paper cranes

"I brought something for you," Rhett says. The young librarian lifts his head, green eyes gleaming as he sets his book down. He steps forward, expectant. "They say you like these." She hands him an origami crane, folded with pink paper, and his face bursts into a joyful smile.

"Thank you," he says earnestly, cupping the crane in his hands. "It's amazing. Some people don't even know I exist, and yet you have the graces to bring me a present." He places it on one of the shelves, alongside another, scrappier crane, looking weathered around the edges.

Rhett lightly touches it with her forefinger. "Who brought you this, then?"

He gently slides half of his hands into the pockets of his acid wash dungarees. "A long time ago, someone else came for me. He came for me alone – I don't know why, or how he came to know of me, but he came to take me out of the library." He plants himself down on a small dark green chair by one of the bookcases. "He was very special. I think his name was Fabian."

"I'm sure you have lots of cranes, though," Rhett replies, blowing a layer of dust from the books on the shelf above the cranes. "People bring them to you, don't they? Where I come from, you're a legend. People pay tribute to you that way."

"A legend?" He raises an eyebrow. "Me? Oh dear. You're too kind." He smiles, his peculiarly American accent coming through. "I just stay here, in this library, this very lovely library, and I get presents just for that." He stands up. "So, you've got to have a purpose for being here. People don't just come here. Not for me, anyway."

Rhett looks around the library, almost like she's afraid someone will overhear. She leans into the librarian, who is looking keenly at her. "Well... I don't know. I wanted to find something, and people say you always find what you want in this library."

"I don't know so much about that. This is just a library, after all. Librarians aren't miracle workers." He looks up to the ceiling and laughs, settling himself and brushing some of his dusty brown hair out of his eyes. "Okay. We're going to find out what you want." He cracks his knuckles. "Though I don't know what you want any more than you do. We have to go see the Seer; it knows what everybody desires."

"The Seer?" Rhett frowns, watching as the librarian fumbles around in his set-up tent, pulling out a small chunk of crystal. It's dark, pitch black, with no trace of any light or even any colour in it. She watches, eyes widening as he shuts his, murmuring words in a language she doesn't recognise. As he speaks, the crystal begins to glow, a light pouring out from the centre, beginning to spill out into a white glow, which floats around unhappily before forming itself into a straight and crisp line, pointing out into the corridors of the library, shining brightly. "What the fuck."

The librarian looks up, tutting. "Language, my dear." He lifts the crystal, holding it in the palm of his hand and squinting, trying to follow the beam of the crystal's focused aura. "This crystal will lead us to where the Seer is. It's one of the few parts of the library not under my control, since the Seer is an external force, otherwise I'd just take you without all the pomp and circumstance."

"Slow the fuck down," Rhett says, glaring at him as she gesticulates, counting on her fingers. The librarian's face is impassive, unaffected by her language or her confusion. "You just made that crystal fucking light up. That's problem number one. Problem number two: what the fuck's the Seer?"

The librarian smiles slowly, his smile odd and pointed, but still somehow pretty, and he turns, taking a few steps away. "We're getting into some serious territory here," he says. "Firstly, I think you ought to tell me your name." He sets off into the winding abyss of the library, not looking back to see if Rhett is following.