Flashback [Memorial Library] An Evening's Diversion

[Eleret]

Winter 31, 500 AV early evening It was cold and dark outside, Syna having given way to Leth some bells past. With the way days became shorter in Winter, however, it wasn't yet late. The library was relatively quiet now, as many visitors and students took breaks for dinner; never empty, but less bustling with people venturing between shelves and desks. Eleret had staked out a desk of her own several bells prior, its surface half-covered by neat stacks of scholarly tomes and her own thinner notebooks. Her chosen seat was overlooked by a statuette of Eyris, a goddess whom the Konti had come to appreciate as the season progressed -- even though it hadn't progressed very far in absolute terms. With all the knowledge she had had to absorb in just the first third, however, it felt like much more time had gone by. The vagaries of time's passing were far from her current thoughts, however. Head bent over an open book, Eleret read through the final page of a chapter, pausing a moment to put her interpretations in order before jotting down a bare two lines of notes in the corresponding notebook. So few words, to sum up so many more! Smiling wryly to herself, she closed the text and returned it to the appropriate subject stack, leaving her notebook open so the new ink would have some time to dry. Eleret leaned back in her chair and stretched, webbed hands reaching towards the ceiling. She needed a break from all this scholarly work; a change of pace, before her brain went numb and temporarily lost the ability to take in more words. The Konti got up from her desk and turned around in place, considering the shelves around her. Most were on the subject of Mizaharian history, as befit her current studies; when it came to changing subjects, they wouldn't do at all. Eleret stepped out into the main concourse instead, making her way over to a different section. Maybe she'd see what the Library had on fortune-telling, or if she could turn up any volumes of poetry from the other races. Either of those would be decidedly different from the dry history she'd been reading.

[Amelia Cross]

[31st day of winter 500.a.v.] [early evening] [The Memorial library] The young girl sat by a desk in the Memorial library, on the desk there were multiple sheets of paper and a set of coloring pencils. Her mother had left her here for the sake of being safe, since the woman had to attend her own students and Amelia’s father was once again out in his business that neither of the two females had any clue of. Sadly the little girl was left here for almost 3 hours now, if not more. She had been getting used to books and sheets of paper being her company, especially when the biggest part of the readers had decided to take a break and everything went quite, well, a bit more quite than usual, this place was never really silent. From long hours spent in the Library while her mother was looking for things to give her students for learning, Amelia had learned that there were good spirits here. Or so she thought. The black haired girl was swaying her feet, she was short enough that when she sat by the desk, her legs were a few good inches away from the ground, but she didn’t mind, she just continued to draw with her favorite red pencil. Now she was drawing pretty lips for her beautiful mother, it was a family painting where her mother was hugging her father, there was a house in the background and she could start drawing herself in it. However she had gotten relatively bored by now, she had what seemed a thousand pictures already, even though most where the pretty city she lived in, she also had quite the few of her little, loving family. ”better find myself a cute book, or I’ll die here” The small girl giggled to herself as she jumped off the chair she was on and began walking along to shelves of books, making a mental note in her head that she had left her stuff next to the shelves that where tagged under ‘music’. She skipped around with her brown boots making a clear echo through the halls, humming a song her mother had composed just last evening, it was of the goddess Morwen After no more than 10 minutes of random skipping through the mazes of shelves, the small girl in her blue dress had found herself next to the shelves that where tagged under ‘Fortune telling’, her mother or father never approved of this and so she was never allowed to come here, but mother and father weren’t here. She thought to herself as she let her eyes slide over the huge shelves. Most of them where in a language she didn’t know, more precisely, they weren’t written in common ”what language is this” she wondered as she picked up the first book that was in her reach and listed through the pages.

[Eleret]

Eleret walked away from the history section, picking her best guess of direction; she was still learning the classification system here. She wound up walking through books on anthropology and sociology, which -- while no doubt interesting -- were altogether too much like her history texts to suit her just now. She stopped at the other end of the row, frowning at the shelf-ends which stretched away to either side. What were the adjacent subjects, again? The Konti's deep consideration was broken by noise which was undoubtedly too loud for the librarians' peace of mind: the cadence of footsteps echoing from the walls, accompanied by what Eleret thought was humming. That was rather harder to make out. She followed the sound towards its source, weaving her way between the stacks until she came upon a little girl dressed in blue. She was a bit surprised to see a child in the library -- surely most of the books were beyond her current level -- -- but not so surprised that she failed to notice the subject matter of the section: Fortune-telling. A happy coincidence, if one ascribed to that explanation. Eleret thought she recognized some Kontinese words on the spines of a few books, which pleased her; it would be nice to read something in her native language, for a change. She set that aside for the moment, though. "Hello," she said to the girl, glancing at the book in her hands. Then she gave it a second glance -- was it in Kontinese too? Eleret couldn't be certain, she didn't have a good angle from which to make out the words. "Do you give fortunes?"

[Amelia Cross]

Amelia lifted her pure black eyes up at the woman that had come to the same shelves that she was. The woman was quite beautiful, pale skin and pale hair, she reminded Amelia of snow and winter. However the small scale patterns she could make up on her, was a bit confusing. The girl had no knowledge of other races, besides the human ones, this woman looked human enough…but the scales. This forced a hard to tame look of curiosity on her face as she was paying close attention to the woman as she was looking at the books that held the strange language. ”Me?” Amelia called out the moment she heard the woman speak, a soft and pleasant voice she had to say. Amelia did however feel a bit confused and worried at first, but she waved it off remembering how only good people come to the library. ”Fortune? As in Fortune telling?” she asked, closing the book that held images of what seemed kings and queens and some others she couldn’t make sense of. ”I don’t, I don’t know how…my parents never let me read about it…I wanted to use the time mother is away to read some...” she began explaining, not realizing how careless it is to say to a stranger that she is alone and her mother is away. Amelia was an innocent child; she couldn’t do anything about it, she wanted to trust others and she did, with ease. ”do you know this language? I can’t make it out…” Amelia explained as she lifted the book up for the woman to see, flipping it open on a random page that held an image of a woman holding a scroll in her lap, she had a cross on her head and a moon was present as a symbol next to her and under her feet. She looked smart and all mighty, but she had no clue how to read the description next to her. OOCJust so you know, the book is of tarot and the page she is showing is the priestess, second card of the royal/big arcana

[Eleret]

The girl seemed intrigued by Eleret's appearance, a curiosity she had become familiar with since arriving in Zeltiva -- in both directions, the colors and shadings of humanity being as foreign to her as the Konti's paleness and scales to them. Eleret smiled softly at her, and nodded once. "Yes. Fortune telling." A line creased her brow as the girl spoke of her mother's absence; while the library was probably a safe enough place, surely leaving the child alone was unwise? She reached out to take the book, displaying the webbing between her fingers in the process. Eleret recognized the script immediately, though the card image was a different version than the one she was used to seeing. "Yes. It is Kontinese," she said, looking over the book at the girl. Eleret shifted it to her other hand, then held out her right hand so the girl could get a closer look at the scales and webbing which most obviously distinguished her from humans. "I am Konti. It is language of my people." Closing the volume, she considered the front cover. "This book is... it is very... hard," she continued, settling for a word not at all like the one she had intended to use. "I think there is better for you. And me," Eleret added, smiling ruefully at the girl. Setting it back in its place on the shelf, she considered the titles, then took another which looked like a Common analogue of the cartomancy primers she had seen. The Konti flipped through a couple of pages, then turned and offered it to the girl. "This is in Common. I think it will be better for you. It reminds me of a book... of when I was small." The page it was open to showed a diagram of labeled rectangles, and the accompanying text seemed to describe the pattern's significance. "Maybe we can look at it together?" Eleret offered diffidently. "I have a desk, there," she added, nodding in the appropriate direction. "I have too much studying, I would like to do something else a while." And someone should look after the girl until her mother got back; apparently that someone was going to be her.

[Amelia Cross]

Amelia simply watched the woman as she spoke, as she listened and for a moment, she saw a small sign of surprise in her face. Amelia had been found of stalking people to find out about them, often doing it here and on the streets of Zeltiva. She had already gained some knowledge of the basic body language a human has, sadly she hadn’t talked to all that many people, so it was hard to determine what the girls surprise was aimed at. ”Konti?” Amelia questioned while carefully examining the girls pale skin and the light scales that formed some sort of patter over her hand, and probably all over her body. She gave a small smile once she saw what seemed to be a pink shimmer, it really was beautiful. ”what is a Konti? Do all of you have scales? Can you become a snake?” she poured questions over the woman, the small girl was full of curiosity and enthusiasm to study this thing called ‘konti’, maybe that was the race of the student her mother had? ”my mother told me that one of her students can turn into a snake!” she finished her sentence, even forgetting of the book she had picked up earlier. However she did catch back to earth, a small blush covering her pale face as she realized how rude it probably was to ask these things, none the less she didn’t apologize. It wasn’t her being arrogant or spoiled, it was just that she wasn’t sure how to state the apology, after all, all she did was ask a few questions. Amelia was a bit confused, when she was offered another book. She was happy that this one was in common, as much as she could tell that is. Over the time she has spent in the library, she has come to a conclusion that not everything is what it seems to be. ”I’d like that…but what is this exactly?” she finished with yet another question, while flipping through the pages of the book.

[Eleret]

Eleret smiled at the girl's eager curiosity, not at all offended by the questions. Not when what she sensed through her Gift was a soft floral fragrance and an undercurrent of anise, both aligning well with her impressions of the girl's demeanor. "All Konti have scales, yes." But become a snake? While curious souls had asked many questions, that was a new one. "Konti are not humans," she began, because that was a simple truism within her capacity to express in Common. "My people came from Laviku and Avalis. We are more like fish," she said, holding out her hand and turning it to highlight the pearlescence of her scales. Eleret then smiled wryly, and shook her head. "But not 'turn into' other things, not fish or snakes." However disappointing the girl might find this admission. Leaving the book in the girl's keeping, Eleret gestured towards her desk and then started to walk back towards it, her pace unhurried. "It is a way to tell fortunes, what we call divination. I do not know the Common, if there is one word," she added, a bit apologetic. "You ask questions about past or future, and read the answer in the cards. Or stones, or shells, or other things; there are many ways. It can be hard to do," the Konti added, stopping beside the desk with all her books and writing. "Cards do not talk like people." She glanced up at the figure of Eyris above. "I do not have cards here. But we have a book," Eleret continued, turning back to the girl and gesturing towards a chair, "and a Konti, and I think some would call that 'good start'. But before, may I have your name?" she asked, smiling at the girl. "I am Eleret," she added, in the interest of leading by example.

[Amelia Cross]

Amelia was happy to see that her new friend was in no way offended by her questions and answered them with politeness and a clear smile. She wasn’t quite sure was the girl happy to be speaking of her race, but it sure made Amelia happy to be listening to her, mother had thought her that being curios and wanting to learn new things is a good trait. Amelia followed her over to the desk and sat down, still holding the book close to her, looking over the other books and scrolls for a brief moment, only to see that they were written in common. For a moment she considered reading that, but looking at the age of the woman she guessed that it would be a great deal advanced, so she stuck with finding out what this young woman was willing to teach. Amelia placed the book on the desk and flipped it open to a page full of text, having no clue what it all meant. She repeated the word with a bit of a cracked sound to it ” divin~ination” the word came with a bit of problem, but it came out and the next time she repeated it even had a bit of a flowing sound to it ” divination” Full of enthusiasm, before she looked at the woman, outstretching her hand ”That’s a pretty name, mine is Amelia” she explained. However now her head was full of the cards Eleret had spoken of, back at home her father had cards, he enjoyed playing with them, but Amelia wasn’t really all that found of them. ”so those cards, are they like playing cards?” she asked with big, curios orbs of black staring at the pale konti. The two really did look opposite, Amelia’s hair being black and long, eyes pure black like her mothers, black velvet as her father called her. While Eleret was pale from hair to toe, light eyes that seemed more white than anything else, hair looking pail enough to be considered white. ”those cards, can they tell will I marry a knight when I grow up?” she finished with yet another question, a small blush playing on her cheeks. While it was quite the average curiosity of a little girl, it still seemed to be a bit strange to ask this.

[Eleret]

Sitting down in her chair, Eleret smiled as the girl gave forth her name. "I am pleased to meet you, Amelia," she said as she shook the girl's hand, the phrase formulaic but nonetheless entirely sincere. The Konti then turned towards the book, moving it a little more towards her so she could see the text more clearly. "They are size and shape like playing cards," Eleret replied, glancing over to the girl and noticing the color on her cheeks. She smiled reassuringly, though not quite sure what inspired the blush. "But not the same as playing. You can ask them if you marry, who you marry," she affirmed, nodding slightly. "It will not be yes and no answer. "Here," Eleret continued, tapping the open page of the book. "I will tell you how to do a small reading, and we can look at the cards. Then you will know more what they can tell you." There were three boxes in the center of the page, all lined up in a row. "This way, three cards, this means past, present, future. You shuffle cards, think your question, and put one in each place." She pointed to each box in turn: left, center, right. "After you set them out," Eleret said, reaching over to flip through the book's pages until she found the section with card descriptions, "you work out meaning."

[Amelia Cross]

Amelia listened to Eleret carefully, but couldn’t hide her confusion and slight displease with what she was saying. To Amelia, whose parents had always spoken how much of a nonsense fortune telling was, the way this woman had explained it seemed even more foolish. ”Foolish! How come there are 3 boxes?” she stated, as she didn’t want to say she didn’t understand, she preferred to say ‘it’s wrong’ ”We don’t need to know our past, we already do! What’s the point!?” the small girl placed her elbows on the desk, resting her head on her pale palms ”And why is there just one card for the future? How can one card explain so much as the future? Even the god’s couldn’t know! ” Amelia finished, pouting and clearly assuming that the woman was treating her as a joke, she looked sweet but it seemed that she was hiding so much detail and so much interesting things, and one thing Amelia didn’t tolerate was lies! She looked at the opened page with meanings; the pictures looked really pretty, even Amelia had to admit it. Some cards had swords, some had coins and then there were so many other ones, but it confused Amelia even more. She looked at the cards, all of them didn’t say even one thing, not even one of them seemed to hint a meaning to her. ”and what if you shuffle the wrong way? Or take the wrong card, the reading will be wrong!” and this seemed to be a really big problem, she could see someone picking the wrong card and then the reading would be meaningless. All of this must have been like her father said, a trick for people!