spoke telepathically to her. The Library’s vault isn’t actually a part of the space the Library structure exists in. It’s more a part of the Library itself... distinct and separate. You wouldn’t have felt it in there.

Quinn digested that information. While she’d been aware Drevicia’s vault space was unique and not exactly a part of the Library itself, she hadn’t realized it was completely separated, either. She’d simply assumed they were still in the same pocket dimension and her mind didn’t want to contemplate the existence of multiple pocket dimensions within or next to one another. Surely dimensional shifts had to have a scientific explanation, right?

“Why didn’t anyone else tell me about the tremors, then?” She asked, looking at each of them pointedly.

Jasper pushed herself up from the couch, bouncing to her feet. She grinned. “That’s simple. Because you’ve been taking time to get your powers under control and everyone, and I do mean everyone, knows you’ve been running on fumes since you got here. I don’t think it’s super urgent, right? The seal on the pillar thingi isn’t about to break or anything.”

There was a flicker that passed over Lynx’s visage before he could take care of it. But Quinn caught it. “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“First. I want you to know I’m not not telling you things to keep them from you, but instead to avoid misinformation that comes from not having all the information yet,” Lynx said, quite eloquently. Then he sighed. “However... with this last tremor, it seems we probably need to go down and actually interact with the column itself.”

“Could that disrupt the seal?” Quinn asked.

Lynx shrugged. “Not clear as yet. Still haven’t managed to access those memories, but we’re working on it.”

He sounded so exasperated with himself that Quinn felt a pang of pity. After all, she remembered the car accident that killed her caretakers now... and it had been such a blow to realize what she’d forgotten. She couldn’t imagine how bad it would be to realize you had whole sections of your memories carved out by someone you’d trusted. “Can I help?”

“Probably not. But I appreciate the sentiment.” Lynx grinned at her and then paused, his head cocked to one side.

The Library’s voice came through to Quinn loud and clear, but obviously not to the others in the room.

It might be best if you make a trip down to the filtration chamber. We do need to open a sixth and seventh pillar anyway to assist with the renewed flows of mana and energy.

Sure. Quinn said, but is it wise for us to get close to it? She knew just how vast the underground filtration chamber was. Like football fields filled with the thick blue magical source. At least this time the chaotic miasma shouldn’t be present, or at least, not much of it. She wasn’t entirely sure how it worked when there was more than one filter available to the cavern.

It’s less wise of us to keep playing a guessing game when Lynx and I are still in the process of regaining our memories.

So, Quinn guessed it was going to be more like a month or so to regain all the data they’d lost. She’d really hoped the Library had been exaggerating when it told her Cadre was being generous with his time window of retrieval. “Okay then. We should probably head down to the filtration chamber then. Who do I need to bring with me?” she asked, turning to Lynx.

“Not me.” Jasper spoke up. “Not after last time.”

“You didn’t even enter the filtration cavern. The rune circle is outside of it.” Quinn studied Jasper’s body language, noting how stiff she appeared. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“Had a headache for days after that trip. The Alyenovour are highly susceptible to mana waves and it sort of knocked me about a bit.” Jasper grinned. “Probably not the best use of my time. I can, however, research the rest of this trip to go get this snazzy book you want to retrieve. We can go as soon as you’re done with the other stuff.”

Quinn nodded slowly. That made sense. It also told her how quickly she needed to start learning about all the species she’d encounter... It was a good thing she wasn’t limited by a human life span anymore... or ever. She still hadn’t quite figured that out yet. “Dottie will help you. Her and Geneva have done most of the work.”

Dottie preened, and there was a bounce in her step as she trotted up to Jasper. “Let’s get going then, shall we? We have a lot to do!”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Quinn noticed as they opened the door that Misha was standing a few feet in front of it, their back to them all. It was one of the few times she’d seen the supervisory golem out and about without having summoned them. Maybe things were getting less hectic for them. She wished that would rub off on everything else about the Library.

Hell... she really wished they’d been able to take care of Kajaro and Hoodie and put this whole thing behind them once and for all. She could get used to checking in books, following upon fines, and absorbing all the information in the universe.

Not today, though.

Not yet.

Geneva cleared her throat. “If you don’t mind, I will take Eric’s place. His wing isn’t quite healed enough for the amount of hovering he’ll have to do, and I wouldn’t want him to be down in the chamber when Hal comes to fetch him and Ikeshal.”

Quinn nodded. Geneva made sense, and since the Ishiposa isle incident where they’d totally caught the usurper King of the Esposian fae, cousins to the Firionas Fae like Geneva was... well, her Library Assistant Supervisor had grown in strength. Not like she could now lift huge weights, but she was more determined, and far more outspoken. She’d gained a level of confidence Quinn was grateful for, even if it’d been under less than ideal circumstances.

“Okay, that sounds like a good idea. Will you leave Danio in charge if Eric has to go before we’re done?”

Geneva nodded and Quinn was relieved. The Centaur seemed firm and quite solid. He didn’t budge on any type of enforcement, least of all the fines Eric had set up. Between the two of them, Quinn wasn’t sure who enjoyed metering out the fines the most. She still thought Eric might have the edge.

“Should I...” Geneva began and paused, like she was struggling to find the right words.

“Should you...” Quinn prompted.

“Tell Eric where we’re going? It’s likely he’ll want to come along.” Geneva sounded as if she didn’t want to make the imp angry, and Quinn couldn’t blame her. He’d been a little more irritable since his injury. Even if it was perfectly understandable.

Quinn mulled over the question. Telling Eric could go one of two ways. Great, because he wouldn’t have to do any work. Or badly because he, despite all his grumblings, liked being in the thick of things.

Aradie hooted quite pointedly.

“Fine.” Quinn said. “I’ll tell him.” She strode out of the office, with Geneva, Lynx, and Aradie in tow, and almost ran straight into Misha. Quinn stepped back.

“Sorry, Librarian.” Misha said, not sounding sorry at all. They were also looking away, or more, around the Library like they’d lost something.

“Everything okay?”

“Quite.” Misha said, sounding rather distant. That clang in their tone was back, as strong as it had been on day one.

Quinn frowned. “Did you need me for anything?”

Misha looked at her and blinked three times very slowly. “No. The pulse from below just put me off. I apologize Librarian.” And Misha blinked out of sight.

“Does that pulse put out any waves of power you know of?” Quinn asked Lynx softly as they continued toward the check-in desk where Eric sat, dangling his tiny legs down.

He strummed his fingers on the countertop next to him, and looked decidedly bored. His eyes narrowed as they approached. “What brings you here?” He asked, gruff as ever.

Geneva glanced at Quinn before speaking. “We need to head down to Ashiron and I was going to go with the Librarian.” She didn’t add instead of you onto the end, but then again, she didn’t need to.

“Oh.” Eric said, looking down at his feet as they swung back and forth. There were several seconds of silence before he looked up.

Quinn had to suppress a gasp. She’d never seen him look so dejected before.

“Guess it makes sense, right? Can’t very well be of any use down there. What with the wing and all.” He grumbled, but forced a small smile. “Besides, this way I get to have sole control over all the fines for a few hours. Right?”

Quinn laughed. He might be down about the wing, and still struggling with the fact that his nigh indestructible form had taken some hefty damage... but he’d be okay in the long run. “Yeah, If you want, I can create a position for you and call you master of fines...” Eric’s eyes lit up greedily, and Quinn rushed to amend her statement. “Master of fines, subject to my approval if you go overboard.”

“Aw, you got my hopes up there, Librarian. That’s not fair.” He gave her a wink and then laughed. “But it does make me feel a little better. I just wish you’d let me do the whole five hundred year fine instead of letting them start when the Library first opened again.”

“We have to be somewhat fair.” Quinn chuckled despite herself. “Still, you’ll be okay overseeing things up here, right? Dottie is busy nailing down some details with Jasper.”

Eric nodded, his expression solemn for a moment.

Geneva piped up, “And Danio can help you. He’s due on shift in a bit. That way, if Hal comes, you can still...”

But Eric cut her off. “I know. I can go without having to worry about things here too much. It’s fine. I’ll be fine, and everyone will be fined.” Eric fell onto the top of the counter, rolling in laughter as his wings held themselves skillfully out the way of being squashed. “Haha. I kill me.” He gulped out between laughs.

Quinn sighed, mostly happy. It seemed like Eric, at least, was going to be okay. That meant she only had a few others to worry about. Ikeshal, Escadril, and Malakai... and there was plenty to be worried about with them. She had her worry bucket full as it was. “I’m glad you’re doing okay.” she said to Eric, meaning it.

“Yeah, my wing just needs to be tweaked. Hal’ll take care of me. Don’t you worry Librarian. I’ll be back to hassling you before you know it.” He winked at her, a definitively impish smile on his lips.

“Good. I’ll hold you to that.” Just one. One less person Quinn had to worry about for now.

Out of how many billions?

She shook her head, clearing out those thoughts.

Save the Library, save the universe, that should be where she kept her head.

“Do we need to prepare to head down?” Quinn asked, looking over at Lynx, who shook his head.

Then he paused and looked up. “Well, you and I don’t have to, but Geneva will probably have to moderate her chaotic absorption rate through food or armor.” He stopped again and chewed on the end of a pencil he suddenly had in his hand. “I think it’d be better with one other person. I’ll go grab someone we can trust.”

He blinked out of sight, and Quinn suppressed a soft groan. Still, that meant she was already ready to head down. The quicker they got this out of the way, the better. She was under no illusions that this was going to be a fast fix. “Let’s go and get you supplied up.” She said to Geneva.

Just another thing to check off her lists.