Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

He wasn’t in a hurry to get Kirithishli to teach him those divination spells, though — the magic missile variations Kyron gave him to practice were giving him enough problems as it was. Like Kyron had said at the beginning of the lecture, the problem was that shaping had to be done in an instant and involved shoving a great deal of his mana reserves into a hastily constructed spell boundary. That was easy enough when you just wanted a bolt that traveled in a straight line and smashed things, but trying to weave, say, a homing function into the spell was a chore to do in a fraction of a second. To say nothing of trying to eliminate all the little imperfections and make the bolt transparent.

Which is not to say he made no progress! He could make the bolt curve towards a target even if his aim was a little off, and he managed to make a flawless piercer yesterday. Progress!

«You’re pretty good at this stuff,» Ibery remarked beside him, putting a book on the shelf. «I’m surprised. Usually it takes a while for people to really understand the system we use here. I guess you worked in a library before, huh?»

«Uh, yeah,» agreed Zorian. It was technically true. «It was… surprisingly similar to this one in organization.»

«It’s not really surprising,» Kirithishli said behind him, causing him to jump in surprise. «All state libraries use the same organizing system. It’s a standard enforced by the Society of Librarians. Hell, even the systems of other Splinter Nations are pretty similar.»

«Because they all used to be part the same country?» guessed Zorian.

«It is debatable whether or not the Old Alliance could be considered a unified state,» Kirithishli said. «The name says it all, really — it was an alliance more than anything. Arguably it was the attempt to turn it into a state that led to the Splinter Wars. But yes, being once part of the Old Alliance, the Splinter Nations inherited much of its administrative legacy, including library organization.»

Zorian was starting to understand why Kirithishli had such strained relations with the current headmaster. He knew very little about the man, but what he did suggested he was very politically involved and… well, patriotic. And the country they were living in made its official position clear — there was no ‘Old Alliance’, because the Alliance of Eldemar never ended. It simply shrank. That this was a completely ridiculous claim was self-evident to citizens domestic and foreigner alike, but most found it easier to humor the politicians. Kirithishli apparently went a step further and denied there was a predecessor state to be an inheritor of in the first place. A fiery, opinionated woman that she was, she probably said something of the sort within the headmaster’s earshot. That must have been a fun conversation.

«Hey!» called a familiar voice. «Is Zorian here? I heard—»

«Don’t shout in the library, Zach,» Zorian sighed. «Since you’re back to your usual exuberance, I’m guessing you’re alright now?»

«Yup!» Zach said happily, thumping his chest a few times. «Healthy like an oak. Got an hour to grab something to eat?»

«In case you haven’t noticed, I’m working at the moment,» Zorian protested.

«It’s not an issue, Zorian, we’re mostly done for the day,» Kirithishli pointed out. Then she leaned towards him and whispered into his ear. «Unless you wanted to get rid of him and I’m interfering?»

Zorian waved her concerns away and followed Zach outside. As amusing as it would be to see what Kirithishli would say to Zach to get rid of him, he actually wanted to talk to the boy.

«So how come you sought me out?» Zorian asked. He thought he’d have to hound the boy to get more information, but it seemed Zach had taken a liking to him. He didn’t know whether to be pleased or annoyed by that. It was convenient, but it increased the chances that he’d realize something was off with Zorian.

«You’re the most interesting person I know of at the moment, and the only other person who believes me about time travel except Neolu,» Zach said.

«Neolu?» asked Zorian incredulously.

«She’s an avid reader of speculative fiction and mysteries and is very imaginative and open-minded,» said Zach. «A naïve dreamer, her father would say. It was surprisingly easy to convince her I’m really a time traveler. I guess she wants to believe it’s true.»

«Ah,» said Zorian. He supposed that he knew now why Zach involved Neolu so much the first time he went through this month. He still didn’t know who the other girl was, though, and didn’t know how he might work her into the conversation. «How many people did you try to convince, anyway?» asked Zorian.

«All of our classmates and teachers, the headmaster, and the heads of every police department in the city. A couple of nobles and other influential people.»

How… persistent.

«Not very successful, I imagine,» Zorian guessed.

«That’s putting it mildly,» Zach sighed.