Ward Maintenance Request; Halistair; Hunter Branch; #3014346

“Seriously Geoffrey, I feel like I’m doing both our jobs. Send someone to fix that stupid error in the aura-signature cache before Felwirth figures out about you-know-what. I can’t believe you let some intern have unrestricted access like that. FIX THIS. Anyway, love you,

Juniper

P.S. Be sure to pick up Sootsprite repellent. We’re out.”

My knuckles were still bruised from my nightly training with Elio when I walked toward the one true haven in the Hunter’s Academy. Lysandra and Gwyn joined me, and together we ventured through the darkened halls of the institute as it quieted down. The vaulted ceilings echoed with our quiet footsteps and light conversation. My breath caught in anticipation when we arrived. The library's doors were open, and warm light poured out from the large frame of its entrance. Passing its magical threshold, I felt the familiar wave of goosebumps across my skin as the magic read our auras. It only reinforced my excitement.

And my dread.

“Thea! Welcome back! It feels like we get to see your lovely face every night now! Don’t mind in the slightest, though. It’s fun to see the young appreciate the important things in life,” one of the librarians called out. It was the same aged man who’d helped me figure out the index my first night here. My heart sank a bit at the sight of him because, unlike the evenings he was mentioning, this one was going to be different.

I’m sorry, I thought, but the words never escaped my lips. There would be time for them later, assuming I survived this.

“Knowledge?” I guessed as we walked past his whiskered face and gray hair as he smiled at us. I did my best to keep my expression calm and cheery.

“Books!” He replied with a friendly cackle.

“You got that right, Geoffrey,” I answered playfully. I took in a deep breath, tasting the homely scents of old parchment and cured leather.

I’m going to miss this.

“Okay, let’s find a quiet spot,” I told my friends, and we moved toward a vacant corner on the first floor. We sat around a simple yet sturdy table that was circular in nature. It was odd, though. Instead of a flat surface like I was accustomed to, the plane of the furniture was tilted. Around the edge of the wooden contraption was a thick lip. Atop it, a few books and other parchments already rested. There was an empty flat surface at the very top, and I placed those leather-bound treasure troves atop it.

“Nifty,” I said after I assessed the clever engineering.

“You sound like my grandma,” Lysandra sniffed playfully. I gasped.

“Me? Your grandma? But I have no pointy ears or silky hair?!” I retorted with as serious a face as I could manage.

“No, I meant that you sounded like my grandmother,” Lysandra replied with a confused scowl as she sat down opposite me. I could now just barely see her face.

“That’s no way to speak to your nanny, you spoiled child!” I whispered in a grating voice. The sound of a brook bubbling with spring water burst to our left, and we both turned to see Gwyn with a truly massive grin stretched across her dimpled face. Tears welled in her eyes as she giggled up a storm. A wave of hushes rustled through the aged halls of the library at the noise, but Gwyn ignored them all. She laughed until, with a yelp, she fell out of her chair. Lysandra and I barely managed to remain in ours at the hilarious sight, giggles gripping each of our sides as we wheezed for air.

I glanced around and noted, with several healthy doses of chagrin, that many other library patrons were giving us glares that promised miserable deaths. I tapped my friends, and we all collected ourselves… Eventually. Wiping tears from her own eyes, Lysandra whispered to our dwarven comrade.

“It wasn’t even that funny,” she tried to argue. Gwyn giggled one last time, then looked at her plainly.

“It was. Thea being a part of your blood would explain a lot.” Gwyn’s features slowly returned to a more placid calm, but jubilee lingered there, much to my happiness.

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“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lysandra defended, and her silky raven hair brushed the edge of the domed table as she leaned forward. “Are you insinuating I got some noble trait from our human friend?”

“My devilish good looks, more like,” I added sweetly with a dramatic fan of my hair. My hand caught in my tangled locks, ruining the moment.

“Stubbornness,” Gwyn answered bluntly. I deflated while Lysandra giggled lightly.

“I can see that.” And the way Lysandra said it, it felt more like a compliment than any teasing comment. I smiled at her, extricating my hand from my loose hair. “So, what’re we doing here? Studying for Greenwood’s cursed class, or perhaps a bit of some late-night wardcraft?”

Lysandra’s words sent ice through my veins, made worse by her coyly raised eyebrow.

“Wh–what’s that supposed to mean?” I asked innocently, but it sounded more defensive to my ears.

“Oh, come off it! We’ve seen how Sir Alaric Hawthorne treats you. Looking for a star pupil, perhaps?” Lysandra’s tone was playful, and I searched her expression for anything more, but couldn’t see any nefarious undercurrent there. Still, the walls to my trust were raised as I replied.

“Sir?” I deflected.

“Oh, you didn’t know? How could you? It’s not something lorded about by Orions, but I knew Alaric from his time in Lancaster’s courts. He was a knight of some renown before he took up the mantle of professor. Some say he still has some distant connections to the royal family, but everyone says that about court members. That’s how they get into the courts, after all. Still, from what I heard, many raised their skirts for that man.”

“I don’t wear skirts.” My answer came off more harshly than I had intended it to.

“Oh! No, I’m sorry, Thea. I didn’t mean to imply that you—” Lysandra blushed deeper than the crimson line emblazoned on her military uniform. “Sorry, I’ll drop it.” She tucked her head and took in a shaky breath. “I’ve never been good at this.”

My heart melted just a bit for the young elf, and I reached around the circular table to place my hand on hers.

“It’s alright. And no, I’m not here to study up on wardcrafting. I—I kind of need both of your help with something. I need you to cause a distraction.” I tucked a free lock of my hair behind my ear as my pulse quickened.

No turning back.

“Dead bodies?” Gwyn asked in her usual monotone.

“Gods, no!” Lysandra and I both gave her an incredulous look. She just shrugged. “No, I need you both to just distract the librarians while I—check something.” Each of my allies gave me a quizzical stare, but both eventually shrugged, likely thinking I planned a prank or some minor infraction.

I wish.

“Good. When you hear a book fall, cause a ruckus. It doesn’t need to be drastic, but try to get as many clerks to come over as possible.” My heart began to beat more quickly.

This is it. This is what I studied for.

It was true. Countless nights of reading and watching led up to this. At this point, my dreams were set in this foyer, and each actor a librarian I had observed over the past week.

“Thea,” Lysandra started in a subdued tone, likely picking up on the shift in the air around our cramped table.

“Yeah?” I hated how nervous I sounded.

“Be careful, okay?” I nodded quickly and stood before my resolve fled me. With a rush, I disappeared into the labyrinthian paths of the library. I heard my friends shuffle uncomfortably, but the noise was soon absorbed by the countless sheaves of paper and leather that insulated this place. I wove around the first floor, careful to avoid the rhythmic patter of the librarians on their respective circuits. They were as constant as the sun as they set about their courses, replacing books and ensuring the patrons were both quiet and attended to.

I reached my destination without an issue. It was a small shelf that housed basic cooking recipes based on ingredients that could be found near Halistair’s entrance to the Wilds. Apparently, it was quite the eccentric fashion to dine on the monsters out there. It made a certain sense. Why go out laden with food when you could simply hunt for it like a normal person, save the tiny detail of consuming man-eating beasts.

The shelf wasn’t important, though. Its location was. I crouched as if a novel on the lowest shelf attracted my interest and waited.

3…2…1…

The kindly dwarf clerk groaned as she stretched and rose from her stool. She set down her reading spectacles and collected a small stack of books. Without even noticing me, she left her desk nearest a windowless door and started her break. When her long dress dusted the floor in front of me, I rose to a crouch and sped toward the space she vacated. I was a wraith, unseen and unheard.

On her desk was a thick ledger filled with dwarven script and a touch of the human tongue scribbled in neat lines. I closed it, careful to avoid the angry creak the old leather could make when moved too quickly. I glanced around, careful to make sure my friends were in my line of sight as I slid the old book off the desk. It slammed against the ground with a dry whack, echoing through the many chambers of the library like some mighty omen. The other clerks stirred and Geoffrey yelped as he rose to his feet to check on my location. His leather soles clopped toward me.

C’mon. C’mon! I’m so close!

Behind the door nearest me, I would finally take my first real step in finding my brother—in helping in whatever dire mission had him crawl in through my window during a surge. In there, the cache of aura signatures that would reveal my brother’s trail was secreted away.

Silence followed the crash of the thick ledger. Heartbeats passed. Realization dawned on me like the hollow emptiness of waking to find your house empty.

My friends didn’t come to my aid.

The old man’s shoes stopped right where I hid.

I’m so dead.