Kate teleported into the library only to see Ara, the bronze-armoured fae and Azazel talking with Nirrti at the reception desk.

“Well, hello.”

Nirrti returned a smile. “Ah, there you are. We have been waiting for you.”

“You have? What’s going on? I go missing for two weeks and suddenly an eldritch embodiment of impermanence, an ancient visitor from a pocket dimension and the most powerful entity from Hell are standing openly in a space that humans tend to randomly pass through. The front door is unlocked and it is five minutes past noon. Anyone care to explain this carelessness?”

Azazel couldn’t help but shake her head and laugh. “The library is currently closed to humans. I have inquisitors outside the door. Ara is here randomly but decided it would be fun to get involved and our fae friend brought a few more of their friends. Currently, there are two of them talking to Jorogumo and one talking to Lilith. Your new angel friend is also sitting in the restaurant, waiting for Eisheth to come back from the vault with some paperwork.”

“I… have more questions than before. What’s going on?”

“Let’s start from the beginning this morning. At around seven, the first fae we ever met showed up again. You know, the one in the silver armour. They claimed that we needed to have a bigger meeting to discuss important and urgent plans for the future. Nirrti called me for that. Turns out, those plans are to build a place in this world were demons, angels, fae and eventually humans can come together for diplomacy and trade. As the foremost military power, with twelve people, we are to run that place but the fae are willing to provide anything else we demand to make it happen. That’s when I called Joro and the fae called other fae and now those three are talking about the where, the what and the how of this diplomatic fortress thing. Then the question of an ambassador came up and I told the fae that we would ask around and find someone to be our ambassador. I bump into Lilith a few minutes later, she asks about the fae here and I explain what’s going on and…” Azazel took a deep breath. “she volunteered as ambassador, so now the silver fae and Lilith are talking about ambassadorial stuff. Then, Pahaliah knocks on the door and ask to see you, but no one knows when you will come back, so Eisheth helps him. I stick around to make sure no one does anything stupid and that’s when Ara and this bronze fae arrive and that was about ten minutes ago.”

Kate rubbed her forehead. “Fuck me… Okay, where to begin? Ara, are you here just to read or anything specific?”

Ara smiled. “I have not seen my fae children in this world in a long time. I came out of curiosity for them. I will merely observe and not involve myself unless you ask me to.”

“Okay, that’s good. Keep doing that. Fae person, sorry I don’t know your name, you also came for a reason?”

The fae’s visor widened. “To learn.”

“Okay, learn about what?”

“Humans. Time. History.”

“Sure, we can make that happen. Where do you want to start?”

“The withdrawal of the gifts. Your gifts.”

“The end of Atlantis?”

“Yes.”

“Doable. Before you head to a room on the second floor, I have a question if you don’t mind.”

“Ask.”

“It has little to do with why you are here, but this might be the best chance I get. The needles were a big part of why we destroyed Atlantis, you also said that they were a symbol of failure, what failure?”

“To emulate power.”

“Power… Jolene’s power? The power to shape reality.” Kate had last talked to Apollyon about this when the fae had given them a book about long lost fae history, but the idea of Jolene having met the fae troubled her for some reason. 

“Correct. The one who does not exist in this world was found. We foresaw an end. The power that does not exist in this world could save us. Needles were made to emulate the power. Still, we fled. The needles failed, this end occurred. We did not return, we left the needles for our inheritors. We saw humans use the needles. We saw evil, but we gained no consensus, we did not act. Now, you have acted. You have forced consensus. Our failure, your resolution.”

Kate nodded. “I think I understand. You found Jolene around the same time you found the asteroid that would kill the dinosaurs and potentially you. You wanted to emulate Jolene’s ability to shape reality to protect this world from the asteroid but also fled into a pocket dimension in case that didn’t work. The needles were meant to allow you to alter reality, but weren’t powerful enough to stop the asteroid and, in shame, you stayed away. When Lilith was imprisoned in a needle, you had discussions about whether to help her or not, that never went anywhere and then we came in and freed her ourselves, destroying the needles right after. That’s when your internal schism about the needles was resolved and you decided to contact us. Did I get that right?”

“Yes.”

“Awesome. Please head to conference room two on the second floor, I will send someone to figure out what exact texts to bring you shortly.”

The fae simply bowed their head and moved away.

Kate turned to Azazel. “Now, what did Pahaliah want?”

Azazel smiled. “A list of qualities needed for good librarians. It sounded like his plans for a divine library were far more popular than he expected.”

“And Eisheth is helping him with that?”

Azazel nodded. “Yes, she has it all under control, but I think he would appreciate talking to you directly before he leaves.”

“That can be arranged. Now, please just tell all the fae here that they shouldn’t leave through the front door if possible once they’re done. After that, we can reopen to the humans unless I missed something.”

“Not that I can think of. Alright, I will inform the fae and then recall the inquisitors.”

About fifteen minutes later, the first human visitor came in. Kate and Nirrti happily welcomed them and directed them to the shelf of newspapers they were looking for.

“So, how was your vacation?” Nirrti leaned back in her chair.

“Absolutely amazing and sorely needed. We visited a few monuments, just relaxed a bit and made new friends. I don’t even know what one of those friends is, I just know that it liked us and we might go back in a few centuries.”

“Centuries? That sounds like you found one of those mysterious Deep Abyss creatures. A dreamer?”

Kate nodded. “Yes, a dreamer. It shared a few memories with us and we showed it some of ours. It was, well, magical.”

“I can imagine. Maybe I will head down there as well one day, find a dreamer and experience such wonders for myself. I heard they are quite hard to find, how did you stumble upon this one?”

“Oh, I asked a local cat to show us something interesting.”

Nirrti laughed. “That’s the other friend you made, isn’t it?”

“Yes, a void panther. Very cute when you can see it.”

“They sure are. Good thing we have other ways of detecting them as Nightmares. I wouldn’t want to miss the presence of such a cutie.”

“Apparently other Hell cats can see them just fine. Sera came by when the panther followed us to my home and she could see the little one without any issue. Watching her drag a blanket from the couch over to the void panther to make sure we knew where it was napping was the most adorable thing I have ever seen.”

“More adorable than the raptor kittens?”

“Only slightly. It’s hard to beat the raptor kittens in cuteness.”

“True. I love them, but they can be a bit much if they are outside your house for two or three months before moving on.”

“I wonder if they will ever come by Sheol.” Before Kate could continue, her phone buzzed with a text message. “Ah, I’ve been waiting for this.”

“What is it?”

“Ara told me that there was something to find on a page of one of my grandmother’s cookbooks. I told my mum to find that book and check it out.”

“Interesting, would you read the message to me?”

“Sure! ‘Kate, we found Marnie’s Many Munchies and you wouldn’t believe it, there is Ma’s chocolate lemon shortbread recipe. She annotated all the recipes! How did you know?’”

Nirrti smiled warmly. “That seems like a thing Ara would break the rules for. That’s awesome.” 

“It’s an amazing gift. My mum and I have long lamented that we never got the recipe for grandma Leonora’s shortbread, or any of her other recipes really. She always loved to bake and cook for us, food was how she showed love. This feels like having a part of her with us again.” The phone buzzed a few more times. Kate sighed happily. “And here are the pictures of the annotated pages. I need to remind Lizzy to put a conservation enchantment on the entire book.”

“That seems for the best. We should also make a copy, just in case.”

“You’re right. I should actually just head over there, want to join me?”

Nirrti nodded. “Sure. Ama and Eisheth can take care of the library on their own for a bit.”