They sat on the second floor leaning on the wall of the building, looking out at the almost empty village. He looked up when he felt her poking at his shoulder. She was holding out some bread and meat at him. He tried to say no by shaking his head, but it seemed she would have one of that, for she kept trying to force the foods into his hands. Soon he sighed and accepted the meal and ate. She looked pleased with that.
They sat in silence and ate. After a while, he glanced over at her. Who was she? What was she? As if hearing his thoughts, she looked over and stared at him. She stood and dusted herself off. She held out a hand to him and lifted him to his feet. They carefully climbed in threw a window and went back to ground.
Aidan followed behind her as she began walking. It wasn't until they had been walking for a while, that Aidan realized that she was lost. He stopped and caught her shoulder, and was surprised when she went stiff and stopped as well. "Are you lost?" He asked. She blinked her slanted yellow eyes at him.
He sighed, feeling stupid. She didn't' understand what he was saying. She didn't speal his 'language', so she couldn't deny or confirm what he was asking her. He sighed. This day, all that had happened. He wanted to go to the library. He stopped, his eyes widened.
What if the library was destroyed?
He turned and took off running. He didn't look to see if the strange woman followed, or anything as he passed by. He had to get to the library. He had to. He ran, his chest heaving, His legs burning with how fast he forced himself to run.
He soon came to the building they called school, and ran around to the other building. the library. He ran inside, and stopped. He fell to his knees in relief and tried to catch his breathe. No damage was done.
He looked up when a shadow fell over hi. It was her. She blinked at him, the looked up and around at the library. Her face was blank, her eyes looking bored. Did she not realize what this building was filled with? Did she not realize, though there were only a few, the shelves were filled with books.
"Aidan?" He looked up when he heard his name spoken softly. Near an open door stood a girl. She had dark colored hair and gray eyes, like most people in the village. She was a student of the librarian. One of the very few The elder had taken. She was also in a few of his classes, he felt bad that while he didn't know her name, she knew his.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you with your family?" She asked.
He stood, dusting himself off. "The, tredruge, could only seat four." He said softly. They were in the library after all, they had to be quite. He took a breathe, trying to calm his heart. He looked up again when he heard the girl from class giggle slightly. He followed her eye sight until it reached the strange woman. As she wondered around the library. It was like watching a puppy wonder around in a new home. IT was almost like she was sniffing at the books.
"She isn't from here, is she?" The girl asked. He shook his head. He had to stop himself from stopping the girl from walking over to the strange woman. He wasn't sure what either of them would do.
While he didn't know the girl, he saw how she acted around school, she was...weird. She was impulsive and unpredictable. It made people question if the elder was going senile, for picking someone like her as one of his students. No one said anything though, he was an elder. No one dared question what they did.
Then there was the strange woman. She didn't speak their language. She could control words (at least, Aidan believed she did.) Plus, she gave of this strange aura. Aidan didn't know how to describe it.
The girl stopped next to the woman, who turned her head and regarded the girl with a cool look of indifference. Though Aidan knew she was curious of the young girl standing besides her. Just as the young girl was curious of the strange woman who clearly did not belong to their village.
He watched transfixed as the girl reached her hand out and the woman gripped it. IT was painfully clear that it was an awkward handshake. The girl smiled anyway and said, "Hello." She pointed to herself with a finger from her other hand, "I'm Tatanii Suru."
The woman nodded. "My name is Arzath. I am a word collector, you are a word youngling, yes?" Tatanii tilted her head to the side.
"I'm sorry but i do not understand you. Arzath, correct?" The woman nodded hesitantly. Tatanii reached up, her fingers skimming along the books' spines softly before she lifted one off the shelves gently. She opened it and turned the pages delicately, her eye focused as her lips formed the words written on the pages. She then turned to the woman and placed the book in her hand.
The woman looked at the book, at the girl, then back at the book. She walked to a table, sat and began to read. Aidan blinked. He looked up at Tatanii who simply smiled, seemingly pleased with her choice of book.
"Literature is a form of art. Everyone can appreciate art, no matter what form it takes." She tilted her head at him. She glanced around quickly, as if making sure the three of the were the only ones in the room. She leaned close to Aidan and whispered.
"Would you like to borrow a book?"
YOU ARE READING
Word Play
Adventure“Words are our treasures.” “I know. They are sacred and powerful-” “No. You don’t understand yet, youngling. They are also our biggest fear, our most horrible nightmare. Our most dangerous weapon.” A future, thought not our own, a future of anothe...
