A foolish grin was plastered on Prikas face, a book splayed out on the surface of the boulder in front of her. A movent from the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she raised her head. Vur? That was the shortest nap in the history of naps. Where you going?
Vur yawned and stretched his arms over his head, arching his back. He closed his eyes and soaked in the sunlight for a few monts before putting his arm down. He glanced at Prika. Im going to the library, he said. Do you want to co?
Library? Prika asked, her eyebrows perking up. Her eyes shifted, and she made sure Vur wasnt eyeing her pile of books nearby. Which library?
The one at Tafels ho, Vur said.
Oh, the one where we went to back when you were little? Prika asked. She nodded. Didnt we rob, err, obtain all the books we wanted from that one? Theyre still in Seras cave. I thought you read them all already.
Vur rubbed his chin. Dont libraries get new books over ti?
You want to rob them again? Prika asked, raising an eyebrow. Humans and demons are pretty slow writers. She closed her book, placed it back on the pile, and hopped off the boulder, landing in front of Vur. She bent her legs and gestured for Vur to climb on her back. Get on. Ill take you sowhere even better.
Vur jumped up with the help of a simple wind spell and landed on top of Prikas head. He sat down and crossed his legs, not caring about being polite. Where are we going?
Theres a little island chain between here and the eastern continent, Prika said. Theyre occupied by owlcats. As the self-proclaid most voracious reader of love stories, I can vouch for those little guys and their story-telling abilities.
A fairys head popped out of the tattoo on Vurs chest. Ive never heard of owlcats before. Isnt this exciting? Stella asked. She stretched her neck up and rolled her eyes to make eye contact with Vur. See? There are so many new and weird things youve yet to encounter. Arent you glad I convinced you to go out of your cave?
Vur grunted and braced himself as Prika launched herself into the air. The red dragon flapped her wings and let out a snort. Can you believe Grimmy and Leila just left behind and completely ignored my aweso idea? Its almost as if they have zero respect for just because Im single. She snorted again. So, what kind of books are you looking for anyway? Romance novels? How-to books?
Books on interesting things to see in the world, Vur said. Tafel likes adventuring to interesting places. Ill explore them all first, and if any of them are fun, Ill bring her there later.
Prika blinked. If thats the case, the owlcats wont have what youre looking for, she said. Theyre very creative, but almost everything they write is fiction. Luckily for you, I know just the place to go to find what youre looking for.
You know a lot more than I thought you would, Stella said.
Prikas eye twitched. And whats that supposed to an? You think Im boring just because no one thinks Im interesting enough to take as a mate, huh? She let out a sigh before Stella could respond. Forget it. Im not going to argue with sothing tinier than one of my scales.
Are we still going to a library? Vur asked.
In a sense, but not really, Prika said. She scratched her head, her claw nearly bumping into Vur. The locals of where were going call the place the Recordkeepers Palace. You know what ravens are, right? The black little birds that always seem to show up when sothing bad is going to happen?
Yeah.
Well, roughly a quarter of the ravens in the world arent actually ravens, Prika said. Theyre the Recordkeepers eyes and ears. Theyre like little homunculi she created to monitor the events happening in the world.
Wait? Really? Stella asked, her eyes widening. How co Ive never heard about this before?
Because youre just a fairy, Prika said and rolled her eyes. In the grand sche of things, fairies are completely insignificant. Why would the Recordkeeper ever interact with you?
Stella pursed her lips. And dragons are important enough?
Duh. Prika said and snorted. This world practically belongs to dragons. Have you not noticed?
***
Tafel raised an eyebrow. Beneath her pillar of ice, on the surface of the ocean, there seed to be a chain of islands; either that, or her eyes were playing tricks on her. According to the traces left behind by Susan and Emile, the two phoenixes had gone down to the island chain. Was this where they were hiding? The islands werent located on any map that she knew of, so it was a high possibility.
Tafels horns glowed silver, and after a minute of calculating, she opened a portal and stepped through. Her foot made contact with a sandy beach, and the first thing she did was raise Minervas feather. The golden glow illuminated a small region around her, showing red traces leading in and out of the water. Evidently, Susan and Emile had gone fishing. A furrow appeared on Tafels brow, and she waved her hand. The pillar of ice, which was now in the distance, crumbled.
The nearest trace led into the water, but it didnt seem to go very far. From where she was standing, Tafel could see dozens of shells lining the shore. They were massive, each one nearly the size of her head. A splash of water caught Tafels attention, and a strange creature burst out of the water. It looked like a cat, but it had a pair of wings growing out of its back, and its head was that of an owls. Its four paws were holding a large clam, and the strange creature flew high up into the air before dropping the clam. The clam hit a nearby rock and shattered, splitting into two halves, one of which had am exposed fleshy blob clinging to it. The creature swooped down from the sky and landed by its handiwork. It gave Tafel a glance before pecking at the poor clam.
Tafel tilted her head. Was the creature an owl? A cat? Either way, it didnt really matter. As long as they didnt eat Susan and Emile, then she honestly didnt care about them. It didnt look like they were tough at all. Unlike the monsters in Fuselage, the ones she could kill and harvest for materials, this creature seed to have no value at all.
Shortly after Tafel left, following the traces revealed by Minervas feather, a second owlcat flew down from the trees and approached the first. What kind of creature was that? the second owlcat asked.
Im not sure, but it looked pretty miserable, didnt it? It mustve lost its wings sowhere.
It probably went to look for them. The second owlcats eyes lit up. You know what? I think thatd make a great story. Im going to write a book about an owlcat that lost its wings and had to go on a journey to find them. I think Ill call it Cat.
Ooh, you should add so romance to it. I bet that big red owlcat will love it.
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