Ruwen sat Ipper down. “If you all accept, I want to staff up,” Ruwen said. “Quickly. Qwyn you have seven hundred ninety-five tokens to use daily. From now on, the minimum salary in the library is twenty-five tokens a day.”
Qwyn’s faceted eyes, already glassy, seemed to shimmer. “I don’t believe it.”
Ruwen smiled. “I am also granting you access to one hundred thousand tokens in the library account. Before I left last time, I printed extra copies of the most popular books, but I’ve been told we are dreadfully short of new material. Get us up to date. Use the tokens for any repairs or enhancements you think are valuable. Do any of the schools have their own libraries?”
Qwyn swayed on her feet. “Our lack of support forced them into trying to do it themselves. Sadly, they are woeful.”
Ruwen nodded. “When you get a chance, assemble a list of books we own that the schools need copies of. I can do those myself. You are authorized to use another fifty thousand tokens to support and build up the school libraries. My favorite place as a kid was the library, and I want the children here to have a chance at that feeling.”
Qwyn’s voice quavered. “Thank you, Ink Warden. You are a true friend of knowledge. Do you have a preferred shelving system?”
“Good question,” Ruwen said. “My first priority is to get all the books off the floor and onto shelves. Once that’s done, we can meet and discuss what makes sense for the patrons here.”
“As you wish,” Qwyn said, and touched her head to the floor. The others bowed as well.
Ruwen returned the bow. “I look forward to working with all of you.”
The four library workers ran toward the open portal, eager to get started. Ruwen grinned, happy he could put all that money to good use. He had nearly died in this library not so long ago, to one of Blapy’s stupid centipedes. But he’d also found A Worker’s Guide to Harvesting here. An incredibly important book, and one of the first added to Blapy’s library. It had a book id of three, which reminded him of something he’d been extremely curious about.
Ruwen opened his Profile and found his librarian rank: Ink Warden. He used a mental finger to touch it, and his librarian view appeared.
Inventory
Checked Out
Overdue
Wait List
Resources
Library Loans
Satisfaction
Ruwen chose Inventory, and another display appeared.
Search by Title, Author, Topic, or Book Id
Ruwen focused on Book Id and added “000001” to the display with a thought. He had wondered since he’d gotten Uru’s Harvesting book what the two earlier books were. An entry appeared.
Book Title: Book of Secrets
Topic: Poems for another time
Author: Pen
Book Id: 000001
Quality: Legendary
Durability: 7 of 10
Weight: 0.9 lbs.
Loan Count: 1
Restriction: Miranda’s permission required.
Description: Thin brown book with a plain cover.
Status: On Loan
Borrower: Miranda
Due Date:
Ruwen studied the entry.
Rami, the first three essence forms you taught me in the Spirit Realm came from a book by a Harvester named Pen.
Excellent memory. That’s correct. I’ll start a query looking for anything related to “Pen.”
Thanks.
Ruwen returned to the search menu and added a Book Id of “000002.”
Book Title: Journal
Topic: Personal thoughts and observations
Author: Pen
Book Id: 000002
Quality: Legendary
Durability: 11 of 20
Weight: 2.75 lbs.
Loan Count: 1
Restriction: Miranda’s permission required.
Description: Thick black book with a plain cover.
Status: On Loan
Borrower: Miranda
Due Date:
Blapy’s actual name, or at least the one she used among the Divine beings, was Miranda, and this Pen obviously had some importance to her. They were the first two books kept here at the Black Pyramid, and she had both checked out. Checked out with no due date. She was hiding them.
A seven-foot portal appeared in front of Ruwen, and a small hand reached out, grabbed his shirt, and yanked him through.
Chapter 24
Ruwen now stood in a small library. Book filled shelves lined the walls, which were twenty feet to a side. Thick carpet covered the floor and a single overstuffed chair sat in the middle of the room. Lamps made from intricately shaped glass gave the room a soft light. Blapy looked up at him.
Oh, my. Mom’s library. She never lets me in here.
“Stay put, Rami,” Blapy said. “You’re not ready yet for the information here.”
You must get me to a shelf, Rami said.
Are you insane?
I’ve been trying to get in here for hundreds of years. It’s the hardest place in the entire pyramid to reach. This might be my only chance.
You have lost your mind.
Blapy smiled up at Ruwen. “Like a ray of sunshine breaking through the storm clouds, your Wisdom occasionally appears.”
Ruwen gently pressed on his right ear. Stop squirming. You’ll get us both killed.
“Nice place you’ve got here,” Ruwen said.
“Why are you looking for books one and two?” Blapy asked.
Let me go, Rami said.
Ruwen kept his hand cupped around his right ear to trap Rami. “Curiosity mostly.”
“No one asked you for them?”
That confused Ruwen. “Who would ask me?”
Blapy shrugged. “I’m not sure. You get around.”
“Are they valuable or something? Who is Pen?”
Aghhhhh, let me out, Rami said.
Stop it. You’re acting like a crazy woman, Ruwen said.
You don’t understand how hard I’ve worked to get into this place. It’s all Mom’s secrets. Just flick me to a shelf.
Just flick you? Does everyone lose their minds when around their parents?
“They’re valuable to me,” Blapy said. “But not for the same reasons they are to everyone else.”
“And Pen?” Ruwen tried again.
“A friend,” Blapy said.
Rami, are you trying to bite me? Ruwen asked.
The nibbling on his thumb stopped. No.
Do you think Pen is the True God’s name?
If you’d let me out, we’d know in a few seconds.
Ruwen voiced his suspicion. “Friend? Do you mean Companion?”
Blapy smiled. “Yes, something like that. You owe him your life, actually.”
That got Ruwen’s attention. He’d already been terribly curious about the books, although not as curious as Rami, but this comment changed that, and his curiosity flared. “How could I owe Pen my life? Is he still alive?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Blapy said. “The first
