[Library] Money (solo)

by **Fiera** on June 25th, 2012, 8:08 am

20 Summer 512

A few curious gazes followed Fiera as she moved down the main branch of the library in a soft patter of steps, a scowl disgracing her otherwise bearable features. Some onlookers smirked; the woman’s indignation was akin to that of a cat, whose fur had been brushed the wrong way, in a way, almost laughable. Had she not been so immersed in her ire, Fiera might have realised the dangers of attending a job interview in such a state. But, she had already rapped her fist impatiently on the door of the office and it was too late to turn back. This office specifically, belonged to Lisaelis, head of the Wright Memorial library.

Fiera’s first impression of the woman that opened the door was stern. Then, upon closer inspection, she noticed the mirth that seemed to follow every line of her face and settle in a pair of deep blue eyes. A moment of silence passed between them where each took in the other, the older woman doing so with an appraising expression.

“What is it that has your hackles raised?” she said finally, turning away from the door and sitting back down in the chair behind a simple table as opposed to the armchair that stood beside the window. Lisaelis knew Fiera had come to talk of business.

Fiera remained at the door way, a little unnerved. Coincidence or –?

“Calm yourself and come in. I am well aware of your Kelvic nature,” the older woman berated, although the laughter never left her face, “It is as obvious to me as my age is to you.”

Fiera let her eyes leave the woman, taking in her minimalistic surroundings; a single bookcase, an armchair, a window, opening to look over the university grounds, and a table, at which they were now seated. The only decorative item, Fiera noted, was the richly woven tapestry that hung behind the table. She seated herself opposite her senior, waiting for the woman to speak.

“Lisaelis, as I am sure you know” She smiled but didn’t offer her hand. Understandable. There was a limit to how friendly you would want to be with a part animal. The librarian at the front desk had made sure Fiera knew this. Too preoccupied to return the smile, she gave herself a rather abrupt introduction.

“I’m Fiera”

“A pleasure!” Ha. Lies not appreciated. “So, what is it that brought you to me?”

“I would… like a job. Here.”

“Mmm,” was she considering the idea, or trying to find a soft way to let Fiera down? Whatever it was, Lisaelis kept her face impressively blank, “we do have a shortage of workers, especially now that the storm has taken its toll”

Fiera was a little annoyed. What it really that difficult to stop thinking out loud and give an answer?

“I have seen you reading here before on more than one occasion” she mused, “that’s a strange ability for a Kelvic, if I recall correctly. How did you learn?”

“To... read?” Fiera cocked her head to the side and Lisaelis nodded, “A friend. Long ago; she taught me”

That was with Nakita. Fiera remembered well, how they snuck maps and books out of their houses to show each other. They were always looking for secrets.

by **Fiera** on July 2nd, 2012, 4:52 am

All Lisaelis gave in response was a slow nod, as she expected Fiera to go on. What more was there to say? That part of her memory was closed off to others, a friendship she considered too special to be shared. Once she caught on that Fiera would not yield any more information in this regard, the aged librarian continued her probing, “and how long have you been in Zeltiva for?”

“Little more than a season, I have been taking courses at the university for the majority of my time here”

The questions continued, amazing Fiera at their irrelevance to acquiring a job. What did it matter if she was bonded or not? If she stayed at the university or in her own home? How many cities she had visited? What her interests were? Two theories surfaced in her mind. Is this librarian so desperate for company? She thought, or is she simply testing me? How I am and if I can be trusted. Fiera found it insulting that the woman would resort to such measures but kept all expression from her face in fear of jeopardising the small odds that she would get this job.

Fiera countered the questions as best as she could, now knowing why she must answer well, but she quickly began losing her concentration. Her answers became less coherent and came after longer and longer pauses. Fiera found herself wishing to be in the woods once again. Outside the window, the sun blazed brightly over the well-kept gardens of the university. She never understood why they kept the lawns so unnaturally manicured, it made them so ugly.

“Fiera!” her eyes widened and she silently uttered a few select curses before looking into the face of the librarian, “I said, do you know how the books here are sorted?”

That was it, she’d blown it. Well done, Fiera, now you can go starve on the streets, “Yes. The books are divided into categories, but they are not very precise, for example instead of a section called ‘Auristics’ there is the section ‘personal magic’”

She knew how it all worked, she even knew how the librarians recorded borrowed books, but explaining was a different story; Fiera fumbled over words and took long pauses in search of a certain phrase.

“You are quite right, yes. We don’t have nearly enough books to fill an entire division called ‘Auristics’”

Hmph. So she had made at least a little sense.

“I have something to attend to right now, so I’ll hand you over to Augusta – she will explain everything you need to know. Assume yourself hired for the position of Assistant Librarian. If you could just come back tomorrow, at around eight o’clock in the afternoon, you can start your job then and discuss with me the finer aspects, such as your pay. Agreed?”

Fiera nodded, and watched in horror as Lisaelis mover over to a plump librarian and exchanges a few words with her, then came back with the same woman trailing behind her, looking quite sullen, “This is Augusta, she will be your superior while you are working here”

Lisaelis said her goodbyes and walked back to her office, leaving Fiera to stare at the woman who had, earlier in the day, been the cause of her foul mood.

by **Fiera** on July 2nd, 2012, 12:38 pm

The silence held for over a minute, turning awkward as soon as Lisaelis left. Fiera knew that Augusta would like nothing more than to turn her out of the library and she herself would rather leave than talk to such an ignorant woman. She was stupid. So extremely and utterly stupid.

“Alright then, animal” Augusta sneered, breaking the silence, “There is no way you will understand any of this, and I’ll be left doing all the work while you sit around because you somehow managed to convince Ms Lisaelis that you’re trustworthy”

She snorted and led Fiera over to the front desk, where the books were borrowed and returned. It took every bit of her self-restraint to not smash Augusta’s face into the polished wood of the table. While she had very little understanding of social etiquette, Fiera knew that any show of violence or temper would get her fired from the job and banned from the library. And this being the only interesting job she could think of, Fiera hoped to retain it for as long as possible. But Augusta was making it so damn hard.

“This is the book where we record all the borrowed books” continued Augusta, every word sounding more annoying than the last, “You know what a book is right?”

Fiera nodded, hands forming fists behind her back. It was as if Augusta wanted to be hit.

She barely stifled her gasp, amazed at her own brilliance. How had she not realised earlier? Augusta wanted Fiera to be fired so that… oh for so many reasons. One way of doing that would be to show Lisaelis that Fiera had no self-control. Maybe Augusta wasn’t as stupid as she looked. But what she lacked in stupidity, she made up in irritability. Fiera relaxed, determined not to fall prey to Augusta’s plans but was forced to reconsider her decision every time the woman – if you could call her that – spoke.

“Now try to answer this question, where do we write the borrowers name?”

Fiera looked down at the large book, trying to make sense of all the lines. The page was divided into columns and rows. At the top of one column was written ‘borrowed book’ and the top of the next, ‘borrowers name’ then came ‘date borrowed’ and then at the top of the last column, ‘date returned’. The table on the left page was half completed, the last entry being ‘Principles of modern strategy, Darque Griffinson, 20th summer 512, N/A’

Fiera pointed to the second column (titled ‘borrowers name’) and looked up at Augusta. Her face was twisted in an unpleasant expression, “So you can read, but can you talk? How would you tell a reader that they have a book overdue?”

Fiera almost smiled. How many times had she seen the phrase before? “Well, you wouldn’t tell the reader, usually you would just send a note to them but it should sound something like this, ‘Dear Darque Griffinson, the book you borrowed – Principles of modern strategy – is overdue. We expect it to be returned to us in the next two days or you will be fined a total of 25 miza’s’”

Augusta’s eyes narrowed, but she stayed silent, then without another word – praise or criticism – moved onto the next item. The filing system. She explained the rules of filing, which Fiera found easy enough. All the while, Augusta didn’t come closer than two feet to Fiera, and kept a disgusted expression firmly planted on her face. Every time Fiera felt the urge to hit Augusta, she told herself, be the hunter not the prey.

After she finished with the filing system, Augusta made a little speech on the proper way to treat books and such, as if Fiera was some savage running around the library.

“That’s all. I expect you here promptly at eight o’clock to help me”

More annoyed than she had ever been in her life, Fiera left the library, hoping to curl up and sleep in her tent for the rest of the day.

THE END

by **Paragon** on July 13th, 2012, 8:45 pm

Adventurer's Loot

Fiera's Loot :

Short and sweet, I will PM you the Storyteller Secrets link with your job details. Good job - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.