Day 35: The Bookworm

[miracle_grow]

[ Coming from here.]

Claire stepped into the bookstore, relieved to be out of the chilly autumn air. Her sweater was warm, but the weather outside was still cool, and she guessed it had to be very late autumn, at the very least. Where were they? And when

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[per_ardua]

[[From here.]]

Romance, fantasy, mystery, fiction... non-fiction! Raine stopped eagerly, taking down the first one that caught her eye. Sadly, the books looked too big to try smuggling out any... her blouse was loose and flowing enough to possibly allow something smaller, but not a hardcover book.

She read the inside front cover, then scanned the shelves again. This just might make the trip worthwhile.

[Waiting for Shana!]

[hamenleai]

[ Coming from here.]

Shana slipped into the bookstore, relived to be out of the chilly fall air. There were others here, though not many she recognized, she noted as she slipped into one of the aisles. There were books everywhere, however, and Shana broke into a bright grin at the sight of them. Maybe she'd find something of use here after all!

Spotting a familiar figure not that far away, Shana hesitated, then moved in Raine's direction. "Hello," she greeted quietly, glancing over the other girl's shoulder at the books she'd found.

"Find anything interesting?"

[per_ardua]

Raine looked over, too absorbed in her research to recognize the voice until she saw her. "Hello." She smiled slightly; so Shana liked to read, too? It wasn't likely Valyn had sent the girl in to get her (Raine surmised that anyone who wanted to track her down today might not have much trouble).

"Technically, yes, but as for what I was hoping to find--nothing. I'm looking for chemistry, architecture, something useful, and while everything here is fascinating... it's not what I was looking for."

Not that the expected revelation had changed her plans much. The bookstore was not her idea of organized, which was even more reason to cheerfully spend all day in here--who knew what she'd find?

[hamenleai]

"It doesn't really look like it's in any semblance of organization, either," Shana noted, wrinkling her nose to hold back a sneeze at the dust. "And I suppose there just happens to be a lack of history or anything about the place up on the hill as well, isn't there?"

She'd noted the lack of history books from the times she'd perused the library in the institute. What kind of place didn't have books that recorded the history of a race or species? If a people could write, that was usually the first things they started writing down.

[per_ardua]

"I'd be more surprised if there was," Raine sighed. "Honestly, one of the hints I heard regarding it might not even have been one... a visitor of mine said she'd been in either Landel's or something like it. Unfortunately, I don't recall any more than that." She'd been far too upset to take mental notes, and grilling her supposed mother on that point hadn't crossed her mind.

She'd give more information if she could, but she would prefer it if Shana didn't ask who the visitor had been. Mentioning Virginia at all was hard enough.

[hamenleai]

"A visitor?" Shana echoed, looking surprised for a moment, glancing over at Raine. "You mean the ones from outside the institute? I'm not sure anything they say can be trusted, though. Valyn and I had a visitor last week - our father, sort of. But it was obvious that he'd undergone some sort of mind control like they're capable of here. If it was even him at all."

[per_ardua]

Raine managed to forget approximately everything else she'd meant to say; she looked more directly at Shana, herself very surprised. "Wait--you're siblings?" The way Shana talked about Valyn could in retrospect be seen as older-brother worship, but... she didn't think that was exactly right, even if she couldn't say why.

She'd wanted a distraction; well, this qualified...

[hamenleai]

"Well, we think we are," Shana answered, looking a bit sheepish. "We don't really have any proof, but Valyn thinks it's likely. He thinks my mother might have been one of his father's concubines, but as she died when I was born, I've no memory or knowledge of her to prove him right or wrong. Why?"

[per_ardua]

"No reason." That she could think of. "I was just surprised."

Back on topic, she if liked it or not, Raine admitted, "I know we shouldn't take anything our visitors say at face value, but I would guess that mine said that for a reason... although that reason may have been just the obvious attempt to tell me why I'm here." She shrugged; she couldn't pretend to know what her mother was thinking under the best of circumstances, and this wasn't.

[hamenleai]

"They seemed to do a lot of that," Shana agreed with a nod and a wrinkle of her nose. "Although Valyn's father said some pretty strange things. And of course, chided us for anything we remembered. Like Valyn being an elf, despite the face that the visible indications were right there on both of them. Although it was pretty clear he still dislikes me, even if I didn't lead an uprising against him here," she added, her expression torn between wry amusement and exasperation.