Lohikäärme

Chapter Seven - The Live Rahry

          She opened the thing she was holding. "Today," she said softly, looking at the pieces of paper with weird colors on it. "we're going to read this Book."

          "R-Read?" I asked.

          "Yeah," she whispered, smiling at me. "this Book contains information about lots of things you need to know."

          "B-Book?" I asked her. "Who is Book?"

          "Uh, this thing?" she said, pointing at the square thing she was holding, like it was so obvious.

          I was confused. The thing she was holding had a name?

          Okay. First, the snake I was talking to, Remekiah, had a name, and that was weird, but at least, he could talk. Now, this? A square thing with pieces of paper inside had a name, too? It didn't even talk.

          "Safia? Safia, you still there?" she asked, waving her hand in front of me.

          "Huh?" I asked. "Uh, yeah. I'm still here."

          "Anyway, let's start with Aethelgard's history," she said, lifting another piece of paper.

          I tried to look at the piece of paper, but the colors were moving so fast again. I held my aching forehead and closed my eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out. Slowly, the throbbing pain in my head was disappearing.

          "Safia?"

          I shook my head. "I... I can't," I said.

          "Do you need to rest?" she asked me. "This can... I think this can wait."

          "No!"

          "Shh!" a woman from across the room shushed, catching both of our attentions.

          Kosh looked at me. She said, "Don't shout here, Safia. We're not allowed to shout, especially in this place. Haven't you been in a live rahry before?"

          "L-Live...Live rahry...? I've never even heard of that before, aside from the time you told me about it."

          "It's library, Safia," she said. Library? "Does that mean you can't..." Then she covered her mouth, her eyes widening. "...you can't read, Safia? Because you're color blind?"

          I slowly nodded, tears running down my cheeks. I didn't know what 'read' was, but I knew it was a process or something like that. I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand, sobbing quietly. "L-Looking at that thing makes my head hurt," I said honestly. "Maybe that makes it impossible for me to...read."

          "Oh," she said. She smiled at me, "Then I'll read for you."

          "You'll... You'll read for me?" I asked, surprised.

          And she did. She read everything in the book while I listened to her carefully. First, I was looking at her intently, then my eyes turned to our surroundings, the library, the shelves, the 'books', while listening to her. When I got tired, I crossed my arms on the table and put my head on it. I closed my eyes and focused on what she was saying. I didn't know Aethelgard's history would be so boring. The only reason I was listening was because it was Kosh who was reading for me. Listening to her was the only way I could think of to thank her.

          "Okay," she closed the book. "Safia, give me the summary of Aethelgard's history."

          Shocked, I bolted upright with widened eyes. "What? The summary of the everything you read?"