Lonely Library (Sunken Conundrum)

[Lliwen Vafara]

7th Day of Summer 512AV Wandering around Alvadas was becoming easier to Lliwen, it seemed the more she focused on where she wanted to go it would appear. However, this time she was strolling purely for the fresh air on her skin and to gaze at the stars above. She made sure that every evening she would come out to see them, for even on her darkest days, there would always be a little bit of light. I really should look into learning astronomy, perhaps there is a library around here somewhere…” Lliwen focused as hard as she could at thinking about a library, imagining the smell of books, how they felt in her hands, the welcoming silence that hung in the air. Her feet seemed to carry her without her being fully aware of the movements or where she was heading. After a while, the amount of people that were joining her in drifting through the streets had become non-existent, and her nerves rapidly rose. Heart pounding, she began to wish she had just gone home, or at least decided to do this in daylight. She was now in an area of worn buildings, cracked concrete and a sense of desolation that loomed upon Lliwen. Slightly scared, she decided she would turn back; she didn’t care where just away from this place. Then, out of the corner of her crystal blue eyes, she spotted a set of stairs that she could have sworn was not there a few moments ago. Her mind was screaming for her to leave, though her curiosity overrode this and again, she walked without any knowledge of this, and before she knew it she was heading down the stairs. Her footsteps echoed as she entered the passage down, and there on the doors the words ‘The Sunken Conundrum’ was engraved in a decorative font. Intrigued, she pulled the handle of the door, to be greeted by a wall of water. Suppressing a scream, she became bemused as the wall seemed to be suspended. She reached out her finger to poke the water. ’Yes, it’s real!’ This was Lliwen’s dream place, a library, underwater. She noticed a sign on the inside of the door that reminded its visitors ‘Don’t forget to breathe’. Puzzled as how those without the ability to breathe underwater could do this, she pushed through the initial layer of water and proceeded to swim around happily- she had missed swimming. The library was beautiful, with a desk at the front, however it was empty. Lliwen thought this strange, but did not ponder over it too much and instead began searching for books.

[Anton]

Don't forget to breathe.

He should have seen that coming.

It was, after all, Alvadas.

Like Lilwen, The Sunken Conundrum was everything Anton needed and more, albeit for completely different reasons. Other libraries may have been greater than this one, but they were institutions of prejudice, of belligerent inconsideration, and their victims were the shortfolk who couldn't quite reach high enough. Oh, and the illiterate, but they wouldn't be there to begin with.

The Sunken Conundrum, by virtue of it's aquatic nature, was free of such shortcomings. Pun intended.

Anton propelled himself through the water, perhaps a tad more sluggishly than he would have liked. He was no swimmer, but he was even less of a climber, and so he deemed flailing around awkwardly through the blue and the books a lesser evil than scaling a mountain of a bookshelf. Or slowly detaching an astral hand to plop over a random books at the top till he found the right one.

Tedious.

He swam on. The books could wait. He wanted to explore the library first, to see how big it was.

He wondered, then...

The water felt so real, didn't it?

Hard to believe it was an illusion.

Was it?

A tiny bit of liquid res came trailing out from his finger, mingling and losing itself into the water. He became with the attraction process, drawing a little current around his res, directing it. Letting it do a little fluttery dance around and under his fingers. It tickled, and he couldn't help but giggle abit at it.

And then another illusion came along: A slender girl-creature of blue membrane. Whoever managed the library was pulling out all the stops, sparing no expense with the background entertainment.

He swam up to her, and made a face, sticking out his tongue.

[Lliwen Vafara]

7th Day of Summer 512AV Lliwen gawped in awe of all the books in this paradise of great truth and fiction combined. She zig-zagged from bookcase to bookcase, spotting a title that would catch her eye, only to be distracted by another cover that drew her as if a magnet to her need for knowledge. She finally managed to stop long enough to actually open the cover of a book: ‘The Powers of Djed Volume One: Competent Personal Magic’. She inhaled deeply to calm herself, the water rushing into her mouth feeling familiar yet not the same as the waters in Charbosi. ‘Is it the taste? Perhaps different levels of minerals?’ However, as she controlled her shaking hands to open the slightly worn green cover her thoughts about differing waters soon evaporated. A few bubbles drifted upwards from the seam of the book, tickling her face, as if the magic inside was inviting her in. Her common reading skills were not that bad; due to learning a lot from a dictionary it possibly was better than her speaking. Only looking at the pages did she realise that the water had more than just minerals that were different; the ink had not run in the slightest. Too eager to read the introduction (as interesting as they often were, they usually contained information that she could go without knowing) she skipped to the contents page that was sorted alphabetically. Her mind automatically locked onto reimancy and she was ready to jump in when something in her mind just clicked. ‘This book is full of other things, why just stick to reimancy? Besides, you’re in water that seems not to be of the norm, tampering with it may not be wise. Fire underwater can be done but it’s always awkward and electricity? Well that probably wouldn’t end well. What about trying something else- expand your magic horizons?’ She returned to the contents of the book, meticulously choosing which area of magic she wished to try. Of course, she had read of the other areas of personal magic- her inquisitiveness would not have allowed otherwise- but when being trained to harness her djed it was only ever for reimancy, never would her tutor of allowed her to practice anything else, even with her natural talent at it. But he was not here now, and Lliwen wanted to experiment, to explore, to do those dangerous things she probably should never do; and now, here, as she had finally left the safety of her homeland was the place for her to do it. “Voiding…” She whispered to herself whilst turning the pages to that section. Lliwen was not a fool, she wouldn’t dream of conjuring a void without reading and re-reading what she had to do even if she could. ‘Perhaps I’ll take the book out,’ She looked towards the still empty desk. She guessed she would have to wait. ‘Still, I can read it inside the library, right?’ Lliwen swam around in her own little world, losing count of both the number of times she had read the same passage on ‘Voiding for Beginners’ and hours passed, with still no librarian on duty. Perhaps she had come at a bad time or the librarian had gone away on holiday? Somehow though Lliwen didn’t think so, however, would stay a little while longer. She took one last look at the book and decided she had understood the passage enough to try to open a portal- if only a small one. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and prepared to perform the gestures specified in the book. Slowly, she began to regain the view of the library, was composed and was ready to try voiding when, “Ahhhhhhhh!” Lliwen screamed at the top of her lungs, her cries somewhat muffled by the water, as a small boy drew very close to her face and stuck his tongue out at her.