#akiiki

As they walk in all three look around in awe.  There are towers of books, staircases up and down and paths branching off in what seem like every direction.  The dim light catches on cases lined in leaded-glass that contain all manner of strange and beautiful artefacts.  When Sam steps closer to look at one of the cases the tiles beneath her feet light up – then flash a pattern leading towards a staircase down into an open alcove area. “Shall we?” Akiiki asks indicating the path. “Alright,” Nemo and Sam reply – It’s Sam who pulls out from a pocket a long spool of thread and Nemo grins at the sight of it.  “That’s a grand idea Sam,” she grabs the end and goes back to the door, sticking the thread with magic.  Akiiki takes point, her hand resting on her mace – something about the library is making her senses tingle with the awareness of danger.   The three of them head down towards the alcove. “Greetings,”  a ghostly apparition comes out of a nearby painting, “It has been a long time since any have entered these doors.” Though his appearance startled the trio, the fact he’s not attacking them helps them relax.  Nemo bows first, the others a beat behind each to the manner of their own people.  “Greetings,” Nemo takes on the spokesperson role, “I am Nemo d’Vidas, these are my companions Samirah and Akiiki.  May we know your name?” “I am Chiron once of the house of A’kuush. When the Kretai Sokorte was in its prime, when hundreds of scholars and curious individuals walked its halls and studied in its rooms I joined the staff as a junior librarian.  I made Senior Librarian before the doors were shut. And as the staff grew old and died I offered to stay – immortal watcher and guard.” “There was a price.” Nemo states, and something in her voice speaks to the tiredness of long centuries paying her own. “There was.  I am tied to the paintings throughout the library.  And as the years passed some of them were damaged, others flung to the floor by thieves.  Now I have this one left to me and I cannot look after the place like I used to.” “Who did you save?”  She asks; the other two listening in intently. “My brother.  They said he would have to be sacrificed.” Sam looked confused and it’s Akiiki who explains “the more powerful a spell is, the more energy it needs – and granting immortality is a hefty price indeed.” The spirit, Chiron, nods “You are wise, Blade of Set – I see the mark of the God on you.  By limiting my movement to the paintings, I was able to reduce the cost of the offering.” Nemo tilts her head, “The limitation would have been fine if all who came here had honoured the spirit of this place.” “It would have been unnecessary if that were the case.  But now, as hope had begun to fade by the grace of some Power here the three of you are.” “What is it that you would have us do, Chiron the Tethered?” Nemo asks formally. “Travel the halls and lay to rest the skeletons that dwell there.  Find my paintings and restore them to their rightful places.  Do this and I shall reward you each with something you’ve been seeking.” Nemo turns to the other two, and casts a spell of privacy around them.  “What do you two think?” They look at each other “If we don’t help him will the trip have been for nothing?”  Akiiki asks as Sam nods. “The book would be useful to me but it’s enough to have visited.  There’s a risk involved and I wouldn’t say yes without all three of us agreeing.” “Say yes.  We can do this.” Sam sounds confident, “And he seems like a nice guy.  It’d be good to help him.” Nemo smiled at her two companions, “Alright then,” she dismisses the shield and turns back to where Chiron waits for their answer.  The spirit is twisting his hands together nervously.  “We’ll do it.” She says and he glows for a moment, literally lighting up with joy.  “Oh thankyou. This means the world to me.”

“Any advice you can give us as we head out?”

“There are doors that can only be opened by solving their puzzles.  Stomping hard three times in quick succession on a tile will light up a pathway that leads back to a main corridor.  Please don’t use magic in the areas bordered by silver-patterned tiles because the books there are sensitive to it.  And I see you’ve already thought ahead to the traditional labyrinth aid of string.”

The first problem was the spaceport.  It was widely known that those chosen by a God rarely left their temple, let alone the planet.   However Samirah was good at playing along and there were few indeed who would question Akiiki – the Blade made a show of pulling along the “unwilling” human and they shortly found themselves on board a ship heading – well Akiiki had missed where the next stop would be, but it would be away and that for now, was enough.

The warrior did not notice the purple-haired human gazing at the two of them as she and Samirah went to find a compartment.  She couldn’t help but notice when she returned to where she’d left Samirah with a few snacks for the journey as two were deep in conversation – about books of all things.

(The conversation had started with Nemo poking her head into the small berth and asking “I hope this isn’t too forward of me, but are you and your companion, friends?  Or do you need some help getting away?”

“We’re friends – allies at least.  Akiiki healed me and then whenever she was on guard duty we would talk.  Then she helped me escape.  I’m Samirah.”

“I’m Nemo, and that’s good to hear – what are your plans?”

“We… are still working on a plan, we’ll need to do something to make some money.  I like tinkering, and Akiiki has many skills so we’ll hop off at the next spaceport and see what we can find.” “Well – if the two of you wanted, I’m about to head off on a bit of a quest of my own and was thinking about hiring some companions to assist.  I’m looking for an old book, a rather esoteric title - D'omar misokot Andoya, and am on my way to Cirinto as I heard a rumour their library might have it.”

“I’m not sure – but you could stay and then the three of us discuss it.  I do love books – what’s your area of interest?”  The two of them quickly began to nerd out over books which is when Akiiki returned)

Nemo smiled and bowed as Samirah introduced Akiiki, “It is a pleasure to meet you.  I mentioned to your friend that I am looking for companions on a quest of mine to locate a particular book.  There would of course be an honorarium paid to anyone who chose to accompany me.”

“Nemo wants to go to the Kretai Sokorte on Cirinto, I’ve always dreamed of going there,” Samirah adds, her eyes are pleading and her expression hopeful, “Can we help her?” Akiiki agrees with a little reluctance, which fades away when Nemo describes the terms she’s envisioning – enough money that they’d be able to look after themselves for at least a year if not more, as well as covering all expenses, “And I’m a healer – though I’m not expecting trouble, if it finds us I can make sure we live through it.”

“I am also a healer.” Akiiki replied, still a little frosty – Nemo lit up and then it was Samirah’s turn to be bemused as the other two got into a discussion about healing that she could barely follow.  She munched on the trail-mix Akiiki had brought and felt the last of the lingering fear and uncertainty begin to dissipate.

When they arrive at the spaceport – a reasonably large one the three of them disembark together.  They go out into the town and both Akiiki and Samirah learn quite a few things watching Nemo negotiate the three of them their own small starcraft – warp capacity, decent kitchen, by no means  a luxury craft but definitely a decent ship.  She pays for it with a wallet drawn out of a hidden pocket and then turns to the others.  “Let’s split up - gather anything you might want to take with us and meet back at Dock 25 in three hours.  Here,  consider this an advance” she hands over a small bag to each of them - full of the trade-currency.

Nemo watches the two youngsters (they’d not appreciate that thought, but it’s a habit of hers) as they walk off, heads bent together, talking softly.  She hopes that she’s doing the right thing by taking a chance on them, but Samirah seems nice and while Akiiki was a little stand-offish, Nemo had enjoyed their talk on the trip over.  She pilots the ship she’d purchased over to the space at dock 25 that she’d reserved and went over all the checks - not willing to trust the word of the seller, and grateful for the clones who had many lifetimes ago shown her how to check and fix up spacecraft.  Two hours into her work, there’s a brief interruption by a young alien boy, who drops off the food, first aid gear and other things that Nemo had ordered off her pad while she checked the wiring in the belly of the ship.  Once she’s happy with the checks she goes to the galley to start putting away the food - is in the middle of the task when she hears Samirah and Akiiki come aboard and start to poke around.

“I’m in the galley,” she called - and the two women made their way in, Samirah was surprised at the space “It seems like the inside is bigger than it should be.”

Nemo bites her lip, “I may have made some slight adjustments while you were out.  This way we can sit and eat or prepare things without being in each others way.  Speaking of, I was about to put the kettle on, would either of you like some tea as we plan our way forward?” Akiiki nods “That would be… nice. Thankyou.” Samirah shakes her head “I’m alright - we did get a bite to eat while we were out.”

Nemo prepares two mugs of tea and the three of them sit down at the table.  Nemo spreads out a map - on paper rather than the holographs that were far more common.  “Cirinto is about a week and a half journey from here via hyperspace.  The planet is mostly dry desert with high spires of basalt that have formed caves and structures.  It’s rumoured that dragons live there, and I’d believe it.”  She points “this is one of the safe landing zones - there’s a small town where we can stock up on supplies and dock the ship.  From there,” she traces a path along the map, “I think it’s probably another week’s travel through the spires to the Kretai Sokorte.”

“Is Kretai Sokorte abandoned?” asked Samirah. “News from Cirinto is hard to come by.  I honestly don’t know what we will find there, besides hopefully my book.” “What are the people on planet like?  Friendly? Hostile?” Akiiki was gazing at the map intently. “From all reports they’re stand-offish but will repay courtesy and kindness with like.  I don’t foresee any problems with them.” “And the dragons?” “Will likely leave us be.  If not, we’ll manage.  There’s a reason I’m paying so well for this.”