Flashback [The Cribellum] Stealing is Wrong (Ensnare)

[Vetari Violet]

91st Day of Autumn, 512 Vetari had known he was in trouble as soon as he found the letter on his bed, unopened, when he returned from the surface. It was not addressed from the Ochya, so he assumed he had escaped prosecution for helping Naomi flee for safety and her poisoning of their pursuers. Instead, it was from the Cribellum, notifying him that he had stolen a journal from their archives, and that he had two days to return it, lest the Ochya be contacted. He hadn’t slept well that night, but tossed and turned quite often, thinking of spending the rest of his days in the Sac. He hated the idea of being confined, being unable to see his family or make his living. He had undoubtedly stolen the book, though it was an accident, and would plead guilty if asked. He had no interest in lying to the Ochya, as they had done nothing but be good to him all his life. He took solice in the fact that, though thievery was wrong, it was not sacrilegious against Viratas, and he hoped his god would not look down on him for the accident. Come morning he dressed quickly, donning his wraps and his robes, before grabbing the stolen journal and heading straight for the Cribellum. He had some explaining to do.

[Ensnare]

Once Vetari had arrived to the Cribellum, the old librarian, Calvino Amaranthus, was waiting inside sitting behind the large desk he used to copy old, falling apart, volumes of knowledge into newer vessels. He had quite a few books sitting neatly on his desk that looked quite worn, and another pile of books, assumedly the blank ones that would be filled in with time. At first he did not take note of Vetari, too busy copying away, but the expression on his face was grim after a few moments of the Fortune Teller's arrival. He knew that Vetari was there.

The Cribellum was a rather large place, it had to be if it were to appropriately accomodate multiple generations of collected knowledge, and ficticious tales. So it was amazing that a single tome had been noticed missing.
"You should have known better" came the gruff, but firm tone of Calvino's as if he were kindly scolding a young spiderling. He didn't bother to look up. His hand was busy copying away, eyes flicking back and forth from old book to the blank book that he was copying into. The silence would have been deafening for Vetari, if not for the crude 'scritch' 'scatch' of quill gliding along paper in a rhythem induced pattern.

The old librarian made his last entry, ending with a period at his setence, sighing heavily as he moved to stand. His sunken in eyes flicked to the young Symenestra, licking his lips as he prepared to speak again.
"Follow me young Krova, we'll set the journal back into its proper place... and I will explain the rules along the way."
Calvino gestured to a narrow staircase spiralling upwards, to the Non-Symenestra, it would have appeared treacherous but to the native residents they were just fine. Expecting Vetari to follow, the old Librarian was quick for his age, and surprised many with his grace, but all that was to be expected of Symenestra.

[Vetari Violet]

Vetari arrived, creeping in as quietly as he could as to not disturb Calvino’s work. Though he was a bit of a curmudgeon, Vetari respected the man as he respected all his elders. The enormous library was silent save for the quiet scratching of quill over vellum. He watched as Calvino’s features slowly contorted, and was just beginning to speak when Calvino said “You should have known better.” Vetari was caught off guard by his chiding tone, as if he were no more than a few years of age. Yet, he guessed that all men younger than Calvino were children in his eyes, especially when they made such silly mistakes as this. ”Y-yes, Dovna.” He stuttered as he waited, the quiet scratch of the quill making his stomach do flips. He had used the most honorable honorific in Symenos, Dovna, as admittance to his folly. Calvino was right, Vetari was wrong. He was simply appreciative that he had been given a chance to correct his mistake before the Ochya were called. As the man slowly stood and spoke, Vetari stepped forward to help him rise before he knew what he was doing. He stopped himself, thinking that might be seen as degrading to such a quietly proud man. He followed as Calvino spoke once more, gliding along with speed and grace that would have been surprising to any outsider, but was more or less expected of any Symenestra.

[Ensnare]

As Calvino would lead the younger Symenestra through the silk wrapped halls, and string guided pathes, to the more stabler of grounds where the books were kept safely from falling down into the lower receptionist halls due to expected clumsyness, he would speak with a firm tone of voice.
"The Cribellum is a vault for knowledge, nothing is allowed to leave in fear of damage to the books, knowledge is very important to us Symenestra.. Try to remember that next time.. Those who've gone on Gleanings would not take very kindly to seeing their hard earned work go to waste just because a resident wanted to take a book out."

"You realize the dangers that come with books, no? They are made of paper, and wrapped in treated leather but that wouldn't mean they are safe against being dropped into the abyss below, or accidently burned due to fire, or wrecked because of water, even some have the gall to bend the pages at the corners or rip the pages out entirely. Keeping the books in the Cribellum ensures their safety."

The elder Symenestra spoke without ever giving Vetari a glance before halting in front of a shelf carved into the cave walling, he gestured to it, and then towards Vetari. Looking at him finally.
"I trust enough that you didn't do the latter, unless.." There was an underlying warning that layed over the polite tone of his voice as he explained, raved, about the dangers that came with books. The look on Calvino's face was intimidating. He was the one tasked with keeping the Cribellum's treasure safe, and well taken care of, even when the older books were slowly becoming dust with time. He was their guardian, and only defence.

"If not, then place the book back in its place Krova."

He cut off the threat with a command.

Turning ever so slightly to gesture to a few nearby wooden carts on wheels that held many books in their shelves. Calvino watched Vetari's expression for a moment before smiling, a rare occurrence for most of the residents that entered his domain, a little chuckle could be heard emitted from the back of his throat.
"You will also sort, and organize these books back into their proper places. Think of it as payment, and a reminder to not take a book out of the Cribellum ever again."

[Vetari Violet]

Vetari gulped in spite of himself. Calvino was an imposing man despite his age and stature, and one of the few people that Vetari feared as much as he respected. His words carried politely veiled threats that could lead to punishments unknown, and Vetari had no intention of knowing. At first, he had thought he’d gotten off easy with simply returning the book and listening to the old man’s lecture. However, Calvino soon revealed his true intentions, to have the young Krova sort what seemed for a moment as a quarter of the whole Cribellum! Surely that wasn’t the case, but he would surely have to spend the rest of the day putting the books away, and perhaps even tomorrow if her wasn’t quick about it. None the less, Vetari swallowed what pride he had and nodded a “Thank you for your kindness and merciful judgement,” before moving to return the book to its proper place amongst the rest. Calvino’s smile haunted him, the odd even embedding itself in his mind so that he couldn’t forget. He had to keep as many rare moments of true humanity he saw in those as callous as Calvino close in his mind, to remind himself that everyone has the capacity for good. Everyone can smile. In truth he did find his punishment just, he had caused chaos in the midst of order and he was to balance that out with order in the midst of chaos. It was to be a simple yet effective in its meaning, deliberate and purposeful. Gnora, I do this for you he thought to himself as he approached the massive pile of books before him and began to sort. “Do I organize them by chronology, author, title or subject matter?” he called down as he picked up the first of many books to pass through his hands that day. It was titled “Mathmatics; Basics and Beyond”, and Vetari flipped through it momentarily, a blaze of symbols and theorems flashing before his eyes on every page. Frowning, he flipped to the beginning, scanning the part about addition and subtraction, finding it generally rudimentary. He’d counted coins before, but he hadn’t seen it expressed in a form like this. As he waited for the response he read a little deeper, hoping to gain some mild insight into the perplexing symbols that lay before him.

[Ensnare]

As soon as Vetari started to move towards the shelf, Calvino had begun to walk back down the not-so-treacherous pathes for Symenestra. He paused a moment as Vetari asked a question, placing a single finger in front of his lips and 'shushing' the young Symenestra before replying.
"Do not shout in the Cribellum, others are working here" his voice was quiet as always, and still just as stern, and commanding. "By subject matter, dear Krova, these books have many authors and it would be pointless to sort them by such."

The old Symenestra gave a final nod at Vetari before dissapearing to finish what he had been working on, leaving the young Symenestra to the task at hand. He was now, in a general sense of the word, alone. There were maybe forty books in all, about twenty on each cart. Vetari's first book that he picked up on mathematics had three other cousins on varying mathematical topics. Next to those were books on pyschology, varying sciences, and histories of other races. Vetari would have but a chime to scan each on all three topics, or thrice the amount of time to read into just one topic before Calvino would come back up and set five more books on one cart.

[Vetari Violet]

Vetari nodded a silent apology as the old man trotted away, aware that his time to read was short. He scanned the titles quickly, sorting those he wished to read immediately from those he did not and setting them to the side. He made quick work, scooping up two books at a time and scaling the tall bookshelves to put them in their rightful places. First went the books on sciences, then those on psychology, though Vetari made a note to himself to return to read those at a later date. He put a number of books on the histories of other races away before a book on Kelvics made its way across his pale palms. Still mystified with his experience the previous day, Vetari quickly flipped through the pages for any information to help him fill in the gaps left by his encounter. The book talked in depth about the act of Kelvic Bonding, the differences between bonding at and early age versus an older age, and the subtle variations of the bond based upon first-hand accounts. Not very many Symenestra had bonded with Kelvics, it seemed, though Vetari was thoroughly engrossed in the topic. He read each paragraph that mentioned Bonding and all that came with it, skipping over the origins of their species and the varieties of Kelvic available. After returning that book to the shelf, Vetari focused more of his efforts on studying the Mathmatics tomes. There were four of them in total, going up in intensity and complexity as the books grew in size. Vetari decided to return the more complex tomes for now, making himself another note to return to learn more about the topic later. He spent what time he had left studying the basics of mathematics, the symbols and the systems with which they worked. Having put all the other books in their places, it seemed as if he were simply waiting and reading when Calvino came with the next set of books.