Location [Riverfall] The Valkalah Library

[Gossamer]

Nestled in the backwards bottom "L" portion of the Valkalah Academy, The Valkala Library is a critical center of knowledge for the Rivarians of all ages and classes. While not as prestigious in reputation as some Mizaharian Libraries, The Valkalah Library makes up for its smaller stature in content and assistance. The Library claims to be able to lay their hands on any sort of tomb and if they've acquired it, they allow people to read their texts, restricting knowledge from no one. They have an extensive arts and science section, as well as a magical section that is read only and not to be checked out. Sections ramble through two stories, the main floor housing the popular collection, and with the basement reserved for more obscure texts and a childrens area that is quite popular. The Valkalah Library Children's Well which is an octagonal library room that has a deep tiered seating in the center made up of cushions that allow for storytelling each day in the morning and towards the evening by volunteers. By far the largest, however, is the section on physical training, war, weapons, and martial arts. This 'physical' section of the library holds a great many records of battles fought in and around Riverfall in terms of defending the city from invaders as well as records from as far back as the city of Valkalah as well, salvaged from the evacuation during the Valterrian. There are extensive sections on health, wellfare, gardening, and culinary arts as well. Most of the books within these sections are handwritten one-of a kind tomes that have seen the use of decades in their worn pages. Once a book becomes worn to the point of being damaged, the librarian will often recopy or restore it as he sees fit.   NPCs Name: Zandar & Kvanth Race: Akalak DoB: 297 AV (215 yo) PoB: Riverfall Title: Head Librarian Skills: Library Sciences 80, Organization 55, Research 52, Lakan 35 Gnosis: Eyris 2, Qalaya 1 Zandar and his dark brother Kvanth have been tending the library for as long as anyone in Riverfall can remember. He took over the duty from his Konti mother Amarath when she received a Call to return to Mura and help start a new library for the Opal Order. So Zandar practically grew up in The ValKalah Library learning to walk on its deep teak floors. It is said the two know where every book is and not only that but recognize the history of each book and how the library acquired it. The two are friendly, approachable, and very helpful. They tend to remember faces, and can often give you a history of what books someone has checked out without checking the tags inside the book where patrons signatures are.   Services Services The Valkalah Library will provide a number of services. They will copy any text you request for the cost of materials and labor, which demands an individual quote for each different book you desire. Length of time varies from text to text depending on how indepth and lengthy the book is. There are also employment opportunities available in the form of copyists, librarians, book restorer, and cleaning.

[Kavala]

Timestamp: Early Fall, 512 AV

Kavala needed sometime away from The Sanctuary. It was just as simple as that. She had a list of books she wanted to borrow and or take a peek at and some free time to get that accomplished in. As she stepped into the library, she greeted the Librarian with a smile, having met him before during her various trips into town. Kavala was relatively familiar with the stacks, but still struggled with some of the more obscure topics. For instance, where did the Akalak keep volumes on beekeeping? Honey was important to healers and Kavala was frankly tired of paying the Bazaar prices when she knew that bees made honey without much fuss by humans. All one had to do was provide the proper environment and educate oneself on beekeeping a bit. Right? If she was wrong, Kavala was certain a book would tell her.

She wandered up and down the rows for bells, lost and a little frustrated. When she found the gardening and farming sections, for example, books on seed saving and storage fell into her hands. So too did a volume on growing edible foods. Wandering through the housekeeping section, she picked up an easy to understand book on soapmaking and candlemaking. In the cooking section she wound up with a volume on Food preservation. Past that, in Health and Beauty, she found a very well worn copy of Beauty Aides and another book on perfumes that was a bit bigger. While her stack in her arms grew, Kavala was more than realistic enough to determine that she'd not have time to copy all of them on her own like she did before.

Back then she didn't have the funds and did have the time. Now it was just the opposite. She had the funds but didn't have the time.

Kavala passed another more obscure corner, found a book that made her raise her eyebrows slightly, and pulled it from the shelf. She flipped the cover open and started reading, curious. It was on waste disposal, and how to safely store feces in confined spaces and underground while it composted and was turned into garden fertilizer safely. The Sanctuary needed such things. Badly. So the book was added to her pile and she moved on.

Finally, out in the open, where she would never have suspected, she found the volumes on animal husbandry and keeping. There, among the well-dusted volumes was the book on beekeeping she'd been looking for. Enough. She'd found what she was looking for and quite a bit more.

Approaching the desk, Kavala gently set the books down, smiled at Zandar and said. "Zandar, I need some of the information in these books, but I do not have time to borrow them and copy. I never thought I'd use your services, but can I have these copied?" The Akalak eyed the pile, sighed, and nodded.

"Yes. Of course. Let me just see what you have here." He thumbed through the volumes, made notes on the thickness and length of most of them, and then tallied the amount in his head. "Two hundred for all of them. They will be of good quality and ready to go at various times. I'll send them by messenger to The Sanctuary when they get finished." Kavala nodded, cringing at the price, but paid him and thanked him all the same.

Books were needed. Especially since winter was coming, and during The Sanctuary's downtime they'd have a lot of time to work with what was in the volumes.

The Art of Beekeeping – 25 GM
Soapmaking For All Situations - 15 GM
Beginning Candlemaking – 20 GM
Food Preservation – 40 GM
Beauty Aides – The Science of Lotions, Shampoos, and Cosmetics – 10 GM
Perfume – The Art and Design Of Scent – 30 GM
Waste Disposal – How To Deal With Feces Practically – 10 GM
Saving And Storing Seed For Gardens – 20 GM
Growing Edible Foods - 40 GM

• Each book has a 5 GM materials fee built in. This consists of 5 GM broken down into 3 GM per blank book and 2 GM for ink.

Total: 200 GM to be ready early to mid season depending on the book.

[Dust]

Spring 3, 513 AV morning Stories. That's what Dust saw in the books crowding the library's shelves, or at least imagined; they didn't all in fact contain stories, of course, but without evidence to the contrary, she was free to imagine whatever contents she pleased. And Dust liked stories best of all; the thought that there might be so many stories in the world brought a little bit of glee to the raven's heart. That good cheer shone through as she walked up to the front desk, a bit of a bounce in her strides, a bright smile given in return for the librarian's attention. "Hello!" Dust greeted, leaning her forearms on the desk's edge. "Do you have books for learning how to read?" she went on, entirely devoid of embarrassment regarding her lack. The Akalak behind it seemed a bit taken aback, at first, or maybe just surprised. Nonetheless, he was quite polite as he showed her to the Children's Well, specifically the shelves holding reading primers in Common. He let Dust amuse herself with looking through the books, tacitly confirming along the way that she was in fact the one who couldn't read, then steered the Kelvic towards a selection of three books. As they returned to the desk, he considered her obliquely for a moment, then carefully explained that the books would need to be returned in the same condition they were checked out in. "I'll be careful with them," Dust promised as he wrote her name down in his records, her head bobbing in affirmation. True to her word, she cradled them close all the way back to Sanctuary.

[Faryon Whiteflower]

Timestamp: 38th of Autumn, 513AV

Faryon had never seen so many books before and the library seemed to go on and on. The Akalak at the front looked at the Drykas skeptically as she stood at the entrance gawking. He cleared his throat to get the girls attention, "I am Zandar, proprietor of this library. Can I help you with anything?"

"Um yes, I would like.. to uh.. look at your.. mm-medicine and healing section please." Faryon whispered. She whispered not because it was a library but because it was hard to speak coherent sentences around the male population.
The Sanctuary had some nice books in their library but nothing on massage. She figured massage was part of the healing field so why not at least learn the basics.

Zandar raised an eyebrow at the girls stuttering but said nothing towards it, instead scooted out from under his desk and began walking to the medicinal section of the library. Faryon had to take about three steps to his one to keep up but lucky for her the destination was not far. The Akalak left her to the books and Faryon released her tense shoulders.

She scanned the titles and came across two of interest. Massaging for Beginners and Special Massages for the Pregnant Woman, Mommies and Babies Alike. The latter would really come in handy.

Not seeing anything else and not sure how many books she can check out, Faryon returned to the front desk and Zander. The teen gave the books to the Akalak and her name so he could make note.

"Have the books returned in 3 weeks time please or you will be fined."

Faryon nodded in compliance, picked up the books and made her way back to the Sanctuary.

[Lilun]

Fall, 22, 515
Part II
Late morning-Late afternoon

The book place, it was a whole lot bigger then she expected having only seen five books on an old shelf before. Her red pupils were expanded making her normally soft pink eyes look bloody red. She smelled new paper and ink; she could smell the scent of old leather and some sweet dark smell she had never come across before. There was dust and the hint of mold, even the smell of people but above it all was that sweet dark smell that was coaxing if not downright calming like a hand stroking down her whole back. There were people moving around with books while others were sitting and more were lining up to a desk where they talked and left normally book in hand.

Easing more into the building and clutching her book to her she peered at the shelf nearest and saw a whole lot of stuff she couldn’t even put a name to. What the heck was anatomy? Lilun decided that must be some nasty sickness and decided those books were a no. Moving through the quiet but cheerfully lit building she poked at the books trying to find a familiar theme to grasp onto but what she found instead were things about rocks; or wars; ‘How to sharpen your knife to split hairs’, or one book that made her edge around the thing like a snake, ‘Training your new Kelvic.’ Feeling dispassionate as she continued looking through the books Lilun sigh and sat where she was to think.

She didn’t know how long she sat until she was interrupted by someone clearing their throat and she was made to look up and see a friendly looking woman staring down at her worryingly. Seeing as she had Liluns attention the woman smiled. “Do you need help?” Eyes wide Lilun nodded her head wildly causing the woman to softly laugh as her hair went everywhere. “Okay okay, well first these books look really hard, how about I take you downstairs and we find you better book?” She held out her hand and Lilun took it with only a second or so hesitation. The woman smiled at her kindly before leading her to stairs and down. There was even more books here, but soon Lilun was taken to an odd room and carefully steered inside.

“Here we are, these books here are for kid like you and you’re really lucky because if you stick around I will be reading to everyone.” Kids like her? Lilun looked around and indeed there were kids here but she wasn’t a kid! The woman was friendly and had continued on and at the idea of hearing someone would be reading she nodded as the idea was pleasing. The woman by then had let go of her hand but was kneeling down to see into her eyes which had Lilun blinking owlishly. “So what books are we looking for today, maybe an adventure story?” Adventure, what was that even about? “Fish and plants, plants are important here and were should take care of them; but I like fish more.” The woman just grinned. “Well that is very important and I bet there are starting books here just for that!” The woman was off causing Lilun to hurry after her.

There were not so many books as the other places but still very many and the woman led her to a shelf that Lilun found she liked as she could actually reach the whole way up if she really stretched. She took to watching the woman wondering if she was human or something else but seeing no scales wings or funny colors picked she was human. She couldn’t be a blue man because she was not blue but then she wondered if there was any blue ladies; she certainly hadn’t seen any. The woman was suddenly kneeling in front of her again causing her to jump but the books she held out made Liluns eyes widen as not one but three books were passed into her hands.

“There you are, fishes and plants and since you like fish this one,” she pointed to the bottom one with is lightly dyed green leather. “Is how you take care of fish but the other one is how to fish and the top one is all about the plants here in our own city.” And once more she was smiling but Lilun returned it eyes wide as she nearly bounced in place wanting to read. “I promise their not so hard but you know if you can’t get a word I bet an older kid will help you but for now I need to get back to work. Take care of those now, don’t drop them and no taking them into the bathroom!” Lilun just nodded already the first book was opened as she balanced the others under it. She didn’t see the woman leave just started reading only to move and sit after her arms grew tired.

The books name was ‘Keeping our city green,’ and Lilun found that while some words were really odd if she kept going soon they made sense and some were just names of plants anyway. Beside some of the names were drawn pictures of the plants and Lilun swore they might try and grow from the pages. ‘All plants need water but not all plants need sunshine. Some plants like cave lichen which glows in their dark home would die in sun while the sunflower likes its name loves the sun!’ Both had little pictures and splashes of color. The little lichen glowed blue but beside it one glowed green and another orange. ‘Plants need gentle fingers and hands to care for them and being rough or picking them up will damage or kill them, some grow spikes to make sure nothing will but most are soft and delicate.’ Lilun never thought plants might not be happy about being touched.

‘When caring for our plants we have to remember that good things can turn bad if there is too much. Light all the time or a whole lot of water can also kill plants. An easy way to tell if this is happening it to softly touch a leaf. If it crinkles or breaks it needs more water, but if it feels limp and waxy you have watered it too much! Too much sun will leave spots on the leaves like they are burning and they are since like us the get sunburns and those hurt!’ Lilun knew all too well what sunburns felt like and wondered if plants could hurt to if they were cut or stepped on. ‘Some plants take a long time to grow and other kinds take no time at all. Grass can grow in just a few days but a tree can years and more to grow even three feet tall.’ Recalling all the trees in her life, those were some old plants!

‘Some plants are special and make medicine or food; these are planted all over Riverfall and it is all of our duties to make sure they stay healthy and happy. If it is a hobby or you’re a budding herbalist we all benefit from the care of plants!’ She kept reading now and then stopping extra-long at a picture of a plant. One plant was tall with little white flowers. Catnip, and according to the book Yowlwing liked it to! She would have to find some, sounded fun. As she turned another page the woman before cleared her throat and Lilun was made to look up. “Okay kids settle down and find some seats today I will be reading you a story called ‘Running back,’ it’s about a young half blood and his dog.” The kids around Lilun cheered happily and soon all was quiet as they sat down.

Staying where she was Lilun debated on going back to reading her plant book but then the woman started telling the story and she found herself sucked into the words. A half-blood was being picked on about what he was and wasn’t. The others made fun of how he looked, what he did and that he was not like them but the boy was okay because he had his dog, a great big animal with strips that would always be beside him and didn’t care what the boy was. One day the other kids teased him a lot and he decided to run away, his dog like always followed tail wagging happily. The boy ran for a long time them walked and the dog followed; but the boy grew home sick and wanted to go back only to find he was lost. Hungry and tired boy and dog sat but in no time at all the boy got up and started walking back the way he was sure was his home.

They grew more lost and the boy met people who led him wrong and who warned him but he did not listen. The dog lost an ear to a giant cat but still followed the boy which it had protected. One day the boy started finally crying and clinging to his dog he swore he wouldn’t run away but he wanted his mother and father; he wanted to go home. The dog wagging its tail barked and took off running the boy now having to follow the dog as he called the animals name to come back; but the dog just kept running. Soon the boy started recognizing things. He saw the woman who had told him to go home, the man who had said he could find his home if he kept on walking then he saw buildings he knew’ stores he would go to with his parents and finally he was home running into his mother’s arms. The dog lay down by the house panting and wagging its tail before going to sleep.

Everyone cheered at the end of the story but Lilun was frowning. It wasn’t a fair story; the boy never once asked the dog if he wanted to leave home or if he was okay but the dog always asked the boy. When they finally got home the mom only hugged the boy, but it was the dog that brought him back even losing its ear while the boy was only scared. It wasn’t fair at all. The kids all clamored for the woman’s attention but Lilun looked back to her books pulling out the fish one to start reading next. It was a lot harder than the plant one but it had more pictures to and it showed how to keep a fish in a glass tank or bowl and how to feed it. Only some fish could be okay without something special to make air go in the water. Lilun wasn’t sure there was air in water, that’s why people drowned but the book had said so.

She learned there was small fish who could breathe like she could and they made good pets since they just swam up to breathe then back down. They were pretty fish and bright ones; ones that ate other fish and some only ate seeds or some green slime plant that grew inside dirty tanks. ‘Fish need light and food, only fish that live way deep down in oceans need no light but they are not pets.’ There was a drawing of a toothy black fish with dead eyes and Lilun shivered. It was small and never swam up but still it was very scary. Her reading was stopped by the woman and Lilun still feeling unhappy about the story frowned making the woman blink in surprise. “Are you okay, didn’t you like the book I read?” Shaking her head stubbornly Lilun looked down to her lap and tugged at her shirt. “Well why didn’t you like it, was it scary?” Lilun wrinkled her nose.

“No one ever asked the dog what he wanted, they just made him follow. No one hugged it when it came back the dog just laid down. I bet he was scared hurt and hungry, but no one ever said anything.” The woman stared at her mouth in a little o. “Well, sweetie dogs are like that. Their loyal and love people so they follow them around and protect them. Dogs don’t talk either so it is much harder to ask them.” Lilun glared at the woman at that. “You can to talk to them! They are not very good and they make up words and stuff but you can; and if he wasn’t so smart how come he knew the way home and the boy didn’t.” The woman had nothing to say to this though clearly confused. “What do you mean they say made up words?” Lilun was now confused. “Dogs talk funny and their words aren’t always real ones but they’re not really words anyway. Their tail doesn’t move right I think, and they don’t have very good whiskers or ears.”

The woman nodded slowly just staring until she sighed. “Oh I understand now a Kelvic, well see humans we can’t turn to animals to talk like you can and so we can’t really ask them can we?” When Lilun slowly shook her head no the woman reached out and stroked her head again looking surprised most likely because Liluns hair was just as soft as her fur. “There see, it’s nothing to be upset about. The dog really loved the boy and would not leave him so he protected him and when he knew a word the boy was saying ‘home’ he took the boy home because home means it was time to go there when you walk a dog.” Lilun nodded again and the woman kept petting her absentmindedly. “So then how old are you? I hope you’re not too old or I will start to feel bad about taking you here.” Lilun smiled at her but it was hard as she was feeling lazy from pets.

“I am going to turn one soon, the others say I am still a kitten so I think it is okay.” She leaned toward the woman in a whisper not done very right as she spoke still too loud. “Those other books looked to be really hard anyway. Here is much more fun.” The woman smiled and nodded before she stood. “Okay back to work for me, you be good and there are books about dogs where I got your fish book from. Maybe you can read that one to?” Lilun nodded and the woman moved off only for kids to nearly tackle her again with questions and demanding to be hugged or to find a book for them. Seems she would not be going to work to fast after all! Lilun returned to her book only to look beside her to see the one book the woman had been reading was left beside her. On the over was a huge dog with a goofy face jumping up as it ran beside a boy with bright red hair; that giant thing was a dog! It was bigger than the kid was!

Standing up Lilun moved to the shelves and searched for the word dog, what she got was ‘Dog Breeds’. Not knowing what breed was she pulled the book out to see pictures of dogs besides their names and what they did and where they came from even. She searched through the book until she saw a white dog with black spots. ‘Imperial Watcher,’ Watch dog breed by the Suvan Empire it was good with children and small groups of people, used guarding and protection. They had short hair and long whip like tails. Eyes wide Lilun touched the picture with light fingers. She had never seen a dog like this! All the ones she knew were gray and scraggly walking about the swamps and they were small not said to be from large to huge! Putting the book back she tried to find more dog books but the other kids either pulled them or there were none.

Maybe later she would find more about dogs, for now she moved back to her fish book and continued read but now she had a lot of energy and sitting still was a no. Getting up she looked between her books and in the end decided to keep her fish care book. With care she put the others back and headed for the stairs and that line she had seen. It was just as long as before but the wait wasn’t so bad and soon it was her turn. Lilun had to stand on her tip toes but the man must have noticed and leaned forward to look over the desk. Black skin, really black. Eyes wide she stared longer then was polite, but it was pretty! In the end she remembered why she was there when with a sigh the blue man who wasn’t blue cleared his throat. “Can I borrow this one please?” She knew borrowed meant she could have it for a little while then she gave it back.

The man hummed as he looked the book over then back to her. “You know how to take care of a book properly?” Lilun very quickly nodded at his stern voice, her eyes widening but the man was looking back at the book and not at her though he gave a curt nod so she knew he had seen her own. “You can borrow it for five weeks since it’s a kid’s book but then you bring it right back. If it’s damaged you have to pay to make a new one, understand?” Lilun just nodded and the man passed the book back to her after having her write her name. Something she could do but by his face, not well. So book and bag in her hand she left and took a deep breathe. While she had been reading the world had grown much darker now as the sun started going down. She really had to hurry and with a foggy memory of which way she was to go started running but only after putting the book safely in her bag.

Next was that office place, job and get a home cause everyone could and she had lots of gold pieces anyway! Running and moving around people she couldn’t help but think of the dog and wondered if she might find one to see if it was just as dull and kind of stupid like the little gray ones were.

OOC :

Dogs have roughly the same body language as a cat does and certain breeds way more then others. -Pokes Akita's- I figured as a cat she could know some things a dog was saying but not a whole lot of it since cats use tails whiskers and ears to vocalize silently to each other and a dogs tail etc are not so flexible.

[Lian Windrunner]

7th Day of Winter, 515 AV

Riverfall was a very strange place. It was a beautiful city, filled with parks, and gardens. And Lian found that he enjoyed living in the Sanctuary, where he was surrounded by striders, horses, and all manner of other creatures. It felt like home in ways that the rest of the city did not. But it was strange all the same. The thought of living within stone walls felt very strange to him, and he suspected that it always would.

One of the things he thought was strange was the idea of something called a library. An entire place filled with heavy books. Books that would be very difficult to carry around from place to place. Books about just about everything, if the rumors he'd heard were true. Lian hoped that they were. If they were, he might find a book that would tell him about the new ability that he seemed to have had gotten. Assuming it was an actual ability, and not him going completely insane. But the right book might be able to tell him if that were true, too.

Lian glanced at the shelves feeling more than a little lost. Where did he even start? There were signs labeling the different sections, but Lian's grasp of Common was rudimentary at best. And he didn't even know what the other language on the signs was never mind how to read it. It was a good thing that Lian didn't have any other plans for today. He thought that it might take all day for him to find something that might help him. If it even existed at all.

With that encouraging thought in mind, Lian got to work. He began looking at the signs, to get a feel for what would be found in each section. Some sections, like the one on cooking, could be dismissed easily. Others were harder to dismiss out of hand, and these he gave a closer look.

One of the sections dealt with magic. He found thin books that merely listed the different types of magic. There were also some that introduced different types of magic. These seemed to have information that would be useful to those who were interested in such things. But beyond a mild curiosity, they were useless to Lian. One spoke of a magic called Glyphing. It was the study of something called runes that could channel and modify magic. Lian could read the words, but for all the sense it made, he might as well not be able to. He quickly put the book back, and moved on.

He had more luck in a section devoted to books about animals. There was nothing that might explain why Talise had suddenly started talking to him, but he did find a book about training animals. That looked interesting. Since animals seemed to like him more, all of a sudden, Lian thought that he might have better luck getting them to do what he wanted them to. But in order for that to happen, he would need to know how to train them. So Lian moved to an unoccupied corner, and began skimming the first few pages.

The book didn't tell Lian much about how to train animals per say. Although there was a section about how to train a dog how to sit, and stay. There were a few other basic commands that could be taught as well. As Lian read through the section, the image of a pretty red haired woman rose in his mind briefly. He could hear her saying that it was better to have several short training sessions throughout the day than spending hours at a time with an animal. She also mentioned rewarding proper behavior with treats and praise.

Lian wondered who the woman was. A friend? A relative? A wife? He didn't know. But he did get the impression that he liked her. Lian hoped that he would remember who she was. He didn't like the thought of forgetting people who were important to him. The image faded from his mind once more, and Lian turned his attention back to the book.

Most of the book spoke of what kinds of animals could be trained, and which ones could not. A lot of it was common sense, really. Smarter animals like horses, cats, dogs, and birds of prey could be trained. Others, like fish, rabbits, and most other types of birds could not.

The last part of the book mentioned different types of training that were possible. Basic training, such as teaching a horse to accept a rider, or a dog to obey basic commands was only the beginning. Some animals could be taught how to hunt, or guard their master's home, or protect their herds. Horses could be trained to carry a warrior into battle, and fight with them if need by. It was said that such training methods were well kept secrets by those who knew them, and Lian could understand why.

When Lian was finished with the book, several bells had passed. He put the book back where he found it, and made his way out of the library, lost in thought. He was fascinated by what he had learned. It hadn't helped explain his new found ability, but it did give Lian a potential use for it. Lian knew that Kavala did a lot of work with horses. As he made his way back to the Sanctuary, he wondered if she would be willing to teach him some of what she knew.


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