This was not Hadrian's first time at the rodeo; that is, the Alvadan library. The first time, he had taken it on faith that the building's magic would preserve him in its watery environment, and indeed he had grown gills cutting through his intercostal muscles that somehow didn't impede his movement. On his second visit, he had morphed his own set of gills, and the building's magic had left him to it. This time, however, he had paused outside the building, concentrating on those same gills in miniature, up and down the sides of his throat. It was more delicate work, for certes, but he stood out of the way of the entrance and was careful to keep a thin membrane protecting his gills until they were all but complete.
He remembered his dissection of the fish gills in Sahova when he was learning the basics of Malediction from poor, mad Tieh. He kept the memory of the library-granted gills in his mind, and the step by step process he had followed to recreate them on his own power. This time he went more slowly, more carefully, attempting to put the pictures in his head together while changing the location of the morph.
When the air pressure on the membrane grew almost painful, he stepped into the library, simultaneously morphing seams in the membranes that parted and allowed water to rush in. And he could breath...
But that had merely been his entrance. Since that time he had found a book on hypnotism, Windows of the Soul by Yr Maugham, and had found a table upon which to study. Time had passed, the Head Librarian wandering off when he wasn't paying attention to the people around him. An idle thought passed through his head at some point, wondering whether the water was illusory... This spurred him to focus his djed down along his arm in order to create a faintly glowing, gel-like reservoir of res in the palm of his hand, then used it to call to the water all around him, watching how it responded to the magnetic attraction of his water-keyed energies, letting it slide around his hand like some animate jello mold, toying with the watery environment. It became a half-hearted game after a while, his fingers slowly undulating while the res slithered between them like a tame animal, causing swishes of water to flow around, occasionally rustling the page he was on.
This continued as he read.
When he looked up, there was a young man taking studious notes and some sort of aristocrat that would probably have been friends with Hadrian's father if they were in Syliras. He considered for a moment, and then focused his mind upon the back of the blond head of hair, thinking, Look at me with all his might. Nothing.
Turn around, was his next attempt, throwing everything into the simpler command. Nothing.
Perhaps this book was less helpful than it had seemed. Then again, most disciplines could be learned faster and fuller with some sort of a mentor.
Finally, frustrated, he through everything he could into a simple LOOK! It never even occurred to him whether he really wanted some stranger in Alvadas to take notice of him.