#earthrunes

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Oh glorious day, the library was wonderful! Or, well, it's wonderful now! A proper library! Zara found a book that had enryptions galore, sure, it seems to be a book of mediocre verse, but if you take the square root of pi, translate it into a reverse alphabet, and then drop every fifth letter... one gets mention of an art known as Contract (See C20) and a name of two different teachers. One of them a noble, the other a nocker! It's almost a primer

Oh, Hirim would LOVE this! Zara is taking notes, ostensibly working out the cipher on paper.

Bronte has her own pile of books to explore - poetry and history and magic!

But it was August who found the real prize. A secret passage way! Behind a brick that..well, it lead to a whole nother library! And this is where the juicy stuff was kept.

The Former Baron greedily kept first edition works here. All to himself.

August can't take it all in, but he tries... his fingertips trailing gently over the spines, his soul open to the Glamour of the room, Kenning to meet these beauties and know them better.

"The writings of Count of St. Germain" "Crowley's Confusions by Lord Shandrith ap Eiluned" "Divina Commedia" (A book that looks to be well over 4 centuries old)

Zar is currently immersed in her pile. ((hem hem))

"Oh...." A reverent sigh.

"Oh? August?" She looks up from her books, curious.

And a first print of 12 magazines of Collier's Weekly, the twelve that had the first serialized print of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Behind the secret panel he found, he misses the whisper.

His ears are buzzing, anyway.

Zara goes hunting for the Liam.

Zara finds the same niche after a time, and may console herself her first find distracted her from this one. That is a well hidden secret door though.

"Oh, Eiluned... oh!" Her dark eyes widen when she realizes just what a treasure trove is there.

He turns to look at her, his grey eyes starry. "Zara....."

The Baron kept this to himself, for himself, and yes, perhaps that made him a bad man, but oh, he kept it in pristine condition, and as no boggan made in here... he did the work, without complaint.

"What a treasure, August! Oh, you are so lucky..."

"-We- are, Zara." He grins crookedly, finding his voice. "We are."

"It... -Dante-, August! James!" Even in a whisper, her excitement is evident.

Sounds of childlings in the hallways.

Bronte launches, flapping in still-clumsy arcs to investigate the sound.

"They're up to something in there," Catir says "And as childlings, we have a calling, nay, a duty, to intrude and see what's going on." //"Yup. It could be good," Freddy says//"We should check for candy..." two pooka agree. The childlings are going to get their greasy mits on the books!

Zara.... twists her hand, making a gripping and yanking gesture as her sharp ears catch the plotting.

August is still distracted by the beauties....

In the outer room... oh.. oh my, those shadows LOOM, alive, with long dark fingers that seem to reach and catch....

... but Zara's motion jerks his attention away.

"What... oh.... Oh, no, maybe not now."

The kids see the shadows, "What..what's that?" "Nothing , a challenge, we shall not be deterred..." And then Brontie gets near a candle, casting her own shadow, along the hall...naturally, it stretches!

She yawns... but the Shadow-beast gapes, revealing a maw of wicked fangs!

August seals the hidden library's door against discovery... with himself inside. When/if Zara taps, she'll be let in.

'we will not be... " Where are you guys going? " Catir calls out as the sounds of footsteps of other childlings abound. "oh come on! you're making me look bad!" The unsained Gwydion gives chase, "You guys!" and the childlings are gone

Bronte says "Faint hurt never won fair lady" And snorts, before fluttering back

"Oh, you clever girl..." A grey smile and an affectionate head-scritch.

Bronte leans into it, then glances towards where those treasured books are kept, "I can resist anything except temptation" then adds "Oscar Wilde"

"A hard thing to resist, aye."

"Once more into the breach?" Hopeful look at the books

"We do what we must, Bronte." A gentle tap on the door, to be allowed into August's sanctum sanctorum

And they are let in, for August must make his way to report to Coradel. He glows with the glamour of a book lover, one that Zara understands. Writers can muse you centuries after they're dead.

Zara.... daren't touch, not yet... she simply drinks in titles with her eyes.

Oh, she will bask along side her bookwyrm, and indeed, some of the words in the books echo on Bronte's scales.

A happy, happy sigh.

And this is where we leave them, a girl and her bookwyrm. Life can be dangerous, it can be dreary, and even doom filled, but there are moments akin to moonlight striking the water parting silver clouds and purple milky way, that is...there are moments of pure wonder and intense joy of the soul.

(End scene)