Flashback A Bookish Boss [Bianca]

[Keene Ward]

The twenty-first day of spring, 503 AV

The day had begun bright and cheery, something Keene paid little attention to as he made his way through the streets of Zeltiva. It was his first day that he was allowed outside without the watchful eye of Mella, not that it would have made much of a difference. His destination was the same, as it had been for the past few years: the Wright Memorial Library. It was a good distance from his home, and though he had been there countless times before, he found himself wandering around streets before finding himself at the university, from which point the library was in sight. There as a small trickle of people passing through the doors to the building, presumably to read, though Keene wasn't one to make assumptions without better information. For all he knew the few individuals were going to have a secret meeting about about the nature of clams within the philosophy section of the library's wing. That outcome, however unlikely, was, without a better understanding, as much a possibility as the next.

As Keene pushed against the heavy wooden doors, his small frame's weight just enough to open a gap between the two panels, letting him slip through and into the book filled paradise for those seeking knowledge. As he stood upon the precipice of the beginning of his path to self-enlightenment, he paused to take a moment to breath in the arid scent of countless pages from innumerable years, collected, stacked, and stored within the confines of the establishment. It was an exciting smell, something that he associated with knowledge, learning, and above all: freedom. Through books, he was able to see that which he could never hope to find, feel what he might never encounter, and understand far beyond what simple thoughts and conclusions his mind might come across on its own. To him, the library was a promise of life. That Mella allowed him such a privilege as to go and learn whatever his heart desired from within the leather bound professors stored upon the sturdy shelves of the library was far too much a gift than he deserved.

Taking his first steps as an independent researcher, Keene strode over to a shelf, running his finger over the spines with a calculated knit of the brows. He was only tall enough to reach the first three shelves, all those above him were beyond his reach; this, however, did little to dampen his curiosity, as each title that his eyes passed over promised new knowledge, new experiences. Selecting a dark leather bound tome entitled The Fundamentals of Biology. He had little idea what exactly "Biology" was, but "Fundamentals" made it sound palatable. Tucking the heavy book beneath his arm, Keene lugged it over to a nearby table, depositing the book onto the wooden surface with a heavy thump, Keene tugged one of the chairs out. Wiggling his way onto the seat, Keene pulled upon the book to its table of contents, skimming over the headings of the chapters, choosing to flip to "The Characteristics of Living Things".

Biology is the study of living things. You might wonder what classifies the living from the unliving, and while there have been debates over the the finer details of involving the undead, it is generally agreed there are specific attributes by which "living things" can be classified. To be considered a living thing, the objects in question must grow, move, reproduce, react to surroundings, excrete, obtain nutrition, and respire.

Will will first discuss the concept of "growth". Typically considered a change in size, development, or complexity. Take for a moment to consider "growth". Humans tend to be considered living beings, rocks are generally considered to bot be living beings. In the case of "growth", rocks do not become more complex, nor do they develop in any way. They may break apart or be reconstructed over a long period of time, but the particles that make a rock a rock do not change. A human, on the other hand, begins life as a baby, developing over time into an adult. Plants are also considered living things in this regard, as they are grown from seeds or bulbs, growing over time to become exponentially more complex.

Second, "movement" is another factor that must be taken into account when determining whether something is a living thing or not. "Movement" can be defined as the physical reallocation from one point to another point. Continuing to use the analogy of a human and a rock, rocks do not move. They may on occasion be knocked loose, resulting in such events as rock slides or a simple rolling of a boulder down a cliff, however their movement is induced by outside sources. Humans are able to move on their own. While they can be made to move by outside forces, they possess the ability to change physical location from one point to another with only their own power. Plants are also considered to "move", though it is often though synonymous with the idea of growing, as roots extended into the ground, effectively changing the objects physical point in space to a new location. Some plants have been known to more towards or away from light, while others may draw themselves nearer to sources of water or nutrients over the course of their development.

"Reaction" is our third qualifier to what is and is not a living thing. In this context, a "reaction" is any physical or mental reaction to a perceived stimulus. Take, for example, a bucket of water being dumped over an object. If that object is a rock, what happens? The water pours over the stone, however there is little side effect other than the rock becoming wet, a natural outcome (and a non-reactive one at that) one would expect from dumping water over something. The rock does not react. If you were to dump a bucket of water over the head of a human, however, though responses might vary it would be likely that human may shout or try to move out of the way. In this sense, they are reaction to the addition of water (a stimulus) that has changed their environment. Plants also react to changes in their environment, growing upwards towards the sun, growing around barriers, and even some plants will change their from when a new stimuli is introduced.

Keene's concentrated gaze moved along the letters of the book, his lips moving with the silent pronunciation of each. He had never considered the differences between what might be considered living and what might be considered unliving. In fact, he had never considered there was a possible state of existence outside of alive or dead. The introduction of the concept of "unlife" was novel and intriguing. Though the book seemed to give definitions and explanations he found to be a bit convoluted, Keene felt as though the overarching concept of life and unlife to be a fascinating one. The qualifiers for life, so far from what he had read, made perfect sense. The further illustrations, however, were slightly more difficult from him to grasp. Delving once more into the book, Keene let his nose nearly touch the pages as his whispering lips continued to translate the text from the two dimensions upon which it was printed into the dimension of sound.

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[Bianca White]

Bianca White loved the library. This was an undisputed fact, and she was a familiar face inside of the large, two storied building that housed one of the largest, if not the largest, collection of books in Mizahar. The building always smelled of paper and dust, and there had not been a day where the young girl entered the building and hadn't sneezed.

She loved it.

She mainly ignored the people coming and going, instead pushing all of her weight against the large, wooden doors. Very few people her age seemed to be interested in it, preferring to play with their toys and with each other. The young girl had instead been gifted with access to this imposing, but no less wonderful building. The entire place was a promise of information, and her parents insisted that she went there rather than stay with them, or Gods forbid, learn how to fish. It was all well - she had no interest in fishing. It was hard work that calloused hands, and though she disliked tooting her own horn, she was too smart to be a fisherman. At least, that's what she told herself.

The door opened, just enough for her to slip into the building and sneeze, as per tradition. She was sensitive to the dust. The young girl took off at a fast walk, maneuvering her way over to the section on law. She had a new, burning desire to get into the occupation of attorney, and now was as good a time as ever to start - though ever leather-bound spine she read seemed endlessly boring. This pattern continued until her eyes fell upon a book titled 'Natural Law.' She managed to understand both of the words in the title now, and she decided that this was the book she was going to consume for the next week.

The book was carried over to the same table as another boy, who was practically crawling inside of the book and reading to himself. Bianca always preferred the company of others, even when there was no interaction, and she sat down on the opposite side of the table, and began reading.

The term Natural Law is, in itself, ambiguous. Natural Law refers to a moral theory, as well as a legal theory, but the core claims of both are independent. It does not refer to the laws of nature, as many of the lesser educated might come to believe. In natural law moral theory, the moral standards that govern behaviour are objectively derived from the nature of living (and unliving) beings and the nature of the world. The first chapters of this book, however, will focus on the legal theory of natural law. While this is independent from the moral theory, the two intersect.

In the legal theory of natural law, the authority of legal standards derives from considerations having to do with the the moral merit of those standards. There are a number of different kinds of theories, which are different in the respect of the role that morality plays in the authority of legal norms. One, for instance, focuses on the overlap between natural law moral and legal theories, while another provides a set of conditions for the existence of law that distinguishes law from non-law.

The one we will be focusing on in this chapter is a theory that rejects the conceptual naturalist idea that there are necessary substantive moral constraints on the consent of law, but that it is subject to a procedural morality. This standard of law implies that nothing can be considered law without fulfilling the quality that law must guide behavior. To be considered effective, the laws must satisfy the following principals:

1. the rules must be expressed in general terms;
2. The rules must be publicly promulgated;
3. the rules must be prospective in effect;
4. the rules must be expressed in understandable terms;
5. the rules must be consistent with one another;
6. the rules must not require conduct beyond the powers of the affected parties;
7. the rules must not be changed so frequently that the subject cannot rely on them; and
8. the rules must be administered in a manner consistent with their wording.

According to this theory, any system of laws that fails to satisfy these principles can achieve law's purpose of achieving social order.

Bianca looked up from the book, stopping there for the moment. She tried to put what she had read into words that would be more easily memorable, but she struggled with the thought. She needed someone to study with. The young girl turned to the boy, who looked slightly younger, and decided that he would be her study partner for the day. He appeared to be deep in study himself, despite his young appearance, and she proceeded to wiggle out of her chair, padding towards the boy and sitting across from him, setting the book of natural law roughly on the table across from him.

"Whatcha reading?" She started, and without waiting for an answer, continued her proposition. "Let's play a game. I'm gonna tell you what I read, and you're gonna tell me what you read. I'll start." She didn't open her book, hoping to recite it from memory. Her memory only partially failed her, however, and she began with the pieces that she did remember. "According to the theory in the legal natural law, the set of laws must agree with a group of..." Bianca paused, thinking for a moment. "Principals. When they don't agree, the laws won't work." Just bouncing the theory off of him was of great help in her understanding of what she had read, and she felt a splash of pride in the fact that she had managed to recite it.

She then eyed the boy, waiting for him to continue with his turn. It didn't occur to the girl that he might just leave, or continue reading his own large book.

[Keene Ward]

When the girl sat down, Keene took little interest or notice. His focus was solely focused upon the concept of "respiration" of plants. It was an easy enough concept to grasp for things like humans or animals. Plants, however, were also, apparently, living things, but the support for such a claim seemed dodgy. First of all, the process was entirely convoluted. According to the text, plants absorbed the breath of that which was exhaled from humans and animals, a substance that was not merely "air" but of a different sort that was poorly explained within. Apparently, it seemed that air that was inhaled as one form was exhaled as another, rather than the same air moving first in then out. Fundamentally, the idea wasn't entirely ridiculous. It was logical that the act of breathing removed something of value from the substance that was air it took in, but for that air to be something completely different from what it first was gave Keene an mental obstacle he was struggling to clear. Plants then, chose to absorb the new substance, utilizing some strange, unpronounceable term through which they produced the typical, breathable "air" that the other living beings took in. The cycle, as it were, was reproduced infinitely, but Keene found qualms with the idea that plants, while still considered alive, breathed air that was different from what the rest of living things breathed. It seemed as though the differentiation at that single point between which air was breathable air for which living creature a great enough different for plants not to fall under the category of "respirators".

Then, there was the whole concept of fish. Keene considered the aquatic community of fish and whales and such to be alive. However, there was no air in the ocean. The book did not address the issue, and Keene found it to be entirely ridiculous that a book meant to explain the foundations of something did not take time to explain how something with only water might "respirate" and die upon land if water were not present. It was ludicrous, and though the previous categories had all made sense, he found the single potential for fallacy to bring question to all that he'd learned prior. If the author had been so negligent as to add a passage regarding an explanation of how fish were able to survive underwater (and how that might equate to respiration), there was no telling what other sorts of missing information (or simply misinformation) there might be.

He flipped back to the table of contents, skimming through the titles in search of something that might assist him in his search for an understandable explanation of how fish were to breathe. Finding little words of any use to the particular subject he now found himself on, Keene flipped back to the section regarding life, glaring down at the words with a perplexed frown. The examples given for respiration glared back at him, and he found the book's lack of fish disturbing. He doubted the author had been Zeltivan, as a true Zeltivan would have included the ever-important animal in the book (perhaps even under its own chapter heading). Keene was almost positive fish were living creatures, but as he continued to stare at the words, reading and rereading the passages, he became less convinced. If the book were true (as he had little reason other than his own natural inclination towards disbelief), it was entirely possible fish were not living creatures.

His musings were interrupted with a heavy thunk of a tome dropped atop the sturdy table, followed by the advent of a girl's voice. For a moment, Keene continued reading, though is concentration had been quite completely disrupted, he had no reason to believe she was addressing him. When she continued to speak, Keene glanced up from the frustratingly fish-lacking words to find that he was the only other person at the table, and that she had placed herself directly opposite him, eyes boring down upon him. With a confused scrunch of the eyes, Keene's mouth turned into a perplexed frown. She talked of games followed by a rather firm command. Glancing over his shoulder to see if the girl had been put up to the rather abrasive introduction by machination of Mella, there was no sign of her anywhere. The telltale head of cascading crimson curls void of all indication observed with his quick appraisal of the nearby space. Turning his attention back on the light skinned, dark haired girl, she began to say something about law. It wasn't disinteresting, though he had little idea what she was talking about, and the concept of sharing recently obtained knowledge from the texts in front of them had not quite cemented itself in his head.

From what she said, the "natural law" seemed to a concept in which "laws" - which Keene replaced with the idea of "rules" - had to agree with a set of "principles" - a word Keene associated with "morals". If the rules and morals were at odds with one another, the laws were impotent. What relevance the information had with anything, however, completely escaped him. Near the end of her explanation, however, Keene realized where the information was being drawn from. His furtive appraisal of the book before the girl gave him all the information needed to piece one and one into two. She intended them to share what they had been reading. While not opposed to the idea, Keene would have much rather preferred to have conducted his studies in peace and quiet. The girl however, gazed at him with a firm expectancy, something that was partially reminiscent of Mella's enraged bulge of a scowl. Knowing full well the outcome of refusal in the case of the latter, Keene decided it was in his best interests to play along.

"Living things have seven required attributes: growth, movement, reproduction, reactions, excretions, obtaining of nutrients and respiration." He paused, his frown deepening with concern. "I don't think fish are alive."

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[Bianca White]

Bianca grinned when the boy finally looked up from his pages and shared, no questions asked. The information about biology was indeed interesting, but she had no desire to further delve into the subject unless it was like a game of this. His description made sense, though she mentally translated it into terms that were more easily consumed. To be a living thing, it needed to eat, move, grow, reproduce, react, and whatever excrete and respiration meant. Her mind traveled back to a point in time when she had wished to become a doctor, and she remembered a few anatomical diagrams titled either 'respiratory' or 'excretory', and she realized that respiratory was breathing.

"Why wouldn't fish be alive?" She didn't quite understand the boy's sentiment about fish not being alive, going through the list in her mind. Fish ate, fish moved, they grew and reproduced and most certainly excreted and reacted to things. Her brow furrowed and she frowned when she noticed that you had to have air to breathe, and there was no air in the water. Could something really be considered alive if it didn't have every factor of life?

"Oh." She replied, her thought process through. She nodded in agreement, though she was still monumentally confused about the fact. "Isn't there anything in the book about fish?" Bianca leaned over the table, hair falling over the pages of the large, leather-bound book that sat firmly on the table, and began reading the pages upside down. The table of contents didn't list anything about fish. Very peculiar.

"Maybe there's another book." The girl stood up suddenly, striding towards the section on science. She eyed the covers, hoping for a large tome on fish. There was bound to be something - the city pretty much survived on fish, and the lack of fish in the book the boy had was alarming. Her own parents were fishermen, and she decidedly knew a fair amount about the animal, but if they couldn't breathe, were they really alive and therefore animals?

"Help me look, please." She turned around, talking to the boy a bit louder than she should've in a library. The area they were in seemed mostly deserted, however, and Bianca was safe from the harsh words of a librarian shushing the girl. Taking sudden notice of the fact that she hadn't introduced herself, she made her way next to the boy and stuck out her hand.

"I'm Bianca White." She said, her brow still furrowed in confusion. "Want to be friends?"

[Keene Ward]

The girl asked about the fish in a distracted sort of way that gave Keene the impression, had he responded, she would not have heard his reply at all. Allowing her time to contemplate why fish might not be living creatures after all given the information he'd just shared, he bent back over the book, flipping back to the index to make absolute certain he had not overlooked some heading that referred to fish. There were several titles he didn't understand, but many more that did not pertain to fish. It didn't take long for the girl to utter a simple "Oh." She seemed as confused as he had been when he'd come to the realization, though he couldn't be sure of the exact amount of confusion she held. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed unlikely that there was a global, objective scale with which to measure confusion comparatively. He supposed it was more of a social idiom, the state of "being more confused". Still, it seemed likely she was nearly as confused as he when she asked about a deeper explanation regarding fish. He shook his head that there was not, but it had little effect on her.

She leaned across the table, her eyes darting back and fourth as she took her own gander at the index. He wondered just how little stock she placed in his intelligence, though he could not fault her for underestimating him. He was much smaller and weaker looking than she, and he had not had the answer to whether fish were indeed alive or unliving. To be fair, she also seemed to have no clue. Coming to the same conclusion he had had in his investigation for a fish filled chapter or even a small mention of the aquatic respiratory system, the girl seemed eager to solve the problem. Keene had been content to simply sit and calmly think the problem through, checking his logic only once he'd either reached a plausible outcome or arrived at an impossible dead end.

He watched with placid grey eyes as the girl hopped from her chair, padding across the smooth planks of the wooden floors below in search of a more elucidating book. Unable to decided if it had been implied he should follow or was released from the strange "game" she had suggested, Keene sat and stared after her, eyes wide and analyzing. She moved with confidence, something he had been raised to respect. Her voice, however, was much less commanding, softer though nearly as brash in tone as Mella's, if it were possible for such delicate a timbre to carry with it such intent. She was not, however, powerful looking. Though she was commanding, it was purely through her authoritative personality rather than her physicality. Her body was slim and delicate, a confusing juxtaposition with the fire of a spirit contained within.

Apparently not finished with him quite yet, the girl turned round to deliver a rather loud, though polite command. Shooting a furtive glance at a man several tables down who seemed to be doing his absolute best to avoid listening to or being bothered by the two children, Keene hopped out of his chair, obediently following the girl's directions. He only made it several steps away from his chair before the girl was upon him once more, her face a mixture of realization and confusion. A hand was extended, the typical form of greeting. Keene stared down at it, a little frown forming on his own face. He wasn't the biggest fan of physical touch, but he supposed, for the sake of formality, he would deal with it. Clenching his teeth, he slid his own weak grip into her's, giving two quick shakes before releasing the uncomfortable connection.

"Keene Ward."

As for the second question, Keene stared back and slightly up at her. He'd read about the concept of "friendship" in poems and the occasional fable, but he didn't really understand what the term fully entailed. Without understanding what it mean to be "friends", he had little faith in his ability to fulfill the duties. The question, however, had not been "Will you be my friend?" but rather a slightly more benign "Want to be friends?" which implied it was more a matter of will than fulfillment of qualifications. Tilting his head slightly to the right as his mouth formed a full frown, Keene replied with a steady, "I suppose so." The whole point of spending time within the safe, book filled library had been to expand his knowledge to its greatest extent possible. The prospect of better understanding friendship seemed like a rational path to take.

Paying the newly (though unrealized) new station of "friendship" little heed aside from the unknowing acceptance of such, Keene strolled over to the bookcases once more, running his finger over the titles as he had done prior. He rarely ever actively looked anything up. If something seemed interesting in color, font, binding, or title, he read it. If he didn't understand it, he replaced the book and read something else or continued to struggle through it until he reached an epiphany. More often than not, he chose the latter, agonizing over a specific story, concept, or theory for bells on end until something either made sense, it was explained to him, or it was time for him to head home. His typical ritual, however, had been interrupted with the introduction of one Bianca White, the sole reason he now searched the spines of the books for anything that might have involved an explanation about fish.

There seemed to be very little in the section they were in, but Keene had never taken the time to learn the layout of the library nor how things were typically classified. He'd always just assumed he'd eventually find a book he wanted to read. There was no rhyme or reason to his selections, and thus he had found little reason to give them any. Now, however, he found the search for a specific book to be a bit ludicrous without some sort of system they could utilize to better find find that which they sought. He was absolutely certain there was at least one book on fish. If there were even more than that, it was merely a bonus. The closed thing he was able to find on the shelf closest to the their where they had both come from was Judicial Activism, which shared the "ish" sound of fish. Turning to Bianca, he shrugged his shoulders, signalling that the two shelves of books his diminutive height allowed him had no sign of further fish books.

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[Bianca White]

She had never heard of Keene Ward, or anyone of the Ward family for that matter - the name felt almost awkward in her head, and the way he shook her hand, tentative and weak, made her think of how well the name itself actually fit. His agreement to her question of friendship was a welcome one; Bianca did not want to have to go through the difficulties of figuring out whether or not someone was her friend, and though she attempted to uncover the more secretive of social niceties and other intricacies of interaction, she tried to avoid the guessing game as much as possible. It was his deepening frown that took her aback, though she took it to mean that this boy wasn't even quite sure what 'friends' were.

His admittance that he, as well, could not find a book regarding fish in this particular section made Bianca stop and look around. This was perhaps a job they'd have to allocate to a librarian, who more than likely knew where a book on fish would even be. She sighed, walking back to the table and putting her own book away and turning towards the boy, one Keene Ward who appeared to have very little mind of his own. She decided to fix that, though she wasn't quite sure how, or why he seemed to follow her orders without a word. It was weird.

Bianca began striding towards the front desk, determination to figure out what fish actually were making her walk more quickly than usual. She beckoned towards Keene to follow. The desk was huge, and she was barely tall enough to look over it, though her voice was easily heard by the man sitting behind it.

"Are there any books about fish, sir?" The addition of 'sir' was last minute, though the young girl felt that it would fit the current situation. She didn't even bother checking if Keene had followed, assuming that he did and also assuming that if he hadn't, he'd still be waiting where they had been before. This small adventure was more than welcome, however - while she enjoyed learning, using someone else as a target to recite what she had read made the process easier.

"Yes...do you need me to show you where they are?" Bianca ignored the condescending tone to his voice, following the man as he almost purposely walked as slowly as possible towards a wing of the library, noticing that the man didn't even check on anything to remember where the supposed section on fish was. Knowing that this was Zeltiva, it probably wasn't uncommon for people to need to learn about fish. The man stopped at a seemingly random shelf, scanning the book covers until he pulled out a seemingly random book, titled "Fish of Zeltiva". He handed the book to the girl, and she moved to a nearby table, setting it down and looking around to see if Keene was there.

Regardless of whether he was or not, she sat down, opening the book and looking at the table of contents. The first term she saw was a page on the basic terms referred to in the book about the diagrams of the fish featured on the other pages. Bianca turned to this page, scanning the book until she saw the word or any form of the word 'respiration', though it took a few times to find this word in particular. She leaned in, reading the handwriting carefully.

Gills: The part of a fish used to breathe (respire) the water in which they live

They supposedly breathed the water. There was no further information on gills, or how fish 'respirated', but it was close enough. They must be living creatures, because they had all of the other features of them, but breathing water was a confusing topic. She turned to a random page, hoping for at least a diagram of a fish to pop up and shed more light on the situation. This page was titled 'Cod', and showed a picture of what, more than likely, was the named creature.

Lines were drawn off of different parts, labeling pieces of the fish like the fin or the tail, though Bianca was only interested in the part labeled 'gills'. There was no further information on this particular part of the fish, though it appeared they were like little slices cut into the side of the fish, and not like human lungs. They had seemed comparable to human lungs from what she had read, but this did little to shed further light on the subject. Bianca turned to Keene, moving the book in his direction and pointing to the diagram. She ignored the further information on cod, though she was interested in reading the rest of the book once she had solved this problem. She mentally took note of where the librarian had found it.

"They breathe water with gills, like we breathe air with lungs."

[Keene Ward]

Bianca was not one to be daunted by the prospect of failure, and though her determination was laudable, Keene was much more interested in the definitive answer to the living or unliving quality of fish more so than Bianca's character traits. His interest had been piqued, and though he didn't doubt the answer would eventually find its way into his lap, the expedient option being to allow Bianca to run her course. He had little doubt she would arrive at the answer sooner than he, as his curiosity was not solely focused on the breathing of fish, rather the entirety of the library. All the knowledge held within that was accessible to his diminutive height would, one day, be his to know. Until that day, he was content - happy even - to pace himself through whatever books his hands though to grab for him each day. Bianca, however, was much different. She had abandoned her own quest for knowledge - however dry sounding it had been - in search for the cure to the confusion that had plagued them both the moment they made the connections from the information given. His alternative was to return to his book and let the girl run her course, however he had agreed to the unknown contract of friendship.

Friendship was something Keene knew very little about other than that it was a different sort of relationship than the typical passing acquaintance. With that knowledge in mind, he understood that "friends" were required to do things they would not usually do with other people. In Bianca's case, as she replaced her book on the shelves (a feat Keene found impressive in and of itself as he'd already quite forgotten where he had snatched his own tome from), he felt as though he should follow her. It was the opposite mindset he usually employed, as his suspicions on the subject of friendship leaned towards a relationship of opposites. He was not, however, going to throw himself into the world of paradoxes until he was absolutely certain that was the proper course. The thought of constant touching and laughter made him feel a bit sick.

Following suit, Keene padded over to the table once more, climbing up onto the chair to retrieve the wealth of information stored within paper pages that had stared the whole fiasco. Having no idea where he'd taken it from, Keene tucked it under his arm, scooting off of the chair to land with a light tap of his feet against the stone of the library's floor. Bianca had already headed off back towards the entrance with some sort of plan in mind, he was sure. The purpose with which she walked was similar to Mella's, though it lacked the burning fury and haifire typically employed by the fiery woman. As Bianca's legs were longer and her energy nearly effervescent, she moved at a pace he found difficult to match. Keene was smaller, weaker, and lacked the internal drive to force his body to move at high speeds. The heavy book on biology didn't assist him in his endeavor to catch up. Lugging it first under his arm then against his chest with arms wrapped around it tight, Keene jogged after the young girl, his breath coming in short gasps by the time she stopped at the front desk to speak to the long-nosed, disdainful looking man behind it.

Not want to cause any more of a ruckus than he had running across the library, Keene furtively sidled up to the desk, pressing his back against it to give his wobbling legs a rest. The book hung from his arms, pressing against his thighs with enough force to take a small part of his mind off the fact the air had suddenly become much more difficult to swallow. He glanced at Bianca as she inquired whether there were any books on fish within the library, a silly question that all three of them knew the answer to, but it was necessary to get the point across that they could not find one. The man replied with an official sort of tone that was not void of condescension, something Keene always found a bit strange with adults. They always appeared to be stronger, smarter, or better in some way to their child counterparts, when the reality of the fact was they were usually merely larger (which was not always something to take pride in). However, the man seemed willing enough to take them to where the books on fish were located. He moved with purpose and consulted no guide or map before heading off deeper into the building. Keene began to suspect that there was indeed a sort of system by which the books were classified, as he found the probability of the man in front of them lacked the mental acuity to have memorized the entire layout of the library, its shelves, and the books contained within. It was possible, but Keene was skeptical of it to the extreme.

To his relief, whatever the man's mental capacity, he moved at a creeping amble, giving Keene ample time to catch his breath as well as investigate the shelves and tables they passed on their way to their destination. The library usually had a steady flow of those coming and going, and there were never fewer than several handfuls of people scattered throughout the interior. As they passed deeper into the stacks, Keene's wandering eyes found a group of children surrounding an elderly woman who appeared to be reading aloud to them in an animated way such that some of the members of her audience were laughing or grinning like fools. Keene stopped to stare at them, his perplexed frown returning to dampen his features as he considered the even before him. He found little merit in having things read to him, unless it was in discussion during which the idea learned could be better applied in an abstract form for greater understanding. The children, however, seemed to merely be enjoying themselves. Some were not even paying attention. He found it strange that the woman continued to read on, seemingly oblivious of the discord and chaos around her. It was a waste of time, and something Keene could not understand the mirth of. The laughter was hushed, as it should be in the library, but it was preset none the less. One of the children turned and noticed Keene standing with book in arms and frown upon face, giving him a wave and a wide smile. Keene returned the gesture with a blank stare before turning to hurry back to Bianca and the snooty man. There were some mysteries in the world he wasn't sure he'd ever understand.

They arrived at the proper shelf indicated by the man moving closer to inspect it, running his finger over the spines before pulling a book out at what seemed random and handing it to Bianca before swiftly departing at a pace Keene had previously thought him incapable of. Blinking in surprise at the rapidly retreating figure, Keene heard the sound of a chair scuffing against the ground - an indication Bianca was about to discover the truth behind the life or unlife of fish. Turning round to stand a small distance from where she sat, Keene set his own book on the table with a light thump, folding his hands behind his back and staring at the book as Bianca flipped through it. She started at the index, something both he and she were familiar with, before finding a relevant title. Quickly shuffling through the pages, she seemed to find answer soon enough, pushing the book towards him and offering the verbal synopsis of her research. Keene gazed down at the diagram of the aquatic creature labeled "Cod". There were indeed structures labeled as "gills", merely slits in the side of the creature's body (in the general vicinity of where Keene imaged the fish's equivalent of "neck" was located). It was not entirely unconvincing, though the process of breathing water seemed strange. Nodding, Keene stared at the careful lines that comprised the two dimensional fish before him. "Gills." Raising a brow at the book he had lugged all the way across the library, Keene muttered, "So they are alive."

.

[Bianca White]

Bianca nodded, still peering at the book. She pulled it closer to her, flipping to another diagram of a different fish. This too had a label pointing to gills, quite a curious feature. Her mind flashed back to a moment when she had once seen a Konti - they too seemed to be sporting this particular piece of anatomy, placed gently on their neck like jewelry. She had never questioned it before, but now she wondered. Were Konti fish, too?

"So fish breathe water...but are Konti fish? They have gills, too." Young Bianca reiterated her thoughts to the other boy, her eyes wandering to the book on biology. With the librarian gone, she didn't want to bother him again by asking for a book on Konti. She hadn't seen a mention of the races in the book, and while a different one would provide more information, she hoped that there would at least be some information on Konti in there.

Pulling that book over to where she stood, hunched over the table, she flipped it open to the table of contents again. There was no mention of races or Konti, though she spotted the phrase 'Unlife' and her whims changed. What constituted unlife? She had seen a ghost before, but Bianca wondered if that were the only thing that could be considered unlife. She quickly turned to the page, the first page of the section exactly on answering the question she had only so recently formed in her mind.

What constitutes Unlife? Unlife is when something has some aspects of the living, except for a key five: excretion, respiration, obtaining of nutrients, growth and reproduction. They, however, react and move much like the living, and what makes them different opposed to a rock is the addition of sentience. Adding sentience to what would otherwise be a dead creature is, in the most basic sense of the word, unlife.

And example of Unlife would be the Nuit. They feature almost none of the elements of a living creature, yet they have sentience, making them nearly like humans. They have been seen to live incredibly long times, and while the origin of the Nuit is disputed, it has been noted that they seem to transform into new bodies when the old one has become decomposed.

Another example of Unlife is the ghost. The ghost is the spirit of a sentient creature which was unable to go with Dira due to personal afflictions. They do not have physical bodies, yet they are able to move, react, and are sentient.

Bianca looked at the boy after reading this particular passage. It had offered no useful information for the Konti question, though the girl was excited to have figured out what unlife was. She pushed the book towards the boy, pointing to the section she had just read.

"There are things that are alive and not alive at the same time...like Nuit, or Ghosts." She had never heard of the Nuit before, but she was interested in them now nonetheless. Ghosts were less interesting than Nuit, but this book still offered even a small bit of useful information to the pair.

[Keene Ward]

At Bianca's mention of "Konti", Keene's attention perked. His brow raised as he gave her a blank look. He'd not heard of whatever Konti were, but he assumed they were something fishlike. Perhaps something gilled, but without any more information offered, Keene let the name fall into the back of his mind to be called back at a later time. Bianca's knowledge was vastly different than his own. It was something he found surprising in the sense that her mannerisms did not scream scholar - perhaps something more base as her refinement was anything but elegant. Still, she spoke with poise, purpose, and a confidence that Keene could not help but respect. It didn't make her any bit less of a whirlwind, but it did paint her it a slightly more orderly light. A chaotic pillar upon which was grounded both her might and her mental capacities: a towering, teetering structure Keene couldn't determine as fantastic or frightening. Still, he had agreed to the undefined contract of friendship. It had been a foolish decision on his part, but one that he felt could not lightly be revoked. He was bound to her until she saw fit to release him, as social rules dictated. He supposed, however, that upon her breaking of whatever the constraints of the contract were, he would be free to choose to either continue the relationship or end it abruptly. Finding the rules or guidelines of friendship was quickly growing in his list of priorities.

Keene's gaze turned placid as Bianca set the book on fish down on the table in such a fashion that dictated she had quite finished with it. His head turning to follow the flurry of intent as Bianca gathered up the book he'd set down, flipping it open and fingering through the pages, first to the index where she paused, then to a page near where he had had the book open before. Unable to read over her shoulder without reaching a proximity he found to be far too uncomfortable for the amount of curiosity he currently felt, Keene contented himself to absentmindedly flipping through the pages of Fish of Zeltiva. The various diagrams passed by, each mostly similar to the next with the occasional exception. He found fish to be of little interest to him. They were a necessary entity in both his life and the lives of most of the Zeltivans. Beyond that, however, they were little more than food. Having determined whether they were indeed living or unliving, Keene was quite finished with the aquatic creatures. His time was better spent on other subjects, though relevancy or practicality had little impact on his wandering wishes.

Bianca finished reading, her pace as quick as her words, and pushed the book over to him. As he stared down at the passage that she gave a brief explanation for, Keene found the information strange. Unlife was not merely the absence of life, but rather the state of being involving a semblance of life without meeting the proper criteria. It was a strange concept, and one Keene wasn't sure he fully understood without example. The term of "Nuit" was poorly explained, though it gave Keene the impression they were some sort of creature with the ability to reincarnate. Something with such a power was surely far too rare for him to meet any time soon. The ghosts, however, were a tad bit more understandable in terms of unlife. He knew little about them, the bit regarding the reasons behind a spirit remaining in the world a new piece of information on his lack of any knowledge regarding them. As far as he was concerned, ghosts were another sort of entity he had little plans of interacting with. However, knowledge was, to some extent, the beginnings of power. Knowing could do little to hurt him in the long run.

Nodding, Keene looked up from the book. They had accomplished their immediate task. Unsure whether that meant he was released or if there was more in store for him, Keene stared blankly at Bianca. "The unliving." They had both read the same thing. He didn't need it simplified. Beyond his verbal suggestion they both use the proper terms, Keene let himself fade to silence. Bianca was clearly the leader in their relationship; were Keene to have been so he would have quickly relinquished the post anyway. Any further interaction was on the girl's part, as he had played in role as listener. It had not been entirely fruitless, in fact it had proven rather useful as well as a strange break from his typical schedule. He kept himself standing, unsure whether it was proper for him to take a seat.

.

[Bianca White]

Bianca hummed to herself, resigning herself to flipping through the pages of Keene's book after solving two mysteries of the day. She was going to have to look into Konti, but her internal clock told her it had been at least a bell and it would be time for her to go home soon for lunch. She stood up straight, suddenly, and closed the book, not having absorbed any of the information that she had just read anyway. She turned to Keene, leaving the book on the table next to the fish book. A librarian could put it away, and she didn't want to put the biology book back while Keene had just been looking at the 'Fish of Zeltiva.' Another glance at his face and posture, however, and Bianca noticed that he looked spectacularly uncomfortable and very finished with the book of fish.

Picking up the book on fish though leaving the book on biology on the table, she slid it back into its spot. Spending years in the library gave her a knack for remembering the places they belonged after retrieving them, and each book she replaced only added to the mental map she had formed of the library. Her opinion on Keene was yet unformed, new and shiny and full of possibilities like a baby. Keene had seemed unnaturally obediant for someone his age, which required further investigation on her part - there was no reason for him to follow her orders, and she would've rathered he hadn't. Defiance was always an interesting and fun game.

"Keene, I have to go now, but do you think you can come back in a few days?" She almost knew that he would nod assent, as the difficulty of saying no was evident in his actions the past bell. However, she was eager to explore what friendship with someone of his personality would entail, even if he only accepted because he felt he had no choice in the latter. She gave a small wave, turning and talking a bit more loudly over her shoulder.

"Come here at noon on the 23rd, okay?" She began walking away, before turning one last time and leaving him with a simple, "Bye." Her exodus was abrupt, perhaps out of nowhere for anyone observing her. Her thoughts pointed to her reasoning, but her words offered no further explanation. If anyone were to read her mind, it was doubtful that they'd be able to figure out her exact thought process regardless. Her head was as much of a mess as she was.