Post by StaolDerg on Apr 5, 2023 19:02:18 GMT -5
The black and sea blue-scaled inselni had been called many names throughout her lifetime– some probably exaggerated, others perfectly accurate, but all justly earned in the course of a long-lived life.
By those far and sparse rebels of the Free Army in the hills of the country, she was Yi Jian, the First Traitor: the first puppet of the Kumo, and the most willing, most loyal to the aims of the Websingers who had rendered and pillaged Elenria nonstop for the last eighty years. A traitor of her ilk needed not to be dignified by her first name; her family and community were not deserving of having their names associated with her identity and sins.
To her colleagues, she was Minister Zayfen, head of Elenria’s Ministry of Knowledge and the pioneer of Elenria’s modern education system. Under her leadership, TAKPOE had transformed the ancient and obsolete educational system of the country’s eastern urban coast into a modern system capable of developing its own innovations independent of Kumo expertise.
But for the Libraries of Kelsun, she was simply Autari Zayfen, and to a particular few, Senior Archivist Zayfen. Granted, it wasn’t well known that she was, or rather, had been a Librarian, but even if the public knew, few outside the truly uninformed would’ve likely been surprised. She had been responsible for the continued domination of Elenria’s major schools by the Libraries’ scholars, after all, and it would not have been totally unreasonable otherwise to assume her pay came from them too, given how fiercely she defended the autonomy of the Libraries.
Her past was the farthest thing on her mind as the train car bumped along the winding tracks up the mountain, though. She glanced out of her car’s window as it pulled underneath the city’s east gate, watching as the countryside was momentarily cut off by the passage’s brick interior.
The train tunnel was a relatively new addition, of course. The builders had to tear through almost fifteen meters of brick and stone at the thinnest point and up to twenty-four at the thickest part at the base as they dug through the ancient gate’s wall. With most of the laborers having been locals who were closer to their communities than their pay, it wasn’t all too difficult to see that extensive effort had been made to spruce up the interior tunnels with more than scaffolding to hold back the filler layers that buffered the walls. Bricks, new ones judging by the fact that they were a fresher, earthy red and not the worn, faded near-grey of the untouched exterior, coated all along the interior of the tunnel from both exits, and arches of stone brick accompanied them every so couple meters, further buffering the structure. But in the moment she watched, the train had passed through, and she watched the wall slowly vanish behind the slopes as the train wound around another mountain.
It felt strange to sit on this train, a Kumo-designed import, chugging its way into a city whose walls had never been successfully pierced by an invasion. And it felt stranger still now that there was a permanent entrance in the wall, built not by an outsider, but by the city’s own people, by their own hands, to allow the outside to enter. It didn’t have two, three massive, iron-skeleton slabs that could be swung shut in an invasion; it had just the two openings, to let the inside in, and the inside out.
Kumosenkan might not have razed these walls like they’d scorched those of Aundui Yio’s Citadel, but the result was the same: Even as the train slowed to a halt at the station, Zayfen looked up and could see the countless banners of the Elenria Prefecture accompanying that of Kumosenkan.
The ancestors of Kelsun’s people might’ve wanted to keep out the outside world’s relentless tides of change forever, but no matter how thick and how tall they built their walls, it seemed the world had still found them after all.
The hiss of the locomotive’s cylinders and a final jolt halted the train, and as the whole car erupted into movement as the passengers prepared to disembark, Zayfen neatly arranged her satchel on her lap and waited for the vast majority of passengers to leave before her. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t somewhere to be– she very much did– but she valued the time she had to herself to think before important functions.
There had been a meeting of the TAKPOE leadership three days ago. Normally she would have remained neutral on all topics at the table, but with the Franerre war breaking out to its closure, the various factions had been thrown into a frenzy of bickering, and on the list of things that had been discussed was the development of new equipment– or namely the lack thereof.
Elenria’s heavy industry was for the most part imported, and any replacement parts or expansions to existing factories and machines required waiting weeks for their manufacture and delivery, along with being inherently expensive. This problem had been evident from the first attempts to modernize the country decades before, but as the long nineteenth century had drawn to a close, a new problem was realized: the imported Kumo machines often needed to be meticulously adjusted to work in often horribly rough terrain. Combined with an unfortunate habit of the resident communities demanding at every turn that only their own be allowed to operate industries on their land, many of the extraction projects were doomed to inefficiency and corruption from the start.
Untrained and unskilled workers often damaged the expensive equipment, and even after introducing trained workers, the communities only continued to pose problems: long working hours and often poor pay resulted in communities purposely slowing down the ability of the government to carry out laws, whether that be by sabotaging reports, intimidating government workers brought in from outside, even downright attacking foremen who were supposed to increase efficiency. Even during the war with Franerre, they’d been more busy fighting over water rights or territorial disputes, and rumors were even appearing of fights breaking out along communal ties.
The meeting had been meant to address this, among other issues of corruption and problems found during the war with Franerre. The decided solution was to centralize the communities: force them to bow to TAKPOE’s order before it became the other way around. But that set a precedent for the autonomy of other ancient organizations, such as the Libraries: if Takpoe could dictate the actions of the Communities, why would they not take steps to do the same for the Libraries?
And that had been the point where her neutrality could no longer be sustained.
Most of the passengers had disembarked now, and so Zayfen quietly rose from her seat and followed out the door to the waiting station platform. She picked her way through the station, eventually finding her way to the edge of the station, where a small escort of policemen stood waiting for her on horseback, the reins of an free horse waiting for her.
The ride to the Imperial Library was uneventful, but as the police accompanying her reached the steps of the monolithic building, they pulled on their reins and halted their mounts as a couple of Crown approached. They moved slowly in a wide row, taking up most of the street, and as other pedestrians noticed them, the road quickly– quietly– became vacant. Some watched out on the front steps of their buildings and out of windows, but to the Minister’s worry, the whole street had gone quiet.
Their clothes were incredibly traditional: plain dresses that reached the lower ankles, with metal breastplates and iron-forged leggings engraved with the character of their community’s name. More alarming though, were the long sticks in their hands– they were made with grips on the lower section, while the upper portion hosted a padded piece of cloth tied on not unlike a hat around someone’s head. They looked harmless enough to Zayfen, but as the policemen stiffened at the sight of them, she frowned and pulled her horse over.
“Sergeant? What’s going on?”
The policeman glanced at her with tight lips. “We can’t go any further, I’m afraid.”
Unfortunate. Knowing better than to try to force her way through community disputes, she nodded. “Very well, Sergeant. You and your men are dismissed. Thank you for escorting me all this way.”
The officer took a final look at the approaching Crown before giving the Minister a quick salute, then turned his horse around with the rest of his squadron in close pursuit.
The Minister turned her horse back to the community members as they reached her, with one stepping forward before the others.
“Minister Zayfen.” The Crown greeted, bowing. “Apologies for the trouble. We’ll be your escort for the Library.”
“I appreciate it,” Zayfen replied, reciprocating the bow. She beckoned for the new escorts to lead her. “At your lead, then.”
“Of course. Master Librarian Se is expecting you.”
The Master Librarian was waiting for Zayfen at the head of the stairs to the Library’s main building. She was an old inselni, well into her five hundreds as evidenced by the fading hue of her scales and horns towards the ends. Though her body’s weight was largely lent to the stout structure of the cane in her right hand, she maintained a proud stature, her head raised free hand tucked behind her back.
“Minister.” The elderly inselni bowed slightly, responded likewise by Zayfen. “You wanted to meet?”
“That I did, Master Librarian. Urgent matters have emerged in the leadership of Takpoe policy. May we talk privately?”
Se dipped her head at the escorts beside Zayfen, and watched them part before leading the Minister away into the interior of the Library.
The Imperial Library was built into the side of a mountain, with its three sets of heavy gates opening up into a great cavernous space lit by the dim glows of candlelight. It wasn’t too hard to see that the original design of the subterranean atrium was meant for winged far-humans: despite the walkways and stairs that clung along the walls, the great extent of the floor’s rooms were entered through doors embedded in decorated frames along the walls, a small ledge sticking out for inselni to land upon.
But steps still existed for those who had tired wings or no wings at all, and they wound throughout the Library like the complex maze of a body’s veins and nerves, confusing and labyrinthine. The Minister followed Se along a winding road of dark stones as the older inselni strode purposefully through the dark, lit mostly by the glow of a lantern that hung from the belt of the Master Librarian as they made their way toward the far wall. The few people they encountered along the way were other librarians and some scarce few patrons, and never did she see their faces– they only ever did exist as the light of another lamp on another bridge underneath or overhead.
At last, they arrived at a simple-looking door: save for the iron studs and frame, she would’ve assumed it was a maintenance closet. The Master Librarian fished out a key from her robes and fiddled with the door for a moment before a dull click of the metal latch retracting allowed the door to be pulled open. For her age, Se proved surprisingly strong, and as she stepped inside beckoning for Zayfen to follow, the Minister struggled to heave the stubborn heft of iron and wood shut behind her.
Panting, she turned back to see the amused face of the Master Librarian lighting the handful of other lamps in the room. It appeared to be some sort of study– there were tables in the back absolutely jammed full of everything from leather tomes to piles of papers and scrolls beside delicately preserved books. Besides a number of formal stamps and rolls of dried bamboo books, they were the only neatly kept objects on the surface.
A large simple table that would’ve fit a family of six was placed at the center of the room, and aside from the single lantern at its center that illuminated it, it was vacant. As the guest, Zayfen seated herself as the Master Librarian stepped towards another table behind her.
"This will be privacy enough, I hope? Tea, Minister?"
"It is, and please."
Zayfen listened to the clink of ceramics as the other inselni set about preparing with a nod towards Zayfen, to which the Minister took as her cue to speak.
"A few days ago, a regular session was called of the High-Crested regarding the aftermath of the military expedition in Franerre, focusing primarily on the losses of the military with an inquiry. The verdict– or rather I should say the percieved answer– faulted the autonomy of the communities for poor coordination."
The gentle trickle of water into a cup paused. "Go on." Apprehension had seeded itself in Se's voice as she slowly set the ceramic pot down.
"The proposed changes were as follows– neutralize the power of the communities by nationalizing their industries, and make skilled employment directed by the Takpoe Ministry of Work. Furthermore, the State Minister put forth a suggestion that the nation's education should be entirely centralized and directed only by approval from TAKPOE. This vote, I am sorry to say, passed. The Regency simply possesses more seats."
Se put her hands on the edge of the table, tea forgotten. "They mean to strip authority from the Libraries then? Who teaches the students? Directs educational development?"
"Someone loyal to the Regency, no doubt. "I have my own suspicions they mean to dispose of me too at some point, probably at the same time they begin restructuring the educational system. But that is beside the point– you and I understand this means the end of everything we have worked for: for me, eighty-so years of attempted neutrality in politics to protect the noblest establishments of our forerunners; for you, the preservation and succession of countless centuries' worth of priceless knowledge. But there is more. They are placing the blame of what happened two days ago, at least from the protesters' side, on the heads of the Universities. The Minister had a private word for what she believes we are doing. 'Corrupting the youth.' She wants my Ministry essentially absorbed into the rest of the Regency faction's apparatus, and thus any and all protections I previously afforded the libraries will well be under threat."
"You have a plan, I hope?"
The Minister bit her lip. "Not one that I am completely happy with, but yes. Perhaps the most drastic answer to a drastic situation: I will ask the Royalists for help. The Army and Interior Ministry are flawed in their own ways, but their troops in uniform as well as personal connections to some of Elenria's more powerful Communities is a great advantage that can be used to counter the enormous political power wielded by the Regency."
She expected the Master Librarian to snort indignantly, but instead, the old Inselni slowly rounded the table to her seat in thoughtful silence, resting both hands on the back of the old wood. "They will demand a price. Can we hope to afford it?"
"Naturally. They are not going to help out of the kindness of their hearts; they have their own aims and goals. But we share a common interest in the subversion of the Regency's reckless behavior, and I happen to know that they lack skilled personnel for their handful of facilities, if only because of the endless bickering that ensued over shortages suffered during the Franerre military operation. This is in addition to their own demands of dominion over us: Queen Akel the First as we both recall wanted the Libraries directly subservient to her with varying levels of autonomy, a position the Royalists undoubtedly also hold. But that is why I have come to you: I may be the Minister of Knowledge, and by the law your position is beneath mine, but I felt would be indecent in the extreme to make such a decision in Elenria's politics without allowing for the Libraries themselves to hold the decision up for debate."
"I appreciate the trust you invest in the old institutions. But it will be a struggle, Minister. You know the other Master Librarians are not so keen to the interference of the central government. Some might even object to your presence within the Library at all." She sighed, kneading her forehead. "All right. How long do we have to make a decision, Minister?"
"A week, if not less," Zayfen replied grimly. "The Minister of State made very clear that she wanted to minimize the amount of time needed."
"Very well. I will assemble the others, and we will hold a vote."
By those far and sparse rebels of the Free Army in the hills of the country, she was Yi Jian, the First Traitor: the first puppet of the Kumo, and the most willing, most loyal to the aims of the Websingers who had rendered and pillaged Elenria nonstop for the last eighty years. A traitor of her ilk needed not to be dignified by her first name; her family and community were not deserving of having their names associated with her identity and sins.
To her colleagues, she was Minister Zayfen, head of Elenria’s Ministry of Knowledge and the pioneer of Elenria’s modern education system. Under her leadership, TAKPOE had transformed the ancient and obsolete educational system of the country’s eastern urban coast into a modern system capable of developing its own innovations independent of Kumo expertise.
But for the Libraries of Kelsun, she was simply Autari Zayfen, and to a particular few, Senior Archivist Zayfen. Granted, it wasn’t well known that she was, or rather, had been a Librarian, but even if the public knew, few outside the truly uninformed would’ve likely been surprised. She had been responsible for the continued domination of Elenria’s major schools by the Libraries’ scholars, after all, and it would not have been totally unreasonable otherwise to assume her pay came from them too, given how fiercely she defended the autonomy of the Libraries.
Her past was the farthest thing on her mind as the train car bumped along the winding tracks up the mountain, though. She glanced out of her car’s window as it pulled underneath the city’s east gate, watching as the countryside was momentarily cut off by the passage’s brick interior.
The train tunnel was a relatively new addition, of course. The builders had to tear through almost fifteen meters of brick and stone at the thinnest point and up to twenty-four at the thickest part at the base as they dug through the ancient gate’s wall. With most of the laborers having been locals who were closer to their communities than their pay, it wasn’t all too difficult to see that extensive effort had been made to spruce up the interior tunnels with more than scaffolding to hold back the filler layers that buffered the walls. Bricks, new ones judging by the fact that they were a fresher, earthy red and not the worn, faded near-grey of the untouched exterior, coated all along the interior of the tunnel from both exits, and arches of stone brick accompanied them every so couple meters, further buffering the structure. But in the moment she watched, the train had passed through, and she watched the wall slowly vanish behind the slopes as the train wound around another mountain.
It felt strange to sit on this train, a Kumo-designed import, chugging its way into a city whose walls had never been successfully pierced by an invasion. And it felt stranger still now that there was a permanent entrance in the wall, built not by an outsider, but by the city’s own people, by their own hands, to allow the outside to enter. It didn’t have two, three massive, iron-skeleton slabs that could be swung shut in an invasion; it had just the two openings, to let the inside in, and the inside out.
Kumosenkan might not have razed these walls like they’d scorched those of Aundui Yio’s Citadel, but the result was the same: Even as the train slowed to a halt at the station, Zayfen looked up and could see the countless banners of the Elenria Prefecture accompanying that of Kumosenkan.
The ancestors of Kelsun’s people might’ve wanted to keep out the outside world’s relentless tides of change forever, but no matter how thick and how tall they built their walls, it seemed the world had still found them after all.
The hiss of the locomotive’s cylinders and a final jolt halted the train, and as the whole car erupted into movement as the passengers prepared to disembark, Zayfen neatly arranged her satchel on her lap and waited for the vast majority of passengers to leave before her. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t somewhere to be– she very much did– but she valued the time she had to herself to think before important functions.
There had been a meeting of the TAKPOE leadership three days ago. Normally she would have remained neutral on all topics at the table, but with the Franerre war breaking out to its closure, the various factions had been thrown into a frenzy of bickering, and on the list of things that had been discussed was the development of new equipment– or namely the lack thereof.
Elenria’s heavy industry was for the most part imported, and any replacement parts or expansions to existing factories and machines required waiting weeks for their manufacture and delivery, along with being inherently expensive. This problem had been evident from the first attempts to modernize the country decades before, but as the long nineteenth century had drawn to a close, a new problem was realized: the imported Kumo machines often needed to be meticulously adjusted to work in often horribly rough terrain. Combined with an unfortunate habit of the resident communities demanding at every turn that only their own be allowed to operate industries on their land, many of the extraction projects were doomed to inefficiency and corruption from the start.
Untrained and unskilled workers often damaged the expensive equipment, and even after introducing trained workers, the communities only continued to pose problems: long working hours and often poor pay resulted in communities purposely slowing down the ability of the government to carry out laws, whether that be by sabotaging reports, intimidating government workers brought in from outside, even downright attacking foremen who were supposed to increase efficiency. Even during the war with Franerre, they’d been more busy fighting over water rights or territorial disputes, and rumors were even appearing of fights breaking out along communal ties.
The meeting had been meant to address this, among other issues of corruption and problems found during the war with Franerre. The decided solution was to centralize the communities: force them to bow to TAKPOE’s order before it became the other way around. But that set a precedent for the autonomy of other ancient organizations, such as the Libraries: if Takpoe could dictate the actions of the Communities, why would they not take steps to do the same for the Libraries?
And that had been the point where her neutrality could no longer be sustained.
Most of the passengers had disembarked now, and so Zayfen quietly rose from her seat and followed out the door to the waiting station platform. She picked her way through the station, eventually finding her way to the edge of the station, where a small escort of policemen stood waiting for her on horseback, the reins of an free horse waiting for her.
The ride to the Imperial Library was uneventful, but as the police accompanying her reached the steps of the monolithic building, they pulled on their reins and halted their mounts as a couple of Crown approached. They moved slowly in a wide row, taking up most of the street, and as other pedestrians noticed them, the road quickly– quietly– became vacant. Some watched out on the front steps of their buildings and out of windows, but to the Minister’s worry, the whole street had gone quiet.
Their clothes were incredibly traditional: plain dresses that reached the lower ankles, with metal breastplates and iron-forged leggings engraved with the character of their community’s name. More alarming though, were the long sticks in their hands– they were made with grips on the lower section, while the upper portion hosted a padded piece of cloth tied on not unlike a hat around someone’s head. They looked harmless enough to Zayfen, but as the policemen stiffened at the sight of them, she frowned and pulled her horse over.
“Sergeant? What’s going on?”
The policeman glanced at her with tight lips. “We can’t go any further, I’m afraid.”
Unfortunate. Knowing better than to try to force her way through community disputes, she nodded. “Very well, Sergeant. You and your men are dismissed. Thank you for escorting me all this way.”
The officer took a final look at the approaching Crown before giving the Minister a quick salute, then turned his horse around with the rest of his squadron in close pursuit.
The Minister turned her horse back to the community members as they reached her, with one stepping forward before the others.
“Minister Zayfen.” The Crown greeted, bowing. “Apologies for the trouble. We’ll be your escort for the Library.”
“I appreciate it,” Zayfen replied, reciprocating the bow. She beckoned for the new escorts to lead her. “At your lead, then.”
“Of course. Master Librarian Se is expecting you.”
The Master Librarian was waiting for Zayfen at the head of the stairs to the Library’s main building. She was an old inselni, well into her five hundreds as evidenced by the fading hue of her scales and horns towards the ends. Though her body’s weight was largely lent to the stout structure of the cane in her right hand, she maintained a proud stature, her head raised free hand tucked behind her back.
“Minister.” The elderly inselni bowed slightly, responded likewise by Zayfen. “You wanted to meet?”
“That I did, Master Librarian. Urgent matters have emerged in the leadership of Takpoe policy. May we talk privately?”
Se dipped her head at the escorts beside Zayfen, and watched them part before leading the Minister away into the interior of the Library.
The Imperial Library was built into the side of a mountain, with its three sets of heavy gates opening up into a great cavernous space lit by the dim glows of candlelight. It wasn’t too hard to see that the original design of the subterranean atrium was meant for winged far-humans: despite the walkways and stairs that clung along the walls, the great extent of the floor’s rooms were entered through doors embedded in decorated frames along the walls, a small ledge sticking out for inselni to land upon.
But steps still existed for those who had tired wings or no wings at all, and they wound throughout the Library like the complex maze of a body’s veins and nerves, confusing and labyrinthine. The Minister followed Se along a winding road of dark stones as the older inselni strode purposefully through the dark, lit mostly by the glow of a lantern that hung from the belt of the Master Librarian as they made their way toward the far wall. The few people they encountered along the way were other librarians and some scarce few patrons, and never did she see their faces– they only ever did exist as the light of another lamp on another bridge underneath or overhead.
At last, they arrived at a simple-looking door: save for the iron studs and frame, she would’ve assumed it was a maintenance closet. The Master Librarian fished out a key from her robes and fiddled with the door for a moment before a dull click of the metal latch retracting allowed the door to be pulled open. For her age, Se proved surprisingly strong, and as she stepped inside beckoning for Zayfen to follow, the Minister struggled to heave the stubborn heft of iron and wood shut behind her.
Panting, she turned back to see the amused face of the Master Librarian lighting the handful of other lamps in the room. It appeared to be some sort of study– there were tables in the back absolutely jammed full of everything from leather tomes to piles of papers and scrolls beside delicately preserved books. Besides a number of formal stamps and rolls of dried bamboo books, they were the only neatly kept objects on the surface.
A large simple table that would’ve fit a family of six was placed at the center of the room, and aside from the single lantern at its center that illuminated it, it was vacant. As the guest, Zayfen seated herself as the Master Librarian stepped towards another table behind her.
"This will be privacy enough, I hope? Tea, Minister?"
"It is, and please."
Zayfen listened to the clink of ceramics as the other inselni set about preparing with a nod towards Zayfen, to which the Minister took as her cue to speak.
"A few days ago, a regular session was called of the High-Crested regarding the aftermath of the military expedition in Franerre, focusing primarily on the losses of the military with an inquiry. The verdict– or rather I should say the percieved answer– faulted the autonomy of the communities for poor coordination."
The gentle trickle of water into a cup paused. "Go on." Apprehension had seeded itself in Se's voice as she slowly set the ceramic pot down.
"The proposed changes were as follows– neutralize the power of the communities by nationalizing their industries, and make skilled employment directed by the Takpoe Ministry of Work. Furthermore, the State Minister put forth a suggestion that the nation's education should be entirely centralized and directed only by approval from TAKPOE. This vote, I am sorry to say, passed. The Regency simply possesses more seats."
Se put her hands on the edge of the table, tea forgotten. "They mean to strip authority from the Libraries then? Who teaches the students? Directs educational development?"
"Someone loyal to the Regency, no doubt. "I have my own suspicions they mean to dispose of me too at some point, probably at the same time they begin restructuring the educational system. But that is beside the point– you and I understand this means the end of everything we have worked for: for me, eighty-so years of attempted neutrality in politics to protect the noblest establishments of our forerunners; for you, the preservation and succession of countless centuries' worth of priceless knowledge. But there is more. They are placing the blame of what happened two days ago, at least from the protesters' side, on the heads of the Universities. The Minister had a private word for what she believes we are doing. 'Corrupting the youth.' She wants my Ministry essentially absorbed into the rest of the Regency faction's apparatus, and thus any and all protections I previously afforded the libraries will well be under threat."
"You have a plan, I hope?"
The Minister bit her lip. "Not one that I am completely happy with, but yes. Perhaps the most drastic answer to a drastic situation: I will ask the Royalists for help. The Army and Interior Ministry are flawed in their own ways, but their troops in uniform as well as personal connections to some of Elenria's more powerful Communities is a great advantage that can be used to counter the enormous political power wielded by the Regency."
She expected the Master Librarian to snort indignantly, but instead, the old Inselni slowly rounded the table to her seat in thoughtful silence, resting both hands on the back of the old wood. "They will demand a price. Can we hope to afford it?"
"Naturally. They are not going to help out of the kindness of their hearts; they have their own aims and goals. But we share a common interest in the subversion of the Regency's reckless behavior, and I happen to know that they lack skilled personnel for their handful of facilities, if only because of the endless bickering that ensued over shortages suffered during the Franerre military operation. This is in addition to their own demands of dominion over us: Queen Akel the First as we both recall wanted the Libraries directly subservient to her with varying levels of autonomy, a position the Royalists undoubtedly also hold. But that is why I have come to you: I may be the Minister of Knowledge, and by the law your position is beneath mine, but I felt would be indecent in the extreme to make such a decision in Elenria's politics without allowing for the Libraries themselves to hold the decision up for debate."
"I appreciate the trust you invest in the old institutions. But it will be a struggle, Minister. You know the other Master Librarians are not so keen to the interference of the central government. Some might even object to your presence within the Library at all." She sighed, kneading her forehead. "All right. How long do we have to make a decision, Minister?"
"A week, if not less," Zayfen replied grimly. "The Minister of State made very clear that she wanted to minimize the amount of time needed."
"Very well. I will assemble the others, and we will hold a vote."