I tried to keep my fluttering eyelids from closing as I sat at my desk, a Veroline history book sitting in front of me.
Getting back inside last night had proved to be every bit as difficult as I had originally imagined. After hauling my exhausted feet up all those stairs to the top layer, the very last thing I was capable of was climbing up two stories to my room, though I wasn’t sure if this body would’ve been capable of it well rested either. Still, I gave it a good two tries, each one ending with me on the ground after a foot of effort.
I ended up trudging into the back garden and having Gideon fly in through my open window to unlock the back door, though I hadn’t quite been able to jump the small canal separating the garden hedges and the street, so I’d been forced to start drying my clothes and…
Well, the whole ordeal meant that I was still tired that morning when Marcolo had decided to wake me asking why I had clothes hanging out my bedroom window.
You don’t need to be doing this anyway. Gideon admonished from the floor, where a dubiously sourced glass was suspended over a flaming stone bowl. Why not rest a while longer?
“I don’t really care to find out what Marcolo was threatening me with this morning.” I yawned. “And I’m tired of not knowing what the others are talking about.”
Studying doesn’t really stick when you pass out midway through. Gideon commented.
I waved a hand idly, and behind me I heard a small watery pop from Gideon’s direction followed by the sound of some liquid hitting the wooden floor.
Crap.
Looking behind me I could see Gideon snout covered in some blue cloudy liquid as he stared at the glass in front of him, the rest of the glass content’s scattered around the floor.
Blukberries are not the same thing as Blueberries. He noted calmly.
“And what was that supposed to be?”
Stamina reinforcement. He pawed out a little towel from under the bed and began wiping up the liquid. I think.
I raised an eyebrow, and Gideon momentarily stopped his cleaning.
No, not that kind.
My fears assuaged, I turned back to the history book and yawned again. It was probably the most boring book the Astrians had in the manner, filled with unending paragraphs of dissections and rhetoric of the short period covered, almost as if the author had thought his opinions more important than the history he covered.
“Would I be right if I said we were both getting nowhere then?” I asked, eying the floor.
Probably. He admitted. I really need to raid a library for recipes.
“Then why don’t we do just that?”
Gideon stopped and looked up at me.
You think Marcolo would just let you go? He’s kind of nuts.
I got up and stretched, mentally psyching myself up.
“I mean it’s just the library. Who could no to that?”
…
Before I’d asked Marcolo, I had expected a simple ‘no’, especially after the flag’s I’d thrown up, but the reality was somehow worse.
“Did you really have to come with us?” I asked through clenched teeth. “It’s only five minutes away.”
“You can stab someone a lot of times in five minutes.” Marcolo noted.
What the hell kind of city did he think we lived in?
There it is. Gideon said from above, pointing a paw towards the towering pillared structure in front of us. An impressive building, isn’t it?
I snapped out of my sulk to look upon the library ahead. Gideon was right: it was impressive, with two story tall square pillars and windows made of stained red, blue, and white glass depicting various mythological scenes. In one a man with a hammer laboured over some octagonal object, the inside of which’s red glass glowed like a miniature sun, while in another three great armies besieged a huge fortress of blue. In yet another a man threw a spear into a giant’s eye ten times his height. All of these mosaics looked almost as detailed in form as Earthly art, only instead of the soft hues of life they were rendered in brilliant crystal.
Despite the later hour, it was sparsely occupied, and none of the street crowd joined us in our ascent of its steps.
Pushing open its great doors of wood and wrought iron, I was again struck by how utilitarian the inside was in comparison to its exterior faces. It opened up first into a simple entrance hall that almost felt more like a speakeasy than anything else. The walls were mostly plain panelled, though they were well maintained and expensive nonetheless. A large opening in the back wall made way for rows and columns of books and shelves, while the left side of the room was dominated by a long stout counter at which a singular attendant sat.
More interestingly, a familiar face quietly argued with the librarian, one who I hadn’t imagined I would see again. One with one or two too many coats layered on to fight the chill of the morning.
“Isn’t that Auro?” I murmured to myself.
Sure looks like it.
Didn’t everyone tell me that Auro and Justeo were both down for the count after the church? I mean, I wasn’t going to complain if someone was already feeling better, but hadn’t it only been a week or so since Feanin had died? That hardly seemed like enough time to me to get over the death of someone you knew personally.
I broke off from Marcolo, ignoring his resulting query, and made my way over to the counter. Neither the librarian nor Auro seemed to notice, so involved they were in their dispute.
“... not like I need miracles of war!” Auro pleaded.
“And I keep telling you Lady Belvan, I stand to lose a little more than just my job…”
“Hey Auro.” I broke in rudely.
Both of the two started, as if I’d just teleported in, and I felt a little of the same satisfaction that I assumed Fredrick felt. Auro’s emerald eyes lit up in recognition soon after, and she offered a weak smile in greeting. A distant sadness tugged at my heart strings at the sight.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Oh, hi Saphry!” She glanced up at my head, and I felt Gideon wave a paw. “Hi Silst.”
“Lady Astrian?” The librarian, a middle aged man, seemed to recognize ‘Saphry’, which I found a little surprising given her past. “I’d heard you’d begun to venture out again, but I hadn’t thought you’d grace the library with your presence. Can I help you find anything?”
Wait, did ‘begun to venture out’ mean the church trip or the one last night? There was no way the rumour mill had started up that quickly, right? I mean, while I couldn’t be sure I hadn’t been seen at all, it had been a few hours.
He asked a question, Ryder. Gideon’s thoughts snapped me back to reality.
“Ah, sorry. I was just looking for the history section.”
I was also pretty curious about what they were talking about, but asking about that seemed a little more rude than even I was inclined to be.
“I can take you there.” Auro said quickly. “I was planning on going over there anyway.”
“Just come back if you need any help. And I’m sorry about that, Lady Belvan.” And a pained glance told me that he really was.
“It’s…fine.” Auro took my hand and led me over towards the entrance, only stopping when Marcolo called my name from behind.
“We’re just going over to the history section, don’t worry about us!” I waved back and we passed into the library proper, his response trailing after us.
“But…”
“Ah Marcolo! An excellent sequel to that series you liked just came in, why don’t…”
The librarian earned a few more points in my mind with that distraction, and I turned my attention back to the room in front of me as Marcolo tiredly made his way to the desk and disappeared from view.
The library was much taller inside than the cramped foyar implied, and the first thing I did was cast my gaze upwards to where another two stories of bookshelves sprawled, and towards the huge slanted dome that I hadn’t noticed from outside. Unlike any I’d ever seen, the rectangular floors above the main were not entirely relegated to ringing the walls nor were they fully enclosed like the Chicago Public Library. Instead, the layers criss crossed across the open air like a wood and stone web. The top layer only seemed to intersect with the lower one where the towering pillars rose up from the floor to pierce them both. Magnifying it’s grandeur were the massive windows in the walls and in the dome, from which the bright fiery sunlight was let in to shine through the whitewood shelves in magnificent beams. The smell of paper and sewn wood filled the air, and the sound of turning pages and gentle chimes high above echoed ‘round.
All in all, it looked like hell to organise.
I… we should’ve visited this place earlier. He thought, his own awe flavouring my own.
“[Christ].”
Auro looked back and must’ve caught the wonder on my face, for she weakly smiled again.
“This isn’t your first time visiting the library, is it?”
“Maybe.” I replied honestly. “How do they even organise this?”
I had to wonder if they had a map of this place, and what that would even look like. Were specific subjects stored on the crossing paths, by any chance? But how did they categorise those paths? By where they connected to the walls maybe? Perhaps the directory looks something like ‘Biology on 40ft West/ 20ft South’?
“Do you mean the upper floors? That’s easy.” She gestured towards the nearest one, and I could see a small strip of cloth hanging from the underside. “Each one is named by a flag underneath. For example that one…” She pointed to a flag with a symbol of a tree on it. “...is ‘Arbory’. You can find a legend matching the symbols with names back at the desk.”
“Incredible.” I craned my neck around at the various bridges, easily picking out a few that looked interesting. I narrowed my eyes at one that looked like a kite shield wreathed in orange fire hanging from a bridge on the top level. “Do you know what that one is?”
Her mood soured immediately.
“That’s ‘Warding’. All of the third layer is dedicated to thaumaturgy.”
“Ah.”
Inside, I was stunned. Has it really been that easy the entire time? I could’ve just come here and relearned it just like that?
I wanted to just race on up there immediately and start tearing open random books, but I stopped myself, instead limiting the urge to just looking for the nearest staircase.
“You can’t.” Auro said quickly. “Nobles aren’t allowed into that section.”
“How do you know I was… wait huh?” I blinked. Did she just say what I thought she did? “What do you mean, ‘aren’t allowed’?”
“Nobles aren’t allowed to learn magic in Verol.” She said simply, as if it were obvious. “Another one of Esiland’s laws.”
I had to resist the urge to gape. What kind of world was this? Weren’t nobles supposed to get cool privileges and rights? What was with this discrimination! The class divide strikes again!
As well, this Esiland guy was starting to sound like a huge dick. Banning noble spellcraft, barring investigation into a high profile murder in his capital, and hadn’t I heard something about Saphry being like this because of ‘Esiland’s Law’ from Fredrick when I frist met him? It was a wonder Andril wasn’t a monster, growing up under a father like that.
“Eh, but what about Andril?” I asked. “He used magic back in the-”
I stopped mid sentence upon seeing the pain on Auro’s face.
“-in the castle up there, I’m sure.” I finished lamely.
“The princes are exempt, of course.” She switched to a mutter, but I caught a bit regardless. “...only...a few miracles…”
The situation here suddenly became obvious. Auro had come here wanting access to the third floor, but the attendant had refused for obvious reasons.
“Why not just go up anyway?” I asked. “I don’t see too many people up there.”
From where we stood, none of the third floor bridges looked to be in use, and only a couple walked upon the second floor ones. Even the staircase looked to go straight up, with no guard, as if the law was more suggestion than rule.
“The whole floor’s warded.” She replied glumly. “I don’t think you could even fly up there without a pass from the front desk.”
Well there goes my plans.
“Well there goes my transmutation dreams…” I muttered as we walked past another grove of shelves. We’d have to see if it were possible to break in after dark without getting caught and see what we could do.
I had a limit to the level of legal bullshit I could endure after all.
Auro glanced at me strangely.
“Transmutation? Isn’t… isn’t that a branch of alchemy, not thaumaturgy? Why would that star be smothered?”
I stopped in my tracks, dragging Auro to a stop.
“Wait, alchemy isn’t banned, but thaumaturgy is?”
“I mean, alchemy isn’t magic, so-”
Me and Gideon looked at one another in excitement, and I felt some relief flow through my limbs.
“Do you know where that section is?”
…
“I’m more surprised someone bothered at all.” Auro commented. “I’ve heard that transmutation’s a pretty useless art.”
In the entirety of this massive library, only a single small shelf in the corner of the first floor was dedicated to the art of transmutation, and the books contained within were in quite possibly the worst condition I’d ever seen, with fraying edges, curling covers, and brittle paper. Most of the books were fairly useless for learning the art as well, most simply being copies of the self-indulgent autobiography of some lesser known wizard who specialised in the art, or being entirely written to explain the intricacies of a single transmutation in some far away land which assuredly wouldn’t work in Verol. There was even a trashy romance novel hidden in the corners of the shelf, covered in cobwebs.
But Auro wasn’t referring to those of course, but the two large empty spots in the shelf, both of which were large enough to have contained a grand textbook on the subject.
“I wish I knew what those last two books were about.” I sighed.
Knowing our luck, those were probably the best materials on the process.
“Probably…” I muttered back.
“Why do you care so much about it anyway?” Auro asked from behind. “Like I said: It’s useless. Especially in a city.”
“Wrong, actually. It’s easier in cities. Opinions are more homogenised.” I said quickly, drawing on what I’d read back on Earth. “But let's just say that I need it for a project.”
“Hmm.” Auro tilted her head, a little concerned. “Would you even have time for something like that? Aren’t you going to the academy as well later this month?”
I closed my eyes as I remembered that little tidbit.
Of course, I’d forgotten all about that development, but then again could you blame me? It’d been through quite a bit since Marcolo had last mentioned it.
“That.” I replied. “Shouldn’t be a problem. If I get a good book on the subject soon that is.”
I figured that I’d probably be off and away on Earth by the end of the week if everything went as planned. Which it never did, so I even had an extra week blocked into the plan to fix the plan after it got messed up.
I was a genius superhero after all, if I did say so myself.
“In that case why… why not just ask the librarian who checked them out?” Auro suggested. “You could ask to borrow them from them then.”
Wait, this is a lending library?
“A great idea! Let’s go.”
I jumped up and swept the cobwebs off of my coat, leading the way back towards the front to ask the attendant there, making sure to sneak past a dozing Marcolo when we saw him at a table in the fiction section.
…
Minutes later, I stared at the address written on paper in my hand, wondering why nothing ever worked out cleanly.
“Overdue by an entire year.” Auro commented in the same awe as I had when I’d walked into the library. “But with that address….”
Thankfully addresses in the city were fairly easy to understand, being simply a letter, number, and which circle of the city the building was in, so from what I could tell this house was within a fifteen minute walk north of the library. Easy enough to reach before Marcolo woke up hopefully.
“Guess you’ll have to-”
“Alright! I’m off.” I announced, accidentally cutting off Auro. “See ya later, Auro.”
I started out the door, only to stopped by Auro’s hand on my shoulder.
“Wait, what… what’re you going to do?” She asked. “Just knock on his door and ask for it back?”
“Eh, yes?”
She stared at me with a mix of worry and amazement, as If I’d just announced I’d be bullfighting or something.
What was so wrong with asking for a book back? It wasn’t like I was asking for tax money or alimony.
Auro’s awe gradually slid into something more resembling determination as she stared at me, my own worry and confusion rising in the same manner until she finally nodded and spoke.
“Then I’m coming with you.”