Tea Time in the Garden of Magic (Salem v Iris)

"Aren't you the charming one, dear." Iris replied to Salem's compliment with a chuckle. "Well, I'm also a book enthusiast. I have many books from the time where the gods walked the earth and, even if they are insects, I do enjoy reading some human books from time to time. Specially those related to botanism and wild life. Beside those, I also do enjoy writing my own books about magical research... Oh before I forget." Iris stopped her speech before casting a little spell, said spell made a emblem appear, it had a flower shape and it seemed to be handcrafted. "Take this. This is proof that you'll always be welcome here. No need to knock or anything, just show this emblem at the door and they will open, the plants will guide you from there."

She took another sip of her tea. "My library is also opened to you by the way. I'm sure you'll find something interesting to read, many text from the old world after all."

"Old world...wait pre-cataclysm era text?"  Salem nearly coughed on the tea she was sipping, eyes light with great interest at the prospect of reading text in such ages as her voice rises with uncharacteristic astonishment.  "I thought such manuscript were lost over the passage."  After gratefully taking the flower emblem and...well holding onto it as she is still naked, her dress still lying in a pile next to Iris's.

Iris could see a glint of excitement in the woman's eyes at the mention of the pre-cataclysm era texts. It wasn't her first time dealing with someone from the demon race and she knew they could be very thirsty for knowledge and that was something she liked about them. "Many were. Except those I took with me. Those are safe kept and properly maintained in my personal library."

She also noticed that due to their lack of vestments, the devil couldn't put the emblem anywhere. "Oh, my bad. Please, allow me." A gesture from her hand and a few vines took Salem's clothing and handed it to the devil, at the same time, another vine did the same for Iris. "If you wish, I can show the library to you once we finish our tea."

"That would be lovely." She smiles as the vines handed her back her dress. She takes a moment to wiggles and slink her body back onto her from where she is, only standing slightly so the dress would go over her rear. Now she looks more presentable to go into a library, not that Iris would mind without it. She takes a moment to slowly sample the tea, trying to not rush it.

Just like Salem, Iris put her dress back on, it didn't take too long. Once dressed, the woman slowly finished her tea and waited for the devil to do the same. "By the way, that symbol, it's a master key to my domain. The castle and flora will treat you as if you were me, granting you full access to my entire domain."

"Well I am quite honored that you bestowed this level of trust to me. My only concern though is that if by some minor chance someone was able to steal it away from me; though knowing you, you probably tailored it so it only works for me." Salem comments in surprise. Salem does doubt that the key has entirely full access as that would be quite the security hole; of course Salem has no reason to betray her trust. Even then, access to a majority of the castle is quite the VIP gift.

After taking a moment to slip the emblem within the compounds between her breasts, she sets down the empty teacup onto the table before rising from the seat. "Well, I am ready to see the library when you are." Again, Salem was barely able to conceal her excitement within her composure.

Once Salem placed the cup down, a couple of vines came in and started to clean the tea cups and tea pot, taking it away to wash it. "Do not worry about having it stolen. Those sigils remember their owners' mana. Once someone has touched it for the first time, it belongs to them and only them. In hands of anyone else is just a worthless stone." Iris got on her feet after her little explanation. "Well then. Follow me please." Iris gestured Salem to follow her before heading into the main building.

Once inside, the walked down a hallway leading towards one of the towers in the castle. At the end of the hallway there was a door, being such a skilled spellcaster, Salem could feel the magic sealing the door but as they approached, the magic disappeared and the door opened. "After you, my dear." At the other side of the door Salem could see a big library, not as big as the one in Alexandria, but pretty big for a private one. Several shelves filled with books of many kinds and sizes. Several pedestals with books and scrolls, clearly more important since they were in clear display. At the center of it was a tree. Surprisingly, the tree was classifying and sorting the many books and scrolls that were stored in the library. "If there is any topic you wish to read about..." Iris pointed at said tree. "Just ask the treant and he will hand you several options."

That wasn't all. Besides the treant, there was something else moving around the library. Several little creatures, some with flowers on their head others with leafs, were running around carrying books around and placing them down on their correct locations where the treant's branches couldn't reach. "You may also ask one of those little imps. They'll be as helpful as the treant itself."

Leave it to the mistress of magic to have all parts of her home having some sort of magic based condition including the keys and the door.  Salem again touches her emblem behind her clothes as a reminder.  She was looking forward to this.

Within the library definitely does not fail to impress.  While it doesn't quite compete in quantity of the Great Library, that was built by many and have taken decades of development.  This library was built from one person.  She's also have taken a brief peek at some of the titles.  Many of them are within the restricted section of the Great Library, but there are a few that are not even in there in the first place.  Iris's library definitely prefers quality while still holding good quantity.

Her gaze lands onto the librarian.  Salem definitely didn't expect a tree as a librarian but considering Iris's affinity of plants it wasn't surprising.  Being aged and resilient, he probably harbors a lot of knowledge and direction of certain books that she sought. Another motion caught her eyes and landed on some imps.  It isn't that there are imps within the area or their floral accessories.  These imps are actually productive; the sight almost stopped Salem within her tracks, that is until she is unable to detect any demonic presence within them. After recovering from her initial surprise, she commented, "Wish ours are as productive as yours."

Iris remained silent as Salem watched the library and its workers. The little creatures and the ancient treant. "These little ones are curious like children but they are also hardworkers." The goddess gestured Salem to follow. "These are but the 'public' areas. I say public but this library is for my personal use... And now yours as well but in case you are interested in something with more... Weight." The pair went through another door at the opposite end of the library.

The new room was smaller and the lightning was dimmer, just a few lamps. Many scrolls were stached away in the bookcases there, besides those there was a table with a few more scrolls as well. "This, this is the heart of my private library. These scrolls contain knowledge of the ancient era, before the cataclysm. You may peruse through them at your own leisure. You may even borrow them... Under one condition." The woman turned, to face Salem. "The secrets contained in these scrolls must not be revealed to anyone else."

This is the type knowledge that she has been seeking for quite a while, the incomplete piece of history that was thought to be lost.  With that, she also felt a large amount of responsibility.  Not only is Iris entrusting her with the sanctity of her place of knowledge but also the pre-cataclysm text scrolls.  In a sense, Salem is flattered that the goddess place much faith on her to keep everything a secret and Salem intends to.  

"I will peruse the scrolls here rather than borrow them.  There is no reason for them to leave this place if we are intending to keep all the contents a secret."  However, there is something that was nagging at the back of her mind.  "I am curious of why are you trusting me so much with all of this, though."

"That is an excelent question." Iris took a seat in one of the chairs and gazed at Salem. "For now let's just say... That I do enjoy seeing your kind's search of knowledge. It is something I, for once, can relate to, and thus I tend to... Be nicer to demons than I am to humans."

Just one gesture was enough for Iris to have delivered one of the scrolls by one of the little, plant creatures. "You'll see. Right before the cataclysm, I spent some time seeking the knowledge of our world, that included even the Underworld." She opened the scroll and gave a quick read before offering said scroll to Salem. "This one, for example, a detailed story. Depicting the origin of some of the demon races. Obviously, the Demon Lord is off limits. Part of my little deal with her, you see."

Salem isn't quite sure if Iris's enjoyment of her kind seeking knowledge is the entire reason that Iris is doing this but Iris's mention of the agreement with the Demon Lord give credence to potentially another reason of her amiability to her.

She takes a moment to look over the scroll that Iris hands over, carefully opens it up and look through the entire recollection of most of the demon kind including details of some that the surface people have scant information on.

"I take it that this is the immediate reason why none of the knowledge should ever leave this sanctity, amongst the ones that I am not even aware of." Salem glances over the entirety of Iris's archive as she notes, "Such things would cause a large ripple effect."

"They would indeed. Humans are creatures of conflict." Iris dismissed the matter as she was pretty well aware of what this knowledge could cause, not only the knowledge about the demon race but, also, the secrets of the past, long before the cataclysm. Secrets that could create many conflicts over petty matters. "But I do trust your intuition. I'm sure you'll take good care of this knowledge."

Once Salem was done with the scroll, Iris took it back and handed it to the plant-like creature, who placed it back where it belonged. "Feel free to browse all you wish." She pointed out.