‘Good point,’ Irene agreed. ‘What’s the gender situation here?’
‘Women are generally accepted in most trades, except as serving soldiers in the army. They often end up in engineering divisions there. Nothing unusual about a female reporter, though they often end up with the high society and scandal pages. So that’ll be entirely appropriate.’
‘So is there magic?’
‘Not per se,’ Dominic said slowly, ‘though we have vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures and so on. I’ve got a theory that the weird technology of this place is actually a structural evolution of what would elsewhere have manifested as directed magic, but I can’t prove it.’
Irene nodded. ‘Do you have any theories about the lack of draconic interference?’
Dominic snorted. ‘Typical bureaucratic miscomprehension in summarizing my reports. The dragons don’t intervene here because they don’t need to. There may be a high level of chaos infestation, but there are also a lot of natural spirits inherent to the local order buzzing around the place – metaphorically speaking, that is – and they seem to be acting as a counterweight. In fact,’ he said enthusiastically, ‘I think we have grounds here for an entire study on how a high level of magic in a world responds to a chaos infestation by working in non-chaotic ways. So, the natural order is reinforced via technology with weird science, and also strengthened supernaturally. The latter happens via a hierarchical structure of guardian spirits and fundamental reinforcement—’
‘But you can’t get the funding for it?’ Irene said sympathetically, before he could get any further.
Dominic slumped. ‘Philistines,’ he muttered.
Kai raised his hand again. ‘So, theoretically, would these local spirits be a useful source of information? I mean, I’ve been stuck in the Library for the last five years, I know the theory, but not how you go about it in practice . . .’
‘Good thinking,’ Irene said, but then she saw Dominic frowning. ‘Why, is there a problem?’
‘They can be dangerous,’ Dominic said. He fussed with his glasses again. ‘I wouldn’t recommend it as a primary option. To be frank, I haven’t had much chance to investigate things myself – my cover, you know. There’s only so much that I can get away with as Head of Classical Manuscripts. You’ll probably be able to find out more at ground level.’
Irene nodded. ‘We’ll keep it as a fall-back option, then. Do you have any local Language updates that I should be aware of?’
‘I’ve put them in the briefing,’ Dominic promised. ‘There aren’t many, though. The vocab is all fairly generic. A vampire’s a vampire as you’d expect, fangs and all etc. Actually, if you want to wait here, I’ll go and fetch the documentation, and then the two of you can slip out and get to work.’
Kai looked down at his clothing. ‘Like this?’ he asked.
‘You’ll have to claim to be barbarian visitors from Canada,’ Dominic said cheerfully. ‘I do have some clothing for emergencies, but under the circumstances you can pass for students until you can buy some clothing that fits you better. You’ll just need some overcoats until you can get to a shop.’ He stood up, brushing his hands together again. ‘I’ll be back in a moment. Don’t fret.’
‘Thank you,’ Irene said, suppressing a sigh of relief, but he was already out of the door. Perhaps his quick exit was due to embarrassment. Helping visiting Librarians maintain a low profile was supposed to be part of the Librarian-in-Residence’s job, after all. It usually involved a little more than ‘here’s an overcoat and there’s the nearest shop’. She considered prospective excuses for the shopkeeper. I’m terribly sorry, but we just had all our luggage stolen while disembarking from the ocean liner . . .
Kai stretched and looked around restlessly. ‘Do you suppose barbarian Canadians wear jeans?’
‘I hope female Canadian barbarians wear trousers,’ Irene said drily. ‘They’re easier to run in.’
Kai turned to face her. ‘Have you ever seen a really bad chaos infestation?’ he asked.
‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘Only mild ones. But I’ve heard things. I knew someone who went into one, once. I saw some of his reports.’
There’s something addictive about it, he’d written. The world itself seems so much more logical and plausible. There’s a feeling that everything makes sense, and I know this is only because the world itself is shaping to fit the gestalt, but you wouldn’t believe how comfortable it makes me feel.
Kai snapped his fingers in front of her face, and she blinked at him. ‘Ahem. You could at least share with me, rather than sit there and brood about it and figure that you’re protecting me or something.’