#earthrunes

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A young squire sorts through the library books with delicacy, and precision, careful not to shuffle the books haphazardly Velvet works happily. She likes working with the books.

August slips into the library, glancing around with great attention at first, then settling on his squire.

"Good morning, Squire." He says softly as he crosses to her.

She turns and bows, hand splayed over chest, "Greetings, Liege. I have found that copy of Arte Poética you wanted by Juan de Mairena "

"Oh, excellent, can I see?"

Velvet hands over the book, purely chimeical it's cover and pages, "Of course, Juan De Mairena is considered a fictional author himself, but that hardly stops the dreaming."

"All books contain the potential for all books..." He murmurs, scanning the text. "Hmm. Spanish."

"Is the lesson, my liege? That Dreamers may accidentally create other creations with their creations, or is there some other reason you had me look this up?" Tilt of head

"Lesson? Ah. Well, I don't think I had a specific lesson in mind but... I thought the idea was fascinating. Like Socrates, or C.S. Lewis, in a way, but with poetry."

"I'll have to do this as a project during the break...."

"It is," she agrees. "Now, Miss Zara is most protective of the library, as are you, I am sure, but as I don't speak Spanish I do feel it is of limited use to me. I have been studying my latin . Will that help read Spanish?"

He pauses a sober moment, and nods. "Yes. My Latin is very limited, but it helps with all the Romance languages. Do you know what they are?"

"Spanish, Italian, French, I'm sure I'm missing one"

He nods. "There are five. Those three, Romanian, and Portuguese."

"Well," A light blush "I am chagrined to have forgotten Romanian. I wath many old movies with stock Gypsy or Rom witches or fortune tellers"

"Well, despite the name it's not really what you think of when you think of Latin. And Portuguese... I can't get a handle on that one, even -with- some Latin. It sounds like Russian and Spanish in the same word."

"I understand it is most spoken in Brazil, not Portugal. Amazing what an imprint one culture can leave on another even after centuries. And language is so personal, so entwined."

He nods. "I've taken a few foreign languages, but ... I'm not fluent."

"I hope to learn the word for Death in over 13 languages"

A quick, sunny grin. "I think that's a fine goal. How many so far?"

She sighs then blinks uhm.. "Seven. Seven for sure"

"That's impressive! Zara.... Zara loves languages too. I bet she could help, if she hasn't already."

"Miss Zara has been most withdrawn of late, at Scarsdale. Hannukah I imagine." A look down to her feet, "She was very gracious with socks"

"Yes. Yes, she is... she is very generous."

"i confess to being unsure what to get her for yule"

He inhales. "Well. I know you are an excellent researcher; what other skills do you think you might have? All I really have is pen and paper, calligraphy and the sort."

"Your calligraphy is wonderful, sir" She ponders "I am not certain. I know anatomy well but that hardly translates to a gift. I've read up on philosophy. I fear I am not a crafter."

He nods. "I've always struggled with that as well. I think it's ok, if you can't make something, to have someone make something for you in fair exchange. Do you need dross, or money?" An honest offer.

A blush "One shouldn't fund my personal accounts, my lord. Else the gift wouldn't be from me, would it?"

"But, you work for me." Reasonably. "I don't mean to offend, please forgive me if I do, but it seems you would need pocket money at times, at least."

"Well, a small amount, say 10 dollars?" Embarrassed "if it's not too much?"

"Of course not!" He slips the money from his wallet to her hand. "More would not be a problem either." He assures her.

"No sir, this will do fine. I will search for good bargains. We slugh do not alwaays want things in mint condition, a great advantage at times"

He grins. "I know. Good point."

"Thank you, Sir" She says "Tylar I have a gift for."

August nods. "I'll make sure Tylar has what he needs for resources, too."

"resources?"

"Either to make things, or buy them."

"Ah, yes," She sayss thoughtful.

He tilts his head, curious, but respects her thoughts.

"Pardon, I grow distracted. I was thinking of the interesting thing about the holidays. Did you know many suicides happen on Christmas? "

He nods. "I've heard conflicting reports. Common sense would seem to say 'many' because it's an obvious time to be overwhelmed. I've read other reports that say 'not more than any other time of year.'"

"Oh.." She seems almost disappointed.

"What's wrong?" He takes a seat beside her.

"I had a theory in my head, well, hypothesis, that the mandatory joy of the season accelerated the rise of inner despair. Perhaps it's based on faulty precepts"

"I can get you some of the research, if you like. Although, fair point, it's not Fae research. Mortal."

"Mortals are very underestimated. I learned that much from a certain Liam"

"I don't know if there's a lot of research on suicide of the Fae." He sidesteps with a light blush. "We don't tend to, usually. Sidhe least of all. But, it happens, I suppose."

"Oh, yes." she says "Satyrs often party to death in tehir grump years. Litterally to death"