{-Seldir-}

He had no problem getting up at the first light of dawn and setting out before the birds had begun their morning songs—that had been a crucial part of his life. But to say that he enjoyed it would be a lie, especially when the young woman he faced had far more energy than he did.

“Oh, Seldir, you’re here! That’s great. Can you grab that book?”

“Lyrei, there are literally about two hundred books that you could be referring to and I can’t read minds. Which one is it?”

“The one on the shelf! With the copper-colored spine!” She considered it a little more. He knew she couldn’t read the title from where she was—she was relying on her memory alone. “Use of Birds in Symbolic Literature.”

Dutifully—there was no reason not to—he walked over to the shelf and started scanning them for that one. “You’re at this again? It’s early enough in the morning, don’t you have something else you could be working on..?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I can’t figure it out but I know, somehow, this is related to something important. Something I’m just barely forgetting. You don’t think there’s something weird about it, too?”

“The only weird thing is how focused you are on it. I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again: it’s just some story. You’ve made up others before and were completely fine with leaving them fiction. Why are you trying to find a fact in this one?” He found the right book, took it off the shelf, and walked back to her table.

“I didn’t make this one up, though.” All her confidence was lost in a moment. “At least, I don’t think I did.”

He sighed. “Are you sure you’ve been sleeping well lately? You’re way too focused on this. You’re going to end up pushing yourself too far if you keep at this.”

“You just want me to stop so I don’t bother you,” she muttered.

He opened his mouth to say something in protest, but closed it again. He knew there was no point in it. “Is there anything else I can help you with? Your parents hired me for the month so I’m going to be staying around here anyway.” Not like he would rather be anywhere else, if he were to be completely honest.

“Dad should be about to finish making breakfast. Could you grab us both something? You should know where it is.” She made the request without even looking up, too busy trying to find whatever she was looking for in the book.

“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. Don’t get in any trouble while I’m gone.”

They both laughed but knew he was only half-joking.

He walked off to where Lyrei and her parents stayed—some special wing of the Archives meant solely for its librarians. He had a rather casual conversation with her dad when he got there, though made it clear he was ready to get back to her as soon as possible. With some breakfast for both of them, he headed back, and was already unhappy when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

“What do you know?” It was hostile. Seldir walked a little quicker at the thought of danger, though stayed slow enough that he didn’t alert anyone else.

“I don’t see why I should tell you,” Lyrei answered rather casually, given the apparent situation. He came close enough to see the two of them—her nonchalantly glaring at the unknown man on the other side of the table.

Seldir made sure that his presence was known; usually that scared off the less persistent of people. “Lyrei, I came back. Here’s your breakfast.” She gave him a nod of thanks, took it, and started eating as if there wasn’t someone very annoyed across from her.

This stranger only seemed to half-acknowledge Seldir’s silent warning. Whoever this young man was, he looked like he came from nobility. Perhaps he figured anyone he couldn’t handle could be swayed with money.

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“I know you know something,” he hissed. “The fact you’re not telling me practically confirms it. Tell me what I want to know and no one has to get involved in something… unpleasant.”

Apparently a more obvious approach might be needed. Seldir stepped closer to Lyrei. “I think it’ll be better if you tell me why you’re here first. I’ll be damned if you even think about hurting her. I take my jobs seriously, as you’ll learn soon enough if you aren’t careful.”

He looked Seldir over and nodded to himself, stepping back a bit. “All I want is a few answers to some simple questions—like if your charge over here has seen our little Songbird.”

“Songbird?” Seldir repeated. He glanced at Lyrei and tried his best to be quiet when he asked, “Isn’t that what you’ve been calling the wren in the story?”

“That assures me of one thing, at least,” the stranger remarked, smirking. “If you’ve both heard of it, then you can both help me. All I need is a little bit of information.”

“I’m not telling you anything unless you give me a good reason why,” Lyrei said confidently.

“Let’s say I have a job of sorts,” the stranger replied. “One that’s awfully important that I get results for quickly. Just tell me what you know and we can all walk away as if nothing happened.” He continued in a more sinister tone, “What do you know about Songbird? Where is he now and what are his intentions? Is he traveling with anyone else?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then what do you know? You’re not completely oblivious to his existence, you can’t hide that part. So what is it? Have you heard of him from someone else? Seen him but went your separate ways?”

“He traveled to the north, then the east, and finally the west. His friends made sacrifices to help him. In the end, none of it mattered. That’s all I know. Or… anything more than that would feel like a betrayal of his trust.”

“Lyrei, I’m almost certain whoever this is doesn’t really exist,” Seldir sighed. “Don’t say stuff like that in front of this guy. That’s just going to make him more persistent.”

“But you know that’s not right either, don’t you?” She looked up at him. “I know for a fact that all of that had happened. I didn’t make that story up. I just… don’t know how it pieces together…”

The stranger considered their hushed conversation for a moment then asked, “What, exactly, is this story?”

“It’s what I just told you. It’s… the story of how we met. But I don’t have an answer to any of your other questions. I don’t know where Songbird is now. I don’t even know what he looks like,” Lyrei said.

“You can’t know one without the other. At the very least, you’re not supposed to. There’s got to be something else to this.” He snapped his fingers, lighting a small flame with the gesture. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come down to this, but as I mentioned before, I’m quite desperate. Is that really all you have to say to me?”

Lyrei slowly got up. “Think rationally. We’re in the middle of the biggest archive in the alliance, full of innocent people.”

“That all just sounds like kindling to me.”

“How are you doing that?”

“I’m not going to answer that unless you’re willing to answer my own question. What else do you know about Songbird?”

“Like I already said, that’s all I know.” Somehow Lyrei at least sounded calmer than Seldir felt. He was ready to leave the moment things really did get dangerous. “That story is the only reason I know he exists. Aside from what it was about, I know nothing about him. I don’t have any information to give you.”

“You’re lying to me.”

“I’m being perfectly honest.” Something caught the corner of her eye and she stepped a bit closer to Seldir. Then, suddenly, she cried, “Guard! Yeah, you over there! Someone’s trying to threaten us!”

This guard in question was immediately alerted and caught sight of the stranger. It sounded like he called over some of his companions before stalking closest to the stranger.

“I’m going to have to ask you to step away from the civilians,” the guard said calmly.

The stranger muttered a curse. He waved his hand in a way that spread the fire across the room, effectively blocking anyone from reaching him.

“H-hey, he’s just trying to get away!” Lyrei said.

Seldir hurriedly started motioning her towards the wing’s entrance. “Possibly, but that’s not important. What’s important is that everything here is flammable and we’ve got to leave.”

“Fire!” the guard shouted in warning. “Evacuate everyone in the east wing and get someone in here to deal with it!”

Seldir, frankly, cared little for anyone else or the growing panic as the news spread down the halls. Thankfully Lyrei seemed to realize the urgency, too, and after encountering her parents as they evacuated she didn’t need his ushering. The rather small room of the Archives’ main entrance was nearly overflowing when they got there, every single one of them waiting for their next orders.

“I don’t think Queen Vaeri is going to like this,” he heard someone whisper to their companions.

This was turning out to be one hell of a day…