Library question, coded for the unread

[flemmings]

Something that occurred to me t'other day. By the start of book 1 Coppelia has figured out that Kai is a spoiler. At the end of book 2, she seems to know precisely which spoiler he is. When did she find that out, and whose head rolled when she did? Some keen junior librarian-- 'well he'd found out too much about us and he had no family and he's bright enough so I recruited him'? Or was it (also) someone senior who approved the recruitment? Because the ramifications of 'oh right, no family you said, just spoiler spoiler spoiler, and now what do we do?' would seem pretty major. Unless the Library recruited him knowing exactly who he was, which seems a touch unwise?

Comments

[incandescens]

Kai was recruited by the l-i-r of the world where he was hanging out, who is a fairly lazy person and saw Kai as an easy way of fulfilling some quota and getting up to schedule and recruiting _someone_, etc.

Said l-i-r got a severe reprimand on her record once it was established that Kai was a spoiler. ("Impossible! Spoilers always hang out at the upper end of society!") However, there have been young spoilers working for the Library before (though as mentioned, none have ever made it permanent) so it was decided to just run with it. Kai is, however, an unusually highly-ranked spoiler.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

It was more the rank I was thinking about. As you say, being a spoiler isn't a problem; it's happened before. Being *that* spoiler with the personalities and politics involved might give a Librarian pause. Did Coppelia sit him down at some point and say 'OK we know you're here under false pretences. Who are you anyway?' and when Kai told her and she'd recovered (or maybe she *isn't* overcome at the thought of high-ranked spoilers claiming Kai was kidnapped or coerced?) said 'Do you have permission to be here?' And Kai swears up and down he does and shou ga nai, Coppelia has to believe him. Or does she assume that spoilers being spoilers and the erm domestically punctilious people they are, Kai wouldn't have undertaken this in the first place without a higher-up's knowledge and approval?

[incandescens]

My thoughts on this: when the Librarians realised that Kai was a spoiler, they did some background research on "whose kid/descendant is this?" and the one who was actually assigned to look into the world where Gouen's currently hanging out did a decent job of joining the dots, combined with a few others putting together gossip/info.

At which point it was decided not to formally ask Kai who his parents were, because they assumed that with that background he really wasn't going to stay. They did assume that he had approval from higher-up, though. (Rather than, well, somewhat-indulgent permission to run along and amuse himself.)

This is all subject to review if I get a better idea, I note.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I see. Thanks very much.

(I gather the Library doesn't seek spoilers but doesn't object to their presence. What if a fae candidate showed up?)

[incandescens]

A fae candidate couldn't have entered the Library. For some reason the Library objects to the presence of chaos more than it does to the presence of order. (The author may need to think some more about precisely why this is the case.)

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Because it's a *library*, clearly. A place for everything and everything in its place. Such thinking is diametrically opposed to chaos. Too much order may be a bad thing, but no order is incongruent to a library's basic structure.

[incandescens]

I like that explanation. Thank you. (makes a note) :)