“I need to enter the library,” Saia told Serit once they were back from their lunch. “And you’re going to help me.”


    They closed the door.


    “I felt good for about ten minutes, of course it was only temporary.”


    “There’s a secret staircase in the library. They won’t let me enter because I’m not a monk, but you can pretend to be a scholar of viss that wants to study their books.”


    “I am a scholar of viss. The practical side of it, at least.”


    “Good. I’ll be hiding inside your bag, so…”


    “Wait. Which books do they have?”


    Saia expanded her domain to read a couple of titles next to the secret doorway.


    “I’m on board. Not that I had a choice, but I actually want to read that.”


    shilvé history to the mechanism behind the way their cities floated. Serit didn’t just answer her questions, but flaunted their knowledge so openly that Saia was always on the verge of telling them to at least feign a bit more uncertainty.


    shilvé were the ones to learn how to train sprites. It might have been humans, as far as we know, even if we lost that knowledge long ago.”


    shilvé society, though."


    we believe in is the truth, have you considered that?"


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    shilvé gods are just a variant of the Arissian ones anyway. They simply came to associate the materials they couldn''t find in their cities with each god during their piracy phase. For example, when they couldn’t steal enough wood from the earth, they prayed to the goddess of wood and so on.”


    god," Serit hissed.


    and law. He shaped our… their societies, gave them structure. Lunushé gives them clean water, but she also makes sure they return home safe from their rain-voyages.”


    They had reached a table, the long sides hidden by bookcases running parallel to them. It was right at the end of the library, where the secret entrance was. Saia expanded her domain bit by bit, since she didn’t know what to expect. She could see more of the staircase, and a door at the end of it, but it was too far down to see what was behind it.


    Serit and Avuru were continuing the conversation next to the table, completely ignoring the chairs.


    “See, it’s a bit like the Arissian gods,” Avuru said. “The goddess that protects the carvers might be considered an equivalent to your god of wood. She’s more associated with nature than law and society, though.”


    “The point isn’t that they’re similar. Why should one replace the other?”


    “Our goal isn’t to replace, but to offer an alternative.”


    “It’s not needed.”


    “But what if we’re right? Their souls should get the chance to pray to the right gods before meeting them in the underworld.”


    “Then you should advocate for the contrary too. For our religion to spread to Aressea. In case we’re right and you’re wrong.”


    all of them.


    expert like you knew that most of the priests are shilvé,” Serit was saying. "They can''t go to earth."


    There were more of them in the adjacent rooms, Saia could see as Serit advanced: one was filled by a series of beds, separated only by a cloth divider mounted on a frame. Some of the monks were sleeping, or trying to, while others made conversation, as if they were standing in a separate room and not a few armlengths from everyone else.


    The other room was a pantry of some kind, connected to a kitchen, connected to a bigger dining room she couldn’t see in its entirety yet. Only a few people were still lingering behind, completely dressed in black jumpsuits of a tighter material compared to the tunics, which were hanging from their shoulders like capes.


    The central room, the one behind the metal door, intrigued her the most: it was incredibly long, with smooth stone walls and a floor covered in layers of metal. Steel, maybe. There was just one object filling a portion of that empty space, and it was placed right at the end of the room. No doors led into it except from the one in the vestibule.


    She observed the object, but couldn’t figure out what it was. A piece of something, probably, since it had a vaguely triangular shape, but it curved to the point only the three corners touched the ground, as if they were following the shape of something invisible. It was made of gray-green metal, scratched and darker in places. It was bigger than a person laying down with their limbs spread open. Saia didn’t recognize the material, but the object had to be important if the monks had dedicated an entire room to it.


    She observed the adjacent rooms and saw a group of other monks discussing among each other about something that seemed important. Saia listened for a bit, but they were only mentioning rationing food and producing new clothes.