Fate - First Reply The Romance of House Black

[Hahnah]

The library was a confusing place, and Hahnah was lost within it.

In her wanderings through the Kingdom of Oban, she had chanced across the large town of Marsden Obani. Situated along the main inland trade route from Elbion to Oban proper, Marsden Obani had within it a notable library that many traveling mages and scholars frequented. Hahnah, of course, learning as she was of civilization and by walking among them--Humankind and other civilized people of Arethil--saw the library and had to ask, what was that building? Why was it larger than the others around it? And she was told: it was a place in which books were kept and sold.

Books? Books. Books! The realization of the opportunity struck her. She had during the siege of Menura begun to read a particular novel, the first and thus far only book she had ever read. Partially. She was not able to finish it, and she, having to leave Menura swiftly and all of a sudden, had left the novel behind.

The novel's name was The Romance of House Black, and it had utterly captivated her. She desired very much to know the ending to the story, what became of the heiress and the prince (humans both, though in her mind's eye she had imagined them to be elves). Perhaps the library of Marsden Obani held a "copy" of this novel? It was to Hahnah's understanding that the book she left behind in Menura might not necessarily be the only one.

So Hahnah was here.

In the library.

With its high ceiling and ordered rows of shelves and soft carpet which muted the steps of those within. The quiet was pervasive and copious natural light shined in through a skylight and through windows all along the walls. Like every other unnatural construction found in villages, towns, cities, the structure and layout of the library was baffling to Hahnah. She'd not the faintest idea of where even to begin to look for The Romance of House Black.

Perhaps it was best to seek guidance?

Hahnah waited by the set of front doors. Waited for the next entrant to come inside.

And she would ask demurely, "May I ask for your help?"

Spoiler: Quick Write

So I'm trying out using the "quick write" tag for this thread. Essentially, I think the tag would be good for indicating threads that are meant to be short. Little stories, quick RPs that don't necessarily have to go for long. I think "quick writes" would be good for test-driving new characters, odd or quirky situations, little bits of character building, seeing how well two characters get along, establishing an acquaintance between two characters that could be built upon later in other threads, and small slice-of-life events and everyday moments (not every thread has to be epic). That's the intent, and I want to see how it works. Join me and let's see.

 

[Tinus Damos]

Work as a mercenary was generally predictable. Usually you got hired to kill someone/something, protect someone/something, or even just to stay out of something every so often. It was stable, reliable work that brought in plenty of coin and goods for the risks involved.

But then you had those jobs that ambushed you with the oddity of their circumstances. The current job Tinus found himself on was one of those kinds. His employer was a scholar from Elbion that had a very curious nature. A very curious nature that had seen them imprisoned for illegally research some forbidden topic. This employer was allowed visitors and to have things even while they were behind bars. Something unique to Elbion or perhaps just to this wealthy scholar's situation.

The job was to retrieve a specific book from the library Marsden Obani and bring it back to him. Somehow it was key to continuing his none illegal research that once completed would turn his sentence of decades to time served. Another oddity about the city that he didn't understand, but the pay was good and the client wasn't too bother about the need for Tinus to rush. Another odd feature to his job, but allowed him the room to do other things along the way.

And so after traveling from Elbion by horse to the town of Marsden Obani, Tinus found his way to the library. He was beginning to walk inside when a voice called out to him. He directed his attention to the source and saw a female elf. She had asked for his help. He had no reason to refuse and even if he wasn't in Kelon it was still the way of the Kel to help others if you were able.

"Perhaps. What do you need of me?"

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

An armored man. Such men had been sources of fear for her when she was in the wild; when as well she had access to the Dying God's gift of magic, for her magic had been near useless against them. Still a touch of that fear simmered beneath her ribs. Things were different for her now, yet still these remnants of her old way lingered, and she suspected would linger yet for years to come.

But the latent fear she kept concealed. It was not difficult (even though to her it was as if he had an unnatural face of cold, shaped metal), because she had something else to focus on. The book. If this armored man was here then he likely knew how libraries worked. Or...what if this place was unfamiliar to him as well? The manner in which he spoke his seven words was different than the others of the town called Marsden Obani. Yet, even if it were so, being lost was not so bad if you were not alone.

Hahnah came up to him. Stood with her back straight and chin level, with her legs together and hands clasped before her--perfect posture.

For a moment she hesitated, visibly putting together how best to explain her quandary.

And then she said, "This place that is called a library is confusing to me. I am looking for a book, but there are many books. I do not know how to find the book for which I am looking because I do not understand the order of this place. Do you..." A small, sheepish struggle again to find the words, "...know how a library is ordered?"

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

The elf woman approached him and took on a perfect posture stance. The whole effect made her seem rather meek and vulnerable. Odd, but he could see how it was a useful tactic when asking for help. Similar idea to the Kel and their masks in a way. She didn't need to do it as he already was offering his help, but she might not know about his people.

What she had to ask of him was help with finding a book in the library. So she was here for a similar reason as himself. She didn't know how the place worked exactly nor how it was ordered. He had to admit he wasn't going to be much help in that regard. There had never been much time or reason for him to ever enter a library before now even if he enjoyed books well enough.

After a moment in his thoughts, Tinus said, "Not sure." Then he motioned for her to follow him. "Going to ask inside."

And with that he headed into the library making sure to hold the door open for the woman so she could enter unimpeded. Once the both of them were inside he looked around for anyone who looked familiar with the establishment. Some robed scholar or monk, as they always seemed to be the most knowledgeable about these sort of places.

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

He was not sure either on how the place called a library was ordered. It was a bit surprising, but only because Hahnah had made an implicit assumption about it. His manner of speaking was indeed different than the humans of Marsden Obani, and perhaps she should have placed more emphasis upon that. Still. Lost together. It was better than an outright rebuke, which was what she was more accustomed to receiving.

He held the door open for her, and Hahnah stepped inside, revisiting the daunting library's interior once more. The buildings of civilization could become so astonishingly complex. The rangers' lodge of her caretakers had been small and simple, easy to understand. Yet this place was an abundance of corners, sharp angles, glass, straight lines, multiple floors, spongy ground made of fabric that seemed to Hahnah an imitation of the forest floor. Nothing "flowed" as she anticipated that it might, as she knew intimately of the patterns of trees and the rolling of hills and the winding currents of rivers. All of the land of Falwood which she had seen with her own eyes she had committed to memory. Effortlessly. Here, her mind struggled to comprehend what she saw.

"How ancient is this place?" Hahnah mused aloud as her eyes wandered, not thinking that the word ancient might sound odd in this context. To her, however, the word had perfect clarity.

Ahead, in the central rotunda of the library, there were a few brown-robed scholars stood at pedestals, each of them at work hand-copying texts before them.

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

Walking inside the library Tinus could only think that it was exactly what he expected of the place. Scholars tended to be soft and use to comforts, hence the rugs on the floor to ease standing and walking on hard stone. The design of the building was typical of the region and there were books everywhere. What was more unexpected was seeing a group of robed figures so hard at work on something. He had fully expected everyone to just be reading.

He turned to look at Hahnah when she spoke and had to not chuckle to himself. Instead he just said in an amused tone, "We can ask that too."

And then he made his way towards the group of scholars at work. As he approached he made a bit of a whistling sound to catch their attention. After he said to them, "We are looking for certain books. Who can help us here?" Then he paused a moment before remembering their other purpose. "Also how old is this place?"

His current task was completed! Answers would hopefully follow and then they could continue onto their next objective to completing their quests. He wasn't certain what book she might be after nor why, but he was happy to keep helping her until they found it. More interesting than travel on the road so far.

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

Hahnah followed after the armored man. Normally it was that she did not interact directly with the humans of the settlements she passed through, not unless they initiated with her first. Mostly she would observe, keep to herself, and this served her well when it came time to acquire food. "Stealing," the concept of private property, these were things that she did not quite understand, though she understood well enough the aggression and hostility that came when she was perceived to have committed this act.

Were the books inside this library also property? If they found one of these copies of The Romance of House Black, would the ire of the nearby humans be roused? For that matter, would the ire of the armored man himself be roused if she took the book into her possession? If she touched it? The rules of what was considering "stealing" and what was not were unclear to her, and in fact seemed different in a multitude of circumstances: specific items, places, times, and even between people.

Hahnah stood beside Tinus as he addressed one of the men in the brown robes.

The scholarly man looked up from his work. Adjusted the seeing glass that rested on his nose. He'd a round face, wide and observant eyes, and a quiet demeanor about him. "I could help you, yes."

Also how old is this place?

"Oh," said the scholar. "Why, hmm...if memory serves, construction was completed in the year 168, so a fair shade over two hundred years. Yes, two hundred years and some."

She knew better, Hahnah did. That the buildings of civilization were not like trees, yet in her mind there still existed an intrinsic sense between the age of the library and its size. The measure of astonishment in her expression was matched by her tone, "That is very impressive."

"It is. Yes, it is." The scholar faced Tinus again. "What, hmm...what books were looking for, pray tell?"

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

The robed individual was proving to be rather helpful. Not only could he find what they were after but he even knew when this building was built. Roughly two hundred years old. It surprised Tinus that nothing had happened to it in that time, but the area around Elbion was less prone to conflict than Cortos and Vel Anir.

The elven woman seemed satisfied with the answer. One objective of his task completed. Now it was time to get back to the reasons the two were here.

"Looking for-" Tinus said before reaching into his pouch. He pulled out a slip of paper and handed it over to the robed man. "-that."

On the paper would be not one title but the title of a series of three books. They were about the native fungi and cults related to them of Falwood, Bayou Garramarisma, and the dwarven mines in the Spine. Books written by a half crazed halfling from the Reach trying to disprove the similar works of an moon touched elf.

Tinus looked to Hahnah and leaned in closer to her. He said in a hushed voice so only the two of them could hear each other. "What you looking for?"

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

The scholar looked at the paper that Tinus produced, peering at it through his seeing glass and carefully reading all that was written there.

"Hmm. Yes. While I am not familiar with these volumes, I do know where they will be found. We arrange our books into sections according to, hmm, what is called 'genre.' Genre, essentially, is a method of categorization. What a book is 'about,' as some may say. These, since they pertain to the study of botany, will be found among other such volumes on the second floor of the library, near the western wall--the aisles will be marked. Do note that they will be ordered alphabetically by title."

Hahnah, all the while, was listening with rapturous interest to everything the scholar had said. The word "genre" was unfamiliar, but it was interesting to know that there were a great many varieties of books. Were they all stories? What kind of a story was a "botany?" It was all so...new. Mayhap even exciting and wondrous. Before her transformation, she had been illiterate; despite the best attempts of Kylindrielle and Elurdrith to teach her how to read, she never could grasp it. Even after her transformation, after learning how to read from the knowledge absorbed from Zael, she did not engage with it very much. It was only when she had by chance begun to read The Romance of House Black during the siege of Menura that she had truly been captivated by the simple act. In her mind's eye she could see the story playing out as if it were real, as if she were the heiress of whom the story was about. Within the pages of a book she could vicariously experience that which she never had before. And how many books were here in this library? It was astonishing to estimate.

The armored man near-whispered to her. Why was he being quiet? She did not know, but she thought to mimic it.

In a hushed voice, she replied, "It is a book that is called The Romance of House Black. I started to read that book, but I was not able to finish it. I very much want to know how it ends."

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

The elf woman was interested in a romance book. Not what he would have guessed. He didn't know what he would have guessed though if asked. Perhaps something to do with trees or bows? That was the Anirian stereotype for elves wasn't it? The term knife ears came up a lot with them in reference to elves. Not something he understood. Plenty of Kel were elves. He supposed they just had the luxury of being able to cover their ears thanks to their helmets and masks.

Tinus nodded to Hahnah and then looked back to the robed man. "What about The Romance of House Black? Do you hoard such a book here?"

Hoard a book. The image of a grand scaly beast laying upon a mound of tomes and scrolls as if they were gold and gems came to his mind. Would dragons do such a thing? Their lust and greed for precious metals and gemstones was legendary, but was their interest for anything of such value or limited instinctively to those most valuable objects mined from the ground?

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

The scholar made a small face of puzzlement when Tinus used the word "hoard" to describe the keeping of books. Nevertheless, he seemed to recognize the title, and said, "Oh. Yes. My niece, whom I did so encourage to become literate, read that very book as her first. Oh, hmm, first of her own choosing, I should say. In any case, you shall also find that book on the second floor, though it will be on the opposite side: the eastern wall, as opposed to the western wall."

Hahnah, a touch eager to find the book she sought and wanting more specific information so as not to become lost in the forest of shelves, asked the scholar before he set back to his scribing, "What is the genre of the book that is called The Romance of House Black? I need to know it to find the right 'section,' of which you have spoken."

The scholar, blinking in a manner which betrayed that he thought it was self-evident, nevertheless answered the question dutifully, "It would be a work of romance. Hmm. Yes. That would be a growing genre, I would say. Seems there's many a bard with as much talent for authoring as singing, and many a literate young lady like yourself so interested."

Hahnah's eyes widened, her brow climbing high in delighted astonishment. Breathlessly, she said, "There are many books with these kinds of stories...?"

The scholar flicked a glance to Tinus. Back to Hahnah. "Why, yes. There are indeed."

Hahnah glanced over to Tinus, looking at him as if she were the bearer of good news that he--and perhaps anyone and everyone--was waiting on, repeating, "There are many books...!"

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

The scholar made a face after Tinus' last question. Clearly the man was deep in thought trying to remember the answer. Thankfully he did, although the story attached to it was unasked for. Something about scholars always made them give as much information on a topic as possible. When he was interested in something it was nice, like cooking methods, but when it wasn't then it was just frustrating to be polite and wait for them to finish. This was the latter time.

He was happy to hear that their objectives could be found on the same floor even if on opposite walls. That was something to work with. What made him have the happies more though was the way the female elf began interacting with the chatty scholar. It was so innocent and pure. She was like a lamb bouncing around rocks for the first time with other lambs. An overwhelming need to protect her rushed over him, although he had nothing to protect her from.

The scholar glanced at him, clearly not feeling the same way about the woman as he did. Tinus just stood there quietly so as not to be rude and interrupt her. Was this scholar expecting him to control her just because she was a woman? His grandmother was from Oban and he had heard some of the stories about what the culture here was like. The gryphon stuff sounded amazing, but the control and dominating of their women sounded horrible. This seemed like one of the horrible moments to him.

Under his mask Tinus smiled when Hahnah glanced at him and then said her last bit of words. Looked like it was his turn to be a part of the conversation again. "We should find your book quickly then so you can finish it and move onto the next."

Behind his mask he glanced at the scholar. The man no doubt wanted to get back to his work very much now. But he might also surprise Tinus and be more support of the elf woman's infectious joy. Either way he continued after that brief pause. "I will help you find it. Let's go."

And then he gently went to place his hands on her shoulders to try and guide her away from the busy scholars and towards the stairs to the second floor.

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

I will help you find it. Let's go.

Hahnah nodded enthusiastically. She turned, guided easily by Tinus's prompting hands on her shoulders. The carpet gave scarcely a sound under her boots as she walked toward the stairs.

Her life since Menura had changed--drastically. She imagined it as being as though the sky had switched places with the ground, a complete inversion of her entire worldview. In her wanderings through the land that was called the "Kingdom of Oban," a dark cloud of turmoil hung over her for many a reason: the lack of further guidance from the Dying God, dismay about her purpose, how she had in her gravely mistaken way accrued the weight of sin upon her heart, worry about Griffyn and if all was right with him, anxiety about being far from Falwood, the everburning hatred in her heart which she needed to suppress, and others.

But here, in searching for this book, the promise of allowing herself to be lost in its story and to forget her own struggles for a time, brought Hahnah a measure of comfort.

She started to climb the stairs.

And she glanced back to Tinus. This armored man--whether or not he was a human or if he was an elf--was someone that she did not expect. Her old fears did not perish so easily, and that latent fear of armored men smoldered still. But his kindness--small, genuine, freely given--she would not forget.

"Do you like to read often?" she asked as her feet touched the second floor landing.

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

As they climbed, it was impossible to not notice how excited the elf woman had become about finding the book she was after as well as the prospect of many more like it. Something he couldn't say he felt the same about. Books were interesting things. They held knowledge and stories of all kinds. He particularly found cooking manuals and tomes over plants and animals to be very interesting. But in general, he held little interest in them.

"Not often. Travel too much. Books don't travel well. They like to stay put in one place where someone can find them. Like this place. Why some people build libraries or dedicate rooms in their homes to them." Tinus responded back to her question.

Now at the top of the stairs, he started up the process of looking at the titles written in each of the books after pulling them one. If it was the wrong book, he would put it back on the shelf. One by one he went through each of the books like this.

"Do you intend to take the book with you?"

Tinus knew this task would get tedious fast and a little conversation wouldn't hurt. Until now he had also forgotten how places with books tended to operate. You couldn't just take a book. If you wanted a copy of your own you needed to pay to have it transcribed by one of the scholars or do it yourself inside of the place. He only knew because his client had brought that up when they met and given him the coin to pay for it along with a portion of his pay. It seemed unlikely she knew about it herself.

"They can make you your own copy to keep. Just need to give them time to make it." He glanced over at her to see if she had any sign of coins on her at all. "I have to get copies made for my client. Can ask them to copy your book too. And any other book that catches your eye."

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

The armored man explained a few things about books, and how they were used and stored. Books, so he said, did not travel well, and that made a great deal of intuitive sense to Hahnah. She herself did not carry anything in her travels; no "backpack" nor pouches nor satchels, nothing that she oft saw civilized people using, and even the wearing of clothes was a relatively new feature of her life. In truth, she had but the one knife--taken from Menura--in her pocket. She did want to read The Romance of House Black very much, but, if she could finish it, then she could have the whole story in her mind, and she would not need to devote a hand to carrying a book.

Top of the stairs. To the eastern wall. And there was an aisle marked with the appropriate genre: romance. This aisle was, perhaps, the shortest of the rest.

Hahnah searched among the shelves, pulling out books and quietly speaking and sounding out the titles to herself ("From Alliria to Elbion..." "Wedding on the Wda..." "A Heart's Ransom...") and putting them back. The man with the seeing glass had said that the books were supposed to be arranged alphabetically, but this arrangement did not seem perfect--even Hahnah was able to recognize that a fair few were out of place.

Tinus asked his question, and he glanced to see if she'd any manner of coin. Her belt was a red sash, bereft of any coin pouches.

Hahnah glanced over to him after putting the latest book back on the shelf. "If I do not take the book with me, and I instead read it all here and place it back exactly where either you or I find it, would this...?"

A flush of embarrassment brought on some hesitation. She was had not been careful, and she recognized only too late that she was asking something that would seem strange. Failing to finish her question would also appear strange, and so she thought of how best to assuage the oddity.

"...would this be considering stealing? I am not sure. I am not from these lands and I am unfamiliar with many things here."

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

The Kel stopped in his search as he heard what the elf woman had to say. She was concerned with accidentally stealing the book due to being unfamiliar with this land. Was she perhaps fresh out of the Falwood? That seemed the most likely place for her to be from as other elves in other lands seemed more connected with human societies. It did explain much about her and her behavior as well, such as her lack of coin to buy things.

A bit of a laugh did escape him. The question was just funny to him. He turned his attention to her and said in a cheerful yet serious tone, "It isn't stealing unless you take it with you without permission. Reading it and putting it back is common. Most don't even put them back right. Several have been out of order on my shelves."

The real worry she had still had him wanting to laugh, but he was able to hold it in this time. If she could see his face then she would likely laugh from how contorted his own face was from holding it all in.

He got back to work looking at the shelf and found the book she was looking for almost right away. Ancestors show him mercy if only he hadn't stopped to laugh they would have been done sooner. So he held it out to her and said, "Found it. Did you want a copy made or would you rather have other books copied?"

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

The laughter didn't bother Hahnah. She listened with rapt attention as the armored man spoke on stealing. Permission. She knew how to ask for permission--it was not a concept alien to her. Her grasp on the idea of property was still tenuous at best, she was uncertain if she could consistently establish clear links between an item and its "owner," but this at least was something useful to know. Asking for food may garner less hostility than stealing food and being caught.

She looked for a moment more, and then the armored man announced that he had found the book. Hahnah looked back over, briskly walked over to him, and read aloud the words on the cover: "The Romance of House Black."

A gasp of excited familiarity escaped her, and she touched the book as he handed it to her, coming to hold it as if it were a delicate treasure. "...You found it! There is one here."

She opened it up, read aloud the first line on the first page, and yes, it was as she remembered. This was it, a "copy" of that same book she had started to read in Menura.

Hahnah smiled. "No, I do not want a copy made. I will finish reading the story here, and I will return it to where it is supposed to go."

She held the book with both hands in front of herself, down by her waist. A teaching from Elurdrith came back to her, as it had with Griffyn in Menura: "Keep gratitude close to your heart, share it with others, and you will enrich many lives." It was a small thing, what this man had done for her, but impactful.

"Thank you for helping me to find this book. You are a kind man."

She touched her chest with the palm of a hand then. "My name is Hahnah. It is Hah, and then it is Nah, that is how my name is said."

This was not the sound of her true name, the one her caretakers had intended for her, but it was the sound of the name she had carried with her for most of her life.

"May I ask for your name?"

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

The elf woman was overjoyed when she took the book from him and only got more so as she looked at it. She even went so far as to read the first line from it. It made him realize just how excited she was without really showing it before. Helping her became all the more worth it to him.

A thanks and an offer of her name followed her response to his question about the copy.

"Tinus of clan Damos." Tinus responded right away.

"I'm a Kel." He tapped his helmet's faceless mask. "We wear helmets and masks that look like this. If you ever need help find one of us. Most will need some form of payment after to keep things fair and honest. Those who do good deeds for no pay often ask for favors that aren't fair or honest later. At least in our perspective."

Then Tinus went back to looking at books on the shelf. What else might get her interest? As he did he began to say title names to see if they got her attention.

"The Golden Bundle.... Pirated Away.... Honey Amber Nights...."

That last one caught his interest instead. Why was he always a sucker for honey and bees when they were named? So he began to read, or rather skim, through it. A tale of a romance between an amber miner and the wife of a wealthy beewax merchant. The wife had honey colored hair. Her husband was bald and left her alone, neglected, for weeks at a time. Hints of the husband being unfaithful. A rival for the interest of the miner. All of it very dramatic. Not exactly what got his attention in a tale. Was this what romance books were always about?

He held it towards Hahnah. "Maybe you can read this one next? I can get a copy made so you won't be stealing it." Then he remembered why he was here. "Go ahead and finish your book. Need to find what I came for and get those copies."

If she didn't take the book from him he would set it down near her so she could get to it whenever she wanted. Either way he would head over to the other side of the place and begin his hunt for his client's books. What the man was after by researching mushrooms and molds was beyond him. As much as he worked with the things as a cook and traveling the roads, he knew little about what other purposes they might have than for eating or cooking.

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

Tinus of Clan Damos. He was not human--he was a Kel. Of the people who were called "Kel," Hahnah was unfamiliar. She had not even heard the word until now. And, with all of the armor that he wore and the helmet that he pointed out, she could not know what a Kel looked like. It was to her now, and would be for a while it seemed, that the Kel were people without faces or form, hidden as they were underneath metal.

Hahnah made a quizzical face: those who do good deeds for no pay often ask for favors that aren't fair or honest later? Tinus did not want "payment"--he had not asked for it. Was he saying that he would ask for an unfair or dishonest favor later?

She banished the thought, thinking it to be a misunderstanding.

Hahnah had thumbed through the pages of The Romance of House Black, finding the exact spot in which she had left off. Once she had, Tinus offered her another book, its cover just barely edging into her downward field of view. She glanced up, curiously took hold of the new book and set it down on the open copy of House Black.

She read aloud the title, "Honey Amber Nights."

Honey? Oh, yes, honey, she did like honey. Once, while Hahnah was in the wild, she had stumbled across a beehive, and she knew from Kylindrielle that this was where honey came from, that the buzzing insects inside made it. Hahnah took the chance and poked her way into the hive. Her Living Armor swatted away many of the bees, yet still they were too much, and she was stung all over for her efforts to retrieve small bits of honey. That night it was quite uncomfortable to try to sleep, and the only part of her that was happy was her stomach.

Still, the association was positive, and the word honey intrigued Hahnah enough to open that book as well. There she stood, holding two open books, one on top of the other.

I can get a copy made so you won't be stealing it.

"That would be good," Hahnah said in an offhanded manner, mostly engrossed in the books she had.

She wandered out from the Romance aisle, wandered over to a small table next to the second floor banister that overlooked the first, and she sat down. The Romance of House Black was open before her--Honey Amber Nights beside it--and she was speaking the words quietly as she read.

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

The search for his client's books was proving to be very tedious. Unlike in the section of books that Hahnah, the elf woman, had been in to find her book the one he was in now was dull. The titles were boring and the first few lines of them were dry. It was no wonder so many young scholar students in Elbion could be caught napping around that building they called the college. If these kinds of books were for research and study then it was a mystery how any of them stayed awake.

But he had to stay on task. This was the job he was hired for, although why his client wanted a Kel warrior to find books was a mystery. Perhaps to guard them on the way back? Perhaps the guarantee of fulfilling his contract? It would have been easy for him to take the advance and the pay for the copies and just take off. That would have left the imprisoned scholar in a bad spot. Regardless, he still had to find those books and get them copied.

After far, far too long he finally tracked all three of them down. They weren't together like they should have been though. Should he let the scholars know about that? A quick glance their way told him the answer was an obvious no. They were too busy with their work.

He headed towards the elf woman where she had relocated herself since he began his search. As he came to her he said, "Found my books. Going to get them copied. What books would you like copied?"

And then he waited. The company was more than enough repayment for what he would pay to get the books copied as well as avoiding her potentially stealing any books without meaning to. But she wouldn't know that was his reasons for being so nice to her today.

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

Only a few pages beyond when last Hahnah had read, the story taken a turn she did not expect. She had without knowing scooted closer to the edge of her seat, and she peered down at the open pages before her intensely as she read aloud and to herself.

"...Betrayed! By the one she had loved most of her family, her very own father. All that the Heiress had believed had come to naught. House Black would not put aside its old hatreds for her sake, and so followed the denunciation of the Prince, and the proclamation that the Heiress of House Black was disinherited, stripped of all she had and all she was to have. On the run, her hopes dashed, the Heiress was left with nothing save but the will to persevere, and--"

Tinus had come back, and Hahnah looked up to him, moving her hands to her lap to sit primly. Receptively. She glanced away as a new thought, a little desire, entered her mind. A tiny, bashful smile spread across her expression. She was going to contradict herself from before, but...

She looked back up to him. "May I have both of them copied? I do not know if this sounds strange, but I wish now to keep a physical book of The Romance of House Black with me."

Even though the story she could carry with her in her mind, having the book, being able to open it and look upon the words written there and read them all over again, was something valuable in and of itself. It was the first story that she had read, it was a human story, and on long days of travel by the waning hour of sunset light she could open the book be not alone, as she was far too used to.

Tinus Damos

 

[Tinus Damos]

With little surprise the elf girl asked for both books to get copied for her. Good. He hoped she would take the offer. There was a joy about her concerning books. An innocent discovery rivaling that of a child first discovering their passion. She was no child. She was no child but that made fostering her passion all the more important. Truly once in a lifetime of an event. How could he call himself a Kel if he abandoned her new found passion to wither, wilt, die like a water starved flower?

"You may. Will need them to get copies made." He said before pointing over to the scholars. "What they are doing right now."

Was she done reading? He didn't know. His attention was utterly dominated before by his search for his client's books.

How did he come upon this job? A sellsword hired to get copies of books from a library. A common, mundane task more suited to the skills of those very same scholars busy copying down their stories on the floor below. He was a man of stinging steel and heated flame. A warrior. A chef. A keeper of bees. His place was out in the world or standing over coals. A life of the body not the mind.... Yet here he was in the temple these outsiders built to worship knowledge in their own strange way.

"I will wait if you aren't finished reading."

Hahnah

 

[Hahnah]

No. She was not finished reading. But it would take some time for her to be finished, she knew--a full half of the book lay before her, the story as yet still developing. She should get the books copied now, while she still could (perhaps she could have gotten those men with the feathers to make the copies herself, but, if they in turn asked something of her and she did not know the answer, she wouldn't know how then to proceed). Then she could have the books with her, and read them as she wandered through this human Kingdom called Oban, waiting for some kind of guidance--an answer to her prayers--from the Dying God.

Hahnah closed The Romance of House Black shut and placed it on top of Honey Amber Nights. She stood up from her seat and picked up the books and handed them over to Tinus.

"You do not need to wait. I am happy to have them copied now."

This had been a small thing--simply asking for help from a stranger. Yet, in doing so, and by good fortune asking this Kel whose name was Tinus, Hahnah's trepidation of civilization and settlements, of the claustrophobic and chaotic unknowns that lay within, lessened. Lessened a tiny bit, and the unfamiliarity, the alienness she experienced while in these places and while among their inhabitants, faded a tiny bit as well.

And her smile could be less mimicry.

And be genuine.

Tinus Damos