Grounds for Justifiable Homicide

Ria braced herself against the wall, expecting another strike. Instead, she sensed the woman calmly walking toward her and picking something rectangular off the floor.

Before Ria could ask what she was doing, the woman raised it overhead and brought it down on Ria's skull with a loud bonk.

"Ow!" Ria clutched her head, which now throbbed in two separate places. "What was that for?"

"There, now we're even."

"Even?"

"It's too exhausting to fight. Consider the head bonk sufficient retribution."

Ria's vision swam. The water in the air blurred into weird shapes, globbing and unglobbing in a way that made no sense. She pressed her palm against her forehead as though that alone would will headache away.

"You... You know Otou-san?"

Silence stretched between them, broken only by Tyrant's faint chirping from somewhere above.

"I knew someone who wore black robes," the woman said eventually. "An insufferable man who thought himself clever for abandoning responsibility and retreating into a forest to play hermit."

"So you do know Otou-san!"

The woman let out a long sigh.

"Unfortunately your father was part of the Hero's Party that came knocking on my door. You know, the oh-so-famous trio that helped lead a temporary ceasefire of the war.?"

"Otou-san was a hero?!"

"No. The Hero was an idiot with a sword who thought stabbing things solved problems. Jin was the medic who kept that idiot alive long enough to become a legend, though calling him a medic might be underselling it. Rumors were with the help of a certain bird, he could grow some of the rarest herbs in all of Nanrei, and he would use them to perform miracles like cure a poison that melted organs or stop bleeding twice over."

"That sounds like Otou-san alright! But why would the Hero's Party come after you?"

The woman sighed again before snapping her fingers.

The ground beneath Ria's feet rumbled, then rose into a seat-like shape that caught her before she toppled over. A table sprouted beside it, its stone surface so smooth that Ria couldn't really sense a single imperfection from it. An earthen hand then emerged from the floor, balancing a teacup that somehow hadn't spilled a single drop of during its journey from wherever the woman kept her tea.

Tyrant chirped excitedly.

"Oh, fine." 

The woman flicked her wrist, and a stone perch materialized beside the table. Tyrant immediately hopped onto it to claim his prize. Ria stared at the seat supporting her, then at the table, then at the tea, then at Tyrant's new perch.

"Oh, I get it! They wanted to recruit you because you're good at making seats, tea, and perches!"

The woman's eye twitched. She faced Ria for several more seconds, as if debating whether to hit her over the head again with her coffin-book. Finally, she exhaled.

"I'm Lark, an elf T'ien-ts'ai blessed by Dōsen."

"What's a Dōsen?"

"The great bird of earth. Its magic allows me to reshape the land and such."

"That's amazing! Does that mean you can build sand castles?"

"I could but I won't," The woman crossed her arms. "Do you know what happens when people discover you can reshape the world itself? Humans want you to build forts. Demons want you to bring those forts down. Both sides assumed I'd pick one."

"But you didn't?"

"I refused to participate in their idiotic war so naturally, both sides decided I was an enemy. Humans sent the Hero's Party to 'convince' me, while demons sent assassins when I declined their offers."

"What did you do?"

"Buried myself underground for three decades until everyone forgot I existed, then I built this library and decided it wouldn't be so bad to just stay here with my books."

"But don't you miss people? Or sunlight?"

"No."

Ria fidgeted with the teacup, tracing its rim with one finger.

"You know, once I find Otou-san, we could keep you company! He knows lots of stories, and I could bring you all sorts of fun herbs from the forest for you to observe!"

"Did you hear any of what I just said? I buried myself underground specifically to avoid people. Your father included, especially your father."

"What did he do?"

"The first time he came here, he brought the Hero's party with him to convince me to join them, though they obviously failed. The next time, he came alone with an entire barrel of sake. I told him I didn't drink. He said that was fine, more for him. Then he proceeded to get catastrophically drunk in my home, knock over god knows how many shelves, vomit on a first-edition manuscript, and pass out on my floor for sixteen hours."

Ria tried to imagine Otou-san doing any of that, but failed.

"When he woke up," Lark continued, "he looked at the damage, looked at me, and said, 'Guess I owe you one.' Then he left and never came back."

"That's..."

"Grounds for justifiable homicide?"

"I was going to say that doesn't sound like Otou-san."

"That's because he probably wasn't your Otou-san yet. People change when they have someone depending on them. Or so I've heard. I wouldn't know personally."

"You really don't have anyone?"

"Well, I'm not entirely alone." Lark gestured vaguely toward the deeper sections of the library. "I have Kiwi."

"Kiwi?"

"My companion." Lark cleared her throat. "Kiwi! Come here!"

Silence.

"Kiwi!"

More silence.

"Are you making up pets now? That's really sad."

"I'm not! Kiwi is very real and simply sleeping somewhere. Unlike certain people who can't keep track of their bird."

"What?" Ria spun around, searching for Tyrant's familiar round shape. The perch sat empty. "Tyrant?"

No response.

"Tyrant!"

Still nothing.

"See? And you're one to talk about imaginary companions.

"He was just here!" Ria scrambled from her chair, senses concentrating as she swept through the air for any trace of moisture that might reveal Tyrant's location. 

"Tyrant! Where did you go?"

As if in response, a distant crash echoed from somewhere deeper in the library, followed by the unmistakable sound of coffin-books tumbling to the floor.

Lark raised her eyebrows. "That better not be what I think it is."

Another crash thundered through the library, louder this time, as dust rained from the ceiling.

Ria tried to follow the sound. "Tyrant?"

A high-pitched screech that definitely not Tyrant's voice answered her. Then something heavy slammed into stone, followed by the distinctive sound of rocks breaking apart.

"No, Kiwi, stop!"

Ria ran after her, one hand trailing along the cave wall for guidance. The crashes grew louder, broken by Tyrant's squawking. When the two rounded a corner, and Ria's senses caught two shapes: one small and round, the other a massive four-legged creature with jagged wings and a body craved from some sort of stone, moving after him with alarming speed.

I-is that a dragon?!

Lark immediately shouted, "Kiwi, down!"

The dragon ignored her completely. It tried to lunge after Tyrant with the enthusiasm of a puppy discovering its first bird, but its body ended up colliding with a stone pillar and sending rock fragments scattering across the floor.

Tyrant flapped his stubby wings, scrambling from shelf to shelf before diving behind Ria's legs. Kiwi followed, his rocky feet making awful grinding sounds across the floor. Ria threw herself aside just in time, and the dragon crashed headfirst into the wall where she'd been standing.

The impact shook through the walls. For a moment, everything went silent.

Then a crack appeared.

It started as a small fracture spreading across the wall's surface, then dozens more followed, branching out like lightning in stones until water began seeping through the cracks. It started off as a trickle, then turned into a stream, before revealing its final form as a waterfall.

Ria's vision suddenly sharpened as water rushed in through the air. She could see the wall better now, how the water is forcing its way through every new fracture, and how the cracks are spreading wider.

"Lark? What's happening?! Where are we??"

"Underground, beneath an oasis."

And, as if the oasis had been waiting for its name to be called, the wall exploded inward.