As we entered the hallway leading to the bedroom, we saw the four new rooms and the T-intersection. A quick check showed they were all furnished bedrooms. That was quite nifty. Now I could accommodate more than one guest at a time overnight.

  The four of us went to the intersection, and I glanced left and right. Several doors on either side. Soot tilted his head and hopped back and forth on my shoulder as he pondered. “So, a library two studies, fair enough, but what about the other doors? Surely, they aren’t all bedrooms?”

  I reached up and scratched him on the neck, causing him to be less fidgety. “We’ll find out in due time. Let’s see here….” I walked to the first door. A small brass sign on the door it was written in beautiful letters ‘Meleri’s Study,’ and as I opened the door, it opened into a large, and cozy office space. There was a wide desk with an inkwell and a stack of parchment. A comfortable-looking chair, and a bookshelf with several tomes with no titles.

  Meleri grabbed one and opened it. It was empty. “Must be for writing in, rather than reading from.” She noted as she put it back. The wall behind the desk housed a fireplace where another magic fire was burning, making delightful little snapping noises as pleasant fires should, while casting a nice pleasant hue over the room. The walls were lined with magical torches that together with the fireplace made sure the study was well lit.

  “Now, this is a cozy little workspace, isn’t it?” Meleri looked around. “It’s spectacular, but… why do I need it?” I shrugged as I looked around. “Beats me. Maybe our benefactors know something we don’t. Given the whole time-space thing and the fact that they can do what they have already done, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they can see the future. To that effect, perhaps we need it later?”

  Meleri gave a helpless shrug of her own. We left the room and continued down the left hallway. Next to Meleri’s study was my own. As we entered, it was a very different vibe to it. Where Meleri’s study seemed rustic and cozy, mine screamed “professional” from a mile away.

  It contained the same fireplace, but in place of a bookshelf with tomes, there were wooden filing cabinets with marks like “tax records” and other things one would expect from running a domain. To my relief and delight, it seemed that all the taxation had already been done for me. That was rather kind of them because while my memory was good, remembering over a century of taxes of all things was… Difficult to keep straight.

  On my desk was the same inkwell and stack of parchment, but also an official-looking signet stamp and a note with familiar handwriting on it. 'Hello again, Morgana, I figured you would like an insignia of your own. When you pick up the signet stamp for the first time, just imagine it, and it will be so, enjoy -S.'

  Well now, looks like I would be more of an official territory ruler in the future? Sure seemed like it. Well, whatever helped with legitimacy, I suppose. Not that anyone questioned that by this point. I was tempted to grab the signet now, but… I didn’t even know what emblem I wanted. Better wait until I knew.

  We left the study and checked the reminder of the rooms. Two were empty, likely to be used as storage or something. Another two were filled with various minerals, metals and crystals, rarer stuff that was a hassle to get my hands on for alchemical creations or potion brewing. We turned back and entered the room that was at the center of the T-intersection.

  Inside, the room was made of some sort of black stone, much to my surprise. A singular magic circle inlaid into the floor via a glowing, purple metal alloy I didn’t recognize. The teleportation room, no doubt. The specific cipher to get to this circle was engraved into the wall with the same faintly glowing purple metal as the circle itself.

  “Jaira memorize the runes, should save a bit of time getting to and from here in the future, no writing them down though.” Jaira stepped up and eyed them for a bit. “Writing a runic cipher without a proper circle is a fool’s errand, I know. I have no wish to be scattered around the countryside in pieces. You educated me on such things using the summoning circle, remember?” I grabbed her and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Oh, I know, but I also recall that you seemed to hardly ever pay attention during your lessons. Better safe than sorry, and all that.”

  Jaira squirmed in my grip for a moment, but gave up. She did not have the strength to get loose, and she knew it. I released my embrace, and we all stepped outside again. To the right side were another five doors. Four of them were empty, while the last one at the end of the hallway was marked ‘Library’ in the same letters as our studies.

  I opened the door and stood there, stunned. “How are we ever going to read all of this?” Meleri pushed up behind me. “Come on, sis, move it, I can’t see!” I stepped into the library, and now it was her turn to stop in her tracks. The library was a multi-story area that disappeared into the distance with shelves, upon shelves, upon shelves, of books. Jaira who squeezed past Meleri gawked at the sight. “There must be what, sixty, seventy floors high and… I can’t even guesstimate the length of this place. How are you expected to find anything in this?” I shook my head in response. Forget about finding books. You’d be liable to get lost in this place.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Oh, that is because this isn’t your library, young ones, but mine. I merely superimposed it over yours so that I might take a brief look at the mortals my subordinates have been playing house with.” I whirled around. Sitting in a lounge chair at a small round table which I could have sworn wasn’t there mere moments ago, was… an old lady? She was sipping some tea from a beautiful porcelain tea set.

  Her silvery hair reached all the way to the ground over her expensive multilayered robes of dark purple, red, and black. Her eyes were grey and shone with an inner strength that spoke of an extremely keen mind. Leaning against the shelf behind her was a gnarled staff with an ornate wooden skull on top. I could sense immense magic emanating from it, more magic than my entire collection of magical doodads combined.

  Her wizened and mundane form, however, couldn’t hide a sense of existential dread about her. She was no more an old lady, than I was a human. She looked at us as she lifted her teacup. “Would you care for a spot of tea? No? Suit yourself then.” She took a sip from her cup and gave a us pleasant smile.

  “Oh, no need to be on guard. I was the one who gave you permission to tell your friends about your origins. Consider it a courtesy for making you become collateral because of my subordinates’ negligence back then. As for my reason for being here, I just wanted to assure you that, barring any extreme, and highly unlikely, circumstances, you won’t hear from any of us again.” Subordinates? Was she referring to…? Her telling smile was all the answer I needed.

  “I see. Well, either way, I appreciate the permission, as being all cryptic about it was becoming even more difficult now that my sister showed up out of the blue, so thank you Ms…?” The old lady blinked for a bit. “Oh ho, how to respond to that, hmm?” She eyed me for a few more moments with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Well, seeing as my subordinate hasn’t named herself, I guess I should keep up the mystique, even if it is childish.”

  She went quiet for a bit as she took another sip of tea. “You may call me ‘M’ and I assure you the fact my name starts with the same letter as yours is a coincidence. I am the founder and leader of the Order you got yourself involved with that autumn morning two centuries ago, by your reckoning.”

  She lifted her cup and eyed me over it, her eyes shining with a strange, yet intimidating light, hinting at untold knowledge and ancient wisdom far beyond anything I could recall seeing before and would likely ever see again. “Well, I have delivered my message, and so I will not interfere further. That will be all.”

  She took another sip of tea, and as she put down her cup, there was an eruption of dark and cold energy from her that obscured our vision and seemed to echo out throughout the entire room. It forced all of us to shield our eyes and knocked us back as it engulfed us. When I opened my eyes again, the massive library was gone.

  In its place was a small and cozy fifteen by fifteen meter room with wall shelves covering the wall behind me, to my left and right. The far wall away from the door was made of stone and housed a massive fireplace and contained multiple comfortable-looking leaning chairs and small tables to have drinks or snacks on and with thick warm carpets on the floor.

  More shelves lined the floor between us and the reading area, and all of it was filled to the brim with various books. In front of us on a plinth was a huge tome with a sign above it reading “Library Index, browse to find your book of choice.” Above the mantelpiece were roosts for Midnight and Soot, and a big comfortable basket laid in front of the fire, clearly meant for Midnight. Another, smaller chair and table was on the mantelpiece itself, clearly meant for Ivy given its design was tailor-made to accommodate wings.

  Meleri looked around at the library with open interest as Soot and Winter landed on their roosts and Midnight padded over to her basket to try it. “This isn’t bad at all, Meowstress.” She stretched languidly as she enjoyed the pleasant warmth from the fireplace. “I can see that.” All of us seemed to be on the same page to just ignore what just occurred. Better to not dwell on it. It would just drive us insane if we did.

  The library index turned out to be great. If we wanted to look for something specific, we just needed to use it the same way I searched for information from my tomes. It even magically transported the book to you, so no climbing shelves to grab them. “Well, I have to say this is looking great. Wouldn’t you all agree?” I glanced over to Miva who was sitting in a chair with a very pleased grin on her face. “So comfy. I don’t want to move, ever.”

  They are that great, huh? I sat down in one myself, and it was… delightful. It was like the chair was tailor-made for me. Then again, given how pleased Miva was looking, maybe they all were like that, perfect for whomever was sitting in them. Meleri and Jaira also tried a chair, and both seemed equally pleased. Jaira sat up properly from her chair, with some reluctance. “Decidedly enchanted. These are far too comfortable.” Yeah, I could see that being a thing.

  Meleri looked up from her chair. “It wouldn’t surprise me if everything in here enchanted, considering it was made from magic.” Winter landed on my hat. “Meleri has a point, Mother. Also, while the roosts in here are pleasant, I prefer your hat over them. Call it a personal preference on my end.” I reached up and scratched her under her beak. “And I am certain the complimentary scratches and pats have nothing to do with it.” All I got in response was just delighted cooing and chirps from Winter.

  Miva looked up from the chair she was sitting in. “Well, I’d say we have a new place to continue our tale in, as these chairs are more comfortable than the living room ones.” I looked at the others. “All in favor of that idea, say Aye!” There was a unanimous “Aye!” from all of them. “Well then, let me just grab something to drink and some snacks for us all, and we can continue.” With that, I left for the kitchen. As I did, my mind was on other things than the story, however.

  After all, this was the fifth day since Miva got here, which meant tomorrow was the last day before Eira would be picking her up. I should probably see if I could make her favorite dish for her. With that in mind, I began scrounging through the larder for the snacks to bring back to the library.