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Ibai exhaled a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. He stretched his arms and rolled his neck. Whew.

He’d lost track of time again, hadn’t he? Well, at least he wasn’t feeling so utterly famished that he could barely walk. He’d gotten an earful from Chergoa and Emiliana after that one.

But the book was done. His next gift for the Library. Impulsively, he wanted to hand it over right away, but then he thought that maybe he should wait until his proofreader returned so that he could put the extra-finishing touches on it.

Hmm. Tough call. Making him antsy.

Either way, it was time for a break, he supposed. And thinking about Chergoa and Emiliana just now had made him want to go check on the two of them.

Emiliana in particular.

She’d been in a peculiar state, recently. Just before leaving, Gohvis had taught her some type of new meditative technique, and now, the entire time he’d been away, she hadn’t budged from that same spot in the center of the Library’s main room, right next to Arkos’ Great Globe of Eleg.

Sure enough, when he arrived, she was still there, just the same as he’d last seen her. Yesterday? Two days ago? He wasn’t sure.

He’d frequently seen Chergoa hanging around her as well, and indeed, she was here this time, too.

‘Hey,’ said the reaper upon seeing him.

“Hiya.” With his new book under his arm, he approached the young woman both curiously and cautiously. It was weird. He didn’t want to disturb her training, but at the same time, it had been so long that it was hard not to worry about her condition. She was looking decidedly quite pale and slim. “Any change?” he asked.

‘None that I’ve been able to see,’ said Chergoa. ‘Apart from the obvious.’

The obvious being her weight and complexion, Ibai knew. “Wow. It’s been over a week now, hasn’t it?”

‘Going on two, actually.’

Really? Huh. “And you still can’t rouse her out of it?”

‘Sure can’t,’ said Chergoa with a sigh.

“Hmm. Do you think...? Um.” He was hesitant to utter his next question, despite having thought it several times already, but it seemed to him that they were reaching a point where they shouldn’t ignore the possibility. “Do you think, perhaps, that this isn’t actually a form of training, like Gohvis said?”

‘The thought has crossed my mind, yes.’