Is something wrong with my sensing ability? She asked to get the other’s attention. Can anyone else feel any other life signs here?

Narilin looked up, alarm crossing her features and in no way allaying the genuine fear Quinn felt churning in her gut. She didn’t even want to hear the words she knew Narilin was about to say into their mind chat.

I can’t sense anyone. Not in this immediate vicinity, anyway. Do you think they could be farther out? Hiding somehow? There was a tinge of hope in Narilin’s words, as if she thought there was no way they could have gone.

But then again, she hadn’t been with Quinn when they visited Ishiposa Isle - she hadn’t been there to see the state of those Esposians, or what was left of them. Neither had Nishpa, but she also knew the Firionas Fae was a lot older than Narilin, and definitely hadn’t been as sheltered.

Could be. Nishpa said, her tone neutral. It was obvious she was currently concentrating on Karella’s mind. It’s a mess in here. Shadows of her own memories interspersed with ones that have been fed by all sorts of anger, all sorts of misinformation and misinterpretation. It’s like it focused on anything negative and pulled it to the fore, honing in on the darker thoughts, hanging there and causing as much strife and interference as it could. Are you sure it’s just the Bardocian root?

Narilin shook her head ever so slightly, obviously not wanting to give away to the rest of them just how much they were discussing mind to mind. No. I am only not aware of what else it could be. This does seem somewhat extreme even for Bardocian root.

A thought struck Quinn. Is it even safe for you to be doing this? Is there a way this could compromise you or harm you as well?

Narilin paused for a second, her brow scrunching in thought. For just a second, the mask she always wore everywhere gained an ever so slight crack in it. Underneath, it appeared, she was just as vulnerable as others, just as frail. But she rallied and put up a front that helped those around her thrive. Quinn could respect that. She learned to like Narilin just that bit more in that instant.

I cannot say for sure. This Bardocian root seems mostly fixated on the Balisor variation. Quite odd, to be sure.

Is it something the Jenishu branch of the Salosiers would be more immune to? Quinn asked, not entirely sure what it could be then. Considering her knowledge only extended to the Salosier and wasn’t specialized toward specific deviations, she couldn’t draw such conclusions herself.

Narilin appeared to seriously contemplate the words, even as she wove her fingers in spirals, sending out waves of ever so slight power that examined everything around them, healing that which Quinn couldn’t even quite comprehend. I think it is. It does not seek me out in the same way that is reached toward Haritan, Karella, and Irias. There is a bias to how it moves, what it is aiming for. But I am unable to determine its exact origin or motivation.

Nishpa cut in on the conversation. Please just keep healing it as much as you can, separate it from its goals if it’s possible. I’m finally making headway with Karella, but there will be a strong aftermath once we’re done. And Haritan hasn’t even stirred yet. I’d hate to think how deeply it’s sunk into him.

Is Irias going to hold up? Quinn asked Nishpa, concerned about the youngest Balisor.

Nishpa hesitated. I believe so. She doesn’t seem nearly as infected.

She said she was away studying and has only been back a few months. Quinn offered.

Then that would explain it. Perhaps she should be helping Narilin then. Nishpa frowned and then looked up at Irias. “Is there any way you could assist Narilin in her work with the undergrowth?”

Irias’ face lit up, and she nodded, hovering over to her... cousin? “What can I do?”

Narilin bowed her head and the two of them fell into a discussion that left Quinn feeling much like an outsider, but for good reason.

Aradie’s mind brushed her own, and she welcomed it. You can put down the barrier now. All the bees have been taken care of.

Quinn let the barriers dissipate, including the ice that she evaporated into steam with extremely carefully controlled fire. The two large brown owls remained perched on the edge of the roof, their eyes looking all around them as if they were on guard.

They are guarding us. There is something not right with this section of the forest.

Quinn nodded. She’d already thought as much, but Aradie didn’t need her repeating what she already knew. How about the aperture to the Jenishu?

Temporarily sealed, but I can easily open it.

Hey. How come you didn’t tell me you were this powerful?

Aradie alighted on her shoulder and craned away, giving Quinn a very skeptical look. If I told you, you’d have come to rely on my abilities and powers far too much and your growth would be stunted. As it is, you’re coming along fine - so I’ve offered my help in this situation.

Quinn couldn’t deny the logic. It made perfect sense after all, even if she did wish she’d known she had a quasi- fairy godmother in her back pocket. Or on her shoulder. Whatever. Are you able to scout out the area and scan for any signs of life?

Aradie cooed under her breath. We will make a flight pass. The others will aid me. If they’re here, we will find them. Also - your mind to mind speech is much smoother these days. It’s no longer painful to communicate with you.

Quinn blinked at her owl. Painful didn’t sound like a good thing. Perhaps that was why she’d begun speaking more with her recently. Whatever the reason, Quinn was glad for it. Pictures might be easy enough to interpret, but it definitely wasn’t her preferred method of communication. Thank you.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Aradie hooted and launched off Quinn’s shoulder and back out of the roof.

Quinn stood, watching her fly out, and frowned. She had no idea what to do. No matter how far she extended her senses, she couldn’t seem to find other signs of life. If, in fact, there were supposed to be thousands of Balisors in this exact location, then it didn’t stand to reason that she couldn’t find any. She wasn’t sure if she counted herself lucky for it or not, but she didn’t think it likely she’d be able to detect corpses.

She was counting on the owls for that one.

Moving over, Quinn hovered close to Narilin and Irias. “Any luck?”

Narilin nodded, and Quinn noticed that she looked strained, but it didn’t seem to have anything to do with her proximity to Irias, luckily, but with the work she was putting into clearing the area of infection around her.

“She is currently dividing the strands. We need a good sampling of the infectious root so that we may devise a... pesticide if you will. Necessity requires that we make it hyper specific in that we cannot afford for it to harm any other aspect of the forest of our anatomy,” Irias explained. There was a hint of admiration in her tone as well as complete and utter respect for the work the book doctor was doing.

Quinn guessed having affinities for healing books extended to a healing ability for trees. “Are you able to help her at all?”

Narilin answered, and even though her words were clipped, Quinn put it down to the fact that she was working her ass off. “She is providing me with much needed excess energy. Her reserve levels of power are quite remarkable.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow, never having heard a compliment quite like that from Narilin in all the time she’d known her. It was certainly an interesting turn of events. Maybe the two of them could mend bridges that should never have really been broken.

Quietly, Quinn withdrew herself, her own senses telling her with no too fine a point that the work being done would succeed, albeit slowly.

She wandered over to where Haritan was still prone. His body didn’t move except for a very slow, very even rising and falling of his chest area. Quinn adjusted for the oxygen levels again, made away of the breathing. It reminded her she should be checking on her intake in this atmosphere every now and again. PH levels seemed within the parameters she expected, so she continued with the same amount, setting a warning for if they suddenly changed.

She wasn’t about to put it past anyone or anything in this area. It was already too screwed up to be coincidence.

Finally, she made it over to Karella and Nishpa. The Fae seemed positively thundercloud like. Her patience was very obviously wearing thin. Karella, on the other hand, was in tears.

As she’d seemed to be for the last several minutes.

“Any news?” Quinn asked, hoping she didn’t sound too callous.

Nishpa shrugged. “It seems this infection began almost a century ago.”

Quinn blinked. “A century?”

“Yep.” Nishpa said, her voice containing tightly controlled anger. “A whole damn century.”

Quinn glanced over at where Narilin and Irias were working together. “Just how long was Irias on a studying trip?”

Karella glanced up. “What do you mean just how long was Irias on a studying trip? She never went anywhere to study anything.”

The last of the words were spoken into complete and utter silence, sort of like how Quinn had always imagined it might be when a pin dropped in a completely soundless room. Like a tidal wave of sound - crashing down all around them, deafening in its finale.

Time felt like it froze, at least for Quinn. She turned her head so fast she almost cricked her neck and her gaze fell on Narilin and Irias. They still kneeled on the table, their heads impossibly close together, as if they were locked in a discussion about the nature of the infection underneath them. Quinn’s senses snapped back to her, adjusting this time for different sensations.

She could feel the darkness now as she looked for it from one of the three of them. And that’s when she also realized that Haritan was dead. His chest still rose and fell by way of illusion, by something inserted under his chest cavity to make it appear like he was still among the living.

And Quinn could tell by the fact that the rot was seeping from the ground up and had reached his fingers. All nine on each hand, shriveling with black sludge...

Narilin looked up at the sudden silence, her face suddenly a mask of shock.

Quinn didn’t need to see Irias’ face to know the supposed Balisor had transformed into something none of them expected. Slowly, the white bark that made up her body shriveled into something like looked like marble, breaking away to reveal stone underneath, but smoothly carved, beautiful... and nothing like a sedementite.

No, this was something new, and she held Narilin by the neck.

Quinn wasn’t certain about much, but she had read Salosiers anatomy, and she was fully aware of the amount of damage that could be done to break a simple neck in the species.

Karella gasped in shock, and that’s when Quinn realized she hadn’t known. She’d sincerely thought this Irias was her child. The revelation that she wasn’t had come as a shock, and she wasn’t even aware that her husband was dead yet.

Or, at least, this puppet version was. The question remained why this Irias hadn’t just made the mother a puppet too. Surely that would have been easier.

“Damn it. You just had to go and ask that question, didn’t you? And here I was trying to fit in like I never have before.” The newly alabaster Irias stood up, her grip still firm around Narilin’s neck as she thudded down onto the forest floor, crushing so much of the vine underneath her in the process. The red that had been such a part of her beautiful wooden makeup surged like veins through the marble like stone, giving a disconcerting feeling of blood rushing.

Quinn inspected her, but the system balked at it and Irias shook her head. “Nu uh Librarian. You really didn’t need to come. I thought you’d just send Narilin and her folks. But you came yourself, which is an absolute bonus for me.”

“Bonus?” Quinn asked, determined to keep her talking just in case someone, anyone, could get to them. Not that she liked their chances.

“Getting to wipe you out where others have failed? That will give me so much clout with him. I stand to gain more than you could possibly imagine.”

“Irias?” Karella said, her voice broken as she spoke. Her eyes were full of tears, and it was obvious she still hadn’t come back to herself.

Irias flashed a look of annoyance at her not mother, but something in there spoke of fondness, even if it wasn’t because she was the real daughter. “I should have puppet’d you like I did him.” she muttered, ignoring the outburst that followed.

“But you?” Irias began to walk toward Quinn, although stalking was probably more accurate. “You’ve mostly ruined everything, you know that, right? For yourself, that is, and for the Library to get back on track. Let me just snap...”

But that’s as far as Irias got.

A massive beam of light erupted at the floor level right next to her feet, causing her to drop Narilin without breaking her neck, and jump back.

A swoosh of brown, so fast that’s all Quinn could see, gathered Narilin and darted out of the room, while right in front of Quinn the softer, most feathered looking being Quinn had ever seen landed in the perfect hero pose, glancing up at Irias with red eyes flashing.

The feathers seemed like a cape, like a fluid part of the being. Black with gleaming reds, blues, greens, and purples.

“That was a bit of a goose chase you sent me on. The voice was soft, so familiar, and yet commanded the attention of everyone there. “You really should have thought this through.”

Irias hissed. “This is no matter. I will get to the Librarian once I go through you.”

The bird-person grinned, and Quinn knew exactly who it was as soon as she did.

Aradie crouched low, claws extended, and her beak looked like a dagger. She didn’t even say a word before she struck in a blur of feathers moving so fast Quinn could barely follow her.