"The Piper's Song?"
"Yes dear, by the talented Ms Brome. She was a wizard from your guild, once upon a time ago."
Akihime looked to the wizened Mrs. Digby, her hand freezing on the door handle. "She was in Lamia Scale? What type of magic did she have? Did you ever meet her?" It was particularly important for her to learn about the history of her guild, she wanted to be part of a legacy of noble wizards, part of something she could be proud of. This job had originally been accepted because Akihime had a fondness for rare books and the libraries she often found them in - but a new incentive had prevented itself, her eyes glowing at the new-found and unexpected connection between herself and the rare book Mrs. Digby was so adamant about reading again.
Maybe I'll borrow it from her when she's finished reading it. I want to see what kind of a writer Ms. Angelica Brome is.
Mrs. Digby's eyes crinkled at the edges with her smile, the crows-feet prominent after so many years spent laughing and crying and living. "If you come back with the book I've requested, I'll tell you all about her over a nice hot cup of tea."
Akihime smiled, feeling a certain fondness for the old woman, agreeing with a single certain nod. "I'll be back soon, I'll find your book no matter what, Mrs. Digby." You can leave it to me.
This was more than something she could handle - books were a special kind of treasure to her, and now that she knew this one was extra special for both her and the old woman, there was nothing that would stop her from obtaining it. Except for maybe library closing hours.
"I'm sorry Miss, the book you're looking for is in this library, however..."
"However...?" A free hand combed through silky reddish brown hair, her brows knitting together into a perplexed look, not liking how the library clerk seemed to be hiding something. Or was at the very least reluctant to tell her what had happened to the book Mrs. Digby wanted.
"Where is it?"
Mr. Sanders looked up from his lacrima-computer, sounding apologetic. "I haven't a clue. Some kids got into the library early this morning and rearranged all the books on the shelves, so we've no idea where anything is!" He sounded truly distressed over the matter, and Akihime let out a small sigh, pushing aside her own irritation over the situation to be at least a little more understanding.
"That's alright, I'll look around and see what I can find."
She hadn't noticed it earlier, but there wasn't a single hair or thread out of place in Mr. Sanders' clothes - his hair was as neat as it could be, his clothing not a single wrinkle or fold, and his shoes were remarkably shiny. He probably folds and labels his underwear for each day of the week. Akihime suppressed a humored grin, finding his slightly obsessive compulsive personality to be just a little bit funny, given the circumstances.
This was probably going to keep him up at night, long after the library staff had wrangled all the books back to their respective places and the children back to their respective, embarrassed parents.
She left Mr. Sanders to wring his hands and straighten his tie some more and made a beeline for the nearest section, titled World History. It would take a herculean effort not to get distracted with so many interesting books and tomes and ancient translated texts, but she was up for the task. All she had to do was find one book in this three story library, Mr. Sanders and the others had to find them all and put them back in order.
Three hours later, Akihime had finally given up hope of ever finding that stupid book for old whatshername - her frustration growing so large she felt tempted to throw some of these books out the window, if it would mean a decrease in the numbers she still had to go through. Pausing to drink from the public fountain next to the language books, Akihime splashed water on her face and neck, trying to rub away the headache lodged firmly between her eyes, and somehow restore a little of the vigor she'd first arrived with.
Where the hell is that stupid book?
As if in answer of her prayers, the edge of a worn looking green novel winked at her from the middle of a shelf full of cookbooks, and, curious, Akihime abandoned the drinking fountain to approach. Wiping her hands off on her pant legs, she reached out and plucked it from the shelf with nimble fingers, at first having difficulty making out the tarnished golden lettering that she could tell had once been of a beautiful and skilled craftsmanship. The book itself couldn't have been anymore than 200 pages - thin and neat, about 9 inches in length, a slim novel that was incredibly easy to lose. She now understood why she'd had such difficulty trying to find it.
Wedged between Magical Cooking for the Inexperienced and Food Wars: The Meatpocalypse, the slender green hardback book would've been so easy to skip over. Apparently when someone had so rudely shoved it in it's improper section, they hadn't bothered to do so all the way, and thus the Piper's Song had caught her eyes in the nick of time. She'd been on the brink of giving up, of admitting failure and stomping back to Mrs. Digby with a general aura of disappointment and frustration. A real storm of unpleasantness.
Smiling in triumph, Akihime almost raised her fist in a celebratory gesture in accompaniment with a joyous shout, but she remembered her surroundings at the last possible second.
Whoops.
Her triumph was short-lived, however, as a freckle-faced, ginger-haired menace who had been lurking behind a stack of old culinary magazines, darted out and snatched the rare book right out of her hands. Shocked, Akihime looked after the flash of ginger that tore off with a high pitched giggle, knocking her senses back into her body so that she was quick to give chase.
"HEY! Give that back right now!"
In a tempestuous burst of speed, Akihime nearly knocked over the bookshelf of cookbooks as she launched herself at breakneck speeds after the little squirt - but he was nimble, and had a greater understanding of the library's layout than she.
She chased him all the way past the checkout desk, and she barely heard the startled Mr. Sanders shout after her "No running in the HEY WAIT--" as she rounded the corner to the staircase beyond. Following hot on the boy's trail, Akihime put on an extra burst of speed, blowing a stack of magazines in every which way as a side effect. The boy seemed to sense she was gaining on him, because he yanked a trolley jam-packed with books (likely the recollection and redistribution of books back into their proper places had already begun) out into the aisle to trip her up, and she smacked her knees right into it. Cursing in a very unladylike fashion, her eyes were seeing red, having no mercy left for the little prankster.
Furious, Akihime limped around the trolley and took off, this time adopting a slower pace out of [s]pain[/s] stealth, intending to creep up on the little brat without him knowing.
It took a bit of tracking, but she finally caught up to him in the self-help books. Her knees aching from the impact - she likely had matching bruises now, awesome - Akihime caught the boy by the arm. "GIVE. ME. THAT. BOOK." She seethed. "PLEASE." Keeping a tight hold of his arm and her manners, she thrust out her free hand, palm up, for him to place the book into it, and he did so with a pale face and rapidly watering eyes.
"B-But I was just having f-f-fun!"
As quickly as it had blown in, her anger began to dissipate; weak to tears, particularly from children, the wind user's grip on the boy's arm began to slacken a little, going from a vise-like hold to one that was a little more comforting, rubbing the kid's back.
"Hey, sorry I yelled." Her brows knit together in concern as the waterworks didn't appear to be slowing down any. "But you really need to cut this out. You're causing Mr. Sanders a lot of trouble."
The boy's previously sad expression melted into one of frustration and an unmistakable pout, small fists rubbing the tears from his eyes. "SO!" He shouted, hiccuping. "Maybe if my Dad paid more attention me, all of his stupid books wouldn't have ended up in different places!"
taken aback by this outburst, Akihime regarded him with some confusion. "Your Dad? Is he here in the library? Does he know where you are?"
"My Dad," he sniffled, "Is Mr. Sanders!"
"What?" Shocked, Akihime crouched down to look at the boy properly, noticing the same watery green eyes she'd first espied on Mr. Sanders, though that's where their similarities ended. The boy seemed to be rebelling from his father's obsessive compulsive nature by dressing as sloppily as possible - and his hands were stained from markers and glue and dirt and who knew what else. He frowned, face scrunched as he tried not to bawl harder.
"What's your name?"
"D-Dominic." He hiccuped again.
"Well Dominic, does your Dad know how you feel?" Alright so she was originally here for the book, (which was now safely in her possession) but she couldn't just leave this kid here by himself, not when he was crying like that.
Dominic shook his head, no.
"He's always spending his time in the library! Every time I ask him to play with me, he says he's too busy or that he's going back to the library. I thought if I messed things up, he'd quit and we could spend time together!"
Akihime felt her throat tighten a little. She was such a sucker for things like this, though the kid's story felt truly genuine. It almost made her think of her own parents (or lack thereof), but she was quick to suppress that maelstrom of emotions she didn't want to bring up right now.
"I didn't know you felt that way, Dom..."
They both turned to espy Mr. Sanders, looking apologetic a few feet behind Akihime, his arms spread a few inches from his sides in a 'can you forgive me?' gesture. "I know I haven't been able to spend as much time with you as I'd like to, but what with the reconstruction and the recataloging - which I now have to redo--"
Akihime glowered at the library clerk as Dominic cried harder, obviously feeling the guilt and the futile efforts of his plan.
Mr Sanders seemed to realize his error, because his expression softened, and he replaced Akihime by kneeling down on one knee in front of the boy, reaching out to hold him gently by the shoulders - the wind user straightening and moving out of the way.
"I'm sorry I haven't been able to play with you, Dom. But I'll change that, I promise," he gave a soft, short laugh, brushing his thumb over his son's cheeks, wiping away the tears. "This little...ah, game of hide and go seek has made us realize that we are a bit understaffed."
Dominic rubbed his face on his sleeve, nose red from his rough gesture and present state of misery.
Mr. Sanders squeezed his shoulders, comforting. "Which means we'll have to hire new people. Which also means I won't have to work such long hours. I can spend more time with you, Dominic. How does that sound?"
Akihime suddenly became very interested in a nearby pamphlet discouraging dog-earring pages, as the father and son embraced, the wind user wanting to give them a little privacy. She smiled, hardly reading the pamphlet.
Glad that ended well.
She left the library after saying her goodbyes to Dominic and his father, Mr. Sanders' voice the last thing she heard, saying
"Now here, we can spend some time together putting everything back in working order - ready Dom?"
They had a long afternoon ahead of them.
Having nearly forgotten the original requirements of the job, Akihime had wandered halfway to the pastry shop before it all came back to her, and she was left sprinting to old Mrs. Digby's cottage on the outskirts of Peace Village.
She found the old woman in her sewing room, sipping tea with a basketful of yarn next to her, and something that looked like a very garish scarf.
"I - got - it," she panted, holding out the Piper's Song with one hand on her sore knee, wincing.
Mrs. Digby took it from her delightedly, and Akihime took a seat opposite her, sinking into the chair with a groan. So much running today.
"Oh wonderful my dear, I hope it didn't cause you too much trouble."
"Oh no trouble at all, Mrs. Digby. Everything went swimmingly." Akihime's smile didn't quite reach all the way up to her eyes, but Mrs. Digby hadn't really noticed. In her short respite, her vigor had been renewed, and she finally remembered what it was that had gotten her so excited about retrieving this book in the first place.
"Can you tell me about Angelica Brome now, Mrs. Digby? What kind of magic did she use?"
Mrs. Digby cackled into her tea, stroking the bookcover fondly.
"Who?"
Akihime blinked. "What?"
"Who's Angelica Brome?"
"The author of the book!" she squeaked, wondering if the woman's memory was starting to fail her. "You told me she was a former Lamia Scale wizard, remember? The author of that book?"
Mrs. Digby chuckled.
"Oh that. I only told you that so you'd get the book faster, though you were still three hours later than I expected."
Akihime groaned and sank down to the floor, exhausted.
"Yes dear, by the talented Ms Brome. She was a wizard from your guild, once upon a time ago."
Akihime looked to the wizened Mrs. Digby, her hand freezing on the door handle. "She was in Lamia Scale? What type of magic did she have? Did you ever meet her?" It was particularly important for her to learn about the history of her guild, she wanted to be part of a legacy of noble wizards, part of something she could be proud of. This job had originally been accepted because Akihime had a fondness for rare books and the libraries she often found them in - but a new incentive had prevented itself, her eyes glowing at the new-found and unexpected connection between herself and the rare book Mrs. Digby was so adamant about reading again.
Maybe I'll borrow it from her when she's finished reading it. I want to see what kind of a writer Ms. Angelica Brome is.
Mrs. Digby's eyes crinkled at the edges with her smile, the crows-feet prominent after so many years spent laughing and crying and living. "If you come back with the book I've requested, I'll tell you all about her over a nice hot cup of tea."
Akihime smiled, feeling a certain fondness for the old woman, agreeing with a single certain nod. "I'll be back soon, I'll find your book no matter what, Mrs. Digby." You can leave it to me.
This was more than something she could handle - books were a special kind of treasure to her, and now that she knew this one was extra special for both her and the old woman, there was nothing that would stop her from obtaining it. Except for maybe library closing hours.
~*~
"I'm sorry Miss, the book you're looking for is in this library, however..."
"However...?" A free hand combed through silky reddish brown hair, her brows knitting together into a perplexed look, not liking how the library clerk seemed to be hiding something. Or was at the very least reluctant to tell her what had happened to the book Mrs. Digby wanted.
"Where is it?"
Mr. Sanders looked up from his lacrima-computer, sounding apologetic. "I haven't a clue. Some kids got into the library early this morning and rearranged all the books on the shelves, so we've no idea where anything is!" He sounded truly distressed over the matter, and Akihime let out a small sigh, pushing aside her own irritation over the situation to be at least a little more understanding.
"That's alright, I'll look around and see what I can find."
She hadn't noticed it earlier, but there wasn't a single hair or thread out of place in Mr. Sanders' clothes - his hair was as neat as it could be, his clothing not a single wrinkle or fold, and his shoes were remarkably shiny. He probably folds and labels his underwear for each day of the week. Akihime suppressed a humored grin, finding his slightly obsessive compulsive personality to be just a little bit funny, given the circumstances.
This was probably going to keep him up at night, long after the library staff had wrangled all the books back to their respective places and the children back to their respective, embarrassed parents.
She left Mr. Sanders to wring his hands and straighten his tie some more and made a beeline for the nearest section, titled World History. It would take a herculean effort not to get distracted with so many interesting books and tomes and ancient translated texts, but she was up for the task. All she had to do was find one book in this three story library, Mr. Sanders and the others had to find them all and put them back in order.
Three hours later, Akihime had finally given up hope of ever finding that stupid book for old whatshername - her frustration growing so large she felt tempted to throw some of these books out the window, if it would mean a decrease in the numbers she still had to go through. Pausing to drink from the public fountain next to the language books, Akihime splashed water on her face and neck, trying to rub away the headache lodged firmly between her eyes, and somehow restore a little of the vigor she'd first arrived with.
Where the hell is that stupid book?
As if in answer of her prayers, the edge of a worn looking green novel winked at her from the middle of a shelf full of cookbooks, and, curious, Akihime abandoned the drinking fountain to approach. Wiping her hands off on her pant legs, she reached out and plucked it from the shelf with nimble fingers, at first having difficulty making out the tarnished golden lettering that she could tell had once been of a beautiful and skilled craftsmanship. The book itself couldn't have been anymore than 200 pages - thin and neat, about 9 inches in length, a slim novel that was incredibly easy to lose. She now understood why she'd had such difficulty trying to find it.
Wedged between Magical Cooking for the Inexperienced and Food Wars: The Meatpocalypse, the slender green hardback book would've been so easy to skip over. Apparently when someone had so rudely shoved it in it's improper section, they hadn't bothered to do so all the way, and thus the Piper's Song had caught her eyes in the nick of time. She'd been on the brink of giving up, of admitting failure and stomping back to Mrs. Digby with a general aura of disappointment and frustration. A real storm of unpleasantness.
Smiling in triumph, Akihime almost raised her fist in a celebratory gesture in accompaniment with a joyous shout, but she remembered her surroundings at the last possible second.
Whoops.
Her triumph was short-lived, however, as a freckle-faced, ginger-haired menace who had been lurking behind a stack of old culinary magazines, darted out and snatched the rare book right out of her hands. Shocked, Akihime looked after the flash of ginger that tore off with a high pitched giggle, knocking her senses back into her body so that she was quick to give chase.
"HEY! Give that back right now!"
In a tempestuous burst of speed, Akihime nearly knocked over the bookshelf of cookbooks as she launched herself at breakneck speeds after the little squirt - but he was nimble, and had a greater understanding of the library's layout than she.
She chased him all the way past the checkout desk, and she barely heard the startled Mr. Sanders shout after her "No running in the HEY WAIT--" as she rounded the corner to the staircase beyond. Following hot on the boy's trail, Akihime put on an extra burst of speed, blowing a stack of magazines in every which way as a side effect. The boy seemed to sense she was gaining on him, because he yanked a trolley jam-packed with books (likely the recollection and redistribution of books back into their proper places had already begun) out into the aisle to trip her up, and she smacked her knees right into it. Cursing in a very unladylike fashion, her eyes were seeing red, having no mercy left for the little prankster.
Furious, Akihime limped around the trolley and took off, this time adopting a slower pace out of [s]pain[/s] stealth, intending to creep up on the little brat without him knowing.
It took a bit of tracking, but she finally caught up to him in the self-help books. Her knees aching from the impact - she likely had matching bruises now, awesome - Akihime caught the boy by the arm. "GIVE. ME. THAT. BOOK." She seethed. "PLEASE." Keeping a tight hold of his arm and her manners, she thrust out her free hand, palm up, for him to place the book into it, and he did so with a pale face and rapidly watering eyes.
"B-But I was just having f-f-fun!"
As quickly as it had blown in, her anger began to dissipate; weak to tears, particularly from children, the wind user's grip on the boy's arm began to slacken a little, going from a vise-like hold to one that was a little more comforting, rubbing the kid's back.
"Hey, sorry I yelled." Her brows knit together in concern as the waterworks didn't appear to be slowing down any. "But you really need to cut this out. You're causing Mr. Sanders a lot of trouble."
The boy's previously sad expression melted into one of frustration and an unmistakable pout, small fists rubbing the tears from his eyes. "SO!" He shouted, hiccuping. "Maybe if my Dad paid more attention me, all of his stupid books wouldn't have ended up in different places!"
taken aback by this outburst, Akihime regarded him with some confusion. "Your Dad? Is he here in the library? Does he know where you are?"
"My Dad," he sniffled, "Is Mr. Sanders!"
"What?" Shocked, Akihime crouched down to look at the boy properly, noticing the same watery green eyes she'd first espied on Mr. Sanders, though that's where their similarities ended. The boy seemed to be rebelling from his father's obsessive compulsive nature by dressing as sloppily as possible - and his hands were stained from markers and glue and dirt and who knew what else. He frowned, face scrunched as he tried not to bawl harder.
"What's your name?"
"D-Dominic." He hiccuped again.
"Well Dominic, does your Dad know how you feel?" Alright so she was originally here for the book, (which was now safely in her possession) but she couldn't just leave this kid here by himself, not when he was crying like that.
Dominic shook his head, no.
"He's always spending his time in the library! Every time I ask him to play with me, he says he's too busy or that he's going back to the library. I thought if I messed things up, he'd quit and we could spend time together!"
Akihime felt her throat tighten a little. She was such a sucker for things like this, though the kid's story felt truly genuine. It almost made her think of her own parents (or lack thereof), but she was quick to suppress that maelstrom of emotions she didn't want to bring up right now.
"I didn't know you felt that way, Dom..."
They both turned to espy Mr. Sanders, looking apologetic a few feet behind Akihime, his arms spread a few inches from his sides in a 'can you forgive me?' gesture. "I know I haven't been able to spend as much time with you as I'd like to, but what with the reconstruction and the recataloging - which I now have to redo--"
Akihime glowered at the library clerk as Dominic cried harder, obviously feeling the guilt and the futile efforts of his plan.
Mr Sanders seemed to realize his error, because his expression softened, and he replaced Akihime by kneeling down on one knee in front of the boy, reaching out to hold him gently by the shoulders - the wind user straightening and moving out of the way.
"I'm sorry I haven't been able to play with you, Dom. But I'll change that, I promise," he gave a soft, short laugh, brushing his thumb over his son's cheeks, wiping away the tears. "This little...ah, game of hide and go seek has made us realize that we are a bit understaffed."
Dominic rubbed his face on his sleeve, nose red from his rough gesture and present state of misery.
Mr. Sanders squeezed his shoulders, comforting. "Which means we'll have to hire new people. Which also means I won't have to work such long hours. I can spend more time with you, Dominic. How does that sound?"
Akihime suddenly became very interested in a nearby pamphlet discouraging dog-earring pages, as the father and son embraced, the wind user wanting to give them a little privacy. She smiled, hardly reading the pamphlet.
Glad that ended well.
She left the library after saying her goodbyes to Dominic and his father, Mr. Sanders' voice the last thing she heard, saying
"Now here, we can spend some time together putting everything back in working order - ready Dom?"
They had a long afternoon ahead of them.
Having nearly forgotten the original requirements of the job, Akihime had wandered halfway to the pastry shop before it all came back to her, and she was left sprinting to old Mrs. Digby's cottage on the outskirts of Peace Village.
She found the old woman in her sewing room, sipping tea with a basketful of yarn next to her, and something that looked like a very garish scarf.
"I - got - it," she panted, holding out the Piper's Song with one hand on her sore knee, wincing.
Mrs. Digby took it from her delightedly, and Akihime took a seat opposite her, sinking into the chair with a groan. So much running today.
"Oh wonderful my dear, I hope it didn't cause you too much trouble."
"Oh no trouble at all, Mrs. Digby. Everything went swimmingly." Akihime's smile didn't quite reach all the way up to her eyes, but Mrs. Digby hadn't really noticed. In her short respite, her vigor had been renewed, and she finally remembered what it was that had gotten her so excited about retrieving this book in the first place.
"Can you tell me about Angelica Brome now, Mrs. Digby? What kind of magic did she use?"
Mrs. Digby cackled into her tea, stroking the bookcover fondly.
"Who?"
Akihime blinked. "What?"
"Who's Angelica Brome?"
"The author of the book!" she squeaked, wondering if the woman's memory was starting to fail her. "You told me she was a former Lamia Scale wizard, remember? The author of that book?"
Mrs. Digby chuckled.
"Oh that. I only told you that so you'd get the book faster, though you were still three hours later than I expected."
Akihime groaned and sank down to the floor, exhausted.
Word Count: 2,343
((XD went a little overboard, haha. Just kinda got into a writing groove.))
