The library was unlike any Felitïa had ever seen.

Of course, that was true of the entire Nabrinja. The coliseum was indeed the ancient building where peoples from all over the world used to meet to discuss matters of importance to the whole world. Its name simply meant “meeting place” in the Sanalog language. Dozens upon dozens—probably hundreds—of rooms filled its interior, spread over several floors and several basement levels. The meeting itself would take place in a room at that spanned the centres of the ground floor and the floor above. She hadn’t seen it yet, though she’d heard it was impressive.

What was surprising about the Nabrinja, however, was how little the interior looked like the exterior. The outside was ancient stone; even though it was in good shape, it looked old. Inside were gleaming and pristine white walls made of a material Felitïa didn’t recognise, but Meleng said might be some sort of plaster. Light emanated from the ceilings by a method that nobody seemed to understand, apart from it definitely being magical. In fact, Meleng’s suggestion that magic might have been used to keep the meeting place on Scovese from falling into ruin had turned out to be true, but the magic performed other tasks as well, from keeping it lit to keeping the interior much cooler than outside. Some of the magic had failed over the years. There were lifts that, in the past, would have magically moved people between floors. Now, it was necessary to use the stairs. However, most of the Nabrinja still worked as intended.

Meleng had been asking a lot of questions about the Nabrinja and Scovese as a whole to anyone who could understand him but had not gotten many definitive answers. However, Adranaska suggested to Felitïa that they try the library.

It had been two days since they’d arrived. She had not gotten to see Kindanog. Her mother had forbidden her from being present when he came. She wouldn’t even let Cerus be there, saying it was a meeting for her and the King only, though Felitïa suspected it was more out of spiteful anger that they hadn’t waited for the other ships to arrive before heading to the village. Felitïa had heard the Queen screaming at Cerus about the risk he had put himself, Annai, and Sinitïa in by not having an armed escort. Felitïa didn’t fail to notice that she was not included in that list.

So she had only seen Kindanog from a distance. He had arrived at the Arnorin apartments with a small retinue of soldiers and had been escorted straight into the King and Queen’s apartment.

“I hope that guy knows what he’s doing,” Garet grumbled at the time, “because I certainly wouldn’t trust Father or the Queen to have any idea of good security.” Garet had been in a foul mood from the moment he’d arrived, though that seemed to be his perpetual mood. Felitïa wasn’t sure how Quilla put up with it.

After Kindanog left the King and Queen’s apartment, Ardon came out as well. So he had managed to get in there. When she talked to Ardon later, however, there wasn’t much he would tell her, other than it was a fairly dry discussion about how the security and safety of everyone on Scovese was being maintained. The King and Queen didn’t get any say in it. Kindanog was just there to inform them of what was already the case. He did confirm, though, that the Volgs had agreed to stay inside the Nabrinja in their apartments on the top floor, except for limited excursions into the wilderness to exercise their wings. The Isyar’s apartments were also inside the Nabrinja, since the heat outside was potentially deadly to Isyar. However, the Isyar had not yet arrived.

Felitïa tried asking Adranaska if there was any way she could arrange to see Kindanog herself. “He is busy man,” the old man replied. “Many duties. But I will see if he make time.” But she had not heard any more in the two days since.

So now she and Meleng stood in the large foyer at the library’s entrance. It was in the first basement level of the Nabrinja, and was as brightly lit as the rest of the building. Half a dozen long white tables with benches on either side were spaced evenly across the room. At the far side, steps led up to a round dais flanked by a pair of marble statues, one of a man, the other a woman, each holding a book pressed to their chest. At the back of the dais, doors on either side led to other areas of the library.

About the room, several paintings hung on the walls, each showing a person or group of people, some of them Isyar and even Volgs. What drew Felitïa’s attention more, though, was that dominating each wall, except the far one, was a long panel of what appeared to be glass, like a window, but dark and with nothing to look out at.

Conversing quietly on the dais were a Sanalog man and woman wearing identical thin white robes that hung loosely over their frames. When they saw Felitïa and Meleng, the woman walked towards them, extending her arms to either side in greeting. “Welcome. How may I be of service?”

Felitïa nodded to Meleng and moved forward to meet the woman partway across the room. “My name is Felitïa, and this is Meleng. We’re from Arnor. We’d like to learn a little about the history of the island and this building, as well as research a few private matters.”

The woman held out a hand to Felitïa. “My name is Maneshka. The library can be confusing to new users, but I am happy to help in any way I can.”

Felitïa took the woman’s hand and grasped it briefly.

Maneshka then held out the hand to Meleng, who likewise grasped it. “I will instruct and assist you in finding what you need. You will find that the library has some of the most extensive and diverse resources of any library in the world.”

There was something unnerving about the woman that Felitïa couldn’t quite figure out. She was tall—a little taller than Felitïa—and slender, with long legs, narrow arms, and thin wrists. Her face was similarly slender with short, curly black hair. Her skin had a warm, orangey undertone to its dark brown that almost seemed to make her glow in the bright lighting, but that wasn’t what unnerved Felitïa. Was it the way she moved?

Maneshka looked at her. “I can see you are already noticing the oddity of this place.” Her command of Arnorgue was perfect, like she had been speaking it since birth, but that seemed unlikely.

Then Felitïa realised.

“Most people take longer before it starts to bother them, but do not worry. Those who notice it quickly also get used to it quickly.”

Maneshka’s mouth was not moving in time with her words. She was not speaking Arnogue at all, yet Felitïa could feel something actively trying to keep her from noticing that.

“We suspect it was not meant to be noticeable at all,” Maneshka continued, “but after over two millennia, even the strongest magic begins to decay.”

“I don’t understand,” Meleng said. “What’s the problem?”

“Do not worry, friend,” Maneshka said. “Watch my mouth. You will notice soon enough.”

Felitïa brought up the black walls of the Room in her head. In addition to herself, there were five other presences nearby—but only four people in the library. It took only a moment to realise the fifth was a powerful mentalism effect, unlike anything she had ever encountered.

“That’s incredible,” Felitïa said, letting the walls of the Room fold away. “Does it translate everything? Perfectly?”

“Almost everything, and almost perfectly. There are some things that confuse the effect though. Sometimes, it encounters a word that not only has no equivalent in the other language, but also has a meaning that cannot be expressed at all in the other language. It also translates into very formal language. I do not know exactly what my words sound like to you, but I do know that they will contain no colloquialisms, contractions, abbreviations, or other informal speech, no matter how colloquial the words I am actually using are.”

“That’s amazing,” Meleng said, peering closely at Maneshka’s mouth. “I think I’m starting to notice what you’re talking about.”

“It also censors certain words that the spell’s creators presumably deemed offensive, usually words of a blasphemous nature or colloquial words denoting various sexual or scatological acts.”

“What happens when it censors words?” Felitïa asked.

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“It simply does not translate the words, and you will hear nothing in their place. Since it is also blocking you from hearing all the original words, you will hear only silence.”

“That has to be one of the most useful things ever,” Meleng said. “I mean, apart from those things that don’t quite work. Still amazing.”

“It has its benefits,” Maneshka said, “but it has its drawbacks, too. It will translate even languages you know, unless you know them as well as a language you have spoken since birth, so you cannot use it to help you learn a language. It gives you no access to the other language at all.”

Meleng had moved right up in front of Maneshka, watching her mouth move every time she spoke. Maneshka stood still, peering down at him, but showing no outward sign that she was bothered by his behaviour. Felitïa could sense a hint of amusement from her, though, combined with a familiarity like she had been through this before.

“I wonder why it’s not on the entire Nabrinja,” Meleng said.

“The spell is present in the meeting room as well as the ballroom,” Maneshka said. “We do not know why it is not present in the rest of the building. It is possible it once was, but it has failed in other locations. However, we suspect it may simply be because the spell was too difficult and taxing to place on the whole building, even to the wizards of the distant past.”

“Does the library contain any information on how the spell works?” Meleng asked.

Maneshka shook her head, and stepped away from him. “Not that we have found. However, the library contains many things that we have not yet discovered, so it is possible. The library has an unusual cataloguing system. Come, let me show you.”

She led them over to one of the window-like panels and held out a hand towards it. When she touched the glass, it lit up, displaying words in large letters. It was difficult to read them, though. For a moment, Felitïa was certain they said Welcome to the Library of...something, but then the script was one she didn’t recognise, and then it was blurry. It continued to shift for a few moments before settling on the script she couldn’t read.

“Okay, now I have about a hundred more questions,” Meleng said. He approached the glass and held out his hand. “Can I touch it? How does it work?”

Maneshka nodded. “You may touch it, but I cannot tell you how it works because I do not know.”

Meleng touched the glass and the words shrank to about half their original size and moved to the top left corner. More words then began to appear under them, gradually filling up the entire glass pane.

“You can see now the difficulty of using the catalogue,” Maneshka said. “We cannot rely on the translation spell and have had to decipher the symbols ourselves. We have deciphered an extensive vocabulary, but it still takes time to find things.”

“How long have you been here?” Felitïa asked.

Maneshka looked sideways at her. “Do you mean me, or my people?”

Felitïa shrugged. “Both, I suppose.”

Maneshka smirked. “We have been coming to Scovese intermittently for a few centuries. However, we started a permanent presence here a little over fifty years ago. The main purpose was to study the meeting place, but in order to have people here for long periods, it was necessary to establish a fully functional community, one that could be as close to self-sustaining as possible, so that the people here would not be reliant on shipments of supplies. The Great Ocean is treacherous and travel times are unreliable. I first came to Scovese five years ago as an apprentice, and I became a librarian three years ago. I spend six months of every year here, and the other six months at my home in Jugenja. Minus travel time, that is.”

Felitïa found that she had to look away from Maneshka and close her eyes. “Sorry. The visual effect is making me dizzy.”

“You do not need to apologise. This is something that happens to everyone.”

Felitïa opened her eyes and looked back at Maneshka. “Do you mind if try something?”

“What do you wish to try?”

“I need to know if I can block the effect, if I can keep it out of my head.”

Maneshka lowered her head and gave a slight smile. “Of course, but I should warn you, many of our best mentalists have studied the effect, and most try to learn to block it. It takes even them weeks or months to manage it. I do not know of any non-mentalists who have managed it. I certainly have not.”

“That’s okay. I’m a mentalist and I’d just like to give it a try.”

Maneshka raised her eyebrows. “My apologies. I did not realise. What would you have me do?”

Felitïa thought for a moment. She noticed that Meleng was using his fingers to somehow drag words across the glass. He seemed happy and preoccupied. “Say something it won’t translate. Swear. Worst swear word you can think of.” She hesitated and added, “That is, if it doesn’t offend or embarrass you. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” Felitïa’s own cheeks and ears warmed.

“I am not embarrassed,” Maneshka said. “A couple of months ago, a visiting mentalist had me saying things that would wither your ears away if you could hear and understand them. You ask nothing that I have not done before.”

“Thank you,” Felitïa said.

“Just let me know when you are ready.”

Felitïa took a deep breath and entered the Room again, but kept her eyes focused and locked on Maneshka. She identified both the Sanalog woman’s and the spell’s presences and, as she did so, Maneshka’s emotions began to flood into her more strongly—a mixture of amusement and intrigue, but also tired resignation.

“Now.”

As Maneshka’s mouth opened, Felitïa pulled the walls in, trying to block the spell’s presence, but it only moved with the walls and Felitïa found herself blocking Maneshka instead of the spell. Maneshka’s mouth moved, but Felitïa heard nothing.

“Again,” Felitïa said and extended the wall back out. Maneshka’s presence returned, and as she opened her mouth to speak again, Felitïa pulled the walls back in, only to get the same result. Once again, she blocked Maneshka and heard nothing.

“Again.”

This time, when Maneshka’s feelings returned, they were even clearer, and Felitïa could detect a hint of pity amongst them. That was fast, Felitïa thought. Maneshka really had been through this all before and clearly believed Felitïa would fail. Felitïa knew she was very likely correct, but she needed to try at least a few times. She needed an idea of how strong it was. More than that, she needed an idea of how strong she was. There had to be a reason her enemies were calling her Will-Breaker, and a reason why mention of the name made Volgs like Agranim afraid of her.

This time, when Maneshka opened her mouth to speak, Felitïa didn’t bring the walls straight in. Instead, she bent them, twisted them around the spell’s presence, gave it nowhere to move to avoid them. This time, Maneshka’s mouth moved and she heard the word.

And she repeated it.

Maneshka straightened up and stared sideways at Felitïa. Surprise flooded from her. Felitïa wasn’t certain how much of the surprise was Maneshka’s, and how much was her own. She grinned.

Maneshka said something else—several other things. Felitïa was still blocking the spell, so didn’t understand them. “Sorry, I haven’t released...that is...wait. Say what you just said again, but slowly.”

Maneshka did as asked, and Felitïa did her best to repeat the words. Then she released the spell. “How did I do?”

“Your pronunciation needs work,” Maneshka said, “but what I said still applies.”

“What did you say? I was blocking the translation, but I’m not now.”

“I said that I have never seen or heard of anyone doing this after so little practice. It is phenomenal.”

Felitïa grinned some more. She was starting to feel a little giddy, whether from the stress of her actions or from excitement, she wasn’t sure. She was definitely receiving a lot of excitement and wonder from Maneshka. Nothing from Meleng though. Was he even paying attention? No, he was still moving words about on the glass. The man Maneshka had been talking to when they had arrived had joined him and was demonstrating things for him.

“I need to sit down.” She stumbled over to the nearest table, and sat on the bench. She was a bit surprised how much joy she was feeling over this accomplishment. It wasn’t that big a deal, was it? Maneshka seemed to think it was.

She was also surprised at how tired she was feeling.

Maneshka sat beside her. “Are you all right?”

Felitïa nodded. “I’ll be fine. It just took a lot out of me. That’s all. At least, I think that’s all.” She laid her head down on the table and shifted positions so that she could still look at Maneshka. “How about the first word? How did I do with that?”

“Your pronunciation of that one was very good, but it was only one word.”

“I’m curious what it means.”

“I could explain the meaning, but it would lose its impact.”

Felitïa tried to shrug, but it was difficult in her current position. She tried again anyway.

“How did you manage it so quickly?” Maneshka asked.

Felitïa tried to shrug again. “I sort of know. See, there’s this room I form in my head and I move the walls of the room around. But that doesn’t really explain what I do. I don’t really understand my abilities at the best of times. All I can really say is, it wasn’t actually my skills at mentalism that let me do that, although I’m sure they’re probably related. Am I making sense?”

Maneshka shook her head.

“Okay, just making sure.”

Maneshka laughed. As well as the obvious amusement, Felitïa could sense several other emotions coming from her: awe, respect, quite a bit of bewilderment, and uncertainty. There was a hint of something else as well, something Felitïa usually only detected in men—and then, usually men Felitïa would prefer to have nothing more to do with. It had been a long time since she’d detected it in another woman. Then it was gone, or maybe just hidden behind other emotions. Her eyes drifted closed.

Maneshka stood up. “I should let you rest. I will see how your friend and Nebrovich are doing.”

Felitïa nodded. “I just need a couple minutes.”

She was fairly certain Maneshka said something else, but sleep overtook her before she could comprehend it.