Quilo had turned back to his book of zeppelin maintenance, but his head was still buzzing with the conversation he had just had. Ganymede was an old…well, not an enemy, but certainly an antagonist, as far as Quilo was concerned. He had been a real pain for Ella, and he had angered Tarin on numerous occasions. And yet, he—Quilo—Ella’s friend, and the friend of Tarin—he had just had a, a civilized conversation with him. Remarkable. And really, it had not gone too badly, when he thought about it. He had found out what he had wanted, he had not caused a big hullaballoo in the library, and he had made contact with another Nightmare…he had made a contact with another person…Engines require regular upkeep. Fuel must conform to a standard of purity to ensure the integrity of the engines…
Ganymede had answered his questions. A complete loner, someone with, so far as Quilo knew, no friends, had just been…well, no, he had not been friendly. But he had not been unfriendly. He had answered Quilo’s questions. That made Quilo feel good. And even while he bit his tongue to prevent a retort to Ganymede’s last assertion (it would do no good, and anyway, he had just said that he would leave Ganymede alone now), he was glad he had had this conversation. It had gotten something off of his chest, and anyway, perhaps it would make Ella’s life easier if Ganymede knew that someone was helping her to be…well, stronger…for some reason, her weaknesses, so charming to Ella’s friends, annoyed the purple Geist, and, well…
Engines require regular upkeep. Fuel must conform to regular upkeep. Fuel must conform…
Quilo shook his head and tried to concentrate on the page. He liked research. He did. He was learning new things, things he did not know before, and he wanted to continue doing this. This was what he wanted to do when he grew up.
It would help, he was sure, if Ella was no longer paying Ganymede any attention. He could help keep her distracted, keep her mind off of Ganymede, so that she was not getting so anxious about his bitter attitude towards her. That would definitely make things better between them, and Ganymede was wrong, people needed to have good things between them even if they did not want to be friends. It had nothing at all to do with friendships, and everything to do with, well…not having enemies. Not having…enemyships? What was the proper term for that, anyway? Anyways…
Ugh, why could he not concentrate on the words on the page? Besides the fact that this was a university mechanical engineering textbook, something far beyond his ten-year-old reading level. Or the fact that he had no idea what half of these words meant. What was a Bernoulli effect anyway? And why did curves have anything to do with it?
Quilo sighed. He was not getting anything done. He quietly closed the book and took it to the front desk to check it out—he would just have to read it later, when he had more time. And concentration. His head was too much a-buzz with the talk.
He could not concentrate on maintenance right now. He was thinking too much about other things. Like…how…strangely enjoyable that conversation had been. How nice it was to just…talk with someone, learn their point of view…not have need to pointlessly hate someone. He stared at the book in his hands. Had he enjoyed this more than research? Well…yes, actually, he had. It had been…nice. It filled him with a warm glow to think that he may have helped two people. Or at least become armed to help someone. He wondered if he could do that when he grew up instead.
Help people. By talking to them. Yes…he could do that…
That’s what he would do when he grew up.
