It felt like a lifetime ago they were last at the Desilish home base the first time. When she met Jasper, who tried to kill her. Or at least maim her. The living area is still vibrant thanks to the domes that cover this planet. Its quaint little cottages beyond the swamp and fresh garden beds with all the herbs and flowers an alchemist could want.

  Quinn wasn’t certain they should be there. After all, if it wasn’t for the Library and herself, Jasper would be bouncing over being her wonderful self, full of life and mischief and goals for her future.

  Someone nudged her arm, causing her to look over, blinking away the tears.

  Savinth’s expression is tight. The much older human woman of the genome type 31785 stood next to Quinn. “You shouldn’t beat yourself up so much about this. It’s not something within your control.”

  Quinn blinks at her. The sentiment was nice, and while Quinn was fully aware that she didn’t personally kill her friend, she did know that she put Jasper in harm’s way to begin with.

  “And none of that, either.” Savinth’s voice was whisper soft and appeared only to be audible for the Librarian. “Don’t go on about her only being there for you. Jasper loved being your assistant. Just use this as more incentive to bring them down and keep the Library safe. Yeah?”

  Quinn nodded because she knew if she spoke, her voice would crack.

  She wasn’t expecting the ceremony to be so... well, so magical. Nets of magic were woven around Jasper’s body, held in stasis by levels of intricate gravity magic that Quinn definitely hadn’t mastered yet. Malakai squeezed Quinn’s shoulder, and she reached for the comfort she needed.

  When Jasper’s body began to dissipate, sparks shot up into the darkening sky of evening and cascaded from the highest point out through the domed areas. Some of them headed to the swamp, some of them settled in the trees and the gardens. A part of her in all elements of her home.

  As the last one landed, Quinn felt her resolve strengthen. Not that she’d needed the extra motivation. They’d already done enough. Wounded enough. Killed enough.

  Their own were expendable. Nothing was sacred. As long as they reached their goal of letting chaos magic run rampant.

  Now, at least, they knew some of the faces, most of the motivations, and had foiled some of their ploys.

  Quinn felt an itch under her skin. Like it was waiting, egging her on. She watched Jasper’s family as they mourned her, and the guilt twisted in her gut like a knife, a poignant reminder of what she, of what they all had to accomplish.

  “Let’s get back,” she whispered to Malakai. He nodded and walked at her elbow, almost like a shadow who saw everything. Savinth nodded as they left, and Quinn wasn’t sure, but she swore she could hear her say something along the lines of: make them pay.

  Quinn decided she liked that motto.

  ~~

  Quinn’s resolve as they step through the door and back into the Library has sharpened.

  Especially since the magic permeating the area told her in no uncertain terms that the pillar is still a looming problem. She frowned as she stepped into her office, grateful again that they transport directly to it. There’s no time to get caught up with Betty’s questions that she knows the Sprite definitely has. Nor did she have time to be waylaid by anyone else. And Aradie still wasn’t around, which really began to grate on her nerves.

  She muttered under her breath as she made her way to her desk, falling into the seat with a heavy sigh. “Pillar. Memories. Hospital... how do we link it all together?”

  The memories are coming along quite nicely. The Library spoke into the room.

  Quinn looked up with a frown, realizing that Malakai had somehow disappeared since they returned. That wasn’t like him at all. “Define how the memories are coming along well. Because frankly, you keep saying that, and right now, I’m having a hard time believing you mean it.”

  I mean it every time. It’s just each time I think we’re close, we discover that we are, in fact, not. The Library sounded irritated and slightly sulky.

  Quinn sighed. They really hadn’t had much time to talk since they’d come back. “Have you talked to your sister?” she asked softly instead of giving in to her frustrations.

  Of course I have. The Library had obviously taken some offense to that. But then her tone became gentle. I don’t personally remember when I last saw her. I thought it had been tens of thousands of years. But... Milaro helped us compare memories, and it appears I saw her several hundred years ago and gave her that book.

  “Yes. She did mention that.” Quinn said, her lips quirking into a smile. “How’s the retrieval going?”

  The Library hesitated, like perhaps it was reformulating exactly how to phrase the answer. We’ve established that her memory is true, and where it should be in my head is just a blank space. Milaro thinks Korradine scrubbed it somehow. Instead of locking them away, or filtering them out, or replacing them with something vague, she actually entered the system for this and removed it. Sand blasted it away.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Quinn cringed. “That sounds oddly painful.”

  I don’t feel pain the same way I did in my singular corporeal form, but I do believe it would have had some effect on me. The edges are frayed in a way consistent with pain.

  She wished the Library didn’t sound so clinical about it all.

  Anyway. We’re working on retrieving and establishing the course of events around that time. It’s like a knot of information all wound around each other. Another pause by the Library before it barreled on ahead. And even though I don’t want to assume, I’m quite certain Korradine only found out about the conversation retroactively when she went to search for that specific book. The Parsneauvian book having been with Drukala might be the feather in our cap. Hopefully.

  Quinn mulled that over in her head. If Drukala took the book and hid it away with her in hibernation, immediately enacting all the safeties that cosmicisodracus had in place for when they were helpless hibernating, then Korradine wouldn’t have been able to find it. She’d obviously expected to plot her way through, gradually remove all the books and magic and support she needed to, while carefully eliminating all traces of her machinations, and then she’d been prepared to blow the Library up.

  Except both the Library and Lynx weren’t as complacent as Korradine expected, and while they didn’t stop her, they did acquire themselves a stay of execution. But Quinn knew she was missing something. She crunched her eyes up, trying to force her brain to do more thinking, to give her amazing revelations.

  The damned thing gave her literally no answer.

  Just as she was about to speak to the Library again, the door opened. At first she wanted to reprimand whoever entered without knocking, but it was Malakai, balancing a tray of something he’d obviously stolen from the kitchens, while a gorgeous black with vivid green, purple, and red feathered owl darted in with a protesting hoot to sit on the back of her chair.

  “I didn’t go anywhere without you that you didn’t know about,” she said to Aradie’s offended string of noises. “And you...” she paused as Malakai put the tray down, a grin on his face.

  He cleared his throat. “M’lady is served.”

  Quinn rolled her eyes, even though she was secretly starving. Her stomach protested quite loudly for her to stop thinking and start eating, and she glared at it reproachfully. Perhaps Malakai had just been paying more attention to her noisy body, or else he’d been with her all day anyway and knew she hadn’t eaten yet. The latter was the right one, but the first gave her a nice fuzzy warm feeling. It felt nice to have someone else care about you.

  “Thanks.” she said before digging into the pasta in front of her. Luckily, it also afforded her to get her thoughts more in line. Establishing the actual conversations that took place to leave the Library to asking Drukala to care for that book. Then seeing what they could sort out for the Pillar. Checking with Hal about anything from their prisoners. She was particularly interested in seeing if he’d gotten anything out of Kajaro. Then there was Misha, more Library branches, retrieving all the books, making the Library a safe space, boosting power levels to optimum and overflowing...

  Quinn centered herself. One breath. Two breaths. She knew she could do this. Her mind was easily segmented now, to work on her shielding both mental and physical, to dissect the books she was absorbing while taking care of other tasks. It was still the best book she’d memorized, taken into her and evolved until it was a seamless part of herself. The ability to multitask and condense the time it took her to process and analyze things? Best gift Milaro could ever have given her.

  She tried not to be aware of the way Malakai watched her from the door. The way the concern marred his otherwise perfect brow, or the slight hike to one of his eyebrows, as if he was permanently asking her what’s up. Worrying people was not the goal.

  “Okay.” she says as the food spreads warmth throughout her body, making her wonder just how long she hadn’t eaten for. The last few days were a blur, after all. “Do we have an ETA on your reconstruction of that memory?”

  Malakai looked confused until the Library spoke.

  It’s a delicate process, but Milaro is helping me work through it. Maybe tomorrow... maybe a few days.

  “I can work with that,” Quinn mumbled. She knew now why the Library needed a manifestation and a Librarian. It wasn’t just about the balance of power. After synchronizing more with it, she’d realized just how huge the tasks were that the Library undertook. From the filtration chamber operation - all the things Quinn hadn’t touched. The way it filtered, and distributed the mana and energy. The ley lines. The doors that opened to everywhere and anywhere. Not to mention the constant scanning for those with nefarious purpose.

  Then there were the golems to monitor, the assistants to track, the borrowing and return of all the books to multitask. Also the different branches and the species specific room requests. She knew there was more she’d forgotten. But the reality was that the Library managed so much, all the time, never stopping, without fail.

  It wasn’t a god, it was just a very busy Library, who had sacrificed its dragon form in order to become the thing that kept the universe safe from chaotic magic. From magic, that would devour all of them.

  And it needed its Librarian and manifestation to take over the administrative and logistics. Which, it turned out, included trying to solve the rest of the bloody ‘who was conspiring against us puzzle’... and solve it.

  Quinn grinned. “Yeah. I can work with that.” She said it this time with more force.

  Malakai raised his eyebrow fully. “Should I know what you mean?”

  She shook her head as she pushed herself up from her chair. “No... but the Library... you have another sibling right?”

  Yes. The tone was filled with hesitancy.

  “Do you think you can contact them? Or are they hibernating?”

  Several seconds passed. They appear to be coming out of hibernation... The tone sounds like the Library is frowning.

  Quinn suppressed a sigh. Being frustrated wasn’t going to help anyone. “Well, that’s the two you knew were hibernating then. How long until they’re coherent enough to talk?”

  Not long. Maybe a day or three.

  Excellent. That made the next few days nice and busy. Quinn nodded. “Then I’m off to the hospital wing to check on Geneva and see if good old auntie Drukala has any ideas.”

  Anyhu - Patreon yada yada advanced chapters!