Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lithian squinted. Rising onto tiptoes, he reached up, drawing his finger down the spine of a book two shelves above his head before making his choice final and plucking it down, careful not to do it any harm by yanking to roughly. Studies finished for the evening, Lithian had nothing left required of him until supper, and with his siblings either off of the Plane entirely or busy with their own endeavors, he saw no better way to spend his free hours than with a long-overdue lounge in the Fortress’ library.

As a child, before the time commitment of his studying even approached what it was now, Lith had spent hours that turned into full days at the library on a frequent basis. His parents compensated for this by building up his personal repertoire of books, trying to encourage him to spend more time closer to home where he could be monitored better. But there was a special appeal to warm, peaceful halls, towering shelves, sweeping ceiling and intricate architecture that made up the library itself, and he treasured that feeling of being able to escape to a private, safe place, and lose himself in the world of whatever book he took to his lap.

Today was no different.

Soon, he would be leaving on another trip out of the protected confines of the Celestial Plane and away to the remote, frigid tundras of Aisko. A learning expedition, his father said. Also a ‘fantastic opportunity for him to expand his borders’ according to his mother. When his parents had shifted their attitudes from expressing concern for him traveling so far away as the library to encouraging him to take class trips to an icy continent another world away was beyond him, but Lithian had already resolved to make the most of what few days on the Plane he had left. If the frigid cold of Aisko was half as unpleasant to deal with as the blistering heat of Eowyn, Lithian wanted to savor the quiet comfort of his homeland while he had it.

This in mind and book in hand, Lith settled into one of the heavily cushioned pieces of furniture near a back, unoccupied corner on the main floor and opened his book to the first page.

Lithian thumbed from one page to the next, eyes darting immediately up to the first line in the next section, utterly oblivious to any outside calls for his attention. Only when a hand touched his shoulder did he jerk out of his mental daze, snapping back to the ‘real’ world and out of his book. It took him a second or two to ground himself, blinking before recognition set in and he grinned despite the interruption.

“Ara.”

Plucking up a ready bookmark and sliding it into place before folding his book shut, his eyes took in his friend: laden with more school papers than he could ever remember seeing her carry on a regular basis, a full satchel of notes, and — from the set of her shoulders and angle of her posture — a frustrated lack of interest in being here in the first place despite the smile she gave him. A very familiar look, in Lithian’s experience, particularly here — usually expressed by fellow students burdened with more homework or the looming need to study than they cared to face off against.

“Test coming up?” he guessed. Despite being four years younger, his mouth also felt the need to add, “Need any help?” before his brain could catch up with the offer. Even in retrospect, however, he figured it was at least true that he spent more time in the library than her, even if he wasn’t up to the level of material she must be.

Lithian shook his head and tucked his own book away, placing it on the table before him to get back to later and standing. “It’s not a bother. Some people would swear I live in here — I’m sure I can help you find it. We’ll probably want to head up to the second floor, though. Most of the first floor is fiction and legends. If you want references for dragons we’ll need to head head into the non-fiction shelves and see what they have on beasts. Do you have anything checked out on them already, or are you starting from scratch?”

Lithian moved as he asked, already starting over towards the winding staircase that would lead them to the second floor and reference sections — usually an even quieter and more deserted place than the first, and somewhere he went only when he felt the need to bury himself away. Or to find something specifically study related. Though, to be fair, he’d also checked out several volumes on healing, both herbal and magical, from the medical section on that floor completely to satisfy his own curiosities.

Lithian smiled and shook his head. “Don’t let it worry you. I’m sure there are others starting even later than you,” he said as he started up the steps, Ara at his heels. “And then there are some that don’t even bother to set foot in here. Whatever it is you’re working on, I’m sure you’ll do better than you think.”

As he came to the top of the staircase, Lithian’s eyes darted along the more dimly lit, dustier rows of books that made up the second story. Unlike the natural light falling through the first story windows, this section was lit almost entirely by magic with glowing, yellow-white orbs placed strategically along the aisles to make the book titles clear to read for whoever might browse through. A third story existed higher still, but it wasn’t open to students.

Dropping his voice several decibels to match the near-silence of this floor, he turned to Ara and said, motioning with his fingers as he spoke, “Why don’t you check that third aisle over to your right and two rows back. There’s a good number of medical textbooks over there, some of them on creature anatomy and physiology, and there’s probably something on dragons. I know Leastrade wrote some extensive texts kiandris and firanis, though I don’t know about gaili. I’ll check down back where they have a lot of volumes on Eowyn in general. There might be something useful there.”

That said, Lithian started off as promised, winding his way back through the shelves ‘til he found the section he was looking for. As he skimmed for titles of interest, squinting at the varying sizes of text illuminated by the off-white glow of nearby hovering orbs of light, he spotted a shuffle of movement out of the corner of his eye. A fellow student, at first glance, but a more scrutinizing look at their tight, eager posture and the bright flush to their cheeks as they read suggested that — whatever the contents of their book — it was less likely a dull medical text than something they simply wanted to ascertain having full privacy before reading.

Corner of his lip curling in an amused half-smile, Lithian turned his attention back to the shelf at hand. After several long minutes scouring in vain, Lithian rounded up three or four texts that might potentially be of use to Ara and resolved to call that good for the moment and go see what she’d rounded up herself. Pulling down each of the volumes in question, Lithian stacked them carefully in his grasp and then went off to relocate his friend.

“Ara?” Lithian called quietly, searching through the shelves he’d sent her to and coming up for naught. “Araceli?”

He adjusted the books in his grasp, frowning and squinting down the dimly lit aisles in his search for his friend. Just when he was about to huff and check to see if she’d meandered back downstairs — perhaps she’d found what she needed and figured he’d follow? — he spotted her. Bent over a small table heavily laden with scrolls but better lit than the rest, she looked distracted by something. A particularly interesting text, perhaps?

Blinking in puzzlement, Lithian started over towards her. “Ara? What is it?” He tilted his head, frowning as he surveyed the arrangement of scrolls and, in particular, the one peculiar map her focus seemed devoted to. “I found some books that might be helpful…what is that map? Did you find anything useful?”

Lithian’s brow furrowed as he blinked down at the map. “A…map? What does that have to do with…?”

Admittedly, as he looked over it, his curiosity was peaked. Ara had to be right. Some kind of enchantment must have been at work to keep the parchment in its current state of frosted, semi-freeze. But, on the other hand, a strange icy map in a back corner on the rarely-used second floor of the Fortress’ library was the last thing they’d actually came here for, and seemed to be beside the point at issue. Still…

He leaned closer, hair falling over his shoulder as he glanced down at it and a shiver rippling up his spine as he did. “You found this here, or somewhere else in the library? Do you think…someone lost it? Maybe left it behind on accident? Perhaps we should ask the librarian about it? It must have been some enchant to keep it frosted so permanently…”

Immediately, Lithian frowned. “Just take it? It’s in the library. Even if someone didn’t forget it, it must be among their records somewhere…and who knows where it leads? It could be dangerous.” Granted, if anything, it looked like it must have to do with Aisko given the enchantment and markings, which — conveniently enough — they’d be headed to soon. But the thought of just pillaging an item without even making mention of it first seemed absurd to him.

What if it was valuable? A rare artifact from some long-passed Aiskala dovaa? If it had been, Lithian didn’t know why it would have been left lying here, scattered amidst random scrolls of all things, but the idea still itched at him. No matter which way he thought about it, it felt wrong to simply take it. He shook his head.

“We ought to at least ask about it first, Ara. It could be anything. And besides, I, erm…” He adjusted the books in his arms. “I found several texts that you might find useful for your test? You can check them out at the same time if you think they’ll be of any help? It won’t be any extra trouble.”