Stacked I

[Lani Stranger]

21st of Fall, 518AV

When she entered the enclave the next morning, the head librarian, Kavisan was at his desk in the front. Lani waved to him, ready to duck to the back to organize. He didn’t seem to like her very much, it wasn’t that he was hostile, but he wasn’t warm either. She had met much more hostile figures in the corridors of this city, so she found Kavisan’s cool and removed attitude towards her to be refreshing.

“Hey, girl.” She heard his Nari whistle, and stopped short. She was okay with his attitude towards her, but she expected him to know her name.

“My name is Lani.” She reminded him in Nari, turning back to face him. He seemed to dismiss this sentence with his hand. In the same fluid motion he pointed towards a large stack of well-worn books.

“You know the Nari alphabet correct? Or at least can put ink on paper.”

“I understand Nari. I can speak and write Nari.” She said in his tongue, while it wasn’t exactly what she wanted to say, she had a limited glossary of words and phrases to choose from to get her point across, but she was trying.

“Excellent.” He seemed genuinely pleased when he spoke the word she didn’t understand, and so she refrained from any snarky comment, waiting for instruction for the day. “Then I will need you to copy these journals into newly bound books, and then return them to the shelves. This stack might take you two to three days, but I’ve already requested you to be here for that time, so hurry up and begin working.” He spoke clearly in common. He was a scholar, and he rarely used Lani’s native tongue to communicate with her, except for when giving instructions like this. She was a little jarred by the sudden language change and the fluency with which she was able to understand it. She hadn’t realized the luxury of speaking the same language of those around you until coming to Wind Reach. He peering up at her from the book he was consulting, and then whistled in Nari. “Go on, Lani.”

Lani nodded, taking a big step towards his desk. She slid her fingers under the bottom book, feeling the soft leather beginning to fray under her fingers, and then she hoisted the stack up. There were some loose papers in between which she thought were scrolls, and when she began walking, the books slid and shifted in her hands, speaking of their worn and torn spines.

Bringing the stack over to the nearest copying desk, she eyeballed the other scribes. They all had smaller stacks than her, and were clearly sharing in order to get the workload done as quickly as possible. The mixed blood huffed, she would silently take this unfair treatment. Setting the books down, she began to look through them. On most, the covers were so worn or speckled with age that she couldn’t quite read them, so she flipped open the first book to look inside. Usually authors wrote the titles, their names, and the publishing date on the first page for this very reason. Unless they were personal journals.

[Lani Stranger]

The first page read: “My introduction to the languages of Kalea” it was written by Jordit Auglius in 498 AV, a few years after her birth. The mixed blood flipped the book closed and pulled it off the stack to start it’s own pile. The next piece was a parchment paper that was falling apart with cup rings on it, and faded blue ink. You could see the crinkled in the paper where it had been scrolled and smushed, crumpled, and at some point someone tried to straighten it by gluing another parchment on the back, but there were signs of the layers tearing apart and being lost in time. This scroll was titled: “Different types of Arrows and their uses” written by Thea Thirgud. She set that in a separate pile from the bookings, thinking the scrolls she could finish and prepare today alone, judging by how many loose papers there were in the stack.

It was when she read the title of the second book, still etched into the leather on the cover: “Caring for Captive Snakes” also written by Thea Thirgud, that Lani realized something. These were all in common.

She set the book on top of Jordit Auglius’ and then began flipping through each of the books, confirming that all seven books and twelve scrolls were in common. A few of the scrolls had upwards of ten sheets and were pinned together to signify they were meant to be together, or were folded flat instead of properly rolled. Only two of those twelve scrolls were less than 4 pages, but each book had upwards of one hundred pages. Not every page in the book was used, but based off of publication dates, the books had been able to keep much longer than the scrolls had. Yes it was a heaping amount of work, and likely these were able to get so old because they were rarely used, and most were personal journals that were likely gifted to the enclave by travelers, but it was all in common! Lani smiled to herself, carefully closing the last book, and glancing up at Kavisan to thank him. He acted indifferent, but she guessed that she was growing on the Avora.

He was not looking at her, so she looked back, over the desks of scribes, and one girl caught her eye, gave her a haughty look, dipped her quill, and returned to writing. Lani didn’t mind, stacking the papers on top of the books, and then assessing what she needed. Most everything was written in black, and the two things that were written in blue either used to be black and were made of a different ink, or were in blue for some other reason that she could not immediately identify. Still, during her flipping of pages she saw marks of red and color in some drawing, which she knew she would not be able to recreate but would leave blanks for so that she could commission an artist to complete it.

Lani parted with the desk, sweeping silently past the other scribes with a point to ignore any and all looks they might be giving her. She swept into the back room, consulting the large shelves for some thick papyrus parchment pieces, glue, and blank books. She was also keeping an eye out for the leather straps to hold the new scrolls together but in the meantime she didn’t see any. Two scribes were binding a book on one end of the work table, so Lani stacked her supplies in her hand. She didn’t think she would get to the books today so she did not pick any out Instead she grabbed a thick clean brush, a small ceramic bowl, and some glue powder. She then snagged nearly forty parchment sheets, thinking she could come back for more as needed. Two ink wells, two quills, a ruler, a razor, and a rag for the ink.

[Lani Stranger]

As quietly as she could, so as not to disturb the other Chiet, or to draw attention to herself, she placed the raw papyrus down on the clear end of the table. She shifted her other materials to the side, and plucked one piece, the razor and the ruler from the pile. Slipping the razor out of its leather protectant, she eyeballed the parchment so she was on the side where the fibers ran vertical. She knew this as the ‘verso’ side, and the horizontally laid fibers were the ‘recto’ side. Lani then lined the parchment up with the ruler and with a steady hand, slid the razor down the paper. She enjoyed the satisfying pops as the papyrus yielded to her sharp razor. The verso side made cutting straight lines easy, and Lani double checked the ruler to ensure it was an even 8 inch in width. She had to trim one edge to ensure it, but then she was able to flip the papyrus to the recto side, and measure 12 inches in height, trimming the rough edges off the papyrus.

From there it was easy work to size down all forty sheets of parchment to an even 8x12 inch measurement. She had quickly learned the Kalean standard, as it was different from the Zeltivian standard, where she had first learned properly about scribing. But she caught on quick, and even if the measurements were different, the process was largely the same.

With nimble fingers, the half-Chaktawe picked all the strips of parchment edging up, stacking them as evenly as was possible, and turned to give them to the scraps pile. They would be ground down for a smoother paper or burned if they did not meet the requirements, but regardless they would not go to waste.

Gathering her things off the table once more, she left the quiet work room, returning to the enclave main. It was also eerily silent, although there were significantly more bodies here, which allowed for more breathing and bodily function sounds, more monotonous scratching of quills on paper and melodic turning of fresh pages. She could hear someone fanning their ink dry before turning the page, and the movement of the air in the still room was very apparent on her finger tips. She did not have to look around to know that the Chiet with the fan was two desks behind her own.

Setting her parchment and supplies on her wide writing desk, Lani organized her space quickly before taking a seat. She selected the old stack of scrolls, snagging the first one off of the top. It was a eleven paged kollesis titled: “Fauna Specific to Kalea: A quick overview.” Down the page she read in faded green common the eleven passages with faded pictures of flowers beside them. She could not identify the flowers by looking at the smudged and colorful ink. Whoever painted them had done so in water color, while it must have looked gorgeous, it also meant that the water based pigments gave out to the conditions of this scrolls’ storage much quicker than the darker ink and sturdier paper. She would need to find live examples of these animals once again in order to commission an artist for them, or references in other books. In the meantime she would leave blanks for the images to settle once they were ready to be placed.

Lani plucked her first unused quill from the top of her desk, letting two sensitive half-Chaktawe fingers glide along the smooth and sturdy feather before uncapping the black ink well and dipping the tip into it. She watched the ink well in the hollow tip, and then drip out, leaving a glistening ring on the edge for her to use. Plucking one parchment from the pile, she set it in front of her, and quickly scribbled her name in the center of the page. This was to become scrap, but she wanted to make sure her writing wasn’t too rusty before she committed any more parchments to be copied.

Lani Stranger, Jackal of Kalea.

[Lani Stranger]

She smiled at the little title she gave herself, but assessed that her writing was plenty good enough to begin copying. She set the scrap parchment atop the old book pile, away from where she might brush it, and then plucked another piece of papyrus. Making sure she was on the recto side, she dipped her quill, tapping it on the side of the ink well to make sure it didn’t splotch, and then sized up the standard 8x12 sheet. Carefully, she brought the quill down and began the neat title font. She could not copy the author’s hand completely, but it wasn’t her job to copy handwriting, just information. So she had a specific neat title font that would work just as well.

Fauna Specific to Kalea: A quick Overview
By Lesphia Naldrob, Spring 509AV

Dipping her quill once more, she read the first passage of the first section once more. Studying the papyrus before her and the knowledge of her own handwriting, she judged that she could fit similar proportions into the new scroll, and began drawing the title of the first segment.

Mammals: Ungulates

Lani left an appropriate gap for the image to be drawn, and then, starting halfway across the page, began copying the writing almost to a tee.

Name: Alkana Deer
Location: Low-High Elevations in the Unforgiving
Appears: Rarely…

While she copied the words, dipping into the ink with regularity, and tapping the quill on the scrap paper to make sure there were no splotches, Lani began to tune out the world around her. What she was writing and copying was not terribly interesting, just yet, but the work did not allow her mind to wander. The only words and phrases that passed through her head were those which she read and then immediately wrote. Some might find it tedious, but because she was so in tune with her job, Lani genuinely learned a few things about the fauna of the world around her.

[Lani Stranger]

By the time she had finished the first passage, she lined up the ruler with the paragraph to make sure the second passage stayed in line. She was fascinated with the Alkana Deer, who seemed in most regards to be simply deer, but better. At least for a hunter they were. Their horns were sturdier and grew faster, and had many uses in tools and weapons. She could now know what to look for when pursuing Alkana antlers over other deer antlers.

Name: Hillgoat
Location: Medium-High Elevations of the Unforgiving, on rocky surfaces and mountains
Appearance: Common
Description: …

The next passage was also interesting, although not terribly so. Hillgoats were difficult to catch, and wanted for their pelts, common knowledge in Kalea. So she didn’t learn anything particularly new, until she copied the passage: “Though not the fastest in Kalea, this breed of mountain goat is extremely agile with excellent eyesight and a sense of smell, enabling them to flee most predators before they can be caught.” This was why they were made challenges to hunters, but her mage brain thought to other uses. If one could capture a wild hill goat, and combine this ability to flee with the hard antlers of the Alkana Deer, along with some other select Kalean traits, one could create quite the mount.

Lani paused, letting her quill rest over the ink well, as she thought. She was only two passages in, but with what she had just learned about hill goats, her mind began to wonder what the filter to a wild caught hill goat would be in order to only pass on the self-preservation. She supposed she could find a tamed hill goat, that was as nearly identical to the wild one as possible, thus allowing only that personality trait to be passed on to whatever creature or item was her target. It could be an interesting trait to pass onto an item such as a chest, so that it would escape any of those attempting to open it. But it would be annoying for the owner of said chest, who when they wanted to open it, wouldn’t be able to catch it either. She supposed there would have to be another door opened to allow for some sort of loyalty, but she couldn’t immediately think of a creature, other than a dog, known for its loyalty. Perhaps there was an element that could magnetize the chest to its owner, like some sort of metal…

[Lani Stranger]

Lani found herself scrawling the simple alchemical equation on her scrap paper.

+ Wild Hill Goat –Tame Hill Goat of similar physical proportions = Escapist skills and tendencies.
If applied to animal, would need a safety fount to provide loyalty to owner.

Knowing she was unable to answer her question immediately, Lani returned to her work of copying, lining up the ruler on her paper and began copying the next passage, leaving a space for the picture and making sure it was in line with the first two passages.

Name: Likenstorm Elk
Location: High elevations
Appearance: Extremely Rare
Description: …

The Likenstorm Elk seemed fascinating more than anything else, although according to the passage are very difficult to acquire from hunting. This made sense, because their pelt gives them camouflage against the glaciers from a view above, which is where nearly every hunter that would pursue one would be hunting. Nothing stuck out to her on this passage, and she began lining up the ruler for the next passage.

Name: Quesos Sheep
Location: High Elevations, snow pack
Appearance: Common
Description: …

Other than noting that their milk is used for alcohol, a practice Lani had not previously heard of, nothing stood out to her as she copied this passage. They are easy prey for the Wind Eagles, since their horns make them pervious to aerial hunters, much unlike the Likenstorm Elk. By the end of this passage, she didn’t have quite enough room for a fourth passage; however she had prepared the parchment papers for this purpose. Pulling the small ceramic bowl from the front of her desk, she spooned two tiny scoops of glue powder into it, pulling her water skin from her hip, and letting nine or ten drops into the bowl. With the smooth brush she swirled the mixture, adding more water until it was an even and smooth consistency. Then, scraping any excess off the brush one last time, Lani dipped it into the liquid glue. She pulled another piece of parchment from the fresh stack, and brushed a line of glue over the top. She made sure it wasn’t too thick or thin by letting the brush over it twice once it was all applied. Carefully, she then lined up the paper she had just written on over the new papyrus, making sure the edges where even.

[Lani Stranger]

Once she was confident that the edges were even and the fibers were lined up, Lani pressed the paper on top of the freshly glued one, using the thick part of her thumb pad to drag it across the new seem, ensuring there were no air bubbles and the papyrus was pressed into one another so that the fibers lined up. Although at this point it was safe to begin writing on it, she wanted to give the glue a few chimes to dry, and to stretch her legs, so she stood up, walking over to Kavisan’s desk, where he was studiously reading something.

“Excuse me, Kavisan?” She asked, and he did not look up, but his eyebrows rose to show he had heard her.

“Is there a common section in the Enclave, or do these books and scrolls go with the other subjects once I’ve finished?” She asked in common, and he made no response. She waited, and so did he. She huffed, and tried again with Nari. “Where is the… Common?” She asked.

“Section.” He whistled in Nari. “Where is the Common section.” He repeated her question in monotone, correcting her.

“Where is the Common section?” She repeated in better Nari now, and he finally looked up at her. He seemed slightly amused, but still did not smile.

“In the far east corner, there is a nook beside the steps that lead towards the amphitheater. There, you will find texts and passages in other languages. There is no organization of subject, because there are not enough to require it. But there is organization of language. We host texts in Common, Jamourian, Isur, Nadar-Conach, Vani, and a single journal in Kontinese.” He blabbered in Nari, although he did so at a slower pace than if he was talking with a native Nari speaker. Lani was grateful because this allowed for her to understand some of the words and piece together what he was saying. That and his hand motions, she could tell where he wanted her to go.

“Thank you,” She nodded, giving a shallow bow, and then turning towards the section. He didn’t respond, and she rushed to the corner of the Enclave. He had mentioned a single something in Kontinese, and for some reason, Lani thought her mother might have left a book here. It was possible, she and R’yse had visited the city before, although briefly. Could R’yse have left it here or gifted it? For the chimes it took her to reach the corner and search for the book, it didn’t occur to her that R’yse couldn’t possibly be the only Konti to come to Wind Reach. Although her mother’s sisters were likely very rare this far northwest, it wasn’t impossible. After all, Val Imsun had even learned some of the language, which means he must have met someone to give him a reason to.

[Lani Stranger]

When she found the book in Kontinese, just as shabby, if not more old as the common books on her desk, she flipped the worn leather open with excitement.

Graces and Prayers, Jeaou Muraborn – 491AV

It was a personal journal, seemingly filled with poetry and prose in Kontinese, but it was written by another Kontinese traveler. In the first page that Lani read, the author remarked on her made up surname to comfort the humans of Kalea who seemed to not know what to call her without a second name. Lani grinned, thinking of her own last name, which she had chosen for the same reason. Although Jeaou had chosen a accurate and quaint description, written in Kontinese, as her last name, Lani could read the translation of it, seeing it as the description it was and not the name.

Lani wanted to sink into the shelves of scrolls behind her and read this entertaining journal now, but she was currently working. Although the book was aged enough to need recopying, rather than repair, Lani slid it back into its place on the shelf. This was the only text in this language, and other than herself and Val Imsun, Lani knew of no one who would be able to read this book, let alone be interested in it. She already wanted to restore it as it deserved, but her mind wandered back to the large stack on her desk. Soon her feet followed her mind, and she found herself back at her desk, only having spent a few chimes away, long enough for the glue to have dried enough to write on again.

She would ask to repair the book, once she had finished this stack, and hopefully before Kavisan assigned her new work.

[Lani Stranger]

Plucking her quill from the ink well once more, she tapped it on the side and then pressed the splotch that came out into her scrap paper. Lining up her ruler, Lani left room for the drawing and then brought her quill to her parchment once more, beginning the fourth passage of the scroll.

Name: Skygoat
Location: High Elevations around Mt. Skyinarta
Appearance: Common
Description: …

Three careful bells of writing later, Lani had finished the scroll. She hadn’t learned too much past the first few passages, because once she got into the groove of writing, the only thing that pulled her out was the need to glue another parchment into place and continue the scroll. But by the time she was done, the original kollesis which held eleven kollema, was now only ten. She had left adequate room for the pictures, but her titles were slightly smaller than the original authors, and so was her hand writing. It was still legible, neat, and without spelling error, but the scroll as not down. It was laid over the top of her desk spilling onto the floor in front of her. This was common among all the scribes, who had large desks for writing, but those working on scrolls could not help them spilling over.

Carefully the mixed blood picked up the bottom end of the scroll, and then the top end, and laid them out across her desk horizontally. They still spilled over each end, but they could dry there while she returned to the back to look for a rolling down and a strap to hold the scroll together. She had not searched for them earlier, unwilling to draw too much attention to herself with the Inarta scribes binding books in there. But at this point, they must have left.

Entering into the workroom, she found she was right, the scribes did leave. A librarian was in there now, with two young Yasi, showing them the different areas of the work room, as if giving them a tour. As far as Lani understood, Yasi were treated kindly by most, although technically lower than Chiet, they were all children and were not treated disrespectfully. Instead they were taught many things during their time in the Yasi caste, and this seemed to be a training of sorts. Skirting around them, Lani approached the chests of drawers that the scribes had been too close to the last time she was in here.

Carefully she pulled out the top drawer, seeing a host of thick needles for book binding. Below it were unidentified packages of some powder. Below that was empty ink wells, and below that was freshly folded linens that clearly have and will be used for ink rags, judging by the markings that stained their off brown color. It was at the fourth drawer that she recognized the rolling dowels. There were about ten standard sized ones, three or four smaller dowels for letter scrolls, and two large ones for larger parchment, perhaps maps or something that required more room. Selecting one of the standard sized ones, she closed the drawer and then moved onto the fifth. A pile of freshly cut leather straps greeted her, and she pulled four out. She needed a total of twelve, but she didn’t think she would get through more than four scrolls today, the first had taken her nearly three bells, and she only had five more bells in her shift. There would be more to do.

[Lani Stranger]

“What are you doing in here?” Lani walked out with a handful of things, then a Nari voice rung out capturing her attention. She looked over absently, unsure if they were talking to her or not, and the Avora raised her eyebrows at Lani. The two Yasi turned to look at her as well, one smug, and one curious.

“Me?”

“Yes you.” The Avora’s tone was unforgiving and suspicious.

“Scribe.” She gave a one word Nari answer to explain her presence, holding up her utensils. “I finish writing scroll. Need items.” She explained further in choppy Nari.

“Who told you that you were a scribe? You can’t even speak Nari.” Lani didn’t understand all the words, but the accusatory tone got through to her. Frowning, she glanced at the Yasi and back at the Avora once more before decided to walk away. She was doing her job, she was supposed to be here, and she wasn’t sure why this librarian was suddenly having an issue with it. She pushed out of the swinging door that lead to the back work room, and headed straight for her desk.

“Excuse you.” She hear the shrill Nari whisper ring out behind her. The Avora was cognizant of the silence the Enclave created, but was still attempting to get her attention. Lani weaved through the shelves, returning to her desk in the center of the Enclave not far from Kavisan’s. The whole way she could feel the pace of the Avora directly behind her, irritated footfalls not far from her own speedy retreat.

She stopped at her desk, setting her things down beside the drying scroll when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t touch me.” She said in common, irritated, and pulling the hand from her shoulder. She spun, dropped the hand, and then settled a steely black glare on the Inarta. She had learned from a young age that her strange looks were either enticing or terrifying to humans, and she intended to create the latter effect then, exposing her teeth in something like a grimace towards the Inarta.

The red haired human stepped back, her face faltering for a second, before she was distracted by Kavisan’s approach.

“Lani. What are you doing.” The strict common seeped out between his teeth, and Lani looked over at him, softening her expression.

“I don’t know what she is saying or why she is upset.” She said, trying desperately not to growl. She had to give Avora respect, she knew she had to, but she didn’t want to. Kavisan pursed his lips, and then turned to the Avora speaking so rapidly in Nari that she didn’t understand the words, let alone recognize them as words. In that moment, she noticed the two Yasi peeking out from behind the Avora. Now the confused one looked upset, and the smug one was amused. Lani sighed. She hated children.