Love Crafted - Chapter 23

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There are many books here at first glance, thousands and thousands, but when you look more carefully you notice that most of them have two or three copies set next to each other, some have even more than that. It’s rare to find a book that’s all alone without at least a twin next to it.

This is, after all, a bookstore, so you guess they sell books.

You hum a little song that makes the tallest shelves seem a little less tall as you walk so that you can see what’s where. At first you’re not sure what you’re looking for. Maybe a book about caring for your Summoner? It would be nice to know the optimal way to pet your Abigail, but you don’t find anything like that.

Instead, after a few minutes of aimless wandering, you see a book about the Inquisition’s impact on some place you don’t know about and it gives you an idea.

You skip along with purpose now, skirts bounce-bouncing as your eyes scans the rows of books. It takes a little searching to find what you’re looking for, but you eventually find it within tentacle-grabbing range, which is all ranges.

The Inquisition: History, Impact, Creed, by Judas Fawkes

Smiling with well-deserved smug satisfaction, you move to a spot near the back of the store where someone left a big fluffy seat right under a window that’s allowing fat yellow sunrays to light up the cozy nook.

You place the book on your lap and open it up. The first few pages are all about who made the book and other boring stuff. Then you get to the chapter called Forward and pause a bit to wonder at just how stupid a name that is for a chapter in a book. What’s it forwarding?

“The Inquisition as an organization has defined Humanity’s quest to control their own destiny. From its humble birth to now the Inquisition has made great leaps in debunking superstitions and disproving the existence of so-called ‘gods’ and has stripped corrupt religious officials and vile cultists of the power and riches they stole from the unsuspecting populace.

“No other group in human history has done as much to promote growth, learning and critical thinking in the face of a world that occasionally seems senseless. While the methodology of the Inquisition might seem excessively complex at first glance, the intricacies of the situations that the Inquisition deals with demand nothing less, as this book will soon show.

“In the defence of humanity and its interests there is only the shield of reason to keep mankind safe!”

You blink a few times to stop yourself from taking a surprise nap. This book is boring. No wonder Abigail is so worried about these Inquisition people. Other than their neat hats there’s nothing good about them.

Harrumphing mightily, you leave the book on a nearby end table and flounce back into the rows to find something better to read. Maybe they have something about you? You should totally be the subject of many books because you’re you.

After searching fruitlessly for a long time, the only thing you find that can sorta maybe be about you, though, is a big book about squids and cephalopods and other tentacle cousins. It’s a pretty book, with lots of hand drawings and sketches within it of different sorts of tentacles.

Some of them have suction-y cups for extra grabbing power, which would make your hugs even harder to get out of, and others are like your hair tentacles, all thin and ropey. These would be handy for tickle-hugging someone. The best are the big bulky tentacles of some distant cousin called an octopus. Its tentacles are few, but they are mighty.

Soon though, you’ve looked at all the pictures. It’s not worth buying or nibbling on this book. You know what tentacles look like already.

“Did you find anything?” Abigail asks as she finds you in a corner. You’re about to go put the tentacle book back.

“Not really,” you say. “There’s nothing about you or me here.”

“Ah, that’s… okay,” Abigail says. “Were there any books you wanted?”

You frown and think about it for a few long seconds. “Are there any books about hats?”

“Um,” Abigail says. “Maybe a guide to millinery?”

“What’s that?” you ask.

She smiles and pulls you closer so that she can give you a hug. You’re not sure why she’s feeling hug-y, but you’re not going to say no. “Millinery is the art of hat-making,” she says.

“Ohh.” You think about it a little, but dismiss the idea. You don’t want to make hats, you want to wear them. You’ll just take one of the Inquisitor’s hats the next time you see one.

“Are you ready to go? We should be heading home after this. Daphne needs to do things at her place, and we need to prepare for tomorrow morning. We’re going to be getting up bright and early.”

“Ah, that means we’re going to go to sleep again?” you ask, suddenly excited to get back home.

“That’s right,” Abigail says. “If there’s nothing you want, then we should get going.”

Daphne’s waiting by the door, standing next to a cloth bag with the store’s logo filled to the brim with books. She gestures at it. “I’ll let you figure this one out, you’re the one with the toned arms.”

Abigail rolls her eyes. “That’s because unlike someone, I actually work for a living.”

“Ouch,” Daphne says as she slaps a hand over her chest. “That hurt Abi. I’m going to have to take a bath in a tub full of gold to make the pain go away.”

“What if you took a bath with Abigail? Would that make her happier too?” you ask.

Daphne chokes again, but this time her whole face goes very red while Abigail giggles. “I don’t think anyone wants to share a bath with anyone else here,” Abigail says.

You shrug. “I never took a bath before.”

Abigail runs her fingers through your hair. “Well, when we get home we can change that,” she says before turning to Daphne. “Will we be seeing you tomorrow morning?” she asks.

Daphne nods. “Maybe. If not in the morning then certainly in the afternoon. I can have lunch in the junior’s hall with you and maybe show you around. It will be fun.”

There’s hugging and grabbing bags and a bit more chatting, and then you’re all off and on your way home.