Turns out, going to the library was not as simple as just walking there. For one, Neal wasn't letting her off bed rest for at least another day. When Arie griped that she had slept a week already, he shrugged and retorted that another day would do her no harm. Arie ground her teeth in frustration at that. This was not helped by Lord Imrah informing her that the librarian would be informed that he needed to turn her away if she decided to sneak out. It was all the height of foolishness Arie raged to herself as she reluctantly remained in bed.
She did, however, receive several visitors. Lord Raoul came to check on her with Lerant by his side. She was actually rather embarrassed to see them after her magical tantrum. It worried her that they might think her some beast. But judging by the looks of relief on their faces when they saw her, that wasn't the case.
"You gave us quite the scare there." The big man said as he sat in the chair that Neal had vacated for him.
Arie bent her head in shame. "I'm sorry."
The knight snorted. "Would you have done that any differently knowing what you know now?"
There wasn't anything she could say to that because she definitely wouldn't have changed anything. The big man read her guilty silence with ease.
"Then you aren't actually sorry." He patted her head. "Don't worry about it too much. You did what you thought you was needed to save lives. Can't fault your logic there. Maybe next time, just don't hurt yourself so badly, alright?" It was phrased like a request, but Arie was under no illusions, that was a command. She bobbed her head without making eye contact. He sighed, "Good enough. I'll head out early. I am certain you two wish to talk without myself or Neal present." Then he left dragging Neal with him as he went. It was all Arie could do not to call them back. But the door shut behind the big man before she could even think of an excuse. Damn, he moves fast, Arie thought. She was mortified to face Lerant by herself. So, a long awkward pause stretched between the two of them. It was several moments before Arie forced herself to break it.
"Sorry." She finally murmured to herself.
He snorted, sliding into the chair that Roaul had just vacated. "You've already admitted that's not true." He scratched the back of his head not quite looking at her. His face had a touch of red to it. Silence filled the space between them again while Lerant seemingly gathered his courage to ask what was on his mind. He licked his lips and wiped his hands on his trousers. Finally, he said, "When you were carried out, you said something. 'I hate you.' Who… What did you mean by that?"
Arie dropped her gaze. The blush that she had managed to hide up until now came rushing across her cheeks. Did she say everything to the group? By the Gods, she wished the earth would just swallow her up. She scrubbed both hands across her face, taking a deep settling breath.
"Yeah." A hand went to her hair while she kept her eyes firmly fixed on the blankets in front of her. "I was talking to my father."
Lerant furrowed his brow. "Twitchy?"
"No!" Her gaze snapped up to his face. The last thing she wanted anyone to think was that she hated Twitchy. The man was more a father to her than the man who had helped give her life. "Twitchy is the one who cleaned up the mess my birth father left behind."
"Alright." He held up his hands in defense. "Then why were you speaking about your father?"
Arie sighed. Lerant wasn't stupid, if she answered even remotely honestly, he'd put the pieces together. Only a handful of people 'knew' that particular secret. She remembered her sister's encouragement. Well, she thought taking a deep breath, here goes nothing. "I was fighting with him then." Arie watched forced herself to watch his reaction.
At first, there was just confusion. She could see his thoughts. How had she been fighting with her father? Was he dead? No, the dead don't fight. The gears slowly turned behind his eyes. The only ones she was fighting with was the soul of the dead guy. Too young to be her father. And the Dark God. She could see that exact moment he put the pieces together and stumbled upon the answer. At first, he seemed to reject the idea as silly. But he would have made the connections. His whole body froze, and his eyes went wide as if his body couldn't completely grasp what his mind was telling him.
"Mithros." He swore softly.
"Most certainly not." The quip was automatic and it drew out a rough chuckle from the young man.
He snorted and scrubbed his hands across his own eyes. "Well… That's… something."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "That's something?" she repeated with a laugh. "That is your response?"
"Your father is the Dark God; what do you want my reaction to be?"
If she were honest, she had no clue. So, many people feared the Dark God. Yet despite the fact she rarely saw him, he permeated her entire life. Looming large overhead like the shadow of a massive mountain. From her mother's work, their social standing, to her very own Gift, everything about her life was a result of this God's one choice of dalliance with a single human woman.
"Sorry." She mumbled dropping her eyes again.
Silence returned to the room. Lerant was staring off into space trying very hard not to stare at Arie. He was collecting his thoughts so as to not hurt the woman who sat before him. He was not stupid. He knew what she had told him very well that it was dangerous thing to admit to. Especially with how people treated her as is. It was something he had more than a passing familiarity with, though for very different reasons.
"So, what do you plan on doing now?"
She snorted. "When I am not under house arrest, I want to check something I learned while I was asleep."
"Oh? Does this have anything to do with the magic soap?"
"Soap?"
He scratched his chin. "It's above my head. No Gift and all. But the soap used to get you clean had magic supposedly." Arie was giving him a hard look now. Suspicious of how he would know about such a thing unless he had been there for said cleaning. Flustered he sputtered waving his hands defensively. "I didn't see anything! It was the maids who were talking to Neal. One of them mentioned it." His whole face was scarlet and her own face was taking on that color. It shouldn't have bothered her; it would have been part of her treatment after all. But the idea of him seeing her naked while in that state still bothered her.
Arie forced herself not to think about that, and instead, focus on soap part. It took her a moment to go through her memories to remember where she had gotten it. Nadia's sister had gifted her some soap that supposedly granted 'good' dreams. While she was certain the dreams she had could classify as good, they were helpful. That would also explain why those dreams had been so vivid.
"So that's why Gammel was able to interfere in my dreams." She murmured it more to herself.
"The information came from the God of dreams?" Arie could hear the skepticism in Lerant's voice.
She shrugged him off. "It is not uncommon for the God of Dreams to interfere in such a way. History is full of such encounters."
"But soap and dreams?"
Stranger things have happened, Arie thought to herself, and personally this was more up her sister's alley. It would certainly make a great joke. Especially when one considered how greasy Ark was. "The Gods are funny like that sometimes." This time when the silence returned to the room it was more companionable.
"I'll take you."
Arie blinked at him, causing Lerant's face to turn bright red again.
"To the library. I'll take you there tomorrow."
Arie felt her own face flush again. "Alright."
The young man quickly fled after that, leaving Arie to think about a more than Ark and Rodger's grave. Maybe when this was all over, she'd properly introduce the young man to her family. With that, she settled in to wait for tomorrow.
The next day, Lerant was a man of his word. He showed up after breakfast and Neal's checkup. Then he escorted her as if she were a proper noble lady. When she pointed it out to him, Lerant had a strange look in his eyes like he might say something, but he was cut off by an elderly voice as they entered the library.
"You must be Arie. His Grace mentioned you would be coming." The wizened old man gave her a hard look as if he was weighing her value. From beside her, Lerant was glaring at the old man in priest's robes.
"Thank you," Arie replied respectfully. "I wish to see your books on magic."
The librarian looked at her carefully judging her. "Are you capable of reading those? They are far more advanced than novels that some find entertaining."
Lerant bristled at the perceived insult, but Arie thought he might have point. She had learned everything she could from her mother. She was however, aware Anna had a falling out with her family fairly young. So, it was unlikely what had been passed onto her was be enough to read those tomes that likely had old terms and also tended to be wordy. That being said, she wouldn't know until she tried. Worse came to worse she was sure the young man beside her would help.
"That is possible, but I won't know unless I try. Besides, I think Lerant wouldn't mind helping me." The young man in question blushed at her faith in him.
"That will not be necessary. It is a librarian's job to assist those who seek knowledge." He turned to lead them in between the stacks. "You are a lot like her." There was no need to ask what he meant. Arie had guessed upon laying eyes on the withered old man, that he had been her mother's tutor. He fit her description perfectly. The old man led them to a desk that had four chairs around it, and several neat stacks of books already on it. Judging by their titles, they were all magic related. So, he had already prepared this, Arie thought with a wry smile.
She sat down and tried to pull a book towards her only to have the librarian pass her a different one. With a small sigh she took it and began to skim the contents. Everything in this book covered the basics of wielding the Gift. It even included small incantations and prayers for smaller magics. Things like lighting a flame or calling upon Sight from the Gods. None of this would help. The old librarian seeing she had a good grasp for the contents of that book pushed another pile towards her. By the time dinner rolled around, she was already feeling a little despondent. There was so much magic! How was she supposed to identify the place in the dream, she wanted to scream. Even asking about magic circles hadn't helped. The librarian told her that most of the books on the subject would be above her ability to read. They were apparently classed as higher level of magic.
She sat with the Lord of the port, Sir Roual, Kel, and a smattering of others that she had gotten to know as well as Abba and the other leader of her group. Neal was notably absent. Abba gave a report on the clinic, which was not good. They were swarmed with patients and having to increase the guard. The clinic staff had been ambushed on their ways too and from work so now most were staying there. Neal, it seemed was keeping up a barrier to protect the place. Two other mages from the army were swapping out with him. Damn. Damn. Damn. Arie cursed herself. She could feel someone's eyes on her back. She turned to see Lord Imrah watching her. He didn't ask how things had gone on her end. Her frustration etched in every part of her posture. Arie finished her meal quickly and returned to the library.
The days moving forward took on a relentless pattern. Arie would wake up, eat, go to library, study, eat dinner, then sleep. Again, and again, and again. The only thing that change was the length of time she ate and slept which got smaller and smaller as the days wore on to a week. By this point she had dragged blankets to her chair so she could nap in her chair. Arie knew at the rate they were going; time was not on their side. The more time Ark had, the more people he could poison, which in turn meant more he could turn to puppets. Curse her earlier in action! If only she had gone to the capital sooner, Arie berated herself. A hand dropped on her head. She turned to find Neal looking at her. He looked like death warmed over. Arie pulled out the chair that Lerant usually occupied. She had sent him off to eat.
"You look dead."
He chuckled. "Well thank you. Such compliments help soothe my soul. But I dare say your in much the same position. Have you been sleeping here?"
"Only the last two nights." She was worried about how wobbly the knight seemed.
"Well, you'll do no one any good if your dead on your feet."
"Sounds to me like the pot calling the kettle black." Arie grumbled.
Neal chuckled again. His eyes scanning the piles of tomes and notes. "What are you looking for exactly?"
"I'm not sure other than it's a magic circle."
"And you don't know what kind?"
Arie shook her head dejected.
"Could you sketch it?"
She gave him a quizzical look.
"I did study magic before I became a knight. And my mentor was Sir Alanna."
Arie sat back and thought about it. "Not all of it. It was pretty big."
He shrugged. "Can't hurt to try."
They scrounged up some paper and writing materials. Arie did her best to sketch the massive designs. It was hard because it hadn't just been on the floor and the room was so damn dark. Much of the design had been in shadow. But at least the center of it she was pretty sure about. Neal frowned at the design.
"Stop. It looks like a Gate of Idramm, but it's different. That is not magic you want to invoke accidentally."
"Perhaps my memory is bad?" Arie offered.
"It would still function; it just wouldn't call an elemental like it is typically used for."