Sylwen Moonlove's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Sylwen stood outside the auction house, watching the doors close. Inside, someone had just bought the Redstone collection — three hundred books on medicine, law, and basic trade skills. Exactly what her library needed. Exactly what struggling people needed to survive. She had waited three months for the price to drop, trusting it would come down if she stayed patient. But the buyer who walked out wasn't interested in helping anyone. He nodded to workers carrying the crates toward a carved wooden sign that read "This is the Library of Calm — where the path can become clear." Pretty words. A place for people who already had money to feel wise. By next week, those books would sit behind membership fees and polite rules that kept out anyone who looked too hungry or spoke too roughly. Sylwen turned away, her throat tight. The library she was building had no walls yet, and now it had three hundred fewer answers.