My single biggest resistance to the Wordsmiths as a group in the Library comes in the form of a question: Why does the Library need cops?
I mean, that's what they are, right? Wordsmiths are police. They police the Library. But why? When I imagine the breach of social mores inside the Library, I also imagine Wanderer communities who band together to keep their favourite Shelves safe from evildoers. I imagine reader's unions keeping peace and quiet in their local Reading Room and the Wing it serves. I imagine fellow patrons caring for one another and settling interpersonal disputes together. I imagine thaumaturgist guilds whose sworn commitment is maintaining the protective wards the Librarians put in place. There would be absolutely no need for law enforcement. To me, that isn't the Library. That undermines what makes its special.
Besides, modern law enforcement has its historical roots in preventing and criminalizing vagrancy. This is awfully ironic, considering the subject of their stories is the Wanderers' Library. It's even more troubling that the Wordsmiths are accountable to nobody but themselves. Though Brak's misconduct is acknowledged, it's hardly interrogated, and any means of internal recourse against his misconduct remains to be seen, because he dies soon after.
It's entirely possible I'm missing the point—like, it's obviously good that a Wordsmith is investigating a slaving racket! But couldn't everyday patrons notice shady behaviour in their great Library and work to stomp it out? Wouldn't committed Wanderers recognize the benefits in keeping the common spaces equitable? Or is it really the case that the Library's patrons owe untold years of safety to a police force?
That aside, I do have some criticism on the way this entry is written. During character interactions, I would really suggest splitting up the dialog and actions of each character into their own individual paragraphs, instead of having entire interactions play out inside one paragraph. The way dialogue is written now (especially because none of the dialogue is introduced or followed by dialog tags) has the potential to harm readability.
