Chapter 96 - Memory Flood (1/2)
At the first lights of dawn, Shin Sumi entered East Silver City.
As she walked through the streets, still mostly empty at that time of day, she didn't spare a glance to the baker opening shop or the smoke starting to rise from the blacksmiths' forges.
She headed past the first neighborhood, the artisan district and the long walls of the many officials' mansions. She walked straight to a large rectangular building with high windows at the end of a small plaza.
The building was old and its grey stones had turned black in some parts, but the front of it was still clean and as beautiful as ever in Shin Sumi's eyes.
”The library,” she spoke in an ushered tone despite the fact that she hadn't entered yet.
The library wasn't open yet, it was still too early for that. Standing in the corner of a small alley, Shin Sumi looked at it for a long time, waiting for the front door to open.
After half an hour of silent looks under her cloak, Shin Sumi's eyes grew wide and wet as she saw a familiar silhouette pushing the two heavy wood panels open.
”Second Uncle!”
Without realizing it, she heaved a sigh of relief. For some reason she had been afraid her relative wouldn't work there anymore. That the man who would open the door wasn't the Chief Librarian she always knew.
Calming her heart in a way only cultivators could, she closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, she pushed her cloak away from her head and walked straight towards the building's entrance.
”Good morning” Yan Yan's voice accompanied her steps.
From behind his counter, Shin Jiang lifted his head. He looked for a brief second at the teen, returning her salutations. The man's face was emaciated and his temples were full of wrinkles, despite the fact that his hair was still black as a crow.
Shin Sumi had once asked about his wrinkles when she was too young to understand that it was not polite. Shin Jiang had laughed before responding, ”some books are written in very small characters so naturally I have to make my eyes small as well to read them!”
He had pointed at his face and squinted really hard, the skin of his temples folding on itself. He had also stuck his tongue out and sent his eyes looking in different directions. Shin Sumi had laughed for an entire day after that, engraving that memory forever in her young mind.
”What? Pardon me, I wasn't paying attention,” Shin Sumi realized she had been standing there for a second while her Second Uncle had spoken.
”I said: are you looking for something specific, fair lady?” the Chief Librarian repeated patiently.
His tone was calm and soothing, ushered as always even though they were the only two people in the building.
”I am interested in popular stories regarding the Story of the People,” Shin Sumi spoke without thinking about what she was saying.
The Story of the People was an ensemble of texts. Scrolls, parchments, carvings much older than any other writing. The mythical People, rising from the belly of the earth and ascending to the Heavens, preceded the current era by at least dozens of millenia, if not more.
While Shin Sumi indubitably knew of their existence, having seen traces of their ancient southern tongue in the Floating Continent of the Rising Star Tournament, most people thought of them as myths and legends from when they were children. Exactly like Immortals.
”I would also like a blank scroll, ink and a brush please!”
Out of nowhere the thought popped into her mind and moved to her lips, where it escaped in a soft voice.
Her uncle looked at her with a gentle smile, ”that will be two coins for the writing material and one for reading.”
Shin Sumi searched the inside pockets of her cloak for a second before passing the money to him. She had decided to keep her mortal currency in her cloak because she was afraid of producing riches out of thin air by force of habit if she used her bag of holding.
The library of East Silver City was funded by the many apprentice scholars who wished to learn their ways to the ranks of officials, as such it was common practice to pay for entering the library and to rent writing tools for taking notes.
”Every book is precious to a librarian,” Shin Sumi's Second Uncle had once explained to her, ”we are not selling books here. If people want to take the books out with them, they will have to copy it first.”
Shin Sumi also knew that paying upfront before entering the reading room was a way to avoid thieves. This was the reason the Chief Librarian's desk and counter were located right at the entrance of the building.
Walking under the massive shelves full of old and discolored books, Shin Sumi inhaled silently. Dust, leather, paper, dry ink; all of the smells instantly reminded her of why she had always wanted to be a librarian.
***
The day was coming to an end and the high windows were starting to darken when Shin Sumi stood up from her reading table.
She had spent the entire day reading books and she was just now realizing that the sun was already setting.
She pocketed her writing materials, still completely unused. She had only laid them down in front of her like most of the young scholars that had come in and out of the library all day. From her reading table she had also spent quite a good amount of time observing her uncle at work.
More than once, Shin Sumi thought about uncovering her real identity. Returning to her old life, becoming a mortal again and working here, in the middle of books.
But she knew it was only a futile fantasy. She was an Immortal.
She had come to hate something she had realized early on in the day. She was fighting internally against it but she knew it was the truth.
”Out of the thousands of books around me, none of them are half as interesting as what can be found in the world of cultivators.”
Farmer's records, medicinal use of local plants, arithmetics, folklore,... The books in her uncle's library were probably the finest in the entire Silver Sea region and yet to her they seemed rather insipid.
”I still want to become a librarian... However, I want to be an Immortal librarian!”
Shin Sumi put all the books she had read back on their shelves, donned her cloak and walked back to the entrance of the building.
Her Second Uncle, Shin Jiang, seemed to be waiting for her with a smile. For a split second, emotions rushed from deep within her soul and flushed her face. She wanted to go back to simpler times.
”Good luck on your scholar exams, come back anytime” the Chief Librarian said.
”Thank you Unc-, erm, thank you Sir” she promptly replied. Exiting the library, the heavy wooden doors closed behind her.
Shin Sumi let out a long sigh. As she walked through the familiar streets of the big city, she let the tears welled up in her eyes flow freely.
***
It took Shin Sumi almost an hour until she could regain enough concentration to calm her heart and stop her emotions from surfacing again. She had just reached the outskirts of the big city and the land in front of her was completely devoid of light, or rather it would be without the Copper Bell.
”Seeing Second Uncle first was the right choice. I almost broke into tears in front of him but I was able to barely contain myself” she thought as she was now on her way to East Seaside Village, the home of her parents and where she had spent the entirety of her mortal life.
A flash of green light later, Nuan was trailing along with her, flapping her wings awkwardly for a few minutes before trotting on the ground when her wings were tired.
As bats were nocturnal animals, Nuan's black beady eyes seemed perfectly adapted to the ambient darkness.
Sometimes, a glow worm would attract the Lion Bat's attention. Shin Sumi would then stop walking and watch her companion hunt her prey. After the events of the day and those to come, Shin Sumi felt reassured having Nuan around her.
The night breeze was almost cold but she didn't care. She was deep in thoughts when in front of her on the familiar road, she spotted the forest, jolting her memory awake.
At about the midway point between East Seaside Village and East Silver City, a portion of the road cut through a large forest. But more importantly, it was the forest she got lost in the first day she left her home, before meeting Fen Wudao for the first time.
”This is where I found you, Nuan! Do you want to go take a look?”
Nuan seemed disinterested, or didn't understand what Shin Sumi said. Shaking her head, Shin Sumi grabbed the Lion Bat, forcing her onto her shoulder before running through the trees.