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The Fa'e HQ library is a large room, the third largest in the building after the Common Room itself, and Airi's Sanctum. Double doors made of dark wood open into it from the Inner Hallway. The floor here is covered in pine green pile carpet, soft and pleasant to weary feet.

Inside the Library, every possible bit of wallspace is covered in cherrywood bookcases, and every possible bit of shelf is covered in books of every kind. The contents of the shelves appear to shift depending on what those within are looking for - it is possible to find everything from lurid dime novels to arcane texts here!

There are windows on the outer walls, though they seem rather squashed between the bookcases and the thick, green velvet curtains that can be drawn over them. The natural light entering is rather dim. To fix this problem, glass lamps hang from chains on the ceiling every few feet, containing within a single enchanted bead that glows brightly without heat or smoke. Similar lamps sit on the cherrywood study tables scattered through the center of the room. Each study table has a small chest at it's foot, containing paper and ballpoint pens (perhaps fountain pens or quills would have been more appropriate, but it seems whoever supplied it was afraid of ink dripping on the books). The chairs here are of two types - hard cherrywood, flanking the study tables, and three small groups of paired armchairs.

The Library smells of old, old paper and parchment, and of aged woods and ink. There is nothing new about it in any way - everything has a bit of graceful wear to it, as though it has been here for quite some time, but been well taken care of.

Note that there is an enchantment on the room to prevent the books from being taken out. If anyone attempts to remove a book from the Library, it will simply fly out of their hand, bag, or other means of transport at the door. If a teleport or other magic attempt is made, it will fail. However, researchers are welcome to take notes or, if they have the magic to do so, copies of the books to take with them.

SIGH.

Whatever it was, it would not answer Lethe. The breathing continued loudly, but at very irregular times. It was not human, as it breathed far too slow. Papers would rustle quickly and then fall to the floor, some books lurching and then oozing off of the shelves to land in heaps.

As Lethe and Dusty looked around, the door creaked every more closed as the creatures outside neared it. SLAM went the door suddenly, sending a gust or air through the library. Books and papers rustled in the wind before settling again. Scratching and wheezing could be heard outside the door, shadows cast beneath it from the tables and the thing outside.

The bookshelves seemed to tower over them, reaching the ceiling and then curling down, they were so tall.

Dustin's ears could pick up the slightest sound of movement, something large moving ever so slightly.

"'Sit? Are you sure is here?" Lethe rapped her knuckles against the closed door for emphasis, quickly realizing this was a stupid idea as the things outside surged and banged back.

Hn. It seemed they were more or less trapped -- Lethe was not venturing out there. "Maybe we c'n find a window, to escape and get help, or, uhmm..." Her eyes fell to Dusty's sword. "...Or a weapon."

Unable to think of anything better, and ignorant of whatever else was in the room, she began sorting through the nearest heap of fallen books, searching for the biggest and heaviest and startling every time another one hit the floor. Her movements were sluggish and jerky, and she was not at all as poised as she used to be.

What? NO! How was she gonna-- oh no, she had to get to Lethe, she was supposed to protect the River Fa'e!

"LYAATH!" She called in a panic, scrambling to the little sliver and kicking at the doorcase. Damn it, no no NO, Lethe could get hurt, she HAD TO GET THERE! Shoving at the bookcase a few moments, she fell back with a whine- "'S too big! Gotta... gotta find...." She looked around. There had to be another way out to Lethe, some way to get there before something bad happened!

Ceiling dust rained from above as the bookcases leaned into the toddler's shrinking space. Their lunging left the sliver to Lethe open wider, but not wide enough to let either of them through.

SIGH...

Books wheezed and slipped from their places on the shelves, the bookcases undulating and pulsing like organs. As they leaned further and further in, Dusty was pushed to a corner near the door. Thankfully, the scratching and beating had stopped from beyond it, but the bookcases had blocked her path to it.

Think, black drool oozed from the shelves, like ravanous predators cornering their prey. The ooze started to congeal and collect, forming another one of the creatures they previously saw wheezing at the end of the hall.

Water dripped like sweat, rolling over the backsides of the bookcases towards the River Fa'e. It pooled and reeked of death at the base of the bookcases.

SIGH.

The creature that appeared to Dusty looked a contortionist, though it hand no legs. All arms, four of them, and never in the right places. Two were jutting from the back, on from a shoulder and one on the front of the torso. Its swollen head dragged on the ground as three of its arms reached for the deerkitten, using one to drag itself toward her.

The River had a wonderful view of it too, as the water pooled up and formed a vaguely human shape which Lethe could see through. It just stood there, watching.

SIGH.

"... aaa... aaaaAAAA...."

Notascaredynotascaredynotascaredy.... Back pressed against the bookcases, Dusty flattened her ears rebelliously and held her little wooden sword in front of her, knocking away the first of the creature's arms but unable to move quickly enough to parry the second. It drew her forward; her hooves, unable to find enough purchase on the slick floor, scrabbled desperately at the floor as she tried to get awayawayaway from this ugly disgusting thing. She'd been hoping to protect Lethe, but here... she was the one in need of saving! This was all wrong!

It was hard to linger how much on how it wasn't fair, though, when there was a ******** TERROR that was dragging her away.

"LETHE! LETHE, LETHE HELP!" There were some words she never thought she'd have to see. Taking one last wild swing at the creature, Dusty fumbled her sword; with no other weapon than her own fists and hooves, the toddler shrieked and thrashed, trying to find some way to escape to safety from this creature. If only there was some safety for her to retreat to....

"NO, DON'T!" Lethe pleaded to the monstrous black creature, throwing herself at the water creature and kicking and clawing at it in hopes of breaking through--

And was only able to watch as Dusty was devoured whole by the thing (it had a name, she dared not speak it) and was spat out again. She waited, for movement, for guidance, for a deus ex machina. But nothing appeared, and left with nothing to emulate, Lethe was no longer sure of what to do.

"Get out of my way," she whispered, the words a chore to form on her tongue, "I have to get her."

"uuuuuuuHHHHHHHHHHH..." it shrieked, dragging itself backward towards the receeding bookcases. It didn't expect Dusty to fight back, to become this much different and uncontrollable. Its head dragged against the floor and caught on a nail, pulling and stretching the neck out to painful, giraffelike lengths. It could not back up enough, however.

The water beast, Lethe half-engulfed within it, sensed the danger and degenerated, oozing through the cracks in the floorboards to sink out from under the door, into the inner hallway. The bookcases lurched back into their normal positions, offering no shelter to the beast that attacked Dustin.

It would stand and fight, no matter what, though its head posed a problem.

"UUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the head growled, seemingly completely severed from the head, arms flailing in frustration behind it.