“Finally! The library!” Cynthia exclaims. She and I simultaneously breathe a sigh of relief. We’ve safely made it inside the building. Surprisingly, after that tree mishap, the guards, well… “protected” me from another flying branch successfully.
That branch was pretty small and didn’t seem life-threatening, but they looked pretty proud of their work so I let them be. With perfect timing as if reminding me, the scratch on my arm stings a little. I realize I should probably go clean it or it might scar. The bathroom is right next to me, so I leave the escorts for a second to clean my wound.
I flinch at the slight pain, but the cold water running over it feels nice.
“There’s the soap. Rinse thoroughly,” Cynthia says, looking over me, “Honestly, I’m surprised there’s a decent plumbing and pipe system here.”
“We’re not in the medieval times, Cynthia.” I retort. “If we were, then the clothes would look much funnier.”
“Pfft, true.” Cynthia snorts. Then after a while, she asks me, “Are you okay?”
“Well, I am. But are you? You were shaking a lot back there.”
“Well, I feel better now, at least. It’s just scary, isn’t it? Losing a life?”
I’m only silent to her question. To be honest, I can’t grasp the concept of it quite yet, since the only reason why spirits exist is solely for guiding their human through their future. They certainly can be good friends, but it’s not uncommon for them to be used as tools. That’s why this sudden free will and life were unfamiliar to me, even if I’m basically human myself.
I glance at the already healing cut and shake off the water from my hands as I sigh and exit the bathroom.
The escorts follow me further into the library. Thankfully, there were no further incidents after that huge branch, so I’m just hoping that nothing unexpected falls onto us, like that massive shelf of books over there that seems kind of tilting to the right. Ugh, everything seems like a threat now. Don’t overreact. Calm down.
I can feel Cynthia’s eyes on me as I take another deep breath and look up to get a good look around. My fear is immediately replaced with awe. I couldn’t get a good look before because I was so anxious, but this library’s massive! It’s in a dome shape near the center and the ceiling is nearly three stories high, covered from head to toe with books. Underneath the dome, there are multiple desks organized in rows with doors that seem to lead to private study rooms. There’s a second floor for some extra desks too.
Adeline’s childhood memories start to play in my head faintly. It’s quite blurred, but I can make out her feelings and place the visions in my head together. She’s running around the library climbing ladders and grabbing random books, and my heart starts to race just as she must have felt. I chuckle at the cute memories until one specific memory pops up of her falling off a ladder about 20 steps above the ground. A chill runs down my spine as the feeling of fear and death returns. I’m going to have to be careful with that. Maybe I won’t climb any ladders for a while.
“Wooowww! There are so many books!” I look up at Cynthia, who’s flying to the top of the building and looking around. Something obviously catches her eye and I follow her to where she floats. Oh, it’s the fiction section of the library which has a little open room with a sitting area. How did she even catch this place from up there?
I feel a sense of familiarity and realize I shouldn’t be the one to judge. It seemed like Adeline would also come and sit there and read fantasy books for hours. I lightly run my hands through the spine of the books on one of the shelves and recognize each and every one of the names. I gesture a pleasant nod towards Cynthia which she seems to understand immediately since her face suddenly brightens. This was perfect. Somewhat closed off and private, yet familiar for Adelia which means it would be less suspicious, too. That was going to be our perfect study area. Cynthia mouths the words, “Aye aye, captain!” and gives me a stiff exaggerated salute. I have to refrain from laughing since there are two escorts right behind me.
I walk out of the fiction section, but as I’m about to go up the stairs, someone grabs the sleeve of my dress.
I almost yank back in fear but my body stops when I see who it is.
“Lady Adeline! Welcome!” I immediately regain my composure and smile.
“Mister Herman! How do you do? Have you ordered any new books for the fiction section?” My mouth immediately blurts as if the body’s been meaning to ask it for a while.
The librarian’s name is Herman, huh. He’s a short and stubby little man and Adeline’s feelings and memories show that he’s well respected among the townspeople. He’s known The Viscount and Adeline since childhood and they’ve been good friends ever since. When the Viscount gifted a library for this town close to the capital, he entrusted the rights to Mister Herman. Of course, Mister Herman did not disappoint and he tends to it daily.
“I am doing just fine.” He replies, and I snap my attention back to the present. “Sadly, the cart to deliver books has been delayed, so there are no new books at the moment.”
As his expression immediately becomes disappointed, I can't help but smile. Mr. Herman has a very expressive face, which makes him more approachable. I don’t know, but wearing a heart on his sleeve is a nice change from… many people I’ve met in both Cynthia's and Adeline’s life. Man, I’m complimenting him a lot, but what can I do when it’s all true?
“That’s quite alright. I’m actually here to do some research.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful! Would you like some of the usual tea to go with it? I also have some tea snacks if you will.” He bounds over to the librarian’s counter, ready to prepare the items.
“Both would be lovely. Thank you.” I reply.
As he starts preparing the tea, he motions with one hand for me to come closer and bend down.
“Did your father catch you leaving secretly again?” He whispers into my ear. I smile awkwardly. I guess Adeline did just sneak out to the library. But to be honest, after that sudden incident, I was still wary of random threats from nature so maybe getting caught by the butler was a good thing.
I can only chuckle softly as an answer. “No, it was the butler this time,” I say.
“Should I shoo them out for you?”
“No, no, it’s fine. I can just make them stay a little bit away from us.” And I would rather keep them by my side just in case a coincidental danger appears again.
Mr. Herman nods with a smile and pulls out the tea leaves. I immediately notice what kind of tea it is due to the scent. The usual tea Adeline drank was Star Anise tea. It’s a pleasant and sweet tea and it’s always been my drink of choice, although I couldn’t taste it. I recommended it to Cynthia once and she described it well, and ever since then, it’s been my favorite.
To be honest, I was excited to finally be able to taste what I’d just been imagining all those years. It looks like Adeline and I share the same interests. Maybe Adeline really was my ancestor or me as a human or something.
I wave to Mr. Herman as he prepares the snacks and I move upstairs to the little section. I see Cynthia sitting on one of the chairs and I sit down across from her.
“Stay near the bookshelves over there and prevent people from coming over to the fiction section,” I order strictly. Honestly, I didn’t know if that kind of dumb excuse would work, but thankfully, in this place, a noble’s word is law to them. I observe their bulky figures awkwardly trying to walk as quietly as possible across the floor until they disappear out of my sight.
“Sooooo…” Cynthia says, overemphasizing her word. “Where should we start in this huge library? How are we going to find the stuff we need?”
I look down at my dress and think. What was our goal exactly? What do we need to find out? Our theories are still just theories, so that’d also be something we need to study. Thinking about it, did spirits exist here? We confirmed that Cynthia still couldn’t be seen, but I’ve been keeping quiet when talking to her in general because of spirit etiquette and so I didn’t know if spirits still existed or not…
“Well, first of all, we can start by finding out what year it is and what era we’re in,” I reply after a pause.
“You say that, but I don’t think that there are going to be any books telling us the name of the era we're in since names generally are named after major historical figures in the past. Should we go and ask Mister Herman what year it is? He seemed nice.”
“That’d be a disgrace. A noble lady who doesn’t even remember what year it is? How will she keep up with anything related to recent events and past histories? Is probably what people would think.” l sigh. “Well, we can at least try to find out. Are there any stacks of newspapers?”
“I’ll go check,” Cynthia says, getting up from her seat and floating towards the shelves on the other side of the room. Meanwhile, I breathe in the smell of books. Smelling, touching, tasting things? Those were luxuries that I had given up on a long time ago.
It was just how the spirits’ lives were and we knew that, so we never thought much about it. Yes, sometimes we longed for it. Things like friendship and attention or delicious foods, but it was short-lasting because we accepted that they would never change. Not to mention feeling the texture that I could only imagine feeling? I knew fur was soft, but it never moved when I sat on it. The snow was cold, but I couldn’t feel the temperature. Hitting your toe on the corner of the desk hurt, but I couldn’t feel pain at all.
So now, people seeing me, recognizing me, it all felt so unfamiliar. It was a lot to take in, yet it was still familiar because I was in Adeline’s body and retained her memories.
“There are no newspapers here.” I hear Cynthia say, and I exit from my thoughts. “And even if there are, other people are using it, so you probably wouldn’t be able to see. People pay for newspapers and we don’t have any money, do we?”
“We don’t right now. It’s fine then. Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.” I get up and walk out of the fiction section. The guards start to follow me when I say, “No, I’m coming back to this spot. Stay here.”
They simply nod as I walk towards the geographic/historical section. Cynthia leads me since apparently Adeline has never gone anywhere besides the fiction section. I go through the first row of the section, running my finger on the sides of the books. Cynthia goes through some rows too, telling me when she finds something that might be helpful. Eventually, we got a stack of a few books. My arms quiver as I walk back to the fiction spot and plop the books down at the table. Cynthia gives me a condescending look as if telling me, “Now you know what I go through.” I wipe a drop of sweat from my forehead and shoot her a glare. I’ll have to give it to her that she has really good arm strength though.
“Lady Adeline, here is the tea and snacks,” Herman says while walking up from behind. He puts the items on the coffee table across from the books. “Have a good read.”
“Thank you for your hospitality.” I nod slightly in reply. After he leaves, I heave a huge sigh. My head hurts from just looking at these books, but I wouldn’t be the best tutoring friend for Cynthia if I got tired from just reading a few stacks. I go through millions of lesson plans in my head all day!
Suddenly energized, I sit down on the sofa and pick up the first book.
