Word Count | 1114

The rain was still pretty bad and today it was particularly bad. Tirion'Manu was busy in the scroll reserves tending to the hides to make sure the moisture didn't damage them. Yes, the caverns were for the most part a dry place and pretty safe for the most part but water still dripped in and if a scroll left in the wrong place for too long it would ultimately be damaged. Because of the rain it was a lot harder to go out and hunt for proper materials to make the scrolls the pride so desperately relied on. Sure, carving on the walls was an option, but it wasn't a portable option nor could things be kept private if they were on the walls. Not every scroll was meant to public so this did pose a problem.

The gray lion carefully wandered about the scroll storage cavern checking on each area of scrolls. Tirion'Manu was very calculated and methodical as he looked over each area as even the smallest spot could spread if there was damage.

The gray lion stopped. Something caught his eye. A dark circle on one of the blank scrolls and it looked pretty bad. Mold. Tirions yellow eyes narrowed at the scroll as he quickly picked it up in his maw and removed it from the pile of reserve scrolls. This mold would die before it spread to the rest of the reserved scrolls. No way on his watch was he going to let this sin stand.

"What are you doing?" Fanya had wandered in to the scroll reserves after Tirion. The gray lion was slow to turn to Fanya with a scroll still firmly latched in his maw. He spit the scroll to the floor and let it gently unroll on its own revealing the black spot. Fanya stepped back from the scroll and gasped.

"Mold." Tirion grumbled. "Don't worry.. most of the reserve scrolls are not effected... but even one scroll becoming unusable is a grim thing. We are already only relying on what we have on reserves because of the weather."

"... yeah..." Fanya poked at the scroll with his paw. With how many scribes relied on the scrolls supplies were limited so seeing one wasted like this was bothersome. "Do you think it has something to do with the moisture of the cave and the rain?"

"Probably. But we can't exactly air things out with this rain. Damn.." Tirion'manu shook his head, "I thought this place was supposed to be paradise but this weathers really shut the pride in these caverns."

"Yeah but all the gems.. Thats what we came for. There is enough food to go around and.." Fanya was interrupted by Tirion.

"Sure sure. You're right about the small stuff and also we have a pretty good roof over our head but we can't exactly practice our craft as freely as we'd like ya know." He sighed, "I suppose the mists were moist too but we never had this level of a storm curse us. I feel like there has got to be another way. Maybe we could move the scrolls to a dryer cavern. This ones even got mushrooms growing out of some of the cracks. It's a disgrace." Tirion took a breath and lowered his head.

"There might not be a good fix... and besides the scrolls have been holding up nicely... " Fanya started. "We're probably fine. Its expected some scrolls will get damaged with age. There is no fool proof way to store a scroll.." Fanya looked hopeful that his words would ground Tirion.

"The thing is I don't even know if this is the only one. Molds tricky and as soon as its got its hooks in something it spreads. We could have all of these scrolls compromised for all I know..." Tirion sighed, "It would suck if we had to get rid of all of these scrolls. I am .. . worried."

Fanya looked down at his paws as he was at a lose of words of what to say. If mold had gotten to the reserve scrolls this could be really bad but did hides really get effected to mold? Fanya wasn't entirely sure but he was not as experienced as Tirion. The younger male chewed over his thoughts for a while trying to reason if there was some way he could argue that Tirion was wrong but nothing was coming to mind.

"I guess... it would be better to be safe than sorry... Have you talked to Faun about this yet?" Fanya was sure Faun could argue with reason.

"No not yet. I wanted to be sure and I am not sure I have enough evidence." Tirion admitted. "This is the first scroll that even showed any sign of a fungus or a mold.. "

Fanya reached a paw out at the scroll that Tirion had dropped on the floor. He poked at it a little bit and then knelt down to get a closer look.

"Sayyyyyyy... Tirion. There is something weird about this mark." Fanya squinted his eyes at it. "Yeah... are you sure this is mold?"

"Are you questioning if I know what I am talking about? Fanya. I am surprised by you. You should know I wouldn't claim such a thing unless I was absolutely sure. I mean.. wait hang on." Tirion knelt down to also get a better look at the spot he claimed to have been mold moments earlier. Tirion reached his own paw out to poke at the spot.

"See? Something is strange about it." Fanya concluded.

"Hmm... yeah this is .... not mold." Tirion's facial features looked grim from being proven wrong yet also some how pleasant in thanks that he was wrong. Two conflicting feelings some how both having equal stake on how Tirion was feeling.

"Its... dirt." Fanya was grinning ear to ear, "You fretting over this actually did more damage .. or almost did more damage than mold . See you put some pretty bad teeth marks in it and also drooled." Fanya pointed out the wet spots and puncture spots.

"Fanya... we must never speak of this again..." Tirion concluded. "... I believe the scroll is still usable. Why don't you take it with you for your next scribe duty?"

"Not uh. You take it. Such a ragity scroll should go with you since you ruined it."

".. fine but please don't say anything," Tirion sighed.

"Deal. Your disappointment is my reward," Fanya admitted. "Well.. happy trails. Looks like you still have a lot of scrolls to check over... And I think I helped enough." There was a grin, "Bye~" With that fanya turned his back leaving Tirion to tend to the inspection him self.