Gears of the Mind - The Lyceum, Chyril 22, late TT - Harmony

[Guest]

Standing tall among the crowded buildings of the West End, the Lycaeum Library is imposing and serene. Somehow, the stepped entryway has a quelling effect on conversation- whether the effect is magical or psychological (or eerily, both) is uncertain. All that can be assured is that the place has a reputation for mystery- and the marble walls, cleanly polished to the point of phantasmal reflection, certainly add to the ambiance of such tales.

Although the broad entryway, with its widely tiered steps, is impressive- more impressive is the sheer size of the building. Three stories tall, but also long- and surrounded by a clutch of bare trees, seeming to grasp the building within their tangled grip. Regardless of season, leaves never grow upon the trees- but they have stood for long without being claimed by death.

There are rumors of underground archives- larger than even the upper stories- tales of ancient books of power, kept safe here from even the mighty reach of the Purificatio. Shadows have tread this earth- but so has the light. A place of utmost thought and contemplation, it is (more than any other building in the city) the domain of the magi, in all of their shapes and forms.

She had never been one to let men stand in her way, but this was not King's Court, and respect for women on a far lower scale than it had been in King's Court. Over the past few months little had been accomplished; all she had to show for her efforts was a damaged ego and paltry lodging in the Elf Quarter. And one more, important thing:

The ability to read.

Harmony had a mission here, staring at the austere building for a few minutes before sliding up the steps languidly, as if in a dream. She had never been in a library before, and the only book she had read was a philosophy text with which she disagreed vehemently, and that particular text had only been read because a careless... patron... had left in her custody.

However, sometimes The One was serendipitous, she supposed and this sudden knowledge of reading was going to be a launchpad to an entirely new world of potential. She wasn't going to learn of religion, or philosophy, or any of the normal topics which a woman might pursue at her leisure here. Instead, she was in search of something far more important- the thing which turned the gears of the world now.

Harmony wanted to learn about technology.

Her lips pursed expertly, dressed in her bess 'Highton' garb-- all in soft lilacs and blues, all extraordinarily inoffensive colors-- the woman slid the door open and walked within, her heart beating with excitement of a rather unusual variety. She was not excited about the prospect of 'learning' or 'bettering herself', but rather the potential that the knowledge within this place had for her.

After all, who would make a better potential spy than someone who was at least moderately familiar with the machinery and laws that governed the miracle of flight? Or made the other new miracles possible? The time was fast approaching when the economy would no longer be governed by horses and ropes and salt and coal... but rather by the exchange of this miraculous technology. The Mouth had a fair head start, and who was to say what the rest of the world would pay for a chance to catch up.

She'd walk toward the receptionist, if there was one, and smile warmly-- trying her best to imitate what a Highton Lady might sound like. She wasn't going to be one of those giggling and bubbling idiots who were merely a womb on legs, but rather one of the more intelligent Hightonites... not unlike the Lady Constanza, whose presence was doing something to change attitudes in the Mouth, or at least that's how Harm perceived it.

"Can you direct me to the sections on..." She feigned a struggle for the word, tracing patterns in her air as if seeking to remember the terminology. "... Magickal-Mechanical Technology and Applied Mechanics?" She smiled with self-praise and nodded firmly, lofting her eyebrows in expectation-- though whether of service or praise for her successful pronunciation would not immediately be clear.

Of course, her more-than-platonic relations with several of the men who worked at the Nashorn had given her some opportunity for after-sex talk. It's amazing what men would say after they'd unleashed their... tension. Especially for a woman as attentive as Harmony had learned to become. The things men would say when they were being handled were most remarkable, especially when prompted by such commentary as "Tell me more about your work... it sounds fascinating..." or "Nothings gets me going like an intelligent man talking about what he does...".

If the person behind the receptionist's desk was a man, of course, she would stumble a bit more over the words, twirl her hair nervously, and might even add an embarassed whisper of "... sorry, it's for my husband...". Harmony tended to have a knack for how to manipulate people, especially of the male variety.

"Also, where might the primers for the common tongue be found? I'll be requiring such a guide for one my daughters. No such thing as starting to early, you know..." a soft laugh, then, not the laugh of a bimbo, but certainly one that might be expected of a socialite with more-than-her-share of wit.

[Guest]

The achadhiel strolled into with the casual air of the upper merchant class. She wore a lovely spring dress with a subtle pattern of greens and whites with a matching parosol to keep the spring rain off of her long curled strawberry locks that fell over her shoulders. Downgrading her ladylike appearance by several notches was a lit cigarette between her fingers which she lifted to her lips as she stepped onto the steps. She snubbed it out before daring to walk over the threshold into the sanctum of books.

She looked confident and as if she came with purpose - she did have a distinct purpose, but beyond that she didn't know what to expect. All she'd planned so far was stopping and saying hello to Guido. She'd read his work, and wanted to come in and tell him she told him so. Emi had met him prior to his writing and had told him that if he put his mind to it he'd do quite well. He wasn't sure he believed her, and she'd said that she thought she was having lunch with what could be World's Mouth next great historian.

Waiting in line to speak to the clerk behind a blonde woman, Emi was content to spend her time picking at her nails and making sure they were absolutely as clean as they possibly could be, not that it would matter due to where she'd be spending the evening. No one at the Punt Den would care what her nails looked like, and if anything it would just make her look more out of place. Was it strange that she was busily considering what to wear that night? As she stood there in place she played with her skirt a bit, acting as if she were brushing something off it.

[Morg]

The entrance hall of the Lycaeum was an imposing space; two storeys in height, with marble columns several paces in diameter reaching from floor to ceiling. Tradetide was a busy time of day for the library, and various people could be observed crossing the parquet floor, moving with purpose and direction. There were surprisingly many non-humans among them, too. Unlike in most parts of the Mouth, where "pagans" were a rare sight, here they were almost as common as not among the librarygoers. However, despite these flows of people the space was far from crowded. The great building seemed to swallow up readers without ever becoming saturated.

At a broad desk at the far end of the hall sat a tiny human woman reading from a scroll, who looked up and smiled as Harmony approached. She listened to the woman's queries calmly, brushing her long brown hair off the desk and nodding firmly in confirmation at the raised eyebrows. "The Physical Sciences are on the third underlevel," she replied. "Applied Mechanics is further in, right at the back of the building, and Magical-Mechanical Technologies has an annexe to itself, right next to Mechanics but down a few steps. To get to the third underlevel there's a staircase just there." She pointed to one of the pillars, which from behind could be seen to be hollow, containing a staircase spiralling both upwards and downwards.

"Educational texts in Common can be found on this floor," she responded to the second query. "Just to the right, in fact, past our shelves for new acquisitions." The long-haired woman chuckled. "We decided to make it as easy as possible for the illiterate. And it's good to hear that you're putting your daughters on the right track from an early age." This last was said genuinely. The petite librarian seemed unaware of any possible duplicity in Harmony's manner.

[Guest]

Harmony nodded firmly, confident that the woman had not sensed and duplicity-- not that it would have mattered, but the woman was taking no chances. Mouth affixed in its familiar bitter pattern, she began to stride past the woman seeking the primer's first. She had sensed coming up behind her, patiently waiting, and assumed it to be another woman... the soft gait, the fidgeting, the fact that she had not been thrust out of the way (as a man might see fit to doing)... and was not terribly concerned. In fact, Harmony was slightly paranoid that the woman behind her would notice her accent, her attire, and call her out.

Upon looking behind her, casually, the bitter line still painted upon her countenance, Harmony caught the angled eyes and slightly pointed ears of an achadhiel... certainly not worth even an instant of paranoia, second-class citizen that she was and always would be. As much as things had changed in the Mouth, they had not really changed that much-- at least not in the hearts and minds of the citizenry.

Harm was about to slide away, leaving the achadhiel to whatever it was that her kind did in their spare time (plant trees? dance naked?)... a sudden whim, however, happened upon the woman. The achadhiel had already doubtless heard Harmony's request for books on very advanced topics, but Harmony hardly wanted to come across as some mere bookworm, or an idiot running errands for her husband. She was a woman of breadth, was she not? A very brief smile lit upon her face, then, regarding the achadhiel for an instant longer before turning back to the receptionist.

"Oh, one more thing, I was wondering if it mighe be impossible for me to receive notice by post whenever..." a momentary pause, as Harmony desperately searched for the title of any -important- book any -philosopher-, anything that might demonstrate her breadth in the world, but the only thing that came out was:

"... any new title by..." another pause, grasping for straws, "...Armaita is published?" She kicked herself mentally, for though the book had indeed been her introduction to reading, she had rather despised most of the philosophy presented within its pages. Tedious, long, and sympathizing with all the wrong sides, it was definitely not one of Harmony's favorites. Nonetheless, there was a silent calm inside of the bitter blonde: she had mentioned a book that few of the educated in the Mouth would know of (especially, she suspected, the downtrodden or despised).

"I can leave you my address on my way out, and I would appreciate it very much..." she trailed off, nodding and sliding into the library, heading first in the direction of the Human Language primers, walking backwards with a flowing gait.

[Guest]

Emiliana waited patiently - even with her upperclass upbringing. In her mind, she was practicing what she ought to say, coming up with reasons why she shouldn't have to wait in a line, it was necessary - she was to play the part of a stuffed up lady that very evening.

Busy within her own mind she didn't catch much, if anything, of what Harmony was asking for. She was more caught up in deciding whether or not she liked the lilac coloured dress she was wearing. It was, in her mind, too plain - as if it made for her to blend into her surroundings by it's softness. Like a good Mouthie woman... Emiliana had never been one to want to be part of the scenery, she'd rather be noted and appreciated as it soothed her lacking in self confidence. The achadhiel was the sort to rely on outside influence to make herself feel better, it was part of the reason she liked being around Nico, he made a habit of complimenting her.

When the woman was starting to step away from the counter, Emi reached down to gather her skirts from about her ankles so that she might move with more ease, but then Harmony retreated to the desk again, pausing Em in her tracks. Armaita, a fan. It brought a bright grin to the philosopher's face to hear the name, and it made for her to take a better look at the older blonde woman as she finally did walk away from the counter. Maybe I'll have the chance to speak to her later...

It was then that she approached the brunette to put in her request. "I was wondering if the curator Guido was working today? I'm a friend of his and I was hoping to catch a flicker of his time."

[Morg]

The tiny librarian nodded to Harmony, sending ripples down her long brown hair. "Armaita, the writer of Allegories of the Mouth? I can make a note to our acquisitions department to let you know, certainly." She plucked a quill from its well and casually scribbled a note on the corner of a well-worn scroll. "It's good to meet a woman with a wide range of interests. If you're interested, at any point, I could introduce you to one of our reading groups," she added quietly. "Good luck with finding the primers you need, in any case."

The little librarian then turned her full attention to Emiliana. "Guido... hmm... ah, Master Cercatoro," she replied. "I think you may have just missed him. He was collecting equipment for some sort of expedition earlier this tradetide, so I think he may be out of the city. I'm sorry." She smiled ruefully. "If you like, I can take a message for him and pass it on when I next see him. We both live in the Lycaeum itself, so when he is around I see him quite frequently." Another thought struck her. "His mentor Professor Sfidante is likely to be in, if you need advice on anything. 218b."

[hr][/hr]
The ground floor of the Lycaeum was slightly airier and higher-ceilinged than most of the rest of the building. A vague glow of daylight came from the tall windows, masked by dull-coloured blinds, and the remaining light was provided by bright hemispheres of frosted glass mounted on the end of each bookcase. The illumination that these provided was slightly cooler and whiter than that emanating from the average wall lamp.

Sure enough, one row of shelves in was a sign indicating that the section ahead was for "Educational and Didactic: Common Tongue". The books here were mostly solid, with thick covers and titles in large, unadorned letters. Learn to Read with Oinus the Cherub, Basic Literacy for Merchants, Godly Texts for the Unlettered. The section's only other occupant was a dwarf, of broad girth even for one of his kind. His white eyebrows were knotted in concentration as he glanced between the two books in his heavy hands, Castigus Course in Reading and Writing Vol. 1 and Martonus' Letters and Words, and he paid Harmony no attention.

[Guest]

There was no attention paid back to the librarian, only a slight raising of eyebrows and a last parting glance at the woman behind her. She seemed suitably impressed, which satisfied Harmony enough that she moved toward her first destination without further word.

A dwarf-- of course, this city was practically infested with non-humans by now-- was standing in the section, which made Harmony slightly uncomfortable... she was suddenly very self-conscious of any of these lesser races noticing her inability to read. She plucked books from the shelf idly, not really paying attention to the titles for a few burns, instead preferring to sound-out the words in the titles within her mind carefully, paying special attention to the differing vowel sounds (which were really the hardest part of language, in her opinion). While she waited, her irritation at the dwarf's presence grew.

Months of being poor and having her ego crushed on a regular basis had built a kind of awkward paranoia and determination inside of Harm to prove her own worth. She didn't like it, but felt herself being towed away by the emotions.

"What seems to be the problem you're having with the books, there? Maybe I help you resolve it?" she lofted thin brows without really looking at the dwarf, replacing the current title and looking for something more complicated to sound out, trying her best to look very important and busy. Title after title, she didn't want to waste much time... she simply had to get better at this reading thing, learn as much as possible... or at least enough to convince Hart of the potential for her plan.

The dwarf was just a distraction, and either she would make him leave with bitter rudeness, or else she'd get an ego boost by helping the... less fortunate being.

[Guest]

"An expedition?" Her brow raised and an incredulous look came over her face. Emi's voice, tightening in surprise, continued. "I do hope it's nothing overly dangerous." She considered whether or not she wanted to leave him a message for upon his return. Really, there were a few things she wanted to discuss with him in person. "If you could tell him to get in touch with Emiliana Medicci at his earliest convenience for a business proposal along with his tutoring I would appreciate it." What the proposal was or what she was tutoring him in would remain between Guido and herself sadly for the brunette librarian. "Thank you." She smiled and slid a few banner across the counter. "Don't forget."

Emiliana then realized that she still had a full tide to burn through before heading to the Den. She needed to do something to keep herself busy before heading in to be an accomplice to murder something she never thought she would be - though she had already helped bury a body, but that was much more removed.

Then there was the somewhat upperclass woman speaking of Armaita, and that atleast would give her something to do. Primers for Common... She headed toward the section the librarian had pointed Harmony to. When she reached it she saw Harmony engaged in conversation with a dwarf, and so she busied herself within sight, stealing only the occasional glance as she stepped into an adjacent aisle and spent a few flickers 'reading' the titles before pulling down a random book that seemed thick enough to hold her interest while the woman was busy. Her eyes scanned the page, barely registering the words unless something of interest popped up.

[Morg]

The librarian shot a polite smile at Emiliana as the achadhiel left, slipping the two banner into a wooden box under the desk that was left specifically for the purpose. Lycaeum staff were requested not to take tips for themselves, as the financial state of the institution had been getting more and more precarious of late. Instead all such tips were to be collected and handed in to the Head Caretaker at the end of the day. Jaline had no objection to this. Her living quarters and most of her meals were provided by the library, after all.

A thick, well-bound book from the New Acquisitions section slipped easily into Emi's hands.

Darkenry 31st, Open Desert

They have done it again, and I am despondent. Once more, my carefully-copied images of their unusual, amazing words has been lost, no doubt stolen and burned like all the others. I have lived among the People for weeks now, travelling with them and watching them and taking part in their daily lives. They have accepted me now, not as one of them, but as a shaman to my people, which came as a great surprise...but a welcome one indeed. While I would never speak to any of the enigmatic Black Tribe to understand why they suffered my presence, I suspect they believed me to be on some form of spirit quest, a trial ordained by the spirits. For such a complex and intriguing people, the desert nomads seem to have a very strong need to classify all that they see, classifying me as a shaman as that might be the closest caste they have to a scholar. They have also classified all of the Races of Man beyond their own culture as guarrdi, a term I've heard hundreds of times and one I was surprised to learn might translate imperfectly to mean children.

I have come to know their ways rather well. The rumors of their savage ferocity are perhaps only partially true, for while I have never known a people more prepared for combat, bloodshed, and loss, I have also found them to be strangely conservative, formal, and even respectful in their day-to-day dealings. For example, the myth that they routinely consumed the corpses of the dead were very, very wrong, the People considering such acts taboo and fit only for "dogs or witches" and no doubt a rumor started by their practice of carefully burying and hiding corpses to confuse pursuers or predators. Another of their curious habits...one of much more powerful implications...lies in their methods of writing. When they write their runes, they do so using colored sand arranged upon the desert itself...and while they protect the sands while building these magnificent, amazing mandalas, they always leave their creations to be destroyed by the winds afterwards. So insistent were they that their runes decayed that they refused to allow me to record them on anything more permanent...and when I did not hide them well enough, they would steal into my possessions, reclaim the recorded sigils, and destroy them at once. At first I believed that they were merely superstitious or protective of their ancestral practices, but their refusal to even discuss the matter lead me to believe that something much, much more lay beneath. After all, the societies of Kislovan and Amun Rah did not take such measures to insure their rune scribings faded away. It felt as though the People of the Sands knew something of them that gave them to be far more cautious.

We witnessed another Dragon in the skies this morningtide. Dragons are a way of life in Terra Incognita...

Meanwhile, the white-haired dwarf didn't seem to pick up on any rudeness or hostility in Harmony's approach. When he spoke himself, one possible reason for this became apparent, as his thick, gruff accent was not that of a native speaker. "I must select between the both," he explained slowly, holding the two books up for the blonde woman to see. "Maybe could you help me? I know not which course would be better for me. I want to learn the written language of your speech, for I stay here. For my clansmen also. There is perhaps one that you used? When you still were a pupil?"

[Guest]

Harmony blinked a few times, processing the fractured human dialect coming from the strange dwarf. The woman wasn't exactly about humouring people, but she also wanted the dwarf to hurry up and disappear so that she could have this portion of the library to herself. The woman closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath to calm herself, not really caring about keeping up pretenses with this stupid and obviously inferior being. The King's Court accent would be quite obvious, likely not picked up by the strange dwarf.

"What are you and your clansmen doing staying in The Mouth? It's very hard to do anything without understanding the language, and it sounds like you can barely speak it." She was marginally interested in the answer, but Harm mostly just wanted to discourage and belittle the stranger.

"Well, I think you'd be better off picking a primer in the dwarf language. You'll be pretty much fucked if you try to learn from one of those," she took them from the dwarf and shook her head, placing them on the shelf, not particularly caring about their order. "Find a book with a title that you can read. You know, that you understand?" She was speaking slowly, as if to a small child-- and rather enjoyed the sensation of talking down to the foreigner. Furthermore, the Highton personna was basically gone, now-- and she sounded essentially like a commoner. One from King's Court, no less.

[Morg]

The dwarf's limited command of Common meant that it was difficult for him to pick up on potential insults... but the safety zone was narrow, and Harmony had just left it by criticising his linguistic ability. Now she had dwarven pride to deal with.

"Many say that I could be of your race, were it not for my appearance," the dwarf responded fiercely, his bushy eyebrows knotting together. "I speak Common much better how most of my folk. I am accustomed to trading with the Mach Mellin traders. Now your city is undependent of the Western Kingdom, and my state of Kaza Rhun requires a representation there. I was selected due to my skill with your tongue." He puffed out his chest a little.

The books being taken from his hands - hands nearly twice the size of Harmony's - seemed to offend him a little, too. "Now then, I will ask the serving girl for books for outlandish learners," he stated. "Many, many heartfelt thanks for your considerate and thoughtful helping." Was that a hint of sarcasm in his gruff tone?

The stocky foreigner began to waddle away from the section, passing close by Emiliana as he did so.

[Guest]

Though, at first, the object of picking up the tome wasn't to learn much of anything, as her eyes scanned over the page she'd opened to she found herself intrigued on the topic. Dragons? It was exhilerating. She'd always wanted to see one, just see... not close up... not within firebreathing distance, but flying over the horizon in Terra Incognita she could see such a thing, and it sort of filled her mind with a strange melancholy about what her life was at current. Emiliana found herself dreaming up an expedition, perhaps inspired by the fact that Guido was on one, where he'd have to chronicle the events and compile them, living in the action, but always a step behind it - in the safe zone. Non.. I don't want that. She was thriving here in the Mouth in the danger that surrounded her. It made her feel alive. Perhaps dragon hunting in Terra could provide something similar, but she wondered at the lack of intrigue in hunting a beast.

There would be no planning of vendettas and no following through on the destruction of entire noble families to crumble the standings of nobility in the city, no murders to gain piles of exemption licenses and no selling them on the black market and to her, that meant there would be nothing, and so the fancy of dragons passed her quickly, as it did when she was a child first reading the faerie tales and passing them off to pursue her maths.

In any case, even if she'd be overly interested in the writings she didn't get much out of them, for she had little idea of what a rune was. Some sort of magickal writing, or so she guessed from what was on the page. Turning it casually she went on 'reading' while carefully listening to the conversation happening so closeby. It was easy to pick up on Harmony's accent, or perhaps, the lacking of it, as her conversation continued. She was starting a fight with the dwarf... perhaps not full of etiquette, and it was becoming more obvious that this woman was not a member of Highton, even if she was dressing the part, which was all the more amusing considering the fact that Emiliana was, and yet chose to play in the underground with Nico.

As the dwarf made his way passed her she gave him a gentle smile. Be brave, amico. Eventually, as the city breaks into it's independence, there will be changes. By Dominicus she prayed that it be true, but it wouldn't be for a long time, not with the constant hatred coming from every angle. Her eyes glanced back down at the book in her hands, and she started to wonder if after the way Harmony had treated the dwarf if it was even worth speaking to her about her book, and so she leaned against the bookcase with the volume in hand, reading over the lines before speaking, though seemingly to no one in particular. "So, did you just want to have the aisle to yourself so you could sound out the letters properly?" It was a sarcastic comment, biting and considerably un-ladylike, but Emi was often all those things. Perhaps that was why she didn't fit in in Highton.

[Guest]

Ungrateful little bastard! He had a lot to learn about the way that this city worked if he was going to take offense to her relatively inoffensive dialogue. After all, she had been perfectly honest and was well aware that the librarian would probably direct him to the same books. Harm smirked as his back turned, eyebrows raised-- she was offended, but not in a shocked or appalled way, but in a amused kind of way. It was like a fly landing in one's soup-- one could not be offended at the 'breach of protocol', really.

Despite the offense that she took at the dwarf refusing her help, Harm recognized what he had said... the dwarf might -actually- be important and not just some witless inferior. Hart had warned her once before that the important thing was to -not- scare away potential contacts. Harm had a tendency to be blunt and bitter and offensive in all matters, which was rewarding when speaking with those who were not often offended, but came back to bite her when dealing with a more sensitive client. For a brief instant, she considered running after the dwarf, but the new arrival halted her.

Harmony saw the achadhiel enter what, until recently, had been supposed to be -her- aisle, but said nothing. Instead, she stared after the dwarf for a few more moments and ignoring the woman's bitingly sarcastic comment briefly. "Yes, that is clearly it. I offered him help in an honest and simple to understand way. He reads dwarf, he needs a dwarf primer." She was not upset, no sound of agitation in her voice, the tone level and the expression neutral. Harmony was not lying, was not upset, but didn't feel the need to let this achadhiel belittle her, however true the insult might have been. "Fact is fact is fact, no matter how it's been prettied up. My words to that dwarf weren't as flowered over as they could have been, but at least they had substance. Substance is all that matters, ultimately-- and at least my unkind words had substance behind them."

Harmony lifted her skirts without smiling at Emiliana, not glaring but appearing completely neutral and cool. In truth, the inside of the woman was filled with turmoil, believing that the achadhiel surely knew that Harm was illiterate, that she had fucked up a potential contact for Hart, that this woman knew of her disguise, and so on... but if nothing else, Harm was accustomed to hiding her inner turmoil. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." Part of her felt awkwardly compelled to prove this strange half-elf wrong, and the other half felt the need to punch the dwarf in the throat-- either way, she'd have to stop his departure first.

"Signore," she called after the dwarf, striding after him delicately. If she managed to get his attention, she would repress her racial bias and the desire to commit countless acts of violence (he, the little worm, had spurned -her- advice! Did he not know how this city worked?!), and bow/curtsy deeply. "I'm very very sorry, signore, for my behavior before... it was not my intention to offend you or the great nation of Kaza Rhun," she stumbled over the unfamiliar words (though in reality the hesitation had as much to do with disgust as familiarity), "but I have heard that your people are very forgiving..." at this point, the bow would be broken at last, and Harm would look into the stranger's eyes.

"Perhaps I can make it up to you in some small way?" and she'd pause, not wanting to waste more breath than she absolutely needed to on this stupid little ingrate. However, if she had a contact with a representative, maybe Hart would be more likely to let her follow through with the plan.

Besides, if the dwarf allowed her to help again, Harm might just be able to pretend at being a tutor long enough to impress Hart and gain information. And information, the woman had quickly learned, was the only real currency in this city which could save her from her present fate.

[Morg]

The bulbous figure turned in some surprise as Harmony chased after him, raising his eyebrows, which stayed raised as the blonde woman spoke. He had to incline his gaze upwards to meet hers, but not greatly, as there was only a head of height between them. His stubby fingers played with a jewelled brooch on his thick brown coat.

"Make yourself no worries," he told her calmly. "If you heard that my people were forgiving, you heard untruth. We dwarves are as unforgiving as the rock. But my Common can still be improved," he allowed. "Perhaps I understood you wrong, and you did not want to slight me. Thus perhaps you can help me. If you say words to me, loud, from the page, and I can see what they say. As dictation, but reversed. Then you would be forgave, and I would thank you heartily." There was a little amusement in his grey-blue eyes, as well as some measure of hope. "What say you?"

[Guest]

((OOC: http://wiki.tazlure.nl/index.php/Kaza_Rhun "Kazans will forgive, but they never forget." Just giving you a hard time))

"Thank you for the second chance, sir." Harmony fought back the desire to lash out and punch this ungrateful and petulant little man in the throat, or stab him repeatedly in the chest. For a few moments, as he blathered on and she barely managed to pay attention, the bitter woman thought for a second that she very well might just do it... just might lose control and unleash all of the past few weeks' pent up rage. Instead, she forced herself to smile, to hide behind the same facade she wore when dealing with insufferable clients.

"I would be most grateful for the opportunity to redeem my earlier transgression," she spoke delicately, but took care to use particularly difficult words-- a subtle way of delivering her hateful revenge upon the diminuitive man, without appearing rude. People in high society did it all the time, so he might as well get used to it. That sentence alone did much to raise Harmony's spirit, and she continued a bit more genuinely. "Would you prefer that we begin immediately, or could we perhaps start after the completion of my errand here?"

She did, after all, still need to acquire the books on technology and mechanics, in the hopes that she might be able to understand the new exports of the mouth. Infiltrating the Nashorn was not something to be done by an ignorant 30-yahren-old woman.

Never before had Harmony wished that she had a larger vocabulary. Maybe reading more Armaita was in order...

[Guest]

Emiliana closed the book she'd been holding as Harmony began speaking to the small man. She scanned the wall quickly, looking for anything about law or business, as these could both come in handy considering her increased interest in helping Nico out, especially now that Finley Ward seemed to be completely out of the picture - taking his death threats and wild attitude with him.

For, Emi had time to kill and she needed something to keep her occupied, and although reading about the law of the Mouth wasn't the most exciting of topics, it could be helpful. In addition to the dry tomes she stepped away from the recent aquisitions section to head toward Fiction where she was prepared to take a glance over some of the more well known crime novels. Perhaps she was inspired seeing as she was to be involved in some small way, but Nico was always scheming, and it did always help to have some ideas - even if they were borrowed from the portrayal of people who never really existed. All the characters in her stories existed - she just bent them to her will and allowed them to tell the story they way they ought to.

Taking her small collection of books she headed over to a nice quiet spot to take a breather and get some research done and also, hopefully, get a bit better at her own reading and writing in the process. She paid careful attention to her books and made sure to write down any words she did not recognize, jotting them with a lead that had been left behind on a small piece of parchment that was safely tucked into the flap of one of the books. She would be sure to look up the meaning of the words after, and she already had a small list going from the brief piece on Terra, such as runes, ancestral, taboo, intriguing(though she would recognize this word as soon as she did so, it was merely the spelling she didn't expect), ordained, and mandalas. She was also sure to write down the meaning of the words in italics, the ones significant to Terra Incognita only as they were interesting to her.

It was thus that she was content to spend her time in the library until it was time to go out into the world again and prepare for the evening.

[Morg]

(OOC: I think that's Exit Emiliana for the purposes of this scene! )

While it was arguable that forgiveness was a dwarven trait, subtlety was certainly not, as Harmony was about to find out. "Oh!" he grunted. "You have other commit... commissions? In this case, it would perhaps be better if you returned and met me here a mark later. I have the whole tradetide free. Or need you more time?" He raised a stubby-fingered hand and rustled through his eyebrows.

"But for now I have a question," he continued. "You said the word 'transgression'. Would you be kind as to explain to me this word and its meaning?"

[Guest]

"It might be better if we could begin lessons tomorrow afternoon, at some point. Easier for my schedule, anyway, if it's also convenient for your own?" Harmony was rather enjoying the act of using circular modes of speaking all while not appearing at all offensive... merely educated. "Or even the next morningtide, I don't have very many demands on my time with the exception of this particular evening, my good sir." She was tempted to continue her whirlwind tour of interpunction and the human language, but his second question filled her with what could almost be construed as... pity.

"Transgression simply means 'crossing a boundary'... it's a social term, though. Transgression is the social form of trespassing, or doing something that one shouldn't have done. A transgression is a social wrong." She was amused that her definition was far from clear, but it was difficult to define a word when one was not sure of the vocabulary of the listener. "Does that make it any clearer?"

In truth, she was eager to begin her exploration of technology... it would be terribly useful for her next meeting with Hart, especially if she wanted to convince the man to offer her the operation.

[Morg]

"Yes. Many thanks," replied the dwarf seriously. "So it is going where you should not go, but with people and not with lands. That was very helpful, and it is clear to me now." His nostrils flared as he exhaled contentedly. "So then. It would be convenient for my own, and so we can meet here after luncheon, in the tradetide of the morrow. Many hearty thanks. And I wish you everything good for your schedule." With a hint of a bow, he turned and continued his stolid progress back towards the front desk, leaving Harmony to her own devices.

[Guest]

"Yes, that sounds like a thorough summation," Harmony said, doing her best to remain very neutral and calm despite her ridiculous desire to break into a jagged grin. It was ludicrous, and she supposed that the art of using deceptively difficult words didn't translate well to someone who lacked any sort of mastery of a given dialect. Nonetheless, she nodded along with the dwarf with what she hoped was passable sincerity.

"Yes, that time would work out perfectly for me, sir," Harmony began, feeling too relieved at the prospect of being left to her planned work. This meeting, if anything, meant she would have to spend slightly longer at the library, and possibly the next day as well, to assure that she had an understanding of written language at least surpassing her newfound dwarven contact.

Once the dwarf had left, the woman would grab a primer from the shelf and continue on toward the section of the library to which she had been previously directed. She was determined to find a straightforward-seeming text on both mechanics and on the meta-physical-magick-techno-whatsits that made airflight possible.

[Morg]

Basic Literacy for Merchants slipped obligingly into Harmony's hands before she descended the spiral staircase to the third underlevel.

Unlike the spacious floors on the surface, the archives below the ground were low-ceilinged and only dimly lit, and the bookstacks she had to weave her way between were tightly packed and narrowly spaced. The layout was designed with nothing else in mind than the storage of the maximum possible number of books, although here and there could be found small study tables with cold, functional chairs tucked into them. What light there was, emanating from lanterns on brackets at the end of every other bookstack, was more yellow in quality than that of the average lamp, presumably magical in origin.

The Mechanics section of the library took up a large portion of the far side of this level, and Magical-Mechanical Technologies had an annexe to itself, one that had been enlarged within the last month. The whole area was much fresher and cleaner than the rest of the Lycaeum, although it did have a curious hint of a musty, rodentlike smell.

The tomes in this annexe were generally much newer than those elsewhere, including such gems as Tonklin Pistons: A Functional Specification and A Comparative Study of Systems of Propulsion. For someone with only a basic reading ability, most of the volumes were incredibly hard going, but a solid amount of information could nevertheless be gleaned from them with effort, especially on airships.

[Morg]

(OOC: I've split off Fredric's post into a new thread, since you're in different sections of the Lycaeum. This doesn't mean that you won't be able to interact; if you get closer to each other I will let you know of the possibility!

Also welcome Dartimos, who'll be taking over this thread from now on. )

[Guest]

Harmony frowned that the titles weren't easily accesible, though she had not exactly expected them to be quite as difficult. She'd immediately grab the few that seemed most accesible from the shelf and set them down into a convenient pile.

Harmony was especially looking for books that would enable her to talk like a worldy, educated woman who knew all about machinery. She was interested in the mechanics, of course, but the vocabulary of things was much more critical if her plan was to succeed. Also of supreme importance was the laws of production for airships... how they were connected to government, though she supposed she might have to go to another section of the library for that.

No matter, she intended to spend the rest of the afternoon gathering books before her departure.

[Dartimos Hammer]

Find the books she wanted was not so much difficult, as time consuming. The Lycaeum truly was a repository of knowledge. Everything she might have wanted to know about airships, thier design, capacities, history, even one volume of art and stories called "Eros and Airships" that would have made a woman with a more delicate past blush.

There were books, and books, and books, and scrolls, and books. It was easily a couple of marks before she had a collection of a half dozen books that were written at a level she could understand, or a least glean the meanings from.

Also on a top shelf was a Dictionary of Areonautical Terms. The book was so self referntial as to be almost incomrehensible, but many of the commen phrases she had heard people utter were includeded there.

[Guest]

She'd gather as many of the books and scrolls as seemed appropriate to her (not so many that carrying them out wouldn't be impossible, but enough to give her a broad enough scope for understanding). Once she'd acquired and organized the books (preferring those on a basic level), Harm would settle herself down with the language primer she had acquired earlier.

She wasn't sure what level of skill was required to fully understand the books, but she definitely wanted to stay ahead of her soon-to-be-student in terms of reading power. The young woman suspected that learning language once you already knew the spoken form was mostly based on learning the symbols that represented the sounds... and she already knew the letters and common pronunciations. She set upon the book with all of her focus.

When she wanted to, Harm could be quite determined.

(( OOC: I'm willing to write out as much detail in this vein as you want, but I will admit I'm shamelessly learning the written language so I can advance my skill and open up opportunities. ))