The sound of the door shutting reverberated through the gentle hum of the harp and murmur of the men sitting about the vast hall of the Thirsty Seer. Their eyes lifted upward to see the two stepping inside the entrance hall. Muddy boots and a dirt-stained hem of a skirt brushed over the polished and clean slate floor as Lance led Bregdys inside. The sickening sweet smell of flowers and deep wines drowned out the typical scents of musky wood and pungent whiskey that Lance had grown accustomed to. Despite so many years as serving nobility as a guard, Lance still had not grown accustomed to their futile attempts to keeping a cleaner smell in their vicinity. The scent bothered Lance severely, but he tried to ignore it and instead allowed his eyes to drift around the people lounging about the quiet halls.
One woman sat not too far from the entrance with what appeared to be her husband. Wrinkles lined her face that Lance knew the woman more than likely resented. The woman had pulled hair back so tightly, however, that it caused what would be a creased forehead to stretch flat in an awkward strain. As Lance's eyes met the woman's old grayed gaze, the woman leaned into her husband and began whispering words harshly. From the dazed happy expression of her husband's face, he seemed not to listen to the words of his wife nor even notice the entrance of the two lower classed persons.
"The sage's tier was stunning," a clear sound of nervousness lined Bregdys' words as the sound of her voice cut through the undertone of the room, "Never been this far up."
"You haven't?" Lance's gaze broke away from the woman's gaze looked downward to the much shorter woman beside him. His own voice came out almost at the pitch of a whisper to avoid echoing off the walls of the room and disturb those inhabiting the halls.
As they stepped off to cross the stone floor, Bregdys' words escaped as a mumble as she followed behind the longer gate of Lance’s towards the library portion of the halls. "Never really had cause to... Interesting place."
The overwhelming vastness of the shelves who towered over the two stunned Bregdys at first; however, Lance found herself too immediately distracted with the multitude of options to notice the expression on his fairly illiterate friend. The crackling fire at the end of the room scent dancing shadows of the ladders reaching across the shelves and dimming the brown and red hues of the leather bound texts. Silence lingered between the two before the large pop of the burning wood resonated off the books causing Lance to subconsciously step forward to the ladder just in front of them.
As his hands touched the smoothly polished wood beams leading up the side of the shelf, his voice escaped his lips asking Bregdys in its typical monotone expression, “What sort of books to you enjoy?"
"I-um... I've read a bit on healing, though I don't quite understand the science behind it. That and recipes, mostly," Lance heard the uncertainty in Bregdys' voice that she tried to mask with educational ideas. A deep breath blew out of Bregdys' nose as she then grunted in a much more intimidated tone, "Well isn't this place daunting..."
With a twist of her head, Lance glanced over his shoulder to eye Bregdys for a moment before he nodded. "Next door is much larger. I spend a bit of time there with lectures and the like," his words hesitated briefly before twisting back around to thrust himself upwards onto the next ring in the ladder, "but there are a few books in particular I need to find."
“What types of lectures?" Bregdys' voice came out again as Lance could hear the muffled steps closer to the side of the ladder.
"A variety of lectures ranging from weaponry to strategic planning to debates involving the morality of combat," Lance responded somewhat under his breath as he stopped his upward motion on one of the highest beams on the ladder. His eyes drift down the poorly lit books as he tried to find particular volumes. Narrowing his gaze, he slowly shifted his weight to the side causing the ladder itself to shift as well. Lance felt his heart skip a beat with the movement of the ladder, but it did not stop him from stretching his arm outwards to reach a book further down the shelf then he originally expected. The softness of the spine on the book met his fingers when he slowly pulled backwards to slide it from its spot. Once the book slid out, Lance quickly pulled back to redistribute his position onto neutral balance on top of the ladder.
"I imagine you're quite good at that, then. Never met someone who loved weaponry as much as you," Bregdys commented from below.
The book flopped open in Lance's arms to allow his eyes to scan over the leather stained pages. It took him a few moments to insure he wanted that particular book before snapping it shut and sending it downwards to the ground. “I suppose, although I am not necessarily fond of public speaking, but that is an unavoidable necessity in life, or at least my own life.”
A thud echoed through the empty room once the book fluttered past Bregdys' face and landed beside the hem of her skirt. A startled chirp escaped her as Lance glanced down to see Bregdys lean forward and lift the book off the floor. "That's understandable," Bregdys responded quietly as her hand gently traced over the cool leather cover.
The pang of Lance's teeth shot through the side of his face when he bit into the side of her cheek, but for some reason it immediately soothed the flutter in his stomach from his realization he almost struck his newfound friend with a book accidentally. After a moment, Lance lifted his head upwards to return his gaze to the shelves. Once again, his arm stretched out for a book that luckily sat closer than the one before. From behind his arm, Lance spoke once again and avoided the topic of almost hitting Bregdys, "I did not spend nearly as much time as I should have studying in Dol Amroth, although that is in part due to my vocation in that city."
"Well regardless of time spent studying, you've done well for yourself," Bregdys' response caused Lance to stop for a moment with her eyes focused on the cover.
Finding a response to the comment seemed to come as a difficulty to find for Lance. After a moment of silence lingered between the two, Lance’s grasp on the book lightened and his eyes darted to the side to see where Bregdys stood now. Luckily, he saw that Bregdys had stepped back a bit more to give room between herself and the shelves. A little breath escaped Lance and he allowed the leathery volume to slip from his grasp and land where the one before had landed.
"I prefer my line of duty to what my mother had originally intended for me," Lance words escaped his mouth almost absentmindedly.
The memory of his mother came back to mind. His mother did not speak happy words the last time they spoke. They had fought the last time the spoke the morning Lance ran away and gave up her life. In all fairness, the two never gotten along anyways.
'This is your last chance to be someone, Eglanien,' her mother snapped out in her anger.
'Leave me alone, mother,' Lance tried to step away from his mother, but his mother followed him across the neatly cleaned house. His mother wanted him to follow a plan he resented.
'Listen to me, Eglanien,' he remembered her mother demanding before Lance slammed his bedroom door in her face. Screaming followed the slam of the door, but the words specifically said eluded Lance over the years. The next morning Lance ran away from home to join the army. He felt a twinge of guilt on how he treated his mother. If he could, he would go back in time to handle the situation more gracefully than he did in his immature youth.
Bregdys' voice broke through Lance's memory with a simple question of, "Oh?"
Lance’s vision focused back onto the book that he had not realized he grabbed in his wandering thoughts. Honestly, he did not mean to say what he said, but he could not take the words back. Quickly giving himself a nod of reassurance, Lance muffled out an excuse of, “I would not enjoy being a merchant. It has much less opportunity for growth in position nor does it have many aspects that I particularly enjoy.” It was a lie, but with enough truth in the lie, it sounded true.
"What made you decide to join the Watch, then? I recall you saying that you always wanted to be a blacksmith,” Bregdys inquired even more. She referred back to previous conversations between the two of which Lance had forgotten until up to this point. He needed to keep track of her lies better, "Seems that you could have gone either way."
Lance stretched her arm out to prepare to drop the book as his mouth opened for a response to the question, but the flash of blue distracted Lance as another entered the library. Relief flooded through Lance as he recognized Lheinel and used her as an excuse to allow himself to escape Bregdys’ inquiring questions. Instead of dropping the book, Lance quickly pulled it to himself and slid down the ladder until his feet met the hard stone floor where he regained balance. Lance leaned down to lift the leather bound volumes and spoked up with a semi-formal greeting of, “Miss Lheinel.”
Out of the corner of Lance’s eyes, she could see Bregdys bristle at Lheinel’s name. It came across as an oddity to see Bregdys' discomfort of Lheinel for he always found Lheinel to be a friendly woman despite her intimidating intellect. Although Lheinel always had something slightly off in her mannerisms with how her smile always seemed empty and her words seemed different. Perhaps to someone like Bregdys, the slight disingenuous aspect of Lheinel could be off putting. By now, Lance learned that those mannerisms often acted as a self-defense mechanism that he himself has adopted as well and thus assumed the same applied to Lheinel. Nevertheless, it still shocked Lance to see Bregdys of all people to react negatively to someone's presence. From everything, he saw of Bregdys, the small woman had always been very friendly and honest. That sincerity was one of the Lance’s favorite characteristics of Bregdys and one of the things that made Lance long to trust the woman more.
Lance’s attention drew back to Lheinel when he heard the woman speak up in response to Lance’s greetings, "Lieutenant Eglanion, Miss Bregdys." A flicker of a cool smile passed over Lheinel’s face.
Drawing his attention away from Lheinel, Lance reached his arms across his blackened, informal robes to the satchel that slung over his hip to try to place the several books he had collected inside the bag. With each book, the weight of the bag increased until Lance could not find any more space. Now that he no longer found himself distracted by her own endeavor, he looked directly at Bregdys and asked, "You wanted to find books on herbs Bregdys, right?”
"Aye, if it's not a bother,” Bregdys nodded with a now strained voice thanks to the presence of Lheinel.
Despite not actually knowing the location of any sage’s books, Lance had to take a moment to make an educated guess and step around Bregdys to approach the shelves behind her. He moved closer to Lheinel, but tried not to pay the woman any heed. The beauty of Lheinel affected Lance differently than Bregdys. While Bregdys’ made Lance feel comfortable in her presence, Lheinel distracted Lance quite a bit. Lheinel did not make Lance feel safe or comfortable. In fact, Lheinel made Lance feel an almost fearful sort of attraction. Something about the woman came across as unusually observant and intelligent, which made Lance fear of her ability to figure out his secret. Whenever Lheinel came around, Lance made sure to keep a keen observation of his own actions so that he did not give Lheinel any reason to suspect his oddities. After a moment of inspecting the nearby volumes, Lance slid one particular book from its spot to inspect it, but found it not exactly what Bregdys might want. Lheinel’s voice distracted him once the book flopped open.
"Lieutenant?” Lance glanced over to see a frown lingering on Lheinel’s elegantly gentle features, “Have you happened to see a book of Quenya poetry among these shelves? I was told there was a copy here, but I cannot find it among the other books of poetry. At least, I cannot find the one I seek."
Momentarily, Lance's mind snapped to a mental map of the library's layout to all of the locations of the different kinds of books when he remembered seeing Quenya books near the Sindarin books he had located earlier, "I believe most of the books retaining Quenya or Sindarin are in the room next door."
"Aye, I know, they are supposed to be kept in the other room, but I cannot find it. I hoped it might be misplaced rather than missing." Lheinel sighed softly under her breath, "Ah, well. I suppose one cannot hope to keep up with reading while away… I will ask the proprietors here again, if neither of you have seen it."
Lance shut the book in his hand and eyed Lheinel beside him, "Check upstairs. There are many more books that it could have gotten mixed in with.” He suggested as he faked a very believably friendly smile that meant more to hide his discomfort of Lheinel’s gaze.
Lheinel flashed a friendly smile in return, "Thank you. I will check there."
As Lheinel left, Lance looked back to Bregdys as he caught the small woman staring coldly in Lheinel direction. For a moment, Lance studied her features. He studied Bregdys’ tanned skin, which often came from the people of Lebennin. It appeared darker in hue due to the darker lighting of the room, but still managed to glimmer. Lance's eyes followed down the dark locks of Bregdys' hair as he for once realized how truly short the woman stood. Most of those from Lebennin stood shorter than those like Lance of Belfalas, but Bregdys managed to be even shorter than the average person of Lebannin's stature. Lance himself was fairly short compared to most men and actually stood at a similar height of Belfalas women like Lheinel. But Bregdys stood vastly shorter than Lance or Lheinel which made her look very fragile and petite in her stature. However, her shortness played in Bregdys’ favor aesthetically speaking. As Lance eyed Bregdys, he noted the unpleasant expression and decided to ask, "Are you alright? Has something bothered you?"
Bregdys eyes moved to look up to Lance and shook her head, "It's nothing, really. The place is just a bit daunting, is all."
Allowing his eyes to drift down to the book in Lance’s hand, Lance nodded and offered it out to Bregdys, "This might be a book that would interest you. It appears to go over the recipes for tonics and useful herbs found near to Minas Tirith."
"This is exactly what I had in mind!" Bregdys said with a slight excitement in her words. Her hand reached out and lifted the book from Lance’s grasp. She immediately began to thumb through the book to inspect the inside contents as Lance felt a little warmth fill him at the sight. Maybe Lance might never be able to trust the woman in front of him and he most likely would never be able to trust Lheinel, but being able to enjoy their company did please Lance more than anything did. The secrets that bound Lance would always put walls up in any friendships he forged, but he did not want to make the same mistakes of isolating himself of all companionship as he had done in the past. He could not bear the loneliness of his own seclusion.
This writing session contained the help from the players of Bregdys and Lheinel via RP
