Not So Quiet In The Library

[sandburg_zone]

The library wasn't as quiet as it could have been. There was the undercurrent thumping of drums coming from within the librarian's office. And with it, male voices chanting in latin, and with that the cat wail sounds of some eye-liner wearing lead singer that Blair Sandburg, current librarian at Hogwarts, had never heard of, but which he was

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[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Laura was wandering the stacks, a few books balanced in the crook of her arm, when she heard the music start.

So we do have a librarian these days, she thought. Maybe he'll have some idea if this place has anything on American Indian shamans.

[sandburg_zone]

His door was still open from the last person to stop in, cracked enough that the music seeped out, but Blair didn't notice. He did, however, notice when a House Elf, his House Elf, one Tally with startling yellow-green eyes appeared without even a puff of displaced air.

"Pardoning, sir." There was a look in the eyes, that wouldn't have been out of place behind a prim demeanour and pince-nez. "But there's another student in the stacks who seems to be lost. Shall I direct her here?"

"If that's where she wants to be man, sure."

The House Elf gave Blair another look, which might have been fond, or exasperated. Blair was good with books and good with organization, no matter what his quirks and on top of it all, he taught and liked teaching. Tally appeared before Laura.

"Please Miss, if you'll be coming this way to the librarian. You should not be mindless in the stacks."

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Laura nodded and followed the elf to the librarian's office.

"Um, hi. I wasn't actually lost, exactly. More like looking for something that doesn't want to be found."

She grinned. "God, that sounds ridiculous. Are you the new librarian? I'm Laura."

[sandburg_zone]

"Looking for something that doesn't want to be found." He looked serious a moment, musing. "Sounds more like a person than a thing. But then again, I'm not as familiar with magic as you may be, Miss....?"

Blair motioned for her to sit, knowing that taking her seriously and not bringing up that she didn't sound ridiculous would do more than actually saying it.

"Tea? Juice? Cookie ?"

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

"Palmer, Laura Palmer. It's more like an idea than a person or a thing. And I've only been here about six weeks. But I've been looking for an answer to something for as long as I can remember." She smiled. "Tea would be nice, thanks."

[sandburg_zone]

He motioned that she should pour herself a cup. He'd provide the refreshments but he wasn't that much of the type of gentleman to pour someone their drink for them. Besides, her question was intriguing him.

"You're looking for a concept in books ?" If she was as unfamiliar with magic as he was, though he wouldn't assume it, he had to wonder who had told her it was possible. And he had to wonder if it was, cause whoa, that was interesting.

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Laura poured herself a cup. "Well, it's one of those very old problems, the kind where the facts tend to get lost in the legend, and then the legend dies out and you've got not much of anything."

She took a sip of tea and sat back, considering him. "Do you know if this library has anything on the practices and religious beliefs of shamans of American Indian tribes? The closest traces of the old legends I've ever found were in the Salish and Cowichan tribes near where I lived. But they couldn't or wouldn't tell me much."

[sandburg_zone]

He arched a brow at her, one hand in his hair. "Actually it doesn't have much in the way of Native American Tribes, but it's got stuff about the Picts and the Celts and the German Spirit-Walkers. Couple of European mystics' rituals are in there too, mixed in with the Gypsies. I've been looking up requests about American shamans, cause well, it's a special project of mine."

He sat suddenly, as if the thought had just that minute occurred to him, but all his focus was on her. "What exactly are you looking up in the old legends ?"

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

"A project of yours?" Laura sat up straighter.

"I'm looking for information about the old legends about animal spirits. Most of what I've found are the sanitized versions, with old fables overlaid onto the original information passed down about the spirits - like using Coyote for the classic Trickster stories. But I'm looking for anything on the actual spirits themselves, not the folktales they star in, do you see what I mean?"

[sandburg_zone]

"What about animal spirits? Are you curious about yours? If you have one? About what it means to have one or the different types or what? And don't discount those tales, they say a lot about what it means to be Coyote or Fox or Wolf."

Blair looked her over a moment, deciding then nodded to himself. "I'm kind of in the dark myself. I had the way of the Shaman passed to me from an Chopec Medicine Man. But I didn't find out about my animal spirit until I died and realized I was a wolf. Of course, legend says a Shaman has one foot in each world. But dying isn't how I'd have wanted to find out about the next level and I'm still not certain I know everything I need to know."

Because he wasn't the one in the partnership of him and Jim who got visions. Jim did.

Blair looked at Laura, wondering if she'd open up now as well and tell him more.

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Laura looked startled. "You died?"

She swallowed hard. "I died too. I was murdered. That's why I'm looking into this stuff. Physically speaking, I was murdered by my father. But he wasn't himself, it wasn't him I saw. He was possessed by an evil spirit. It had a human avatar, called BOB, and it was always BOB's face I saw, until the very end. I'm told my father killed himself after he was caught, but BOB escaped from his body before he died."

"Do you know Twin Peaks, Washington, at all? It's next to an old-growth forest, and there's a portal in the woods to another dimension - a place the Salish and Cowichan call the Black Lodge. BOB told me he lived there. Most of the bits and pieces I've gotten about him come from the tribes - I think they think he's an animal spirit - but they don't talk about their religions with outsiders much."

[sandburg_zone]

Blair looked surprised for a moment, then amused. "I don't know Twin Peaks, but I'm from Cascade, Washington. And portals to other dimensions in the woods in Washington...somehow I'm not surprised."

His eyes sobered a moment. "I was murdered as well. But she was not possessed. She was..." He thought of Alex and despite his best intentions he couldn't think she'd been simply misguided. "Evil. And power hungry."

Blair got up and took up a plate of cookies, resting it between them and nodding, subtly encouraging her to continue.

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

Laura nodded back. "That's the thing - I don't think my father was evil. I'm told by someone who was there that he faced up to what he had done just before he died, that he killed himself trying to fight BOB off. I think he was just - weak, I guess, beaten down inside

[sandburg_zone]

Blair nodded. "I've come across legends like that." He paused. "I'm an anthropologist, was working on my Doctorate before I got here." Which was as much as he'd say about that.

"I know where to begin to look. How about I write you a reference profile, standard librarian helpmate and you take it from there, do whatever cross-references you can and I'll find out how the Board of Governors and the Ministry of Magic deal with inter-library loans with muggle libraries. Because I can think of a couple of places in the States that'd have information you wanted."

[wh0_kill3d_m3]

"Sounds good. Do you know Dr. Grant, the Care of Magical Creatures professor? He's a paleontologist, and he's in Montana for the summer working on a dig. I asked him before he left to check the libraries over there for me, so maybe if you have trouble with the Board of Governors he could sneak us some interlibrary loans through his Montana State credentials."

Laura finished off her cup of tea. "Did you say you're a wolf, before? Do you mean like a werewolf, or like an animagus wolf?"

[sandburg_zone]

"My spirit animal is a wolf." He said, having nodded and taken notes about Dr. Grant. If he could get information on which books, perhaps they could be bought for this library. Or maybe there were American Witches and Wizards with history of their own, and books of their own about shamans and the other world.

Blair made another few notes.