Closed Hushed Homily (Tsaba)

[Duvalos Viburnum]

Thirty-seventh day of Summer, 513 A.V.

Knowledge was truly a wonderful thing, be it in the delicate hands of a Symenestra or the the slightly more clumsy ones of a human. It mattered not to knowledge who spoke its being, who embraced it with gentle caress, or who besmirched its very name. To knowledge, all things were on an equal footing, no different than any other. Thus, what better way to understand that which he did not than through the pursuit of such an indifferent beast? It wasn't the most easy of journeys, but so far it had been not only enlightening but enjoyable as well.

Take, for example, the library. The residents of Zeltiva had named the magnificent depository of bound and filed knowledge after a long deceased traveler, a wise decision in Duvalos' opinion. What better why to increase one's stores of knowledge than to travel the world and experience all there was in both life and death? Yes, the idea was pleasing. The name? Not quite so much.

However, the name of the structure aside, there was certainly no arguing that the place held a magnificent grandeur, whispering to those that would listen of untold riches stored within the yellowed pages of a musty tome or forgotten ledger. It was that allure that had drawn the Symnestra to the library in the first place, but once inside he was rather overwhelmed by the sheer volume of what lay before him. He was overwhelmed, a feeling he was becoming quite familiar with. Unsure of where to begin, Duvalos crept his way between the many shelves too timid to lift a single thing and destroy the neatly arranged rows.

His golden eyes hungrily scanned the spines that happened to have writing upon them, though many had blank or embellished bindings void of any kind of legible markings. He had been unprepared and now suffered for it. His eyes flicked from one book to the next as his feet landed upon the floor with a startlingly loud noise for how careful he was being. At that particular moment, there were only several people within the building, each spaced far enough to create the illusion of solitude. At least, it seemed that way until Duvalos came across a middle-aged woman with book in hand moving in his direction.

Ordinarily, he would have let her pass in peace. After all, it was a library and socialization wasn't on the tip of everyone's mind. Yet, he could not help himself but to catch her attention with a tight lipped smile and a gentle request for some assistance. "My apologies if I am interrupting something, but I-" He paused, trying to gather what it was he wanted to ask now that he'd managed to grab her attention. "But I'm rather lost as to what I should read first."

[Tsaba]

Tsaba had only come out to place a freshly bound book on its correct shelf. But she saw no reason to pass up the opportunity to help somebody searching for knowledge. It was not as if she was in any particular hurry to get back to copying; the damaged books had waited for her to arrive in Zeltiva, and they could continue to wait a few minutes more. With her gloved left hand, she slid the fresh book into place on the correct shelf in a single, practiced movement. Then she fixed the man with an appraising stare. He as somewhat unusual-looking; probably not human, although it was a little difficult to know what he was. Not Kelvic or Nuit, either; part Zith? Maybe. He looked a little like Malvora. It didn't really matter, either way. He was young, probably, and thin enough to have been from her own childhood. Only after she'd taken stock of him did she remember to pull her face into a friendly smile. In her experience, Zeltivans tended to get nervous if you stared at them blankly for too long. "Perhaps I can help," she said in her most welcoming voice. "Do you have a particular topic of interest, or question that you need an answer to?" Tsaba might not have many skills, but find information in a library... that was something she could do.

[Duvalos Viburnum]

Ah. The woman before him was a Nuit, if Duvalos was not mistaken. Her eyes were the most prominent feature that gave her way, though when she spoke, he noticed the surprisingly dark interior of her mouth. Excellent. He'd never had the pleasure of speaking with one of the undead. From what he'd gathered during his time outside of Kalinor, Nuits had the potential to be hundreds of years old. An entity of that kind of longevity would, no doubt, have quite the interesting story to tell, should Duvalos find favor in her eyes. Her sudden smile was a bit disconcerting, but it seemed to be the custom in Zeltiva. In fact, he'd done it himself without so much as a thought to what his mouth was doing. How very strange how quickly one culture could be forsaken for another.

Duvalos was not well-versed in the proper etiquette of how one might go about asking another their race. While he was relatively certain the woman before him was a Nuit, a creature of great interest to him, Duvalos wasn't fond of making incorrect assumptions, no matter how convinced he might feel. She'd asked if he had any questions or sought any specific answers, so the pale skinned Symenestra nodded in affirmation. "I have long been curious about the race known as 'Nuit'." He nodded thoughtfully to himself, "Yet, I have done little to further my understanding of them until today." Duvalos scanned the shelves where they were currently standing. From what he could glean, they were situated in a section that dealt mainly with histories. "Do you know anything about them or where I might be able to access that sort of information?"

[Tsaba]

Tsaba frowned thoughtfully. "In my experience, the library has very little in the way of resources on Nuit, and what it does have tends to be... shallow and biased." She supposed that there was probably more information in the restricted sections, but that wasn't useful to the newcomer. "I can help you find what the library does have, of course. I do have some experience with the subject myself, though, so it may be faster to answer your questions directly unless you are searching for a specific academic source. I also have a transcript of a speech I gave on the subject a little while ago, which is generally easy to understand as it was written with the intent to inform the Zeltivan public." Sometimes, Tsaba's tendency to hoard notes worked in her favour. She wasn't entirely certain why the young man was interested in Nuits -- it was not, in her experience, a fascination shared by many people. But nor was it entirely unreasonable. He could be searching for immortality himself; he could be heading through Zeltiva to Sahova for that reason. He might, on a more dangerous note, be looking for ways to kill her kind. Or he could simply be an interested academic or layman. She hoped that that was the case. Raising the profile of Nuits on the mainland was, after all, one of her goals. As she spoke, she led the way towards the meager collection of books featuring Nuit that she was aware of, pulled a fine woolen glove over her bare hand, and began perusing the books. "Are you in search of any information in particular?" she asked.

[Abstract]

Grade Awarded!

Tsaba

Skills

~ Observation - 1

Lores

N/A

Other

N/A

Notes

I almost didn't give that one point in Observation, but I decided identifying the man as 'odd' was enough. There was literally nothing to give for this thread, but that's understandable enough... especially considering it ended before it even got started...