Bibliophiles Unite!

[Zero]

"I feel responsible. They would not have come here if not for me. Please do not worry. I promise those were very empty threats she made. That girl is an annoyance and a bully, but little more. I imagine she thought that you would be intimidated into letting her have her way." Keiran's expression perked up. "Did you see their faces when I actually called them out on their poor behavior?"

It had felt pretty good to put them in their place. All people deserved to be shown a level of dignity and respect, regardless of their social standing, and Lyssa was a good person who didn't deserve to be mistreated by the likes of them.

[DragonSong]

Lyssa found herself giving a sort of incredulous smile at that, some of her normal color returning. "Do you, um...often have to deal with people like that?" she asked cautiously, not quite sure what she might say that could offend him.

[Zero]

"Far more often than I would like." His expression twisted into one of long-suffering. "Unfortunately the upper class is plagued with spoiled children who throw tantrums to get their way. Even more unfortunate is that more often than not such tantrums work. It only reinforces poor behavior."

He tilted his head slightly and drew his brows into a frown. "Or were you referring to the way in which I handled them? I do not make idle threats, nor do I make them lightly. Lady Vanessa has followed me about for far too long, fawning and thinking that I would court her. I cannot imagine a more unpleasant person to be forced to marry. Fortunately my father has shown little interest or rush in seeing me betrothed."

Keiran shrugged his shoulders slightly and made a dismissive gesture. "A thing to worry about another time. Will you be supervising my studying then? I sincerely hope so."

[DragonSong]

She blinked again, rather taken aback by how...trying the life of a nobleman seemed.

Shaking her head, Lyssa summoned up a smile and nodded quickly. "Oh, yes. I, um, I sort of have to- but it's my pleasure, really. Hope you don't mind." She brushed a maroon curl behind her ear. "I suppose we'd better get started then." She nodded toward the stairs.

[Zero]

"I do not mind your company at all. I gathered that I would require supervision, my question was more directed towards insuring it would be you supervising." Keiran smiled as he moved towards the stairs, eager to get started and feeling relieved now that the young women were gone.

"Do you suppose we will find anything of particular use?" He didn't know for sure there even was a book on sea serpents among the forbidden books.

[DragonSong]

"I imagine there must be something," she replied as once again she led him up the stairs and fished the keys out of her pocket once she'd reached the door. "Even I haven't had the time to go through every book in here though, so I'm not sure... Oh! But I did find this last night."

She turned to him with a smile as she handed the scroll she'd forgotten she'd been clutching to her chest over. "It's rather old, so some of the data is fairly archaic, but it's quite interesting- once you can decipher the handwriting."

[Zero]

Keiran took the scroll, giving a brief look over it. The handwriting was atrocious, but salvageable. He looked up at her, blue eyes shining and a smile tugging at his lips. "You found this for me? I feel as if I am stealing far too much of your time. You have been helping me so much. I hope you have not been neglecting your duties on my behalf."

[DragonSong]

Again her cheeks darkened with a blush but she just waved his concern off with a smile. "No, don't worry about it. I've sort of taken this on as a personal project- I hope you don't mind."

She ducked her head and pushed the door open, ushering him inside.

[Zero]

"A personal project? Helping me write a paper on sea serpents seems an odd personal project." Still, he did appreciate all the help she had given to him so far. "Not that I mind the company or the help."

Keiran stepped into the room, looking around with glee at all the hidden knowledge surrounding him. Too bad he couldn't spend as long as he liked simply reading everything there was to study in this room.

[DragonSong]

"Well, I don't have much else to do in my spare time," she admitted with a quiet chuckle, shutting the door behind her.

Looking around, she smiled and murmured. "Well. Where do we start..." She moved forward, fingers brushing over the shelves as she scanned titles.

[Zero]

"I see." Keiran filled his free time with studying when he could, but also was expected to participate in a certain amount of social pandering with other young men and women of nobility. Parties and balls were dreadfully dull occasions for the most part.

He walked over to a shelf, eyes roaming over the spines critically. "Well, if we each take a side of the room it might increase our chances of locating a promising book."

[DragonSong]

She nodded. "I'll start over here then. If I find anything that looks promising, I'll start putting them on the table." She gestured to the table with a hand, eyes already roaming excitedly over the bookshelves.

"Oh, and mind the books that are chained. They're usually spelled, you'll need me to get at them."

[Zero]

Chained books? If they were considered that dangerous he wasn't sure it was best for them to pull them from the shelf. Shrugging it off, Keiran began his search. After several minutes he would still not have found a book on sea serpents, but he did find one detailing the travels of one seafarer that sounded promising.

The book might not be about the beasts directly, but perhaps there was a brief account of them? It was worth taking a look, at the very least. Keiran set the book down on the table for them to examine closer.

"Even if we find nothing, this is still going to be the most interesting pre-paper research experience I have had." Normally he didn't have to sift through forbidden rooms in public libraries.

[DragonSong]

Lyssa chuckled quietly and glanced at the book he'd placed on the table. "Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," she said honestly.

She laid a book of her own down- not about sea serpents specifically, more about their relationship to dragons and other land- or sky-dwelling kin- then looked around. "I don't know where I put my...oh."

She blushed and cleared her throat, retrieving her spectacles from the top of her head so she could take a closer look at the inscription on the inside cover.

[Zero]

Keiran glanced over and gave a soft chuckle as she lost and found her glasses in a single sentence. Hoping his amusement wouldn't offend, he turned his eyes back to the books he was supposed to be sorting through in their limited time.

"I find my enjoyment more often from my attitude in handling any given circumstances than the circumstances themselves. For instance, I could find absolutely nothing useful in this library and decide to be disappointed or annoyed that I had wasted time. Instead I can choose to focus my energies on the fact that I have met someone so pleasant to converse with as yourself." Always search for those silver linings! When you dealt with the type of people he did on a daily basis he thought the only alternative was going insane.

[DragonSong]

"Oh." Lyssa flushed and smiled at him. "Well, that is a rather healthy way of looking at things, but I do hope your search won't be entirely in vain."

[Zero]

"Oh certainly not. Even if I cannot find enough about sea serpents for an entire paper, just learning anything new and interesting will make the entire endeavor worthwhile." Keiran pulled a book detailing the ecosystem and species within the Tuor Ocean from the shelf and carried it to the table.

They had three books now, and he thought that it would be a good idea to begin skimming through them. Pulling dozens of books from the shelves would do no good if they had no time to study any of them.

[DragonSong]

Taking her cue form him, Lyssa sat and flipped open the book she'd drawn from the shelves, skimming through the introduction before she flipped ahead to the chapters that seemed the most promising.

[Zero]

For several minutes Keiran sat in silence, simply reading through his book with absolute fixation. Just the thrill of being there, in a restricted portion of the library, reading books very few others were given permission to study, was nearly overwhelming. His life hadn't been this exciting - ever. His older brother was the one that always caused exciting things to happen, not him.

"This study of the Tuor Ocean is remarkable. The attention to detail when describing all the various flora and fauna is sublime. It makes me wish I could see these things for myself." Imagine him sailing the seas studying such things! Or venturing outside of the safety of major civilization to study the creatures he was so fascinated by up close! It would never happen. His father would have scoffed at the very idea of a man of his station stooping to the level of a mere field researcher.

[DragonSong]

Without thinking, she glanced up and asked with a slight tilt of her head, "Why can't you? Surely you have the resources to fund an expedition."

Too late she realized that she was assuming a lot- just because he was nobility didn't mean he was ridiculously wealthy- and that he may take offense. She flushed and ducked her head again, mumbling an apology.