Royal Archivist

Author's Note: This takes place eighteen years after "Toofy" and "Drachne", and likely contains some spoilers. However, it should be easy to follow along without having read it.

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The woman standing on the ladder, carefully balancing as she slid the books back onto the shelves, was a slight figure. Her hair was pulled up tight behind her in a threaded ponytail, showing a calico mix of black and gold.

Both tiny furry ears that poked out of the top of her head were black, though the insides were a pretty little pink. They were currently flattened as she concentrated on filing things in the correct order to match her system.

Her nose was crinkled up with concentration, causing her gold-rimmed glasses to slip further down, almost threatening to fall off, but not quite. She was too busy to even notice that she was no longer alone in the room, and the other catgirl was angrily tapping her foot on the floor in impatience.

"Toofy's going to fucking skin the cat alive if she doesn't pay attention!"

The woman let out a surprised miaow and fell backwards off the ladder. She landed lightly, before trying to grab at the books she had been carrying, which mostly ended up all over the floor.

She pushed her glasses up habitually as she scampered to grab and inspect the books, before putting them onto the stepladder. The woman thought for a moment, and then a look of abject horror crossed her face and she ever so slowly turned.

The other woman was black haired, and her cat's ears were white. However instead of gold, her eyes were a deep and furious red. Eyes that were now trained on her.

She miaowed again, and bobbed her head, stammering nervously, "Em-empress! She's so sorry! So sorry! Millie is very, very sorry, empress. She's a bad kitty. Very much an airhead, she's sorry. She finds it difficult to notice when people are talking to her, and she always seems to -"

"Not know when to shut the fuck up." The empress interrupted, as Millie looked at the dragon teeth piercing the other catgirl's head from her crown, as she realised they weren't actually an exaggerated barroom tale.

She cringed and gave a nervous smile, "Sorry."

"Stop apologising. It annoys Toofy." The empress replied, "She's here because she needs to find something. Something hidden. Something old."

Millie pushed up her glasses, "A book, your grace?"

"Toofy is looking for something that old emperor hid in the Archives. She isn't sure if it is book or scroll, or even made to look like something else entirely." The catgirl mused, "However, she heard from many people that the librarian has a system of order. Make it hard to keep something hidden, if it didn't obey the system. Even if it did, the librarian would have a record of it, then."

The woman nodded quickly, "She sees. Hmm. The Millie arranges things differently in the Royal Archives. Other places, like Temple, order things by acquisition date. However, Millie thinks that's stupid. So she made an index, so that items could be arranged by type of document, then by topic, and then by other features such as author or publisher."

"She sees." The terrifying empress who had eaten the heart of a fucking dark god said with disinterest, "Toofy has spent long time in many libraries. All the secrets can always be found. But she doesn't have much time today. Her Ink came of age today, and fucking elven blood has screwed up her hormones. So... Librarian... The fuck would we find what bastard emperor hid!?"

Millie flinched, whining as she pushed up her glasses again. She scampered over to her desk, carefully putting down her books, before opening a large book of lines filled with handwritten numbers and titles.

She scanned it quickly, "Would her grace know a time it was hidden? Previous emperor hid it, which means eighteen years ago. Much before then?"

"About six months before Toofy killed him." The catgirl said darkly.

Millie cringed, trying not to remember how there hadn't even been a body to bury, afterwards. Not that anyone would have been interested in burying Kaden, not even his concubines. The man had been a jerk.

"Three items of note came from emperor's office in that time." Millie mused, "Two scrolls and... Box. Locked box seems like might contain secret. Would empress come with Millie?"

She scanned the shelves for the numbers as they walked, "Physical sciences... Divine philosophies... Geometries... Here we are. Differential geometries of spacial magics."

Millie walked down, eyes flicking around the numbers as she continued to push her glasses up her nose. She was kind of curious what it was that the emperor had hidden in her archives. She was also quite attached to living, and so didn't want to get caught up in the politics of her empress.

She had been a kitten working as both a slave and apprentice when Lady Twenty Four de Sai had pulled off her coup d'etat. The destruction of the bells and subsequent freedom for all nekos is what had allowed her to take charge of the archives from the half-drunk human who had been lazing about in it.

The neko had been both terrified and awed by the thought that a woman only ten years her senior had somehow managed to seize the entire godsdamned empire. It had inspired her to try and stand up for herself, and her service had been rewarded.

All the same, this was the first time that Millie had actually met the demigoddess who now ruled the empire.

She hoped it would be the last.

She paused, frowning and took a half step backwards. She tapped the numbers attached to the shelves, and rubbed at her chin. "This is wrong. There is a missing item, here."

"Warp and weft." Toofy said with an eyeroll and snapped her fingers. The shelf groaned for a moment before the space seemed to roll and stretch outwards in both directions, revealing a half dozen books that had been hidden.

Millie didn't question it, and crouched, pulling her floral dress up so it didn't get caught. She picked up a small black box, engraved on every side and then stood up and held it out to the empress, "Could this be what he hid?"

"Seems like." Toofy cocked her head, "Wasn't expecting it to be fucking enchanted. Bastard. Toofy was never best at languages. Writing on outside, it isn't draconic, or not any that she has seen. Not elven. Bastard."

The librarian took a closer look at the black box and the symbols carved along every edge. She ran her fingers along them, looking at it carefully. "This isn't a language, your grace. Well, not one as you know it. These are formulae."

"Formulae?" The catgirl said, bristling with irritation. "Like... Natural philosophies?"

She nodded, "One moment, your grace."

Millie put the box down on a nearby table, and pulled a pencil out of her hair. She also drew a small book of handwritten notes out of her bra and started sketching out the symbols. She chewed on the end of the pencil, considering, and then wrote a few extras.

She nodded to herself, "She doesn't quite understand it, your grace, but she has an inkling. These ones, on top of box, refer to the construction of circles. Ways to measure how big circle is by only knowing part. Like this, it tells you how many paces around the circle is, if you only know distance across the circle."

"Interesting." The empress said, actually lighting up, "Help to design magic circles in theory, yes? Toofy likes. Could help solve issues with bad gateway that needs repairs in east city... Sorry. Distracted. Other formulae?"

Millie smiled sheepishly, "She isn't natural philosopher, your grace. But, they could help her... This side of secret box? Millie thinks they describe measuring inside of shapes. Like how much water can fit inside a box. But any shape for symmetrical things."

Toofy leaned forward, looking at the symbols, "Wanna learn to read. Going to yell at royal tutor. He not teach Toofy things she need know. What does Millie call this?"

"Geometry, your grace. All formulae for this are geometry. Made for measuring things."

"Like cities. Good for planning city shape, and flow. Controlling trade and commerce, protecting citizens." The empress mused, "Mmm... Very distracting. What more can the Millie say?"

"This last set, she doesn't know." The librarian shook her head, "She thinks she knows parts, but it doesn't make sense. This symbol, usually mean time. But this one usually mean the space inside objects. This one usually mean distance. Not make any sense to her."

The empress laughed, "That's because the Millie is not a magus. But Toofy is. These rules... They're protections on little box. Guidance on how to safely open box, because box is bigger on inside than outside. Time and space are part of same weave. She thanks the Millie. Will come back if she has more questions."

With that, the empress picked up the box and walked away.

Millie sank down onto the floor, ears going flat and tail flopping to the ground. She curled up on her side and put her head in her arms in utter exhaustion from the terror of being so close to not just the ultimate authority in the land, but probably one of the most dangerous magic users to currently be alive, barring the Crown Princess.

The librarian closed her golden eyes and tried to practice remembering how to breathe. She had known that it was inevitable that her path would eventually cross with the empress, especially after so many years, but usually the empress sent someone on her behalf, too busy to deal with things herself.

She really, really, did not want to know what was hidden inside the box. The enchantment on it was enough for her to decide it was too dangerous to know about, let alone the magic to hide it on her shelves, or that it was apparently hidden on behalf of a truly horrible man.

The sun peeking through the windows was warm on her, as she lay there on the floor. It may not have been particularly dignified, but the neko quickly found herself drifting off to sleep.

---

"Milicent?"

She groaned, sitting up and stretching her back, "She's here. She's here."

There was only one person in the world that called her by her proper name. She had hated it at first, and tried to dissuade them, but in the end she had come to enjoy it.

It was the name that he called her, reserved just for him.

Lord Gaarn was a strange one. He was stiff and stuck in his ways, still carrying around a warhammer even though no orc had needed to carry any kind of weapon in the city since Toofy had made herself into their ruler.

Most orcs had died, however a handful, not blessed with magic, had survived. He had been selected by the empress to take care of the survivors. His duty was to care for people who found themselves as the last remnants of a race that had shunned those who had survived for being different.

It was a particularly difficult role, as Millie understood it.

She glanced out the window to see a starlit sky. She hadn't meant to stay asleep that long. Yet, she was a catgirl. If there was anything that knew how to nap, it would be her.

She reached around blearily until she found her glasses, slipping them on to let the world pop into focus. She turned her gaze as she smelled the orc approaching, and gave a timid little smile, "M'lord."

"Milicent." He replied calmly, and extended a red-skinned hand to help her to her feet. "I heard that the empress paid you a visit. It made me feel... Anxious."

She smiled weakly, "Pretty sure she shouldn't talk about it."

"Oh, the reasons don't concern me. Our empress is a warrior spirit. Our librarian would rather hide in the rafters." He replied, "Yet, you appear intact. That is more than can be said for most first-time encounters with her highness."

Millie smiled weakly at him, "Thankyou, m'lord. She is quite alright. Her highness may have scared her, but she did not scar her."

He nodded, and turned to leave, he hesitated for a moment and glanced back at her, "Forgive me for being blunt. It appears to me that you exist in a delicate balance. How can a frail thing like yourself hope to stay intact? If not the empress, then irritating another politician is always likely."

"Frail." Her ears went flat as she glared at him.

It was true that she was shy, reticent to engage with anyone, but she had never considered herself to be frail. Delicate at times, certainly... But fucking weak? Never.

Millie held up a hand, using it to measure the orc carefully, then she pulled out her writing pad and sketched out a few numbers. Satisfied that it would work, she sniffed and pushed up her glasses.

Her golden eyes burst into light for a moment and then the orc yelled as the floor beneath him vanished. She crouched at the edge of the hole, looking down at the man dangling in the trees and sniffed at him derisively, "Millie isn't frail, m'lord. Enjoy the Tangles."

There was a sucking sound and a pop as the gateway collapsed in on itself before he could answer.

She stood up, smoothed down her dress and pushed up her glasses. With that out of the way, she turned to the previously hidden shelf and looked at the items that the empress hadn't taken with her. Millie's guess was right, they were unsorted and most didn't belong here. Just shoved into the hiding space.

She carried them over to her index and started to categorise them.

All of the scrolls were reports of one kind or another. Thankfully all of them were also dated, so it wasn't difficult to find and understand references between them. Some of them were reports from a spy who had apparently been trailing the Consort Prince, or the lowly Lord Sai, as he had been at the time of writing.

Apparently the emperor had been particularly concerned about Prince Sai because he wasn't attempting to rise in rank, which felt nonsensical to Millie. If the man wasn't trying to increase his political influence, then why would that be threatening to the emperor?

She put the thought aside as something she probably didn't want to know the answer to.

Several more of the reports, however, made the archivist feel a more pressing concern. Though the first of them did date from eighteen years ago, they came in at yearly intervals, and the most recent of them was only a couple months old.

They were neatly ciphered, and written in a professional and clear hand with graphite. The writings of a researcher. Breaking the cipher took Millie less than a minute. Each character was offset by either the year, the month, or the day, in a repeating order. Even if she hadn't easily guessed that the date was the key, it was a stupid weak cipher. Just a shift cipher.

She transcribed copies of the reports, feeling more and more anxious as she did.

It was clear that the researcher in question, who signed off his reports only with the letter `R', was well and truly aware that the emperor had fallen. He spoke at some length how the loss of the enslavement collars had caused several escape attempts by the ordinarily compliant subjects, requiring that R cull the herd until he could breed compliance into them.

If the reports weren't intended for the emperor, then who was R reporting to? Using her fucking archive as a clandestine exchange point? Whoever they were, they needed to be stopped just as much as the researcher did.

Millie paused to polish her glasses, and nearly squealed when she noticed she was no longer alone. She slipped them back on, blinking and then curtsying as she recognised the black-skinned succubus leaning boredly up against the shelves. "Your highness."

"Saia will do. Toofy sent me. She figured you'd be categorising the stuff you two found today." The woman sounded resentful, "So... Anything good?"

Millie's tail dropped and she whispered, "Bad. Very bad, your highness. She is decoding still, but look at these... Um... Can the Consort Princess read?"

"Temple trained." They replied tiredly and grabbed from the top of the stack, "Lemme see. Hmm... Ooh. Well, now. Isn't he a very bad boy?"

The woman's tail flicked excitedly, and a look of lust crossed her face, "Looking like I've got someone who needs to get dead. Any ideas of who? Or where?"

Millie felt sick at the thought, but frowned, "Difficult to say. The number of subjects referred to likely means that R has more than one space, unless he's using a Well of Souls. Probably rattan, if he's successfully breeding them. Maybe nekan subjects, but very unlikely. The only other who breed in sufficient numbers would be arachne, but controlling those..."

"Agreed." Saia laughed, "So, where would I keep a bunch of rats, if I wanted to torture them?"

Millie cringed at the casual way the woman spoke about the lives of others. "She believes the research locations are within city limits, but concealed. Even divided up, they would require considerable space. At least a dozen rooms in each."

"The undercity." Saia said sourly, "Fuck. I was hoping never to go near that damn place, again. Without a guide, it's practically impossible not to get lost. Even wrecked, the remnants of the Crucible still fucks with distances and directions down there. My flash dance is useless, just sends you in a circle."

Her eyes lit up, "Oh! A moment."

She ran up the side of one of the book cases, pushing up her glasses between jumps, before she dropped into one of the aisles and pulled out a large drawer from the shelf, delicately picking up the canvas. She hummed happily to herself before she remembered why she'd needed the map.

The archivist spread it out on a reading table, "Avoid touching. It is very, very old."

"Stinks." Lady Saia complained.

Millie shrugged, "The hide was taken from rattan, before it was stretched and worked into shape. Millie thinks that this was created by one of the Aurasine archivists. Describes most of the undercity, but not the Crucible. That was found here."

Saia looked at the map carefully, eyes flicking over it as the woman memorised it. "You're right. This is helpful. This is the exit onto the Castelle Estate. Hmm. The only places where I'd risk locking up a bunch of prisoners is this building, or this one... You mentioned something earlier. A Well of Souls. What's that?"

"She isn't quite sure. She isn't a magus." Millie answered, "Far as she understands it, it is a space created by old magic. Uses two circles, similar to a Gateway, but instead of joining two places so that stepping into one sends you to the other, a Well creates a tunnel between them. An artificial space that can only be entered by the magic circles."

"The hell?" Saia said, "That sounds... Bad."

Millie shrugged, "Lord Elatham developed it for the traitor emperor. His east tower was the original Well of Souls. So it effectively became two towers in one. The emperor ordered its destruction and fined Lord Elatham for wasting empire resources in developing it. Before he did, Lord Elatham had theorised it might be possible to intersect two Wells. Form network of tunnels overlaid on reality."

The succubus grimaced, "Sounds more like Kaden. He saw the potential as a way of building secret entrances. Sneak into the palace to kill the ugly fucker. Don't suppose you have anything to help spot a Well, if the research was destroyed?"

"Only Well destroyed. Research intact." Millie replied, "Takes up whole shelf. Does the Princess require that Millie show her where?"

"Eugh. Nah, screw that. I'll get a bunch of battle mages. Let the royal guard hunt it down. They'll bring an edict." The princess shook her head, "Expect another edict for copies of those reports, too. Anything else gross that we should care about?"

Millie shook her head, "Read these. Traitor emperor was watching Prince Sai."

"No shit. 'Course he was." Saia rolled her eyes, "Well, I'll leave you to it. Sounds boring. I'm off to the nearest whorehouse for a feed, since Ink's taking up all of Toofy's time."

The archivist felt a considerable amount of relief when the princess had left. It was well known that the empress' wife found anything slow or uninteresting, like reading reports, to be little more than an annoyance. And annoying someone who could eat your soul with a kiss was something Millie wished to avoid.