The Endless Solvent

There are two types of Runeology students. First are those who wish to absorb as much rune theory as possible to either be always prepared when enchantment circles are needed, or to go into research into new enchantment circles. Those attending the Academy in the Runeology department are always in this category.

Second are those who want to learn about runes for a specific reason. Perhaps it’s to enhance their manus abilities. Perhaps it’s to create a machine and they need rune inscription to make it work. There needs to be a specific end result to learning runes - any rune theory not pertaining to their goal is considered useless information. Aris belongs in this category.

It isn’t that she dislikes runes, it’s that there simply needs to be a reason for her to learn something. And in her self-sufficient way, it seemed that she learned all the rune theory she needed all by herself (well, with the help of the Head Librarian and the books at the Academy). Camaz understands this aspect of his ward’s personality; others do not. He has also tried to explain to Aris that calling a runeology professor’s lessons “Part-fucking useless” is a sure way to have said professor refuse to help you when you need it most.

He went to the East wing, passed the groaning shelves of cook books and agricultural records until he reached a small open area with another long table. There were a few people there, two looked like students, one a librarian busily collecting stray books no longer needed. Aris wasn’t there. He continued past this area and happened to spot a second librarian through the shelves, looking flustered.

She was perhaps a more seasoned librarian, looking older than their new additions. The white buckle under her right shoulder looked a little worn as well, as if she had used it to tie her tunic many times. Her light brown hair was neatly tied back and like most librarians, her attire was prim and proper in stark contrast to the chaotic maze of their workplace. To anyone else, she looked calm and collected but Camaz saw differently.

A small wave of Shades, barely formed in shape so it simply looked like a moving puddle of shadow barely visible in the poor lighting of the library, followed her. She, of course, didn’t notice. Something was bothering her and it attracted the Shades like this. Camaz quickly but quietly went after the librarian.

“Excuse me, sorry,” he called out, trying to sound as inconspicuous as possible. The woman warily turned around, Shades swirling behind her.

He didn’t let her fully register who he was. In the privacy of the shelves, he approached her and reached out to her Solute through the Solvent. There were many other people here so he had to be careful to get the right one, but the Shades were buzzing around this woman so it wasn’t hard to be ‘directed’ towards it. He instinctively knew which one to grasp.

“Tell me your name,” he said softly, squeezing the woman’s Solute. He swallowed, fighting back the revulsion in the back of his throat. It was always worse grasping a person’s Solute. It was much more intimate. It always came with the feeling that he wasn’t supposed to be doing this.

“A-alyida,” she stuttered out. “Of the Heart, father doesn’t like… the name. Two books over four. No, I didn’t mean it…”

“It’s all right, Alyida. Did you see Aris?” Camaz carefully tried to control the conversation. It was easy for a person’s mind to wander and all he would get is a strange jumble of words.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to. It’s not right,” she whispered.

“She is a young girl about your height. Long dark hair and gray eyes. Did you see someone like that?”

“Yes,” Alyida said, looking upset. “I didn’t want to. The Head Librarian needs to know but… “

Camaz frowned, squeezing the Solute harder. “Did she ask you to do something? Focus, Alydia. What did she ask you to do?”

“They’re just books so it’s fine. They’re just books, why doesn’t she go look at them herself? Why me?”

“What did you do for her?” Camaz repeated. He often needed to repeat the question for people under his thrall to answer correctly.

“Copy book. Copy. Pages. She could just read it but I had to copy. I don’t… I don’t…”

“What book was it?”

“Advanced runist spells and enchantments, tenth volume,” Alyida blurted out. “A lot of it. Don’t tell Head Librarian. Father doesn’t like. I… I don’t like…”

“It’s going to be fine, Alyida,” Camaz said, sinking his grasp further into her Solute. His heart raced, thrilled with the opportunity to do what he was born to do, the elation almost immediately replaced with repulsion at himself. “Forget about this. Forget about me.”

He squeezed the scant amount of information out of her, drawing the memory of himself. “You…” she whispered, eyelids fluttering down. “Gone.”

She then stood still, almost as if asleep. Camaz left before her eyes opened again. The librarian was young and spry, even if she fell she would recover. He took a long shaky breath before going to where most of the advanced runeology books were shelved. This was why he preferred working with Shades - he never felt guilty pushing information out of them.

He also never felt the same amount of elation squeezing their Solutes. Doing it to a person was always so… visceral. If the Head Librarian felt that kind of elation shelving books by memory, he didn’t blame her for not staying inside her head. Parts damn it, he was just another hypocrite.

His own character flaws aside, he had to consider why Aris had a sudden interest in runeology - not to mention advanced runeology. He wasted about half an hour trying to find the right book, having to use a stepladder to reach it on one of the upper shelves. There was a brief theory that Aris had no intention of exerting so much effort to get the damn book in the first place and so had a poor librarian get it for her.

He thumbed through the thick tome, dense with writings on elaborate enchantments both successful and unsuccessful. There were hundreds of spells described and transcribed in great detail along with reports of the theory that went behind crafting it. The authors of the series had tried to gather relevant spells together and the tenth volume had a large section on body altering and augmentation spells.

Camaz sagged against the opposing shelf when he realized what topic the tome was speaking of. He passed a hand over his face in dismay. Did their previous argument upset her so much that she felt like she needed to change herself? It wasn’t what he meant at all.

He remembered her as a child: a small skinny thing with serious gray eyes climbing all over the lighthouse walls and finding all the holes in the walls within her first week there. Nobody, not even the students that regularly made the trek up the lighthouse to maintain the beacon, knew of the holes hidden by illusion there. She managed to make a small nook in the lighthouse wall in one of her rooms. She had always been clever, perhaps too clever for her own good. Aris of Caelis probably didn’t need anything but her clever little mind to achieve great things.

But would it be enough to take back a lost kingdom? She evidently didn’t think so. Perhaps he made it seem like he didn’t think so either. Camaz had no idea what needed to be done for Caelis to return to what it was.

He returned the book to its place on the shelf. The fact of the matter was that he still didn’t know what Aris had the librarian copy out of the book and why. The spell she needed was obviously a complicated enchantment that she couldn’t just memorize, but that would apply to every spell listed in that tome. Then there was the fact that Aris didn’t take out the book - it meant she needed the information but didn’t want the Head Librarian to know she took out the book.

In turn, it means she doesn’t want Camaz to know she took out the book.

Which was strange, because as Alyida implied in her stupor, the things in the book were open for all to see. There were books on forbidden enchantments and spells, all of those are locked up in a specific area of the library (for example, the runes needed to open a Gate) - that area was definitely monitored by the Head Librarian and perhaps even three different professors to ensure the information didn’t end up in the wrong hands. Why wouldn’t Aris want him to know she needed information from a book that was open to the public?

He could attempt to squeeze more information out of Alyida, but pushing too hard could cause irreparable damage to her memory. And a person’s memory was rarely specific enough, Camaz probably wouldn’t get the exact information he needed. Again, people were not Shades.

Therefore he would have to investigate the old-fashioned way. He returned to the central area where the Head Librarian was still ringing her bell and telling her lackeys where to shelve books. He sat down heavily on an available chair, tipping it back and listening to the chime of the bell as he considered his options. A few of the people there either working or studying briefly glanced at him but ultimately ignored him.

If Aris wanted to test out an enchanting circle without his knowledge, she would need space and privacy. Runeology students were provided practice rooms and spaces to suit their needs, some smaller ones near classrooms, a few bigger ones outside. There had been growing contention between the Runeology department and the Manus department over space for their students, a fight that Camaz had no interest in besides the entertainment value of watching grown men squabble. From what he could remember besides the fight devolving into name-calling, the Runeology department actually won that fight and acquired several new spots for testing purposes.

“What is the closest, most private space to practice enchantment circles?” Camaz asked the Head Librarian.

She blinked at him, focusing her eyes briefly, then blinked back to her blank expression. “Maroon building, west wing. Room 2,” she said. She then rang the bell. “Three. Sector 32. Shelf 18.”

“Maroon building? That’s a building for the Manus department,” Camaz said.

“Correct.” The Head Librarian then rang the bell again to spit out the location of the next books to be shelved. Camaz rolled his eyes: he keeps forgetting how much he hates talking to that woman. “Have you determined her intention?”

“I’m surprised you’re even interested,” Camaz said. “Didn’t think you cared.”

The Head Librarian was silent for a few seconds, long enough for several in the room to glance at her. Then, without emotion, she continued. “I dislike only half-sensing her here. She is like your Shades but more disruptive. She keeps secrets but this is a place of knowledge and sharing knowledge.”

Camaz gaped at the pale haired woman, the bell silent in her hand. It was the most the Head Librarian has ever said about herself. The other librarians also stared at her, astounded by the amount of words that weren’t sector or shelf numbers. It was a misconception about the Head Librarian, he decided, that she didn’t care about anything besides replacing books. “I apologize on my ward’s behalf for upsetting you,” he finally said.

The Head Librarian nodded, then rang her bell again. The sound cut through the silence and everything returned exactly back to the way it was before the Head Librarian’s “outburst”. Just a moment ago, Camaz found the sound of the bell comforting but now it added to the feeling of restlessness to his mind.

Even the Head Librarian, as obtuse as she is about the world outside the library, knew Aris was harboring a secret.