LSRO: Chapter 328 - Better Option (Patreon)

So... I think we have about 8 or 9 more chapters to finish book 5. I'm pretty chuffed about that. Now, I have a super bad habit of seeing t

So... I think we have about 8 or 9 more chapters to finish book 5.

I'm pretty chuffed about that.

Now, I have a super bad habit of seeing the end and racing through when I draft. I'll probably screw something up, but I'll try really hard to catch it.

Anyhu! Hope you enjoy it.

~~

Chapter 64

Better Option

Quinn found herself wondering about her completely upended sleep schedule. She didn’t seem to get sleepy, only tired. Once everything was over, she vowed to sleep sixteen hours a day for a week. She got herself ready, worrying about gathering a few things into her ring, and then she waited until everybody else traipsed in.

She was only mildly surprised to see that Nishpa was coming with them. As the Firionas Fae entered the room, Quinn raised an eyebrow. “Nishpa!” Quinn was quite happy to see the Mind Healer. She’d missed her being around more frequently, especially considering how sick she’d been after Sarila almost pulverized her.

“It’s good to see you, Quinn,” Nishpa said, a soft smile on her face. “Lynx asked for a guide to the Royal Library, and I figured I may as well visit my brother while I show you to the Library.”

“Are you sure you’re well enough to travel?” Quinn asked, slightly concerned. Nishpa still hadn’t regained that golden glow she’d always had. She still had a pale undercurrent.

But Nishpa nodded. “I’m well enough to travel for now, and perhaps I’ll stay in the capital for some time. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll come back with you or stay there for a few days.”

“Okay,” Quinn nodded, genuinely happy to see her friend again. She looked at the others expectantly. Lynx’s eyes sparkled a brighter shade of purple, as if he held barely contained excitement. Eric had his arms crossed in a typical grump pose. She wondered if it was just a skill of the imps themselves. Maybe it was something innate about them, where they could hover in the air with their wings beating rapidly, while they crossed their arms and managed to look completely and utterly inconvenienced no matter what. She had to admit she was quite fond of Eric, too. Everybody in this room, if she was being honest. She nodded at Eric and he smirked at her.

Malakai stood in the corner with a backpack slung over one shoulder. She wondered why he insisted on taking backpacks with him when she knew he had access to dimensional storage. But then she smelled the telltale sign of cinnamon doughnuts, and she realized that he probably didn’t want to put those in a dimensional storage pocket in case it took away the taste. She’d never experimented with that herself.

Aradie sat on her shoulder, as usual, preening herself. 

Malakai gave her a smile. “Can’t get rid of me easily.”

“We were taking you anyway, you know,” Quinn said.

He mock pouted. “I know. Sounds better when I tell you I’m coming and will accept no argument.” 

She laughed, some of her tension easing. “I guess we’re going then?”

Lynx nodded and smiled at everybody. A nervous anxiety sparked in his aura. He twisted the knob on the door and opened it, taking them through to the Firionas Fae capital. But he didn’t speak, which Quinn didn’t even think about several seconds later, as she stepped through the door into the wonder that was the capital city of the Furionis Fae.

Quinn hadn’t been there before. It was all she could do not to gape at everything. Just like the Esposian homeworld, the Ishiposa Isle, that they had been on when Adrito attacked them so nicely. 

The capital was situated on a floating island, one surrounded above and below by other islands, too. They reminded Quinn, yet again, of one of her favourite video games, where you got to sky surf from island to island, had a gliding suit and a glider. She’d sunk many hours into that franchise.

She shook her head though. There was no time to think about that right now. Maybe she could get Malakai to adapt her handheld console, if she could get back to earth again sometime. She shook her head and refocused on the site before her. 

The islands were the only thing that the Firionas appeared to have in common with the Esposians on Ishiposa, because the architecture was more beautiful and breathtaking in a regal way. It was less imposing. Maybe it was the fact that no one was trying to kill the survivors of a horrific attack, or to sic a giant golem on them by sacrificing most of the city.

But the palace reminded Quinn of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, back home, well back on earth. It didn’t have a surrounding forest or anything, though. It was more paved with cobblestones and beautiful little Tudor-like surroundings everywhere. The building itself rose out of the center of the island, regal and majestic. Tall trees lined the sides of the sweeping, pristinely marbled staircase that wound up toward the entrance. It made her truly wonder how all of this managed to be on an island. The growing trees, the plants. She realized they looked like pieces of land just hefted out of the earth and set to float in the sky.

She guessed that any answer would just be that it was magic.

Quinn did notice Lynx was still quiet, and he hadn’t spoken yet. Along with that, he also seemed much more at ease than he had been recently in the Library. She waited for him to speak to her because she was a hundred and fifty percent certain that’s what he wanted to do. So she’d give him a little bit more time and then she was just going to ask him.

“Everything here’s so flammable,” Eric said.

Nishpa snorted a laugh. It sounded very unlike her. “It’s all warded, Eric. Nothing’s going to go up in flames here. There are magical protections as far as the eye can see. And some places it can’t.”

Eric just smirked at her. “Anything’s flammable if you try hard enough,” he said.

For a second, Quinn wondered if it was entirely safe to have the imp working in a building full of books.

Keeping Lynx in the back of her mind and the snarky chat between Nishpa and Eric on her periphery, Quinn watched every single building as they walked leisurely through the city center. The rest of the city matched the castle. It was like something taken off one of those Christmas village displays that ran around the top of people’s cupboards. Tiny Tudor shop fronts littered the roadside with beautifully quaint shop displays. Cakes in some clothes in others.

One of the displays they walked past appeared to be a toy shop. The toys appeared to be playing on their own. Things she would never have seen on earth. Magic made everything automatically more fun. She wouldn’t say better though, because magic did seem to complicate everything.

If she looked down the cobbled streets toward the outside of the island, she could spy townhouses around the perimeter of it. They were all perfectly in line with the style of the city and yet somehow still individual. None of that Stepford Wives stuff here. From different window placements to stained glass and beautiful curtains. The wooden beam placements were all in subtly different patterns. She didn’t think one of the ones she’d seen was the same. And then the color combinations. Some were as vibrant as the city, others were plain black and brown or black and white. She felt like she’d walked into a technicolor fantasy dream.

It didn’t help that the inhabitants of the city were all Firionas Fae, or at least most of them were. Every single one of the Firionas was between two and three feet tall. All hovering around and flitting about with vibrant wings in a plethora of colors. From blues and greens to purples and pinks, yellows and oranges and even some fall colors like maroon and browns. She did notice there weren’t that many reds. Somehow she’d gotten used to that color combination because of the red and gold colors both Geneva and Nishpa were. She wondered why that was.

“It’s like a rainbow here,” Quinn murmured to her companions.

“It is a bit,” Nishpa said, pride in her voice. She looked around, hovering next to Quinn. “Do you like it? Do you want to go into any of the shops?”

Quinn noticed the shops weren’t necessarily made only for Firionas Fae. Instead, they were completely human-sized. She guessed that made sense because the capital would be visited by other species than just the Firionas Fae. So they had to have shops everybody could frequent. Otherwise, why would anybody buy from them?

“I don’t think we’ve really got time for that right now. Once the Library is completely up and functioning and we’ve sorted all that other crap out, I’d love to take you up on the offer to go shopping. I haven’t been shopping, well, in like seven months.”

Nishpa chuckled. “Very well, I’ll hold you to that.”

“See that you do,” Quinn said. “Why aren’t there that many with your coloring?”

Nishpa chuckled at that. “Oh, red is the color of royalty. That’s why you don’t see many out in the street. But there are some. The royal family is quite well interspersed in the city and the rest of the islands. But as it’s the middle of the day here, they’re all probably in the palace working and governing and whatnot.”

Quinn managed to prevent herself from raising her eyebrow too high. She wasn’t entirely sure how much she believed any politicians did anything worthwhile, but she kept that to herself.

“Anyway,” Nishpa said, “I hope you like the city.” 

“As long as you can promise me that nobody is going to set an island-destroying golem on me, I think I like it quite fine.” Quinn quipped.

Nishpa cringed slightly. “I don’t think my brother’s going to do that. He’d probably like to meet you though, if you can drop by after the Library.”

Quinn nodded. She couldn’t very well be rude and just come to the Royal Library and nick off. 

Eric was grumbling under his breath. “Blood ties are magic. It’s so stupid. The royal family does that.”

“What are you grumbling about?” Quinn asked.

“Blood ties. That’s why the royal color is red.” He sounded irritated. But then again, when didn’t he?

Blood ties," Nishpa said. “Not blood magic. There is a big difference.”

“What do you mean, blood ties?” Quinn said.

“The ceremony ties you into governance, I guess, where it requires that you put the good of the Firionas Fae as a species, as a whole, before any personal wants.”

Quinn blinked. “Really? And what do the blood ties do?”

“If you don’t live up to them, you are cast out from the royal lineage.”

“Wow,” Quinn said. “I think I like that.”

“Oh yes, you don’t just marry into the royal family to be rich and wear pretty dresses.” She paused and then chuckled. “Of course, those are some nice perks.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow. And Eric started in on Nishpa again. 

So Quinn turned her attention to Lynx, noticing that there were actually quite a few imps interspersed amongst all the people in the city as well. It was strange to see what she’d known as fairies and devil creatures traveling the streets amicably chatting with one another. 

She nudged Lynx as they made their way through to the palace. It was such a bustling city. “Are you going to tell me why you wanted to get out of the Library so desperately?” She lowered her voice.

He hesitated, his gaze darting around.

“Lynx, you can talk to me,” she said.

“That’s just it,” Lynx said, his voice a hushed whisper. “I can only talk to you, no. No, that’s not what I’m meaning to say. Once we’re in the royal library ... then I can say more.” 

“And that’s where the book is?” Quinn asked.

“Yes, it’s in the royal library. I need you to retrieve it because when the Library didn’t open, they simply filed that book in with their books.”

“Couldn’t we have just had it sent over?”

“Yes, we could have just had it sent over,” Lynx responded. “I thought this would be a better option.”

“Because you want to talk, don’t you?” Quinn asked.

“Yes. Of course I do. But in the Library everyone is listening, and here we can avoid that.” He looked around as if worried. “You’ll need to be the one to speak to their librarian and ask for the book back. It’ll go much easier with you in person. While we’re looking for it, I can tell you about my memories.” 

“Have you got them all back?” Quinn asked.

“That’s just it. Sort of, mostly. And the most recent restoration? Has me a little worried about the state of the Library.”

Well, that didn’t sound good.

~~

Oops.

It's not a cliffy. They're alive. It's just suspense. I swear.

Much love

KT