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Sovereign City-State: The Library
18th Day of Month 6, Year 1628 DG
The top floor of the Center is a wide, open chamber filled with sturdy metal desks between flimsy wooden partitions. The room has a constant, fluid flow, a river of Librarians. They pay no mind to Unisa when she emerges from the staircase.
The angi Gatekeeper can see tunics of every color here, as ranks are irrelevant. On the top floor, the hierarchy is simplified: all Librarians report directly to the Prime. Top floor positions of any rank are coveted. Even the pink-clad Scribe Librarians that work here are more financially secure than the Ambassadors on mission.
The Prime’s Gatekeeper has historically been the highest-paid position in the Library, second only to the leader himself, of course. Those who’ve held this station in the past have had no reservations about flaunting their wealth. The current keeper of the position, however, is simply grateful to be here at all, though he makes half of what other Gatekeepers do.
In the eight years Unisa has known him, Rafael has never once expressed the slightest dissatisfaction with his diminished earnings. He’s always made one thing clear: exile breeds humility.
The first exile to be accepted into the Library in over fifty years, Rafael’s citizenship is contingent on his success under the Prime’s tutelage. Rumors flourished throughout the city for months after Rafael’s arrival; most speculated that their shared mari culture softened the Prime’s heart to the teenager.
Unisa steps forth through the chamber. The first row of desks belong to the Scribes and Recorders, beyond which are the Educators in the middle. The final rows, which mainly sit empty, belong to Ambassadors, and their appointed Vice Ambassadors, on active missions.
Unisa counts seven doors on the back wall, one in the middle, and three huddled together on either side. The middle door leads to the Prime’s office, while the six others belong to those of the Supreme Librarians. These six doors are painted blue, while the Prime’s is painted black, to signify the colors of their tunics.
As the distance between Unisa and the doors dwindles, a thought occurs to her: this will be the first time she’s ever asked Rafael to use his position for her benefit. It’s a massive violation of their friendship, a substantial transgression of boundaries.
Rafael walks on shaky ground as it is. Hyper-aware of his actions and choices, he ensures that his permission to remain in the Library is never jeopardized. But this situation is dire. It goes far beyond either of them. She must ask him for an audience with the Prime.
This is for the good of the Library.
She reaches the black door and raises her fist to knock. Her hand trembles, and beads of sweat break onto her forehead. There’s a long moment of hesitation and a deep breath...and then she knocks. The air around her thickens as she reaches a point from which return is impossible.
Rafael opens the door wearing his gold tunic and a smile. “Uni! What are you doing here?” He leans down and kisses each of her cheeks, greeting her traditionally.
“I have something important to talk to you about,” she responds.
Rafael’s smile fades. “Here? Now? Is everything alright?” He looks at her head and arms and legs, searching for some injury or ailment.
Unisa can’t hold back a smile at his concern for her. She takes his hands in her own and refocuses him to her eyes.
“I’m fine. But can we talk in your office?”
Rafael nods, anxious lines etched onto his face. He steps to the side, allowing Unisa to enter. The room is smaller and emptier than she expected. The Prime’s office door is only a few feet in front of her on the back wall. Rafael’s desk is to her left, and to her right sit inexpensive wooden chairs for those waiting to meet with the Prime.
In the corner of the room, behind Rafael’s desk, is a fountain with flowing water and a stack of thin paper cups.
“A gift from the Prime,” Rafael says, looking at it as if it were made of gold. He drags a chair to the opposite side of his desk for Unisa to sit, then takes his place across from her.
“We’ll have to keep our voices down,” he informs her. “The Prime is in a meeting.” Unisa nods in acknowledgment. “You’ve never come to my office before, this must be important.”
“It is,” she responds. “But before I begin, I have to ask you to trust me.”
Rafael’s face contorts, worry mounting. He reaches across the desk and takes Unisa’s hand. “Of course, I trust you.”
Unisa takes a deep breath and begins. “Last night, at dinner, you sensed my distress.”
He nods. “Yes, I remember.”
“I discovered something unimaginable. In Witness.”
She hesitantly reaches into her bag and pulls out the text, placing it onto the desk. Before it even makes contact with the metal, Rafael is on his feet, backing away as if Unisa has produced a live cobra.
“Please tell me that’s a copy.”
Unisa shakes her head slowly, guilt driving her gaze down. “It’s the original. I pulled it from Witness.”
Rafael plummets back into his seat, his legs failing him. When he speaks, his volume is low, but his tone is harsh. “And you brought it here? Ten feet from the Prime? Have you lost your mind?”
“Rafa, I asked you to trust me.”
Rafael shakes his head. “No. Get it out of here. Take it back and we can forget this happened.” His tone switches from anger to supplication. “I’m an exile, Uni. This is the only home I have now. I can’t believe you would bring this here knowing what it could do to me. Please, take it back.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong. I pulled it, but I promise you, I have a good reason.”
“I don’t want to hear it. I’m begging you, take it back.”
“There are lies in the Catacombs, Rafa.”
Rafael stares at her blankly. He looks at the black door, then at Unisa. “Thirty seconds.”
She flips the book open to Hay-Ro’s letter and pushes it across the desk to Rafael. “This letter appeared in the back of the book after an interaction with the Radiance. Red-Lo’s Head Salver wrote it. He claims that everything Red-Lo wrote about the MegaMother is a lie: from seizing the throne for herself to coercing Red-Lo into the Everlasting Journey to how she died. Her whole legacy is tarnished, likely unjustly.”
Rafael looks down at the letter for a moment, then back up at Unisa. “Did the MegaParents ever find the immortality they sought during the Everlasting Journey?”
Unisa stares at Rafael, dumbfounded. “No, Rafa, you know they didn’t.”
“Then none of this matters.” He closes the book and slides it forcefully back at Unisa. “They’re both long dead. Nothing has changed. Now take it back.”
“Rafa, please,” Unisa pleads. “You know as well as I do, this isn’t just about the outcome. The facts matter; the truth matters.”
“Don’t lecture me about facts and truth,” he hisses. “Nusta. Ista. Hosta. Knowledge, history, and truth. The first time I saw those words, I was in shackles. A fifteen-year-old boy. Frightened, thinking I would be hung or flayed if the Prime didn’t take me in. And when he did, I promised him I would live every day of my life for the facts and the truth.”
He points to the text. “But not like this. We cannot violate some tenets to protect other ones. Being this close to something illegal is going to end us both.”
“You are not in danger here—I am. And I’m willing to face that danger because the facts and the truth are the only reason I’m here.” Her eyes begin to burn as she speaks her next words, the vision of angi wings walking away from her growing in her mind. “It’s why they left me here, Rafa. To be a Librarian and protect the history. But if the history is a lie, what was the point of it?”
Rafael takes Unisa’s hand again. “Uni, if you get banished from this city, you can go back to PeakHaven. Back to your parents. There’s no third chance for me. I have nowhere else to go. This is the only place I belong; I matter.”
He is near tears. His frantic tone and blatant distress fall on her like a hailstorm. She’s asking too much of him. “I understand. I can take it back and find another way. You always matter, Rafa.”
She reaches for the text, but before she can grab it, another hand falls on it. An older hand, connected to a forearm with fins going up to the elbow, leading to a black tunic sleeve.
Neither Rafael nor Unisa had realized that the Prime’s door had clicked open moments earlier. Unisa has never seen the Prime this close before. She was once at the back of a crowd during one of his speeches, but that was it.
He looks older up close. She knows he’s in his late fifties, but he always carries himself with such stoic grace that she had forgotten his age until this moment, when the jagged lines of elderhood run around his cheeks, eyes, and forehead.
He holds the typical mari traits: long, dark hair, webbed fingers, fins, and the piscine nare slits where other humans have a nose. The Prime’s most unique feature is his eyes; they are somehow warm and cold at the same time.
The Prime lifts the text off of Rafael’s desk, as both Gatekeepers take to their feet. He examines the book quietly in his hands. Unisa looks over to Rafael and notices him trembling.
She’s never seen him so frightened before.
“Red-Lo’s handwriting,” the Prime finally says. “The original text, out of Witness. How unfortunate.”
“Great Prime, I can expl—” Rafael begins to say. He falls silent when the Prime quickly raises his eyes from the text.
“I’m disappointed, Rafael. After all I’ve done for you.”
“It is not his fault, Great Prime,” Unisa interjects, mustering every ounce of courage. The Prime offers her the same look, and she understands why Rafael fell silent. It’s the look a butcher gives to a lamb wandering into the slaughterhouse.
The Prime squints, as if trying to recall an ancient memory. “Unisa. Gatekeeper of Witness.”
Unisa sways between being impressed and terrified.
The Prime smiles. “I know every name that comes and goes from this city. You grew up here, and yet you violated your own ethics. You’ve moved off the path of the Fully Bonded, after we bestowed the honor of Witness upon you.”
“Forgive me, Great Prime. I assure you I have good reason.”
The Prime nods. “I do hope so. Please, join me. Both of you.” He turns around and walks back into his office. Rafael and Unisa stare at the open doorway, frozen. Unisa turns slowly toward Rafael and tries to say something, but he ignores her and trudges after the Prime.
Unisa takes a deep breath and follows.