Quinn watched Milaro as he stood at the entrance to her office. He seemed to want to say something, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times before sighing. She waited patiently, sensing that he wasn’t quite ready to say what he wanted to, or perhaps more accurately, he didn’t know how to phrase what he was trying to say.
He stepped farther into the room and pulled up one of the conference table chairs, which Quinn hadn’t even noticed was standing next to the couch. Oddly enough, she thought the Library might have literally just put it there. Not that it surprised her, but it was still very convenient.
“Milaro?” she said cautiously, a little wary of how quiet he was being. Surely that couldn’t bode well.
He held up a hand, cocked his head to one side, shook it, and let out a very long “hmm” before Quinn started to feel her stomach tie into knots. It couldn’t be bad news, could it? She didn’t think she sensed that off him, but she wasn’t always the best at interpreting the signals other people gave her.
“Is it Malakai?” She blurted out. It couldn’t be him. He was fine. She’d seen him yesterday, and he seemed fine. Perhaps that was remiss of her. Maybe she should have headed straight there this morning.
“Quinn,” Milaro said, his face softened into the usual smile she’d come to expect from him. More of a half-smile this time, really. He obviously had a lot on his mind. “No. There’s nothing wrong with Malakai. He’ll be fine, eventually. He’s coming along well. And while he might need your help in the future, probably even in the next several days, once he really starts coming back into his own, there’s nothing dire now. And I’m not here to be the bearer of bad news, or at least not that type of bad news.”
Quinn cocked her head to one side and said, “I’m not going to like what you’re about to say, am I?”
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I just, I’m trying to figure out how to tell you this without insulting you.”
“Oh, that’s a joy,” Quinn said. “Come on, spill.”
There were several more seconds of silence that made Quinn extremely irritable, but she knew he’d have a point in the end.
“That, right there,” Milaro said, “that’s what you need to work on.”
All thoughts in her head stopped while they tried to figure out what he meant. “Excuse me?”
“Your irritation levels since you’ve come back have been peaking. I’ve been doing my best to make sure that your moods aren’t influencing everyone else.” He sounded practically relieved to get the words out.
“I got over that after the last synchronization,” Quinn said. “Remember, I was sending things flying with emotion. It was bad.”
“Of course, I remember,” Milaro said, “I was there, as were a lot of Library staff and patrons. I’m doing it again. It’s not quite the same this time, because it has to do with you juggling your new abilities and the species-related components of your abilities, and sometimes your emotions get overwhelming. Plus, the Library recently had another boost to its power levels, and right now you’re just a little off kilter.”
Quinn sat back down. Off kilter was probably a good way for him to put it. She was, after all, still very much in the moment when Malakai had jumped in front of her to save her, and she knew, she knew that especially after more than two weeks, she shouldn’t be dwelling on the fact that he’d done that, and perhaps be more focused on how she could help him recover from it. But no matter what she did, no matter what thoughts she tried to make herself have, how much logic she threw at it, it was very difficult to shake that in-the-moment fear from constantly coming to overwhelm her.
“You’ve done a really good job, Quinn.” Milaro’s tone soothed.
She looked up at Milaro, who was now standing at the edge of her desk. His brow furrowed ever so slightly with worry. She was at least relieved to see that his complexion was its usual creamy sort of colour, and didn’t appear to be pale in the least.
He continued, speaking very gently. “You’ll be okay. I know you will, but you also need to understand that sometimes you might just need to talk to somebody about everything you’re going through, even just to get it out.”
“Well, I always talk to Aradie,” Quinn said.
The bird hooted several times in quick succession, and Quinn groaned. “Fine, you’re not my therapist, but you are my owl, and you always listen to me.”
Another series of hoots, and Quinn slumped into her chair. “I know you’re both right, I just, I’m not very good at talking to other people about my stuff.”
“That’s okay,” Then Milaro brightened considerably, “Maybe do what Carafax does.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow this time. “What do you mean, do what Carafax does? Be amazingly intelligent and observe absolutely everything?”
“Well, that would probably help in 90% of cases,” Milaro said, “but no. I mean, write everything down. Sometimes yelling into a void, or in this case, writing into a void, might just help you process some of the things you’ve got to work out.”
Quinn laughed, and Milaro frowned at her. “I thought that was pretty good advice,” he said.
“Oh, it is,” Quinn said, “but you were being very polite about it. I do have a lot of things to work out, and work through, and understand. But that’s not the only reason you came here, right?”
“No, actually, that was an aside, just because I saw how worried you are about Malakai still, even though we’ve assured you 17,000 times that he’s absolutely fine and going to pull through.”
Quinn said, interrupting him slightly. “That’s not what Arnekai said.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Milaro’s face froze for a second. “And what did she say?”
And that’s when Quinn realised she probably shouldn’t have mentioned anything, but she’d gone and done it now. “Well, actually, she just wanted me to soothe Malakai into letting her take him home and heal him.”
In Milaro’s defence, he didn’t actually explode on the spot like Quinn could feel the building pressure within him, but he did get a little rigid and sort of thundercloud-like.
“Um, Milaro?” Quinn ventured. “I didn’t mean to cause friction.”
He shook himself ever so slightly. “No, you didn’t, and it is absolutely fine. We’ll be having words. Again. She knows his stance on that in particular, on using those powers in that way. There are perhaps instances where it might be forgivable, but never without consent.”
Quinn nodded. She understood that. Taking away somebody’s agency wasn’t a good thing. If she’d been forced to be here as Librarian without having any choice in the matter, Quinn wouldn’t have liked that very much either. She was fairly sure Malakai would despise being coaxed or manipulated into going and being healed at his mother’s home base.
“Anyway,” Milaro said, intruding on Quinn’s darkening thoughts, “let’s get to the real reason why I’m here.”
Despite Quinn’s best efforts, her stomach still clenched into knots. But at least she knew it wasn’t to do with Malakai, so she could wait for Milaro to get his act together and tell her why the hell he’d come to visit her.
“There are several mental warding affinities that I’d like to run through with you,” Milaro said. “Even though you have them in an innate capacity right now, I believe it’s important to individually identify them. Especially since many of the attacks directed toward you appear to have a large mental component.”
Quinn blinked at him. “Why do you think that is?” she asked.
He hesitated with his answer, and then shrugged. “You know, if I were to put a not-too-fine point on it, I’d say it’s because you’re known to be human. Although after the fight with Kajaro, that might have changed, considering your scales weren’t subtle about protecting you. Basically, I believe the attacks were aimed at your expected human ancestry. There are several genotypes of humans who are particularly weak against any type of mind magic or mind manipulation, and so it makes sense they’d focus their mental attacks to wear you down.”
Quinn blinked again. Well, that was definitely food for thought for her. “So you think we should work through the mental magic affinities? For my defenses, for attacks, for...”
“Oh, for everything,” Milaro said. “You currently have great defenses and good barriers. However, sometimes you need to do more than just defend yourself. We must take steps for you to use any mental attack as a sort of...”
“Booby trap?” Quinn asked.
“A what trap?” Milaro asked, a very confused look on his face.
“Oh, like a trap that I set up, so that somebody springs it and they get like egg all over their face.”
“Well, we’d give them a lot more than egg all over their face, Quinn, but yes, that’s what I mean. I know you have to leave soon, but I believe if you’re visiting Narilin’s rival family, the Balisors? You’d be better off arming yourself with a bit more mental fortitude.”
“Do they levy mind attacks?”
He shrugged slightly and kind of shook his head from side to side very slowly. “I would not dare to make presumptions.” His words were carefully chosen and his tone made it sound like he definitely was making presumptions.
Quinn narrowed her eyes. “I’m really confused, Milaro. Seriously, what?”
He sighed, and Quinn felt a light communication barrier settle over them.
“Oh, like that, is it?”
He nodded. “I think I need to start doing this when I speak to you about more important matters. People tend to read more into my words than I mean. Those interpretations could mean political disaster for half of the universe, but you know...” He shrugged.
“Milaro, you’re sounding a little bit stressed yourself.” Quinn was worried about him now.
“I am,” he said and chuckled. “I really am, but I’m doing my best to take care of myself and the worlds under my care. And the Library, that helps us all. So, I think we’re all allowed to be just a bit stressed.”
She grinned. “I couldn’t agree with you more,” she said.
“Excellent.”
“Then this cone of silence?” Quinn offered. She’d always loved that saying from one of her favourite 60s TV shows that she’d watched on reruns as a child.
“Well, it’s really more an oblong of silence, but ... Cone of silence it is. Anyway, yes, Narilin’s family is quite prominent on the Salosier’s homeworlds. The Balisor family of the Feshpa-Alin region aren’t like Narilin or Escadril. They are very old blood, very old magic, and don’t take kindly to the fact that Narilin’s clan has overtaken their status. You’ll need to tread carefully because, as you know, the Salosier have an innate ability to affect the moods of those around them. Simply sort of calming them down, not quite the same as the darigháhnish, but in a very similar manner. Less intrusive, and frankly, doesn’t possess the ability to be as manipulative, but be wary of it. It’s why I want to work on your defenses... I have two books I need you to absorb before you leave there.”
“Okay,” Quinn took it all in. Ultimately, it just boiled down to her needing more power and knowledge. “Can I do them now?”
“Well, I did ask for them to be brought here.” He frowned as he glanced around the office and finally stood up out of his chair. “Although I asked Misha for them a while ago, and they’re not here yet.”
That was the second or third time Misha hadn’t popped up when somebody... Oh, but maybe she only popped up when it was Quinn speaking her name. “Misha?” But there was no immediate presence of the supervisory golem.
Quinn frowned. “It’s okay. I’m sure I’ll get the books.”
“Sooner than later would be much better,” Milaro said, his tone thoughtful.
Quinn nodded. “Couldn’t we just do it now?”
He laughed. “Yes, but I do believe you’re about to have a visitor...”
“Oh,” Quinn said as she felt a wave of presence enter the Library. “Oh, Nishpa’s coming.”
“Yes, she is.” Milaro’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, as if perhaps he hadn’t thought she’d sense that.
“Well, she’s just going to have to wait,” Quinn said. “I want to see Escadril. We need to get the book back from the Balisor clan. But I also need to be able to protect myself because if anyone can somehow take me over, then the Library and everything in it is doomed, anyway. This needs to take precedence, Milaro. She’ll understand.”
He smiled. “Very well. I shall fetch those books myself. And then, when we’re all done with this, when you’ve got the books back, when we’re opening another branch, you and I need to sit down.”
Quinn gulped. “Why?”
“Because you went and discovered another affinity and you haven’t expanded it yet. You know, every affinity has multiple sub-affinities. That’s just not how it’s done, Quinn.”
Quinn smiled. She liked this side of Milaro, the one who got excited about magic and who made little jokes. He’d been far too serious since they returned from the fight. “Okay.”
And just as Milaro went to open it, Nishpa knocked on the door.
He grinned at the tiny fairy. “You’ll just have to wait. You can’t take her quite yet. I have some things to do with her.”
“Very well,” Nishpa said, and hovered into the room. She alighted on the cushy couch, right next to Aradie’s owl perch, and crossed her arms, staring at Quinn the whole time with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
Quinn wasn’t entirely sure what to think about that.