Chapter 31 - Nyssa

Chapter 31 Nyssa

The cool wind whipped through my hair as we soared through the sky, listening to the whale’s beautiful song as we made our way home. Bubbles surrounded us as we got closer to the library and a few more people milled about. I spotted Oren talking to the apothecary, the artists who’d stolen the golem’s flowers, and even the contractors who’d been terrified of Cerbie!

They’d followed us up the mountain when they saw the whale passing by. Add them to all the people on the whale with us and this festival was going to be a success. My chest warmed as I turned to Roan.

“We did it,” I said as a grin stretched across my face. “Look at all these people.”

“You’re amazing.” He wrapped his arms around me, taking the chill of the wind away. “The story spirits and the library will be happy.”

I leaned back against him, enjoying the view as the whale settled down near the library. The flight had been so steady we hadn’t even needed to hold onto anything and the kids were cheering as Willow lowered the ladder.

Lisa stood in the courtyard with the golem and the Demon Lord while Mochi sat behind his snack shack with Cerbie. None of them moved, as if waiting to see how the people with us would react. For a moment, I thought it was going to be a standoff as the townsfolk’s eyes widened, taking it all in.

Then Mochi broke the ice by bringing one of the little boys from earlier a stick of cotton candy.

He carefully took the fluffy blue sugar like it was a great treasure before turning to a woman behind him. “See, mom? They’re nice!”

The woman’s arm was wrapped around her son tightly, like she still wasn’t sure what to do here. I glanced at Lisa, who shook her head like we shouldn’t step in. This was all Mochi right now and I believed in the red panda.

Mochi produced a matcha boba tea and held it up to the woman, chittering happily.

“How’d you know that’s her favorite?” the boy asked, his voice full of shock. “Aren’t they amazing, mom?”

“Thank you,” she told Mochi with a small smile as she took the tea. “Maybe they’re different than I thought...”

With that, the others seemed to think it was safe enough to move again, and everyone started mingling. I let out a breath. This was actually going well! To be fair, it was hard to be terrified of a cute red panda handing you snacks.

“Welcome to the Misty Mountain Library everyone,” I said loud enough to be heard over the mumblings of the crowd. “We’ve got festivities outside ranging from Mochi’s Snack Shack to golem rides and bubble magic, then in about an hour we’ll be starting the book ceremony inside. Feel free to look around until then.” I motioned at Lisa. “This is our other librarian, Lisa, and she’s actually one of the story spirits too. If you have any questions, feel free to ask one of us.”

Lisa’s eyes shined bright as she smiled. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you. Let me know if you need any help.”

That set the conversation off. Everyone had questions and soon there was a mix of awe and laughter as the story spirits welcomed the townsfolk into our world. The library wasn’t the scary place they’d all imagined. It was full of magic and wonder.

Willow wandered over to her grandmother as the apothecary played with the little dragons, who seemed far more excited than usual. I grinned as the older woman slipped them some dragon nip out of her pocket, like she was keeping a secret stash just for them. The dragons flew in circles, their flames a rainbow of colors.

“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Roan muttered, shaking his head, “don’t want them getting too out of control.”

“Bring the knights with you,” I said, nodding at the tiny soldiers camped out on the bench nearby like there were too many big people around. “Don’t want them feeling left out. Or getting stepped on.”

Roan saluted me with a smile as he marched over to the knights. They hopped to attention as he drew near, listening to everything he said like he was their new commander. Or their King.

A sense of rightness settled in my chest. This was how the library should always be, bright and full of people. A large bubble drew my attention as more patrons flew up the mountain. It was Jade and some other adventurers with an older man. Unease tightened my shoulders.

I hurried over to the bubble transport, meeting them right as their bubbles popped.

“Don’t even think about causing trouble,” I told Jade. “Not today.”

She held her hands up with a crooked smile. “Hey now, that’s not my goal in life, you know. We just wanted to see how things were going.”

“Really? That’s not code for prove everyone’s in danger or something, is it?”

“No, it’s really not,” she said, glancing over at Roan and the knights. “He already settled things with us. We’re good.”

Her gaze traveled past him, to the people climbing onto the golem’s shoulders, then to the ones playing fetch with Cerbie, and even past the ones getting snacks from Mochi. She shook her head as she smiled. “This place really is something else. Mind if we take a look around?”

The others with her had already started exploring, so there wasn’t much point in saying no. The elderly man had made a beeline for Roan, who was smiling and shaking his hand. It seemed like everything really would be okay here.

“Look, I heard about the kids,” Jade said quickly, “about how they exaggerated their story. All the missions got taken down at the guild too. So there’s not really much for us to do here. Just consider me a curious patron hoping to get a good snack from a certain red panda.”

That seemed fair enough. She’d been protecting the town with the information she had at the time. I’d have done the same for the library. Plus, if Roan and her really were good, there was nothing left for me to be upset over.

“Then by all means, go visit Mochi’s Snack Shack.” I pointed it out to her. “He’s got a knack for finding exactly what you want to eat.”

“Thank you,” she said, pausing as she passed me by to mutter, “I never had it out for you, you know. I was just doing my job.”

She might have seemed rough around the edges before, but maybe deep down, she was actually a good person.

“I know, we were all just doing what we thought was best,” I said. “I’m glad this worked out.”

“Same here. You make Roan happy and that makes me happy too,”she said, nodding at Roan and the older man who’d come with her. “I’m glad he finally settled down. It means a lot to our guild and my father, the guild master.”

Ah, so he was the guild master then and he was actually helping Roan lift tiny knights onto the dragons so they could watch out for each other. I grinned, hoping that meant we really wouldn’t have any problems with the guild anymore. This whole festival felt like a coming together of town and library, a time to heal old wounds and overcome the divide.

“Now, where’s that panda again?” Jade asked. “And why exactly is a panda running a food stall?”

“Because this is the Misty Mountain Library,” I said with a laugh, “a place where anything’s possible.”

She grinned and went over to Mochi, grabbing three cinnamon rolls and taking them to Roan and the guild master. It felt nice seeing the three of them together. Roan deserved all the friends and family he could get.

After a while, I wandered over to Willow who was clutching her bag tight. “You ready? It’s almost time for the story ceremony.”

Her fingers whitened on her bag. “Uhh, sure. Totally ready.”

“You’ll be fine,” her grandmother said. “I believe in you.”

“Me too,” I added. “Plus, it’s not like gods ever say anything terrible to anyone. They’re honest, but in a kind way from what I’ve heard.”

Willow sighed. “I know, but literal gods are going to be reading my book. What if they hate it?”

“The gods will know how much time and effort you put into it.” Her grandmother directed a dragon to land on Willow’s shoulder, as if giving her some extra support. “That matters just as much as the actual content of the book. So let’s go offer your story to the gods and thank them for inspiring us each year.”

“Okay.” Willow took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s go.”

“Everyone,” I called out to the crowd of people outside, “we’re going to start the ceremony soon. Please follow us inside.”

Excited murmurs spread through the crowd as people asked about Willow and what kind of book she was writing. Usually libraries asked popular authors to sponsor them, but Willow was perfect for us. Having her offer her story to the gods helped her just as much as she was helping us. We were a team.

The stacks were full of patrons as we made our way to the magical book well, which was clean and glowing faintly after all of our efforts. The shimmering water cast a beautiful glow on the story gods’ statues next to it, illuminating them with the magical vibes they deserved.

Terra, the goddess of worldbuilding, held a giant pen in her hands, drawing rivers through the air with her imagination. Solas, the god of characters, held tiny people in his cupped hands like he was giving us a gift. Finally, the statue of Orion held a massive book, as if he was reading the tales of everyone here. He was the god of fate after all, giving every character’s life a dramatic plot all their own.

Standing in front of these statues was awe-inspiring.

I bowed low. “The Misty Mountain Library honors the story gods,Terra, Solas, and Orion. You created our world from your imagination and need for a good story. Those stories shape our lives and fill our minds with joy. Today we’d like to give back in our own way. With our own stories.”

Willow approached, easing her book into the well with reverence. The water glowed brighter, accepting her offering. I smiled at her as Lisa and the others handed out paper and pens for the patrons to write down their story too. It was an important part of the festival, writing down what happened in the past year and what you hoped would happen next.

I eyed Roan as I took my own piece of paper, writing down the story of how we met and how we restored this library together. I even dared to write that we’d end up happily ever after, like every good love story.

His eyes met mine as he wrote his own story down, and I wished I could take a peek, but that was frowned upon. Everyone’s story was their own, to share or keep private. This was about telling the gods, not other people.

When it looked like most people were done writing, I stepped up to the statues again, holding my paper high and then setting it inside the story well.

“We share our stories with you,” I said warmly, gazing at the gods’ statues, “so that you can stay connected to us and enjoy the world you created. Thank you for giving each of us the spark of a great story.”

I moved to the side as Willow, Lisa, Roan, Oren, and everyone else here dropped their stories into the well. The light grew brighter and brighter with each offering. This well connected us to the gods, merging all of our stories together.

A beautiful golden light pulled my attention to the great book tree. Its branches grew larger as new books sprouted all over, from tiny buds to full books in a matter of moments. Its warmth shone over all of us, blanketing the library in magic as the story gods blessed us.

My heart soared as the crowd cheered. We’d actually done it. We’d saved the library!

My grin was so wide my face started hurting, but I didn’t care. We proved that the town cared, so the gods had given us their blessing in return. They believed in the Misty Mountain Library, just like we did.

I pushed through the cheering crowd to get closer to the tree. My hand brushed over the bark, feeling the warm magic surge beneath my fingertips.

“Thank you for believing in me, Misty,” I whispered to the book tree. “This was only possible because you trusted us and I’m so glad you did.”

The book tree’s branches curled around me, draping me in leaves and new books. I breathed in the earthy scent of trees and paper, letting it bring me back to memories of my childhood. The library was exactly like it had been before, full of magic and patrons.

No. It was better now, because now it had story spirits too and would never be alone again.

When I first got here, I was so worried about failing and determined to do everything myself. I thought things needed to be absolutely perfect if we wanted to succeed, but now I realized that some of the best stories happened in those moments of imperfection when everyone banded together to achieve a goal.

I never would have been able to make this festival a success on my own. I needed the story spirits and Roan, the library and everyone in it.

I’d never felt more at home than when I was here and that feeling had only grown since I’d returned. I’d found a family at the library, and together, we’d made it a home.

This was the Misty Mountain Library, and I was its librarian.