Page 50 of Potions & Pints
“Nothing?”
Tan could picture the disappointment on the man’s face. Tan was less disappointed and more annoyed. Nothing? What more had to happen before the Librarian would intervene?
“I can see you are disappointed, my longtime friend,” the Librarian said. “But who alone wields the power in this land?”
“The chieftain,” the assistant admitted.
“There is nothing we can do. Knowledge without power is useless. Now fetch us some more, this has cooled.”
Tan heard the clinking of china again. Rage bubbled up inside him. How could this man, this Librarian, simply write off the treacherous behavior of the chieftain and then blithely ask for his drink to be warmed?
Where was his concern for the people of the tribe? Would he sit in his Library, walled off from the suffering going on outside these sacred and hallowed walls? Was the power he was given just a gift? One to use as he wanted? Did it not come with the smallest bit of obligation?
If the Librarian wanted to stay ensconced in his room, protected by his books and magic and by his, apparently, complete lack of a conscience…
Tan decided he would not have that. None of it. Before he knew what he was doing he burst into the room.
“Traitor,” he screamed, pointing to the Librarian.
The man was so startled he dropped his cup and howled in pain. Tan wasn’t sorry. He would be very happy if the man was left with a permanent scar.
“How can you,you, just sit there? And do nothing? You are a traitor to your people.”
“Bu—” the assistant stuttered out.
He was desperately trying to clean the Librarian’s lap but was shoved away.
“Traitor!”
24
“You say knowledge without power is useless!” Tan cried. “But who wields more magical power than a Librarian?”
He could feel the anger and the righteousness coursing through him — he only hoped that somehow he could turn this around into an opportunity for good, rather than making everything worse like he usually did.
The two men stared back at him, apparently still shocked at his entrance and speechless for the moment. Tan took the opportunity to keep talking.
“I don’t see how you can sit there and do nothing — unless you’re just as power-hungry as the chieftain and plan to use this information to your own advantage!”
Tan was breathing heavily, anger making him search for an explanation to what he’d heard. He might have been a pirate and a smuggler and an all-round ne’er-do-well but he’d never stoop so low as this. Would he? He thought back to his actions in Sunfall and a twinge of guilt grabbed at his heart.
This wasn’t about Sunfall though — this was about Laeve Taesi.
The Librarian scoffed, apparently pulled out of his shock by the claim that he was exploiting his own people on purpose.
“I don’t care about power, you fool,” the old man spat. “I’m a Librarian — we’re nonpartisan. Getting involved in political matters is out of the question.”
This time it was Tan’s turn to scoff. He knew better than that.
“Listen,” he said, giving the Librarian a knowing stare. “I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with Librarians and I know that’s not true. In Sunfall, the Librarian, Ruven, gets involved with this sort of thing if it’s necessary. He wouldn’t let something like this slide because it’s a Librarian’s job to tell the truth. If that’s true for him, then it’s true for you, so don’t give me any of that ‘nonpartisan’ malarky.”
Tan expected some other string of excuses, but to his surprise, the Librarian just smiled. It was a cold smile though, and as the water elf stood to meet Tan’s gaze, he got the feeling something had shifted. He also got the feeling it was for the worse, just as he’d feared.
“Now I know who you are,” the Librarian said, taking a step toward Tan. “You’re that scoundrel who stole the moonstone from that poor town.”
His cold smile turned into an angry frown. “How can you, of all people, lecture anyone about truth, or ethics, or responsibility?”
The Librarian practically spat the last words out and Tan felt the weight of them heavy on his heart. He had to own up to what he’d done wrong, that much was clear. But he also wasn’t going to let the Librarian’s accusations bother him — even if they were true. Tan knew what was right, he just hadn’t always done it.
