Chapter 46: Chai Tea and Dusty Tomes

I'm surprised so little people have commented about last chapter. Admittedly it was a little weird, especially considering how I usually write, but maybe I just got a little too excited about it? Well, whatever, these things happen.

Anyway, on with the chapter!

Warmth. That was the only way Valerie could describe the woman in front of her. From her smile to her red and gold Nivi-style sari to her ornate slippers, everything about her screamed 'warmth.'

Aside from that, the woman was Junoesque. Her hips were noticeably wide, and the brown skin of her uncovered arms sagged a bit, but Valerie could tell that it was from age and not from weight gain. She had smile lines around her eyes, and a few wrinkles on her forehead, but other than that her youthful beauty shone through. Her black hair was pinned back and lustrous, the curls tumbling past her shoulders. Her dark eyes were outlined with charcoal, and her parted lips were painted a soft red, showing the whiteness of her teeth. She looked like a well-to-do mother off to a party, if Valerie had to guess.

The woman cocked her head to the side and gave a small laugh. The sound made Valerie think of wind chimes, oddly enough. "Hello, Val," she said, showing off her accent. "It's nice to finally meet you."

She wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in her throat. She swallowed, feeling the dryness in her mouth, and she finally said in a hoarse voice, "How do you know my name?"

The woman raised a thick eyebrow, looking amused. "I'm surprised you haven't figured it out. You have been looking up things surrounding Aether, haven't you?"

Valerie blinked, her eyes still burning from crying earlier. It wasn't as if she hadn't, but with her life being what it was, she could only skim all the theories surrounding her powers. She thought hard, trying to dredge up something from her memories, and said slowly, "I think the aether told you who I was."

The woman nodded and held out a hand. Valerie noticed the thick golden band at her wrist, along with the brilliant red ruby at the very center, cut into an oval. And then she noticed all the other identical bands, attached to the woman's other arm and her ankles. There was even her golden sari belt, where the intricate engravings led to the oval ruby in the center. Was all this jewelry a sign of high status? Was this woman royalty?

No matter. Valerie took the hand offered to her, noticing how soft and warm it was. With a pang she realized that she missed human contact. When was the last time she had it?

The woman opened her mouth, and Valerie snapped to attention. "Now that you're here, can you tell me what you see?"

She felt the vestiges of her usual dry humor rise up in her. "I see you, whoever you are."

The woman held her head high. "I am Arya, meaning 'honorable and noble' in Sanskrit." At Valerie's bewildered look, she elaborated, "I'm currently studying the meaning and origins behind names. For example, your name, Valerie, means 'strong and valiant' in English. It is derived directly from the French name Valérie, and ultimately from the Latin name Valeria. It is generally of Romance origins. The Latin clan name, Valerius, is masculine and denotes strength, health or boldness. Valeria is simply the feminine form of this. Both masculine and feminine given names are derived via French into other languages. And that's not even going into the male versions of your name," Arya added blithely.

Valerie's eyes resembled spirals at this point. Shaking her head, she said, "That's interesting and all, but can we get on to the point of all this? I mean, I've been basically hearing voices in my head telling me to find something, and then I start hallucinating, and then I end up in this dreamscape. I mean, seriously, can I get some answers?!" she finished loudly, breathing heavily.

Arya raised an eyebrow. "Can you tell me what you see first?"

Huffing, Valerie turned to look around. "I see fluffy golden pink clouds, which are all around us, including underneath us. Seriously, they feel like sheepskin underneath my bare feet- bare feet?" she repeated, blinking. She looked down to see that yes, she was in fact barefoot, and had thick golden bands wrapped around her ankles. The metal was cool and light, and there was some sort of blue stone in the center.

Arya gave her chime laugh again. "Now you finally notice!" Pretending to wipe away a tear, she inquired, "Can you tell me what else you see?"

Nonplussed, Valerie looked up to see the golden sky shining across the clouds, along with pools of light blue water dotting along the makeshift floor. There were bookcases hanging in midair, stretching off into the horizon, filled to bursting with dusty tomes and yellowing scrolls. It all felt as surreal as a dream; perhaps she was in one. Everything felt so lucid. She shook her head, clearing the thought from her mind. She had an answer to give.

"Am… am I in a Salvador Dali painting?" Valerie asked hesitantly. Arya gave an unladylike snort, which she tried to cover up when Val gave her an incredulous look.

"Well, you're not wrong," the older woman admitted. "The Aether works in mysterious ways, after all."

Valerie turned her head back around. She could practically hear how Arya capitalized 'aether' every time she said it. She walked towards one of the pools of water, curious over whether she could actually see the bottom of the supposedly crystal clear water.

The pool was so still it might as well have been a mirror, and with wide eyes Valerie studied herself. Not only did she have bare feet, but her arms and legs were naked as well. A black shift dress covered her, with short sleeves and a slight scoop neck and a hem that ended at her thighs. Thick golden bands were at her wrists and ankles, with an oval cut intense blue stone in the center. A thin golden cord was tied loosely around her waist, the same blue stone acting as the brooch to fasten it together.

And then Valerie got a look at her face, and she recoiled in shock. Her hair was normally a golden brown color and somewhat frizzy, but now the bottom half of it was a vivid dark blue, and there was a lustrous quality to it not unlike Arya's, giving the perfect waves a soft glow. Black hairpins were pinned at the sides of her face, making sure her hair couldn't hide it. Her skin, normally pasty, now had a healthy look to it. Her lips were petal pink and she had charcoal lining her eyes. Her eye color was the most disturbing part of the image; they were normally a dark shade of forget me not blue, but now there was an intensity to them, a darkening in the color that made them stand out far too much.

Arya suddenly stood beside her, and the mirror suddenly rippled, reminding Valerie that it was actually a pool. Her black dress was a stark contrast to other's red and gold sari, but Val barely took notice of that. She couldn't stop staring at the way her eyes were reflected in the water, a roiling feeling of unease nearly overwhelming her.

"Does this place always give you a makeover?" she muttered, her brow furrowed.

Arya studied her out of the corner of her eye. "When you first come here, yes. Other times, maybe."

"And where is here, exactly?"

"You already know." She took Valerie's hand and eyed the gem at her wrist. "You have lapis lazuli."

She finally tore her gaze away from her reflection and looked at Arya. "Does that mean something?"

"There's nothing all that important about it," the older woman said dismissively. "Everyone who has been invited into the Aether gets exactly four gold bands, a belt of sorts, and a gem that is unique to them. You could try to figure out why you got that particular jewel- I know a few people who study the meaning behind gems and precious stones- but it doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to."

"How reassuring," Valerie said, raising an eyebrow. "You mentioned other people. Where are they?"

"Oh, I can't tell you that."

"Then what can you tell me?" she asked, exasperated. "I'm stuck in the middle of the sky, staring at floating bookcases for fuck's sake! I deserve some answers!"

Arya gave her an amused glance. "All right then." And then she stepped onto the pool and briskly walked across it.

For a second Valerie's eyes were the size of saucers, but then they snapped back to normal and she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Of course you can walk on water. Why the hell not? It's not like anything about this place actually makes sense anyway!" she yelled, frustrated.

Fond laughter wafted towards her. "Oh, you are just a treat!" Arya sassed back. Shaking her head, Val stepped onto the cool surface of the pool and slowly walked across it. Once she was sure she wasn't going to fall in, she relished the way the liquid felt against her feet. It was surreal and a little scary, but there was an element of joy hidden beneath. She looked down as she walked, still not quite believing that she mimicking something from the Bible and was able to pull it off.

Valerie stopped when she saw the chair in the middle of the pool- or was it lake? It had certainly grown in size all of a sudden. There was a small round table with a white metal teapot with an intricate rose design with matching cups, and a metal plate of shortbread cookies and madeleines. Arya was already in the other seat, pouring herself some tea. Steam was rising from the cup in front of Valerie, so she sat down in front of it. She gently picked it up, cupping the thin bottom and spreading her fingers over the fat body. It didn't have a handle, but she had gotten used to drinking from cups like this. She took a sip and her tongue burned from the spices.

"It's real chai tea from India, you know," Arya said proudly, her own cup in hand. "Nothing beats an old family recipe."

"Your family recipe is not something I can handle," Valerie admitted, her eyes pricking. While she wasn't unused to spices in her food and drinks, something about the chai hurt her taste buds. She quickly ate a madeleine to take away from the flavor, relieved over the plainness of the pastry.

Arya pursed her lips. "Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't use so much peppercorn and chili next time. Oh well, more for me." She took a sip from her own cup and hummed in bliss.

Valerie dipped a cookie in her tea and ate it, happy that the spices didn't hurt her so much when she consumed them that way. She chewed and thought, trying to figure out a good way to ask all the questions that were running around in her head. She started with the one that seemed to be at the forefront of her thoughts: "This isn't actually the Aether, is it?"

Arya's eyes widened, and she set down her cup. "What makes you say that, exactly?" she asked, her tone and face a neutral mask. But her eyes blazed with a new intensity as she looked Val right in the eye.

Valerie swallowed and summoned the fearlessness she was known for. "You mentioned that there are others that have been invited into the Aether, but you won't talk about them. Normally that wouldn't mean anything, but you talked about them as if you knew them personally- hell, you even know what currently interests them. That means you regularly talk with these other visitors, and that they're someplace other than here. This isn't the Aether," she finished, shaking her head slightly, "or this is a part of it, kind of like a waiting area for people who are waiting to be invited into the club."

Arya blinked, and then she broke out a huge, proud grin. "Oh, you are good!" she crowed, leaning away and throwing her head back. "The Aether knew what it was doing when they picked you."

Valerie blinked, her mind reeling at that last bit. "The Aether knew? You make it sound like it has a mind of its own." She blinked again, and the realization made her face pale. "Oh my God, it does have a mind of its own!"

Arya was clapping her hands triumphantly, laughing shamelessly. "You figured it out, you figured it out!" she gloated, her cheeks having a visible flush to them. "You figured it out in seconds what others take minutes to understand! Oh, you are good!"

Valerie sank back into her seat, mumbling, "I can't be the only one…"

"Oh, you're not," Arya agreed, ignoring Val's glare, "but it's rare to see it in one so young. Tell me, how did you figure it out so quickly?"

She cleared her throat. "Well, it's no secret that I read a lot. Like, a lot."

"Oh? And what do you read?" Arya took another sip of her spicy tea.

Valerie blew out some air from her mouth. "Everything that interests me. Mary Shelley, Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling, Tolkien, Agatha Christie, Gail Carriger… I've recently started this book series about Greek demigods in modern day New York. And before that it was an epic fantasy series." Her words had taken on a jovial tone as she finished. It was rare that someone was so interested in what she read. Her friends at the Temple knew she was a bookworm and liked that about her, but it wasn't like they were particularly interested in reading themselves. They had their own hobbies, after all.

Arya looked at her happily. "Do you ever read anything more modern? Perhaps something more… trendy?" She frowned. "Am I using that term correctly?"

"Yeah, I think so," Valerie pointed out, "because there are trends in literature. And I do, and I tend to enjoy some books, but…" she frowned, trying to think of a good way to say what she felt. "But it's clearly a business, and in business they mass produce what currently sells. And in that case you often see the same type of story in print. I mean, there are other types of course, but they don't really get the same recognition as what's mainstream. It sucks because you can play with tropes and mess with what's current, but you probably won't get as much money that way." Valerie shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "But what can you do, really? Writing is a business now, and if it wasn't, I wouldn't be much of a reader."

"And thanks to all the reading you do, you can recognize fiction tropes in real life," Arya said knowingly. "Art imitates life, after all, and nothing is stranger than life."

"I guess." Valerie dipped a madeleine in her tea and chewed it, trying to think up more questions. Eyeing the bookcases, she said out loud, "The Aether is something like a library, isn't it? That's why I'm seeing an endless line of scrolls and tomes in the lobby."

Arya stared at her for a long moment before stating, "You're figuring this out a lot faster than I thought."

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's like picking out bits of foreshadowing in a novel. Any little detail could actually be an important clue that reveals the plot. In this case, it's the bookcases." Valerie waved her hand over to one.

"Well that certainly makes my job a lot easier," Arya remarked, pouring herself more tea. "I'm supposed to answer a bunch of dumb questions, but instead you're doing it for me. Not that I'm complaining, mind you," she added in a joking manner.

Valerie raised an eyebrow. "I thought there were no dumb questions."

"That's a lie."

"Why?" she asked, shooting the older woman an inquisitive look. "It doesn't seem like a lie to me. The asker might genuinely not know about a topic and would want to know more about it. It isn't fair to degrade them in that way. If you do, they might not want to learn at all, and that's all the worse for them."

Arya gave her an incredulous stare before saying, "This is ludicrous. You're a perfect candidate."

"A perfect candidate for what?" Valerie asked, somewhat frustrated. "Does the omnipresent Aether need a mere mortal for something?"

"I find it odd that you're taking the idea of an omnipresence so well."

She shrugged. "I read a lot, and with my life the way it is, not a whole lot surprises me."

"But realizing that the Aether is an omnipresence did surprise you. Shock you, even."

"I got over it."

Arya nodded approvingly. "That you did. And it isn't that the Aether wants you for something; it wants you join the others in the library you mentioned earlier."

Valerie raised an eyebrow. There was something about the way Arya said 'library' that sent bells ringing through her mind. It didn't seem malicious- in fact, she seemed downright amused when she said it- so it must have been a clue for something. Val filed that to study later (if she didn't forget, that is. It tended to happen).

"Then why haven't I?" Valerie waved her hands around her. "Why am I stuck in the waiting room then?"

Arya winced. "Well, you have all the makings to join the rest of us, but you have to figure out a few things first. It's nothing personal, everyone has to do it. And I can't just tell you the answers, you'll be locked out if I did."

"Can you tell me what questions I should be asking then?" Valerie asked, amused.

She gave that unladylike snort again. "Oh, we're going to get along swimmingly, I know it. But no, I can't." She gave a sympathetic smile.

"But I can ask you anything?"

"Oh, yes, you can." Arya nodded. "But I can choose not to answer. And I can answer as evasively as I can. You really do have to figure it out on your own, Val."

Valerie settled back in her child, the gears in her mind already turning. All of this was a riddle she had to think about. And thinking was what she did best. "How about hints?"

"Oh, that I can do." Arya set down her teacup. "The thing you have to find is a Shen Gong Wu known as the Book of Alexandria. I don't know when it's going to activate- not even the Aether knows- but when it does, you have to get it at all costs. It'll help you find access to the Aether and its library."

"If the Aether is so powerful, why can't it see into the future?" Valerie blurted out, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Arya shook her head. "The future can change at any moment. The only thing the Aether can know for sure is the past."

"Yeah, okay, that makes sense." She blew some air out of her mouth. And then she realized something. "Hey, if the Aether and the library are one and the same, why do you talk about them as if they're separate?"

Arya winced again. "Ah, well, that's just human perception. They're both connected and might as well be the same thing, but the Aether isn't physical and the library is. This is something you don't have to figure out, you'll hurt your head trying to. Just know that while they're talked about as two different things, they're basically the same."

But Valerie's mind was already making connections, and she slowly said what she thought. "They're basically the same thing because the Aether makes it so. If the Aether is really so omnipresent, then why couldn't it make a room for visitors? Hell, the library could become a separate part because the Aether made it so. Something so powerful could make that happen, after all." Valerie then pursed her lips. "Whatever. I'm just spewing what I'm thinking anyway. Ignore me."

But when glanced up at Arya, she nearly balked at the sheer amount of pride she was receiving. Everything from her posture to the grin on the older woman's face just screamed 'pride.' It was disconcerting, and oddly enough pleasing all the same. The only other person who ever gave her such a look was Eric.

"You have all the clues at your fingertips," Arya said softly, "you just need to connect them all."

"How long do I have?" Valerie said, staring back down at her tea cup.

"Oh, you have plenty of time," she said flippantly. "Some people take years and years to figure it all out, others take days. It doesn't matter really. The Aether can wait."

"But the Book…"

"The Book of Alexandria is a… shortcut for you to use," Arya told her hesitantly. "Not many other members got such leeway, so I suggest seriously studying it. It will help."

"Was the Book named after the Library of Alexandria?" Valerie blurted out, her curiosity once again winning out.

Her smile broadened, if that was possible. "It was, actually. Dashi's little joke, as I understand. But I fear that's all the time we have for now." Arya set down her cup, and suddenly the table vanished, along with the chairs and teapot. Valerie was left standing on top of the lake in front of Arya, the golden pink clouds floating lazily around them.

"Will I ever see you again?" Valerie asked, a sudden wave of sadness crashing through her. She barely knew Arya, but the older woman had shown genuine affection towards her. Not to mention they had similar senses of humor. Valerie had enjoyed their talk, despite the strangeness of it.

Arya tucked a loose lock of hair behind Valerie's ear and smoothed out the front of her dress. The gentle touches sent a pang of longing through her, though she didn't understand why. "Of course you will," Arya stated. "I'll seek you out occasionally and bring you, preferably while you're asleep. We can't have your friends worrying about you, after all."

Valerie's eyes widened. She couldn't believe she forgot! "They're still fighting the Fearsome Four!"

"They defeated the Fearsome Four," Arya told her knowingly. "It wasn't easy, mind you, but they did it and are not worse for wear. The Showdown is ending, and you must awaken. We'll speak again soon, probably when you find the Book." She beamed. "It's been fun, Val. I can't wait until we meet again. But right now you need to close your eyes."

She did.

"Great job, Omi!"

"Way to go, dude!"

"You are the best, buddy!"

Valerie blinked, and saw herself in Jack Spicer's basement. Omi was holding a ton of Shen Gong Wu in his arms, and he had on Clay's hat. He said, "No my friends, we are the best."

It would have been a touching moment, but it was ruined when the hat slid over his eyes. Clay took it off and remarked, "Guess he doesn't have such a big head after all."

And then she noticed the four demons still standing in front of them. "Hate to break up the touching moment, but does anyone wanna break these guys up?" She gestured to the Mala Mala Jongs.

"Yes," Omi said primly, ready to get down to business. "But first, I have a better idea. Emperor Scorpion!" He held out the Wu. "Mala Mala Jong, I understand that Jack likes basketball." The five monks turned to a creeping Jack just a few feet away from them. "Perhaps we should have a game."

Jack, looking hopeful, cheered, "Cool! So who gets first pick?"

One of the demons grabbed him and turned him into a ball.

"That answer your question?" Valerie said dryly as the others laughed. They all watched as the Mala Mala Jongs played basketball with Jack, who was punctuating each bounce of his body with an, "ow."

Valerie's laughter tapered off as she realized that she felt the tingle of spices on her tongue. It had been real- Arya, the lake, the endless books. It hadn't been a figment of her imagination. Her soul had left her body and had actually gone somewhere else.

Valerie felt a chill suddenly surround her, but she narrowed her eyes determinedly. She could feel her powers brimming under her skin, humming in a way that had never happened before. It was because of her newfound knowledge, she realized. And she would become stronger the more she learned about aether. And there was so much to learn…

Valerie smirked. Arya challenged her to figure things out for herself. And if there was one thing Valerie was good at, it was thinking and making connections. The Book of Alexandria wouldn't know what hit it.

Finally all that studying into an obscure topic is paying off~

Of course, it's not like aether is a secret. You guys can look up everything online quite easily. Maybe you can figure out where I'm going with this~

So, thoughts anyone?