“But Monk-priest Galad…” Kai stepped in. “You know us. We’ve been living here and studying next to the monks for more than five weeks.”

“And you have been nothing but great students and a delightful change to our daily routines,” the man replied, looking at Kai.

“Then how can you say we just arrived and you need to know if you can trust us?” I asked, frustrated to see this was not going nearly as smoothly as I had hoped.

“As I said, you have only been with us for less than six weeks,” he replied, staring me in the eyes. “How can you know a person in six weeks? You can’t. How can you begin trusting a person in six weeks? You can’t.”

“I understand,” I answered, nodding my head seemingly in agreement, even though I was shaking it in frustration. “We hadn’t considered that, because we’ve never encountered a situation like this before.”

“How long in your view does it take to build this trust, Monk-priest?” Kai asked, in a less than polite tone.

“You cannot put a number on time and trust, Kai,” he answered as politely as ever. “When I arrived in the monastery and requested admission, the mouthpiece did not even inform me of this procedure. He simply told me to wait.”

“How long did you have to wait?” I asked, fearful of the answer.

“It took me fourteen years to gain their trust and become the mouthpiece and librarian,” Galad said.

“Fourteen years!” Kai practically shouted. “You’re saying we need to wait fourteen years to read the book?”

“It took me fourteen years to gain the trust of the monastery and be admitted as an equal,” he continued, unfazed by Kai’s explosion.

“I’m sorry about Kai’s reaction,” I said, and put my hand on his arm, trying to calm him a bit. “However, we do not want to become the new mouthpiece of the monastery, neither do we want to take your position as librarians. We simply want to read a book that we have been searching for, for over a year. Surely it’s not just or fair for the Order to horde knowledge behind locked doors.”

“This has nothing to do with the Order, Myriam,” he responded, his voice cool as ever. “We are keepers of the knowledge and we strive to push the boundaries of what we know of the worlds. However, some of the knowledge is not safe for public consumption and someone needs to guard it. Regardless of whether you want to remain in the monastery after you are accepted or not, there are no shortcuts in earning trust. And those glass walls around that chamber are built with trust.”

“I understand, Monk-priest Galad,” I said, and lowered my eyes so he would not see my disappointment.

“What do you mean—”, Kai started saying, but I tightened my grip around his arms and he immediately stopped talking.

“Thank you for your time,” I said, and backed away, pulling Kai with me.

“Thank you for understanding,” Galad replied as we were leaving. “We are all proud of you and you are doing great.”

They were proud of us, but not enough to grant us access to one particular book. At this point, I wasn’t angry anymore. I understood that the monks thought of and perceived time differently than we did. What’s more, they seemed to be above worries of what happened to The Divine and how our society would continue in the absence of mana.

They didn’t care that neighboring nations would try to take advantage of the power vacuum created by not having any new spellcasters. They were too far away. Too disconnected to feel the human fear of an uncertain future.

But I was disappointed. Not so much at them, but more for what we now needed to do. There was no way to make them see the truth. No way to force them to face reality and the need for us to try and restore The Divine. At least not without telling them about what happened in the liturgy.

And so, we had no choice but to take the knowledge they were hoarding. I was disappointed that in order to save Kai and Elysia, we had to become thieves.

“Why did you stop me, Myriam?” Kai said as soon as we were away, deep within a corridor of the library where Galad would not hear us. “I had every right to be angry. They cannot possibly expect us to wait for The Divine knows how many years. We can change things, right?”

“We can change things, Kai,” I replied, and put my hands on his shoulders. “But I don’t think they will help us change the situation we’re in. They lack knowledge of what happened in Nara during the liturgy.”

“Then let’s tell them,” he said, without hesitation. “If you think it would make them see the truth.”

“It won’t,” I replied, hoping he would not do anything rushed. “If we tell them the truth, we’re admitting we lied, or at least that we were dishonest with them about where we came from and why.”

“Then so be it,” he said, and I understood I needed to try harder if I was to prevent him from going to Galad and telling the truth, or at least what he knew as the truth. “If that’s what it will take for them to help us and take this thing out of me while restoring The Divine, then so be it.”

“Kai, for the love of The Divine,” I said, pleading with him to steer away from that course as it would mean he’d potentially find out the truth about who killed everyone in Nara. “The people here are wise but they will never fight. Do you think they’ll let us access the book if we tell them the truth?”

Having to lie to Kai again felt wrong but I absolutely had to keep him from finding out anything about what happened in Nara. There was a pretty good chance the Order had visited Nara and found Adel and the rest of the manaless, which meant news could have already reached this place since the monastery, and particularly Galad, had connections with them.

Thinking of Adel, I had considered asking the monks if they knew anything about survivors in Nara. It would have been a relatively safe question since the monk-priests didn’t communicate with each other much, though I would have to do it alone. But that time was past now and considering what I was planning to do, it would be dangerous to raise any suspicions.

“Wise people wonder, Kai,” I continued, trying to convince him out of his plan. “They will study you from head to bottom and try to turn the thing in you into their own research. Strong people fight. We need to fight this.”

“You’re not suggesting…” Kai said wonderingly. “Myriam, we can’t possibly—”

“No, of course not,” I replied, feeling a little insulted he thought I would suggest fighting the monastery. “For starters, they may be old and deep in their books, but they are formidable casters. No, what I suggest is much more subtle… and it needs to happen without anyone knowing.”

“Oh, I like that,” Kai said, with a smile on his face. “What do you have in mind?”

“I’ll explain it to you once I have everything in place,” I replied, relieved he had abandoned his thoughts of confessing everything to Galad. “I want you to stay here and do what you would have done on a normal day. Remain as inconspicuous as you can and should Galad ask you where I am, you can tell him I was upset and needed time for myself.”

“Where will you really be?” Kai asked.

“I’ll make sure everything is ready,” I answered as quietly as possible. “For tonight, we steal the book called Restoring Deities.”