The door's question stayed in the air, then faded. The Library let them enter.
Inside, the place was quiet and dim. Shelves rose out of the dark like trees in fog. Some were bound in bark, some in iron, some with plain twine. No one stood behind the desks, but something was there, watching.
Elira set her hands flat on the desk and bowed a little. Mira lowered the Twin Arcs and kept them still. Kael set one gauntlet and one bare hand on the wood.
Ink wrote itself on the corner of the desk:
— INDEX ACCESS: PARTIAL
— PAYMENT: MEMORY / NAME / FORTUNE
— OR: EQUIVALENT TRUTH
"We don't sell ourselves," Mira whispered.
"We give things they can check," Elira said.
They laid out what they had.
Kael placed a worn strip of vellum: a bit of his father's step notes, with small marks for breath and weight. Mira added a thin booklet from her first failed labyrinth: routes, spell numbers, cooling times, and honest mistakes. Elira put down a clean record of the fight with Nakea: date, depth, spells used, what the air did, and the exact words said.
The desk warmed under their hands. New ink formed:
— EQUIVALENT TRUTH ACCEPTED
— UNSEALING: THREE HEADERS + ABSTRACT
A page slid toward them and opened in the air above the wood.
SELENE: FIELD NOTES — LAST THREE ENTRIES
The first entry was from three months ago. The notes were neat and short. North patrol. Interference not like normal phantom types. Null-like residue. Keep distance.
The second was from two months ago, just a few short lines. Each had a small open triangle with three stars next to it:
Contact made.
Signature ≠ Fantomy.
Null-ward present.
Relocating under tri-star.
The third part was only a status line: MISSING — TWO MONTHS. A small set of four strange characters appeared beside a sunrise mark, then dimmed. It looked like a location code that worked at dawn.
"She isn't dead," Mira said.
"It says missing," Kael answered. He touched the small tri-star mark and then pulled his hand back.
A second page came up.
THE HERO'S COMPANY — AUXILIARY ROSTER (PARTIAL)
This was not a song of heroes. It was lists and units.
Fusion Lab held two names Mira did not speak. They were marked for rule disputes and near-ban status, but not treason. Living Armament Trials listed a bearer with cadence notes that matched Kael's strip, then a gap: adjourned under inquiry. A cut in the page showed where more had once been.
A narrow column on the side read: Veiled Covenant — External Liaison. Two call-signs, not real names. A note beside them: Oath-bound; Children deferred.
Elira felt the pendant under her shirt grow cool.
A third page rose.
ELEMENT — SYMBOL & PROTOCOLS
The words here were clear. Element was an old guild. The pendant was their Symbol. The back mark "E" meant Element. It listed one tool inside the signet they were allowed to use now:
— Locator: At first light, when the symbol is fed by two different elemental rhythms from allies, it will show a direction or small coordinate shapes on dew, mist, or any soft surface.
"That we can test," Kael said.
"Outside," Elira replied. "Not here."
The desk went still, as if the Library agreed. A small drawer slid open and offered three thin slips of clear bark.
— LOAN: INDEX SLIPS
— RETURN: AT DAWN
A guide formed from page edges and thread. It had shoulders and hands, but no face. It led them back to the door. The forest returned, with real air and honest ground.
They camped just beyond the stone ring. Dusk was soft under the leaves. Mira stood the three slips in a tin so they would not vanish into bedrolls. Kael walked the edge of the camp until the ground's hum matched his breathing. Elira watched the pendant in the last light.
"Locator at first light," Elira said.
"Two rhythms," Mira said. "I will keep mine small."
"I will keep mine low," Kael added.
The night passed simple and slow. Stars came out. Wind moved once and stopped.
The forest woke them before sunrise. The air was thin and clean. They stood at the edge of the clearing where the grass wore a fresh sheet of dew.
"Count us," Mira said.
Elira closed her eyes. "Three. In."
On one, Mira let out a thin pulse of ice and water, quiet as a breath. On two, Kael set his heel and sent a low earth rhythm into the ground. On three, Elira took out the pendant and let it catch the first gold light.
The gem held the light and then gave it back in lines across the dew. A wedge of pale glow pointed away from the clearing. At the tip, the same four-character code from Selene's file formed and held.
"It matches," Mira said. She kept her voice level.
"Again," Elira said.
They ran it again, and a third time, with the same small pulses. Each time, the wedge pointed the same way. Each time, the code settled at the tip.
"That's enough," Kael said. "We have a heading."
Elira tucked the pendant back under her shirt. It felt steady against her skin. "We follow at once."
They ate quick, broke camp, and packed light. Mira slid the index slips into an oilskin pouch at her wrist. Kael checked straps and buckles and the quiet of his armor. Elira touched the pendant once and let go.
Past the stone ring, the path waited. Far above, a hawk drew a slow circle. A darker shape in the high air moved as if it were only a cloud. Neither came down.
"At first light tomorrow," Elira said, "we run the locator again. If it points the same way, we move."
Mira nodded. "We move."
Kael faced the direction the dew had written. "We move now."