Page 88 of Legends and Librarians
“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Roan muttered, shaking his head, “don’t want them getting too out of control.”
“Bring the knights with you,” I said, nodding at the tiny soldiers camped out on the bench nearby like there were too many big people around. “Don’t want them feeling left out. Or getting stepped on.”
Roan saluted me with a smile as he marched over to the knights. They hopped to attention as he drew near, listening to everything he said like he was their new commander. Or their King.
A sense of rightness settled in my chest. This was how the library should always be, bright and full of people. A large bubble drew my attention as more patrons flew up the mountain. It was Jade and some other adventurers with an older man. Unease tightened my shoulders.
I hurried over to the bubble transport, meeting them right as their bubbles popped.
“Don’t even think about causing trouble,” I told Jade. “Not today.”
She held her hands up with a crooked smile. “Hey now, that’s not my goal in life, you know. We just wanted to see how things were going.”
“Really? That’s not code forprove everyone’s in dangeror something, is it?”
“No, it’s really not,” she said, glancing over at Roan and theknights. “He already settled things with us. We’re good.”
Her gaze traveled past him, to the people climbing onto the golem’s shoulders, then to the ones playing fetch with Cerbie, and even past the ones getting snacks from Mochi. She shook her head as she smiled. “This place really is something else. Mind if we take a look around?”
The others with her had already started exploring, so there wasn’t much point in saying no. The elderly man had made a beeline for Roan, who was smiling and shaking his hand. It seemed like everything really would be okay here.
“Look, I heard about the kids,” Jade said quickly, “about how they exaggerated their story. All the missions got taken down at the guild too. So there’s not really much for us to do here. Just consider me a curious patron hoping to get a good snack from a certain red panda.”
That seemed fair enough. She’d been protecting the town with the information she had at the time. I’d have done the same for the library. Plus, if Roan and her really were good, there was nothing left for me to be upset over.
“Then by all means, go visit Mochi’s Snack Shack.” I pointed it out to her. “He’s got a knack for finding exactly what you want to eat.”
“Thank you,” she said, pausing as she passed me by to mutter, “I never had it out for you, you know. I was just doing my job.”
She might have seemed rough around the edges before, but maybe deep down, she was actually a good person.
“I know, we were all just doing what we thought was best,” I said. “I’m glad this worked out.”
“Same here. You make Roan happy and that makes me happy too,”she said, nodding at Roan and the older man who’d come with her. “I’m glad he finally settled down. It means a lot to our guild and my father, the guild master.”
Ah, so he was the guild master then and he was actually helping Roan lift tiny knights onto the dragons so they could watch out for each other. I grinned, hoping that meant we really wouldn’t have any problems with the guild anymore. This whole festival felt like a coming together of town and library, a time to heal old wounds and overcome the divide.
“Now, where’s that panda again?” Jade asked. “And why exactly is a panda running a food stall?”
“Because this is the Misty Mountain Library,” I said with a laugh, “a place where anything’s possible.”
She grinned and went over to Mochi, grabbing three cinnamon rolls and taking them to Roan and the guild master. It felt nice seeing the three of them together. Roan deserved all the friends and family he could get.
After a while, I wandered over to Willow who was clutching her bag tight. “You ready? It’s almost time for the story ceremony.”
Her fingers whitened on her bag. “Uhh, sure. Totally ready.”
“You’ll be fine,” her grandmother said. “I believe in you.”
“Me too,” I added. “Plus, it’s not like gods ever say anything terrible to anyone. They’re honest, but in a kind way from what I’ve heard.”
Willow sighed. “I know, but literal gods are going to be reading my book. What if they hate it?”
“The gods will know how much time and effort you put into it.” Her grandmother directed a dragon to land on Willow’s shoulder, as if giving her some extra support. “That matters just as much as the actual content of the book. So let’s go offer your story to the gods and thank them for inspiring us each year.”
“Okay.” Willow took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s go.”
“Everyone,” I called out to the crowd of people outside, “we’re going to start the ceremony soon. Please follow us inside.”
