The ABCs

Sorrel We’ve been dreaming but who can deny, It’s the best way of living, Between the truth and the lie. Sorrel didn’t spend much time in libraries, historically. Though technically the Athenum wasn’t merely a library. She wasn’t entirely sure why she’d decided to break the habit of a lifetime, except that she needed information. Had accepted that this was her home now and, in the midst of upheaval, she might as well try to make a go of it. Maybe learn something useful - to her or someone else. This would, she decided, after discarding the third or fourth book she’d cracked open, be a lot easier if she could read. More than her own name, at least. The books scattered around her could be about mushroom farming for all she knew; she’d picked those with weighty spines and possibly esoteric front cover designs, and been rewarded with page after page of text. She picked up another and skimmed through the pages. “Not one drawing,” she sighed. “Not even rude ones.” Sorrel readied herself to fling, dramatically, onto a nearby chair, when the faint sound of singing reached her ears. No song she knew - nor a familiar voice. She clutched the book between her hands and stepped, softly, towards the source. Tome wielded like a weapon before her, though she couldn’t imagine what danger might lie in a library. And sing. Weren’t these places normally quiet? She thought, as she caught sight of the man responsible for the singing at his desk. He looked slight from a distance, his hair the only defining feature she could make out. Sorrel watched him, brows drawn in curious consideration, until he licked his fingers, turned a page and appeared poised to draw on the papers before him. Sorrel stood up straight and, without thinking, announced her presence. “I don’t think you're meant to draw in the books.”