Chapter 6 (Continued)

[Ianaeveli Tigenet]

Katen stares back at Iana as though she's grown a third eye. "Are you sure you..." she starts, in a mincing, nasally mimic of Iana's voice. "No, I don't know. And you know how you can tell?" she answers brightly, then leans in to sneer. "Because I just asked you. You're not simple, Iana. Don't act like you are."

The exchange puts an even more sour look on Katen's face. Somewhere deep in the recesses of her brain, she berates herself for once again managing to utterly foul every interaction she has with Iana. She tries not to, she truly does, but every time Katen opens her mouth around her, acid spews out.

"Look, I saw Sayesti come down here and I know you've worked with her. I hadn't seen you or M. Snoozy over there come out while I was on duty..." she begins, the sour look remaining on her face but her tone growing more measured. "I thought maybe you'd figured out something about the missing books."

She can't quite meet Iana's eyes, looking just past her right ear to a point in the middle distance. "I know I'm not particularly popular among the Scholars," she mutters. "I thought maybe if I... helped solve a mystery." And then she really does look away, mouth twisted in sour defeat. "It's stupid. Go on, you were obviously on your way somewhere more important. Don't let me stop you."

Her eyes fall onto Garnyn once again. "Though this one's not exactly up for an adventure, is he?"

Iana has known Katen for even long than she has known Sayesti, and she has seen many many kinds of expressions on the archivist's face. (Most of them unpleasant.) This is a new one entirely.

Vulnerability.

Guilt pinches sharp within her. Katen has been awful, and she has slapped away any metaphorical hands that Iana has reached out to her - but all of that that lashing out has hurt Katen herself. She must be so very lonely.

Whatever verbal darts Katen has flung, Katen is not the one responsible for Garnyn's injuries, nor the missing documents. Iana is sure of that now.

Which means that Iana is going to have to reach out yet another hand, in the few seconds that she has, and hope that Katen does not push her away again.

"I'm sorry," Iana says quietly. "We are too quick to believe the worst of each other. I should not have said that." She lifts her gaze to meet Katen's - or, if Katen cannot yet look her in the eye, Iana's gaze will be to meet her when she returns. "Whoever has been stealing the documents tried to hurt me, and they hit him instead." That other layer of guilt rises to the surface - Garnyn, injured in her place.

Her words pick up speed as she goes on: now that she knows that Katen is not the person she is trying to apprehend, Iana's awareness of the seconds ticking away has returned, even stronger than before. "They ran up the stairs to this level, and I need to find them before they get away!

"If you want to help solve that mystery, then that means you and I are on the same side right now." Iana holds Katen's gaze for a moment more, just long enough to reinforce that she is offering sincerity in return. "And we need to move quickly. They've already gotten ahead of us."

[Asralynn Beauchaud]

Adaye throws her hands up in the air in frustration. The discourse seems to have brought her back to herself. At the very least, she's comfortable being short-tempered again. "If you'd asked me two days ago? I'd have said no, that blackstone is only sensitive to living subjects, but it's not like I've made a detailed study of the stuff. No one has, or at least no one has ever shared their findings publicly. Whitestone is sensitive to all sorts of magic though, so by extension, it seems at least plausible that blackstone could be as well. Or perhaps the combination with whitestone, like is in these cores, bypasses the restriction or..." She growls and stands up suddenly. She's about to pace when she realizes there's hardly any room to do so. "I need to get OUT of here. I need to study this thing more. I am deeply concerned that Tullen is doing exactly what you suggest, Asra. And if that's indeed the case, we need to know what it is he plans."

She stops, turns toward her visitors and sighs. "And we almost certainly need to stop him."

"Of that, we can all agree," Asra adds. "I can do what I can to look into it, but I also need to maintain my cover of subservience if I- and please don't take this the wrong way, Master- don't want to end up like you."

"If you have any sort of written notes, I can use that the begin my investigation of the device and maybe find something to get Rothenend off my back for a short while. Or something that might cause him to reveal his hand, but given my recent conversation, I'm not going to hold my breath on him revealing anything without my taking some risks," she sighs and turns her attention back towards Risine as she rises and stands near the door. "I trust you to do everything you can for her, but I doubt this is going to be an easy road for any of us. If there's anything I can do to help in your work or in Master Adaye's defense, please let me know."

[AftermathGM]

"I'm sorry," Iana says quietly. "We are too quick to believe the worst of each other. I should not have said that." She lifts her gaze to meet Katen's - or, if Katen cannot yet look her in the eye, Iana's gaze will be to meet her when she returns. "Whoever has been stealing the documents tried to hurt me, and they hit him instead." That other layer of guilt rises to the surface - Garnyn, injured in her place.

Her words pick up speed as she goes on: now that she knows that Katen is not the person she is trying to apprehend, Iana's awareness of the seconds ticking away has returned, even stronger than before. "They ran up the stairs to this level, and I need to find them before they get away!

"If you want to help solve that mystery, then that means you and I are on the same side right now." Iana holds Katen's gaze for a moment more, just long enough to reinforce that she is offering sincerity in return. "And we need to move quickly. They've already gotten ahead of us."

There's only so much middle ground Katen is able to meet Iana on, given their history, but Iana's tone of voice draws Katen to that tiny square of land. Katen gives her a quick glance at first, following with a more serious look as Iana explained. "Wait, someone..." she says, then looks back over her shoulder, glancing back to Iana as she continues. She points toward the stairwell the assailant went up. "I heard someone running up those stairs! Do you think--"

She cuts off suddenly. Of course it was Iana's attacker. Who else would be running in the library, of all places? The mere thought is anathema. Katen draws a breath and lets it out with a sigh. "There's no way I can keep up with you, and neither can he," she says, nodding toward Garnyn. He's not asleep, but whatever he's staring off in the distance at it's entirely in his own mind. "I'll make sure he gets to a healer. You go on."

Katen decisively moves onto the lift platform, crouching down next to Garnyn. She opens her mouth to speak to him, then looks up to see Iana still there. "Why are you still here? Go!" she chides, not entirely unfriendly for once.

[Ianaeveli Tigenet]

There's only so much middle ground Katen is able to meet Iana on, given their history, but Iana's tone of voice draws Katen to that tiny square of land. Katen gives her a quick glance at first, following with a more serious look as Iana explained. "Wait, someone..." she says, then looks back over her shoulder, glancing back to Iana as she continues. She points toward the stairwell the assailant went up. "I heard someone running up those stairs! Do you think--"

She cuts off suddenly. Of course it was Iana's attacker. Who else would be running in the library, of all places? The mere thought is anathema. Katen draws a breath and lets it out with a sigh. "There's no way I can keep up with you, and neither can he," she says, nodding toward Garnyn. He's not asleep, but whatever he's staring off in the distance at it's entirely in his own mind. "I'll make sure he gets to a healer. You go on."

"Thank you," Iana gasps, deep sincerity putting as much fervor behind those words as relief. She fishes quickly in her pocket for the dart, and, fingers carefully placed well back at the non-pointy end, leans over to pass it to Katen. "Give the healers this," she advises. "It's the dart that hit him.

"I don't know how much he'll remember," Iana adds, giving a pained little wince down at Garnyn, "but I can at least be certain that I won't forget this." She lifts her gaze back to meet Katen's as she straightens up, holding the other woman's eyes steadily as she says, "I promise."

Katen decisively moves onto the lift platform, crouching down next to Garnyn. She opens her mouth to speak to him, then looks up to see Iana still there. "Why are you still here? Go!" she chides, not entirely unfriendly for once.

One last, "Thank you!" and Iana turns to dash towards the stairs.

She is far from athletic, and far from in shape - facts that her morning tree-climbing escapade reinforced all too clearly! But she does have her height, and she squeezes every bit of advantage that she can from it. Long strides carry her swiftly towards that stairwell, and up it two steps at a time in pursuit of their attacker.

[AftermathGM]

"I can't rule it out," Georg admits. If Eldarin were here, this would be their cue to come in with their pet theory. With two people, both smarter than Georg by a wide margin, thinking that the Headmaster is involved, it's possible he should rethink his position. "I just can't imagine what his motive would be. Why join up with a conspiracy to bring down the Wards when he's the main thing keeping them up?" He shrugs helplessly. "Mind you, my opinion of the Headmaster has taken quite a dive in the past week, but I'd sooner believe this is Iene getting up to tricks while he's distracted than that he's taking a direct hand. Even if he is involved somehow, why make himself vulnerable by getting involved when he has Iene to act as an intermediary?"

Antior nods his acceptance of the argument, but the contemplative look he maintains suggest he's not entirely convinced of it.

Georg looks helplessly at his hands, not knowing where to start. "She claimed that the world we live in is just one page in a book, and that each page is another world like ours, but slightly different. On one page, Cayla and Coyne Lissimon escape the Vaelt together, but Cayla dies in the process, in another, it's the other way around. In another page, my family disowns me to attempt to stop me from studying with Granite, and I end up a rather more, ah, focused student, than here." He looks at Antior "I didn't know what to make of it either, but people have been turning up with memories that don't match reality as we know it. A man was checked into the infirmary a few days ago because he came downstairs and didn't recognize his wife. On his page, he never met her, and he has years of memories of a life where she doesn't factor in. Some of those people may have fallen through to our page by accident, by venturing too close to a power core at the wrong time. Others were pushed through, in order to disorient them and make them some other page's problem."

"Cayla claimed that Rothenend knew of her talent for page jumping and extorted her into using it to gather intelligence for him. He wanted to see what was happening with the Wards on other pages, what those other Meriavas had tried, so that he could use them as crib notes to pass the test himself. It was on one such mission that Cayla was caught up in a magical storm." Georg's voice breaks, and he takes a moment to regain his composure. "We stumbled upon her, body deformed like a clay doll someone had picked up and twisted by the middle. She did not survive that injury, and much of what I know was learned from her as she was dying."

"I can understand why none of this was included in your reports on interacting with the young woman," Antior says bleakly. "As much as I would like to think you could trust your College's leadership unconditionally, there is wisdom in making certain first."

He rubs at his face, pulling his cheeks down, which only makes him appear even more tired. "Sun, moon and earth," he says softly. With a sudden burst of motion, he stands up from his chair and whips around to face the windows behind his desk. "What have we become? Where did we go so wrong?"

It seems to be a rhetorical question. He stares out the window at the campus beyond, looking toward the center of the city: the Canal District, Dockside, the 'lower' parts of the city both in altitude and economics. Before Georg can finish any debate as to whether or not he should answer that rhetorical question after all, the Master of Granite College continues. "We have an obligation. No, not an obligation, we have a sacred duty," he says, emphasizing each of the last two words. "We serve the people of this School, this city, this world." He finishes as though through clenched teeth. "If any of this, any of these machinations, serve anyone but the powerful and the manipulative, I see no evidence. None."

Georg can see Antior flex his fingers into fists as he stares into the distance.

[Georg Elsebethson]

"I can understand why none of this was included in your reports on interacting with the young woman," Antior says bleakly. "As much as I would like to think you could trust your College's leadership unconditionally, there is wisdom in making certain first."

Georg gives an apologetic shrug. "As I said, there was reason for concern about what you might be involved in and with the Headmaster himself being implicated, well." He grimaces. "The fish rots from the head, as they say. Hard to trust anyone when the man at the very top is corrupt."

"Even apart from that, I wasn't sure you'd even believe me. If I hadn't heard you talking about pages, I might have still kept it to myself. No one wants to get cashiered for losing their grip on reality." Georg doesn't really think Master Antior would have gone that far, but a reputation for flights of fancy is not good for a career that involves swinging weapons and ordering soldiers around. People get a might nervous about that kind of thing.

He rubs at his face, pulling his cheeks down, which only makes him appear even more tired. "Sun, moon and earth," he says softly. With a sudden burst of motion, he stands up from his chair and whips around to face the windows behind his desk. "What have we become? Where did we go so wrong?"

It seems to be a rhetorical question. He stares out the window at the campus beyond, looking toward the center of the city: the Canal District, Dockside, the 'lower' parts of the city both in altitude and economics. Before Georg can finish any debate as to whether or not he should answer that rhetorical question after all, the Master of Granite College continues. "We have an obligation. No, not an obligation, we have a sacred duty," he says, emphasizing each of the last two words. "We serve the people of this School, this city, this world." He finishes as though through clenched teeth. "If any of this, any of these machinations, serve anyone but the powerful and the manipulative, I see no evidence. None."

Georg can see Antior flex his fingers into fists as he stares into the distance.

"I couldn't agree more," Georg says grimly. "So what are we going to do about it, General?"

[AftermathGM]

"Of that, we can all agree," Asra adds. "I can do what I can to look into it, but I also need to maintain my cover of subservience if I- and please don't take this the wrong way, Master- don't want to end up like you."

"If you have any sort of written notes, I can use that the begin my investigation of the device and maybe find something to get Rothenend off my back for a short while. Or something that might cause him to reveal his hand, but given my recent conversation, I'm not going to hold my breath on him revealing anything without my taking some risks," she sighs and turns her attention back towards Risine as she rises and stands near the door. "I trust you to do everything you can for her, but I doubt this is going to be an easy road for any of us. If there's anything I can do to help in your work or in Master Adaye's defense, please let me know."

Another flash of Adaye's usual acerbic charm shines through. "Under the circumstances, Scholar," she says dryly, "I wouldn't want you to end up like me either. Which is why I'm going to remind you -- because I know you -- to be very careful. I would instruct you to speak to Khadin Tez, my secretary, about access to my notes except I have a strong suspicion that he works more for Tullen than for me. I am guessing, since Tullen was willing to give you access to my workroom, that he has scrubbed it of all the most useful notes, or at least those most dangerous to him. I did not think I needed to keep my findings secret or I would have ferreted some of them away. As it is..." she trails off, spreading her hands out. "See what you can learn. Come back. I may be able to fill in any blanks you find."

Risine adds, "Keep me in the loop as well. I have essentially no knowledge of the mysterious workings of magical devices. My own magical talents run no farther than being able to remove a tea stain from my skirt. But I do know a lot of people and I collect information like a Veridium collects bugs."

[AftermathGM]

"I couldn't agree more," Georg says grimly. "So what are we going to do about it, General?"

That makes Antior turn back around. There indeed is a clenched-jaw set to his expression.

"We are going to turn the tables, Scholar. While you are gathering more information based on what we have discussed here today, I will approach Master Iene and express my willingness to ally myself with his faction. It should not be difficult to convince him I have grown dissatisfied with the lack of progress on connecting with the outside world," he says flatly. "That ought to get us some inside information, which we sorely need. With any luck, Iene will grow even more overconfident and make mistakes."

"Get in touch with your associates who have communicated with the citizens outside the walls. If we can earn their alliance, that should provide us additional resources. We may not have a great deal of time, but we still need to work smart."

[AftermathGM]

One last, "Thank you!" and Iana turns to dash towards the stairs.

She is far from athletic, and far from in shape - facts that her morning tree-climbing escapade reinforced all too clearly! But she does have her height, and she squeezes every bit of advantage that she can from it. Long strides carry her swiftly towards that stairwell, and up it two steps at a time in pursuit of their attacker.

Katen watches Iana go, then looks down at the dart in her hand. There's something about it that nags at her. She turns it over and rolls the shaft between her fingers and suddenly it comes to her.

"Iana, wai...t." she starts to call, but the elven woman is already out of range. Especially since no good Archivist worth their name would shout in a library. Hmph!

Iana's certainly not a friend, not with their history, and Katen's not even sure she would want Iana as anything more than a reliable colleague, but it doesn't mean she wants to see the other woman attacked, captured, hurt or any other sort of bodily harm. She thinks she knows who the dart belongs to, though, and she doesn't have a good feeling about it.

"Guess we just hope for the best, huh?" Katen says to Garnyn in a bone-dry voice.

Garnyn lolls his head to one side to look at Katen with bleary eyes. "You're that mean librarian, aren't you?"

"You hush. I'm the mean librarian that's going to take you to a healer. Lucky for you it's probably just a soporific muscle relaxant."

Garnyn nods slowly, sagely. "It is a terrific muscle relaxant."

Katen presses her lips together in annoyance. There are tiny lines around her mouth when she does so. She should maybe frown a little less. "Soporific. Sop-or-i-fic, you daft..." Katen sighs. She's arguing with a drugged-up Naucan pretty boy. Clearly she's made a number of poor life choices to bring her to this moment. "Never mind. You sit there. We're going upstairs."

Katen pushes the button for the main floor exit. As the platform rises, Garnyn mumbles cheerfully, "Whee!"

* * *

As Iana reaches the top of this flight of stairs, she realizes she hasn't heard anything in front of her for a few moments. No sounds of running, no cries of annoyance as someone blunders through a research session, none of the sort of thing one might expect from a chase through a generally pretty quiet library.

And that's a concern.

She moves forward a little more carefully, keeping an eye out for any signs of an ambush but still wanting to move as quickly as possible. The creak is the first sign that something's wrong, and then the ensuing groan of the shelving unit next to her gives it away. It starts leaning precariously and, before she can quite process what's going on, it's falling toward her.

"Iana!" comes a deep cry, and suddenly, Ishan Veriti puts himself between Iana and the tumbling shelf. Books and boxes and files spill out as the shelf hits the big man squarely in the back, several of them clattering on his head before falling to the floor. He stumbles forward, reaching out to make sure Iana isn't in the path of danger before falling to one knee with the shelf resting against his back.

"Ow," he rumbles, laughing shakily. He doesn't seem to be severely hurt, but he is trapped for the moment beneath the shelf. It doesn't look terribly heavy -- maybe between the two of them they can lift it again? "Are you hurt?"

[Georg Elsebethson]

That makes Antior turn back around. There indeed is a clenched-jaw set to his expression.

"We are going to turn the tables, Scholar. While you are gathering more information based on what we have discussed here today, I will approach Master Iene and express my willingness to ally myself with his faction. It should not be difficult to convince him I have grown dissatisfied with the lack of progress on connecting with the outside world," he says flatly. "That ought to get us some inside information, which we sorely need. With any luck, Iene will grow even more overconfident and make mistakes."

"Get in touch with your associates who have communicated with the citizens outside the walls. If we can earn their alliance, that should provide us additional resources. We may not have a great deal of time, but we still need to work smart."

Georg nods, and starts going through Antior's notes to find where the mention of "pages" came from. He has a suspicion that whatever it is will be beyond him, but one of the others might be able to make sense of it. He snorts, thinking that while Antior trying to infiltrate the conspiracy makes sense, it might be an awkward detail when explaining this to the others. His brain catches hold of that thought and waves it under his nose.

"If you're going in, then we'll have to be careful about meeting," he says. By now, it's a fair assumption that Rothenend and Iene both will be aware Georg is acting against them, giving the number of pies he's been sticking his fingers into and his unmistakeability. "I've told Swordmaster Drexel some of what I've told you already," he admits. "She was one of the ones pushed here from another page and she was present when I dealt with the uemerai. Maybe we can pass information through her?"