“First up on the Town Hall agenda today are the benches in Primrose Park.” There was the scrape of chairs being dragged back into place and people getting settled as everyone turned their attention to the old wizard.
“As you all know, the carvings on the benches regularly update to reflect the names of current residents of Primrose Court. The present enchantment is set to refresh the benches on the second Tuesday of each month, or the first weekday thereafter, if a full moon should fall on a Tuesday. A motion has been made by the shifter’s union to change the schedule to every Tuesday, regardless of the moon cycle. Please raise your hand if you agree with this change.”
“That’s preposterous. The timestamp for the enchantment on those benches dates back to the time of Papa Lathrop!” Lucretia Lathrop, who was seated two seats away from Zani, objected.
“That’s why they look so dated,” mumbled a young shifter in one of the back rows. “Everything here isancient. It’s not fair that the benches don’t update more frequently. What about all the shifters who work here but can’t afford to live in Primrose full time?”
His voice was prickly. Possibly a porcupine shifter? Zani didn’t want to crane her neck around to check, but she could see the reflection of someone with a spiky mohawk in one of the windows.
Hildegarde Fish, a pleasantly plump middle-aged witch who was also seated toward the front of the room, cleared her throat and stood up to speak her mind. She set aside an oversized pair of knitting needles, which seemed perfectly content to carry on knitting without her. “Perhaps we might test a new schedule and evaluate the results before committing?”
A wave of discussion erupted on the topic, which was then tabled for further discussion, apparently for the second time.
“Next up, we have a request from the Literary Squirrel Society. They wish to propose a statue in the park of…” Zephyr wrinkled his nose and squinted as he read the agenda. “Fidelito, the Grand Poobah of the Squirrels and honorable leader of the book club, dressed in his finery and holding a novel, as he came to the rescue of Primrose Court this past fall?” Zephyr looked around, confused, hoping to spy the squirrel himself. Zani heard more than a few poorly suppressed snickers from the crowd. “Is he here? Perhaps he’d like to say a few explanatory words?”
“Perhaps he got lost in one of his stories,” the spiky-haired youth shouted out. This earned him a stern look from Minerva Lathrop, who, along with a handful of other elders Zani did not recognize, was seated at the long table beside the podium.
“Well, I suppose we will have to table that as well. Moving on to the dates for the annual Flower Fairy Festival this spring. Apparently, there’s a conflict with the May Queen Pageant and both groups would like to use the gazebo in the park on the same day?”
A hubbub ensued as at least a dozen protestors, many of them holding handmade signs, rushed toward the microphone stationed in front of the podium. They all wished to be the first to speak.
Zani sighed. It was going to be a long night. They were only on the third agenda item. The motion to keep the Archives open 24/7 was item number 27.
She now sorely regretted the efforts she’d made to be on time. It might take a week to even get to the motion that affected her.
Zani stifled a yawn and pulled a heavy book from her bag. While cataloguing some bits and pieces from a four hundred-year-old French cache earlier that day, she’d come across a burnt journal of sorts. She could restore some fragments from the old text and had found one passage of the writing interesting. It theorized about the effects of certain uncommon gemstones on the ley lines. This was something she was eager to discuss with Will when she next saw him. In the meantime, she’d found a promising textbook that detailed the magical properties of rare and lesser known crystals and their uses. She had the perfect use forThe Crystalline Codex: Uncommon Gems and Their Metaphysical Applications. She was going to use the dry tome to pass the time.
Finally, close to two hundred pages later, it was time to discuss the matter of the Archives.
“I see here a motion from Minodaura Marinescu to increase the hours that the public has access to the Arcane Archives?” Zephyr raised an eyebrow as he read the motion. “Is this correct?” He looked around the room for confirmation. Heads turned as Zani’s great-aunt Minodaura trudged down the center aisle between the seats. Her starched taffeta skirts swished noisily, catching on chairs as she passed.
“That’s right.” Minodaura held herself erect and proud. “The Arcane Archives are a prized resource that belongs to the magical community. We should all have access at all times. I’m frankly shocked this hasn’t been made a priority much sooner.”
Zani was shocked to see her aunt there, and even more shocked to discover that it was her own aunt who proposed this absurd policy change. It wasn’t enough that Zani was down there six days a week for ten or more hours a day? If her aunt had her way, she’d be locked up in the Archives. Zani gritted her teeth and fumed. What was her aunt even doing here? As far as she knew, the old witch had barely left her lighthouse for the past fifty years. And now here she was paying visits to Primrose Court twice in a month?
“What a fantastic idea!” Lucretia clapped her hands. “It’s so frustrating that the archives are closed on Sundays. Some of us work full time and don’t have a chance to request items on weekdays.”
“The archives are open on Saturdays, Lucretia.” Will Porter’s voice rang out from the back of the room. Zani spun in her seat and located him immediately. He was making his way to the front. She was so relieved to see him. Hastily, she removed her bag from the seat beside her to make space for him.
“My apothecary is also open on Saturdays, so obviously that’s not an option for me.” Lucretia turned to stare icily at Will, who was squeezing past her to get to the seat beside Zani. He slid into the seat and put one arm around her, giving her a quick and reassuring shoulder squeeze.
“Sorry I’m late,” Will whispered. “I was shopping at the most unique sweet shop in London. You won’t believe the candies I just found!”
“Not now, Will,” Zani hissed. She stood up to speak. “Everyone needs a day off,” Zani began her prepared speech. “The archives are currently undergoing a radical reorganization. This is very difficult to accomplish with items constantly being checked out. If I may, I’d like to suggest that we go in another direction entirely. I would like to propose that we pause all public visits to the archives until the audit is complete.”
Several members of the audience gasped at this suggestion, and Minerva Lathrop slowly rose to her feet. Her face was red and her expression wary.
“I’m not sure you understand what you’re proposing, Zanfira. The archives have never been closed for more than a day or two, except for the time last fall that the Mudpuddle went missing.” Minerva’s brow furrowed at the memory. She shot a glance at Zephyr. “Although we ultimately run the Archives on behalf of the Society of Natural Magic, operating hoursareat our discretion. But I cannot imagine closing it off entirely to the public. Many of our community members rely on the ability to easily access their family documents and relics held in the collection.”
Minodaura nodded and beamed at Minerva. “Precisely. We owe it to the community to make those items more accessible.”
Zani glared at her aunt. She was certain that making more work for her was part of Minodaura’s plan to keep her grounded here forever. But she wasn’t about to lose this argument. Not without a fight. She reached for the ace in her pocket.
“I’m not so sure you’ve thought this through, Auntie Minodaura.” Zani spoke through clenched teeth. “Increased access comes at a price. Increased risk. After all, wasn’t it an overly generous public access policy that led to all the troubles this past fall?”
“That washardlythe issue,” Minodaura shot back. “The archives are equipped to handle dozens of daily visitors; however, this requires a conscientious curator and adequate security measures.”
She and Minerva nodded sympathetically at each other, making Zani wonder if they’d collaborated.
