Heart of Dorkness

Bane Five - Initiate

Esme woke up with a deep intake of breath.

She was alive!

She was alive?

Her eyes fluttered open, then squeezed shut. It was too bright. The ceiling above was made of some white stone that practically glowed in the sunlight pouring in from a floor-to-ceiling window to one side of the room.

The glimpse she’d gotten did reveal some things. Esme was in a bedroom, a very nice one. It took her a moment to place it. This was the guest bedroom that Valeria had given her.

She was alive, and not home.

Home.

She missed home. With Gertrude who was a bit scary. With her little room, much smaller and tighter than this palatial one, but which had all of her favourite books. The library... well, okay, the library here was pretty nice too.

“So, you’re awake,” someone said from nearby. A feminine someone. Not one of her friends though, the voice was too old.

Esme didn’t move, she didn’t want her disappointment (and maybe a tiny bit of fear) to show. She didn’t like the Dark Goddess. The woman was creepy. All tall and beautiful and lithe and so, so powerful. Esme could feel the power coming off of Luciana, like an old old scary thing.

She brought her head up a little and looked at the woman in the room with her.

Tall, but not as tall as the dark goddess, and with brown hair instead of black. A bit more of a rounded face, but with a strong brow. Not the Dark Goddess. The Goddess of Contempt. The Lady of Libraries.

Esme squeaked and pulled the blankets up over her head.

The goddess sniffed. “Now what’s that supposed to mean?” She walked closer to the side of Esme’s bed. Esme could tell that she was looking down on her. “You know, I speak seventeen languages fluently. Admittedly, some aren’t used anymore, but the point stands. And in none of them is the sound you just made a word.”

Esme gulped and lowered the blanket.

A little.

Just enough for her eyes to peek out. “H-hi,” she said.

“Yes, hello,” Semper replied. She was smiling now. “My dear Luciana said that you were something of a... I believe the term she used was ‘fan.’ Little Valeria had to explain that one. Interesting etymology there.”

Esme nodded. “I’m one of your, ah, worshippers?”

“You don’t sound so sure.”

“I am!” Esme said. “I read all of your diatribes, I studied... most of the texts. I even went to one of your schools! That’s where I learned a lot. Well, Miss Gertrude ran it, so we didn’t really have a choice in the matter, it was learn or, ah... I’m rambling. I’m rambling in front of Semper.” Up the blankets went again.

The blankets were tugged down and Esme’s face was exposed, the thick material pinched between the goddess’ finger and thumb. “It’s fine,” she said. “Any friend of Gertrude’s a friend of mine.”

Esme gulped.

The goddess laughed. “Oh, don’t be shy. You’d think living with the Dark Goddess would rob you of some of that timidity.”

“That’s not my fault!” Esme said. The idea that her goddess might accuse her of plotting with the Dark Goddess was awful. “Valeria brought me here - with a dragon! I didn’t want to come here! I didn’t want to leave Montele, and Gertrude, and the Great Library. And I’m not worshipping the Dark Goddess, I swear on Semp-- uh.”

Semper chuckled, then she reached down. Esme went cross eyed as she followed the goddess’ hand, but it stopped above her head and rubbed her curly mess of hair. “You’re a bit of a blabbermouth, aren’t you?”

Esme died.

Or rather, she wished she died. All that happened was that her blood relocated itself to her cheeks. She might have unlocked the hitherto unheard of Dao of Shame as well.

“Please burn my diary before you cremate me,” Esme whimpered.

Semper chuckled again. “Now, now, a fine future-archivist has no business dying when she’s healthy and hale. There’s no time for it either, Esme. There are too many books to read for all that dying nonsense. Besides, you still have a lot to live for, I suspect. Sights to see, cities to roam, cute boys to kiss behind stables... or girls. I don’t care either way.”

Esme had been hopeful for a moment, but now she wasn’t sure whether death would be the preferable answer or not. “You don’t think that I betrayed you?” she asked.

“Because you stopped by my friend’s house for a week or two?” Semper asked.

“You’re really the Dark Goddess’ friend?” Esme asked.

“We have tea once a quarter or so, and we share books. The rest of the pantheon frowns upon it, but they can rot for all I care. You don’t become a god by bowing to the whims of others, little Esme. Besides, my Archivists profit from the relationship.”

Esme nodded, because that’s what felt right. She stored the knowledge for later though.

Semper tilted her head to the side. “You don’t like it here?”

Esme folded her legs up. She wasn’t about to step out of the bed when it looked like she was wearing nothing but a shift. Not in front of the goddess! “It’s nice?” she started. “Valeria really was sorry, I think, and Felix is fun. The training is really, really good. But, ah, I’m not supposed to be here. I was afraid that you’d be angry at me.”

“For exploring a place that no Archivist has ever reached? For tapping into the oldest library in the world for lost and obscure knowledge?”

Esme didn’t admit that she and Valeria had mostly been reading not-so-old-or-obscure fantasy stories. “But I’m not a worshipper of the Dark Goddess.”

“Then be one of mine,” Semper said easily. “If it helps think of it as a mission of sorts. Explore this place, read what you can, become stronger. Forge bonds with those who will one day be powerful. And once you do return, one day, I’m certain you will find a place among the very best Archivists who have ever walked Monsterra.”

Esme nodded. “I can do that. I’ll do my best, I promise.”

“Good,” Semper said as she stood up. “I am not impressed by those who squander the opportunities they have right before them. So work hard, little Esme.”

“I will,” Esme said. She meant it too. “I’ll impress you, I swear.”

Semper chuckled. “So earnest. You know, I’m beginning to see why Luciana adopted that little Valeria girl.”

Esme’s head swam for a moment. “Uh.”

“Rest a little. Fainting’s never a good sign. Though you should be in relatively good health.”

“Thank you,” Esme said. “Thank you a lot.”

Semper smiled. “It was, quite literally, nothing. Impress me, and maybe next time I come over I’ll even give you a mission.”

“A mission?” Esme asked.

The goddess nodded. “Indeed. Didn’t you know? As a final part of their training to become Archivists, a candidate is given a mission, something to accomplish that will help one of the Grand Libraries.”

Esme held back a gasp. Her hair was tingly in the way it always got when she was bottling in surprise. “You’d give me one.”

“Maybe a small one,” Semper said. She started towards the door, clearly intent on leaving. “Sleep well.”

“Wait!” Esme said.

She couldn’t believe she’d ordered the goddess. She couldn’t believe that the goddess actually stopped. “Yes?”

“Ah... will you be here for long?” Esme asked. It came out as something of a squeak.

Semper shrugged. “A day or two, certainly. Then I’ll be off on my way to take care of whatever fires started in my absence.”

“Oh, okay,” Esme said. “M-maybe we’ll see each other again, while you’re here, I mean.”

“I’m certain we will,” Semper said. She snapped her fingers, and the door thumped open, two gangly figures dropping to the floor like potato sacks. “Hello, Valeria. Hello... Felix, was it?”

“Ow,” Valeria said from the floor.

“You were spying on us?” Esme asked.

Valeria jumped to her feet. “It wasn’t spying! We were just listening through the keyhole.”

Esme felt the blood returning to her face. Anger, this time. “You can’t do that!”

“Sure I can. I just did. Hi, Semper! Are you staying for tea with Mom?”

“I am, yes. You three have fun now,” Semper said as she left. “And Esme, do try not to kill your friends. You’re... sparking there.”

Esme waited until the goddess was gone before she started flinging pillows and lightning.

***