Contents
Chapter 28
Overview
Livira and Malar exit the portal into the Exchange and encounter canith brothers Mayland and Starval. Mayland argues the library must be sealed to free the world from destructive memory, while Malar affirms loyalty to Livira. After a tense knife display, the brothers depart, and an assistant arrives demanding Livira’s book.
Summary
Livira and Malar stumble from a portal into the Exchange. Confronted by two canith—Mayland and Starval—Malar readies his sword while Livira vouches for them as Evar’s brothers. The canith ignore Malar’s hostility, probing Livira about her allegiance and noting she carries the book an assistant requested.
Starval admits to lurking during earlier meetings; Mayland stresses assistants have names and references Yute and Yamala. Mayland presses the core question: which side in the library’s war will Livira choose? When Livira mentions Yute’s compromises, Starval flashes in, knife at Malar’s throat; Malar’s blade still nicks Starval, proving Malar’s competence. They both stand down.
Mayland delivers his thesis: history’s lessons, transmitted through the library, repeatedly fuel civilizational burn cycles. He proposes not burning books but rendering the library unusable—closing, hiding, or burying it—freeing people from the burden of inherited knowledge that is misused. Livira challenges the premise, weighing her identity as a keeper of memory against Mayland’s argument that cleverness and memory breed misery.
Invoking a parable of a gold brick dooming desert travelers, Mayland urges removing the tempting weight of the library. Before Livira can respond, Starval warns someone unwanted is arriving. The brothers depart through a nearby off-world portal.
In the quiet after, Malar dismisses rhetoric as post-justification and commits to Livira’s side as family, predicting she cannot choose the library’s destruction given her origins and values. Their debate is cut short when an assistant steps from a portal and calmly demands Livira hand over the reclaimed book.
Who Appears
- LiviraProtagonist; emerges with her reclaimed book, debates Mayland’s plan, and faces an assistant’s demand for the book.
- MalarSoldier ally; confronts canith brothers, is briefly held at knifepoint, then pledges unwavering loyalty to Livira.
- MaylandCanith historian; argues the library should be sealed to break history’s destructive cycles; leaves to avoid an arrival.
- StarvalCanith assassin; tests Malar with a knife, urges departure, supports Mayland’s stance yet avoids open violence.
- AssistantUnnamed white figure who steps from a portal at the end and demands Livira surrender the book.