[Enemy, Simplify]
I was waiting for Sparky the next morning in the bookstore.
“You’re late.”
“No I’m not. The bells haven’t been rung.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I never went to sleep last night, I was up all night reading.”
“What was so interesting?”
"The Lies of Locke Lamora," it’s about con men and heists, it’s terrific, I’ll lend it to you. I finished it this morning."
“What do you know about a Fey named Mistralyn?”
“Why?”
“Because he is targeting me.”
“What do you mean by targeting you?”
“He went to Earth and found a vile little man, gave him Bibliomancy powers and then he told him to target a book by Paula’s friend, knowing full well that Paula would ask for my help to fix it.”
“So what happened?”
I described what had happened.
“Ok so this Solene wrote a Non-Fiction book that she can’t enter yet you and Paula, walked right in along with this suit guy. You never bothered to get his name.”
“No, I wasn't planning on dating him, or ever seeing him again for that matter. I thought it was more important to get the name of the person who sent him.”
“Ok so you entered in the first scene, why there?”
“Well I thought I was being methodical. As it turned out, that’s right where I needed to be.”
“So then you learned you could affect non-fictional characters in the same way you have control over fictional characters. Good, that’s good. You’re starting to think like a Bibliomancer. Test assumptions, see the limits of your power. But you were in the villains' saloon, surrounded by villains, and you didn’t know if your power would work or not. You could have been hurt, killed, and any number of other possibilities I do not wish to think about. So next time you are in a situation where you need to know the limits of your power, what would you do differently, dummy?”
Sheepishly I said, “I’d think of a way to test those powers, before I put myself into danger. Lesson learned. But why didn’t you teach me those things?”
“Firstly, I’m teaching you the things I think are most important first, not minor technical details of your magic. Think back to your first lesson, Salome. If you’d handled that differently than you had, I wouldn’t be teaching you anything. Salome tried to push you away. If you had somehow forced a confession out of her, instead of building trust and letting her tell you in her own way and time, you’d have been doing what those two vile men were doing. Stealing her agency. Then when it came time to mete out punishment you again gave those two a choice, when somewhere in your heart it must have ached to just erase both of the characters. As it would in mine, you showed restraint, Tolkien himself would be proud. So I’m the teacher, I teach you the way I think is most important. I’m not trying to make you a Bibliomancer the fastest way, or the way to make you the most powerful, I want to make you the best. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good, so you get smarter and the next test is on your friend, avoiding the danger of not having power when you need it the most. So now you know, you can control the world and the characters but you can’t control other Bibliomancers. I like your solution to rendering suit guy inert. Where did you learn that little trick?”
“That was from Paula’s thriller, it was more of a joke in her book but I thought that it should work.”
“Yes it worked remarkably well, but now you have him. What are you going to do with him?”
“Yes I was really worried, I kept thinking no matter where I put him he can always escape, if he escapes what’s to keep him from doing it again or something even worse. I couldn’t think of a way to stop him short of killing him and I wasn’t prepared to do that. My next thought was to bring him here and ask you if there were magical jails we could stash him in. Are there magical jails?”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“No, what are we in the Harry Potter novel, with ghouls as jailers? No, there aren’t any prisons for magicians. So tell me the reasoning for the final solution.”
“I guessed that the original author might be more powerful than another author who just wandered in. So once I created a world, I used my authorial authority and changed the suit guy from an author to a character taking away his Bibliomancy power so that he couldn’t escape and start it all over again.”
“Ok why did you put him in a copy of Tranquillity, why not some hellscape as punishment for his crimes.”
“Well I didn’t think it was my place to punish him. Paula showed me all the vile things being said between those Incels Against Wokeness and it just seemed like those guys were punishing themselves.”
“Last question, why remove his memory?”
“Paula checked he had no friends or family the only people he’d interacted with were those guys, so I thought if he had any chance of finding happiness in his new home, he needed to forget.”
“And that’s why you planted that last memory about his loving parents.”
“Yes, taking his agency versus killing him, seemed the only option.”
“I don’t think you took his agency. He had agency when he accepted the power, when he used the power in a criminal way. If you hadn’t imprisoned him in the kindest possible way I can imagine, he’d be loose causing others to lose their agency.”
“Ok I want a sugar bun or two.”
“Really just one or two?”
“Of course, I have self control, let's go get them.”
When we were about halfway to Lily’s he said. ”Yes I know Mistralyn, he’s a twisted piece of work, he formerly was Titania’s head spy and chief mischief maker. Think Puck with no sense of humor or grace. If you see him run. Do you understand? Run.”
‘I understand.” We walked the rest of the way in silence.
“Hi Salome, How are you today?”
“Good Rose, what are you having today?”
“Just a donut please, how are you liking the new book?”
“It’s good, but it’s bringing up some stuff.”
“Come over after you finish your shift and we’ll talk about it. I didn’t know that was in there, there was a lot I didn’t know about the book as I hadn’t read it yet.”
“It’s Ok and I’ll come by later. What do you want, Sparky, two dozen sweet buns?”
“No, as a matter of fact I’ll take one sweet bun and two dozen donuts.”
Later that afternoon, Salome came by to talk. I made tea and we sat in the armchairs by the window. Sun, warmth and tea and cookies Lily sent can heal a lot of hurts. I waited for Salome to begin, reigning in my nervousness.
“The reason I wanted to talk was because I knew as soon as I read the part about Arielle Wilson you’d be panicking about what reading that did to me. I did cry and Lily came to check on me right away, we talked and I felt better. So I thought if I talk to you, you might feel better.”
“Oh honey you don’t have to worry about how I’m feeling. Lu thought I was sick. I was blushing so much from parts of that book. I had no idea what Sienna did for a living, or that she was so brutal.”
“But Rose, you are Sienna.”
“What?”
“If it hadn't been you that saved me, the next best person would have been Sienna. Though I doubt she would have had the patience to deal with me like you did. She worked so hard for all those people under her protection and even those two little girls three thousand miles away. Nice Easter egg by the way. I’m so fortunate you’ve turned my life completely around. I had a miserable little life. Now I have a glorious life with a nice home, a wonderful roommate, and friends. The more I talk about my old life the quicker the anger, betrayal and depression float away and the less I have to ruminate on it in my head. I can think more about the future, instead of reliving a past I worried I’d never escape.”
“Oh, honey.”
“Don’t cry Rose.”
“I’m not crying.”
“Well it must be raining in the bookstore because your face is all wet.”
“Ok, maybe I’m crying a little. I’m just so glad I met you. Let’s go to the tavern, I’ll buy you a cider and some french fries and we’ll listen to the most talented bard in the world.”
“Ok but which tavern are we going to?”
“Why does everyone tease me all the time? You’re the youngster, I’m supposed to be teasing you.”
“We all love teasing you because you get even more beautiful when you blush like you are doing right now. I don’t know how Lu can stand not to tease you every second of every day.”
“She teases me plenty.”
With that we arrived at the Jack in the Green and Lu was having a fist fight with a patron. It was over fast. The three of sitting at a table over ciders while Lu took a break.
“What was the fight about Lu?” asked Salome.
“Let’s just say that guy thought he was McCracken and I was Paula Becker. I’m not Paula and that guy is no McCracken.”
So I said, “Being a female bard is not all it’s Cracken up to be, hmm.”
Lu groaned, Salome giggled, then we enjoyed watching Lu perform a set before walking back to the bakery where I hugged Salome goodbye, promising to see her in the morning.
