Name: Signs and Wonders
Story: Starfall
Colors: Nacre #10 (Between the pages)
Supplies and Styles:
Word Count: 1083
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Notes: 1337, Starfall Manor; Aimon Merner, Arin Teykal, Leaira Modelen. Follows on from Open and Above Board
Summary: This really won’t be a normal assignment…

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Arin’s tour of Starfall Manor was conducted at such a dizzying speed that Aimon gave up on remembering anything Arin told him – he’d work out where everything was later at his own pace.

So far they’d walked up and down the long central corridor and he’d been taken up to the guest room allocated for his use should he be unable to return to the village at any point during his stay. Arin had followed that up by taking him right to the end of the corridor, pointing out the medical wing and then turning round and retracing their steps back to the point they’d started. From there, he directed Aimon down another corridor opposite his office, which led to the library.

“Leaira.” Arin swept into the library, and caught hold of the librarian by the hand to pull her over. “This is the inspector from the High Governor’s Office! Not half as bad as we feared.”

Aimon grinned. “Glad to hear you say so.” He held out his hand to Leaira, who was by no means what he had expected of Starfall’s chief librarian, either – much younger and prettier for a start, but unlike Arin, he refrained from commenting on the fact.

“I’m Aimon Merner,” he said. “I hear you’re going to have to put up with me for the time being.”

Leaira, having pressed his hand briefly in return, dropped it. “I’m Adeleaira Modelen, Imai Merner. Arin, I’ve given him the left hand cubicle down there –” She indicated a row of tiny study booths. “It’s not very big,” she told Aimon, “but you can lock those when you need to. You can work in the main library if you need more space, of course.” She looked to Arin again. “Just take him over – I’ve got a list I must get ready in time for Tannis’s meeting, I’m afraid.”

Arin caught Aimon’s arm and led him down to the study area, which even Aimon could have found for himself from there. “Do you need anything else?”

“Well, the books, really,” said Aimon, and then recalled where he was, glancing round at the lines of wooden shelving. “Er. The account books, I should say.”

Arin nodded. “I shall fetch the first batch!” He was gone before Aimon could point out that it would be simpler if he went with him, but for now, he just shook his head.

“Is there somewhere I can put my coat?” he asked Leaira. “I could take it up to the room they’ve given me, but I’d rather not have to trek up there unnecessarily every time I’m in and out of the place.”

Leaira looked up slowly, and then jumped up. “Oh. Sorry. Over here,” she said, and led him into the librarian’s study behind the desk area. As he hung his coat up, she added, “I didn’t mean to be so unwelcoming. It’s just –”

“You have a list to finish,” he said, a brief smile lightening his face. “I know.”

She ran a hand through her curls. It looked as if she might have done that a few times already. “Yes. Well, I pulled out this bibliography for Tannis – Imor Kellen, I mean – ready for her, and then I was checking it over again this morning, and noticed that all the authors are only referenced by southern conventions. If I don’t at least try and put it right, it’ll cause confusion – and if Tannis notices, she’ll probably explode.”

“Understandably. She’s from North Haven, isn’t she?”

Leaira nodded. “Yes. The worst thing is, we’ve got a whole set of these and they’re probably all the same.”

“Don’t let me stop you,” said Aimon. “Your arrangements as far as I’m concerned all seem very straightforward and satisfactory – unlike your lists.”

She smiled. “Thank you. Arin is right – we thought you’d be some terribly stuffy old –” She waved a hand and laughed. “I am nearly done, but I’ve left the true enigmas until last.”

Aimon moved away and let her get on with her work. Arin didn’t return as swiftly as Aimon had already come to expect of him. Aimon walked idly around the table in the reading area, glancing at the books, before rounding the shelves to find another small table, with a book sitting in an open case on it.

Aimon moved closer, unsure whether or not he was imagining things, but there seemed to be a soft blueish-white light radiating from its pages; faint enough to make him doubt his eyes every time he took another look. He paused there until he was sure, and then poked his head out from behind the shelves and coughed. “Imai Modelen, is this book supposed to be glowing?”

“Oh!” said Leaira and dropped her papers and pencil onto the desk. She hurried over. “I forgot. I’d just got that out when I realised – I’ve left it lying around open, haven’t I?”

Aimon nodded. “Oh, yes. Should I be worrying?”

“No.” She laughed as she reached his side. “Haven’t you heard of lightwood books? I know there aren’t many surviving these days, but even so –”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t covered in my accounting classes, no.”

“Well,” said Leaira, smoothing down ones of the pages. Her mouth twitched. “It’s not very complicated. They’re made from lightwood, you see. Probably accidentally, we think, rather than deliberate in most surviving cases – some lightwood in the pulp used for the paper.”

Aimon watched as she replaced the lid and fastened the case of the wooden box. “I honestly thought lightwood forests were just a myth.”

“You can’t make actual paper out of myths,” said Leaira. “There are still some around, but out in High Eisterland, not Emoyra.”

“I hope your account books are less unnerving.”

Leaira grinned. “I promise. You might not think it on first impression, but Arin is very careful in his work.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Aimon. He took the box from her to carry it back over to the desk.

Even as he placed it down there, Arin put his head around the door. “You know, I just thought – it probably would be better if you came with me and decided where you wanted to start.”

“That did occur to me after you left,” said Aimon with a smile, and gave Leaira a brief nod, before following Starfall’s accounts-keeper out of the Library.

It seemed not all of the rumours and stories he’d heard were necessarily untrue. Even the books here were strange.