fandomhigh | Library [22.02]

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Library [22.02]

Karal's face was red with cold, his hair was definitely trying to revert to hobo status, and his nose was frozen.

This would be because he'd begun the day with an early morning ride, through the Preserve and down to the beach. The wind whipping off the ocean had been cold, and it had started to rain by the end, but it left him with a clear head and in an exceptionally good mood.

Once the library was open, he settled in with a pot of tea and indulged himself with a book that was just for fun.

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He was still reading, but he kept looking guiltily at the shelves.

Not that there were any books to check in, but still...

Edited 2008-02-22 10:28 (UTC)

As per usual, in came a Liir with a bag of lunch. He was, thankfully, no longer green.

Karal, who'd been expecting him, looked up.

And almost choked on his tea. "Oh, Sunlord, you're patterned!"

It was a sort of half-blink twitch that he got.

"Yes," he finally said after a moment. "I'd noticed. I woke up like this yesterday."

Shamefaced, Karal came out from behind the desk. "Forgive me. I didn't mean to be rude. It was just such a surprise."

"If I get dots, I think I'll head down to the clinic," he said with a smile. Then he shook his head.

"It's as ridiculous as the green, only differently. And don't worry. I know how utterly ridiculous this looks on me."

"It's not ridiculous," he ventured. "Simply...unexpected. It doesn't hurt, does it?"

Bearing these marks, knowing I certainly don't deserve them?

"No more than the green."

He wouldn't flat lie to Karal.

"How are you? I haven't seen you since, er..."

He eyed Liir, but didn't push. "Since Tuesday," he said quietly, remembering what they'd spoken of.

"I went to Andrew," he said. "We fell asleep, as expected. I was there last night as well."

They'd both needed it last night.

"This," he said quietly, only to Karal "is the other half of the coin, I suppose. The second part of the joke."

"Good," he said. "You need to be together." He moved closer to Liir. "Can you explain the joke to me?"

"I figured it out," he said, "this morning. As I was cooking.

"First green," and he looked down at his left hand that wasn't, "for the Witch who wasn't my mother. And then, as the goldfish said..."

He looked at the right.

"Blue diamonds," his eyes rose to Karal's, "for the prince who wasn't my father. It's... almost funny when you think about it like that. And the goldfish really must have been magic, since she died so long ago, to still pull this trick. Or perhaps she just slipped it in under my skin while I wasn't looking."

Those memories were strong for the moment. Once they were out of him, once they were words in the air...

He should have known. It was why he hadn't spoken of them since he'd come here, only briefly mentioned the 'well.

Karal blinked. That didn't make a great deal of sense. "I don't understand," he admitted. "The blue diamonds are for a prince? And a goldfish placed them on you?"

He held out his hand.

"These would be tattooed on an Arjiki prince when he was a child, forever a part of him as a mark of his stature. Or something like that."

He couldn't say he'd gotten the information from the horse's mouth, after all.

"And the goldfish is the only one I can think of. She's the one who told me that the Witch might be my mother, that Fiyero--"

He'd not spoken that name aloud, out of memory, for so very many years.

"No one else much concerned themselves with it. And she did claim to be magic. You can never tell with magic."

It could hide in the wind, in the stones, in the trees. In the shimmer on a Crow's wing or a nest of bees.

In green skin or farther, into the blood.

Karal touched two fingers to the back of Liir's hand, touching one of the triangles, trying to feel a difference in them. "A goldfish told you that a prince of your world could be your father." He looked up at Liir. "And now you are showing the signs that would mark such a prince as a prince."

He didn't say, 'Are you sure he couldn't be your father?'.

"A delusion caused by starvation and two days of half-drowning and freezing told me plenty of things," he said. His other hand pressed to the white between the diamonds.

"This is what I look like. This is what I've always looked like. Neither green. Nor blue."

Karal studied him intently. "Are you going to be all right?" he asked quietly. "Do we need to find someone to rid you of it?"

He shook his head.

"I'll be fine. It doesn't bother me. The initial shock wasn't pleasant, but it's just skin.

"Andrew doesn't care. As long as you and the other's don't" and it goes away before I see the Queen of the O.Z. "it should be fine."

Karal wasn't sure he believed Liir, but, again, he didn't push. "It doesn't bother me in the least. And the green passed, so hopefully this will also pass, sooner rather than later."

He breathed out.

"That said," he said, pushing all of that aside as he'd dealt with it quite enough, as far as he was concerned. Especially after all he'd told to Andrew.

"There's a dinner tonight, after the club," he said. "It was going to be in the park, but considering the weather..."

He shook his head.

"Professor Ambrose wanted to meet everyone who'd be coming before we actually went. I'm sorry about the lack of notice."

He frowned slightly, mentally rearranging things, then smiled. "It's all right. I'll just ask Evey to meet me later than we'd planned. I think it sounds like good idea, and I'd quite like to meet Professor Ambrose."

He'd been meaning to introduce himself for the past couple of weeks, but somehow he'd just not found the time.

"I'll have to apologize to Evey then," he said with a faint smile. "I certainly didn't mean to take you from her. I just didn't want to displease Professor Ambrose, considering all he's doing."

Karal waved it away. "Glory, don't be silly! No apologies are necessary," he insisted. "Of course you don't want to, and if we're going in this trip, we need to make plans, the sooner the better."

He smiled.

"Then I'll see you at language club; I'll let you know where we're meeting then."

He looked at Karal once more, then at his hands, and finally bowed his head.

"I'll see you later, Karal. Have a good day."

It took only a few quick steps to reach him, and then Karal was reaching out to hug him. Something told him Liir needed it right then. "We will find answers for you, I promise." If not in Oz, then somewhere else.

He hugged him back and once more leaned up to press a kiss to Karal's cheek before pulling away.

"If I have any answers," he said "and not just questions, perhaps I'll find them, yes."

Karal nodded as he stepped back. "Enjoy your day," he said, then tilted his head and smiled. "And the colours don't look at all badly on you."

"At least it doesn't clash with my confounded eyes," he said with a smile before nodding again and heading on his way.

"See you later, Karal! I don't want to be late for work."

Karal waved a good bye, looking after him for a moment, before returning to the desk.

It took him quite some time to get back into his book.

The book hadn't lasted past the first hour.

Karal was walking through the stacks, tidying the shelves and checking that everything was in the right place.

Edited 2008-02-22 10:29 (UTC)

Tidying the stacks had stalled somewhat when Karal was distracted by a book about the great libraries of the world.

He'd sunk down to sit on the floor, completely engrossed, wondering if there was any way he could see some of them for real.

Edited 2008-02-22 10:29 (UTC)

The library was closed, to all but library aides and the Librarian.

Today Karal was not one of those library aides; he'd ducked out to spend his lunch break elsewhere.

Karal was back, of course, and he'd finished off the few remaining library chores.

Now he was sitting at one of the tables with a copy of The Writ, several other books in Karsite, and a sheet of paper with some extremely neat Karsite script on it.

His concentration was fierce and total; anyone wanting his attention would need to make an effort to get it.

For many a long minute it was the 28th of February in the library.

I am so glad it's the weekend.

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Library [22.02]

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Lunch

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OOC