LSRO: Chapter 326 - Oblivious (Patreon)

Hi you wonderful people, Okay. So. We got some bad and good news yesterday at our second opinion appointment in Kansas City at Children's M

Hi you wonderful people,

Okay. So. We got some bad and good news yesterday at our second opinion appointment in Kansas City at Children's Mercy. Luckily the good news counters the bad news. Basically Kiddo has apparently been on the wrong meds all this time, which is why her seizure activity hasn't gotten better. Suffice it to say: we're rectifying both that, and delving into her diagnosis with an aim to get a definitive and specific one, instead of the generalized one she had.

The doctor gave us in initial diagnosis way back and then never delved deeper... I'm glad I followed my gut and went to get a second opinion. I'm sort of upset and a wee bit angry at both her previous neuro and myself for not following my gut sooner.

But, I feel like we're in good hands now. It was such a different and better experience.

My advice: If you ever doubt a doctor and how they're treating you... get a second opinion sooner than later.

On the hand front. No improvement. But at least the elbow is a bit better now. Let's hope the nerve decides to do the reset in the next like 5 months.

Anyhu! Hope you like the chapter

~~

Chapter 62

Oblivious

Quinn hadn’t expected Uncle Hal to turn up for the opening. But she hadn’t seen Uncle Hal in quite some time, not since just after the betrayal on Halschius. A fleeting thought crossed her mind, a bit petulant and juvenile. When would she get just ten minutes to herself to sit down, relax, and process things without having to go off on tangents trying to figure out everything?

She knew the answer, though. It was when everything was over and back to what was probably, for the Library at least, normal.

Lynx took a step back and nodded at Hal. Quinn eyed him quizzically, but the Library manifestation shook his head and shrugged his shoulders before dissipating completely, as if he was saying, It’s okay, I’ll catch you later. Still, seeing Uncle Hal appear also gave her a rush of happiness. He’d been so busy lately with his whole thing on Halschius that she’d missed him.

“It’s good to see you again,” she said, and Quinn found that she truly meant it.

“Of course,” he said, a big grin on his satyr face. “I’ve missed you, little egg.” His voice and tone were filled with his usual fondness. 

She rolled her eyes. She really hated that nickname, but at least now she understood it. Her mind calmed. Regardless of everything else she had on her plate, Uncle Hal always made her feel safe. And right then, with all the surrounding uncertainty, Quinn found unexpected solace in his presence. Which was, considering his visage, quite unusual. He was an eight-foot-tall satyr, complete with the horns, the blood-like coloring, and the dark foreboding aura. Yet, she could look past that, because sometimes it just felt like an act, or perhaps just a natural occurrence for a satyr.

“Do you have time for a chat?” He asked, his voice sincere, curious.

Quinn nodded, looking back over the newly opened crafting branch. Everything seemed to be well in hand. She looked over at Malakai, who only stood a couple of feet away. He was already watching her. He crossed his arms and smiled good-naturedly.

“You know I’ll take care of it. If we need you, I’ll come and find you.”

Quinn smiled. “Thanks.”

“Don’t forget to eat,” he admonished her, as if she’d already forgotten to do so.

“I won’t forget to eat,” Quinn said, and turned to leave. Aradie, however, wasn’t yet done, and hooted in Malakai’s direction.

“Exactly, old bird. You see to it that she’s fed.” He said with a solemn nod in the owl’s direction.

Quinn scowled at the both of them, but not with any ferocity. She knew they cared. Maybe she couldn’t fully relax right now, but at least she could chatter, have a snack apparently, and revel in the feeling of security. 

She motioned for Hal to follow her, and they headed down to her office, as per usual. As soon as they reached the door, Aradie flew off, probably obeying Malakai’s order. Quinn was hungry, and so her companion likely sensed the incoming hangriness.

The owl sent back brief flashes of food and drink, confirming for Quinn that Aradie was indeed headed to get her something to eat.

Quinn motioned for Uncle Hal to enter the office before her and then followed him in. She let herself drop onto the couch, her head falling against the pillows on the back of it, with an audible sigh.

“Is it that bad?” he asked.

Quinn shrugged. “It’s just a bit exhausting.”

“Just today?” he spoke softly.

“No, not even really today.” Quinn had to think about it for a second. “It’s more of a constant, never-ending exhaustion. Like, I never get to take a break. And to be honest, it’s quite a lot. But it’s okay, because I know that eventually I’ll get to rest. Right?” She looked at him.

“Yes, when this is all over, you should have time to rest,” he said. It sounded like he was placating her. 

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you really think it’ll ever get to be all over?”

Hal let out a low, rueful chuckle. “Why do you ask, little egg?”

She waved her hands around in general, indicating the vast universe. “This, I didn’t think reopening a Library would take so much energy, effort, or take so long.”

Uncle Hal laughed. “Well, it was gone for almost 500 years, so the odds are that it will probably take more than seven months to right everything, don’t you think?”

Quinn cringed. He made a lot of sense. And at some level, she’d known that was the fact. It didn’t mean she had to like it.

“Well, that kind of makes sense,” she admitted. “I just didn’t look at it like that. I probably should have.”

Uncle Hal chuckled this time and flashed her a smile. “Again, you’re a little egg, and I know you hate that name, but it’s true. Technically, you should probably still be incubating. There are some of us who are here, willing and able to help and guide you as much as you’ll allow us to.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said with a deep sigh. She knew he was right. “But what with all the leaks and betrayals, I find myself somewhat skeptical about everything and everyone. All of this, all around us.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and took in a deep breath, settling herself back down. Hal and Milaro. Malakai. Geneva, Eric. Dottie. Well, probably Dottie. I really have to ask somebody about why Dottie isn’t allowed to leave the Library. Maybe even Harish and Siliqua. They were all people that Quinn did trust, and yet, she found herself at odds to be trusting. 

Sometimes she wondered if she shouldn’t just only trust herself. Then she was the only one who could let her down.

Uncle Hal’s voice was gentle when he spoke. “That’s no way to exist, little egg,” he said sadly. “All that turmoil inside isn’t healthy.”

“I know.” she wasn’t really sure what else to say. Her first thought was that he read her mind, but she was fairly certain he’d just read her facial expression.

Uncle Hal smiled at her, reaching down to briefly take one of her hands and give it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t fret. There are always solutions and we’ll work hard to find them.”

“I know,” she said again, feeling like she sounded extremely repetitive. She looked up at him. “Now, why are you here?”

“Am I that unwelcome?” Uncle Hal said, but she could tell he was kidding. He finally relented. “I guess we should probably talk about why I’m here.”

“Yes, like I asked, why are you here? Not that I don’t enjoy your company,” she qualified.

“Well,” he said, as if feeling out exactly what to say. “The whole nine lives thing. I promised you that I would tell you about it. And I’ve only just had a break long enough to come back and do so.”

“Exactly what about it? You removed it from Kajaro, correct?” Quinn asked, wondering exactly what she’d missed.

“Yes, and it’s actually in relation to exactly what we found out with regard to how Kajaro obtained the nine lives skill that I wanted to talk to you about.”

Quinn sat up. At the same time, Aradie brought in food and dropped it on the table. Quinn leaned forward, grabbed a sandwich and then rested back where Aradie alighted on her shoulder.

“Thanks,” she muttered to the bird, biting into a sandwich and finally turning her full attention back on Hal. “And so, are you going to elaborate or?”

“I thought you were eating.”

“I am eating. I can listen and eat at the same time. Shocking, I know,” she said drolly.

He sighed and stood up to pace. The carpet swallowed the sound of his hooves in the process. “Ardenil,” he finally said.

“What about her?” Quinn asked. She was curious. That was a very strange change of subject to suddenly start speaking about Malakai’s great aunt. And then the penny dropped and Quinn knew instinctively that this had to do precisely with that. Which Hal confirmed only seconds later.

“She was the one that provided Kajaro with the means to obtain his nine lives.”

“What, she gave them to him?” Quinn asked incredulously.

“No, she knew of a process to acquire them. And once she did so, was apparently left in stasis in Kajaro’s... basement.” He said the last word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. 

Torture chamber," Quinn asked.

He hesitated before answering, but then shook his head and spoke. “Yes, I think that would be a less diplomatic way to say it.”

“You don’t need to be diplomatic with me.”

“No, Quinn, I’m trying to be diplomatic with myself. I dislike torture chambers, despite the type of reputation my kind has. Anyway, we currently have Ardenil in our facility. We retrieved her.”

It looked like he was about to say something else, but wasn’t sure how he should phrase it. 

So Quinn asked. “So, she’s in your facility. Why is she there? Why was she with Kajaro? I’m missing something.”

“That’s just it. She’s not the most coherent from yet. She was held there as far as we can tell for a very long time. And I have had to, well, glean from her mind instead of asking her questions and getting answers because her mind is, shall we say, slightly jumbled right now.”

“And you have no idea how long she was held?”

“I’d be willing to bet it’s probably been a century or four.”

“And she was held prisoner there? She wasn’t there of her own will?”

“Believe me, Quinn,” Hal said seriously. “If you’d seen the condition we found her in, you’d understand that nobody, not even the most masochistic person in existence, would choose that.”

Quinn felt a shiver go up her spine.

“Anyway,” Hal carried on, clapping his hands, waking himself up from whatever dark visions he’d conjured for himself. “In our investigation so far, it appears that Ardanil has always been in favour of bringing chaotic power back into being. However, not to destroy the universe, more to, shall we say, leech harnessed chaotic power and distribute it to specific people who might benefit her in some way. An agenda, if you will.”

“So,” Quinn ran it through her head. “She didn’t want to destroy the universe. She just wanted to have power for herself so she could be more powerful.”

“Pretty much. However,” Hal continued, “more in the way of taking over the Library than just simply gathering chaotic power.”

“Of course!” Quinn said suddenly understanding, “That would make it easier because chaotic power comes here to be filtered and passed out, cleansed into the universe so everybody can use it. If they had control of the Library, then it would be much easier for her to simply leech off the top of that chaotic energy, correct?”

“Excellent, little egg. You understand.” He sounded relieved. 

“So what about the Nine Lives Secret?” Quinn pushed for more answers.

“She knew of a way to extract the Nine Lives ability from the original creature and, from what I gather, implant it into another living being. We believe Kajaro took the knowledge and held onto her for the last few hundred years so that nobody else could get their hands on it.”

Quinn mulled that over. She disliked him more and more and was quite glad he was dead. “Why wouldn’t we have seen this in his memories?”

Hal sighed. “While I’m fairly sure we got most of his memories, because Milaro yanked a lot of them, he could very well have kept some of them back.”

Quinn nodded. “Sort of like out of spite because you took away his Nine Lives?”

“Well, he only had about six of them left.”

“Hal, don’t be pedantic.”

The Satyr laughed his deeply resonate laugh. “Yes, yes, you’re right. Probably because we took away his respawns.” 

“So, how would he do that?” Quinn asked.

“It’s an extraction technique I’ve not seen before and I need to research into it more in order to understand it better before I give into mere conjecture,” he said, and changed the subject. “And then there’s Sölem. I believe we’re closing in on a location.”

“Oh, good.” Quinn sighed with relief.

Hal fidgeted slightly. “I really don’t have the time right now to delve into that. Suffice it to say that as soon as I have a location, you will have it too. As it is, I need a few more days to sort out the whole betrayal thing back at home. But I will come back shortly and visit.”

Right then, as Quinn was about to respond, Lynx popped into the office. “So do you have time now?” he asked, oblivious to the fact he might have been intruding.

~~

I think I need more Hal

Much love

KT