LSRO: Chapter 327 - As Soon As Possible (Patreon)

Weeee another chapter. Fancy that. I don't really have any news news. My kid is having a sleepover. I think I'll order pizza. I think you're

Weeee another chapter. Fancy that.

I don't really have any news news. My kid is having a sleepover. I think I'll order pizza.

I think you're all fantastic.

Hope you like the chapter

~~

Chapter 63

As Soon as Possible

“Ah, Manifestation,” Hal said, his voice filled with warmth, and he didn’t appear to be put out by the interruption at all. “How nice to see you again.”

Lynx turned around and blinked at him, but didn’t say anything. Hal continued, “What brings you here? We were, I think, behind closed doors.”

Lynx cocked his head to one side. “I needed to speak to the Librarian.”

Hal raised an eyebrow. “I imagine you get to speak to her fairly frequently.”

“I do,” Lynx admitted, “but I was about to speak to her when you arrived and understood that your concerns would likely take precedence over mine as the King of Halschius, so I did step back.”

“Ah,” Hal said, a smile playing on his lips. “That makes more sense. I never thought you to be a rude person, Lynx.”

Lynx shook his head. “There is a slight problem with a book for the Bardic Branch, the next one that we wish to open. I was about to speak to her about it when you arrived. But if you’re not done yet, I can leave and go away again until you are.”

“No, not necessary at all,” Hal assured him. “I was actually just about to take my leave.” He turned to Quinn and said, “That’s excellent that only need another book to open that branch. You should do that.”

Lynx nodded at the statement, and Quinn could see that his runic bands were swirling. There was something off about the way Lynx was acting, and yet Quinn couldn’t understand it, even from observing the interactions. She didn’t think it was Hal, but it was Lynx, and she couldn’t put her finger on what it meant. He didn’t seem inclined to talk while Hal was still in the room with them.

Hal’s eyes narrowed ever so briefly, as if he’d noticed something strange as well. Only he didn’t bring it up at all. Instead, he turned back to Quinn and gave a half-mocked bow before grinning.

“Little Egg, I have some things that must be taken care of, and I’ll be back as soon as possible. But in the meantime, I know Milaro and the rest will watch over you.”

Quinn laughed. “You always have to be so melodramatic, don’t you?”

“Of course! I’m a satyr, I’m theatrical.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow and then nodded. “Yes, you are dramatic.”

He laughed and clutched his chest. “Oh, you wound me, Little Egg.”

“Yes, yes, completely deliberately,” Quinn said. And she pushed down the minor melancholy that she felt at Hal’s departure. There never seemed to be enough time. When Hal came to visit, she always wished he could stay just that bit longer. Give her that tiny bit more of a safety net. Not that she didn’t think that others could protect her here, especially Aradie. She knew some of Aradie’s power and was quite certain that the Night Owl hadn’t shown her everything yet. And yet, Hal, just by his very presence, not even through actions, made her feel well taken care of.

“Anyway, I’ll be here. You get your stuff sorted,” she said.

“That’s the plan,” he said. And Quinn rolled her eyes as he reached out and ruffled the hair on top of her head. Again. She sighed as he left. He often tried to ruffle her hair, and she usually ducked out of the way. As he left, he called over his shoulder. “I will endeavour to do everything possible to help solve this whole world thing for you. We will do our best to keep you safe.” And then he was gone.

Quinn watched him go, feeling oddly emotional. Perhaps she was just too tired, had been doing too much. The days just ran into each other and she lost complete and utter track of them. Despite having sleep and knowing that she’d slept, it didn’t feel like she’d had any actual rest recently at all.

“Okay, Lynx,” she said, “what’s up?” She knew he’d been at the branch opening, waiting on her and about to speak to her about something or other. When Hal turned up, something tugged at her gut, like she knew deep down that the manifestation was nervous about something. He had been for a few days now, from the conversation they’d had, maybe last week, when he’d popped in to see her. That was vague and full of no actual information for her whatsoever. That particular visit had only left her with more questions. He’d definitely been off for a few days now. 

She was a bit hesitant because of that. She wasn’t always the best judge of when magic was being used against her. She’d been here a long time now, but there were still instances where she didn’t recognise magic for what it was, not when it was subtle. She was quite certain that whatever he was about to talk to her about would either be something that she did not like, or it was going to be something that made everything else she had to do just that measure more difficult and complicated. Heck, it was probably going to be a combination of all of those things.

She sighed, and Lynx moved closer. “Are you all right, Quinn?” He asked. The concern was genuine, just like she was used to seeing him, and yet she looked up at him, watching as the purple in his sclera swirled around his eyes, like a whirlpool of some sort, tugging everything into its vicinity. His runes still hadn’t stopped swirling, either. Which made her wonder just what it was he was afraid of, because this? This wasn’t normal Lynx behaviour. She should have spoken to him a day or two ago, after she’d realised that something was off, and now she felt like the worst Librarian ever.

“So, can you tell me what’s up?” She asked, putting as much genuine curiosity into the statement as she could.

Lynx stood there for several seconds, just watching her, as if he was trying to figure out if anything or anyone could see or even hear him. He started to speak several times, but stopped himself and then finally sighed. He looked at Quinn, almost like he was trying to look through her or into her, to see exactly where she stood on whatever matter was upsetting him.

“Are you okay, Lynx?” she asked.

He blinked rapidly, as if he’d almost forgotten she was there. “I’m okay,” he said, and she got the distinct impression that wasn’t the truth, and yet that he felt he couldn’t tell her how he really was.

“Good, so what’s up?” she asked.

“We need to go and retrieve the last book for the Bardic Expansion.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow, peering at him intensely. “Is this one of those, we need the Librarian to get the book back sort of things because the people who have it are keeping it and being stubborn and annoying and refusing to give us what we need to open the branch?”

He smiled faintly, chuckling ever so softly. “Something like that,” he said.

Quinn was slightly confused by his response, but something prevented her from saying it so out loud. There was a part of her worried he might scamper off if she asked too suddenly. She watched him, trying to figure it out. Lynx didn’t waver, he simply stood there and waited for her to speak again. She could see him and watch each small flicker of his eyes, each swirl of his runic bonds, and she knew with a startling clarity that Lynx was afraid.

She wasn’t entirely certain what could scare an almost immortal Library manifestation, but if he was this worked up about it and apparently needed to get her outside of the Library, then perhaps she should just do it. All of a sudden, Tillip’s words, the chieftain from the Hirish Highlands, came back to her. He’d mentioned that she lived in the Library and thus had no privacy. Because there were always people in the Library, and the Library itself was always there and listening.

She understood what he’d said, but she’d never really thought about how it would be for Lynx, who was an actual part of the Library, to constantly be there under observation of every single being who walked into that building as well as the Library itself. It softened her a little, because she suddenly felt very sorry for her friend. The Library wasn’t necessarily a safe place to speak if what he had to say could upset anyone. Maybe that was why he was being overly cautious.

And she realized that this was all conjecture in her head, all suppositions on her behalf. Perhaps there was also a way for the words they spoke mind to mind to be picked up, because she would have used that method of communication if she thought it would have any effect. If that was the case, though, then getting out of the Library to communicate made sense. She smiled, hoping she’d at least figured out some of the problem. In any case, her thoughts made some sort of logical progression.

“So, where do we have to go to get this book?”

Lynx smiled, and she could swear that she saw some sort of relief in his expression. “We need to head to the Furionis Fae homeworld. The book is located there,” Lynx said, and there was a tone of eagerness in his words.

Just as Quinn was about to ask, he shook his head. She frowned. She’d wanted to push him farther and ask why they had to go there, and why they weren’t just bringing it back, and yet she could almost feel the conflicting thoughts in his mind. That he wanted to talk to her, but didn’t feel that he could right now. His smile finally widened when he realized she wasn’t going to speak any further.

“So, should we go with just us?” Quinn asked.

“Oh no,” Lynx said, smiling and obviously glad that she hadn’t pushed the why question. “We should bring Malakai, Aradie, and probably Eric with us,” He said, glancing around the room, as if trying to see if anyone was hiding. Maybe he was growing paranoid in his vast age.

“When should we go then?” Quinn asked.

“As soon as possible,” Lynx said. “Since the pillar is ready tomorrow?”

“Uh, yes,” Quinn said. And then she remembered that wasn’t suspicious, because Lynx was one of only three beings who had access to the stats for the Library, the pillars, and the filtration chamber.

“Yes, it will be ready tomorrow,” Quinn reaffirmed.

“We should definitely get the next branch up and running as soon as we can. And then we only have two more left to go.” He sounded dedicated, determined even.

“Yeah,” Quinn said. He’d never been this excited about opening branches before. But whatever it was, he was afraid of, Quinn didn’t want to give it a chance to get a hold of his paranoia. And so she continued on. “Excellent. You just tell me where to go and when to be there and I’ll be there.”

“Great. I’ll go and round the others up then.” And then he was gone. Winked out of existence, or at least out of her office, anyway.

Aradie hooted with an underlying tone of irritation. Quinn scritched her owl absently. “Yeah, I know.”

Another coo, this time mildly amused. 

“You know I never leave you when I don’t have to.” Quinn muttered absently. 

A few more coos punctuated by a hoot. 

Quinn chuckled. “Silly bird.” 

Aradie nipped her finger playfully.

Quinn trusted Lynx. She only hoped that this wasn’t some sort of trap.

~~

It's not really a cliffy. She's not in danger of dying yet or anything, right?

Much love

KT