The Carnival at Moonbright

On the eastern side of the Iredale district, away from Haron’s Castle and the Archmage Tower, Leaf directed the carnival troupe through Moonbright. Leaf had spent an almost equivalent amount of time at the Athenaeum as the tower, analyzing the many texts, tomes, and journals that Queen Sylona requested from the rest of the continent. Since the lower-income families concentrated on trade and skill work, and nobles of the town sent children to one of a handful of guilds and academies, the Athenaeum usually found itself quiet and barren of people. Leaf appreciated the quiet more than most. It provided him time to get misplaced in the texts of many who had already passed away, discovering their adventures and knowledge.

Taking a right at The Pleasant Lord Inn, he motioned toward the large structure before them. The ashlar rough masonry kept its clean, textured stone in place up to over fifteen feet before breaking off into concrete tiles that moved up the rectangular building to a roof ridge. The ten-foot-tall double doors were made of an elder wood, possibly ash or elm, with intricate grooves cut into its face, depicting a mural of the original Queen of Moonbright, Selene of Theia, praying to the moon as it gleamed down on the land that is now Moonbright.

Leaf directed his new acquaintances into the library, taking stock of the three people at separate desks, flipping through tomes, and writing notes in their journals. On the other end, a halfling woman sat behind a desk on a corner platform. Her glasses at the tip of her nose, she wrote with a rather large quill, moving ink from its container to paper, while looking at the face of one of the many books piled on her desk. Leaf walked right up to the other side of the desk and waved.

“Hello, Rosemita. I hope you are well.”

“Oh, hello, Leaf! I’m always delighted to see another book lover here. I see you have…” She pointed to the group behind him, “An entourage today?”

“The Archmage asked me to explore a few topics, and these people are here to hasten the process.”

“Well, friends of yours are mates of mine! Hello everyone. My name is Rosemita Stonesky. I am the head librarian here at Moonbright’s Athenaeum. I have some regular literature, but I prize myself in having some first editions of some of the most prolific writers, adventurers, and scholars in all the land. With that, I will say, if you ruin a book, I’ll have your head.” She threatened jokingly. “What topics are you looking for today?”

“Let’s start with some easy ones and work our way up. I think that would be the most manageable way of doing this.” Leaf replied.

“We were asked about ‘Shades’?” Mr. Muffin mentioned.

“Not to mention anything about creature possession of the undead,” Myla added.

“And we should probably look at weird coincidences with The Eternal Pillars.” Rhokhishi chimed in.

“Lastly, I’d like to see if you have any information outside of books about what transpired at the Arcana Emporium last night that you might have overheard?” Leaf asked.

“My, my, my… That is a list. It makes sense now why so many of you are here to research.” Rosemita said as she stood up and walked around the desk.

Rosemita took her time treading through the aisles; her eyelids lazily closed as she moved from bookshelf to bookshelf, whispering to herself. Every few minutes, she’d stop, wave her hand over a specific shelf, then grab a new book. Leaf had seen her do this a hundred times. It was almost as if she could personally see into every book as she walked past them, learning their contents without ever even touching the book, always to find a perfect recommendation when needed. After twenty minutes, she laid a large stack of books onto an open table and looked back at the group.

“If anything about anything is here, it should be here. Some of these requests are vague, but I imagine it wouldn’t be if you knew more. If you need more, please just come find me.” Rosemita stated, beamed, and then strolled back to her desk.

Leaf immediately began going through the stack, picking up books, reading the names and authors, and dividing them between the group. As he laid a book over in Lyla’s direction, he saw that she had stepped away and conversed with Rosemita. Leaf kept offering books but watched as Lyla opened her satchel and showed Rosemita something. Then they whispered excitedly to each other for a few minutes before shutting the bag and walking away. Leaf looked away before Lyla noticed.

They all sat and went through the numerous pages of the tomes and journals in front of them. Seconds shifted into minutes, which turned into hours. Gisela quickly lost the appeal, moving her book to the side and uncovering another with detailed illustrations of creatures from the feywild. While some pictures were just assumptions and utterly wrong from what she knew, some were amazingly detailed depictions and descriptions of wildlife she had witnessed near her home. She skimmed through it, going from page to page, seeing information about the hierarchy of faeries, the courts that governed the feywild, and even stories that she was told when she was younger. Gisela turned the page and stared at one of the creatures. She let out a gasp and looked up at the group.

“Here! I think this is the Shade!” She excitedly said, turning the book towards the rest of the group to peek at. Leaf drew the book closer to him and read it aloud.

“Amongst the many courts that once held a governing force over the feywild, some were lost in time. While information is scarce, and it took me many years to compile just this information, I do believe that this is the first written piece about this particular Seelie Court. Ancient stories tell of a fey creature that betrayed the Summer Queen. While his proper name has been stricken from history, stories call him Dubh Catha, or the Dark Crow in the Common language. So great was the Summer Queen’s wrath that she cursed every member of his house. Other stories refer to the descendants of Dubh Catha’s house as the Dubh Sith - or, in Common, Darklings.

The Summer Queen’s curse caused a darkling’s body to absorb light, and doing so wizens the creatures, much like the effect of rapid aging. For this reason, darklings tend to cover every part of their body with clothing when exposure to light is a risk. The light a darkling absorbs over the course of its lifetime explodes outward when the darkling dies, incinerating the creature and much of its possessions.

A wise and respected darkling could undergo a ritual to become an elder. They would hide themselves inside other creatures, like a cocoon, giving commands to the creature. Once they reached their maturity, the host would be long dead, and the elder darkling would return to its home, where it would be marked with glowing tattoos. These tattoos would channel some of the darkling’s absorbed light away from its body.

The maturity of coming out of its cocoon form would cause the darkling to have grown tall and fair, like that of a gray-skinned elf. If they were unable to mature in the host successfully, or unable to take the light absorption away from their bodies with these tattoos, the ritual would fail, and the darkling would die.”

“That definitely sounds like the creature we saw the Archmage pull out of em.” Mr. Muffins thought aloud.

“It really does,” Leaf replied.

“But, if the creature was controlling Sir Ulric, why would he attack Elysium and the rest of us?” Myla asked, looking around at the group.

“Not all fey are exactly the nicest creatures,” Gisela answered. “I mean, I’m pretty nice, but we have a lot of children’s stories of trickery and mayhem caused by fey to others.”

“It looks like it, but I still don’t think it’s a coincidence that this darkling chose Sir Ulric’s body,” Rhokhishi said as she stood up. “What is the likelihood of a creature randomly picking that body, coming to us, and doing this?”

“You’re not wrong, but this is information we did not have before. We should take it to Haron’s Castle. The Archmage and your Master Elysium might still be there. It’s not too late into the afternoon.” Leaf answered back. He stood up and started piling the books together on the table.

Leaf halted as he felt the chamber grow tense. He glanced up and saw everyone gaping behind him, some already bearing weapons. Turning around, his eyes concentrated across the lobby to the doorway of the Athenaeum.