The Library was an uncomfortable space for her. Though it was a wide open, rather spacious chamber, the claustrophobic nature of it wasn't the thing that bothered her about it. It was the segmentation of everything, the way everything was so ordered and regimented. It flew in the face of her freebooting lifestyle.
A few days past, she'd exhausted most of the energy she had for researching the spirits. She already knew where she would go to satisfy her curiosity about those enigmatic beings. And in the process of searching for navigational routes toward Melrath, she'd found places on the way. She'd discovered the city of Sirothelle.
Sirothelle, home of the enigmatic Aukari, and of Faldrun.
She'd had her share of run-ins with the cultists of Faldrun in her time in Yaralon. From Aoth Shem, who wasn't a proper devotee but more of an opportunist who imagined himself breaking free of his fiery master at some undetermined point in the future. To Ausian, who'd tried to sacrifice her on a crudely constructed dias. She didn't know much about the Aukari, apart from the fact that they were duplicitous bastards who couldn't be trusted. So why shouldn't they get along? Her mother had seen enough in an aukari slave to bed him and bear her by him.
Utojesk.
The name was as fresh on her mind as the day her aunt had confided it to her, decades after the fact. Yet details of his life, other than the fact that one of Aoth Shem's ancestors had killed him, eluded her. She knew she'd get no answers if she asked her mother, if the woman yet lived. It was why she'd left Augiery all those ages ago. Her path had led her to Yaralon, and then to Viden, and soon...
But right now, she had smaller fish to fry. A special blue fish that resembled an Eidisi library clerk. She'd tried to use her Naerikk wiles on the blue page-flipper to no avail for the weeks she'd been there. Having failed to capture his attention, she'd turned to subtle intimidation and coercion, still no movement. She began to wonder if they were crafted from the ice that surrounded their city. Lately, she'd taken a more direct approach, just asking him to help her.
"Listen, I'll even pay you, just need you to cross reference the texts for the proper name Utojesk, Aukari, Yaralon Mercenaries, and Sirothelle exiles. Will you help me? A hundred gold nels, I'll give you."
The eidisi scoffed, giving a smirk smug as he stared at the book he was reading, "Nels aren't a concern. Time however..."
"Fine, take all the time you need, just give me the information!" Alora said, then cursed herself. She didn't actually even have time herself. She'd wasted too much trying to convince him in the days leading up to this. It was very vexing, especially with the fall of Emea and the swift exhaustion of her spark as it ran out of ether. "What do you want?"
"What I want is privileged information. Why should I bother trading for what you're freely giving for so many days?"
Alora slammed the counter, and then turned on her heel, glaring at the rows of books and tomes, and the crowds of people doing their research. Had she the ether, she would bring this place down in ashes. But as it was, she held off. Because her ether was exhausted only a day after Emea fell.
