Even after all of the excitement in the town square plus Elowen stopping every few steps to stare up at some building or another, Sophie and Elowen thankfully managed to make it to the library in time. Sophie wanted to catch Ryland this morning to return the book on ice caves, and when she stopped by the information desk, she found out that she was in luck – the historian was still holed up on the second floor. According to Oliver, Ryland was busy poring over whatever tomes he was currently obsessed with. The other librarian – who Sophie finally learned was named Claire – chuckled and shook her head at the commentary.

Sophie returned all of the books she had borrowed previously, including that awful thriller that Elowen had enjoyed so much. Elowen wandered around to investigate the rows of books on the first floor before Sophie could introduce her to the two librarians. It was probably for the best – it would take a lot of explanation, and she really wanted to catch Ryland before he left for the day.

When they finally made it to the second floor, Ryland was sitting at the same table he had been the last time Sophie had seen him here, but this time Oliver had remained at the information desk downstairs, and the pile of books surrounding Ryland was even larger than before.

“The priestess again!” Ryland declared, perhaps a little too loudly considering they were in the library. No one else appeared to be on this floor, however, so she supposed it didn’t matter how chatty Ryland was today.

“I have something of yours,” she explained, pulling the book on ice caves out of her bag.

Elowen had been exploring a nearby shelf, but the book seemed to summon her back. “You’re giving it back already?”

“I didn’t mean to borrow this one,” Sophie explained. “It ended up in the pile by accident.”

“That’s where that went!” Ryland accepted the book eagerly, even as Elowen pouted.

“Couldn’t we borrow it for a bit longer?” she whined.

Sophie sighed. “Fine, fine. I’ll ask him.”

“Ask who?” Ryland asked, looking puzzled. He glanced behind himself, as if he expected Oliver to pop up and yell at him about the state of the table again.

“Oh!” Sophie felt her face heat at the realization. “Actually – Elowen is here today with me. The shrine spirit, I mean.”

“The spirit!” Ryland stood up dramatically, almost knocking his chair over. “Where is she?”

Elowen giggled at the display, and Sophie had to stifle a laugh of her own. “Right here.” She pointed to where Elowen stood, just a few steps away from Ryland’s table of books. She was currently staring at the book on ice caves with obvious interest. “She’s ah – well, she’s currently unable to manifest,” Sophie explained at Ryland’s obvious surprise. “But we’re working on that.”

Ryland peered at the space that Sophie indicated, his eyebrows drawn together. “Well, that’s quite the shame.” He made an elaborate sort of bow anyway. “It’s nice to meet you, Elowen. I do hope we’ll be able to meet under better circumstances soon enough.”

Elowen looked pleased at the gesture and Ryland’s kind words. “A historian,” she said. “How wonderful.”

“She’s very pleased to meet you as well,” Sophie relayed. “She’s interested in your class.”

Ryland puffed up a bit at that. “Well, it is a very interesting class indeed, although perhaps rivaled only by your own. It sounded as if she had something to ask me?”

Sophie gestured towards the book on ice caves. “She was actually wondering if she could keep reading that. We were looking at it last night, and she seemed quite interested –”

“Does he have any more like that one?” Elowen interrupted. “More about the Northern Islands, or anything really. Oh, I do love those caves, though!”

Sophie continued to relay Elowen’s questions to Ryland with perhaps less gusto than Elowen had conveyed them in the first place, and the historian nodded.

“Of course! We have plenty more where that came from. There’s tons of books on geography – plenty of interesting places to learn about.” He gestured at the row of shelves surrounding them. “I can show you the best sections to look in. But you’re also welcome to keep that one for a bit. Just be sure to stuff it back in your bag before Oliver sees it.”

He winked at that last bit, and Sophie couldn’t help but wonder if the book was a purloined library book after all. She shook her head to herself – it really wasn’t any of her business at least.

Ryland showed them to the aforementioned sections and helped them pick out a few more books that Elowen might like. The entire time, he was incredibly animated and seemed far more cheerful today than he had the previous day.

“So you’re no longer researching ice caves?” Sophie asked as she safely tucked the ice cave book back in her bag and made a pile of the other texts that Elowen had selected. Those she would be sure to properly check out downstairs. Elowen herself continued to wander the stacks with an intense curiosity towards all of the books.

“No, not really,” Ryland admitted. He pushed a few of the books aside that he had been looking at previously and pointed to one that was open to a page with a sketch of some elaborate looking weapons. “Linden came back last night with some cool artifacts, so now I’m looking into –”

“Wait, Linden’s back?” Sophie interrupted, not particularly interested in whatever Ryland was currently researching anyway.

“Yeah!” Ryland grinned. “Just last night in fact. He went over to the Adventurer’s Guild this morning with some of the stuff he found.”

Sophie suddenly felt really excited about going back to the Adventurer’s Guild again, even if Calli was probably just going to pressure her into registering for the millionth time. Although the Magewood seemed like a promising solution to the mana problem at the shrine, Sophie had absolutely no idea how long it would take for it to grow into something that could actually support a shrine. Perhaps Linden would have a better solution.

But before that… Sophie had another destination in mind. “Does Acacia know yet?”

Ryland’s grin widened. “So you’ve noticed that too, huh?”

Sophie mimed keeping her lips sealed. She was not about to spill one word about Acacia and Linden, especially if Ryland and Linden were as close as they seemed.

“Fine, fine,” Ryland conceded, laughing. “I don’t think she does, though. I don’t know how she could, unless he stopped by there first.”

“Sounds like I need to go to the bakery,” Sophie decided.

She thanked Ryland again for the book recommendations and the tip-off and gathered up the pile of books. Corralling Elowen took a little bit more effort, but once she convinced Elowen that they would return to the library in just a few days, she managed to head downstairs to the information desk to check out Elowen’s books and the next few in her romance series.

She was so looking forward to seeing Acacia’s reaction to the news.

***

Elowen had chosen about a dozen books on the geography of random locations around whatever little world they currently lived on, and Sophie got to test the limits of her Tailored bag. She was surprised to find that it was starting to feel a little heavy on their way to the bakery, even though she had managed to stuff all of the books inside.

Elowen, oblivious to Sophie’s plight and unable to help regardless, glanced around the town in wonder as they made their way through the streets. “Has it really been so long?”

Sophie wasn’t sure if she should answer that. She still didn’t quite know whether Elowen realized exactly how long she had been stuck at the shrine for, and it seemed like now wouldn’t be the best time to discuss it. Instead, she resolved to finally have the conversation with Elowen when they returned to the shrine later this evening.

“Do you remember anything?” Sophie asked instead, repeating her earlier question that Elowen had never fully answered.

Elowen nodded slowly. “Not much, but some…” She gestured to all of the buildings, the sidewalk, the cobblestone road. “This is all new. I can’t picture it clearly – what it used to look like, that is – but I know it didn’t look like this. If I didn’t know… Well, if I wasn’t sure that this is Caulis, then I might think I’ve been transported to an entirely new reality.”

The words sent a shiver down Sophie’s spine – she could obviously relate. They continued walking in mostly silence as they made their way to the bakery, and Elowen became quite animated again when she noticed the sign. “Acacia’s bakery!” she read aloud. “Does she run it all by herself?”

Sophie shook her head, as she reached for the door. “Not entirely. I think she owns the bakery, but she has some help,” she explained as the little bell above the bakery door rang, announcing their presence.

Acacia and Hollis were both working at the front counter today, although Acacia had a cup of tea sitting in front of her, and neither of them had any customers. Acacia perked up when she saw Sophie.

“You’re back! So soon! Not that I’m complaining – did you run out of pastries already?”

Elowen giggled at the greeting. “You have quite the reputation,” she teased.

Sophie almost wished she could elbow Elowen in retaliation, but instead she just rolled her eyes. “Elowen’s here today,” she explained.

Acacia’s eyes widened and Hollis glanced around as if he could possibly see her.

“She is?” Acacia asked. “But how?”

Sophie patted her pocket. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” she teased back. “We haven’t gotten her to manifest yet, but she can come with me now. At least for short periods of time.”

Although that didn’t mean Sophie had any control over what Elowen did. It was almost a blessing that she couldn’t manifest at the moment. Currently, for example, she was practically pressed up against the pastry display. In fact, because she couldn’t manifest, it might have been more accurate to say she was practically in the pastry display.

“The shrine spirit?” Hollis piped up, still looking around as if he could detect her somewhere.

Sophie nodded and gestured to the spot where Elowen longingly stared into the pastry display. “She’s right here. She’s awfully interested in those little cakes, in fact.”

Sophie pointed out the exact tray Elowen had her eye on, and Hollis’s cheek’s brightened with color at the words. “Is she now?” he asked, and he sounded incredibly pleased at the news.

Elowen glanced up at Sophie with puppy-dog eyes that did not do the dignity of her status as the town’s shrine spirit very much justice at all. “Can we get some?”

“Of course,” Sophie replied, laughing. Sure, she had decided to resist the pastries, but this totally didn’t count. It was practically a celebration, after all.

Even after only hearing part of the conversation, Hollis began to pull out the tray of little cakes, carefully picking up a few one-by-one and setting them in a paper-lined gift box.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that –” Sophie began, but Hollis shook his head.

“Of course I do! It is a gift after all,” Hollis insisted, determinedly adding more cakes to the box. Once it was full, he held it out in the direction that Sophie had indicated earlier, where Elowen was still standing, watching him with curiosity. Elowen glanced down at the open box in his hands, reaching her own hand out as well, as if she would like to pick one of the cakes up and pop it into her mouth. It reminded Sophie exactly of the moment when Acacia had offered her own gift to Elowen not that long ago.

“Sophie, will you burn them for me?” Elowen said after a moment, still staring down at the cakes.

Sophie nodded. “Of course! We can do it tonight when we get back, in fact.”

It would be as good of a use of her mana as any, she figured, even if using fire was always a bit tricky for her.

When Elowen turned around, her eyes were shining with happiness, and Sophie thought it was probably worth the trouble, regardless.

“Well what brought you here, if not for pastries?” Acacia cut in, after watching the interaction with amusement. “Are you just showing Elowen around town?”

“Oh! That’s right!” Sophie replied, suddenly remembering her ulterior motive. “I was just over at the library, and I heard some very interesting news.”

“News? What news?” Acacia asked, leaning forward over the counter.

“Linden is back! Ryland said he got back late last night, and apparently he’s over at the Adventurer’s Guild right now.”

“What!” Acacia nearly knocked over her cup of tea in her haste to get around the counter. “You’re serious? He’s really back?”

Sophie nodded, unable to prevent herself from grinning at Acacia’s excitement. What she didn’t expect, however, was for Acacia to start pushing her towards the door.

“Wait –” Sophie began, but Acacia kept pushing.

“I, um, just remembered that I told Calli I’d stop by the Adventurer’s Guild this morning,” she said. “Sophie here obviously needs to come with me. You know, for moral support.”

“But I –” Sophie tried again, and Acacia gave her a very significant look.

“Sure you did,” Hollis replied, voice dripping with skepticism. “You know, you totally left me here all day yesterday, too.” But there was no heat in the statement, and when Sophie glanced back at him, Hollis was smiling in obvious amusement.

“My cakes!” Elowen shrieked just before Acacia had pushed Sophie out the door. Sophie was thankful that no one else could hear the piercing noise.

“Ah, wait, Acacia – Elowen doesn’t want us to forget the cakes.”

Acacia paused in the doorway, looking none too pleased, and Sophie turned back again to grab the box from Hollis, who had already rushed forward. “Thanks,” she said, as Acacia made Hurry up gestures at her from the doorway.

“Go ahead,” he said, laughing. “And good luck.”

Somehow, Sophie thought she’d probably need it.