The Scrollrunners

Chapter 14 | Gathering Forces

Talibah wiped the back of her palm across her sweaty forehead as she labored under the beating Egyptian sun. Thankfully, the tedious work of making papyrus scrolls distracted her from thinking about other things. Well... sort of. Such as the fact that her favorite place in the world, along with years worth of precious work, effort, and study were decimated in a fire; or that the fire had been purposefully set ablaze by angry, scared men; or even that her father had basically said "I told you so" after she lamented to him about the attack.

After the fire that night, Talibah had run to the temple to seek solace with the only people who could understand her devastation. That evening was filled with deep sadness, defeat, and rage, but also with companionship, support, and love. She had been surrounded by friends, fellow students, and the new family she had formed while planning the rebellion to open up the Library to all children. Though numb from grieving her beloved secret classroom and all it had stood for, Talibah was aware enough to know that she must return home to Nailah's that night, no matter how much she wanted to stay with her friends at the temple. With a heavy, heavy heart, she had bid her family at the temple goodbye, promising to return the next day to figure out what to do in response to the destruction the Library had wreaked upon their classroom and their morale.

She vaguely recalled that Letes and Arben had walked her home that night (and a very tense Athena, of course), but the only thing she remembered in stark detail against the void that swallowed her upon seeing the classroom in ashes was her father's response.

She had barely walked in the front door of Nailah's humble, welcoming home when a concerned Nailah and her father asked her why she was tear-streaked and covered in dust. In a dull, deadened voice accentuated by lightless eyes, she told them it wasn't dust, but ash from the secret classroom she had created all those years ago. Both of them looked shocked—both at the revealed secret of the classroom (so that's where she's been running off to all these years) and at the fact that some hateful Scholars from the Library had taken such drastic, threatening action as to burn it down.

Nailah's face was a picture of sadness for Talibah's apparent pain, and also of an all-too-knowing, roiling anger towards those who had caused it. Aristarchus, on the other hand, was trembling with rage and fear. Fear for his daughter's safety and fearful of those who had tried to hurt her; angry with his daughter for putting herself at risk and irate with the Library with daring to exploit the risks she'd been taking.

With barely contained rage, Aristarchus, usually a man of many, elaborate words, simply said, "I warned you not to go too far with this, Talibah. You're lucky you didn't end up like your mother." Then, he left the front room to retreat once more into his own.

Each word had hit Talibah like a blow, though she just continued staring emotionlessly at the floor as Athena rubbed against her legs and Nailah took her in her arms, rocked her, and mumbled words of love that Talibah did not hear.

She hadn't seen her father since. Not that she wanted to.

Cut, lay, weave. Cut, lay, weave.

She recanted to herself as she worked, snapping herself out of those too-harsh, too-recent memories. She refocused on the task at hand, occasionally humming along with Vara, who sang with a clear, deep, and beautiful voice. Earlier that day, Talibah and Vara had met at the docks to pick up the latest shipment of papyrus plants that had come in from the Nile river to the south. Vara's papyrus business was a small one, so even though she was the papyrus trader's closest customer, she was the last stop on his route up and around the Mediterranean Sea before he returned home somewhere southwest along the Nile.

Talibah had gotten up very early to begin her day with Vara; it was still completely dark outside and she could hear Nailah snoring in the room next to hers when she rose. She had, of course, told Nailah the night before that she would be out early, making it a point to tell her caretaker where she was ever since running away after the big argument with her father many weeks ago when he found out about her plan to revolt during the Founding Festival (she suspected his outrage had multiplied exponentially upon hearing about the classroom, and she was almost glad she hadn't seen him since, if only to avoid repercussions for her treasonous yet justified actions). Athena, normally a pretty active cat, protested at being up at such an early hour, but as much as the cat loved her sleep, she loved and wanted to protect Talibah more.