Under Lock and Key

Records House C.

It was the size of a small library, and it sat not far from the University’s main administration at the clocktower. That suggested some level of importance, and for those who knew how to read between the lines, it was telling that staff had taken some effort to obfuscate its importance, being neither “worthy” of a proper name, nor even the honor of being first or second on the list of records houses.

Nonetheless, it was a major node for students studying Arnis’s history or its genealogy. The two-storied building, crammed full of shelves that were forever collecting dust, carried books upon books written about the nation and the people in it.

Ruben Ambrose Arnis, second prince of Arnis, made a secondary home here, as he pored over the books for his research.

While it was true that the kingdom’s future lay in its technology, the chaos of its ancient history meant it was worth looking back to make sure there were no unwelcome surprises just waiting to be falsely claimed by one noble or another.

Ruben taking one book down and putting another one back on the shelf for the sake of a thesis or a research project was nothing new. It was more surprising for him, however, to see Cerise helping him in exchange for exploring the archives.

“Don’t you have anything to do for Hardwicke? This seems a bit remote from your usual work,” Ruben opined, casually but still intrigued.

“I’m just waiting for my work to finish. You’d be surprised at the sort of things one can do when their potions are either boiling, cooling, or mixing,” Cerise answered as she laid a stack of tomes down by Ruben’s table. “Before this, I actually had a side hustle winning games at pubs. Got into quite a few fights over darts and accusations of cheating.”

“And were you cheating?” Ruben asked, trying not to grin.

Cerise laughed for a moment. “They were just too proud to ask for a handicap and then had the gall to be angry at me for having a better arm and eye than them. Remember, Ruben, eat your vegetables if you want to see in the dark.”

Ruben matched the witch’s short laugh, before he spied the titles on the spines of the books Cerise had brought over.

Arnis Lineages ,volumes 1-3. Notable Families Appendix. Peoples of Arnis…

“Looking at the noble lineages?” Ruben innocently asked.

Cerise’s expression was a curious one, that didn’t match her actions. She seemed to be casually flipping through the pages, but at a surprisingly hurried rate, while her eyes darted back and forth between the lines with intense focus that spoke of a goal in mind.

She was looking for something.

Whatever it was, she didn’t answer, as Cerise drifted to another conversation topic. “You know, it’s funny that there’s something even more outdated than the potions I craft. Can you believe we really had an era where the Great Spirits supposedly granted certain bloodlines abilities that used Breath.”

“You make it sound like it’s a myth,” Ruben said, even as he looked at the spine of the book in Cerise’s hands and remembered the family trees of the Tezzanor family, and which names were highlighted to show how often across the generations their members could control the growth of plants, or the Rieses, who could project force that shattered stone. Classic methods that were once locked in blood, but now accessed by study and steel.

“Aren’t they?” Cerise dryly remarked. “I’ve passed plenty of nobles in the streets who brag about their ancestry, but they can’t conjure flame from their finger tips. Sometimes they can’t even pay their bills. Arnis belongs to whoever’s rich enough to get a tool that does the work for them now. How many families still have abilities these days?”

Ruben immediately thought of his sister. Yet another thing where fortune smiled upon her. The family legend was that the Arnis gift from the Great Spirits was granted purely to help oppose the depravities of the Sant-Lumieres, which would make them the last lineage to feel the touch of the Breath of the World.

“All I can say as a prince is that the answer may surprise you.”

“Ha!”

Time wore on, but even with Cerise flipping through a number of books with surprising speed that should have suggested impatience, she didn’t seem satisfied with her findings, or lack thereof.

“Can I be frank? These family trees are all talking about some pretty insignificant families,” Cerise said, frowning. “A good third of them only had gifts because they married to a line that was touched by a Great Spirit.”

“Some of these families paid their way into being immortalized on paper,” Ruben admitted. “We keep them for posterity and partly as a smoke screen for the more valuable material. Some of our work is purely just to keep an internal record of which books are worth paying attention to.”

“Well, are there books here worth looking at if I want to check out who’s who in this damn kingdom?”

Looking at the way Cerise was glowering, Ruben honestly wanted to help her. At the same time, it wasn’t smart to divulge such secrets for a girl who had been here for less than a year.

Was it worth telling someone who was on the hunt for some sort of genealogical secret?

“Why are you so focused on this all of a sudden, anyways?” Ruben asked, turning in his seat to face her fully, concern flashing across his face for a second, enough for Cerise to notice. “What are you looking for?”

It couldn’t just be for an assignment or curiosity, or she would have left it off here. What was she on the hunt for?

The prince wasn’t surprised if Cerise kept that mystery to herself, simply choosing to frown at him until he relented. But the lack of excuse or justification was telling. She had given something away she couldn’t just talk off.

However long the two had a staring contest, eventually Ruben sighed and relented. “Follow me, and don’t tell anyone.”

Ruben left the desk and gestured for Cerise to follow. As she trailed after the blond, weaving between shelves and cabinets that made up the maze of the archives, until they made it to a particular, heavy metal storage unit. It was sealed tight with vented metal sheets, and further reinforced with chains and locks. Whatever was inside was well out of sight and inaccessible.

“This is the restricted shelf. All I know is that some of the history there we prefer to keep quiet,” the prince said, quietly, as if the locked container was worthy of solemnity.

Cerise traced the shelf with her eyes, checking the padlocks and keyholes.

“You know what’s in there?” Cerise asked.

Ruben could only shake his head. “Nothing specific. If I get further into my specialty, then I might find out more.”

Cerise thought she knew. At least, she wanted to be sure. Ever since her meeting with Lucretia – or perhaps it all started when Robin made insinuations – Cerise’s plan started percolating in her head.

It was more than likely that some part of her past was captured and hidden behind those steel doors, and with so much scrutiny on her, she feared what would happen while she was here, trying to just get some accreditation for her medical practice.

Cerise considered, planned, and started conspiring to see how to defeat those locks and make it into the restricted section. The sooner she could get in, the sooner she could more thoroughly erase her past before it could backfire on her.