“So, this is it?” Nerivi asked as they approached a large marble archway. She looked beyond its sparkling arches, to the shady patio which caressed large dark wooden doors with a mysterious yet welcoming darkness. It was quite the contrast to the bright cream-colored walls surrounding the thick wood, broken only by adornments made of finely crafted marble. It was clearly a point of vanity in the holy city, elevating it beyond the other beautiful architecture around it. “Rather elaborate for a library,” the knight chuckled.

“They do sometimes say that knowledge is wealth,” Lillia giggled. “I haven’t been here much myself, but we would sometimes be brought here to further our studies,” she explained. “It’s honestly overwhelming how many resources are within its walls,” she chuckled hesitantly. “It can be rather intimidating.”

“Even so,” Honey interjected. “If we want to plan our moves effectively, we’ll have to gather whatever information we can get.”

“And there’s no better place to start than here,” Lillia nodded. “I think the best place to start would be to search for the city plans, and research its history. That may help us discover something we can use to our advantage.”

“Precisely,” Honey smiled.

“Good to see we’re all on the same page,” Nerivi chuckled. “Finding our way through all of this shouldn’t be too hard with the three of us.”

The three proceeded through the thick wooden doors, entering the bright and warm interior of the library. Its yellowed walls seemed to glow from the passionate torches that lined the walls, illuminating the warm wooden bookcases with their magical embers, seemingly stretching on for an eternity.

“Look at it all,” Nerivi gawked. “There must be tens of thousands of books in here. No, even that may be a modest guess,” she postulated. “What do you think Lady Honey?”

“I’m not so sure,” she tilted her head. “I’m more curious about those torches, if I’m being honest.”

“The torches?” Nerivi looked up to them. “Now that you mention it, they don’t appear to be typical magecraft fueled torches you see in some major palaces. Nor do they appear to be a form of magitech. Yet they’re too strong and controlled to be simple torches. Is it some holy spell?”

“I’m not sure,” Honey sighed. “What do you think…” she looked towards where she expected Lillia to be, only to be met by emptiness. “L-lillia?” she gasped.

“I’m right here,” Lillia waved to their side.

“Where did you run off to?” Nerivi looked to her suspiciously.

“Just went to ask the librarian where the city plans are,” she giggled, which evolved into a full laugh upon seeing the two’s faces sink with concern. “Don’t worry, they’re public knowledge. People ask for them all the time. The librarian barely even acknowledged me when I asked.”

“Geez, you’d think something like that would be more protected,” Nerivi crossed her arms.

“I suppose the Church is that confident,” Honey frowned.

“Perhaps, but honestly, they can be pretty reckless as a result,” Lillia shrugged slightly. “I mean, they exposed me to a bunch of sensitive information without much consideration for how I’d handle it. And I’ve seen it land some of the priests in hot water when they underestimate other kingdoms.”

“Hmm? Is that so,” Nerivi held her chin. “That may be helpful to consider further down the line. But for now, let’s accept the pleasantry and find those records,” she smiled. “Looks like things are going to be easier than expected.”

Lillia led them down the aisle passing the countless towering looming bookcases. As they approached the back, they emerged in a large space, desks, tables, and chairs populating the busy expanse, further filled by men and women of the cloth who wandered about. Nerivi eyed a few of them as they passed, her eyebrow raising as she noticed absent stares in each person’s eyes.

“Eerie,” Nerivi whispered. “It feels like they’re almost possessed.”

“It’s a little disconcerting,” Honey agreed.

“It’s rather typical to be honest,” Lillia noted. “I recognize a few of them, and they’re always like that whenever they get deep into their studies. I’d bet that they wouldn’t even notice if a dragon suddenly took up shelter in here until its breath pulled at the pages they were reading.”

“They cannot be that absent minded, can they?” Nerivi asked.

“Well, there was once a report about how a thief walked right through here once, and no one present here noticed until they were nearly out of the city,” Lillia shrugged.

“Yeesh,” Nerivi cringed.

Lillia continued guiding them to a door and into a hallway. The hallway was far less impressive than the main chamber, a simple blank white passage with a red carpet stretching down the corridor, and a number of the magical torches illuminating the walls. Honey and Nerivi gawked at their luminescence up close, struck by the pure white of the walls, any shadows obliterated by the light.

They passed a series of doors, each with heavy warm colored wood, some double doors, and others single. Finally, they arrived at a single door, marked by a variety of scratches that defied the obvious attempts to polish and clean it, its wear standing firm. Lillia attempted to open the door, but the door and frame resisted, furthered by the stiffness of the hinges, the whole mess releasing an audible creaky from Nerivi’s persuasion.

“Thanks, Nerivi,” Lillia bowed.

“Of course, Lillia,” Nerivi nodded. “So, then, let’s get… started…” she looked into the room, her confidence becoming lost in an unorganized sprawl of stacked books, disorderly shelves, and wayward pages. One table in particular had become obscured by the books strewn across it. One book in particular had been left half open as it hung on a chair’s armrest, and a large map pinned to another table with toppled stacks of books acting as paper weights. “So much for easy,” she groaned. “Who decided that this is acceptable?”

“Has anyone even been in here recently?” Honey wondered aloud.

“Yes, recently too,” Lillia pointed to a sign indicating a recently cleaned part of the hard floor, a slight shimmer from the water still glistening on the ground.

“Well, guess there’s no point getting upset about it,” Nerivi sighed. “Let’s start looking. Maybe if we’re lucky, someone was looking at what we wanted earlier and it’s still out.”

“I wouldn’t be so certain,” Honey frowned. “I recognize the geography on that map over there. It’s for the center of the continent, North of the holy kingdom of Biosia.”

“That’s unremarkable,” Nerivi pouted. “The church has been trying to work in that region since before I was born. Although, I suppose that explains why it looks so… permanent,” she looked at it frustratedly.

“Is that true?” Honey asked.

“Nerivi would know,” Lillia nodded. “She is one of their princesses.”

“I had no idea,” Honey looked to Nerivi in awe. “I apologize.”

“It’s not like you would’ve known,” Nerivi chuckled. “At any rate, guess we’ll have to look through the shelves then.”

“Let’s see. A travel guide for tourists should be a good place to start,” Honey chimed. “Let’s see,” she scanned the bookshelf. “Holy Inventions of Avtalia, Holy Habits: Sacred Culinary Destinations, Holy Habitats: A Guide to Protecting the Vulnerable…” she paused, grabbing at the last book and starring at it concernedly. “This had better not…” she flipped it open, reading a portion of it, her expression twisting and her ears drooping forward.

“What did you find?” Lillia asked.

“A book about indoctrinating ‘uncivilized populations,’ as they call them,” Honey grumbled. “Quote: The buna are a naïve and unsuspecting lot. Approach with gifts of sugary treats and a firm hand to guide them appropriately,” she gave an unenthused blink, then slamming the book shut before slipping it covertly behind a collection of dusty tomes, hiding it from sight.

“I don’t quite get what the last part meant,” Lillia frowned.

“I’d prefer to keep it that way,” Honey answered sharply.

“What the hell?” Nerivi’s glared at her shelf. “How in the world is any of this even organized?”

“I think it’s by title,” Lillia answered. “Though, judging from some of the placements, it seems like parts of it are organized by author instead.”

“I wish they had an actually useful way of sorting this junk,” Nerivi grumbled.

“Please,” Honey agreed. “Why aren’t there any categories? Why am I finding manuals, guides, and this pseudo academic junk all lumped together?” she questioned.

“Maybe I should check further in the back,” Lillia considered, as Nerivi and Honey continued noting the flaws they encountered. “Things don’t seem quite as messy back here,” she said to herself. “Maybe back here?” she looked down a line of bookcases, a hanging sign reading Avtalia Intrigues. “This sounds useful,” she smiled. “Let’s see, Avtalia: Historic Celebrations, Avtalia: Historic Events,” she tabbed through some of the books. “Avtalia: Historic Sites. Oh, this one sounds useful,” she reached for it.

“I wouldn’t, that one’s absolutely full of inaccuracies. I tried using it for an assignment last year and found most of the information in it was wrong,” a voice commented, Lillia looking to her side to see a woman with long blonde hair and sparkly green eyes.

“Oh, uh, hello,” Lillia greeted the woman. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“I’m sure,” the woman giggled. “I was kind of holed up in the back,” she explained. “I heard some arguing or something and was trying to figure out what it was.”

“Oh, that’s my companions,” Lillia chuckled. “They’re both complaining about the organization, or lack thereof.”

“It is a bit of a mess, although you don’t seem too phased by it,” the woman observed.

“Oh, I’m used to it. I had to deal with the unorganized messes of all sorts of other priests a priestesses during my training,” Lillia admitted.

“Oh? So, you’re a priestess too?” the woman looked at her curiously. “I’ve never seen you around.”

“Oh, I’m not from Avtalia.,” Lillia explained. “We’re just here visiting, and we came here to find something to help us around the city. My name is Lillia, by the way.”

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Penelope,” the blonde priestess shook Lillia’s hand, her lengthy locks bouncing upon her back. “So, where have you been training?”

“I trained at Wessel Abbey, to the South of here,” Lillia commented.

“Oh, that’s impressive. Not many people get accepted there,” Penelope looked at her in awe. “I hear it’s mostly for nobles and the like.”

“Y-yeah,” Lillia hesitantly confirmed.

“So, what brings you to Avtalia? Just looking to see the sights?”

“Partially,” Lillia nodded. “We also came to visit my brother.”

“Your brother?” Penelope tilted her head. “If he lives here, why not have him show you around?”

“Well,” Lillia shrank back slightly. “To be honest, he doesn’t know we’re here. And I’m not entirely sure how to find him.”

“Hmm,” Penelope crossed her arms. “That’s an issue. There’s a lot of people who live here. Finding one person is going to be rather tough.”

“Well, yes,” Lillia nodded. “But he’s a paladin, so I hope not too hard.”

“Your brother is a paladin?” Penelope blinked curiously. “And he doesn’t know you’re here?”

“Yes. We were hoping to find him and talk about family matters,” Lillia nodded.

Penelope brought her hand to her chin and looked over the young priestess, eyeing her face and posture. Lillia shrank in place, a small pout forming on her lips. “Is something wrong?” she trembled anxiously under the priestess’s gaze.

“You’re certainly not like any other priestess I’ve ever met, that’s for sure. Even the ones from nobility,” Penelope mused. “Then I suppose you must be her. Lillia, princess of Luxur, correct?”

“H-how did you…?” Lillia’s eyes went wide.

“It wasn’t too hard to figure out, your majesty,” Penelope chuckled. “You’re a bit more refined than the other priestesses. Even with your more casual wording, you still have a certain refinement to you. And even that aside, you two bear some likeness to each other,” she giggled.

“Each other? Wait, are you talking about Zerv?” Lillia bounced excitedly.

“Y-yeah,” Penelope nodded, taken aback by Lillia’s energy. “I…,” she stopped and took a breath, calming herself. “I know him quite well,” she smiled as she quietly looked over Lillia some more.

“Hmm?” Lillia tilted her head. “Is something else the matter? You’re looking at me rather intently,” Lillia blushed.

“No, it’s nothing,” Penelope gave a soft smile. “Anyway, I’m still a little unclear why you’re here specifically. You won’t find much information about your brother here or anything.”

“O-oh,” Lillia stiffened, trying to reel herself in. She cleared her throat, taking the precious moment she had to find an alibi. “Well, uh… it’s a bit embarrassing, but my companions and I got a little lost on our way earlier. We thought that finding a map would help us navigate the city, like I said. For instance so we could find the entrance to the cathedral.”

“The entrance, but that’s…” Penelope scowled. She shook her head. “Then allow me to help you,” she smiled.

“Really? I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not,” Penelope chuckled. “I would love to help you.”

“Oh, thank you,” Lillia grinned. “Then please, let me introduce you to my friends,” she smiled. “Please follow me.”

“Right,” Penelope giggled. “I wonder though,” she hushed to a whisper, “how alike are you?”

“Hmm?” Lillia looked back to Penelope. “Did you say something?”

“Not at all your highness,” Penelope giggled as she followed the Princess out of the shadowy bookcases.

“Honey, Nerivi, I found someone to help us,” Lillia said, drawing their attentions away from the bookshelves and to the priestess behind her. “This is Penelope, she’s a priestess who knows my brother, Zerv.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Penelope bowed.

“It’s a pleasure,” Honey reciprocated the bow, Nerivi following suit.

“Glad to find someone who knows what they’re doing,” Nerivi laughed.

“Oh, and I don’t?” Lillia pouted.

“Not well enough,” Nerivi gave a hesitant smile.

“Lillia mentioned you wanted to find Zerv and enter the Cathedral, correct?” Penelope asked.

“That’s right,” Honey confirmed.

“Then please, allow me to give you a tour of the Cathedral,” Penelope offered, the three sharing a look and then nodding. The three grinning as they found their lead.