LSRO: Chapter 15 - Elves! (Patreon)

Well, here is Chapter 15!

Thank you for reading along with me. Gotta love those pesky elves, right?

Rough for now - will be updated!

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Chapter 15

Elves!

It seemed that elves didn't operate under the same sense of urgency as humans did. Quinn drummed her fingers against the counter while she waited for Milaro's grandson to arrive. He had assured her that Malachi was already on his way. But as the counter ticked down, Quinn couldn't help but think that he hadn't realized the gravity of the situation. She was growing impatient.

Despite having the time to browse through information the Library offered to her, without fully understanding what she was seeing. Pages and pages, for want of a better word, about overdue books and items, their locations and who had borrowed them. It was surprisingly in-depth and vast. She couldn't wrap her head around the amount of magical books that had been borrowed. Nor the fact that she could apparently create new tomes.

They were going to have to get the bookworms sorted.

Still, finding two books didn't sound like a difficult task, but they weren't in the library. She had to travel through who knows what dimensions or universes or however this damned library worked, and find two people—two different people—who had borrowed one book each. One of which, from Lynx's mumblings, it seemed might be reluctant to relinquish his tome.

These books were integral to the continuation of the library and, apparently, magic as everyone here knew it. While she didn't understand the how of the situation, Quinn did think the sense of urgency should have been apparent to everyone.

What was worse was the fact that in the bottom right corner of her vision, she could very conveniently watch the time limit she'd been given by the library tick down by the second. There was no avoiding it; she couldn't even relax and forget about it for an hour or two. There was apparently no way to dismiss it.

Because she'd tried.

"Okay, DeKarlyle's Thesis of Spatial Distortion, and Tarlegish's Dicotomy of Herbal Evolution. Shouldn't be too hard to find those, right? I don't really need an elven guide for it. I can just go myself," she muttered to herself, trying to psych herself up for the inevitable.

She could see Dottie off in the distance, probably trying valiantly to overhear what the other two were talking about. With any luck, the bench's guilt from earlier would extend to telling Quinn all about their conversation later. But right then, Quinn had other things to think about. Relying on other people always got her into trouble. In group assignments. At part-time jobs. The only person you could count on was yourself.

About to step down from the check-in desk and make her way to the doors hoping it worked with mental directions, Quinn turned when a gust of wind suddenly appeared in front of it. Though it was more like a mini tornado hovering directly in front of the desk. There was a thud, a mildly irritated exclamation, and when the wind was gone, an elf crouched in the spot.

Malachi was definitely not what Quinn had been expecting.

She'd assumed, and wrongly it seemed, that he would be a carbon copy of his grandfather. Well, technically, she guessed he was a carbon copy because he was the exact opposite. His skin held a mildly lavender-bluish tone, and he had long ears, pitch-black eyes that even extended through the sclera, and white and black hair, sort of like a salt and pepper shaker mixed together. He was tall, but not quite as tall as his grandfather, maybe six foot five, and his hair pulled back into a sharp braid. He brushed himself down and glanced around the library, his gaze falling on Quinn.

It only took a moment for him to calibrate what he was seeing. "You must be the librarian," he said. His voice was gentle, with a strange lilt to it, yet at the same time, Quinn was sure he could probably command the pants off someone.

She nodded, eyeing him up and down again. How was it that an elf was standing in front of her and not just in a movie? She didn't know. This one? Well, he appeared to be maybe a dark elf? Or at least a different type of elf. That begged to differ. What if his grandfather had multiple wives over millennia? It begged to wonder how one would go about being married to the same soul for 500 years? Still, idle thoughts were unnecessary. She gathered herself together and nodded at him. "Look, you're about two hours later than I would have liked and we have places to be. I hope you're ready. We have to go."

He raised an eyebrow in her direction. "I'm not used to being told what to do by anybody other than my grandfather. You'll have to let me check in with him first."

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Well, I'm the librarian and he told you that you needed to come and help me, is that correct?"

Malachi frowned. "Well, of course, it's correct. I wouldn't be here if he hadn't sent for me."

"Exactly, he sent for you to help me so that magic continues to work or something. So you do what I tell you so we can all continue to live long and magical lives, how does that sound?" A little of that was sheer bravado mixed with pure impatience.

Malachi blinked and she wondered if he truly had never been directed by anyone other than his grandfather in his life. She could see it as a distinct possibility with the way he held himself. She took a deep breath and decided it wasn't his fault that all this shit sandwich had landed in her lap and therefore she should probably be just a little bit nicer.

"Look, I'm sorry," she said. She didn't really feel sorry, she felt harried but if she was going to spend time with this person for the next two days she needed to make the best of it. "I got pulled into a new world from my own and I'm a little disoriented still. Still tossing up whether this is a bizarre dream or not. We have to go and retrieve these books and I appreciate you coming with me."

Malachi cocked his head to one side and studied her this time. She had to admit it wasn't the most pleasant feeling being scanned up and down like she was a piece of meat but she couldn't tell him not to. She'd literally done the same thing when he first flickered into her vision, and she was pretty sure she had gawked at him a little bit more than he was observing her. Mainly because he was an elf and this wasn't a movie. She really needed to get over that.

"That's okay." He inclined his head and his features relaxed. "Apology accepted. I will do my best to take orders and work together. Does that sound acceptable?"

"Yeah," Quinn said, suddenly relieved. "It does. Thanks."

"Oh, Malachi, my boy," Milaro cut in as he strode over. The man had a massive stride. He made it there in next to no time, with Lynx following behind, a trepidatious expression on his face. "I'm glad you could make it. It took you a while longer than I anticipated."

"Grandfather," Malachi said by way of greeting, "I was in the middle of something." He flushed a little bit and Milaro snorted.

"Enough of that. You can take part in your hobbies on time that is your own. You came to me for training. You will help Quinn. You will help the library become whole. That is your task until I say otherwise. Do you understand?" Milaro's tone brooked no argument.

"Wait, what? I'm not just going for a couple of days to help her get the stuff back that she needs." Malachi crossed his arms and his stance became rigid.

"No, no you're not. You are to stay here, at last for a while." The taller elf glanced over at Lynx, a brief crease appearing between his brows. "I have discussed it with Lynx. The library will require more than one set of hands and Quinn will have hers full."

"But that wasn't the deal. That wasn't what I'm supposed to be learning." Malachi appeared to be pouting.

Milaro however, didn't appear to appreciate his grandson's mood. "You've been learning the art of combat for the past 15 years. I believe it's time you put it to practical use."

Except Quinn could see that Malachi thought it was anything but fine. She only hoped it wasn't going to affect the tentative cooperation they'd been building toward.

Several seconds of complete and utter silence passed between the two elves. That's when Quinn realized they were probably using telepathy to speak to each other. After all, how else, other than magic or mind magic, had the grandfather contacted his grandson in the first place? That thought grabbed her brain and ran with it.

"Hold on," she said suddenly, turning to Lynx as panic began to swell in her gut. "We can't go yet, Lynx. You can't send me out there with just basic knowledge of how to hold a wooden bloody sword. I need to know how to defend myself, how to protect myself. I might have Malachi with me, but there is no telling what we're going to come up against. Right, you told me this was dangerous."

Lynx sparked for a second and took a step back. "That's a good point. Okay, follow me. We'll leave these two to discuss whatever it is they need to discuss about this trip."

As they walked away, Quinn mumbled under her breath in Link's direction, "I think they're already talking about it, you know, like mind to mind."

Link had the grace to smile. "Well, you realize the more you learn, you'll be able to do that with me as well, right? The library has a connection to you. You established it when you activated the core. We just need to get you and the library a little bit more power."

"Isn't that what we've been trying to do all along?" Quinn asked.

Link laughed. "Yes, you're right. So how about we just go get you some of the books you'll need? I'll get you..." He studied her for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face as his eyes switched back and forth through so many different colors. The irises closing over each other, whipping from side to side. She could get lost in those; they were fascinating.

"All right then," he said. "Okay, I think I have a good start. We're gonna get you 'Beginner Shielding', 'Machetes for Dummies'..."

"Seriously?" she interrupted him. "'Machetes for Dummies'? That's... there's literally a book called that?"

"Well, you seemed partial to the machete, so I figured we'd get you some more skills with it." He didn't seem to understand what she was asking.

"No, I meant the name of the book." Quinn was desperately fighting not to laugh. That was a particularly well-known type of help book for anything and everything back where she came from.

"Well, yes. It's hoping that you don't cut your fingers off like a dummy. Does that not make sense?" It seemed Lynx had no idea about the correlation.

It's okay, don't worry, carry on. What else?"

"'Poison or Just Disgusting'...,"

"That's the name of a book?" Quinn bit out, trying not to laugh.

"Well, yes. You know, you've got to get beginners to be interested in stuff. If you get them interested in it by starting with a book that is at least, you know, marginally entertaining in its name, then you can often get people more interested to expand their knowledge base." Lynx paused for a moment, grabbing another book from a shelf. "It's all about the dynamics of knowledge and the magical power it contains."

"That tracks. That really tracks," Quinn said, mulling it over in her mind. "Okay, I'm sorry, keep going."

"'Bright Light Starters' is another one. It's going to let you produce light at differing levels when you might be caught in darkness or you may need a really quick fire starter. Let me think... Okay, 'Blink and I'm Gone'."

That was a confusing title. Quinn double checked it. "'Blink and You're Gone'?"

"Yes, it's kind of a misnomer, really. It's not quite right. It's being able to camouflage yourself with your surroundings so that, in fact, the person blinks and then you appear to have disappeared." His explanation didn't make it any less confusing.

"Oh, I thought it was gonna teleport me away from where they were."

Lynx pondered that for a second. "Oh, well, that makes a certain amount of sense too. Like a 'Blink Step', you mean?"

"Sort of, I guess. I think I've played too many video games." Quinn shrugged.

"You're going to have to explain to me the appeal of those video games your world likes so much." Lynx continued to peruse the shelves in the next section over.

Quinn couldn't help but notice how many of the shelves were empty, with not even dust in place thanks to the bookworms.

Lynx finally paused and pursed his lips before grabbing for another book. "Okay, and then I think we'll do one more. 'Watch Out for That Tree'."

Quinn actually laughed at that one. "'Watch Out for That Tree'? What is it, speedrunning?"

"No, no, that would be the 'Speedrunning 101' book." He answered without truly paying attention to her.

"There's a Speedrunning book?" Quinn asked incredulously.

"Of course, there is. There are books for everything," Lynx finally looked at her and winked. "Just you wait. Anyway, the 'Watch Out for That Tree' is actually a minor teleportation one. Sort of a blink step like you were thinking earlier. It just really wants to make really sure you don't teleport into solid objects because that's something you just don't come back from."

Quinn shuddered at the thought. "Yeah, I can see landing inside any object, including a tree, would be a life-ending decision. "What had she gotten herself into? Quinn could feel her body practically vibrating, and it wasn't excitement, it was nerves. She was a little bit scared. This world, this magic, it was all so... so much.

"Okay, give me some of those books," she said and took a few off Lynx, who was using his ability to solidify himself a lot more frequently right now. "Doesn't maintaining coporeal form take energy away from the Library?"

"I'm not holding it forever. It's fleeting in the grand scheme of things. Once we've restored the core to low power mode instead of emergency, things will run much smoother." He hadn't exactly answered her question, but it was enough. He gestured toward the middle seating area as he walked. "We're going to sit down over there, and you're goinh to absorb the books the same way you absorbed the 'Beginner Sword Fighting' one."

"Okay," Quinn said. She walked over and patted the couch.

It's like Lynx knew what she was thinking. "It's okay, Quinn. That one's not like Dottie."

"Oh, sorry. I just... I didn't... I didn't want to make it angry."

Link smiled. "Yeah, Dottie teaches everybody that."

"Well, okay then," Quinn said, and positioned herself on the couch in a cross-legged position. She took 'Beginners Shielding' into her hands and spread it on her lap, just like she'd been taught. Placing one palm on each side of the book, she let her fingers splay over the pages and took a deep breath.

Suddenly, an onslaught of power rang through her, threatening for just a second to tear her apart.

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Thank you for reading. Let me know what you thought.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Much love

KT