The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1 (43 page)

“I’m anxious to get to the library, but first, I want a bath. Since no one else seems to wear shoes here, I don’t intend to either,” said Maya as she unlaced a boot.

Lucy smiled at her and began to unlace her own boots. It would feel good to be clean again. Gavin and Justin kept their boots on, but seemed to agree with the idea of a bath and followed Lucy and Maya to the bath houses.

There was one entrance for women and one for men. Lucy parted the drapes and started down the steps into a dimly lit cave. It was wonderfully cool in the caves almost cold by contrast to the intense heat outside. The cave floor was comprised of different pools of water fed by clean springs. They were met by another servant who took their clothing, promised to clean it, and provided them with towels, robes, and a variety of soaps. Lucy walked over to one steaming pool and tested the temperature. Finding it wonderfully warm, Lucy submerged herself in the hot water. Part of her was tempted to sit and soak, but she felt the need to get the dirt and grime off her first. Then she could soak.

After washing her hair several times, Lucy sat back and studied the cave. At first she thought that it was one room, but now that her eyes had better adjusted to the dim light she noticed that the back wall curved.

“Where does the cave go?” she asked Maya.

“To the men’s bathing area.”

“I thought they were separate.”

“They are and they aren’t. Traditionally, the first few pools are reserved for women only. That curve is longer than you think, and the pools there are for intermingling. Then there are the pools that are traditionally men only,” replied Maya.

“Seems odd,” said Lucy, not sure how to take that information. Part of her wondered if there was a problem with one sex watching the other bathe and if there was any sense of modesty here.

“There are a few basic things to remember about Kennemt. Everything is based on ease, pleasure, and option to die,” said Maya. “Some people take pleasure in bathing alone. Some people like company, hence the bigger pools and the pools adjoining the men’s area. No one worries about anyone infringing upon those choices because the culprit most likely ends up dead.”

“That’s an offense that could lead to death?” asked Lucy somewhat shocked.

“It’s not likely to, but it is always an option.”

Lucy wondered what else she would find odd. This was all very confusing. It seemed like someone could easily go on a killing spree. However, Lucy supposed, they would probably wind up dead themselves before they got too far. A whole community living under the vigilante honor system would be interesting to observe.

When they finished their bathes, they walked back to their rooms in their robes to find the guys already there and dressed.

“You took long enough,” said Gavin.

“The warm water felt good,” said Maya.

At this point Tenna arrived with a midday meal of fresh fruits and breads.

“Wonderful, I was getting hungry,” said Gavin.

“You’re always hungry,” responded Maya.

Gavin shrugged and ate a piece of bread.

“If Maya and I want to get dressed and then eat will there be any food left?” asked Lucy.

“I can’t promise you that,” said Justin while Gavin nodded his agreement, his mouth full.

Maya rolled her eyes and picked up a mango. Lucy would have preferred to eat while wearing something other than the light, filmy robe but decided she would prefer even less to be hungry or ask Tenna if it would be possible to bring more food. After living off travel rations she was sure Gavin would eat the fresh bread until it was gone.

Bathed, dressed, and fed, their moods were elevated. They laughed and joked as they made their way down the street to the library.

The library, like most of the buildings in Kennemt was one story and made of stone. It was large and sprawling. There were many windows to let in light and many nooks and crannies to sit and read in as well as tables and chairs. Every available wall space was filled from floor to ceiling with small stone cubby holes. Almost all of the cubbies were filled with sealed clay jars that held scrolls. The current librarian, for the positions changed based on whims and pleasure, showed them around. Somewhere along the line one of the librarians had started the practice of placing the scrolls in chronological order based on when they were written. They were not categorized or alphabetized only dated. Although, the system could be useful for some things, it was going to problematic for them.

Some of the jars held a brief description of what was in them. However, this too was problematic because they were not labeled by a third party, but by the author. Thus some were labeled: My Musings on all Things Important to me this Afternoon. What are the odds that that afternoon, the author mused on the Eye of Elicion or Kleth or that their musings could be helpful. Something labeled The Pretty Rainbow might be important if it was a pretty rainbow in Kleth or if they found Kleth at the end of the rainbow. Among Lucy’s favorites were: Should I pick up this piece of Dust, Has Anyone seen my Left Ear, and I’m writing this so one day Someone can debate whether or not they should read it. All in all, it was a rather daunting project.

After some discussion, Gavin and Lucy were given the job of reading all the labels. Anything that looked promising they were supposed to pull out enough that Maya could follow behind and know which ones were selected, but not far enough that they were libel to crash onto the stone floor. Justin helped Gavin and Lucy until they were far enough ahead that he went back to help Maya. Lucy was amazed by both the amount of jars and the amount of people who uselessly labeled things. There was a highly promising one labeled, My journey through Kleth, that Lucy immediately pointed out to Maya. Although, it turned out to be a lyrical poem on the author’s musings on what a journey through Kleth might consist of rather than anything useful. When Gavin and Lucy finished pulling out jars, they joined Maya and Justin who were each busy reading.

“We finished,” said Gavin.

Justin held up a finger to signify he needed a moment to finish what he was reading then he nodded and looked up.

“Thank you,” he said.

“How long is it going to take you to go through all this?” asked Gavin.

“A few days, I should think,” said Maya. “It’s hard to tell. Some of the jars contain small scrolls; others contain tightly wrapped scrolls that unroll to be longer than I am tall. Also, I’ve read in five different languages not counting the dialects,” she shrugged.

“Have you found anything important?” asked Lucy hopefully.

“I’m not sure we’ve even found anything useful, much less important,” said Justin. “We grabbed a blank scroll and a quill from the librarian to write any findings on,” Justin indicated the scroll in between them. “As you can see, it’s still blank.”

“What should we do now?” asked Gavin. “I’m not a linguist, so I’m not sure how much help I’ll be here.”

“Don’t worry, we have Maya for research,” said Justin. “I think you should do what you do best. Someone around here must work out for pleasure, or you could find where the assassins train. Start practicing, learn some new ways to kill people, and try to make a few friends. Perhaps you’ll learn something. Don’t ask about anything too personal. We’re going to be here for a few days. You can get personal later. Right now I don’t want to make anyone too suspicious. It’s not that what we’re doing is supposed to be a secret, but you never know who else is here visiting or who is listening.”

Gavin smiled a winning smile and walked off to mingle with the locals.

“What about me?” asked Lucy. “I’d like to help, but I only know how to read a couple of languages and I would hate to miss anything important because of a botched translation.”

Justin nodded in agreement as Maya rolled up her scroll, resealed the jar, and put it back, picking up another one.

“I think you might be able to read this one,” said Maya handing the newly opened one to Lucy and going back for another one.

“Why don’t you stick around for a while. If we find something you can read, we’ll hand it to you.”

Lucy nodded, reached for the scroll, and began to read. It was an interesting read, but much to Lucy’s disappointment it didn’t say anything they didn’t already know. When she finished that one, she handed it to Maya to reseal, and Maya handed her another one to read. After that there was a third and fourth. Both of them were long, wordy, and unrelated to anything helpful. Lucy handed Maya the fourth scroll, but Maya didn’t have anything to hand back.

“When, I’m done with this one, I’ll open another, but I haven’t found any in a language you know how to read, and I don’t want to make a mess looking for one you can read,” said Maya with an apologetic look.

“I can wait around for awhile. I’ll take a walk around the library to loosen up any stiff muscles and then see where you’re at,” replied Lucy.

Lucy didn’t mind taking a break. She wished she could be more helpful, but she had spent more time learning the extent of her magic abilities rather than learning languages. She hoped her other skills would be needed later on. She hated feeling useless. Not that she was useless, but she would like to feel more helpful. She finished her circuit of the library, and there still wasn’t anything for her to read.

“Why don’t you go for a walk outside?” suggested Justin. “You can become more familiar with the city, get some fresh air, and maybe learn something that way too.”

Lucy doubted she would learn much, but she didn’t want to be a distraction for them so she left. The scroll between Justin and Maya was still blank, and she knew that they were beginning to get frustrated. Not so much with the lack of finding anything as with reading things that looked promising and ended up having nothing to do with what they were looking for. Lucy left the library intending to take a walk. She didn’t want to get lost so she decided to go left and continue that way until she found something or couldn’t go left anymore.

The plan worked. She hadn’t walked far before she reached the end of left, which turned out to be a beautiful garden. Since there was no specific reason for her to walk rather than sit, she made her way to a fountain in the center, sat on the edge, and watched the fish swim.

She may not be able to read, but she could certainly think. Why would Kleth be in different places? How can the same place be in different places at different times? It would make more sense for a place to be in the same place, but cloaked so that only certain people could find it. That made sense. It could be surrounded by wards like the ones they had used during the challenge at school. The wards might encourage people to go a different direction. That also, made sense. That a place could be in different places, that didn’t make sense. Perhaps she was looking at things the wrong way. Was there any other places you could reach from different places? There was Eric’s door trick, but that didn’t change the location of the place, it merely cut out the traveling between the two places.

Lucy continued to think while the fish swam. This way and that way, over and under. Lucy heard a rustle in the bush in front of her and looked up. The largest serpent she had ever seen rose out of the bush and looked at her. Lucy had never been afraid of snakes before. She certainly didn’t find them cuddly, but she had never been afraid. Now, she was afraid. The serpent flicked out its tongue. If it wanted to harm her, it certainly could. Lucy tried the only thing she could think of.

“
Hello?”
she said in her head. Part greeting part question; trying to talk to the snake like she had talked to Ash.

“
Hello,”
the snake responded, flicking its tongue again.

Lucy couldn’t be sure, but she thought the snake sounded wryly amused.

“
It has been a long times since I talked with a human. Very few of you know how to listen properly with the mind rather than only with the ears.”

“
I’ve never talked with a snake before so this is a new experience for me, but I’ve talked with horses,”
commented Lucy, not knowing what to say. What constituted small talk for snakes, and was it necessary or did they like to get to the point?

“
I don’t intend to harm you,”
said the snake.

At least somewhat to the point then.

“
That’s good to know,”
replied Lucy.
“I don’t intend to harm you either.”
She wasn’t sure if the snake was worried about that, but it had been polite enough to reassure her, and she felt it polite to return the favor.

“
The best conversations happen when both participants agree they are not out to harm the other,”
commented the snake with a tongue flick.

Lucy nodded agreement.

“
To the point then, I suppose before someone comes along and thinks I have you in a trance.”

Lucy smiled
, “Shall we start with introductions?”

“
Names are only labels and unnecessary to this discussion. You are looking for Kleth. I have two pieces of information. The first is more of a warning. Be careful what you look for. You might find just that, but you might find more that you never even thought existed. Secondly, you are looking in the wrong place.”

“
You mean the library?”

The snake cocked its head and flicked its tongue.

“
You will understand if you think about it long enough. You came closer sitting here with your thoughts than you ever will in the library. Not everything can be found in a library and not everything can be found at all in the normal ways humans go about them. You already have the information you seek.”

Lucy nodded. She wasn’t sure what to say or how to respond. Any question she could ask sounded stupid to her, and she didn’t want to ask the snake a stupid question. The snake was knowledgeable and succinct. Also, Lucy got the impression that the snake was not going to give her any easy answers. She would have to think through this herself.

“
Is there anything else you can tell me?”
she finally settled on asking.

“
Perhaps more of a warning than information. Remember all knowledge has a price. You should think about what you are willing to pay for knowledge. One day you may be forced to pay what you owe or go without.”