Dragonfly Web: Whitestuff

Seven | Library Liv

Ciara stood in front of what had, from far away, looked like a shack. The entrance now seemed as big as a delivery truck. The heavy wood door creaked against her touch and she could already hear the echo of empty space looming inside.

Pebbles suddenly rained from the cliffs above her. She looked up, shielding her eyes, to see what had dislodged them. Rocks. Mountainside. Nothing was there that she could make out. She entered the darkness.

It took a while to adjust from the brightness outside. The huge cavern began to slowly appear. It was a shock that it was so well hidden—and dark, even still. She could just make out shelves ahead, while elegant tapestries hung close to her in the entrance, depicting animals, symbols and shields, some pictures of battles.

She stared ahead and waited until her eyes grew more accustomed. Soon she could hear footsteps and chatting.

There was a woman humming and a second woman's voice, "What's got you so chipper?"

"Oh, hi! Can I help you?" The humming had stopped.

"Excuse me. Yes. Can you tell me where I should go?" Ciara suddenly felt very small.

"We can try. What is it, Honey? Step in where we can see you." The first voice still hummed just a little, even when the woman was speaking."—Form, element or something potential?"

Ciara could only respond, "Um. I don't know."

"No matter. You'll need all three. Don't be shy. You will have them all down in no time."

The musical woman, whom Ciara took to be the one Sadie had called Library Liv, was saying, "Doesn't make any difference. You can start where you like." The second woman busied herself.

Ciara peered into the darkness behind her, just making out the edges of bookshelves—rows of them that seemed some version of endless. She squinted at a sign that read, "Magicae Non Sung in Bibliothecam", but she didn't know what that meant.

"Oh, you'll be wanting some light," and the songstress waved her hand.

The library suddenly lit from floor to very high vaulted ceiling. This is the place! Ciara was speechless. But how do they see? She was speechless, not only because the space was such a large 'vault' as Sadie had said, but because the woman had no walls or switches anywhere near her to turn lights on or off. The brightness now seemed to shine from some inner dimension near to the ceiling and all through the space.

"It was dark!"

"We're used to it." The wave of her hand had been enough to highlight the room in dazzling clarity, with all its old and finely carved features—mostly made from well-polished wood. "You can sit where you like. How about over here?"

Library Liv showed Ciara a table which had on it some books that were flat and almost bigger than she was. "You can watch the students and the valley from here, if you want." But there were no windows.

The woman hummed again and flipped the book open, turning to some sections that now displayed scenes moving on pages. "You can look up your home in the index at the front, as you wish." She turned to go back to the counter, where the second woman was busily coming and going.

"Ma'am—? Pardon me? Sorry."

"Are you all right?" She could see Ciara unconsciously rubbing her head where it hurt.

"Can I get you a cloth? Did you fall coming in?"

"Some water?"

"Of course, Luv!" She went to wave her hand, but stopped. "Wait. Did you want it to be some sort of sap-juice or actual water?"

"Er—I don't know what I like—" Ciara tried to remember. "It's— It's called, um— I don't know."

"Never mind. Coconut brought in by long-tailed parrots is a favourite round here. I'll just get you that."

Ciara didn't know what to say. Then she remembered.

"Oh, I need a map—"

"Sure! Come over here and I'll draw one for you."

The cup and the coconut water appeared on the table, but Ciara followed the woman.

Livara Quek stepped lightly back to the counter. Ciara could now tell the huge checkout desk stood far back from the entrance in the middle of the vault. "Where are you headed? Up? Down?"

Livara reached for a small brown feathered pen behind the desk close to her and pulled out a paper that looked almost handmade. But the librarian could see Ciara was staring at the much larger white plume on a pen displayed on the counter. It seemed to balance itself out of an elaborate, sparkling holder, beside a pile of small pieces of parchment.

"Yes, folks always comment on that. It's pretty isn't it? Donated." She looked back to her desk, with a curious frown. "What are you here to study?"

"I think I need to learn to do—what the others are doing—not really sure." Ciara still stared at the quill and its holder with a gemstone design.

The librarian paused a moment to give her a quizzical look. "One does not learn to do magic. One notices it."

Liv's hand barely moved, but already she had drawn a detailed sketch of the area surrounding the mountain. And Ciara could see many more scratch lines of ink filling in by themselves. Wha—How—? The librarian didn't seem surprised. Ciara stayed quiet.

"May I suggest you go there?" Liv pointed to a spot on her drawing, while the lines continued to fill in all over the map. "They work you less hard."

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