LSRO: Chapter 66 - Digging Deeper (Patreon)

Okies we're almost to the filtration chamber section, just getting some housekeeping out of the way for Quinn...

Hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 66

Digging Deeper

Milaro's knock at Quinn's door pulled her out of myriad thoughts as she was leafing through one of the Mental Manipulation chapters.

"Thank you for coming," she said.

He walked into the room. "Malakai seemed to think it was urgent," he sounded concerned as he placed a hand on the desk.

"It is, sort of." Quinn calmed herself, clearing her mind of clutter and focusing intently on what she'd been thinking about. "I leveled up my Mental Barrier, and I need you to teach me the next level. What can we do to provide mental defenses for those around us who don't have one of the 17 affinities that can use these books?"

Milaro took a step back. "Well done on the level-up. It's good to see you're thinking ahead."

"I think I have to now." She frowned as she realized just how true those words were.

"But that doesn't seem to be enough to pull me back from my Kingdom with urgency?" Milaro asked softly.

Quinn sighed. "I just realized how much work went into setting up this entire Library sabotage, probably for centuries under your noses, without the Library being wiser simply because the librarian could successfully separate her thoughts from those of the Library."

Milaro tapped his chin with his forefinger in thought. "Okay, I do have some exercises I will give you to help you with you next level of Mental Barrier. But first, what started the deep thinking on sabotague?"

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "You mean apart from that whole - the Library still can't even function properly because of it and oh they might be out to kill me part?"

Milaro winced. "Yeah. Apart from that."

She shrugged. "Aradie showed me some visions - that's how she communicates with me when it's not just on an emotional level. Her hoots are easy to interpret for the most part, but sometimes she has a lot more to say and she plays me images from her memory. One of those included Kajaro checking out DeKarlyle's Thesis of Spatial Distortion. He spoke at length to Korradine while checking it out, which in and of itself isn't necessarily suspicious, but from what I could tell, it was during the time that Lynx was offline resetting himself. Which makes it a lot more interesting. And if Korradine had locked her thoughts off, the Library would have no way of knowing what they discussed."

Quinn waited for Milaro to digest what she'd said.

He certainly took his time. Finally, he spoke again. "There were no other librarians or assistants around them?"

"None that I could see."

"That's very interesting." He mulled that over. "And I'm assuming the Library itself has convenient blanks then?"

Quinn's eyes grew wide. "I'm not sure, but I know Lynx memory has gaps around then."

"I'll see if there's any other ways we can retrieve the information. Any other Night Owls perhaps..." Milaro sighed. "I was overjoyed when I realized the Library was back... but now, it's gotten so complicated."

"True." Quinn said. He definitely wasn't wrong. But they had to find a bright side. "But we have a lot to keep us busy at least. Including having filters to change, right?"

"Yes, we do, Quinn. We're waiting on the filtration chamber suits to be ready so that you all can go down there and tackle it."

"Suits? Plural?" She asked.

"Oh, yes." Milaro's eyes took on that mischievous twinkle. "Malakai will be accompanying you."

She cocked her head to one side and crossed her arms. "Why would Malakai accompany me? I thought no one else was permitted down there."

"You can permit someone to go with you, and Malakai is probably," Milaro paused, as if he was considering how to phrase the rest of what he wanted to say, "Shall we say, best equipped to assist you."

"How do you mean he's best equipped to assist me? Lynx is coming with me already"

"Of course, Lynx is coming with you, and he can manifest solidity and assist you that way. But just in case there's something down there that we haven't counted on yet, I would feel safer if you would take Malakai with you." Milaro was pulling the grandfatherly card again.

Quinn still wasn't convinced though. "But isn't it dangerous for, like, everybody to go down there?"

Milaro hesitated before answering. "Malakai has some species advantages, shall we say."

Quinn narrowed her eyes. Milaro held up his hands. "It's just directly, specifically lineage-related when it comes to Malakai."

Quinn mulled that over. She wasn't exactly sure how to take that. Granted, she'd never poked into his personal life despite all the juicy hints some of his comments left. Some of those offhand comments on the Debilian homeworld and in the Library had really piqued her interest, but general species information shouldn't be off-limits.

"You're not going to tell me why are you?" She asked.

"Well, you did read the species books. You could always go and find more of those." Milaro tossed her a wink this time.

Quinn scowled. "You could just help make it easier, Milaro."

Milaro leaned a little closer and spoke very softly. "Yes, but his is not my story to tell, Quinn."

She sighed because he was right. A sliver of guilt wound its way around her. "Fine," she said. "Just give me the exercises. Show me how to do whatever the next step is."

"The next step is to weave a protection field."

"Weave? Like knitting?" she aksed.

"No, like weaving, like in and out over pillars that you set up so that there's no gap." He made weird wavy motions with his hands that were only more confusing.

"And what visual do I use for that?"

"Use whatever you can imagine would make it safer and sturdier."

"Okay," Quinn said. "Way to leave it wide open."

Milaro laughed. "What works better for me might not work for you. Bricks are the easiest one for the first level becasue at some stage everyone has played with building blocks.

"Ah." She said, seeing it now. "That tracks."

"Excellent." The elf King said. "Now if there's nothing else, I really do have to be gone. I won't be gone too long, I promise."

Quinn looked up into Milaro's earnest face and felt actual security for once. He really was dependable and grandfatherly. "Thanks for coming."

"No problem, just make sure you practice properly."

"I will," she said.

Quinn truly meant it when she promised Milaro that she'd practice.

She was absolutely committed to practicing as much as she could.

True to her word, she managed to erect a wonderful barrier of posts around her original barrier, as she didn't think it prudent to leave herself defenseless while learning a new technique. Then, she began closing them in like a fence.

However, she found herself disliking the wooden panels. Instead, she began to weave cloth, opting for a type of leather. Yet, she couldn't understand how it wouldn't have holes. Perhaps the posts needed to be closer together, or maybe it needed to be stitched afterward. It was far more complex than building with bricks. Regardless, she set her mind to work on it while contemplating other matters.

She thought about all the chaotic magic resistance items they needed. Even if she was technically not really susceptible to it, she didn't want to take any chances. They required pills and the same leather armor wore when they visited the Dibilian homeworld. There was so much to consider.

Why was it okay for Malakai to come along? Surely, it was dangerous for him too, especially where chaos magic threatened to leak into the library and the filtration system struggled to maintain any type of barrier. Why would someone as caring as Milaro send his grandson into danger? That meant he wasn't in danger. If it was lineage and species-dependent, then perhaps the Darigháhnish were a chaos elf species?

Frustrated, she smacked her hands down on the table. "Concentrate, Quinn," she muttered to herself. Aradie burrowed into the side of her head as if offering consolation. She still needed to figure it out, but if it was lineage-related, then...

"Wait," she said out loud. Massaging her temples, she ran through the thoughts in her head, the sudden barrage of information that she needed to reason through. She couldn't just dive into something irrationally. It needed to be reasoned through, especially when the fate of the universe might hang in the balance.

If Malakai's ability to accompany her was lineage and species-related, then did that mean Quinn's affinities were perhaps lineage and species-related? No. Wait. That didn't make sense. It couldn't be human-related. No other human on Earth had abilities like hers, ruling out the species. But did it rule everything out?

"Misha," she called, directing the thought toward the golem. As expected, the supervisory golem landed right in front of her, softly, with no noise but the slight whoosh of wind that brushed Quinn's hair back from her face.

"You called, Librarian?" Misha gave her a very slight bow. Quinn grinned at the golem. Misha had to be one of her favorite people so far, always diligent, always ready to help, and usually ready with an answer.

"Misha, I need you to do something for me."

"Yes, if it is within my power, I will do it."

Quinn sucked in a breath and asked before she lost her nerve. "I discreetly need information on the Darigháhnish elves."

"Oh, they are not called elves here, just the Darigháhnish. Elves are not one of the species of the universe," Misha corrected her.

"Okay, then I need as much information on the Darigháhnish as a species as I can get." Quinn still thought of them as elves, but that was her problem. She'd try to make sure she didn't say it out loud anymore.

"Why don't you just ask Malakai?" Misha asked, cocking their head to one side. "Would that not be the appropriate thing to do?"

"No, I don't want to know Malakai's specific story. That would be prying. If he ever wants to tell me, I'll be ready to listen. But until that time, I won't pry." Quinn was adament about that. She paused for a few more moments.

"Very well." Misha inclined their head in understanding.

Quinn continued. "What I do need to know is what makes the Darigháhnish so special when it comes to chaotic magic. There wasn't much in the book Malakai gave me a while ago, just a very basic rundown saying Darigháhnish elves keep to themselves and it's best to stay away from them. What I need to know for me to tackle and understand this filtration assignment is why it isn't dangerous for somebody of the Darigháhnish people to come with me down there."

Misha contemplated her, those pearl-like eyes shining. "That makes perfect sense. I will get you the tomes that are applicable from the history section.

Quinn started. "We have a history section? Is the history magic?"

Misha glanced at her. "Have you sincerely not looked at the catalog?"

"Well, I glanced through the catalog, but I didn't exactly have a lot of time to process it."

Misha let out what sounded like a sigh with a bit of a whistle to it. A golem sigh. "Of course there's magic based in history. There is magic based in everything." Sometimes, Misha could sound condescending.

Quinn decided to let it slide. "Anyway, I need the information discreetly. Just on the racial species, whatever, but not on his specific lineage. Oh, and do you think it would be possible to pull my personal history?"

Misha turned back toward Quinn. "I don't understand, Librarian. Your history, do you not know your own history?"

"I do, but my parents died when I was young. I don't remember everything about them. And I thought, if perhaps Malakai's lineage allows him to be around the chaotic energy, then maybe that's what gives me my affinities and my chaotic advantage as well."

Misha watched Quinn for a few moments before inclining their head. "I do believe it will be possible to retrieve your information, but you will have to give me time to figure out the proper way to do this. It may require more power than we currently have, more resources than we can spare, or just more time than I can currently allocate."

Quinn nodded. "That's fine. I just... It was just something I thought of when I realized that, because of Malakai's heritage, he was going to be able to accompany me down there with less danger to him than it would be if I took, say, Geneva or Finn."

"Yes, you should think about taking Eric," Misha said. "He can also fly."

"Good point." Quinn nodded her head. "He doesn't necessarily need the protective gear, does he?"

"No, he does not, Librarian." Misha's mouth lifted ever so slightly in what passed for their golem smile. "The preparations have almost all been made - just waiting on the suit reinforcements now. I will take my leave and get you the information you have requested."

Quinn watched as Misha disappeared, there one second, gone the next, and pondered her next step. She knew she had to continue learning how to weave the barrier. She also knew that she had to practice the mental acuity exercises Milaro had so kindly given her. But she couldn't shake the feeling that everyone had a lineage and maybe something in hers would explain why she had been on Earth when maybe she should have been in this universe.

"No, that's just silly." But the thought stayed with her. Quinn sighed and stood up, stretching. She hadn't named the storage golems yet, the gatherers, because she hadn't seen them. Tank and Tide were just the new shelving golems. Although she liked the T trend. Tank, Tide, Tim and Tom was probably going to get really confusing if she continued that, considering they were probably going to need up to a couple of dozen of them.

She paused at the threshold of her office, glancing back. It was tidier now that the golems had retrieved some of the books that were on her desk. Aradie flew to her shoulder and she walked out into the Library. There was a general murmur as she did so, not directed in her way, but just underlying everything now.

There were maybe a dozen people in the Library from what she could feel that weren't directly related to being staff. She could sense where everybody was. Nobody was somewhere they shouldn't be.

Although Lynx was in the kitchen.

She was pretty sure he didn't eat. But if she knew him, he was arranging for the provisions that they needed.

Quinn decided to make her way over there and paused just before she entered when she heard voices inside.

"Are you sure she does not require these anymore?" She heard Cook asking.

"Probably not," Lynx said. "There's been some anomalous activity around our librarian. We need to figure out why."

Quinn couldn't agree more. She stepped into the kitchen and grinned at Lynx, crossing her arms. "Do tell me what more we need to figure out about me."

But instead of catching him completely unawares, as she had thought she did, he grinned at her. "You realize I knew you were there, right?"

She laughed. Of course he did. She knew where everybody was. Why wouldn't he?

"No, it's just your chaotic magic affinity is unique. And there are perhaps some other ways we can enhance your unique physiology to, well, better filter the system."

Quinn perked up. "You mean I might be able to help the Library in other ways than just wading through chaotic sludge?"

"Isn't that logical?" Lynx asked.

Quinn nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I suppose it is."

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Much love

KT