Upon returning to my room, I walked over to the reading chair and set the pillows in a perch formation. It would be a comfy setup once I grabbed a book to curl up with. The sun was at its high point, sending warm rays to the reading chair, perfect for reading temperature. I hadn’t felt an actual sun in such a long time. The library had a working sunbath room, but it’s not the same. I made my way to the bookshelf when there was another knock on the door. 

I shook my head, feeling annoyed. People had pulled me away from my books far too many times. “Hello?”

“I brought the people you asked for, Lady Astrid,” the familiar voice of the king replied.

When I pulled open the door, five people were in view. A large stocky man drew my eyes first. He was built like a lumberjack with hazel hair and eyes. Then I noticed a pair of cute brown bear's ears on top of his head. I felt a powerful urge to rub them. They looked just like the bear guard’s ears in the library, whose ears I also played with. They were just sitting there, cute, brown and furry, so soft looking, just asking to be rubbed. I held myself back and looked at the rest of the family. Taking it all in, they were in very plain peasants’ clothes that were covered in dirt marks.

The mother was a fit with red eyes and strawberry red hair, and on top of her head were cute red fox ears. I resisted the urge to pet her ears as well, but she was just too cute. She seemed like she was just barely holding on. Her eyes were still a little puffy, probably from crying at getting exiled.

The children seemed rather young, a boy and a girl, both with brown hair and fox ears. They had a confused, scared look on their faces. They were looking up at their parents as well. The more I read the room, the more I realized they were probably worried out of their minds with their kids here. I didn’t want the king judging our conversations, so I sent him away.

“Lord Don, thank you. I shall have a discussion alone with them.” 

“Yes, Lady Astrid, if they cause you any problems, let me know,” he said before turning down the hallway and heaving a sigh of relief. 

“Hello there I am Lady Astrid. I am delighted you are here in good health today,” I said to the family standing before me. Yes, I totally nailed sounding formal.

“Thank you for your kindness, Lady Astrid. I can’t express my gratitude for saving my life. You even stopped my family’s exile.”

“Please come in. It was nothing but a misunderstanding. Definitely not worth someone’s life and the innocent lives of those around them. Go ahead, take a seat on the couch,” I said, waving them in as I stood near the couch.

The guard and his wife looked at each other, then made their way to the couch. The children were attached at the hips of the mother. As they passed by, a slight scent of a scummy odor came from them. It seemed that they did not keep the poor clean, as the king had claimed. They walked wearily, putting one foot in front of the other, carefully sitting on the couch. The children hopped on to the couch, hiding slightly behind their mother.

I realized these people must have been treated as lower class, possibly even expendable peasants. There had been books in the library about this kind of treatment. The book that came to mind was “Bec’s Guide to Equitable City Planning”. I made a mental note to look it up later.

“Thank you again. I tried to kill you, but you protected me.”

“It was a very stressful situation. You were only doing your job, and I wasn’t even hurt. Enough of that. Let’s talk about how we move forward.”

“The king mumbled something about you needing someone to grab books off the top shelf for you? I’ll do whatever you need.”

My lips pressed together as I blushed in embarrassment. “Well no. Well, yes, well, sort of? I just needed an excuse to change your punishment. Books are easy to pull down off the top shelf. I am relatively used to doing most everything on my own.”

The children giggled a little before quickly hiding back behind their mother. The mother’s eyes went wide for a moment at her children’s reaction.

“Sorry, then what can I do for you?”

“Well, I don’t really need a guard, but it would look good to have one around. You could also answer questions for me as well.”

“I can do that, but aren’t you worried about what people say about having someone like me around you?”

“Like you what? I’m not from around here, well I am, but nevermind.”

“Animal Cursed. Not only do we suffer the curse of humanity and can’t cast spells, but we also have these animal deformities.”

“I want to know more about everything you just said, but not right now. I honestly find them very cute. Especially yours. The bear's ears remind me of my home. The guards have something similar.“

He seemed surprised at this statement. “Do you have people with animal curses in your home city?”

“No, they’re more like fluffy bear guards, similar to stuffed animals. I will show you sometime.”

The little girl’s eyes gleamed when I said fluffy bear guards. I formed a plot to have her attack and harass the bear guards. They were especially good with children, but always seemed bothered when messed with. I would sneak up on them and latch onto them. Quickly I would rub their ears. They would try to pull me off, but I gained mastery at avoiding their attempts. They somehow gained the skill to sense when I was in that mood and would walk in groups of three in a triangular formation to defend themselves. This didn’t stop aerial attacks, though. I snapped back into focus once I realized I had zoned out.

“Thank you for the opportunity. How were you able to use spells? I just want to know so I can get a better feel for how to serve you.”

I stood there for a moment pondering on how to answer the question without exposing too much at once. There were so many ways to answer the question. Should I start with how magic was thought to have worked in my time or more advanced knowledge? After a moment, I realized she was probably talking about how I’m human and no other human can cast magic of any sort. I have no clue what the answer to that was, though.

“Mom, they have books. Can you read it to us?” an excited sounding little boy said. Looking over, I saw the young boy had slipped away from his mother. He was now holding a book out with a big, glowing smile.

The faces of the parents went pale. “Thun Valwreck! Put that back immediately and apologize to Lady Astrid for touching her things without asking!” the mother snapped.

He looked panicked and froze in place.

“No, it’s fine. I love books as well,” I said as I got up, making my way over to him. Looking at the cover, it was the history book I was eyeballing yesterday. “Good choice. Do you know how to read?”

He calmed down before replying, “Only a little. Mom is teaching me.”

“Well, she will have to do more of that. I do want to read that one first. I have other books for you to read, though,” I replied, taking the book out of his hands gently.

When I looked back, the parents seemed relieved.

“Sweetie, come sit down next to Mom.”

“What are your names? I don’t think your husband’s real name is Irresponsible.”

“I am Lizlin, my husband is Highthorn, and my daughter’s name is Tara.”

“And mine is Thun!”

“Yes, sweetie I just called you. She knows your name.”

He glowered cutely when he realized his mistake.

“So where do you stay?” I asked as I walked back in front of the family, still holding onto the book.

“They took away our home in the lower city, so we don’t know. We thought we’d have to find something abandoned and rundown outside the dome.”

“Well, I have a place you can stay for a little while. It would be good if we could make better arrangements,” I said, thinking about what life might be like outside the dome. I didn’t even know what life was like inside, either. They probably had nothing comfortable. I could probably get something better after I figured out how to make some money. I really only needed some land that was away from Don’s house, since I didn’t really want to be under the king’s direct supervision.

Something temporary should work. I waved my hands in the air and a giant pair of wooden doors appeared swinging open, showing the front lobby of the library.

The family looked astonished at the sudden appearance, but the daughter spoke up first.

“Hey Mom, doesn’t she look like the goddess of knowledge with the library behind her?” the little girl questioned inquisitively.

The parents’ eyes bulged so wide I thought they would pop out. They then went pale as a white sheet drying in the sun.

“I , I shot at a goddess.”

His wife put her hands on his shoulders, rubbing them. “She said it’s okay.”

“I offended the church of knowledge and all of its sects. We aren’t safe.”

“You are under my protection. No one is going to be harmed around me. The whole me being a goddess is confusing. Please, just call me Lady Astrid.”

“Yes, Lady Astrid!”

“This is my library, The Biblio Eternium,” I said, trying to calm things down before another incident like the previous day. Luckily, though, it seemed the kids were unphased by the display. They seemed more interested in what was inside.

“That’s the mythical library, and you look just like her. So you’re the goddess of knowledge,” the husband stammered out, trying not to choke on his words. He still wasn’t able to grasp that I was just a normal mortal human.

“Yes, it is that library and I am that girl, but I’m not the goddess of knowledge. That is one thing I’m trying to figure out and will question you on.”

The parents started taking deep breaths, trying to regain their composure. A warm feeling of joy washed over me. They didn’t completely panic like Don or were traumatized like Donna.

“We should get you settled in. You can stay here till I organize something better. I don’t like staying so close to the king.”

“If that is what you want,” Highthorn replied.

“Please grab your stuff outside of the door and bring it into the front entrance.”

They quickly grabbed their belongings and followed me into the library. The doors shut behind us as the entrance blinked out of existence on the material plane.