Page 117

This reply has been generated automatically by a standing correspondence charm. Director Berman is currently away from her office and has not read your correspondence. She will respond personally upon her return.

Amrita Berman Director, Society for the Protection of Natural Magic

THIRTY-FOUR

ABOUT TIME YOU SHOWED UP, WILL PORTER

Aside from the oil slick on the water and some bits of floating debris, there was little evidence The Tufan had ever existed. Amrita’s adventure, her friendship with Soraya and her encounter with the Fates might as well have been a dream. But somewhere on the ocean floor, a piece of her still lingered in a sealed glass bottle. An unmistakable signature. Proof that she had been here.

She was ready to go home.

The smoke from Alexandria still rose against the morning sky, a terrible brown smudge that made the sun look orange and angry. The birds that skimmed the surface of the water were all headed away from the port.

“Historians are going to argue about that fire for two thousand years,” Amrita mentioned.

“Mm,” Buffalo said. He had settled back into a more comfortable position on the deck of the skiff. Amrita was leaning against him. She was finally warm. The boat sat low and the rocking motion was making them both sleepy.

“They’ll have seventeen different theories,” she mused. “And their primary sources will all contradict each other. Was it Caesar or someone else? Did the library burn or only the warehouses? The historical record will be uncertain.”

“Do you think we should weigh in?” Buffalo asked.

“I wouldn’t.” Amrita shifted slightly, nestling under his arm. “It would only complicate things. History is subjective. Best to leave it alone.” She felt her eyes begin to drift closed. Water slapped rhythmically against the hull. Then Amrita remembered something. She sat up a little.

“Though I am curious. What do you suppose happens to Callimachus?” she pondered.

Buffalo was quiet for a moment. There was a hard set to his jaw.

“I don’t think anyone needs to worry any more about him,” he said.

“Why is that?” Amrita propped herself up on an elbow so she could turn to study Buffalo’s face.

“He and I both raced to the port after Soraya took you. My only thought was to rescue you. His was to get the atlas back.” Buffalo grimaced, recalling something unpleasant. “Unfortunately for Callimachus, his followers and fellow scholars followed him. Quite the angry mob. Some of them took the opportunity to check what else he had in his warehouses.”

“They found the blank scrolls?” Amrita’s hand flew over her mouth.

“Yes,” Buffalo said. “And they had some questions for him.”

“I can imagine they were not pleased.” Amrita bit her lip, imagining the other scholars’ reaction.

“No.” Buffalo swung his head slowly from side to side. “They were not pleased at all. Quite the opposite.” Another pause. “A terrible fight broke out and… His library card, you might say, got cancelled.”

“Please tell me you weren’t the one who issued the final stamp?” Amrita asked. She was not sure she wanted to hear the answer to this question.

Buffalo frowned at her. “No, Amrita. It wasn’t me. I would have been happy to have done the honors, but I knew better than to intervene. I suspect my wards wouldn’t have allowed me even if I tried. Besides, I was too busy using the skirmish as a cover, while I shifted for a bit and borrowed this boat.

“I thought you said you traded the binoculars for it.”

“I did. I left them hanging by the slip!” Buffalo said. “Who wouldn’t want a pair of binoculars in the year 48 BCE? I imagine they would be quite a novelty here.”

“That explains why Fortune brought them back to me.” Amrita sighed. She ran a finger over the brass instrument still dangling from her throat. “You can’t just leave future technology lying about in the past, Buffalo.”

“Fortune?” Buffalo asked.

“She’s an owl, who belongs to Soraya Tufan,” Amrita explained.

“The pirate he that’s really a she?” Buffalo asked, raising his brow. “The one who wasn’t all that bad, after all?”

“I think she’s just misunderstood.” Amrita nodded. For a moment she considered telling Buffalo about the kiss she and Raya had shared, but then she reconsidered. Perhaps someday. But for now it wasn’t something she needed to share. “She taught me a lot, not least of which included how I felt… How I still feel about you.” Amrita wound a finger in the curls of his beard. “It wasn’t so bad really, living on a pirate ship full of books, being waited on hand and foot by the great Raya Tufan’s skeleton crew.”