Chapter 543

ARIA

a/n: i am preemeptively telling you guys now, i am the author they are discussing about. this is about me haha. And the book is about them.

ARIA

The book club was not what I’d expected.

–

I’m not sure what I’d expected, exactly. Something more formal, maybe the way the briefings ran, with everyone taking turns and information moving in an organized direction and Nina writing things down. Or something more like the poker game, which had been relaxed and sideways and comfortable in the way of people doing something familiar.

What actually happened was that Ivory opened to the window section in chapter eight and said “the window is—” and Jordan said “the window is obviously a metaphor for—” and Kael said “the window is a window, the metaphor is being applied retroactively by readers who-” and then all three of them were talking at the same time and within forty-five seconds the room had achieved a specific quality of noise that I was not prepared for.

Silver said, in my head: *Oh.*

I know, I said.

*They have a lot of feelings about the window,* Silver said.

I can see that, I said.

“The window was intentional from the first chapter,” Ivory was saying, with the specific certainty of someone who had documentation to support this position. “The author established Everest’s relationship to the window in chapter one when he specifically noted that the window was the faster route and then chose the door anyway. That’s not incidental. That’s setup.”

“Setup for what,” Kael said. “The setup could be for the window being literally a window. Not everything is symbolic.”

“The author has said in interviews-” Ivory started.

“The author,” Kael said, “is not in this room.”

“The author’s stated intentions are available on record,” Ivory said, “and they confirm that the window was intentional from the beginning.”

“Authors say things in interviews that they weren’t thinking when they wrote,” Kael said. “Retroactive intentionality is a known phenomenon.”

“You read author interviews,” Jordan said, looking at Kael.

“No,” Kael said.

“You just cited retroactive intentionality as a concept,” Jordan said. “That’s not something you get to without reading about how authors talk about their work.”

“I didn’t-” Kael started.

“Retroactive intentionality,” Jordan said, “is a term from literary criticism.”

“I know what literary criticism is,” Kael said.

“How do you know what literary criticism is,” Ivory said.

“I’ve been reading,” Kael said.

“About the series,” Jordan said.

“About things,” Kael said.

“You’ve been reading criticism of this series,” Ivory said, and her voice had arrived at the specific quality it got when she’d found something that produced genuine delight. “Kael. You’ve been reading literary criticism of a book series that you told me was-”

“I said they were interesting,” Kael said.

“You said the first three were slow,” Ivory said. “You said the pacing was inconsistent. You said Everest was not a believable character because no person would genuinely fail to notice the window that many times.”

“I’ve updated my position,” Kael said.

“After reading criticism,” Jordan said.

“After reading,” Kael said. “Broadly. In general.”

“You’ve been doing research,” Ivory said.

“I’ve been-” Kael started.

“Into the series,” Ivory said. “That I’ve been reading for years. That I tried to discuss with everyone multiple times. That everyone said no to a structured book club for.” She held his

gaze. “And you’ve been doing independent research.”

“The break provided time,” Kael said.

“You bought the extended collection,” Jordan said. “With the pack budget.”

“The supplementary materials include-”

“Supplementary materials,” Ivory said. “Kael.”

“There are companion essays,” Kael said.

“COMPANION ESSAYS, Ivory said.

“They’re analytically rigorous,” Kael said, in the tone of someone who’d said something they hadn’t meant to say and was going to defend it anyway.

“You bought the companion essays,” Ivory said. “With the pack budget.”

“The miscellaneous line item-”

“The miscellaneous line item,” Jordan said, “is going to become a standing agenda item at every budget meeting for the foreseeable future, and I say this as someone who also used it during the break for things I’m not prepared to enumerate.”

“What did you buy,” Nina said to Jordan.

“Things,” Jordan said.

“Jordan,” Nina said.

“Supplementary things,” Jordan said.

“Jordan,” Nina said again, with the specific weight that produced answers.

“The political intrigue arc has a contextual guide,” Jordan said. “It provides historical background on the fictional governmental structure. It’s very thorough.”

“You bought the contextual guide,” Ivory said.

“It was useful,” Jordan said.

“You told me the political arc was your least favorite,” Ivory said.

“My least favorite arc with supplementary context,” Jordan said, “is significantly more engaging than my least favorite arc without it.”

“I want everyone’s supplementary materials,” Ivory said. “In this room. Now.”

“We’re in the middle of-” Kael started.

“The window discussion can wait,” Ivory said. “What did everyone buy.”

This produced a specific moment in which everyone in the room with supplementary materials which turned out to be Kael, Jordan, and Nina, and potentially Killian based on the quality of his expression – made individual calculations about the ratio of willingness to confess to the personal cost of Ivory finding out through other means.

Nina reached into her bag.

She produced a slim volume. The cover was the same design as the series but different — the annotation companion, which I knew because I’d been shown the series enough times in the past months to have absorbed some of its structure.

“The annotation companion,” Ivory said.

“Yes,” Nina said.

“That’s mine,” Ivory said.

“I bought my own copy,” Nina said.

“You bought your own copy of the annotation companion,” Ivory said.

“So I could make notes in the margins,” Nina said. “Without using yours.”

Ivory looked at Nina with the expression of someone who had received something they hadn’t known they needed and were processing the receipt of it.

“Jordan,” Ivory said.

Jordan produced the contextual guide.

“Kael,” Ivory said.

Kael reached into the desk drawer.

He put the companion essays on the table.

Then he put a second volume on the table. Then a third.

Ivory looked at the three volumes.

“What is that,” she said.

“The character study collection,” Kael said. “Each volume focuses on one primary character. There are currently five volumes. I have three.”

“Which three,” Ivory said.

“The ones on Everest,” Kael said. “And the younger brother. And-” he stopped.

“And,” Ivory said.

“The one on the healer character,” Kael said. “In book nine.”

The room was very still.