Goddesses and Libraries
It moves so slowly that a quick glance would cause the viewer to fail noticing, and thanks to the exceptional castle staff, the hinges are well-oiled and silent. A pop from the logs in the fire causes the achingly slow movement to stop, but when nothing threatening or human materializes, it slowly resumes. Finally, when it is large enough for a head, just such an appendage sticks through it. Hayes blinks his blue eyes at the sight of all the books, nothing short of lust appearing on his face at the wall of language and information that greets him. As slowly as the door opened, a smile appears on his face. Satisfied that no one else is in the room, he enters completely and pads closer to the nearest case, trailing a delicate ink-stained finger down the spine of one of its tomes.
The silence remains for a while just long enough to let Hayes get comfortable, then as though she had been there all along, a female voice abruptly breaks the silence. "Hello." is said, and it sounds kindly.
"AAGH! Holy--" The sounds of startlement shoot out of Hayes like a bullet from a gun, and he jerks his finger away from the spine of the book as if it has suddenly become scalding to the touch. His blue eyes dance about the room, seeking the source of the voice, even as his cheeks flame up with a red flush.
Oh look! There is a woman, who looks like she just came from the woods! And /fangs/ like a wolf! She smiles so big, surely she has no intention of eating Hayes. The tendrils of darkness that spread across her face like viney roots only to vanish like they were never there should probably be ignored. Honestly. They were never there. Rly.
"Oh. Uh...hello," Hayes says haltingly into the awkward silence that follows his outburst. As if the word alone is not enough, he half-lifts his hand to wave, though he abandons that effort halfway through its execution and the limb falls to his side. The blush of embarrassment on his face is rapidly fading to a bloodless palor at the strange woman's visage. "Is this...uh.../your/ library? Because, um," he hurries on, licking his lips, "if it is and you don't want me here, I can go. In fact, um...maybe I'll just do that..."
Asa replies, "No. Not mine." She approaches him, and so far no further creepy stuff happens on her form. "So far as I know all are welcome to read the books here. I have. I doubt they would object to you."
"Oh. Well." Hayes throws a look to the door, still ajar, as if considering making a bolt for it anyway, then back to Asa. He forces himself to look relaxed and fails for the most part. "My name is Hayes," he offers, along with a small and tentative smile.
Asa says, "Asa." She glances to the door, then back to Hayes. Amused, she replies with a hint of purr in her voice, "The problem with running, is something may be inclined to give chase."
Hayes lifts a hand to tuck a strand of hair, torn free by his moment of startlement, behind one ear. When he realizes, however, that it is trembling, he quickly hides it behind his back. "We...er, I...don't want that." He tries another disarming smile. "Do you live here in the palace?" A delicate brown brow arches up at the inquiry.
Asa approaches closer, nearly to the point of invading his personal space. "No." she says, and... sniffs him. "Do you?"
"I wouldn't..." Hayes' protest dies off as he has now been sniffed. "I um...I was found in a forest this morning, so, apologies if I'm not the uh.../freshest/." He rocks on his heels to dispell some nervous energy. "And so... no. I don't live in the palace. For now I am living in the common room of a pub. My father, if I could remember who he was would no doubt be proud." He clears his throat gently then lowers his voice to a whisper. "How /do/ I smell?"
Asa replies, "Not so unusual. Not bad, either." She draws back enough that she isn't in his personal space anymore, and runs her tongue over one of her fangs. She smiles then, and says as if this is a positive thing, "I could eat you without having to hold my nose."
Hayes simply stares for a long moment. When he finds his mouth can work again he says quickly, "Convenient." A blink. "Erm. For you. For me, not...uh, not so much. So, um...Asa. Do you eat many people?"
Asa reflects on this. Then, says "No. I can't recall ever eating a mortal human." She smiles assuringly.
Asa then amends, "Bitten a few, but never eaten."
That seems to be some consolation to Hayes, who actually manages to smile. "I see. Well. I suppose I've probably wanted to bite a few people...sometime. So, see? We already have something in common." The young man clears his throat and glances around. "This place is extraordinary, is it not? So much information."
Asa looks over the books. "Information... yes. But, it is /knowledge/?"
Hayes blinks as if unaccustomed to thinking about the two things as different. TO his credit, he gives it long consideration before tilting his head curiously at Asa. "I suppose I think of knowledge as something you learn from experience. Whereas information you can glean from a source. A book, a friend, a play. Is that...what do you think the difference is?"
Asa smiles broadly. "I believe you and I are in accord, there." she says. "I've always felt there is more to be learned from experience. Information is useful for providing a point to start." She eyes the books venomously. "Sometimes."
Hayes' eyes slide to the books that have earned such a veneomous stare. "Um...yes. And books can be wrong. I mean, I could write a book about ships, but since I doubt I know anything at all about them, it would just be full of lies and false infomation. Certainly not any kind of knowledge." The topic seems to have warmed him up to Asa considerably. "So...get some bad information lately? Or...?"
Asa says, "I simply have not had much fortune with the information to be found here. Much of my recent knowledge comes from another source."
"Ah." Hayes nods his head. "Someone in town told me this was probably the most complete library around, so I thought I would come and see what I could learn about Amber and the Golden Circle," he says, quite seriously. "But if you think there is a better place to get information, I'll gladly go there instead. Besides," he adds, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I don't even know if I'm allowed to be in /in/ here."
Asa shrugs, "Me either, but I have not been told to leave. Yet." She smiles again at Hayes, and pulls out a dagger. She might be intending to stab him. Or, there may be some other purpose.
"I bet they'd ask you to leave if you got blood all over their books," Hayes says with a nervous lick of his suddenly too-dry lips. "Which would be a kind of lose-lose situation for the two of us, if you know what I mean." He tries to back up, only to find that he's up against a bookcase with nowhere to go.
Asa simply offers Hayes her hand, and says, "Come, I'll show you."
Hayes looks like he isn't sure he has a choice. Slowly, he lifts his hand and places it in Asa's, all the time eyeing it like it is a strange creature moving of its own accord. "Um...will it hurt?"
Asa curls her hand around Hayes' and laughs. "No. Not at all." she assures. Then, "Unless I bite." She closes her eyes then, and focuses on her dagger.
And to Banyan they go:
The central element of this land is a magnificent banyan tree, its
root structure extending over the better part of an acre. Smaller
trunks, running from root to branch, supplement the massive trunk at
its center. Light filters through the branches to the land beneath,
where there are benches, koi ponds, and other smaller features that
invite one to stop, sit, talk or think. The sky above is lit by a
nebula of stars which glow brightly by day, and softly by night.
Radiating outward from the tree are a number of buildings, many of
them completely open structures. Dominant among them is a relatively
large building, painted pure white, and surrounded all around by a
covered porch which serves also as a balcony for the second story.
Atop the roof is a tower which rises higher still, by the looks of it,
high enough to give vantage to the entire island.
Asa and Hayes are here.
Setting by Corwin at Sun Apr 18 14:23:09 2010: There is a great pit midway between the tree and the wall. A jet of black flame is spewing out of it, into the sky, and oily goo is falling all around it. A group of orange-skinned dwarflike men have encamped nearby and are in the process of constructing some sort of containment around the area.
Hayes looks somewhat green when he finally seems to get his bearings and for a moment he looks like he might vomit. Swallowing sever times, he gets the impulse under control. And then he looks around. The breath seems to leave him. "What...where are we?"
"Banyan." Asa replies, smiling. "It is a... place of war, and hope. Here we fight to protect everyone else from the creatures and influence of the black road."
"I'm afraid I don't know what any of this means," Hayes says, his voice barely a whisper, as if somehow speaking at its full volume might dispell the image, or send him flying into the pit full of black flame. "Is...um...is this where you learned things lately?" He swallows thickly and glances to Asa, though his eyes don't linger there long.
He probably doesn't catch the dark, eye-like shadows that stare back at him from her cheek. Asa certainly doesn't notice them. "Yes, in a way." she says, and begins to walk. "I'll show you about, but we probably shouldn't stay long."
"I, um...I completely get where you're coming from, there," Hayes says, with another nervous glance around. He moves to stand closer to Asa, relying on here to shield him from harm. "Are we still in Amber?" His voice remains hushed.
Asa laughs gently, and replies, "We are nearly as far as anyone can be from Amber." She takes him closer to the wall that looms in the distance.
Hayes stumbles on something and his breath catches as fear grips his heart. His loss of balance is not major, however; soon he is very close to Asa once more, desperate to keep pace with her as they move. He doesn't speak any more for the moment, focusing on his feet for the time being to prevent something worse than just a stumble.
Asa pauses, then looks at Hayes. "Hm. Your feet seem to be unsteady. Perhaps a beast to ride, yes?"
"Um...beast? What kind...y'know, maybe a beast isn't such a good idea. I'm already feeling much more stable. Plus," he adds as nonchalantly as possible, "I've been walking for um, I dunno, twenty years or so, but my time on beast-back has been limited. I think."
Asa chuckles, and continues to walk toward the wall a bit longer, then veers toward the tree. There, amongst the roots, she begins to dig.
Hayes gets on his tiptoes to try to see over her shoulder, stepping lightly to one side to avoid any clumps of soil that might be coming his direction. Unable to see, his curiosity gets the best of him. "What is it?"
"I think... yes, here we are." She draws out a dagger, not entirely unlike her own. "Here. You may have this. You can speak to me with it, wherever you are. Even if I am here."
"Thanks." There is a mixture of wonder and concern in Hayes' voice as he gently turns the little dagger over and over in his hands. "How does it work?" He blinks up from the weapon to look once more at Asa.
Asa says, "You look upon it. Think of me, think of my dagger." She says, and shows him hers again. "There are others, swords and such of similar metal you may find. We who own them are - usually - friends of Banyan."
"The tree?" Hayes blinks up at its enormity. "What does that mean? To be a friend of the Banyan? And what about the others? The ones that aren't it's friend?" A hundred questions threaten to spill from his lips.
Asa smiles, "This place, it is known as Banyan. Named after the tree, so it is apt. To be a friend of Banyan is to render aid in what ways you can. I'm not asking such things of you; just noting that most of us who carry these are such people. As for those who are not. They... simply are not." She is, it seems, an immensely patient person.
"Riiiiight." Hayes draws out the word as if, by elongating it, he can somehow earn more of an explanation. When it is not forthcoming, he sighs. "I have so much to learn," he announces to no one in particular. Nevertheless, he palms the dagger and then looks once more to Asa. "So...you said we shouldn't stay long. What will happen if we do?"
Asa replies, "You may be tainted. The Road's presence is strong here, and can make itself a part of you if you are not careful."
"How will I know if I am," Hayes asks, though he stops himself with a blush almost as soon as it is out. "I'm sorry. I know I have a million questions. If you need me to be quiet, you just need to say the word."
Asa seems a bit disappointed by the offer. "I could bite you?" she counters, hopeful. "You won't, necessarily. But I can tell you. We can sense one another, those who are touched."
"Biting will just make me scream in a really loud and very embarrassing way. I would be extremely unpleasant for both of us. I promise." Hayes smiles, and this time the expression seems to have some genuine warmth to it. "Well, let me know if I'm growing bat wings or whatever it is that this taint does to people" He shivers.
Asa smiles again. "I will." And as if on cue, a shadowy wraith-like tendril launches from her temple only to curve about and writhe into her ear.
"Or if /that/ happens," Hayes says, more than slightly aghast. "Becuase I'm pretty sure that even if that is considered healthy functioning for you, it probably isn't for me. I um...I think I'm ready to be back at the library. If uh...can we do that? Go back?"
Asa nods. "We can, yes." she says.
Asa just stands there, waiting.
Hayes blinks. "What? Am I supposed to do someth...oh." He holds out his hand for Asa's and moves close enough for her to take it. "You have to touch or whatever, I get it."
Asa wraps her hand around his, and then seems to focus.
And they arrive back in the Palace Library
Hayes staggers with the sudden jolt of arriving back in the library, going to one knee before he recovers and, trembling, rises. His smile is slightly weak. "That was...fun. I should um...probably go before I vomit on all of these beautiful books."
Asa inclines her head, and touches Hayes on the arm in an assuring manner as she says, "Of course. I'll see you again."
"That would be grrr..." Clapping a hand over his mouth, Hayes runs through the open door and vanishes from sight.