LSRO: Chapter 164 - Long Night Ahead (Patreon)

I enjoyed this chapter. I love me some Quinn and Milaro time.

Not a cliffy

Enjoy

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Chapter 164

Long Night Ahead

There was a certain level of apprehension about everything now that the Library's connection to her had faded. It wasn't severed, but it was very obvious the Library was busy devoting the bulk of its resources to its current task. It was vaguely lonely in her head.

However, as they ascended the stairs, Quinn realized that this was necessary for the Library to truly renew itself with the sequencing process. Even if it made her feel oddly vulnerable.

Milaro guided her to a spot behind the stairs once they were up on the main level, close to where Quinn had installed the new elevator leading to the filtration chamber. She surveyed the room. It was about 20 by 20 feet, surprisingly large for a space she'd never noticed before. To be fair, it wasn't an area she frequented often.

She saw Siliqua, Harish, and Cadre hunched over readouts and screens. At an angle below the desks, windows overlooked the core. The view was misty, suggesting something about the atmosphere down there prevented the use of completely clear glass. It probably wasn't even glass, but some weird magically enhanced sort of thing...

However, the fact that they could see some of it comforted her slightly.

"Feeling better?" Milaro asked.

"Not entirely, but a little," Quinn replied.

"Good." He offered her a smile of commiseration. "Can we agree now that he's in good hands?"

"I knew he was in... Yes, we can agree," Quinn said. There was no need to argue because there was really nothing to argue about. It was just her anxiety and paranoia trying to run rings around her mind.

"Now can we move on?" he asked gently.

"Fine." She gave in, knowing he was right.

"I know I need to go with you so I can observe first hand how this ability of yours is working, but first, Quinn, I need you to run me through exactly what happened back on Ishiposa Isle." He sighed as they approached her office. "This really shouldn't have happened to you yet. It's not within any of the calculations I ran before you were created."

"It's okay, Milaro. I mean, things were always going to go a little strange, right? You couldn't predict everything." She winked at him trying to soothe that blow.

"You're right. I definitely couldn't predict everything," he said as they finally entered through her office doors. "Okay, now, spill. What do you need from me?"

"Just give me a second." He placed a hand lightly on her forehead, murmured a few words under his breath that she couldn't quite hear, and closed his eyes. She felt a slight jolt, but she knew he wasn't doing anything dangerous. He was simply trying to get a read on her and these new skills that were developing under all of their noses.

He frowned and then opened his eyes, removing his hand and motioned for them to sit down on the couch. "Okay, I need you to tell me what happened on Ishiposa. Not what you did, because I know what you did. I saw the results of it and that was pretty impressive. I need to know how the sensations felt while you were experiencing them."

"Oh, you mean like the fire trying to eat me from the inside out?" Quinn asked. She wasn't trying to be sarcastic or snarky, but it sort of came out that way.

"Yes, like that. But I need far more detail than that," he said.

"What do you mean, more detail?" Quinn asked.

"Well, exactly that. I need to know exactly how it felt as you set the golem on fire."

Quinn frowned and closed her eyes, trying to bring all of the sensations back to her. The franticness of the situation, the smell of the crumbling stone... "I don't know, it was strange. It kind of suffused me and I felt warm and I was just trying to light a spark. Maybe grab some tinder and just let it burn. I was actually hoping to steam the golem out and destroy its  structural integrity, but it caught on fire."

"But you'd wet it beforehand, right?" He asked cautiously.

Quinn nodded as she opened her eyes. "I iced and watered whatever I could. Again, don't even understand how it caught fire."

"That's because Adrito actually used incendiary stone, which, again, not entirely sure what was up with his entire plan," Milaro sounded decidedly irritated by the fact. "He's definitely changed since our childhood days." For a second, sadness passed over Milaro's expression, as if he truly missed the Adrito he'd known in his childhood, even if they hadn't been the best of friends. 

Quinn supposed that finding out someone you knew as a child was actually nowhere near the person you thought they'd be. It probably hurt a little, especially since they were both leaders.

"The thing was, the fire felt very welcome. It didn't seem dangerous for me in any way, like it was protecting me more or less. It wasn't safe for the golem though..." She added. "You know, because I incinerated it, sort of... melted might be more accurate in the end? Anyway my scales, I mean, I don't know if they're scales, but they look like scales. They were darker and they hardened. They were more corporeal, like it was protecting me. 

"Can you summon them now?" Milaro asked. Curiosity peaked in his voice. "Like, right now, could you just summon those scales?"

Quinn put her arm out and focused. She willed the scales to appear, and they did absolutely nothing. Her arm didn't change, and was still the same olive complexion skin that she'd always had. She could almost sense the power inside her laughing at her.

"So that would be a no," Quinn said.

"That's a shame. I'd love to get to study them." Milaro sounded severely disappointed. 

"Maybe it's a reflexive measure," Quinn suggested. "Like, it protects me when I get in any super danger like getting set on fire would probably be considered, you know, dangerous for me."

"It's very likely." He leaned back and studied her for a moment. Then nodded to himself and spoke. "In a few minutes, I'll give you a few books I think will help you over the next couple of days while we're getting everything ready for you to go and visit Halschius."

Quinn sighed. "A couple of days? Do you think it'll take longer than that for Lynx to finish the sequencing?"

Milaro laughed. "Yes, Quinn, it's going to take longer than two days. Frankly, I think the five to seven day estimate was a little generous, but Cadre has been known to pull out miracles before. We'll see what happens. But the point is, we have to prepare Tenejo, and we have to prepare Adrito for the trip to Halsius. They can't be disturbed. They can't be knocked out of their stasis. Otherwise, we all know we're going to have hell to pay."

Quinn laughed. 

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because Halschius sounds like hell, and he's sort of, Uncle Hal is sort of like the king of hell, and you said there'd be hell to pay." Jokes weren't nearly as funny when you had to explain them.

"Oh, I get it." Milaro laughed a little bit. More like a chuckle, really. "Anyway, before I give you those books, I want to actually take a look in your mind. Will you allow me to do that?"

"Does it have something to do with the fire?" Quinn asked.

"Your mind controls everything, Quinn. There are ways we can strengthen protections for you. There are ways we can help your mind win over matter. A lot of times, we're societally conditioned to believe certain things. Now, don't get me wrong. Fire is always going to burn, but somebody like you, who has a heritage that is largely almost immune to fire, it's not going to hurt as much, but because you were raised human, you will perceive that these flames are going to kill you, and that is a mind problem, not necessarily a fire or physique problem."

Quinn blinked at him. "You realize that only makes sense because there's magic, right?"

"Oh, Quinn, so much only makes sense because there's magic." Milaro's laugh this time was hearty.

Quinn laughed. He had a point, and she had put her foot completely and utterly in that one. "Touché, you're right. I just wish it made a little bit more sense."

"We all do, but the good thing is that it consistently makes almost no sense." He gave her a wink.

She waved his horrific logic away. "Enough, enough. What do we need to do?"

"I need you to take my hands, hold them. I need to double-check everything with your... with your shielding." The way he said it gave Quinn pause. 

"Did something... did something happen with your shielding, Milaro?" she asked.

"I may have been a little remiss in my own protections recently. I've been taking on a lot, you know. But I have very good friends who take extremely good care of me. And so, crisis averted, I am well. But I just want to make sure that your shielding is also up to snuff, shall we say." He gave her another wink, as if downplaying the danger.

Quinn nodded, but got the feeling distinctly that he wasn't telling her everything. A cold shiver suffused her body, and it had nothing to do with her current temperature regulation issues. It was almost prescient, as if she could tell that something bad might happen to Milaro.

"You'll be careful, right?" she asked him suddenly.

He raised an eyebrow. "Of course I'll be careful. I'm fine. I fixed everything, with my friend's help."

"Is it a friend you can trust?" she asked, suddenly even more wary. Everybody around them was close to being a suspect.

"Quinn, breathe," Milaro said. "It's okay, you even know this friend. Nishpa is the friend that helped me."

"Nishpa?" Quinn digested that, and it did indeed make her feel somewhat better. She didn't know Nishpa too well, but the Firionas had seemed quite sturdy when they fought side by side. "She's a type of healer, right?"

"Yes, she's a mind medic." Milaro sounded mildly amused.

"A mind medic. I like that name," Quinn said. "Mind medic. Sounds pretty cool."

"It is pretty cool. Quinn, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I just..." Quinn couldn't explain the sensation. It was still there, not as prevalent as it had been at the beginning, but it was still underlining everything, sort of in her bones, warning her to be cautious.

"I need you to do me a favor," she said to Milaro. "I need you to promise me that no matter what, you will tell someone where you're going, someone trustworthy, and tell someone when you arrive, so people always know where you are."

"Quinn, I'm a very busy king, I..." But he paused, looking at her. "Did you get a feeling that something was going to happen to me?"

Quinn nodded. She didn't trust herself to speak. It was such a strange sensation, this sudden panic. It wasn't as bad anymore, but it was definitely still there. It wasn't due to happen now, but in the future. Now she was aware of it, it seemed to be fine with waiting in the background.

"Then I will take it seriously. Last time, you may have saved my life, or at least saved me a lot of pain." Milaro referred to the time she made sure he escaped Tenejo's powers. "And so I will take this seriously and do as you ask, okay? And while you go to visit Uncle Hal, I'll remain in the Library, so you definitely know where I am. And don't worry."

Quinn nodded. "Okay, thanks. Sorry if it seems like I blew it out of proportion, I just... I've never had a feeling like that before."

He chuckled. "You're going to get a lot more of those."

"Are you serious?"

"It's a good thing. It means your heritage is taking a good strong hold, and that the new magical signatures you received are mixing well together. Now let's just make sure your brain is completely and utterly safe. For you, and for everyone else."

Quinn took both of his hands in a grip, and closed her eyes, just as he'd instructed. She could sense him entering her mind. He was very gentle, very respectful. He didn't touch anything. He didn't try to move anything. All he did was inspect. He showed her where to strengthen her wards. Close to where her memories were, there was a slight crack. Something bleeding through, interfering with her protections. Stray thoughts of her own. Perhaps that had happened when she found out about the accident. 

Sealing it off, she paused. No, the memory was still there. So that wasn't how she'd forgotten. Perhaps it had simply been the shock.

He guided her around, telling her to strengthen, reinforce certain walls, reinforce certain aspects of her mind. And then, he happened upon the connection she held with the Library. She could practically feel the frown on his face, because she couldn't see it. Her eyes were closed.

"That's odd," his voice echoed throughout her head. "This needs to be strengthened, Quinn. Can you make it less tenuous?"

She shrugged but that didn't translate into the mind world they were in, so she spoke it out loud, "I think so."

"Reinforce it. This is the one connection you cannot afford to splinter, damage, or lose. So put everything you have into making sure it's always secure. Do you understand the gravity of this situation?"

She hesitated before answering. "If it splinters, or if it were to break, would I no longer be the Librarian?"

"More than likely," he said. "But it would be more than that, Quinn. Not only would your Librarian link be hampered, if not totally destroyed, it would backlash the power into you, and probably fry you up a good way. I'm not sure even cosmicisodracus heritage could save that."

"Oh," Quinn said, not liking that bit of news in the slightest, "let's just reinforce that as much as we can."

She opened her eyes and looked at Milaro, who seemed very contemplative. And she'd asked him the question she'd been burning to ask since she realized she could wield fire. "I thought I was supposed to be a lunar dragon. That's what the Library said. I'm supposed to have a water affinity."

But Milaro chuckled. "You do have a water affinity. You are a water dragon. But just because you're a water dragon doesn't negate your fire ability. All types of dragons have fire affinities - strong ones."

"What is a cosmicisodracus?" Quinn asked.

"They are the original dragons. Five of them with all the affinities, but strengths in particular ones. But this type can shapeshift into any form they wish. As you can, indeed see, in the case of the Library."

Quinn half smiled to herself. 

Milaro continued. "So all of us, there are five, six including you, even if you have smatterings of other species specific abilities in your make up."

"So there are six of us," Quinn said, and she couldn't help the little thrill that ran through her at saying that.

"Yes, there are."

"And we're all able to manipulate all of the affinities."

"Yes, but you will always, as a lunar dragon, have an extremely good relation with water and thus ice. And as a..."

"But also with fire," Quinn asked.

"Yes, always with fire. Like I said, it's the basis of any dragon. There is no fire dragon, because you all have fire abilities ingrained in your being."

"Are we done in here?" She asked, wondering why they'd stopped in her mind.

"Oh, yes." Milaro's presence in her mind disappeared and Quinn's eyes fluttered open to see her office again.

She frowned. "Okay. So what are these books you think can help me?"

"Ah, yes." He mulled that over for a second. "It's my hope that absorbing these will help you keep the overheating at bay. I'm not liking the look of it from inside or out. So Fire Control for Beginners. We're going with that one. Straight after that, I want you to take Honing Fire Control without Rising from the Ashes."

Quinn blinked. "They're not very entertaining names."

"Do you really think that we should entice people to learn how to play with fire by giving them interesting names for the books?" Milaro asked, eyebrow raised.

Quinn shook her head. "Nope! That actually sounds like a very bad idea."

"Exactly." he said and moved onto the next one. "Okay, then I want you to get Burning and Pyrokinesis Understood, and then finally Fire Misdirection and Common Malpractices."

"Okay," Quinn said. 

"Get started on these straight away." He said, pushing for her to acknowledge his words.

Quinn sighs. "Fine. I'll start now. I guess I've got a long night ahead of me."

~~

I wish I could absorb books.

Much love

KT