Chenzhou hadn't seemed entirely happy with the outcome of their discussion on the bridge, but he hadn't said anything, and Eirian wasn't going to waste time trying to make him.
He could either be strong enough to say it himself or keep to it himself. Eirian wasn't in the habit of babying full-grown adults. She didn't even like babying actual children.
In all their talk about the Camelia and what might be wrong with it, Chenzhou never said anything about his own health even though Eirian could see the miasma pouring out of him every second.
After they'd split on the bridge, Eirian had spent an hour explaining to the House Master exactly how she wanted her rooms redone and arguing over the need for more bookshelves when there was a fully functioning library in the castle already.
Eirian hadn't said it outright, but there were pieces in her collection that were best left out of the general public's hands.
She had original copies of Mendelsan's Origins, which detail the locations and uses of various medicinal herbs and creatures, much of which had fallen out of general knowledge in the three hundred years since he'd died, and Corvius' extensive writings on poisons and cures. He'd never formed them into a single volume, but his papers had been published repeatedly until a king eight hundred years ago had decided they were too dangerous. Eirian's copies were carefully stored in charmed ellwood to prevent them from aging.
She even had DeVourny's Record of Blood Blades, a one of a kind, detailed recording of Blooding Blades and their abilities that existed during the Age of Warfare. Many of which went missing after their bearer's death.
She even had first-edition copies of the Wizard's Encyclopedia, all twenty-two volumes, compiled and edited by Malbec himself over a thousand years ago. The City of Illumination had desperately been collecting them all after his death, arguing that they belonged to the city Malbec had founded, even though it had been Malbec himself who had sent them out.
Now, the city charged ridiculous amounts for access to them, and Eirian had one of the few sets that had escaped their grasp. Not that they hadn't tried stealing them back since they'd learned she'd found them. Unfortunately for them, Eirian was stronger than anyone they could afford to send without making a spectacle of it, and she'd made easy work of them.
She'd been banned from ever visiting the City of Illumination or hiring a wizard for anything until she gave them up, but Eirian wasn't holding her breath about needing to do either of those things.
Marian showed her the library after spending lunch, looking reluctantly impressed by the sheer amount of food Eirian could put away.
The library itself was the first thing about this place that impressed Eirian. It had ten levels of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, broken up by small study areas with desks and chairs and even a few small classrooms. Torchlights illuminated the floors, but there were a few reading nooks tucked up against large windows along the spiral staircase that was the focal point of the entire building.
Eirian had stared at it long enough that Marian and the Grand Master of the library had started to look concerned before she'd realized why it was so captivating.
"It's a Fibonacci spiral."
She decided to ignore the stunned expression on the Grand Master's face.
"When was it built?"
"Two hundred years before Fibonacci was born," Marian answered, a small smirk on her lips.
Eirian glanced at her. "Is this place in the Histories?"
"There are several detailed chapters about its construction and collection." Marian gave the Grand Master a pointed look, and the man scurried off. "They will have the Histories pulled and set aside for you at one of the desks."
"The Inventories Yuze mentioned, too."
Marian's eyes widened. "You think someone could have brought something here that caused…all of this?"
Eirian ran her fingers over the spines of a row of books. "Magical poisons need an anchor, an origin. It's not like a regular poison that just exists until it burns out or is cured. I'll have to destroy the object to destroy the miasma."
She loved the smell of old books, the scent of vanilla that ages parchment emitted. It was the only time she liked the smell of vanilla, as she found it too simple when it came to oils and perfumes.
A library like this, with its golden torches, dark emerald carpets, and dark wood accents, was a haven. A place Eirian could see herself coming to think and plan, to relax and escape.
Maybe…
Maybe when all was said and done and Eirian was the only one in charge, she would add her own collection to its shelves. When she could be sure it would be safe.
What special volumes were hidden here? Such a large library, such a storied place, there had to be some of the great missing volumes left on a shelf that everyone had forgotten about.
So much information that everyone had thought lost to the world.
She definitely needed to go through those Inventories.
~ tbc