Though he'd been comfortable enough walking outside, enjoying the warm weather - mitigated by the shade of the great trees - as much as Maea was, once they stepped inside the big oak the courier gradually grew more and more tense. His expression pulled deeper into a scowl as he looked around the book-lined walls of the tree's interior and he glanced at her interest in one of the books with an awkward shrug.
"Yeah? Never heard of a loreseeker afore," he admitted, head jerking back around at a flutter of movement out of the corner of his eyes. A fae shifted their wings again as they pointedly ignored the tall interlopers and Tal gave a huff that was half-growl and started slouching reluctantly towards the staircase that spiraled down into the roots of the vast oak. "'Sides, don't y'have t'get back t'the Grounds? How fucked up did they get after Starfall, anyways?"
Though he was paying attention, his eyes kept roving around the inside of the tree and he paused for a long moment at the top of the staircase before swallowing hard and calling over his shoulder: "C'mon. Th'office is s'posed t'be down here." The office was supposedly one level above where the water had risen to when it had changed the definition of 'book' and made it much harder to borrow certain tomes without a chisel or portable aquarium.
The staircase was narrow but well-lit, and the courier glowered as he descended, listening to Maea but keeping his eyes ahead as they went down steps that were uncomfortably shallow for his longer legs. The wood of the walls had been worn smooth at a height slightly below the Ancient's shoulders, polished by the arms and wings of generations of passing Fae.
Tal's shoulders were hunched like an angry cat's ahead of Maea, and in one of his pockets his fingers tapped a swift, syncopated rhythm against his thigh.
"Yeah? Never heard of a loreseeker afore," he admitted, head jerking back around at a flutter of movement out of the corner of his eyes. A fae shifted their wings again as they pointedly ignored the tall interlopers and Tal gave a huff that was half-growl and started slouching reluctantly towards the staircase that spiraled down into the roots of the vast oak. "'Sides, don't y'have t'get back t'the Grounds? How fucked up did they get after Starfall, anyways?"
Though he was paying attention, his eyes kept roving around the inside of the tree and he paused for a long moment at the top of the staircase before swallowing hard and calling over his shoulder: "C'mon. Th'office is s'posed t'be down here." The office was supposedly one level above where the water had risen to when it had changed the definition of 'book' and made it much harder to borrow certain tomes without a chisel or portable aquarium.
The staircase was narrow but well-lit, and the courier glowered as he descended, listening to Maea but keeping his eyes ahead as they went down steps that were uncomfortably shallow for his longer legs. The wood of the walls had been worn smooth at a height slightly below the Ancient's shoulders, polished by the arms and wings of generations of passing Fae.
Tal's shoulders were hunched like an angry cat's ahead of Maea, and in one of his pockets his fingers tapped a swift, syncopated rhythm against his thigh.
