#earthrunes

"Mayhaps! We have pooka, satyrs, sidhe.... no sluagh..." a faint sigh.

"If you had a sluagh childling here, maybe you wouldn't notice?" Wryly, a wistful sigh himself. Perhaps thinking of a young lady he recently helped. a smile, "i'm sure there's more than one out and about in town. Is the library only for those of the hold? or to any fae?"

"It ought to be to the whole barony - at least the front half."

"Mayhaps guests. Oh! We could issue cards!"

"you, Miss Zara, are a fierce Academic into your very blood"

"Oh, I shall be a proper librarian, someday..."

A soft tapping at the door. "Knock Knock?" Comes a soft rumble from the other side.

"Master Aslan." A bow to the pooka, bending low over the hand on her chest.

He frowns, his brow furrowing up. "I could have sworn my name was, "Who's there?" A sigh. "Youth of today, lamentable, they never learned the classics..." Stepping in, holding a slim volume and a carrying a small bag.

he turns around and sees the Lion Pooka, "Ah, greetings sir."

"You are returning?" She extends a hand for the book. "I trust Sir Almond pleased?"

"Indeed, but I seem to have forgotten the skills of college. I mean, I remember the important ones like how to bounce a ping-pong ball to land in the right glass, but studying is harder than I remember. And my notes are still simply reprehensible. It's just like my English professor always used to say..."

Ping. HA!

He looks distant for a moment, a little grin creeping across his face.

Almandine raises a brow, and looks about

"...aye?"

"Thought I heard something, apologies."

"Stop that, I'll lose my job... oh, to hell with Tenure!" A small shake of his head, mane flashing, as he comes back down to earth, and offers the book back to Zara. "I don't suppose there is a volume two?"

"Oh, I found this, too. I'm pretty sure it belongs in here." He offers the bag to Zara as well - there is a bit of tissue paper within wrapped around another book.

"Careful, a Book wyrm may claim your treasure" Almandine says under his breath as a book is presented

"Oh, I rather count on it." He gives Almandine a grin.

Zara, meanwhile, is already unwrapping the new book.

"No sequel that I know of, alas. Mayhaps you must build upon it and create your own mystic mixers..."

"Are you into alchemy sir?" A look at the mention of mystic mixers

To say new, is, perhaps, a stretch, as the book is second hand, and even has some residue of a price sticker recently prized off the cover. It is still in rather good condition, though, but for a torn dust jacket repared with scotch tape, and faded ink indide the cover - "To Sasha, love Baba". It is a slim hardcover volumn of Russian folk tales, perhaps only outstanding in the intricate art prints.

"Because you mentioned, the wee liz was too young for some Russian tales, I figured, a good place to start, eh? If nothing else, the pictures are a bit of pretty."

A soft gasp of delight from the sluagh, slender fingertips tracing lovingly over the creased paper, the scrawled words...

"They didn't have any with a lion, but a clever wolf, well. I'm sure that's as close as they got, in Russia. Now, if there HAD been lions about, I am sure that one would have figured prominently..."

"Oh, aye, aye..." Flipping through, dark eyes sparkling. "Oh, how perfectly lovely this is..."

A glance over to Almandine, and he rubs at his neck sheepishly. "I wouldn't QUITE claim as much, sir, but I do like to dabble with a draught here and there..."

"Why, just this morning I learned how to turn water into vodka. Just ask the Herald."

He leans in, and whispers to the sidhe in a covered hand aside, "And to think, most only know how to do it the other way around!"

"I think you have scored some points," he says to Vince as Zara all but coos over the book, then a chuckle "Ah, that would explain the language. I know just enough Gaelish to recognize cursing."

"I had an idea that she might, a bit of foretelling. I read it in the tea leaves, you see."

Zara dances off to show the book to the wee dragon, whispering to her about the pictures - and look, here, a gift from a grandmother!

"FIne fellow, Inish," He says, "I think he hopes that I'm more of the type of noble he's ready for. You know, 'very Eiluned'"

"Are you a gambling man, Sir Osmund?"

"Thank you for the book, Master Aslan! i think Bronte will like it very much." Yes. 'Bronte' will....

"Sometimes on purpose, more often by necessity. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you see, I have been looking for someone with good eyesight. Very farsighted, in fact. Might as well be Legolas. And me, being a gambling man, flipped a coin to decide where to go look. And wouldn't you know it, it fell on it's side, and rolled all the way to the library door.

He pauses to peer around. "Personally, my money was on the dragon, but confound it, she seems to be busy."

"Now whose fault is that, sir?" A look to the book then a smile

"Well, I am the Court Seer, you are of the hold, so by all means, my services are yours"

A soft rumble of amusement. "No good deed goes unpunished, indeed." A shrug. "As a stand-in, I'm sure you will do tolerable. Ahm." The subject broached, he suddenly seems at a bit of a loss for words. "Well, I... wasn't sure I'd get this far." A delicate pause, and he starts again. "You see, there is a lady."

A pained look, "Is this a matter of romance?" The Eiluned asks

A flicker of interest from the sluagh, though the new book is fierce competition.

A shake of his mane. "Oh, I know you'd think so, a handsome face like this. But no, the ladies who I romance, the only trick needed is how to break their hearts gently - the future, you see, is always someone new. No, rather... ah. I would. Um." He clears his throat. "She's a past acquaintance, you see, and, ah. I merely want to make sure that, that." He runs a hand through his mane of hair, and looks somewhat lost. "Drat and bother and confound my tongue." He mutters.

"Can heartbreak ever be gentle?"

"Ah, your kith has its challenges, " a soft frown, "And we too often make light of it. If you like, I can cast a few omens, and see what I can learn is best for you as Da'an might share. The more you can tell me the better I might be, but I know there are limits."

He drums his fingers on a table top, then glances back up at Almandine. "You know, I read a story, once..." He ventures. "There was a mortal woman, filled with woe and heartbreak. And the fair folk came, and spirited her away for a night of revelry. Indeed, the kind fairies made her their Queen, as they frolicked and danced and feasted on starlight and dewdrops, oh, you know, as they tend to do. And this Mortal, she had but one wish, she longed for a child of her own. Now, TRADITIONAL fairies might go seeking under a cabbage leaf or inside a bamboo stalk, but these ones were more practical, and set about it the old fashioned way." He chuckles, shaking his head at the ridiculous idea. "But, the fair folk are fickle, and sent her away ere the sun dawned with naught but faint memories of a good time as they drifted back to their daffodils and mushroom circles, or to go make cookies in hollow trees." A hand waving absently.