Library of Rain

The Garden

The greenhouse really was a pretty place with its vibrant colors and fun scents; it was even prettier when the servants were gone, like tonight. So naturally, Rain was going to do her training with Ise here and capitalize on the servants being either off duty or accompanying the Lord and Lady.

“What are we doing, Rain? Does it have to do with the you know what?”

“Yes, but don’t call it the ‘you know what’; that sounds suspicious.”

The last thing Rain needed was for Svend to hear Sunrise talk about obvious secrets.

“Are you going to give me a book to read!”

Rain froze up momentarily and turned to look at Ise. She could see the excitement on the bigger girl's face; she had a big dopy grin, and her cheeks were all flushed. Sunrise wanted to read one of the books? Of course, she did. 

Rain didn’t like that idea at all. The books could drive people insane or turn them into monsters. If Rain let Ise read one and something bad happened to her, Rain… Rain would…

Tears ran down Rain's cheek as thoughts of Lon ran through her head, only now Ise was there being transformed and killed. 

Rain was on the ground, gasping for air, clutching Snow tight to her chest. Her eyes were wide, but she couldn’t see anything around her; her gaze fixed on visions of Sunrise’s death.

“No. No. No, no no no no”

“Rain! Rain, what’s wrong! Are you hurt? What's going on?”

Warm arms wrapped around Rain, holding her and driving back the terrible visions. The two of them stayed like that for a few minutes while Rain beat back the visions, the fear, and the pain of what she’d done. 

When she could control herself again, she jerked her arms out of the death-grip they had on Snow and hugged Ise.

“Sorry, I'm okay. Sorry for scaring you. I’m sorry.”

That last part wasn’t just for Ise. It was also for Lon. 

“You’re okay?”

“Yeah.”

Rain used her sleeve to whip her face.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Truthfully, she felt better. The emotions building up since she woke up that morning had been relieved. If she had to guess, it would be at least a week before her next episode. She would make sure that one happened somewhere private so she didn’t worry her siblings more than she already had. 

“Anyway, I need your help!” Rain said while standing and helping Ise up. She tried to inject a cheerful note into her voice to drive away the memory of her most recent breakdown. “You see, I have something I need to learn, but I need your permission to practice it on you. So will you let me…”

“Okay!” Sunrise said, cutting Rain off before she could even finish asking the question.

Looking at the trusting and eager face of her sister, Rain couldn’t help but be reminded that she didn’t deserve a sibling like this. Unable to stop herself Rain went in for another hug.

“Thank you.” 

She could hardly manage a whisper through her tightening throat. 

Retaking Ise’s hand, she led them to a stone bench next to a patch of blue flowers. 

“Okay, I’m going to try to touch your soul; this may take a while to figure out.”

Keeping hold of Ise’s hand, Rain let her mind sink into the darkness. 

The trip was far easier than last time, and Rain found her soul almost immediately: its rough, chipped edges and twisting patterns were familiar to her touch. Now for the next step: Finding Sunrise’s soul.

Rain let her mind spread outwards, feeling for any warmth in the void. As her mind stretched out, the time stretched on as seconds turned into minutes. Yet despite it all Rain found nothing. After a little longer Rain gave up on the attempt and pulled her mind back. 

“Did it work?” Ise asked the moment Rain opened her eyes.

“No, give me a second. I need to read something.”

Rain pulled out the black book and opened it to the section she had named ‘The precepts of soul touch.’ She read the passage one more time - even with her concentration on the book, she could feel Ise’s gaze on her. The wording was vague, but Rain found one part that might hint at where she had gone wrong.

‘Practice this arcane communion until thy own soul reveals itself, radiant and unbidden. Know thyself, O seeker, for therein lies the key to unlocking the cosmic tapestry.’

This was the last line before the writer moved on to touching other people’s souls. Rain felt like she might have missed a step. 

Sinking back into her mind, Rain felt her own soul again. This time, though, instead of moving on to look for Ise, Rain tried to memorize the feel of her own soul. Its warmth, texture, shape, and the patterns on its surface, she focused on getting to know them thoroughly. As she did, she started to feel something was off. There was an area where the heat was wrong; not bad, just slightly off. Rain sent her mind in that direction and found that the source of the heat was from a point just slightly off the surface of her soul. There was nothing at that point, yet as she moved her mind around it, she could feel it emanating heat.

Rain rammed her mind into that point, and felt the void around her shift as her soul became a dim glow and formed a small point behind her identical to the point she had just entered. In front of her was a different soul. Rain ran her mind over this soul and felt the difference. Unlike hers, this soul was smooth and perfectly round. There were no chips or patterns and no missing soul-stuff. In short, it was perfect. It had to be Ise's soul. 

She tried to pull her mind back to her body but couldn’t. Unable to panic due to her muted emotions, Rain slowly pushed her mind back into the spot where her soul hid. The moment the warmth of her twisted and marred soul hit her mind, she felt the exit from the void and took it.

“Did it work this time?” Ise asked with a hint of worry.

“Yep! Thank you!”

Sunrise didn’t respond; instead, she gave Rain a big hug, which Rain happily returned.

“All right, what’s our next step?” Ise said, releasing the hug. 

“Well, my next step was going to be practicing to make copies of my skills. You don’t need to wait around while I figure that out.”

“No, I’m staying. You aren’t allowed to be alone today.”

Rain cocked her head. Why wasn’t she allowed to be alone today? There was nothing special about today, was there?

“What's wrong about me being alone today?”

Ise pulled her back into the hug.

“You’re just not, okay.”

“Okay. But I’m probably going to be staring at nothing for a while.”

“That's fine. I’ll just hold your hand.”

Ise did just that, grabbing Rain’s left hand and humming to herself.

Rain smiled at her little sister. It would be nice to have her here. 

Now for the last step. Rain had Mr. Purple show her the descriptions for two skills. The first was the skill that had started this whole quest.

[Librarian’s Search: Think of Information you wish to find in the Library of Oru, and the skill will guide you there at the cost of permanently raising physical corruption by one percent. Uses left: 2] 

The second was the passive skill Rain had gained when she made a deal with Ms. White.

[Binding Promise: A deal has been struck. Should either party break the terms set, they will be subject to the other's mercy. This skill will be lost on completion of the deal.]

 Rain had two Items to make.