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Six months? Jesus Christ.
At this rate, does that mean I’m going to give birth in a few days?
The lion man shopkeeper singles out several stacks of garments and pats them with his furry hand. “These should accommodate your growing baby.”
“Thank you,” I say.
The fabric feels soft and strong, like something that will last a long time.
“That one looks nice,” Kalistratos says, appearing behind me. His chest brushes my shoulder as he leans overand points at a blue tunic with a pattern of black triangles along the bottom skirt area.
I nearly elbow him in the face in surprise. “What the hell, man? Don’t sneak up on me.”
“Looks like that phony monk got us inside,” he says, nodding towards the building. Airos is there at the entrance, waving.
I hold up the blue tunic. “I’ll take this one,” I say to the shopkeeper.
“Fifteen drachmae,” the lion says.
I open the pouch and stare blankly at the varying pieces of silver inside. Kalistratos plucks out a palmful of coins for me and hands them to the shopkeeper.
“What? No bartering?” I say to Kalistratos as we walk away. “You could’ve offered him twice the price for them.”
He huffs and walks ahead of me. “I thought you weren’t going to give up your clothes?”
“Well, seeing as though I’m probably going to be here a while...”
Alyx trots over to us, and Airos ushers us into the open door. There’s an elderly man dressed in a similar robe to Airos waiting there, and when we’re inside he quickly closes the door behind us and slides a bolt shut.
The old man bows. “Welcome to the Library of Gnosis. I am Melanion, the keeper of the books.”
“Melanion is a member of my order,” Airos explains. “We’ll be safe here.”
“Please, make yourselves comfortable,” Melanion says as he leads us into the building, which is warmly lit by lamps and braziers. “We have a well-stocked kitchen, clean beds, and we draw hot water from the thermal springs for baths.” He pauses and looks down at Alyx. “Eh, though we normally don’t allow pets inside…”
Alyx silently hops up onto Kalistratos’s shoulder and stares at the librarian monk.
“He’s a special cat,” Airos says. “Not a pet, but one of our trusted companions.”
Melanion bows again. Alyx’s tail swishes approvingly.
We’re led through rooms where people are lounging on floor cushions, working quietly with long scrolls of parchment or filing them away into the many rows of shelves. Each room is connected to the next. There’s a central courtyard with a garden and many tall trees, and we cross through it and go into the dining room and kitchen. The smell of roast meat immediately gets my stomach rumbling. The four of us stare longingly at the platters of succulent chicken, lamb shanks and steak, fragrant rice, olive oil, flatbread, berries, stews, and fresh vegetables, and regretfully follow Melanion out. We walk through a quiet area that feels like a hot yoga studio, where the librariansare sitting around a fire in nothing but a light wrap of fabric around their waist, sweating and meditating.
Finally, we reach the private quarters—three guest rooms. A real bed! And right outside in a section of the courtyard protected by trees is a stone pool of steaming water fed by a trickling pipe in the shape of a lion’s head.
“God, this is perfect,” I say. “A shower and real sleep are exactly what I need.”
“First, we eat,” Airos says. “The Gnosis librarians of Athenos are famed for their skill in the kitchen.”
“No complaints from me,” Kalistratos says, rubbing his hands together.
The food is served buffet style, and I take a little bit of everything. It all looks and smells so amazing, even though I have no clue what most of it is. Airos is reserved with his selection, taking just a small amount of food that he carefully arranges on his platter, but Kalistratos piles his up high.
“What?” he says, blinking. “I’m still restoring my energy.”
“Don’t hold back, take more,” Airos urges me. “You have a baby to think about.”
I load up on a bit more meat, and the three of us take our food to the dining room, where there are cushions and pillows laid out on the floor. Some of the librariansare here taking their evening meal, and a few of them eat while reclined on their sides. Never seen that before.
