2 Summer 518
Naali had just settled in for the late shift as one of the librarians. She had brought some needlepoint to work on if it was a quiet night. She had a couple books on her desk that had been recommended for her to read. The first was an elementary primer for Tukant. This was required by her supervisor. “If you are going to work here, you need to learn the language,” she was told in a very direct way. So everyone who comes to her desk is greeted with an energetic, “Hello, my name is Naali. How may I help you?” At least that is what she hopes she is saying. Most of the time, she gets a weird little smile from the patrons then they speak to her in common. All except this one young human mage, Nel Sammesbury, who decided to lecture her on the finer points of the Tukant language and made her repeat her greeting twenty times till she said it correctly. He was trying to check out five tomes from the library, one of them Naali gracefully took out of his pile. “This one has to stay in the library,” she said and then ungracefully knocked it off her desk. The thud was like a cannon going off on a calm quiet morning. Naali then proceeded to hit her head on the shelf behind the desk setting off a second thud that was quieter than the first, thankfully. But she knew that the sounds would bring Master Elic K’racics, the evening head librarian, like a woman’s scream in Riverfall brings armed men out of the woodwork. She passed the books back over to him then said, “Thank you.” in Tukant, she hoped. Nel took the books and raised his hands in the air in a sign of frustration.
Elic appeared before Naali could count to five. He always did, whenever she did something wrong he was there. He was an ardent man, wearing rimmed glasses, a tan double vest over a white shirt, with dark brown trousers and black polished shoes and he looked over the glasses at Naali and “hum hummed” her. She blushed so hard that her face, ears, and chest. He couldn’t see the last part. Nia had made sure that Naali was covered and wore proper attire. Including the unmentionables which Naali hated almost as much as those collars. Naali slipped her feet back into her boots. For all of Elic’s by the rules, hush hushes, and eyeglass stares, Elic was a nice man. He had a wife and two children a lovely little place with a garden. The oldest child was a girl who looked like Elic. She had his nose, eyes, and hair. His son looked like his mother, blond curly hairs. Both were quiet children. That made Naali want to take them to a park and play tag with them so they could yell, run, and play. Children need to get dirty, but these do not seem to.
Feena Causey, a Grandmotherly Akalak woman, she had been a warrior when she was younger. She was wounded in a battle. She had settled down raised a family. She still goes and swings her sword on the training grounds in the morning. Feena looked at Naali after Master Elic went to help an elderly mage find an obscure magic book tucked away in a secure section of the library. Feena says in a matter of fact way, “You know Nel is interested in you.” Naali blushed again twice as red as before. Nel likes me? He always had to correct her for something, she thought to her self. Fenna continued by saying, “He comes in earlier in the day to find the books, then waits for you to come in to check them out.”
Just then one of the young pickpockets she watched in the park, where she had picked up Azmere’s dagger, came into the library looking afraid. He started to look for a place to hide. Naali pointed at the young man, looking to Feena. Feena waved her hand to go. Part of the job of a librarian was to make sure people don’t steal the books.
Naali followed the boy down one of the aisles. She waved to him to follow her into a study room that was not being used. She closed the door, placing her hand on the dagger in her sleeve as she crossed her arm. “What are you hiding from?” she asked with a maternal tone. She had heard it from Nia so many times, it came easy.
