Royster led them to a dormitory-style group of rooms, each with a stiff bed, a chair, a night-stand, a fireplace and a small table for study. There were enough rooms for them all, but Berry gratefully accepted Carina's invitation to share.
When Tris headed back into the corridor after washing up, Carina was just starting down the hall. "Cat got your tongue?" she asked, falling into step beside him.
Tris smiled. "Amazed by all this, I guess."
"Me too. Compared to this, the library in Isencroft is a sitting room," Carina agreed. '
"Are you coming?" Carroway called from a few steps ahead. "Unless I'm mistaken, that's food I smell. Good food."
Tris grinned. "I keep thinking about that first inn where we stayed. It looked solid and disappeared in the morning. Now we've got to the Library that didn't look like it was here, and turned out to be solid after all."
"Just as long as the food is real," Carroway quipped. "I've learned to do without on this trip, but I'll always appreciate good food and a crowd with an ear for stories."
The aroma of fresh stew led them to the tower's kitchen and dining hall. Rows of tables and chairs filled the large chamber. Several of the brown-robed Keepers were busy fixing supper. Royster, bent over a large cauldron, looked up as Tris approached.
"We don't often get company for dinner. The soup should be ready, and there's bread and cheese enough." Royster looked to the side in irritation. "Hush. You're a ghost and ghosts don't eat, so what do you care?" he said to his unseen companion.
"I think that sounds wonderful," Tris admitted gratefully. "We've been living on trail meals."
"Bring your plates up, all of you," Royster called, beckoning to the others.
Royster seated himself across from Tris and Carroway. Carina and Kiara found seats with them, while Vahanian took his food to the other side of the table and Berry followed. Jae found a spot on the edge of the table, settled his leathery wings contentedly, and pulled at a piece of cheese. In turn, the travelers told their stories to the librarian. When they finished, Royster nodded.
"If the knowledge you seek exists anywhere, then you will find it here," he said. "That is why the Sisterhood took such care to hide this Library. In the right hands, the knowledge stored here can do great things." He paused. "After the Mage War, the Sisterhood could not bring themselves to destroy the Library, so they hid it, so that its secrets might not be abused." He looked around, as if imagining the dark building bustling with students.
"Only the most senior and trusted of the Sisters have access," Royster explained. "That pendant is not given lightly. There have only been a few outside the Sisterhood who are so honored, and as for the Sisters," he continued, "they most often come by transport spell." At that, Kiara shivered.
"No thanks," she said, setting down her drink. "The Sister wrho sent me on my journey used a spell like that to take me from one place to another. It was... unnerving."
Royster smiled indulgently. "It does take some getting used to. Fortunately, the Sisters come to us, so we Keepers have no need to travel." He finished his food and mopped up the last drops with a sop of bread. "Vayash moru who are long known to the Sisterhood bring us provisions and news of the outside," he continued. "Some of them have studied at the Library for hundreds of years. Their loyalty to the Lady is absolute." He paused. "I have been told to expect the Sisters. They will sense your coming. I believe you will have the first of many tutors, my lord Summoner, come morning light."
"Aren't the Sisters taking a chance leaving you here?" Vahanian said, leaning back. "I mean, you've got all the time in the world. What's to keep you from being the next Obsidian King?"
Royster chuckled. "I imagine the good Sisters had that very thought." He jumped as if poked and glared to his right. "Yes, of course I was going to get to that," he scowled. "Be quiet." He looked back to Tris and the others. "I believe, in this case, I was chosen as much for what I'm not as what I am. And I am not a mage."
Vahanian looked skeptically at Royster. "Let me get this straight. We've come all the way so that Tris can be tutored m magic by a librarian?" Royster chuckled. "Basically—yes." "Maybe you'd like to take over the sword training, while you're at it?" "Nope. But you're missing something." "What's that?" Vahanian asked, annoyed. "You could never be sure that mages weren't trying to gain power for themselves, with all this knowledge and lore. That is why the Sisterhood have permitted so few to enter. But me," he shrugged. "I can't take it, and I couldn't use it." His eyes narrowed, like a card player going for the big bet. "On the other hand, we've had a lifetime among these books. We know them all. Each of us," he said, gesturing to include his silent companions, who filed in to take their own dinners, "has a specialty, an area of magic we have studied most of our lives. Healing," he said with a nod of his head to Carina, who looked up sharply, "battle magic," he said, catching Vahanian's eye, "spirit magic," he added, looking to Tris. "Just like your own walking, talking index. Memorized quite a bit, too."
Vahanian shook his head. "I don't understand. Why would you memorize what you can't use?"
Royster leaned forward and tapped the mercenary on the forehead. "Knowledge. That's why."
"Because it's there," Vahanian mumbled, rolling his eyes.
"Exactly," Royster replied with a satisfied smile, sitting down with a thump. "And, for another reason. The good Sisters feared that the Library might one day be destroyed. My life's work has been memorizing the books as well as keeping them."
"But how did you get to be the librarian?" Berry piped up. "The Mage Wars happened a long time ago. You don't look that old."
Royster chuckled indulgently, then looked sharply at his side and scowled. "You be quiet," he snapped at the ghost. "She's a sweet thing and she didn't mean it that way. You old coot!" he retorted to his unseen tormentor. Smiling once more, he turned to Berry.
"Oh, I'm old all right, but not quite that old," he admitted gamely. "But you're right, the Mage Wars were a long time ago. Pity," he said, stopping to pick a particle of food out from between his teeth. "No decent chroniclers in the lot. Haven't got an account worth reading of the whole war."
He paused for a moment. "Ah, but you asked a question," he replied with a grin. "When I was five years old, Kessen came to my village. He gave a test to all the children. He told them a story and they had to repeat it. Of them all," he said with a hint of pride, "only I could say it word for word." He shrugged. "I was an orphan, so Kessen took me with him right then. I have lived in the Library since that day." He looked around at his robed companions. "So it was with each of us," he said. "Now, one of us journeys with a Sister to do the same. To be a Keeper is a calling of the Lady."
"Kessen... is the ghost that bothers you?" Berry asked.
Royster chuckled, then poked a finger at the air beside him. "Did you hear that?" he challenged. "She said 'bothers.' 'Bothers' you foggy old spirit! She's being polite, you know," he said, then smiled sweetly at Berry. "Yes, Kessen the ghost was Kessen, my teacher," he said. "But why?" Berry asked. "Why does he hang on here, looking to pester me day and night?" Royster said with overblown exasperation. "I'll tell you. Because I could never organize the bloody books quite to his liking. 'Royster,' he used to say, 'I'll see you get the knack of this if it takes to my dying day or beyond,'" Royster quoted, "and even by the time the old coot died, I still wasn't doing it up to his standards." He sniffed. "Serves me fine. I can find anything I need. But he's elected to plague me, anyway." He leaned forward as if to impart a secret, and Berry bent to hear him. "You know what?"