Fate - First Reply Books, breezes and the burning sun

[Nuir]

It had been a natural choice to travel along the trade route to Maraan from Elbion. Or so he had thought when talking to the locals. The journey itself had been much harder on him than anticipated. He truly suffered in these warmer airs and thanked each passing breeze.
He usually quite liked basking in the sun though his pale skin never seemed to change in hue other than growing a bit pink. Here it felt as if the sun were closer somehow burning with brilliance but also stifling.

The new sights and sounds had been a welcome distraction. He had ventured about the markets wide eyed. Of course there was one location in particular that had made the daunting trek worth being baked alive. The Westwing library. He would never have found it if one of the locals he had been traveling with hadn’t guided the way.
The building itself seemed of exceedingly well design. Both protecting the books orderly and magangeing to still capture the breeze to cool the interior.

The small elf's face was lit with a smile brighter than the burning sun outside. He purused the libraries diverse collection with great interest feeling bliss whell in his heart as he decided where to start.
He stood on tip toe reaching up in an attempt to grasp a volume on an upper shelf.
White hair tied back loosely in a braid flowing down his back and flowing clothing in soft blue and grey tones, all evoked an image of moonlight. It looked out of place here but then that was true of most places.

 

[Maveriel Valthoras]

It was quiet, just as an establishment like this should be. A few whispers over here, murmurs in corners, but this was the kind of environment that catered to silence and solace. Though there was an irony to this library and it wasn’t lost on one of its inhabitants.

It wasn’t simply that the Westwing Library was located on the east side of town. Perhaps it was that, given the book in her hands, the words within might prompt one to gasp in shock, shout in surprise, or talk about the contents with another person as she walked.

‘And the pale beast withered away, free of its disease. and pain’ Mave read in her head as she paced, eyes down to the page. ‘While the white knight, now covered in blood, sweat and grime, cast his eye to the sky.’ Her outfit provided the image of just another visitor amid the traders of Maraan. ‘And cried to the clouds: ‘I shake my fist at thee, ye cruel fools, for turning my wife into an ugly one-eyed dragon!’

“Wow,” Mave spoke aloud just as she bumped into something. “Woah!” Turned out to be a person standing on his tiptoes who might just then fall down if he did not catch himself. Mave might have but was too surprised to try.

Nuir

 

[Nuir]

Nuir who had been desperately reaching, felt the tips of his fingers make contact. It was almost in his grasp.
Only to be shoulder checked by a passerby. The small bump caught him off guard. In one of his less elegant moments he the momentum carried him forward to smack his forehead on the shelf in front of him.
He wavered trying to correct his balance and landed predictably on his backside.
With a soft thumb some of the books from the shelf onto him as if the rest hadn't been a spectacle enough.

Sitting in the small pile of book Nuir blinked away the brief confusion. He looked over the scattering with a small frown. His hands were already busy tidying up the books before he looked up. An Elven woman was standing nearby presumably the cause of his fall. Her hair and eyes were quite striking. Nuir found that red hair always stood out in his mind. Maraan like many of the large cities he had visited was diverse. So he wasn't sure if she was local to the area. Though her demeaner seemed to suggest she wasn't.
He gave a small nod in acknowledgement.

 

[Maveriel Valthoras]

There was a sudden thud that erupted in the library. It wasn’t from the thump of a book shutting because of a violent thumb after an exciting read, or a door closing that led to a privy, but simply because of someone’s butt as it clashed with the floor and books landed on his noggin.

In the quiet except for this commotion, bereft of conversation or music, it was otherwise broken by a few gasps and even laughs of others who had witnessed what had happened. The elven woman standing before the young man, however, did not open her lips and neither did she flinch. Not at first.

“Oops,” she offered, fully aware that she had not lifted a finger to halt his fall but it had happened so fast. He nodded at her as if in acknowledgment that she was the cause or perhaps to save himself some embarrassment. Either way, Mave could not help but smile back.

“Sorry about that.” He needed no hand, however, at least not in the gesture to get back up. He was too busy cleaning up the mess. At that, Mave lowered herself to her knees and helped share in the endeavor. She could do no less.

“Hmm,” she perused the literature as her hands moved. “Ah.” At that, she held out a book bound in purple leather. Its title read: ‘The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Lumbering Lumberer Bereft of Elegance’. “Is this what you were after?” No hint of sarcasm in her tone, though she spoke low, just over a whisper, oblivious to the harm in it.

Nuir

 

[Nuir]

He offered a small shake of his head to her apologies. After all it had only been an assumption on his part that she her collision was the cause. He might have lost his footing even without her intervention. There was no hint of reproach or anger in his face. He did feel a touch embarrassed about making such a scene. The gasps from onlookers had tinged his ears a bit pink. He would remember to properly go and fetch a ladder or a librarian next time he wanted a book from a higher shelf.
"I should have been more sensible about my limitations." He whispered back in an amused forgiving tone. Of course said limitations being his own height. As they quickly tidied the volumes the woman held one up to him.
Had that been it? He had been reaching for it on a whim. So he wasn't particularly certain. He took the volume and curiously inspected it. Indeed he did vaguely remember the volume he had been reaching for had been bound in a striking color. Perhaps this little humiliation had been punishment for choosing a book based on it's binding. He puzzled briefly over the title, some sort of fable perhaps? ......or a romance?
"ah...yes, I believe so." Nuir replied keeping his voice low as well. He tucked the volume under one arm as he began returning the tidied volumes back to the shelf.

 

[Maveriel Valthoras]

So, despite her words and what she had surmised, it turned out that Mave’s predictions were proven that very moment. That or the lad was just that embarrassed and decided not to turn down the offered book with a frown. Whatever. Time marched ever onward and he seemed smart enough to interpret the literature—at least to her.

This man had one eye blue and the other brown. That was curious enough under the circumstances and never mind the book bound in violet. What was it about? Mave could only imagine. It was a long title, no doubt, but apparently it had piqued his curiosity as well enough to reach for the shelf.

“Well?” Mave spoke once the books and tomes were settled. Her tone wasn’t one of metal, more like someone interested in conversation once tea came from a kettle, as her attention rested on the elven man with the hardback book under his arm.

“What does it say?” Eyes trained down at that bound novel. It was like a fossil in a maze. He had her gaze as it penetrated his face; fiery ambers in his sapphire and golden brown. "Read me some words, if you please."

Nuir

 

[Nuir]

He offered a few surprised blinks in response to her searing enthusiasm. Well....if ever someone was going to bump into a fellow literature enthusiast it was going to be in a library.
He wasn't sure why she was asking though, unless perhaps she had also been interested in the book? Or perhaps she couldn't herself read it. In either case he saw no harm in obliging her, albeit in hushed tones.

He leaned in slightly opening the book between them. His eyes fell softly on the pages as he read a bit of the opening passages to her. Both the binding and the lettering were very neat. Someone had gone to quite the trouble to lovingly craft this book. The story seemed to be a cautionary tale, a man whose earnest heart and direct nature lead him to take too greedily from his forest. However in doing so he was able to uncover truths and raise his own station through unconventional means. It was right around when it became apparent that the lumberer and the guardian spirit of the forest were much more than friends,
That he realized he had read quite a few more words aloud than he had intended.
".....ah...I got a bit carried away...." He interjected sheepishly.

 

[Maveriel Valthoras]

Spoiler: Music/Ambience

Mave patiently waited for this man before her to read from this book he had been reaching prior to falling to the floor. Perhaps it was simply the least she could do to indulge him with some excess attention amid his embarrassment. Right, it might be that he was more quiet than shy to begin with, but evidently they both liked to read the stories of other writers and this one with its long title had better not be boring.

‘His Jasmine bridled and saddled, Hadaver climbed his horse and rode toward the forest.’ Mave heard the speaker’s words in her brain, in her heart, as the elven man read from the page in the way one played a harp. ‘There was much and more to explore and, despite his desire for silence from the voices of others, to exploit.’ Apparently family and friends had warned Hadaver the adventurer of his lusts but he didn’t listen to them. Naturally.

Mave thought as she listened and watched, not the book, but the lips of the man as he took it into his grip. ‘He had chopped wood in the dawn for his village, as a loyal lumberer in toil, but he wanted the promise of this forest as wanton pillagers want plunder.’ The elf read in the way that suggested he wasn’t a bumbling idiot but Mave could not say the same thing for the main character from the page.

Some paragraphs later: ‘And the guardian spirit of the forest went forth and met with Hadaver as he sat at a tree, and it showed itself in the form of a spriggan, with the face of a woman, a lady delicate and naked, and opened up fortune to him if he would but listen to her words and obey.’

Ugh. Typical little slut.

".....ah...I got a bit carried away...."

“Eh, you did great,” Mave said with both brows raised in interest. “I’ve done enough reading in this library and it got me to bumping into you so, hey, I figured I’d just listen to what someone else had to say.” The elven woman smiled while offering her hand. “Name’s Mave.”

Nuir

 

[Nuir]

The casual praise eased his embarrassment a little.
Nuir tilted his head with a slightly perplexed expression. He took the hand an shook it lightly.
"Well met. I am Nuir." Came by way of simple introduction in reply.
Nuir was the type that had never done enough reading. If anything he felt he could easily pass a century in a library as grand as this one. Alas eh could not hone his skills on books alone. No matter how many texts he read on methods or techniques they paled in comparison to practical use. People rarely took their life threatening injuries to the library. So he had to drag himself away at some point.

"Do you..... live in the city?" Perhaps she was simply a frequent patron of the library.