The Council Librarian

Raeth's eyelids drooped for the third time that night. It was likely time to turn in. There would be no new revelations here. They had read this book three times already in the past. Somehow, it felt there was something lurking there.

“Another late night, Councilor?” a quiet voice asked from behind.

“Mekil,” Raeth said. “I'm sorry. I had meant to return the book sooner.” They closed the tome and raised it up for the librarian's talons to take. Mekil handled the book as gently as a child, or in her case one of her eggs.

“I have no concerns, Councilor,” Mekil replied, adding a well-humored click. “You are always careful. That is why I let you take the books from the study areas at all.” She used her lower hands to wrap the book carefully in a silken sheet, no doubt brought for that specific purpose.

“I just... think better here,” Raeth said. They stood up and stretched, triggering a series of popping noises. Mekil jumped, startled, as she always did, then clicked at herself.

“As you always say,” Mekil said. “I do not fault you. I prefer my own study, as well. Did you find anything new? This is your third trip through this treatise, I believe.”

“Not a thing,” Raeth replied, busying themselves by dimming the office candles for the night. “The text is extremely arcane, almost as if in an obscure sort of code. Yet it has...” They paused, as if deciding whether to continue.

“The only known references to a world disappearing from the Web,” Mekil finished. “I have tracked your reading well, Master Raeth. I know your purpose.”

“My pointless obsession, you mean,” Raeth said. “Gatrama is gone and nobody knows how, or where, or if it is truly destroyed. I mean no offense, but your books offer very little.”

“I know well their limits,” Mekil said. “Much as I love them, they elude me in most things.”

“One day, we'll know,” Raeth said. “We'll have studies enough, seen enough, to have surpassed the creators of those ancient words. Then we can know for sure.”

“So may it be,” Mekil said. “Good night, Councilor.”

“Good night, Master Librarian.”