LSRO: Chapter 149 - (Patreon)

Soooo! This is one of those instances where I had the perfect (slightly cliffy) chapter ending but it was mid chapter. And then I realized I'd glossed over so much of the info in this chapter and hadn't really given a resolution - so here is the new and improved Chapter 149! Hope you like it!

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Chapter 149

Another List

"Just what incidents are you talking about then?" Quinn asked, despite having absolutely no interest whatsoever in finding out the answer to the question she just posed.

"Well, it started maybe a day before you left to go and visit Malakai's mother, but you were very busy and we did not want to bother you," Narilin said, looking everywhere but directly at Quinn. The Salosier was even wringing her hands, a sure sign that there was something they were keeping from Quinn.

"Okay, what problems?" Quinn was really trying to keep her tone even.

"There have been some problems with the bookworms. They are having trouble producing several affinities, despite Farrow's best efforts." Narilin still wouldn't meet her gaze.

Quinn frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Because some of the books have been in the library for so long and much of their leftover essence was also devoured by bookworms. The  engorged ones that you did in fact fight off, very bravely might I add. The bookworms that were salvaged are not reproducing." Narilin paused as if trying to think of what she needed to add. "Right now we don't have all the affinities represented, and some of those that we do have, aren't producing the correct wavelength yet. We've sort of reached an impasse."

Quinn paused for a moment digesting the information. She really wished they'd tell her this stuff sooner. "There has to be something we can do to rectify that, correct?"

Narilin hesitated before answering and Lynx stepped in. "There are, of course, many things we can do. However. There hasn't been much time to take a trial and error approach to figure out what's gone wrong with the breeding."

Quinn glanced between the two of them. Both Lynx and Narilin looked positively mortified. While Quinn wanted to pretend it was just about worms, she knew that, in fact, it wasn't. It was about yet another thing in the Library that was supposed to function, that wasn't. 

The more they thought they fixed the Library, the more broken elements they seemed to find.

"Okay then. Let's see what we can do." She called Misha with her mind, who popped immediately into the middle of the ever growing gathering. A part of Quinn thought it might be a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. But, what other option did they really have?

"What can I do for you, Librarian?" Misha asked, giving a brief incline of their head by way of greeting.

"Question, how are we on the bookworm front?" Getting straight to the point was the only way Quinn was getting through this.

"Ah, that is not my area of expertise. I shall fetch Farrow for you." Misha said, and an instant later, Farrow stood in front of them. 

Quinn massaged her temples still not used to the instant teleportation thing. "Look, Farrow, I'm sure you're very busy." 

Farrow looked around herself, inclined her head to Narilin and the others, and then glanced at Quinn before irritably looking at Misha. "You know I don't like it when you do that. Sometimes I have specimens in my hands."

"I checked this time," Misha said, a bit of smug impertinence in their tone.

"Well check better next time, thank you," Farrow said. She turned her attention to Quinn, finally. "What can I do for you, Librarian?"

"I've heard there's been some incidents, the bookworms aren't reproducing for one." Quinn paused and her eyes narrowed. 

"The bookworms are my main concern right now, but did Narilin not tell you about the owls?" Farrow sounded less whimsical than usual. As if she was all about business and solving the problems she was having.

"No," Quinn said, "neither did Aradie, who is an owl." She glared at the owl who was perched on the back of her chair. She wisely looked away, and then Quinn turned her attention toward Narilin. "And Narilin told me essentially nothing. So will you please tell me what I need to know?" Quinn asked.

"Very well then," Narilin said, cutting in on anything Farrow might have said.. "We have been having a little bit of trouble with the quills as well. With such a long downtime, hibernation time if you will, their sturdiness has decreased."

"And in plain language?" Quinn asked as calmly as she could.

Aradie hooted in her ear and spoke in her mind. A lot of the feathers are prematurely being offered and thus do not have the strength required to maintain the magical script.

Quinn blinked. "What can we do to alleviate this?" Quinn asked.

Narilin shrugged and, funnily enough, so did Aradie. Quinn sighed and counted to three because she didn't really have time to count to ten.

"I would suggest making sure that the owls don't get over exuberant in offering up their feathers," Quinn offered. "I mean I realize we need the quills especially since we need to replicate some of the damaged tomes. But we can't get ahead of ourselves. It's only going to make more work in the long run."

"True, and I have told them this, but they're still overeager," Narilin said. "I'm sure they will stop immediately if I simply tell them the Librarian has told them to."

"There's no need to be facetious with me, Narilin." Quinn snapped, then calmed herself and took a breath before looking around and gesturing at everyone else. "None of you offered anything else. I haven't even known about magic for three months yet. How am I supposed to solve these problems?"

Every single one of them at least had the decency to look contrite. 

Narilin finally met Quinn's gaze and inclined her head. "Sorry, Librarian, I'm frustrated as it's difficult to up the output that I am required to have right now." 

"Do you think this could be part of the sabotage?" Quinn asked.

"I would like to say no, but Jim and Bob were the ones feeding the night owls for me as I had been extremely busy. Even with my cousin's help, I was swamped and determined to get all the books back on their feet as soon as possible. I just..." The beautiful salosier shrugged helplessly.

"Narilin, it's okay," Quinn said. "We didn't know that we couldn't trust them. We all know it's not on you. You're doing a great job."

Narilin looked up and blinked. "Thank you. I think I needed to hear that."

Quinn shrugged. "Sometimes, you know, we all need to hear that. Thank you for your hard work. Anyway, now that Jim and Bob are gone, do we think we can rectify the situation so the owls can get better sustenance and this problem will go away?"

"Perhaps that will work." Narilin seemed partially mollified and turned to Farrow with a small smile. "Sorry. I got a little carried away with the Quills."

Quinn hid a smile at the interaction.

"It's quite alright." said Farrow. "Anyway. The bookworm problem is something I'm working on right now. It will take several generations to get us back to where we were before the Library shut down. Unless..." They added the last as if they'd just had a lightbulb moment, which, perhaps, they had.

"What is it, Farrow?" Quinn prodded, really hoping they'd perhaps figured out a solution.

"Well..." Farrow seemed to be searching for the right words to express what was on her mind. "I'm unsure if we can get them from their place of origin. The Sepulcher of Cariad has long since lost its guardians. I'm not even sure if the histories mention it. But there is a possibiity that we could retrieve some from their place of origin. I mean, it's a long shot, but a possibility."

Quinn perked up at that, but Eric beat her to speaking. "Wait. The Sepulcher of Cariad has long since been devoured by the moonlit wald. I mean, it's possible to go in there... but I'm not liking your chances of even locating the worms."

Farrow shrugged. "If I could be spared for a few days, I could take a team and attempt it myself." 

Quinn's eyes widened with surprse. "I'm all for it, but let's nail down some particulars before we start planning the rescue the bookworms expedition."

Farrow smiled. "Thank you Librarian."

"Now, that's a solution for the bookworms, or at least a potential one. And perhaps something we can at least talk to the owls about..." Quinn started saying only to be interrupted by Narilin.

"Yes, but that's not the only..."

Quinn sighed. "Can we get a list? I'm really good with lists. Give me a list. I will tick, strike, delete things off it, and check it twice just to be sure. Just get me one made up and we'll address the rest of this at a later date once everything is out in the open, please."

She took a deep breath and smiled. "I know we have other stuff that's just as important, but right now we need to figure out who we have to flush out because we can't trust them being here with us. I need to know if the assistants we still have present in the library right now are potential spies as well. I have to know if they're trustworthy or not."

"Isn't it just better to get rid of all of them?" Eric spat out. "I mean, you can't a hundred percent guarantee that they're not going to be in cahoots with their governments or leaders or their underground or whoever is deciding all of this."

"I don't know, but we have to give people the benefit of the doubt too. You can't just assume that they're a part of a minority faction. Some people will surprise you sometimes and I think that's still a beautiful thing." Quinn could feel herself choking up. "If we don't believe that people as a whole can be good... then we really have nothing to hope for."

"That's a bit naive..." Malakai muttered. "But I see your point."

Eric opened his mouth as if to say something, thought better of it, crossed his arms and harumphed, but she could tell there was a little bit of a smile in his eyes. Maybe Eric wasn't quite as gruff as he always let on.

"Anyway," Quinn said, "let's get to the end of this so I can go back out and cross some stuff off another list. So I need to know..."

But there was a rapid knock at the door before she could finish what she was saying. 

"Come in," Quinn said, and Finn dashed in, harried, sweaty even. 

Finn stood there, their massive anime-like eyes wider than Quinn had ever seen them, frantic. Their hair stood out a little bit more than Quinn was used to, almost like they'd put their finger in an electric socket. Still small and petite barely four feet tall, they looked so worried and so scared that Quinn's heart went out to them.

"Finn, what's wrong?"

"Please, I don't want to go back there. Don't send me back." Finn's eyes darted to each of them, pleading. "Please just keep me here, keep me safe. Please."

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This was a fun chapter for me. I hope you liked it.

Much love

KT