“Come in, come in.” Ginaveve waved Thea and her escort inside the library, shutting the door and locking it behind them. But that didn’t stop some curious stares from the street outside.

Thea pushed back the hood of her caplet and sighed. “I can never get used to all this attention,” she muttered.

“It will probably die down eventually,” Ginaveve said encouragingly. “The library has been quite busy lately since everything with your home and the rumors of your family have been hot topics in the East District. When you wrote to me and told me you’d be dropping by, I knew I’d have to shoo people out and close up for a bit.” She led the way towards the back of the library and away from the front windows. A small table had been set up with three chairs and a small plate in its center. Ginaveve glanced back then. “I thought Luin would be with you. But you’re here with a knight escort today. You sure do seem more like a noble now.”

Thea glanced back at the knight. “Tim was quite stubborn and insisted on a knight to escort me. I wanted to refuse, but then, he would have opposed me coming at all. He said there was no need for me to go and check the apartment myself since they hired people to gather and move anything that wasn’t damaged, but there are things I’d like to check on and gather myself. And Luin seemed irritable but declined to come with me, surprisingly.”

The knight pulled out Thea’s chair for her as Ginaveve took her seat as well.

“So in the end, your brother forced you to have a guard knight as a consolation to your stubbornness?” Ginaveve smiled, knowing she was completely correct in her assessment of the situation.

Thea nodded. “I suppose I should introduce you. This is Dame Emelia Trevante of the Royal Knights.” Dame Emelia simply nodded at the acknowledgement. “But though Tim was adamant I have an escort, it was actually Commander Hollendale who’d already assigned her to guard me if I had to leave the estate. I just wasn’t aware of it until I’d mentioned wanting to come here.”

Ginaveve’s smile was calculative. “I see. Well, it seems your safety is of great importance to them, so you can hardly blame them for wanting a guard with you. Especially given that…oh, have you been to the apartment yet?” She changed the subject.

Thea fidgeted with her fingers in her lap. “No, not yet. I plan to go there after this. I wanted to check and see how the library is doing. I hate that I’m not able to help you right now.”

Thea opened her bag and unwrapped a package of several pastries that she’d brought and picked up one of the honey-topped ones. The flakey pastry started to crumble just at her light touch before she even put it to her mouth.

“Did you buy these? I don’t think I’ve seen them at that bakery before?” Ginaveve said.

Thea shook her head. “No, I made these.”

Ginaveve picked up one of the fruit-filled pastries and eye it dubiously, and with reason. “Not to sound harsh, but are they really edible? They do look nice though.” Thea had been trying to bake for a while now, and though she could cook some regular meal food, pastries and baked goods seemed beyond her. Gina had been the test subject of many a round of hard, salty muffins and burnt cookies from Thea’s other attempts, so her question was reasonable.

Thea smiled after taking a bite of her own pastry. “Well, I read through a book of new recipes recently, and I don’t know what finally clicked, but they’ve turned out good enough that even Darcin was impressed—though he actually didn’t do more than take an extra one back to his study. I was actually lucky to bring these with me. If I hadn’t set them aside, the staff would have eaten them all already.”

Surprise and suspicion warring on her face, Ginaveve gingerly took a bite. Her free hand flew to her mouth as she chewed. “It’s actually good!” She finished the pastry off in a few more bites and wiped the crumbs from her mouth. “I’m glad that all your practicing before seems to have paid off.”

Thea felt her cheeks heat up slightly. She wasn’t used to the praise for her desserts, and truthfully she wasn’t sure what she did that had caused it to go right this time. It was quite a mystery and she wasn’t sure if she could produce the same results next time, so she let the subject drop.

Ginaveve must have sensed Thea’s hesitation for she returned to their previous topic. “As for the library, it is fine. We have more visitors, but the amount of books checked out has remained the same. They’re mostly here because of the rumors anyway. But the main branch will be sending me some assistants soon. I’ll get two of them since the number of visitors has increased, so don’t worry about the workload.” She waved her hand as if to dismiss the concerns completely. “I’m actually going to benefit from all of this since we’ll have three people rather than just two like we’ve had before.”

Thea finished off her pastry, catching the crumbs in her other hand and wrapping them with her handkerchief for later disposal. It was just like Gina to see the positives of a situation like this; however, Thea couldn’t help but worry. She’d worked several years in this eastern branch library and had even been here when Gina was hired. She was Gina’s senior, but now she’d been forced to abandon her. And it didn’t help that now there was another issue blocking her smooth return to the East District Library.

“I’m glad that the main branch will be providing some assistance soon. Though, I still feel bad about the suddenness of all this. But there is one other thing I needed to let you know, Gina.” Thea steeled herself to drop the bad news. “The Head Librarian wrote back to me after I informed him of the situation, and it seems he’s taken this opportunity to request that my return to work be at the main branch instead of here.”

“Oh.” Ginaveve, for once, seemed a bit lost for words. She did not manage to cover the quick look of disappointment that crossed her features either. “Well, he has been quite persistent in trying to get you to transfer these past few years, hasn’t he? I suppose he now sees this as the perfect timing.”

“I’m sorry.” Thea pinched the bridge of her nose. “He is stubbornly set on this, and with my recent relocation to the Central District, I no longer have a reason to refuse him, especially since I definitely want to continue my work as a librarian.”

Gina pursed her lips then shrugged. “It is what it is. Don’t trouble yourself too much over it. You and I both know that this little branch library is a bit too small for someone like you. I knew you’d eventually transfer up.” Ginaveve patted Thea’s hand on the table. “I know it isn’t exactly what you wanted, but it is a promotion of sorts. Should we not celebrate? Perhaps your family’s estate can host a small celebration. I’d gladly attend and cheer you on.”

Thea laughed. This was one reason she liked Ginaveve as much as she did. She was thoughtful and passionate, but outgoing enough that she continuously went after what she wanted. Thea often wished she could be a bit more outgoing like that.

“True. Perhaps we should.” Thea glanced at Dame Emelia. “I guess I should be going. I have to be back well before supper or who knows what Tim will do.”

“Or the commander?” Gina raised an eyebrow teasingly.

“The command—ah, no, he’s much too busy.” Thea waved her hands in denial. The commander was just doing what his responsibility dictated. It was Tim who might end up bugging the commander further if she wasn’t careful. She stood up before Ginaveve could prod her for details on the dinner the commander had attended with her family.

Ginaveve’s smile only deepened before her expression turned more serious. “Well, I hope recovering your belongings goes smoothly. Please keep in touch.”

Thea calmed herself. “Right, of course. I’ll gladly keep in touch. Keep me updated on how things are going or if anything happens.”

Thea and Ginaveve said their farewells. And it wasn’t long before Thea’s carriage brought her to a stop in front of her old apartment. The town house looked just how it had from the street view. She’d been told most of the damage was only visible from the back. But it was strange to see the two City Knights stationed out front and the cording that kept people from getting too close.

Dame Emelia exited the carriage first and helped Thea step out. The City Knights spotted the blue uniform of the Royal Knight and straightened up their posture. When Thea approached them, the older of the two men stepped forward.

“Ah, my lady, we’ve been told to keep the public out but,” he looked to Dame Emelia, “do you have some business here perhaps?”

Dame Emelia stepped forward. “I am Dame Emelia Trevante. This is Lady Thea who lived here until recently. I’m here on orders from Commander Hollendale to escort her through the building so that she can take stock of her belongings.”

“I see,” said the City Knight. “Then, you may proceed. Please exercise extreme caution on the third floor if you go up there, and stay to the right side of the barrier.” He lifted the hooked cord and held it up for Thea and Dame Emelia to pass.

Barrier? Thea wasn’t sure what the knight meant, but she’d see soon enough anyway, so she kept her question to herself. It felt odd to have to pass by security just to get into her apartment, especially when the front of it was the same as always.

Thea sighed and ascended the front steps. The door was open already, so her key wasn’t necessary. Once inside, she swallowed as she took in the thin layer of dust that had settled over everything. It wouldn’t have been as noticeable if it weren’t for the heavy pattern of footprints in the dust that went back towards the kitchen and up the stairs.

I might as well take a look at the worst of it first. She took the stairs slowly, Dame Emelia right behind her. The dust clung to her shoes and the hem of her skirts. At the second floor, she passed by the doors to the study while biting at her lower lip. She really hoped the books in her small study hadn’t been damaged, but the door looked unharmed, so she pressed on for the third floor.

The door to the bedroom was halfway open already, and the many footprints in the dust led past it. She pushed open the door, and the sight beyond didn’t disappoint her imagination in the least. The dust was so much thicker here. The mattress had been removed from the bed altogether. The damage to it had to have been quite bad. Something about that thought and the realization that she could have been sleeping there made her shiver. The bare bed frame that was left had cracked in several places. The wardrobe doors were ripped off their hinges, and the entire back wall where the window had been was open to the elements. The wind teased the dust motes around in the air as it came in through the opening. Cords like the ones out front had been put an arms length from the opening to keep anyone from going too close to the edge. Thea had every intention of following the City Knight’s advice; she didn’t even want to think about the two-story drop just beyond those cords.

Thea heard a sharp intake of breath behind her and turned to find Dame Emelia’s eyes wide as she took in the scene as well. “My apologies,” she said when she realized Thea had heard her.

“No, it’s alright. Anyone would be shocked to see this level of damage.” The city had been relatively peaceful for quite some time, and barring some type of accident or structural neglect, damage of this kind wouldn’t really be seen at all. She unbuttoned the cuffs of her blouse and began rolling up the sleeves. “I suppose I should get to it then.”

Thea scoured the room, finding with relief and no small bit of confusion that all her valuables were still there, though they were sometimes strewn about the floor or lost under broken bits of stone or furniture. She had relatively little that was of high value in her apartment besides a few books that she had brought with her when she’d moved in, prized volumes of poems, a few novels, and one signed copy of a treatise on philosophy. Most of those were in the study on the second floor beside the washroom, but two were in her bedroom since she had taken to rereading them before bed sometimes. Thankfully, her nightstand and the mana lamp that had been on top of it had suffered the damage in their stead. She found the books no worse off than before, protected within the nightstand drawer.

What jewelry she had was still in or around the vanity, only a few pieces that would be worth twenty to thirty silvers if stolen and resold. The rest was bronze, pewter, and crystal—things that could be safely worn to work without worrying if they got scratched, damaged, or lost. She collected what she could and fished the dusty clothes from the wardrobe and other drawers. She clicked her tongue to see that one of her favorite bolero jackets with soutache decoration had been ripped down the back as if torn by a dull knife.

All-in-all, there wasn’t much else for her to take personally from the bedroom, and she managed to fit most of it in a small bag she carried or a larger sack that Dame Emelia shouldered for her. From there, it was onto the second floor just to inspect it and retrieve the special books and her financial documents. Thankfully, everything was still in order for the study; the closed door had saved the room from all but the finest trickle of dust on the carpet by the entrance.

Her task completed, Thea took one last look at the apartment she’d spent close to five years in and smiled sadly. It was a chapter in her life that had come to a close in a rather dramatic fashion. Farewell, then. She turned to follow Dame Emelia and boarded the carriage once more.