Chapter 22

“What was your favorite part of the performance?” The famous conductor asked Danel as he sipped a double quaff of brandy.

Danel felt like an insect fixed to a muslin board. “My favorite part is hard to pin down. There were so many highlights. What I can say definitively is my surprise when the music swelled to a crescendo and suddenly the piece ended. Where did all the time between that first long note and that final phrase go?”

“Yes, many get caught up in that enthralling piece and lose themselves,” the conductor stated with grave seriousness. “The power of the composition is undeniable.”

“With a deft hand to offer it up to virgin ears,” Danel said. “Tonight’s performance was memorable. If you will excuse me, this has been a late evening for me.”

Walking away as quickly as he could, he caught Frage’s eye and made a slight motion with his head, signaling her to follow him. He waited outside in the corridor for a few minutes, still sipping his brandy. This liqueur was made from a deep purple fruit with a stone seed that was difficult to extract, so he was told. His sneaking the glass out of the room demonstrated his appreciation for the fine drink he mused.

He looked up from his contemplation of the brandy straight into the face of one of the serving women. She held up her hand, palm up, motioning for his glass with an unhappy look on her face. He chugged the last bit in the glass and passed over the purloined object. “I would’ve put it back,” he protested, but she had already marched back inside the room.

“Causing more trouble?” Frage said as she stepped into the corridor.

“I needed a drink,” he said. “I didn’t need the accompanying party that came with it.”

She motioned him to follow, and he did. She led him to the Third Floor, to the Western Room, where all the furniture was covered in leather and secured with brass tacks. The tables were slabs of wood whose edges still had the bark intact, shellacked to a high gloss finish. Danel had thought the room well-suited for a night of dice and hard drinking, but Librarians tended not to play betting games and most who drank hard did so privately. Judgments were flung about easily among themselves.

Danel took a seat and waited for Frage to get comfortable before he began, “You said Bahya is a moron.”

“She was supposed to teach you; that part she got straight. Navigating the building and sex are two completely different skill sets and neither of them can she do well, nor can she teach them. Bonus: she chose the wrong skill set.”

“O thank the gods,” Danel said, holding up his forehead with his fingers. “She had me convinced it was me. I considered celibacy for a moment there.”

Frage looked like she was biting back a retort. “She also lost you valuable time. The goddess is not pleased with outcomes thus far. There is much about the Library of Ibados that we don’t know, and the gods cannot communicate with clarity. There is a need, and you are the closest candidate they’ve found.”

“I’m getting a headache,” Danel said. “This is where I started when I was summoned by the god Yudi. These non-statements and these non-direction directions are useless.”

Frage was unmoved. “Yudi and Erta have given you gifts, the ability to navigate the Library of Ibados. You used them tonight without even recognizing you were using them.”

“How?”

“You changed the stairway to go where you wanted take us and where we needed to go,” Frage said. “Did you not realize it? Are you deaf, dumb, and blind?”

“More like obtuse,” Danel said offhandedly. “I’ve been able to rotate the staircases before tonight from one corridor to the next.” He paused as he considered his statement. “I did. We went up two floors and over two corridors. It was like unbuttoning your pants to take a pee. You do it every day almost by rote and you pay just enough attention not to pee on yourself.”

“Sometimes, Danel...” She sighed and rubbed her eyes with her hands. “You used the gift tonight to navigate. You may need a hand, but you don’t need the cadre, and you don’t need Head’s permission for every step to get down to the bottom. I’m not saying that you go alone or that you don’t use caution or prepare, but all their agendas are compromising you. All your frustration is these other people getting in your way. The message from the goddess is: GO.”

“Go,” Danel muttered as he chewed on the meaning of the command. “Finally. I had to sit through two gods and two oracles to get a straightforward answer and hopefully, the tool that I will need. I will go. What about you?”

“What about me?” Frage said, straightening her skirt. “I encountered a goddess tonight and my world expanded exponentially. I have many, many things to consider before I make more life-changing decisions, Danel.” She dropped her neck and rotated her head in an effort to stretch her muscles. “I’m not going with you, if that is what you’re implying. Those ways,” she said twirling her finger downward, “are not my ways or the paths I would willingly walk. You need to find someone who shares the same spirit of reckless abandon.”

“Reckless abandon,” Danel chuckled. “I could live proudly with that description. Or at least take it in the light you gave it, for my father and my uncle have accused me of such in the past and they were not complimenting me. Tomorrow, I shall plunge downward with reckless abandon. I know where to begin, now.”

“I’m dead on my feet, Danel. Escort me home, and we can both begin our new paths tomorrow morning in earnest, after breakfast, of course.”

Danel had already plowed through a plate of eggs and gruel. He was working on stuffing jam into a rye roll when Frage staggered into the room and plopped down at his table. “Last night took more out of me than I realized,” she moaned. “Every muscle aches.”

“Better you than me,” Danel said with a hint of mirth. “I, on the other hand, sit here absolutely famished. I’m not entirely sure the why of it, but here I am at breakfast, pounding down the fare.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Bello asked, looking up from his gruel with dried fruits floating in it.

“You’ve got some in your beard,” Danel said, pointing to the right side of his own face. “The music, the party, the glamour of it all, maybe it overwhelmed her last night.”

“Or she downed too many drinks,” Edel piped in as he took a seat. “I banged on Yoodma’s door this morning and she told me to bugger off.”

“She did not use the word bugger, Edel,” Bello said.

“No, she told me to fuck off and take the fucking horse that trampled her with me,” Edel said. “Someone is a little testy this morning.”

“Someone had to pull off the crushing concert full of prima donnas last night,” Frage said. “Do you have any idea how many people it took to coordinate last night from feeding the needy little birds to escorting in the bovine hordes to putting on the spreads afterwards. If it had been me, I would not even be awake yet nor planning to rise until midday. Where’s my pot o’ tea?”