Page 53 of The Rake OR The Orca Who Met His Match in a Selkie Desiring Revenge

"I had the same reaction," Aegir said. "Come, let's see what can be found."

Though he expected the library to be quiet, itwasa library, after all, they walked in to witness the librarian, a diminutive oread, shaking her finger angrily at a minotaur. Though he towered over her, the minotaur looked thoroughly chastised.

“Is that food? Did you bring food into my library?”

“No, they're cookies, they…" the minotaur defended, waving toward his messenger bag.

“Cookies. Are. Food.” The librarian huffed and appeared to try to control herself. “You need to leave. You need to take your cookies and get out of my library before you damage any books."

“But they're Madeleines, they—”

“I don’t care, they could be made of solid gold and you would still need to leave." She pointed toward the door, and dejected, the minotaur slunk away.

The oread turned to Elspeth and Aegir with a smile pasted on her face. She had white marble skin with stunning gold veining.

"Hello, I amterriblysorry about that!"

"Oh, no harm done! I can't imagine bringing food into a library, let alone one as esteemed as this!" Aegir shook his head sadly, as if hehadn't spilled his own fair share of food and drink on his own books.

"Exactly," she said, squaring her shoulders. "So, how may I be of assistance?"

"We are looking for some information on selkies, specifically about their bonds. Barring that, I suppose any information you might have about magical bonds, especially those of shape shifters, or those whose shift is tied to an external item, would be helpful.”

The oread scribbled some notes down on a sheet of paper with a tiny pencil and waved for them to follow her.

"Yes, well, we have a few areas of investigation then. First, I know of a few accounts of anthropologists that lived with communities of selkies living off the Western shore of Caihalaith, as well as cross-sectional study on bonds. There really is quite the variety, you know, but it's the most interesting read, you see, because they fall into some key categorical types."

The librarian spoke rapid fire, and moved through the library like Aegir might through the water, instinctively and without hesitation. Here, she was the master of her domain, and it was immediately evident.

"The book details these types and even has a few case studies of bonds between different races withdifferentbond types. Onein particular, the interaction of a bi-directional soul bond and a unilateral binding bond created some interesting dynamics for one couple, and in another, a triad was able to combine their bonds in such a way that they were able to speak telepathically!"

"That is quite interesting," Elspeth said, babbling as if trying to squeeze her words in between the librarian's. "I think, if you found it so helpful, that perhaps we should start there, as we are truly most interested in selkie bonds."

"I thought as much." The librarian turned sharply down a row of books and up a set of winding stairs to the second level. Here, they exited onto a small platform that had railings and a set of cranks. As soon as they were on it, the oread began turning one crank that moved them along a set of tracks. Elspeth’s hands clung to the edge of the cart, white knuckled, though her mouth had dropped open in awe. While Aegir had been to the library before, he'd never had occasion to ride a book trolley and he wasn't ashamed to say he was excited as a schoolboy. The cart slid effortlessly along the track, jerking to the side when she switched to a different crank.

"Aha!" the librarian said as they pulled to a stop not a minute from when they'd left. "Here we are then!" She pulled a book off the shelf and handed it to Aegir. "Youmight also want Eldridge’sAccounting of Bindingsand Nasstrom’sFurther Explorations of Bonds, which are both responses to it. Do you want the books on selkies specifically, or shall I set you up with a study room and a selection?"

Aegir turned to Elspeth. It was her inquiry, really, and he wanted to let her do as she preferred.

"A study room, if you please." Elspeth held tight to the railing and looked as if she might be sick. "We will start with these and then see if we need the others."

"Wonderful, off we go then!" The cart zipped off again, going instead to the back wall of the library and the many cubbies carved into the wall there. As they approached, Aegir saw that several were already occupied, the dwarves within looking consumed in their studies. The librarian stopped them in front of one that seemed slightly larger than the others and opened a gate on that side of the cart. Elspeth looked at it skeptically when the oread waved her hand, indicating that they should exit into the space.

"And when we are done? How will we leave?" Elspeth squeaked.

"Ring this bell here, and a porter will be over to get you. That,or you can always use the ladders. Some prefer them." Her tone of voice conveyedexactlyhow she felt about the folks who preferred the ladders over her trolleys.

Elspeth stepped inside, scooting as close to the back wall as she could, and Aegir was only too happy to squeeze in next to her. With a sharp nod, the librarian zipped off, pleased with herself.

The cubby was snug, with a table and two booth seats facing it. A set of small shelves built into the back wall gave them a place to set books, and, he was pleased to see, several reference books. Underneath the shelves was an alcove that held an orange crystal that radiated heat. A small stack of scratch paper and pencils sat at the side, as well as a sign that reminded patrons not to: "re-shelve books, smudge or dog-ear pages, speak loudly, or eat or drink." All of which sounded reasonable to Aegir.

"Shall we then?" he asked Elspeth, setting the books on the table. "This is the one she mentioned."

Elspeth took the book reverently from his hands. With a shaky breath, she sat it before her on the table and opened it to the index.

"Selkies, here we are, page seventy-four." She flipped pages until they saw the subheading for selkies, listed under the heading "Object-Limited Restrictive Bindings."

They were silent as they read what appeared to be a fairly comprehensive analysis of the selkie bond. It opened by calling the bond a "class five" restrictive bond, noting that it was limited both by a physical object and influence. Aegir's eyes caught on a passage, and he read it over and over, refusing to believe what he'd read.