Book Hunt {Job|Solo}

Tane had hopelessly arrived at a village that was known as Peace Village. She had literally no idea why she was here, but since she was here, she thought she would maybe explore a bit, observe ‘villages’ since she had never been to one. Or she thought she had not but she had? A man came out in wear of very low quality. Maybe they did not spend too much on wear or made an effort to create wear of high quality. Tane felt almost like an alien in the village, wearing quite the expensive wear. She had no idea there were people living out here in very cheap looking wear. She had no idea ‘villages’ existed. It was very strange indeed. There were more trees than the settlements she had been to, and of course, smaller. Why humans had different classes among themselves, she might never understand. In Fismuth, everyone was equal, except for just a few. You could count and point out those people. It was different here.

Since she was here, she thought she might ask about this place and if there were other places like this. Tane walked right into the first house she saw on her left. An old lady was out watering her plants. “Oh hello there! You must be here to get me my book!” she exclaimed delightedly. Tane blinked. Whatever was she talking about? “Come, come,” she said, gesturing for Tane to enter as the girl was only standing at the gate. She was not sure what to do and so followed the old lady's instructions. She smiled back at the aged human, who was grinning so wide it looked manic.

“Do you need help with anything, madam?” Tane asked. She has learnt to use the term ‘madam’ very recently. “I would gladly assist you.” Her voice was very soft, almost making it sound like she had eaten clouds her entire life to have a voice like that. The old lady was more than happy.

“Yes! I'd like you to retrieve a book for me!”

“I would love to help out.”

Those six words resulted in Tane journeying to the library that the old lady had directed her to. It was very quiet. At first. A few seconds later she heard a loud banging noise, making her wince. It was followed by laughter of different voices. Several people were laughing at the noise? By the sound of the voices, she could they were human children. With her brows slightly furrowed, she entered, noticed a large dent in a wall. A hand went up to her mouth in shock at such destruction. These children were such destructive little beings! She could not understand the reason behind their doing, but walked further in. She was sure this was a library, seeing the shelves of books all lined up. There were plenty of shelves. Hopefully they were arranged according to genre or something. Or else it would be horribly time wasting if she had to go through each and every single shelf. Seeing that there were little boys who might prove disturbing in her task.

The librarian was a pretty female with glasses. She was sitting at a counter, watching the young boys play around. Tane wondered why she was not stopping them from doing such things. An upset frown settled upon the librarian lady's brows. She must have been tired as she was not trying to stop the children and did not notice Tane. After thinking for a while, the Sabertooth mage approached the counter with a smile, asking politely for the book. The lady shook her head slowly and told her that she would have to find it herself on the shelves, the books shuffled. Wonderful. Tane nodded and turned, after saying her thanks, checking the boys. They were causing a hell lot of noise. This was probably why there were only the librarian, the kids and Tane. Who would want to read somewhere so noisy? The sofas, when Tane looked to see if they were present, was in a state in which it cannot be occupied. It was a disaster of a seat.

Tane decided to ask why these kids were here and why they were doing what they were doing. Of course, the librarian was itching to share her nightmare with the guest. It all began when these little ‘brats’ discovered the library and making it their new playhouse. They had messed up with the arrangement of books on the shelves, making everything a mess. The books apparently used to be sorted according to their genres. Tane shook her head solemnly. She told the librarian that it would be fine. She would be able to find the book even with everything out of place. With that, she walked over to the shelves and began her epic search. Tucking a strand of dark brown hair, Tane felt the spines of the books, reading the humans’ language, going on until she would find a match with the book the old lady had asked her to bring back. So far, after an entire shelf, she still could not find the book. With a sigh, she continued.

The next shelf must have been for the historical genre, because there were a lot of historical books still on the shelf. The boys must have paid little attention to this one. Tane felt a small amused smile form on her lips. She stole a glance at the boys through the gaps between the books on the shelf. Tane turned to the other side of the narrow path she was in, to look through another shelf. It was thoroughly messed up, this one. She saw all kinds of genres in this one. Romance, Mystery, Adventure, Action, Non-Fiction. Tane frowned a little. She still could not find the book she was supposed to. It was starting to get annoying, but she forced herself to remain calm and collected - which she did. It was not going to work if she was in a hurry and furious at the same time. The boys were still making noises and laughing, running around. They did not come to her though. In fact, they did not seem to notice her presence.

It was her fifth shelf now and it seemed like she was about to give up. Tane slouched her shoulders in a defeated manner, walking over to the seats and placing herself on one of the least destroyed ones. The librarian came over, politely giving her a cup of tea. She smiled, accepting the kind offer. “Thank you,” she would say before sipping from the cup, slowly, allowing the warm liquid to travel down her esophagus and sooth her nerves. The lady would sit with her, talking to her about the history of the library and whatnot. She also talked about how she was so good at making tea since Tane asked. She apparently inherited the talent from her grandfather who was a teashop owner, with a lot of branches all over Fiore. Since her grandfather died, the teashops could not survive without him and were not allowed keep standing. Tane frowned at how the humans had strange systems, the way they had developed a currency of sorts for people and how it ruled their lives.

Tane stood up with new hope and determination. Handing the librarian her cup with a slight bow, she scoured the shelves once more. It was going to take a while, but she would find it in due time. After about fifteen minutes, she had found it. The love story that the old lady wanted to relive by reading it. It was an old book, yellowing pages and whatnot. But it was not too fragile because when one of the boys snatched it away from her, it did not fall apart. Tane blinked in confusion before reality set in and she would chase after the boy and the book. She noticed from the corner of her left eye, the librarian slapping her own forehead. Tane stopped and waited for the boy to stop. “Give me the book back,” she said, loud for him to hear from a meter away. The kid shook his head then stuck his tongue out. Tane could hear the sounds of him crying while his mother caned him. “I don't want to hit you where your mom did. It's going to hurt twice as much,” she continued in a flat tone.

The boy watched her with a shocked expression about her face. The rest of the children stopped in their actions and watched, confused looks painted on their faces. Tane stood still, watching the kid with the book whose eyes were flitting from her to his friends. Suddenly, he threw the book at her which Tane thankfully caught with both her hands. He then walked out the library, seemingly ashamed. The Sabertooth mage flipped through the pages for a quick read. It was a nicely written book. In fact, it was a bestseller, according to what was written on the cover of the book. Tane then walked over to the librarian and borrowed it with the old lady's name. “Have fun reading!” she shouted after Tane to which the girl nodded, heading back to the old lady. She almost took the wrong turn as the paths were unfamiliar to her. In the end, she reached the old lady's house. The aged woman was waiting for her at her doorstep, watching people walk by.

“You are back!” the old lady exclaimed. The smile on her face was priceless. Tane handed her the book and took a few steps back, watching her client feel the cover of the book and slowly flip through the pages. “Yes...this is the one,” she whispered. Tane lit up with happiness. It was beautiful how a single work of fiction by another human could touch this one. She could sense the intense emotions that the aged human was experiencing. Then, she brought out some money which Tane refused as politely as she could, but it did not work. The old woman looked like she was going to break down into tears if she did not accept her reward. “Please,” she pleaded. Tane could not stand it and so she took it, the reward that was in the form of money. She would have accepted it even if her reward was a hug. She loved the presence of such a Pure being. After bidding each other farewell, Tane left, slightly amused but very happy.