Eukara Vox
Legendary AdventureGuide!
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Epilogue
The Sigh of all Sighs
by The L&L Archknights, especially Master Samak
It took Master Samak a longer time to gather the last of the water-themed books on his list than anticipated. By the time he finally reappeared inside the Library, his arms burdened by a stack of old and dusty volumes, he knew that he had missed his chance to see the wandering mage and his feline familiar Eukara Vox often spoke of. The stories and illustrations Samak had sought after were long forgotten by most Terrans, so his alternative, if unconventional means of obtaining them had cost the leprechaun more time than he had liked. But the content within the books was well worth the trouble, and he knew Eukara would enjoy looking through what he found, so that lifted his spirits.
Making his way through the Librarian’s Hall confirmed his presumption, for Samak could barely feel any remaining trace of the mage. As the leprechaun nudged open the door to the chambers which he knew Eukara was hard at work in, he could not stop a grin from stealing across his face at the thought of adding even more to the Head Librarian’s already filled plate. Entering the room, though, caused his smile to falter as quickly as it did his grasp on the old books.
Strewn about before him on the large working table in the middle of the room lay countless papers regarding the Book of Tides. Behind that, however, where Eukara’s writing desk would normally stand, instead beheld the largest heap of books, scrolls, and documents Samak had ever seen, with even more manuscripts flying in periodically to add to the pile. Eukara Vox was nowhere in sight.
In spite of the state of the room, a smirk of admiration began working its way back onto the leprechaun’s face. Every assistant under Eukara’s employ knows far too well that incoming writing is a constant feature to look out for in the Library. Only in the rarest of moments does a new scroll not appear to take the place of an old scroll. It is not unusual, then, to see small stacks of literature awaiting the return of an assistant when an important matter calls him or her away for a time. Master Samak himself had become aware of the pains of whittling down his pile of writings to a manageable level again, but he did so as a mere assistant. Looking now over the working chambers of the Head Librarian, where her waiting pile made his own minute in comparison, Samak marveled at the extreme productivity that must take place just to keep everything afloat.
The leprechaun abruptly shook his head at the thought of aquatic references. He had come here to deliver the books that had now fallen his feet. Reaching down, he placed a hand on one of them and the entire stack vanished. Until he found Eukara, it would be easier if he did not have to carry them wherever he went
Samak then took a few steps further into the room, calling out the Head Librarian’s name and thereby assuring himself that he was the only one there. His eyes glanced at the papers on the large table, at the final drafts of the Book of Tides. Eukara would have informed her assistants if she left the Library, so she must still be somewhere inside, and the most logical place to start looking for her would be in the aquatic branches of the Library. Perhaps she needed to cross-reference an excerpt from a Book entry and became diverted with other books. A reminder would not hurt, at least.
The leprechaun’s attention shifted when the latest incoming scroll caused a stack of prose it landed on to collapse and tumble down onto the floor, exposing the slightest corner of Eukara’s desk before the stacks around it caved in. Frowning at the disordered end of the room, he cast out a hand toward the documents. It would be appropriate to leave things organized. At his gesture, the large mass of papers at the desk quivered into the air and in the next instant settled back into their disheveled state, rippling out at the point of impact and scattering more scrolls. Samak’s brow furrowed as he turned and faced the desk. With a more forceful gesture he cast out his hand again and watched the papers shift this way and that, falling back onto the desk in one moment and shivering back into the air in the next. Both hands focusing at the pile generated no further result, for the task was like grasping a handful of sand under rushing water: no matter how tightly clenched, the sand kept slipping away.
He released the pile moments later. More scrolls kept landing atop the cluttered and buried desk, but Samak paid them no mind. His gaze now shifted every which way, searching for a reason to this curiosity, but he could sense nothing.
As the leprechaun moved toward the door, the floor swayed beneath him. He should find Eukara.
The last thought came to Master Samak in a rush before he turned and vanished on the spot. Why does it smell of the ocean?
Yet another stack of scrolls fell out over the young man trying to put them back. He sputtered and cursed, raising his arm to shield himself. A baritone growl rumbled through his gritted teeth as he spoke. "Gods' bodkins, that's the fifth time this stack." A thin, lightly tanned hand brushed a stray lock of black hair from Xor's forehead as he continued, "I don't know how I'm supposed to work like this..."
For the past few days, more and more books had been removed from the shelves. Granted, it was the Library's archive, but the years he had spent in it had caused him to grow rather possessive. Of course anyone could check out the books, but did they have to take out so many? It was completely altering his catalogues; he had hardly enough time to keep track of which were in and which were out. None of this, however, was quite so strange as the pattern he had noticed. Each title removed dealt in some manner with the ocean, tides, or water in general.
As for the moment, the mystery was unimportant to Xor. His focus was on the spaces left by the books: everything was falling over, falling off of the shelves, and falling onto him. Indeed, they were piled up to the middle of his calves, a fact he realized only when he stumbled forward and fell, disappearing underneath them. There was a pause. It lingered in the air for about five seconds. As soon as this interval was over, the scholar—now a flailing hurricane of blue robes—leapt into the air as though he were a shark emerging from the sea of scrolls. In doing so, he managed to jump right into the nearby bookcase, which had no qualms about promptly collapsing atop him.
With a soft creak, the heavy wooden door slid open. From without, a quiet inquiry into the state of Xor's health sounded. The voice's owner sounded quite young; perhaps male, though it was high enough in pitch for a girl. Almost immediately, the scraggly-haired face of the bumbling scholar poked up through a space between the shelves. One eyebrow quirked down over his half-lidded eyes, the other raised in a silent query.
Trying in vain to withhold a giggle, the young page repeated his query: "I asked if you were okay! Would have asked what the crash was, but it's quite apparent." Ah, the literary surroundings had helped along even the young ones' vocabularies... Excellent. Xor managed to recall himself long enough to simply nod, then unbury an arm and wave the page away. The thought was appreciated, but he had other matters to which to attend. Wriggling, digging, clawing, he eventually managed to extricate himself from the bookcase, despite how undignified the effort was. He muttered, "It's time to find out just where these books have gone. Perhaps Mistress Eukara has some idea of— why am I talking to myself again? I really must break this habit."
His feet padded softly along the carpeted halls, bare soles pressing gently down into the shag. The various denizens of the Library were busily working, some waving to him. In his aggravated state, he hardly acknowledged them, even when one called him by that blasted nickname. Why he let them get away with calling him "Cow Face" was beyond him, yet he could never bring himself to stop them.
Once outside Eukara's chambers he dusted off his robes, carefully put on his beret, and cleared his throat. Three raps on the door, and...
And nothing happened.
A blink. One more. Oh, a third, just to be certain. Good things often came in threes. A concerned frown crossed his face as he pushed the door open; when he poked his head inside, he nearly fainted. Such disarray! Such clutter! Such— hey, those were the books he was missing. Timidly, he called out, "Mistress Eukara?"
Only silence responded.
Cape flowing out behind him, a large jar sailed straight for an open window. The red and gold "S" emblazoned on the front of his glassy exterior gleamed in the dim light as he approached the lit-up building. Floating to the sill of the open window, he flipped over, so that the open end of the jar was facing towards the Library floor. Two long, spindly legs slipped out of the top of the jar, followed by equally spindly arms and a torso, then a be-bowlered head. The jar shrunk until it was the size of a thimble, falling on its chain to hang against his chest. Quickly, the man bowed low, sweeping his bowler off of his head and making a quick adjustment to his glasses: Kastio Lelit, aka Superjars, was home once again.
He stood straight up once again, looking out over the Library, staring at the rows upon rows of books. The world would be a dreadfully boring place if there were not books for him to read and collect. Kastio stalked through the Library, looking for the section in which the books he had just collected should go. He had been sent out to find stories having to do with water; which, being a broad topic, meant he had spent a long time searching far away galaxies and universes trying to find a very specific, and yet at the same time, not that specific, type of literature. It had taken dozens of jars to hold all of the works that he had collected (luckily, he had just done some spring cleaning of these same jars before he set out). And now he was back to report in and categorize all of the works he had brought back with him. Bah, paperwork! He much more enjoyed the traveling about, collecting works and visiting interesting locales. But the sorting and stacking was a necessary evil as well, so he'd bear through it.
As he headed towards Eukara Vox's office, he started fishing in the jars, searching for his report. He had spent numerous hours writing up a complete description of all the books he had to catalog, as well as an expense report so that he could be reimbursed for some of his travel expenses. He was having a hard time finding what he was looking for, even though he was poring through several different jars. He could have sworn he put it right there, but that jar was full of books. Maybe this one? Nope, although that weird smelling liquid was something he felt he should probably remember. Later!
Suddenly, Kastio heard a voice from in front of him and jerked back in shock. He raised his gaze and there before him was that one guy with the funny nickname. What was it people were always calling him? Ah yes, Cow Face. He had never really understood why he had gotten that nickname in the first place, but whoever came up with it and why he might never know.
"Hey, is Eukara there? I need to report in—" he said, coming up to stand beside the man, looking into the room. "What in the worlds happened here?"
He pushed past the man and entered the room, looking around carefully. The books lying around all appear to be water-themed, meaning he wasn't the only one tasked with collecting them. Or perhaps these were from the Library? Either way, there was no Eukara here. Kastio turned to the man by the door.
"Do you know where she is?"
Making sure that no one lingered around behind the Library, Fleur quickly changed her soaked shirt to a new, and more importantly, dry piece of clothing. She pulled her two long braids from under the black cotton and sighed. Her brown canvas backpack lay at her feet with a pool of transparent and salty liquid spreading around it. The scrolls in it were undoubtedly beyond rescue by now. Except for one.
Fleur didn't care much for water. Ironically, not only had she agreed to go gather stories of the tides for Ms Vox, but she had also found one particular volume that constantly spilled its contents over. Literally. She had been careless enough to place the seaweed-covered book into her backpack together with other, invaluable accounts of fickle fortunes and now her collection of twenty tales of turning tides had been rinsed down to only one.
I wonder if Eukara would be interested in finding a saltwater tank to keep this in... she thought while kicking off her wet shoes and quietly entering the Library through the backdoor.
Ay-ee! More havoc! Fleur had to bite her lip when she saw the disorganized state of the bookshelves: books missing here and there, and parchment upon parchment piling up all over the premises at free will. A few stray rays of sun that hit the floor through an opened window just spotlighted the disaster of all things organized even more. Towards the inner chambers, she heard two male voices.
Carefully taking cover behind the bookshelves, she tiptoed closer until she could recognize the two men as Xor and Kastio—instead of possible intruders—trying to figure out what had happened. Behind them, she could see the chambers in disarray and no sign of Ms Vox. The book she held was now dripping all over her toes, tickling her, while she tried to decide whether or not make her presence noticed.
A black raven glided in for a landing, coming to rest on the windowsill of Eukara's chambers. Pausing a moment to preen some order into his wind-beruffled feathers, he then bent and rapped his beak against the wood of the sill, his form of knocking. When no response came, he reached up and undid the latch with one claw, and then slowly pushed the window open. Looking inside, he was surprised to see a number of people gathered inside, with Eukara herself noticeably absent.
Opening the window further he saw that the room was in a state of disarray far more severe than he had ever seen it before, with books and scrolls scattered everywhere he looked. His attention then turned to the group of people gathered there: a man wrapped in the blue robes of a mage, a man in a tattered black suit, which was adorned with a multitude of jars, and a pretty young woman with long dark hair. It appeared that a number of his fellow workers in the Library were present, which was strange, seeing as how they were all so busy their paths only occasionally crossed, and the chances of them all being together in one place were slim. Cocking his head inquisitively to one side, the raven squawked:
"Pray tell, oh friends and comrades, what brings you here today?
And what on earth has happened here, to cause such disarray?"
The words barely rippled through the air before a whirling spray of water announced the return of Master Samak. At the raven’s squawk, both Xor and Kastio turned in time to see the drenched figure in green appear and stagger to a halt at the large working table, clutching the edge of it as he sputtered for air. Not an inch of him was dry.
From her location, Fleur raised an eyebrow and drew further back behind the bookshelves.
Waving away the two men near him, scattering large drops of water at them with the same motion, the leprechaun slowly straightened and drew in a long breath. His eyes didn’t leave the table. “Where is the Book of Tides?”
Shreder flew from his perch at the question, descending upon the empty table.
“All finished, they rest now in concluded grace:
Away are the pages of Tides from this place.”
Samak sighed in relief and nodded. At least not all has gone awry. He half-heartedly flapped the sleeves of his frock coat, shedding more water to the puddle at his feet. Behind Xor and Kastio, the large pile of scrolls and documents had grown since the leprechaun had last seen it, with no sign of relenting. The papers were now creeping out toward the center of the room. Eukara had obviously not returned.
The man clothed in robes stepped toward Samak again. “Have you seen Eukara recently? And why are you all wet? You smell like you’ve been swimming in the ocean.” Kastio nodded his agreement.
A bitter smile splayed across the leprechaun’s face. “I as good as have been. Several branches of the Library are flooded. All are aquatic-based, and more of them are filling as we speak. I cannot find the source of the water.” He raised his hands to halt the sudden movement from the group. “There is nothing that can be done. I scarcely had time to seal off the last branch before the waters overtook me.”
The room fell gravely silent, save for the continuous rasps of parchment against itself in the back of the room. No one met each other’s eyes until Kastio spoke in a whisper.
“And the books there?”
“...I don’t know. Most were already on their way here, by the looks of it, but... I just don’t know.”
Kastio’s jars clinked as he turned away, shutting his eyes. “We need to find Eukara.” Each assistant voiced or squawked their agreement. When he faced the group again and began to pace, Samak thought he saw the jar around the man’s neck gleam. “Okay. We know that she hasn’t actually left the Library—that much is certain—yet we have no clue where she is?”
Xor ran his fingers through his hair as Kastio strode in front of him. “Well, Eukara did tell us that she only planned on staying here, in her working chambers, to finalize the Book of Tides and meet with her mage friend. This is where she should be.”
“Right, and I strongly doubt that she is anywhere else in the Library,” Master Samak added. “The water-themed sections would have been the only exception, but those are, of course, unavailable.”
Kastio exhaled. “Then where is she? We’ve checked everywhere.”
“Even the place where she goes to retire?” All turned to the raven blinking at them.
"Or is that still on the list to inquire?”
The leprechaun blanched. “Her private quarters. I... I hadn’t thought—” He looked to the others, who all now shared his expression.
In an instant the group acted. With a quick turn Samak made for the door, vanishing before he took a second step. Leading the rest, the raven Shreder took flight and soared toward a bookcase against the wall, cawing out for passage. By response the wall shifted inward and presented a narrow, dimly-lit corridor for the assistants to follow. Their footsteps echoed at each turn, Shreder guiding which way to take before their path straightened out and led into an enormous hallway.
The raven’s shortcut had taken them to a part of the Librarian’s Hall not frequently visited. Down one end the hallway stretched on out of sight, leading back to the private working chambers and archives. It was to the other end that the group turned, however, which very shortly ended in front of a massive set of double doors. Master Samak stood before the doors, eying the carved dragonflies of every size staring back at him. When the rest came up to him he turned, nodded, and then set his eyes back onto the door.
Assistants do not on a daily basis make to steal into their Head Librarian’s private quarters unannounced. Even when there is need for it, the very act seems iniquitous. So for a time no one moved and no one spoke; they simply stared and waited.
Xor broke the silence. Moving with Kastio, the both of them reached forward and laid a hand on the door. The handles tingled under their grasp as they pushed the doors open and entered cautiously, the others following in with care. Within they beheld a large room, warmly garnished with elements the Head Librarian favored.
“Let’s not stay long, just enough to find Eukara’s whereabouts,” Samak said in a hushed voice. Nobody replied, but they didn’t need to. Even standing in the doorway didn’t feel right to them.
As one they branched out, peering over objects in the room and quickly moving on when there proved to be no clue to help them. Shreder hopped onto a small table, examining the papers it held. Xor scanned a bookshelf for anything out of place. Samak glanced over a bed in the corner, at the reading material resting on top, before moving on. Kastio observed the state of the room, seeking out indications of when Eukara was last there.
While they did this, another entered the room without a sound and looked about. Within a short moment her gaze caught upon something unusual, but she waited to see if the others would notice it. When they did not right away Fleur coughed softly and waited for the other assistants to turn around in surprise. As usual, she avoided looking directly at the others when she finally spoke, instead pointing to a large scroll and the enormous, illustrated book that lay opened in the middle of Eukara's bed.
”I can understand the book and scroll, but where did that sand come from?”
Samak, the closest to the bed, turned to Fleur’s pointing. He hadn’t noticed any sand before. Looking down at the bed now, he examined the two items more closely. Both the scroll and the illustrated book felt normal to the leprechaun, the first having traces of the wandering mage Eukara was friends with and the second being one of the earlier aquatic books he had pulled for Eukara. As he glanced over the picture the book was opened to, a white sandy beach with broad coral reefs not far off, he noticed a glimmer coming from under the book.
The others had gathered around by the time he lifted the book off the bed. Underneath, as Fleur had perceived, was a small heap of fine sand, standing out almost blindingly against the dragonfly coverlet. Running his fingers through the white granules, Samak could feel nothing abnormal. It just felt like ordinary beach sand.
The leprechaun flinched back.
Beach sand. He looked again at the book’s illustration. White beach sand. He was looking at it the wrong way. Oh dear God…
A hand on his shoulder made Samak jump as his attention refocused back on those around him. They were all staring at him. This needed action.
He turned to the raven. “Shreder, alert the remaining assistants and get them here quickly. Eukara is no longer in the Library. Please hurry.” As the raven took wing Samak faced Xor, Kastio, and Fleur, saying, “And we’ll need to send for Gianna as well. I fear her assistance here will be more than necessary.”
The two men nodded and took off after Shreder. Before following them, Fleur paused and glanced down at the sparkling sand. “What do you mean, Eukara’s not in the Library?”
The leprechaun sighed. “It would seem that her magic has done it again.”
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