Cleaning up the alchemical and medical branch took a lot longer than Quinn anticipated, at least to get it ready for patrons to visit. She was in the process of compiling all the inadvertently returned books that had come back when the main branch of the Library opened. With nowhere to place them, they’d originally been held in storage drawers.

Surprised, Quinn hadn’t expected many to be returned yet from unopened branches. Her assumption was that they’d been returning to the main branch, anyway. She was quite relieved to find out that out of the 5892 they needed returned to this branch, she already had 653. It still didn’t make that much of a dent, leaving it at 5239, but it still looked like a friendlier number now she’d been able to attribute previous returns.

She enjoyed the quiet work. While it was wonderful to open a branch, the sheer joy she felt at helping it get ready for patrons was something else. She didn’t need to do this when they’d opened the culinary branch, largely due to Cook simply coming in and taking over, as they, of course, had every right to do.

This, however, with the amount of work that the hospital was currently inundated with, their doctor golem was unable to attend to the alchemical and medical branch themselves. They also couldn’t spare one of the nurses. It gave Quinn a nice respite from constantly pursuing things outside of the Library and allowed her to simply revel in being around the books.

She was still actively improving the Library, and it allowed her to assuage some of the guilt that she felt for not retrieving some of the books that they desperately needed returned. Yet. Anyway.

On the third day, she wandered down and over to the branch and stood in front of it, surveying the results. It practically shone now. Granted, Jane had taken over a thousand books with her for repair and was currently elbow-deep in it, but otherwise, the branch looked operable and welcoming. Some Patrons had even begun using the upper area more. Tables were set out for discussion groups, along with couch and relaxation areas.

There were a couple of nurse golems hovering around the terrariums. Quinn smiled. They’d know what to do, or at least they should. She’d have to get assistants for this area of the Library made or recruited. Though she didn’t doubt Tim and Tom and their fleet of other shelving, golems would keep everything in order.

Malakai stood behind what looked like a specialist counter, talking to a golem that Quinn did not know. This golem stood almost as tall as Malakai, so much taller than Quinn, and was wearing a nurse’s uniform but in shades of blue that somehow rippled.

“Oh, Quinn,” Mal said. “This is Gregor.”

“Hi, Gregor,” Quinn said and paused, curious. “Wait, you’re a golem and you already have a name?”

He blinked, his fathomless eyes shone. “I spoke with Cook before coming up here. He said I looked like a Gregor.”

Quinn laughed. “I would have to agree! I think it’s a fantastic name. I’m glad you’re here. I was just thinking about having to activate branch specific helpers.”

“Oh, the doctor activated me. I am to be the information specialist here in the alchemical and medical branch to assist any inquiries and hopefully prevent anybody from misusing the magic in ways that it is unintended for.”

Quinn smiled. She liked Gregor. “Excellent.”

She turned to Malakai. “Have you seen your grandfather? I can’t seem to find his signature anywhere in the Library.”

“Oh,” Malakai said. “That’s because he’s not currently here.”

“Did he finally go home and get some rest?” Quinn asked, a little incredulously because she hadn’t expected him to do it without her nagging him.

Malakai shrugged. “Sort of? He’s gone home because he needs to do some king stuff, and because Nishpa may have threatened him with bodily harm if he didn’t go and get some rest.”

“That’d do it,” Quinn said.

“Yeah, my aunt...” Mal started saying.

But Quinn interrupted him. “Nishpa is your aunt?”

Malakai laughed. “Not related in any way, shape or form. My grandmother’s best friend.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow. “Your grandmother’s best friend?”

“Yeah, it’s a long story...” At Quinn’s glare, Malakai capitulated. “My grandparents were a bit of a love story, and Nishpa was her best friend. She promised my grandmother she’d look out for him, so she does. My grandfather really misses his wife.”

Quinn understood missing people who were gone. “Well, I’m glad he’s gone home to rest. Gregor, is there anything you need from me?”

“I don’t believe there is,” Gregor said. “I will, however, gladly seek you out should I need something.”

“You can also just message me through the system if you need to. Or, I mean, any of the supervisors, Malakai, Dottie, Geneva, Eric, Daniel, and Finn. And I think, do we have a couple more now?” Quinn felt like she was forgetting people.

Malakai laughed. “You know, you’re going to have to go through the personnel with Dottie and Jasper.”

“Jasper,” Quinn said, wondering how she’d managed to forget the person she’d delegated arranging all the staff to. “Also Jasper.”

Gregor inclined his head. “Very well.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Quinn glanced at the golem again. He was much more humanoid in appearance, even though he was made out of a very pale pink sort of clay. It looked really cool with his iridescent eyes and the dark blues of his scrubs.

Librarian requested in the Hospital.

The message flashed up in front of her, and she smiled. The Library hadn’t really been big enough to bother using the system in this capacity until now. It was a new level of cool.

“Anyway, thank you, Gregor. I’ll leave the alchemical and medicinal branch in your care. Sadly, I do believe that I am wanted in the hospital wing.”

Malakai raised an eyebrow. “Everything okay?”

“I don’t know. Did you do something?”

“Did you do something?” Malakai laughed. “No, I didn’t do anything. At least not anything wrong. They said I could leave. I’m still doing my physical therapy.”

“Excellent. Make sure you keep it up. We’re going to have to head out soon.”

They waved at Gregor and made their way toward the hospital, going downstairs and so they could enter through the old infirmary. Quinn looked at the patrons and her staff as she walked through. With the opening of a new branch, more people were flocking in. She only hoped they were returning all their books. Once overdue books were back within parameters... she couldn’t wait to just sit and enjoy the Library.

“You okay? You’ve gone a little quiet,” Malakai said.

“Just thinking about how much we still have to do.”

“Yeah, but think about how much you’ve already done.”

Quinn laughed. “That’s a good point. I like that perspective better.”

As soon as they set foot in the hospital, it was as if people knew they were there. Not that Quinn found that creepy or anything, because she knew how it felt to sense others’ arrival in the Library and she also knew that sometimes she projected her power. It took less than ten seconds for the doctor golem to be by her side.

“Librarian, well met. If you would follow me, we have some questions for you,” he said.

Quinn followed, feeling oddly like she was being put on the spot. She wasn’t entirely sure how she should take it. She glanced at Malakai, who shrugged and was glad that she’d brought him along.

“Okay, what can I do for you?” she asked once they were in what looked like a small conference room.

“The surgeon will be here momentarily,” Doctor Golem replied. “Better to wait for him than to repeat ourselves.”

That’s when Quinn remembered she hadn’t given these guys names yet. They were just Doctor and Surgeon. She racked her brains, trying to figure out what she would call them. “Do you want names?” she asked, figuring that they’d already developed personalities, and that they may not want names that they did not pick for themselves.

“Names,” Doctor Golem said. “You know, it might be nice to not just be called Doctor. I will think on that and let you know. Is that acceptable?”

“Of course it’s acceptable,” Quinn said. “Let me know what names you’d both like and the system will adjust for it.”

He splashed a smile at her, which, given his beautiful obsidian metallic skin and features, was a welcome expression. His eyes were like the depths of the universe, with stars in them. And as the surgeon walked in, she realized that he was very similar, except there was more of a navy hint to the stone or metal he was made out of.

Was it rude to ask golems what they were made of? Because she wasn’t entirely sure it was an acceptable question. Did it allow them to morph limbs or something? How did they perform surgery? She shook her head, trying to bring herself back on task. She cleared her throat before speaking. “Surgeon, what can I do for you both?”

“Oh, we were... We had a few questions for you.” they looked at each other.

“We’ve been commandeering some of the system’s operating functions and energy to help refine and streamline the hospital section. In doing so,” the surgeon sort of glanced at Doctor Golem, who shrugged as if to say, ‘don’t look at me. I have no idea what to say either.’

“Okay, guys, what’s wrong with the system?” Quinn didn’t think they meant the glaringly obvious glitches, as she was already aware of those. “Because if there’s something myself and the Library have missed, we need to recitfy it.”

Lynx popped into view right next to them. “There’s something wrong with the system,” he said. Quinn didn’t even comment about his eavesdropping.

The surgeon gaped, seeming much more human than golem. “We’ll start from the beginning. Basically, we’ve streamlined to set up specific roles that need to be filled or items that need to be created. Many of these require their own core, and thus an ability to think and problem solve for themselves. There are specific types of golem cores required for this, and we have all the materials for them. We bring this to your attention because with the amount of us created for the hospital and the general staffing of the Library, we believe more materials should have been used than have been. Our only conclusion has been that existing cores appear to have been reused or recycled from what we can gather from the system.”

Lynx gasped. “Are you saying they’ve used previously established cores?”

“Yes.” The doctor spoke up this time. “Not even recycled cores. Well, I guess you would say, in a sense, that they are in the process of being recycled?”

Lynx turned pale, which made Quinn wary. “What exactly does this mean, Lynx, in Quinn-ese?”

Lynx laughed softly. “Thanks, needed that. It means that the cores from the golems that were disabled when I shut down the entire operation weren’t put back into, weren’t melted down. They were preserved and have been used in the creation of many of the golems that we have now.”

“Can you explain why that’s a bad thing?” Quinn said. She’d always thought recycling was a good thing, but she could see how magical items might not be the same.

“Well, usually, cores will need a specific direction, a command to become part of the type of golem that they need to be. It needs to take that base command and build an entire persona around it who evolves as they learn more, as they become more aware, as they have more interactions. They become a living, breathing golem. Like Cook has become such an amazing part of your life, for example.” Lynx explained.

“Exactly,” the surgeon said. “The thing is, is that usually, if the Library was just remaking golems that had been broken by something, it probably wouldn’t mean much. But right now, the Library is still recovering from an emergency shutdown that was in fact shut down because...” the surgeon shrugged.

“Oh,” Quinn said, “because it was being sabotaged, so...” And she could do the math in her head. It left a horrible burning sensation in her gut because she didn’t want to say it out loud, even if she knew it was better to. “So basically, these are or could be some parts of the golems that are, were commissioned by my predecessor.”

“Precisely.” Surgeon said.

“What about you?” Quinn asked.

“Well, you mandated mine and the doctor’s construction, and then you made us supervisors. If you’re not a golem supervisor or you, or Lynx, you wouldn’t be able to see this.”

“So my supervisor knows,” Quinn said thoughtfully. “Is it the way the Library was shut down that makes those cores perhaps not ideal?”

“Yes, reusing cores from broken golems is one thing, but reusing a core from a golem that might have been infected or affected by some outside influence...,” the supervisor said. “That’s something you might want to look into.”

Quinn didn’t like the idea behind that, but she understood their caution. If the Library had used a core affected by Korradine, there was every likelihood it could be severely compromised.