Finding the Way (Wishmaster Book 2) by Astrid V.J

Author:Astrid V.J. [V.J., Astrid]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789198706383
Publisher: New Wings Press
Published: 2022-12-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Weeks have passed since Viola moved to The Capital. Her days are spent in the Imperial Grand Library, and she feels she’s found her place within the library’s system. The time is fast approaching for her to begin making a name for herself, as every high archivist is expected to do. The tradition is for the person at the helm of this great place of learning to steer the direction of research within the archives as well as providing entertainment for the people. What she chooses as her first publication will colour the whole trajectory of her career, and, of course, it’s imperative she find something both suiting her interests and readily accessible to the people—for it’s they who will be the judges of her position as high archivist.

Time is of the essence, Viola knows. If she waits too long, the hype around her recent and unexpected placement will die down. She needs to capture the public’s attention with whatever she chooses to publish first. The difficulty: what to focus on. There’s so much knowledge sequestered in the bowels of the Imperial Grand Library that it’s rather hard to choose what to go for. She’s studied the previous high archivists’ publications, and each one has a very different focus on subjects Viola finds uninteresting. What will she concentrate on?

After much internal debate, she decides to seek inspiration from the Hall of Unregistered Histories, a cellar room below the main archive that’s full of ancient manuscripts no one has had the time or inclination to go through. Viola hopes to find something worthy of her talents as a storyteller that’s entertaining but also informative and on a topic she finds interesting. Is it too much to ask? She hopes not. Her career as high archivist depends on finding something that can balance all these aspects, as well as being relevant to the glory of the Haldrian Empire; and so, off to the cellar archives she goes.

What a mess! Viola raises her light-stick to reveal rows upon rows of heavy wooden shelves. She cranes her neck, but the towering stacks vanish into the darkness above her, beyond the reach of her measly light. The shelves are stuffed with parchments, scrolls, and bound volumes, which are jumbled higgledy-piggledy without consideration for the rigid orderliness that characterises other parts of the great library. As her gaze absorbs the extraordinary disorder gripping this particular hall, Viola feels the edge of an abyss opening up beneath her.

How, in the first emperor’s name, is she ever going to find the manuscript to earn her the public’s approval as the imperial high archivist? She ponders the dilemma of her new position, which does not merely require overseeing the smooth running of the library and helping nobles from the palace find something captivating from the archives. Her duty is also to entertain, to contribute to the empire by producing historical texts worth reading that say something worthy about Haldria or the great intergalactic empire it’s become.

How—in all this

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.