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It was a tiny, dusty room at the back of the library.

If it once had a purpose, Lament was not certain what it might have been. It was close to Cosine's archives, so perhaps once it had been a storage room for the Numbers goddess, but it had been unused for as long as Akakios had been coming to the library. Empty and unused by anyone, as far as he knew. The walls were a simple cream tone, the tile on the floors obviously marble – nice and cold below bare feet, before he had gotten into the habit of wearing sandals.

Really, he was quite certain that with the amount of time he did spend in the library, that he would have seen if anyone even entered it. He had explored it when was younger, but had not paid it much thought since then.

Until recently, that is.

More and more, he found the presence of his parents' servants annoying. Echo herself was at least trying not to baby him and to give him the space he needed, and well... she was his mother, so Lament was more forgiving on her end. But the aoidei were slowly but surely grinding on his nerves – especially so his father's, who apparently had nothing better to do in Underworld's absence but to turn into babysitters.

Except the aoidei had not seemed to get the memo that he did not need a babysitter. Was it how Sotiris felt all the time ?

Guardian, of course, was the other problem, and the only thing that kept tension from escalating on that end was his own absence, which was indeed partly caused by the aoidei's babying. He certainly spent more time in the library than out of it, these days, mostly returning back to his mother's rooms briefly during the night... Which did not save him in the least since they all knew that he did not sleep.

Really, what was one more step ? His own set of rooms, his own door, would certainly have been better, and he could not deny that he would enjoy such a thing, if only to provide space and a place truly of their own to Tasia and Ianthe. But as far as he knew, Harmodius was still recovering from remaking the sky, and the young god was loathe to bother him and have him tire himself out even further over something he could quite easily go without, for the time being.

That was when he remembered the tiny room at the back of the library. Remembered that it was empty save for a few bookshelves that were scarce on their own. He certainly could not fit everything he owned in such a small room, and he had no plan to do it – he still had his own place in Music's quarters, and he did not plan to leave it completely... He would go back, to visit his mother and enjoy her company. And, hopefully... The aoidei would get the message that he needed some space.

He did take some of his books with him, the most precious ones, as well as a great deal of the blank books and notebooks. He needed these handy, after all. What Lament did not take with him was the desk – he had his own dedicated writing space already, and had lost any nervousness that he had with working in an open area, with people going back and forth, a long time ago. One of the larger couches was pulled from inside the library proper and into the back of the room – he figured the library had more than enough of these that one would not go missed. It was no true bed, but it was comfortable – and more for Tasia's use than his own, as the naga aoide seemed intent on staying close to him.

Tasia's presence was not one he had even minded – she had always seemed to see him differently from how his parents' aoidei had seen him – not simply as a child, but as a god... Just one that had been a little smaller than most, back then. Ianthe had seemingly preferred to stay behind, and Akakios found that he did not mind. The decayed aoide could keep him updated, and find his master if someone came looking for him. And perhaps, Ianthe was still hoping his master of old would return, and that, maybe, Nergal would, one day, truly take him back.

When he had been younger, Lament had been angry with that notion, with the idea that Ianthe could have been taken from him when he had rightfully seen the aoide as his. But with maturity, and with Tasia's utter devotion, he began to understand that the true connection in between an aoide and their god, that their loyalty was not something that could easily be ignored... or changed. And he found that he probably would not oppose such a thing, if it ever was to happen. If Underworld was to ever reclaim his servant, he would simply let Ianthe go... Because that would be where his happiness would be. Of course... That did not seem likely. Akakios had accepted a long time ago that his father would never be a constant in his life, and while at first he angrily wondered if Nergal even remembered he existed most of the time... In time, that anger had dimmed into acceptance. He had grieved, and had moved on, and with time, found that he did not need his father as much as he needed to.

He could do just fine with his mother's guidance, and he knew he could always count on Endiovar and Cosine if he needed anything. Ankou, while a little harder to track down, was also a good source of advice in his own way.

But still... He was no longer the child he once had been. It was time for other people to understand this, and the greater need for intimacy and independence had driven him to create this little home away from home for himself.

They had finally finished getting everything settled a few hours ago, and Tasia was coiled on the couch, soundly asleep, and the god watched her, his most loyal servant, and smiled. She seemed to be perfectly at ease there, already... But maybe Tasia could find a way to be at ease no matter where she was, as long as she happened to be with the god she had chosen to serve.

It was rather heartwarming to say the least... And Akakios did not regret what he had decided to do. He slid his way out of the room and closed the door softly, heading toward his work desk. For now, however, there was more work to be done...