Connlaoth was a nice place, for some. If you were human and hated magic, it was an absolutely wonderful place. If you were a mage... the going got tougher.
For a marked mage and a non-human like herself... Well, Ileana just tried not to complain too much. After all, she had a nice life. She was paid for her work at the college, and she got to be with a ton of books every day! How cool was that?
Cloven hooves trotted carefully on the tile floor of the library, sunlight streaming in through the mosaic windows, beating against her dappled silver fur. Her arms fumbled with the pile of books that she was carrying, worn leather spines and musty pages, tongue sticking out from between her lips. Scrunching up her nose, the centaur tilted her face up... and up... and up, blonde hair falling in front of her delicate features, blue eyes narrowing at a hole in the otherwise immaculate row of books. The missing spot where the book needed to be.
Ileana tried her best not to sigh, but she couldn't help it. This was going to be difficult. Tightening the leather strips along her forearms to keep her white cotton shirt from interfering, and the red, somewhat tattered underbust tight around her chest, she steeled her gaze as she honed in on the spot. The clopping of her hooves echoed as she backed up, the tail swishing in the still air of the library, and she knew that if she could just..
The clattering of hooves echoed as Ileana charged, and then, her muscled bunched, and she leapt, haunches strained as her legs extended, slim arms outstretched as the book was held precariously by her spine. All she needed was a few more--
CRASH. Ileana bit her lip as she fell uselessly to the floor, her legs giving out on her as she was only inches away from shelving the darned book. Her nose had bonked on one of the shelves, now red and irritated, while her legs were folded underneath her in a way that shouldn't have been comfortable, not to mention she was on her side. And then, three books tumbled from the shelves, each one bonking her on the head. Ileana whinnied without meaning to, and winced as she heard the rickety voice of one of the librarians.
"Ileana!" She called. "Did you make all that commotion?"
"I, uh..." Ileana quickly scrambled to her four feet, hastily picking up the books below her. "I'm s-sorry ma'am!"
"You had better be sorry!" Her voice chided. "Of course, I'm sure a few hours overtime without pay will enforce that lesson. Now clean up whatever it was that you spilled!"
"Yes ma'am!" Ileana said, looking sheepish. She waited until she heard the click of the door of the librarian entering her office again, before she let herself groan, slapping her palm on her face, and running her fingers along her hair, tangling the wavy mess that it had now become.
"It's what you get, Ileana. Stupid centaur," she muttered under her breath. Overtime, without pay. For the third time this week! ... Well, at least it meant that she could spend more time reading those books on mage hunters. And hopefully find ways to curb her powers...
But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. Not while there was still light in the sky yet, and books to be put away. Carefully, Ileana knelt upon her knees, scooping up the books that had fallen into her arms, and began to trot her way around the shelves, placing each book in its correct and proper order. She paid little attention to the few students that were in the library, some of them with their noses buried in their books, and the new ones gaping at her like she was some magical creature.
... Well. She could pretend to be normal.