Solo [Valkalah Library] In the company of boys. [job2]

[Naali]

The morning came, bright and shiny. Not that she disliked the sunshine, the birds singing, and all that came with it. Naali had been having a long standing war with morning in generals. This morning it was specific. She rolling over she pulled a blanket over her head trying to block out the day. Today was going to be a rough day. She would be doing a tour of the library for a class of Akalak students. That meant a class of almost all boys. She had been warned that there would be rough housing, horse play, and power dynamics, the smell of sweat, and well, she was female, so showing off and male hormones too. She had been coached on how to deal with the toilet and fart humor. She had been warned to keep them away from the medical section and researching female anatomy. Even worse, she was told that she would be in charge of them. So having just woken up she already felt that the day was going to be a loss.
The statuette chided her playfully, “Get up and face the day.”
It kept talking to her. Naali groaned and threw a pillow at the statuette. Then turned and threw the blanket off her self.

One of the jobs of a librarian is to help teach young students how to do research. This has been done across cultures and for as long as there have been books. This has also been a job given to the new librarians. It was a right of passage in a way. Go, teaching boys that wanted to be great warriors with sword and shield, skilled in weapons of all kinds that ideas and knowledge gained by books and quill can also be a weapon if used in the right way. Education was just as much of a battle as marching off to war. She had prepared as much as she could, gathered some books on the history of warfare and on different types of weapons. She had asked who were some of the great some great Akalak from history and she read up on them making notes. She got dressed and said a prayer to Qalaya.

“Mother Qalaya, you are the great librarian, the holder of knowledge and wisdom. You know the struggle that I am going to face as others have faced it before me. Guild my memory and the learning that will take place this day. If it is possible, help me keep these young men under control.”

Naali went to get a bite to eat before heading off to war. A fresh baked roll and a cup of tea was her battle rations. She wanted some meat, but with the heat of the summer days it tended to spoil. So she ate the roll and finished her cup of tea. Her eyes still made her look like a raccoon, so she would stop at one of the market stalls that sell general makeup. Some cover-up would help. She found a woman who was selling cosmetics and helped her apply the cover-up and put lipstick on her. This made her feel self conscious and even more men were looking at her. Being of breeding age in Riverfall made a woman feel that every man was undressing her in his mind already, the new attention made her more nervous. Her fox instinct could be playful and like the attention, but foxes also like to be the hunter not the hunted. She had been working for a week preparing for this class. Since she was still learning the library herself, she asked a lot of questions and scribbled notes on scraps of papers she left at her desk on what to teach the children.

[Naali]

She arrived at the library earlier than she expected, her nervous energy carrying her there. So she tried to settle in to the work. There are always books that need to be shelved, always questions that need to be researched, always people asking for help about things they need, and always those that are disruptive to the order of things.

About half a bell later, young men started arriving. You could tell by the deep smell of unwashed bodies covered by the smell of the current cologne that made a Kelvic skunk smell pleasant in their human form.

A little while later the young men being young men, waiting for someone to show them something that they do not really care about but had to do it. Naali picked up the books from her desk and approached the group. She nodded to a guard letting him know where to send any stragglers. She handed the stack of books to one young man to carry and said to the group, “This way, please.”

She leading them to a classroom on the second floor, because it had small windows that could be opened and the breeze would blow some of the smell away. As they all sat down around the tables, Naali took her place on a stool in the front of the room. A couple more stragglers came wandering in. Naali stretched and yawned that had some impact on the hormone level in the room. The battle with morning was not over yet.

She looked at them and asked, “So who knows something about arrows?” Pausing she said, “Raise your hand.”
All of the class raised their hands.
“What type of arrow do you use to kill a small game without puncturing its pelt?” she asked.
“What type of head arrow would you use to stop something as big as a bear?” she asked.
A young man called out, “A broad head arrow, of course.”
“Which type of broad head arrow?” she asked.
She paused for a second.
“How about scaling a wall?” she asked.
“You can’t scale a wall with an arrow!” a young man said like she was stupid.

Naali smiled, “Yes, you can.” She turned and opened a book with a page marked with a grapple arrow with a climbing rope attached and showed them the picture.

She knew she had them, at least for a little bit.

“Here is what I am trying to help you with. Your enemy is stronger and has more going for him. He wants you to be lazy and not learn things. Books can help you grow smarter and give you more skills to use.” She said.

[Naali]

“I didn’t know much about bows, arrows, or weapons till I started reading these,” she said placing her hand upon a stack of books. “I am learning about these things. Because living her I might need to know about them living her and I find them interesting.” She smiled, “A blunt tip arrow will allow you to stun a small animal so you can capture it. A large fixed bladed broad head arrow will cause the animal to bleed but may not go deep. A thin arrow head will do more damage, but may seal the wound so it takes longer for the animal to die,” she said matter of fact tone.

“There are a lot of different things you can learn about from books,” Naali said. Turning to her desk she asked, “What are three things you want to learn about?” Naali braced herself and closed her eyes.
One shouted, “Girls.” The room erupted in laughter.
Another called out, “Weapon making.”
Naali asked, “What type of weapons?”
The voice said, “Any type.”
A third called out, “Magical swords.”

She opened her eyes, turned around and smiled she said, “Let’s take them in reverse order. We can talk about girls outside in the grass towards the end of our time together.”

Naali chirped to them, “Follow me” and she headed out the door. The first stop was the history section.
“This is where the books of history are kept,” she said.
She ran her fingers down the books scanning the titles. She pulled five different books out from the shelves then said, “Make five groups around the tables, please”
They complied with the male needed amount of pushing and shoving. One boy ended up on the floor having been shoved out of his chair.
“Here pass these books out to the groups,” she said to the boy on the floor smiling.
He picked himself up and did what she asked.
She thanked him then continued, “Each group needs to scan through the books and look for a story about a weapon that interests you.” She placed her hand on the shoulder of the boy from the floor as she talked.

In a little while, she had each group choose one person to talk about the weapon that the group picked and its story. The presentations were given sword, sword, sword, great sword, and a dagger that could cut through armor.

She moved to the boy who talked about the dagger after they sat down and touched his shoulder as she talked.
“Now imagine that you were going out to fight in a battle against an unknown force, would it be helpful to know what kind of weapons they might be bringing?” she asked. “Would it be helpful to know how they have fought in the past?” she continued.
“That is why history is important. Knowing what happened before can help you know what could happen now. What weapons they are likely to use and what tactics they might use.”

[Naali]

She said. “Put the books back on the shelf where they belong and follow me.”

As they were putting the books back a young man asked, “What’s this?” She turned to look. There was a box behind the books. It was about two hands long, and palm high and wide. There was a lock on the box with a latch. The boys wanted to open it. So did Nalli, if the truth be known. She took the box and carried it and acted like it was nothing.

They followed, Naali paid attention the first boy that got in line that wasn’t shoving and pushing. She touched his shoulder as she talked. “This is the crafting section. It is divided into specialties. Armor smithing, blacksmithing, Bowery and fletching, and so on.”
She walked around and said, “Everyone pick a craft and a book to look at.”
They spent some time. Weapons smithing was a big hit, then armor, bows third.
One young man asked, “Were are the magic crafting books?”
Naali perked up, “Good questions. What do you think?”
He said in a fairly rude tone, “Apparently, they are someplace else.”
Naali laughed, “Yes, they are because those books are expensive and the knowledge in them could be dangerous to someone trying to learn magic.”
She continued to touch and talk to the boy that was first in line from the last stop.
“Stack up the books here,” she said, “and get in line.”
They did and there was less pushing and shoving.

She walked them pass the medical section to the botany section.

She pulled a book of different types of flowers from the shelf and showed them some of the pictures. They were less interested in them than the swords. The she took them to the literature section, she pulled a book of poems from the shelf and opened it to a marker and started reading:

“What is this war I am fighting that drowns out the thoughts of the dawn?
Twas’ but a kiss.
A little nothing.
A gentle touch entrusted,
That has set my mind on fire.
For is it love that lingers after the kiss or just the sweet desire?
So battle boldy in my soul, the weapons of her might.
As she whispers to me, the gentle words of her sweet “good night.”

Naali took the marker out of the book and put it back on the shelf. She let that sit with them for a few moments before moving them on. She had asked for some help from the librarian that took care of the literature section, hence the poem being marked.

She brought them down and showed them how to checkout books. A skill she had mastered.

Because they asked, she walked them down to the magic book section and rare books both with their guards. Then she took them back up stairs and out to front doors to sit on the grass and enjoy the sunshine.

Naali asked if they had any questions about what they covered. A boy piped up, “Hey, you did not help us find out information on girls.”
Naali smiled and said, “But, I did. Last time I checked, I am a girl.” She paused, “You were just not paying attention.”
The Akalak class started talking about this among themselves. The consensus was that Naali was trying to trick them and weasel out.

“My dear young men, I taught you a lot about girls.” She smiled. “I did things to get you to notice that I was a girl, and you did. I paid attention to those of you who did things I liked and spurned those that did things I did not like. With the possibility receiving a gentle touch of my hand, you changed your behaviors to be less aggressive. The problem is you already think you know it all and were looking for something else.” She smiled and leaned back against a tree trunk. “The big thing is you need to pay attention. Girls will let you know if they like you or not. Just do not be jerks and you will get further with them.”

She dismissed the young men to go back to their school. She really did not know where to dismiss them to. Then she headed inside to investigate the mystery box.

[Naali]

Note to powers that beNot really worried about what is in the box. Just using it as a foil to play off of.
Now Naali likes a good mystery as much as the next fox. She wanted to know what was in the box, why it was left in the library, and who left it. This gnawed at her like a hunger pain deep and resonating. She looked at the box, turned it around, rattled it, she sniffed it, she thought about tasting it till a patron gave her a really strange look. She put it in her desk drawer. Then writes a note and seals it. Then she goes up and places the note telling the person or persons that she had the box. Now it wasn’t stealing, at least in her mind.

A large Akalak man came into the library looking for information from the law section. Naali quickly put the box in the desk and took him to the section. The legal section like the magical section had its own librarian who happened to be at lunch so Naali ended up trying to help him. In the entire library this was the section that confused her the most. The arrangement of material was much more intricate and more complex. She felt like an idiot every time she had to helped over here. The man had no time for incompetent people and made this clear in the way that he talked. To him, she was just a feral animal running lose in the city. She figured that there was probably a law against that too. As she looked through the stacks she tried to make small talk with him, “What do you do?” she asked in her best charming tone. “I am a lawyer working on a case. If you don’t mind keep looking for the information I asked for,” he said. He found the tome with the information that he needed. Flipped it on the table and started to look through reading section. Then turned into the book, sat down and read something. He then took out some paper and made some noted. He closed the book and reshelfed it. There was not much in the way of trial by judge in the City of Riverfall. Trial by combat was the normal way things were handled. Treaties, trade agreements, and some other things can’t be settled in the arena. Naali day dreamed for a moment about what it would like to be a lawyer, the thought of her being thrown into the arena as being an incompetent lawyer flashed in her mind.

The nice part of being in the library was she did have time to day dream. Physically she was fully grown, but she was still developing her skills and abilities mentally. One of the older librarians said that it would take her another year or two to be fully mentally developed. She was still a pup.

She went back to the desk through the crafting section, picking up a book on lock smithing. To start to learn how locks work.

Word count this post: 492
Word count total thread: 2811
Items possibly acquired in thread: a locked box she can't open.
Monies spent: None