Solo [The Sunken Conundrum] One Heck of a Library

[Aislyn Leavold]

4th of Summer, 514 AV

Aislyn didn’t like the library.
She didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t her favourite place to be. She used to visit all the time, but as Ionu’s presence in her life grew, she had decided to take to the streets instead, entertaining herself with a variety of other things.
Besides, miraculously growing gills were not one of Aislyn’s favourite things to do.

That was why the Sunken Conundrum was so special. Not only was it the only place in Alvadas where one could find a good book to read, it was completely and utterly sunken. It’s name didn’t lie. Not that this was a problem for Aislyn, it was just a bit… Strange.
Anyways, the head librarian was far too uptight for her liking. Couldn’t take a good joke, her. The last time Aislyn had tried to pull something, the cranky librarian had straight up kicked her out for ‘disturbing the peace’. It wasn’t as if she had killed someone, just made a few fish appear in the water, nothing too bad.

Maybe those fish had a bit too many teeth, and yes, they have been sharks, but that wasn’t ‘disturbing the peace’, was it? It was just some good-natured fun. Not enough to be kicked out, certainly.
Then again, Ms. Morcer hadn’t seen her point.

That had been nearly two years ago, though, and Aislyn hadn’t visited the library since. Today, though, she had a reason to, and a mission. She was doing her job, following orders. Aislyn was meant to be there, whether Morcer liked it or not. She doubted the old hag even remembered her, nevermind still held a grudge. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was going to be doing anything annoyance-worthy, just copying down some pictures.

She had come as Maya, her regular disguise, but it didn’t make her feel as secure as usual. Knowing people trusted her- And believed her- as Maya gave her a slight chill, like a black cloud constantly hanging over her. Sure, it probably came with the job, having people believe her to be something she’s not, but it was still a strange feeling. Like she was betraying someone in some way. Really, she was betraying them, but right now, Aislyn didn’t want to think about it.

Right now, she had a job to do.

Stepping into the still water that was the doorway of the library, Lyn felt small gills grow on her sides. It was a subtle feeling, but she still felt it there. Flashing a glance at the sign by the door, Please remember to breathe, Lyn continued on her way, starting off with slow, forced breaths before getting used to the watery feel. In all truth, she didn’t even feel wet. That was a part of the magic, the water that drowned the place didn’t really seem like water at all. It was almost entirely an illusion.

She still had her backpack on, strapped tight, with her notebook inside. That was another part of it, papers didn’t soil when in this ‘Water’, that was how the books stayed dry. It was almost exactly like a normal library, just with water. Aislyn could bring charcoal, paper, books, anything to the water, and they would all stay dry. She could even write and draw in the pages without the sketches being ruined.

Swimming upwards through the library, towards the books depicting historical events, Aislyn soon found that the majority of Mizahar’s history, or what was written down as history, revolved around the Valterrian. There hadn’t been any big wars since, and there was next to no books surviving from before the Valterrian, so it made sense. Only books written after Mizahar’s great cataclysm were still able to be found, so they were the only ones Aislyn could use. She shrugged, it wasn’t as if it would make a difference. The Valterrian was history, and Kuvarakh wanted history. Good enough, right?

Setting herself up at the nearest table, Aislyn took out her notebook and got to work. The first sketch she found was one of the original Mizahar, complete with tiny drawings of sea monsters in the ocean and castles dotting the land, all sketched into the wilting paper. Tearing out a blank page of her notebook, Aislyn got to work.

She placed the blank sheet of paper overtop of the drawing, first sketching out the outward lines, then moving inwards, to the more detailed… Details. Her charcoal smudged in several places, meaning the lines had to be redrawn many times, but eventually, she was happy with it. Once the outline was done, she worked on the tiny characters in and around the old picture. There was a sort of serpent depicted in the ocean, where the Suvan Empire used to be, and it annoyed Aislyn quite a lot.

Why did they have to put the tiniest petching sea serpent they could find on this tiny map?

She had already tried using her thinnest charcoal peace, yet it still seemed too big. The tiny picture was simply too small. The end result of the tiny hand-drawn beast was little more than a smudged line. Aislyn sighed and considered scrapping the drawing. She thought twice, though, as she remembered just how many she had to do.

Slipping the novice drawing back into her notebook, Aislyn drew out another paper, preparing herself to begin again.

[Aislyn Leavold]

One down, nine more to go.
This was going to get very tiring very quickly.

Aislyn had finally worked the decorative map sketch to what she thought was perfection before moving on. The map still hand a very stick-figure like sea serpent, lurking in the corner of the page, but Lyn decided to ignore it. Hopefully, Kuvarakh wouldn’t mind. It was only a detail, after all. The main sketch was relatively good.

Flipping through a few pages of the history book, Aislyn found another, slightly more complicated, picture. It seemed to be of a wedding, though Lyn didn’t like the angle it was put in. Even though she knew it was just supposed to be a representation, she still didn’t like it. Laying the book out in front of her, she decided to freehand this one.

There were only two characters in the scene, but Aislyn only focused on one; The bride. The text below the picture labled her as ’Queen Kova Nivar Symkanta, Queen of Alahea’. Quite a mouthful of a name, but it seemed she deserved it. As she sketched the woman, adding extra details scattered over the woman’s dress, Lyn read on about just who this Queen was. She didn’t know much about the history of Mizahar, though she knew the basics. Everyone did.

The passage described Kova as the Queen of the ancient Kingdom of Alahea, which was a pre-Valterrian civilization that was constantly caught in a war between the people it shared pre-Valterrian Mizahar with, the Suvan. It described her as a great leader, who ruled her people with love and kindness. That is, until she was brutally executed by her Fiancee, Emperor Galifer Odalah. Sighing, Aislyn returned to her sketch. You couldn’t read two sentences into the history of Mizahar before someone was brutally murdered.

Focusing on the accents of the wedding dress, Lyn learned more about just why the pair were engaged. The book stated something about a statement of peace, but it was only mentioned in short. Eventually, she found the reason, though it wasn’t pretty. Apparently, the woman had been murdered after the Emperor of the Suvan Kingdom found that he was not her first lover. He had tied her to the gates of his city and chopped off her head.

Not the best way to go.

With the new knowledge, Aislyn scratched out what markings she had made on the woman’s face, which had been expressions of joy. Instead, she replaced the features with a hollow smile, one that didn’t reach her eyes. In the sketch, she wasn’t happy to be there. That wasn’t who she loved.

Aislyn was happy with it.

The next picture was one of the groom, Emperor Galifer Odalah. In his sketch, Lyn dressed him with a sword, adding many guards surrounding him, weapons at hand. He wore a look of dominance and confidence. As if he had won a war without fighting. In his fancily dressed outfit, Lyn had adorned him with a sword. Though she knew it was probably far from what he actually had looked like, she added characteristics anyways. Small spots on the sword, presumably from blood. A crying woman in the background, barely able to be seen past the crowd of guards. Aislyn had read more about him than Kova, and knew that he was depicted as a brutal, but effective, warlord. Mizahar’s last warlord.

As the drawing unfolded, Aislyn felt as if she wasn’t the one drawing the picture, she was merely copying down an image in her mind. In all reality, that was what it was. Copying down a scene. That was what she had been sent to do, wasn’t it?

Finishing the third drawing and slipping it into her notebook, Lyn scoured the history book for another sketch, to no avail. It seemed she would need to find another book, or draw a scene on her own.
Thinking for only a moment, an image came to mind.

Immediately grabbing another sheet of paper, Aislyn began to furiously sketch. This one wasn’t quite as neat as the others, but she felt that the picture had more… Meaning.

It was of a tree, dotted with raindrops after a storm, yet on fire at the same time. There were cracks all over the ground beneath it’s roots, as if the very earth was falling beneath it’s weight. There was a storm of fire on one side of the plant, and a storm of ice on the other. As if the Valterrian was in full effect, like the gods were warring just above the poor tree’s branches. It technically wasn’t a historical event, but it represented the cataclysm that had claimed so many lives, five hundred and fourteen years before. To Aislyn, it made sense.
She wasn’t so sure it would make sense to everyone else.

[Aislyn Leavold]

However fun creating sketches on her own accord was, Aislyn allowed herself to only make up one more sketch on her own. The rest, she reasoned, were for historical events only.
That was, historical events and trees. She had liked the tree drawing, no matter how historically accurate it was.

The fifth sketch consisted of a group of people, pushing boulders near a cliff. Every so often, Aislyn sketched a smaller, stick-figure like character in the distance, running after an escaped rock. The lines were, once again, quite smudgy, but the picture was relatively clear. The survivors of the cataclysm were rebuilding, using their sweat, blood, and tears alone to get the city to stick together. Aislyn imagined the city as Alvadas, though it didn’t appear as so in the sketch. Really, it didn’t appear of any cities Lyn had in her knowledge. It was just that, a city. No more descriptive than a ruin nearby. She assumed that, when the cities were just being built, they were nothing but ruins, or at least seemed so.

Aislyn didn’t like the building sketch as much as she had the others, it seemed far too cartoony for her liking. Kuvarakh had mentioned the sketches were for tapestries, so she was sure he wouldn’t want any drawings of stick figures. Historical events, he had said, ten gold for each. Lyn wasn’t going to complain about the deal any time soon, it was well worth the work, even if Aislyn’s hands were now coated in the black grime of charcoal, and her fingers were quickly cramping up. She had numbered the sketches one through five so far, though she wasn’t sure how many she was going to do. Kuvarakh hadn’t set a maximum number of drawings, and Aislyn hadn’t asked, so she was kind of on her own for that. He had mentioned the price, though, and Lyn didn’t want to come back with a hundred drawings, expecting ten gold for each.

She wondered at how much she herself would pay for a bunch of sketches, and drew the line at a hundred mizas. That meant ten drawings, if Aislyn could find that many pictures. Then again, she had made up scenes for two of them.

As she finished the fifth sketch, adding small details like wrinkles in the rock, and scowls on the faces of the tiny people, Aislyn took inventory of what she had so far. A poorly traced, but decorative map, a sad queen, a confident emperor, a cataclysmic tree, and a group of people, building a city. She liked the queen, the emperor, and the tree, but she wasn’t sure if everyone else would like them. After all, there weren’t many details in the map or tree, just a lot of scenery.

Drawing the pair of her least-favourite sketches back out, the map and the city, Aislyn worked on the map first. She started with rubbing away some marks with her fingers. It smudged the lines, but also softened them a bit. She ran her thinnest charcoal over the sea serpent on the map once again, and added marks to the landscape depicted in the land Aislyn could only trust was pre-Valterrian Mizahar. It made the sketch look slightly more detailed, though she wasn’t sure how expertly the drawings were supposed to be done. Kuvarakh had joked about the skill level of the drawings, but Aislyn didn’t want to disappoint. He hadn’t set a time limit, either, so she had at least a couple of days to finish all of the sketches, however many she decided to do.

Rubbing at her eyes, Aislyn only realized too late that she still had charcoal on her hands, and had just smeared the mess all over her face. It seemed to be something she did often; getting black stains of charcoal all over herself, though it wasn’t something she enjoyed.

Brushing the dust off in the water, Aislyn tried to remove the marks, using the Library’s floodwaters to wash it off. Though she couldn’t see her face, Aislyn knew that, even if she had left a mark, no one would see it. If anything happened to her body, be it scraps, bruises, or charcoal marks, she had to wish the features through her disguise, else they were invisible under the guise of the illusion. It was a minor problem, especially if someone saw her fall, yet noticed no marks, but it only took a moment’s thought to fix. Not that Lyn wanted the charcoal smudges to show, but it was good to remember they were there. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d gone home covered in charcoal under an illusion, only to forget the smudges were there, all because she couldn’t see past her own illusion.

Pushing the charcoal from her mind, Lyn took a moment to push her things together, being careful not to wrinkle or rip any of her drawings. She needed new inspiration, new historical events to draw. Sure, she liked the sketches she had done herself, but what was needed was historical events.

Once all of her belongings were in a neat pile, Aislyn kicked up her legs and swam upwards, wandering about for a book that might hold sketches that she could use.

[Aislyn Leavold]

After several chimes of searching, Aislyn had finally found a book worth looking through. It only had three pictures she could use, but it was good enough. It would get her to eight sketches, which was, as she reasoned, enough.

Pulling the book- And quite a big one at that- Aislyn found that, just because she could breathe underwater didn’t mean she could swim any stronger. The heavy book quickly weighed her down, and she just as soon dropped it as it pulled her down. Surprisingly, it floated down quite slowly, softly landing with a thunk on the library floor.

Swimming down after the book, Aislyn returned herself to her original place, at the small desk in the center of the watery library. She had already bookmarked the pages with drawings she could trace, so it didn’t take much time to located the pages she needed to copy. The pages were surprisingly bulky for paper, although that might have been due to the fact that it was, of course, submerged in water. Taking a deep breath, Aislyn reminded herself that she was, in fact, submerged in water as well. Though she had gotten used to it by now, it was still a strange feeling.

Finding the page riddled with sketches, Aislyn chose the biggest sketch on the parchment, a coat of arms, it appeared as. The writing below named as the Coat of Arms of Alahea, a pre-Valterrian region. It was a simple picture, though it had quite the detail on the few items it pictured. The text said the coat of arms was azure, with a gauntlet reaching for a sixteen-pointed star. The picture depicted as such, though it was devoid of colour. Pulling out her sixth piece of parchment from her notebook, Aislyn began with the gauntlet, sketching finger after finger until the top part of the hand was complete. From there, it was easy. Drag the lines down and connect them to the wrist.

After the details on the glove were finished, Aislyn began spiking little points off the star, counting them carefully to make sure there were sixteen. Apparently, that part was important. Why, Aislyn didn’t know. She had never been much of a history fan; This was about as far as she had delved into the depths of Mizahar’s past.

Soon, the star was done, and all that was left was she shape of the coat. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really a shape at all, just a bunch of seemingly improvised, but symmetrical, lines. Keeping it symmetrical was the hard part, but it was quickly finished. The sketch wasn’t complicated, and therefore hadn’t taken long.

The next sketch was one that had eagerly caught Aislyn’s attention. It was of a puppeteer, seemingly standing above the world, with strings attached to different parts of the land. It had caught her attention due to the fact that it hadn’t seemed to have had anything to do with history in the slight. That is, until Aislyn read closer into the history of the picture. Apparently, it was an interpretation of the god of puppetry and manipulation, Sagallius. After reading the information on the new god, Aislyn found it fascinating how he had obtained what it seemed every human wanted; Godhood.

Pushing away the book for a moment to sketch, Aislyn quickly worked her way over the strings that were pictured. It seemed this drawing somehow came out more beautiful, simply because of how fascinated she was on the topic. Aislyn loved learning new things, be it by experience or even reading. She would have to begin reading again, learning through stories, stories through words, words through thoughts. Curiosity never ended, which was just what she liked.

Aislyn drew her charcoal, now wearing thin through use, over the lines of the land, attaching strings here and there to represent the manipulation. It was quite a pretty drawing, if metaphorical. Should one look deeper into the meaning, it looked even better.

[Aislyn Leavold]

Seven sketches. Only one more to go until Aislyn deemed herself finished. The last one had to be good, she reasoned. Save the best for last and all that.

Flipping through the picture-rich book she had found, Aislyn’s eyes fell upon what seemed like the perfect picture. It wasn’t the Suvan coat of arms- which Aislyn was going to have to apologize for not having- but it was good enough.

The page was actually two pages, a full spread of information about an important aspect of Alvadas. On one side, in large bold font, the page had one of the most ominous titles Aislyn had read. ’The Silencers’. On the other page, however, there was something even more curious. ’The Speakers’. Strange.

The picture in question was of a group of figures, faceless, with azure streaks of colour across their bodies, an emblem floating above their heads as they pushed a finger to where their lips would be, should they have them. A gesture of hushing; of quieting. Of silencing.
Aislyn felt a shiver run through her body.

Delving into the information contained in the book, Aislyn skimmed across the page, reading paragraph after paragraph of both warnings and ramblings. It seemed the author of the book had collected information from various residences of Alvadas, as every section of the page seemed to be written by a different voice. Voices of fear, voices of revere, voices of praise, they all blending into one collective story about these faceless protectors of the city.

The Silencer’s purpose is to annihilate problems in Alvadas which are beyond or unworthy of redemption…
Flicking her eyes back to the picture she was supposed to imitate, Aislyn felt as if the artwork had changed. The figures in the picture seemed much more powerful now that the woman knew what their purpose was. Their sigil made sense now; The inverted triangle covered with a finger bent in hushing. It seemed so strange how Aislyn had never seen it before. Twenty years of living in the city, yet she had never seen those who protected it. It gave her a sense of ignorance, knowing just how little she knew about Alvadas’s history.

Ripping her gaze away from the ominous artwork in the book, Aislyn drew out a fresh piece of paper. Her hands worked like clockwork, sketching line after line, until the figures, the sigil, and the message were all spelt out on the page. All the while, her mind was drifting back to the information she had gained from her little endeavour into history. She had never gone to school, never had anyone truly teach her as a mentor until she was old enough to shoot a crossbow. She learned from the streets, and from those she met on them. She had never learned about the formation of Alvadas, nor it’s government, if it even had one. It was strange, suddenly learning so much after learning nothing for so long. She was going to have to thank Kuvarakh for that.

Soon enough, the copy of the artwork was finished, and Aislyn was left to contemplate her life in the emptiness of the underwater library. Gathering up her sketches, the woman felt herself gain a sort of new perspective, knowing that, wherever she went, she was watched by a group of persons she had never seen, nor known about until that day.
Even as she was weaving her way roughly towards where she could only guess the Alchemmia was, she felt herself checking behind her, watching to see if there was an azure-clad man following her home.
One more thing to be paranoid about in Aislyn’s paranoia-filled life.

After several chimes, however, the woman found her way to the Alch, with Kuvarakh behind the desk, an expectant look on his face. A smile worked it’s way onto Lyn’s face, a little bit of pride working it’s way into her words.

”As promised, eight sketches of tapestry-worthy historical events.” She placed the papers onto the countertop, spreading them out so the man could see them all at a glance. ”I hope they’re good enough for the mansion.”

[Kuvarakh]

The girl's return was eagerly anticipated. Kuvarakh was fairly anxious to present these images to the Mansion and see which ones inspired it. "Don't worry about it. I'M paying you for these. It's MY problem how the Mansion receives them. These are worth every copper..." his gaze remained on the last sketch, and his expression intensified slightly. "Oooh...yes...this is very good. No small feat even finding a source for this sketch." He made a gesture of looking around to see if they were being watched, then grinned and set the sketch of 'The Silencers' gently aside. He scanned through the others, stopping on a couple of them to make similar appreciative comments. "I believe there are several that Aceren may like out of these. If you every happen across the Suvan coat of arms, then this Alahean one will be a nice pair for it. But for now, I think I'll hold it back" he chuckled and shook his head at the realization of a basic fact of the Mansion that he was ignorant of. "To be honest I really don't know what sort of political leaning the place may have. It may not care at all for either the Suvan or Alahean doctrines, but I get the idea it would prefer the image of neutrality by having both or neither." He jogged the pages neatly and set them into a leather wrap, then reached under the counter and pulled out a bag with one hundred gold mizas. He began counting out twenty to set aside, then stopped, shrugged and pushed them back in the bag and shoved it across the counter toward her. "Keep the change." OOC - continues here.

[Caela Dorin]

Grade Awarded Aislyn Experience Skill XP Earned Drawing 4 History 1 Observation 2 Planning 1 Swimming 2 Lores • Lore Earned • Location (??): The Sunken Conundrum • Ms. Morcer: Humourless Librarian • Small Details Are Difficult to Do With Charcoal • Queen Kova Nivar Symkanta: Queen of Alahea • Queen Kova’s Engagement • Queen Kova’s Murder • Drawing Technique: Freehand • Drawing Technique: Tracing • Drawing From Your Head • Design of the Coat of Arms of Alahea • Sagallius: God of Puppetry and Manipulation • The Silencers: Deal With Problems in Alvadas Items Aquired : +100 Gold Mizas Kuvarakh Experience Skill XP Earned Appraisal 1 Observation 1 Lores • Lore Earned • Aislyn: Made a Sketch of the Silencers • Political Allegiance of the Mansion is Unknown Items Acquired : +8 Charcoal Sketches -100 Gold Mizas Additional Comments Short and sweet with some nice details from you, Aislyn. Kuvarakh did actually do some things worthy of a small award but seeing as you weren’t expecting anything it’s a nice surprise for you Please edit or delete your grade request and PM me if you have any questions or concerns about your grade. x