Wes looked puzzled. 'But why have so many young probationers disappeared from here?'
'The library is, as I said, more than the buildings and works held within them. But buildings do not last forever, and parchment and vellum suffer the privations of age and vermin. Have you never wondered why the monks spend so little time maintaining the old buildings and instead devote more time to expanding the library? Have you never wondered why so few tomes are in poor repair, despite the use they get?'
'Well, I guess not.'
'It is my job to guard the library from all forms of attack, be it a siege by a selfish lord who wants to hoard the knowledge in here, or a silverfish looking for a place to lay her eggs. I protect the library against all this, and more. But such protection comes at a cost. I do not have limitless power. As you rightly stated, I am not a god. I could perhaps live forever in this form, if I did not take my responsibilities seriously, but my life is tied to the library, and if the library falls, I will cease to be.'
'So, you need my life-force to replace the power you have used in protecting the library?'
'That's almost right. If you agree to become the new guardian, it is your mind that will be in control here, not mine. Niles, and all the others, are still here as a part of me. But it is me, Jeffrey, who has control. I will relinquish that to you in turn, when the time comes.'
'Will it hurt?'
Again, the entity smiled. 'No. You will feel a brief tug as you make the change, but no pain.'
Wes looked relieved.
'How do you know when it's time for a new guardian?'
'When my energies are low, it is time. I visit the abbot in his dreams and inform him it is time to choose a successor. Sometimes I chat with the abbot in the dream, and we discuss who it will be. Sometimes, the choice is clear.'
'So, the abbot sending me here was no chance event. Was I a clear choice?'
'You will know the answer to that question only if you accept the offer.'
'Has anyone ever refused?'
'Oh, yes. Several times the chosen one has not been willing to make the necessary sacrifice. One even went on to become abbot a few centuries ago.'
Wes relaxed a little. He wasn't trapped then. There was still a way out, if he chose to take it.
'Tell me about those who refused.'
'I will tell you of only two. The first was Jamel, and he was an early choice, made when we were not so sure about what qualities were needed to be worthy of this task. He came to this room and was approached by one of our aspects. The meeting did not go well. Jamel was too headstrong and set in his own ways to be able to do what was right for the library. At the end of the meeting, even though he had been chosen, he was not offered the guardianship. He returned to the monks and told them what had happened, but they thought him mad, and banished him from the library forever.' Wes looked frightened. 'And the other?' 'His name was Rasalas, and he was a difficult choice. While he was worthy of the task, he also had much to contribute in the mortal world. He was offered the guardianship when he came to this room, but declined to take it. Rasalas returned to the monks but kept silent about what had happened until the abbot called him to an audience. He never revealed his meeting with us to anyone except the abbot, and he worked diligently at the library until he became the abbot. His time here was one of the richest scholastic periods since the library was established.'
A thought struck Wes. 'The pall over the library…?'
'It's because my energies are running low. I can no longer maintain the scholarly atmosphere of the library. If the library were attacked today, I could not defend it. That is why I need you to take over.'
'Me? But I am not even a novice yet. To hear Brother Frederick tell it, I never will be. How can I be the one you need?'
'Remember what you read, Wes. What I need is someone who believes in the library and what it will mean to future generations. Those generations will not be your descendants, or mine, or any of the others who have gone before, but they will be the future and the hope of all the intelligent races on Toril.'
Wes swallowed hard. 'I don't think I am the one you want for this. I've learned more in this room today than I have since I was born, and the responsibility you offer is too great for one as ignorant as I.'
The entity smiled patiently, as though this were something he had been through many times before. 'It's not what, or how much, you know that's important. It's what's in your heart that counts for this task. The time for questions is over. You must decide. Wes, will you accept the guardianship of the library?'
Wes thought for a moment about what it would mean. Leaving everyone behind, and yet not really leaving them at all. He knew the honor was a great one, and that his efforts would shape the future of thousands of people of all races. Wes knew what he had to do. He gulped and squared his shoulders.
'Yes, I will.'
'Then take my hand, and join us in our eternal task.'
The entity held out an ethereal hand, and Wes took it. As he did so, three things happened at once. The thin volume he had been reading slammed shut and floated of its own accord back to the corner where he had found it.
Wes's body faded away to nothing, leaving no evidence he had ever been in the room.
The entity glowed brightly with the influx of life-force.
'Well,' said Wes to the others he could now sense in the entity body, 'let's get on with it.' The new entity passed through the wall and disappeared, eager to assume its new duties.
In the hidden room, the only light now came from the magic. The shelves and their contents stood silent, waiting until the next time they would be needed. All was quiet, save for the tiny sound of a spider climbing down a bookshelf.
Wedged in a corner, behind a shelf, a thin, leather-bound tome was obviously out of place. A close inspection by anyone who had seen it before would have shown that it was not quite as thin as it had been a few hours earlier. Of course, there was nobody there to see it, except the spider that now began to spin a web around the book. Within a week, the cobwebs would again be thick around it.
In his private chambers, the abbot felt the pall lift from the library, and he smiled. Wes had been the right choice, if not the obvious one, and all was well in Candlekeep.
