[PQ] come one, come all!

Loren was not really interested in festivities. Even before he’d gone away and come back, parties had rarely interested him. They usually just proved to be opportunities to embarrass himself in front of his family. Besides, social interactions had never been his strong suit. But his family was mostly gone now. And this was a play—well, a puppet show, but close enough—which meant he could sit in the back and stay quiet. Even then, it wouldn’t have been enough to coax him out. However, this was apparently the story of something called Long Night. While the librarian didn’t know exactly what that was, he figured it was important that he get every piece of information he could while he could. After all, he had a lot of catching up to do. He came in the brown hooded cloak that he’d taken to wearing pretty much everywhere these days. It helped with the cold nip in the air, that was for sure, but mostly he wore it to avoid being recognized. Unfortunately for him, he was one of the first audience members to arrive, or so it seemed: everyone else, was clustered by the stage. Remi and a small child—who Loren had to assume was related to him somehow, as evidenced by the way they interacted—along with a tall warrior man the Launceleyn had seen elsewhere were seated at blankets towards the front. Seeing Remi, as always, was like a physical blow. This time, seeing him with the girl was like an extra twist of the knife. Loren had been intending to take one of the blankets towards the back, but this just confirmed it: he found the farthest spot from the alchemist, and the librarian gingerly sank into a cross-legged, stiff looking position. The Launceleyn was here for information, not for pleasure. While he’d intended to invite Beatrix and Jace along (assuming that, as children, they might enjoy a puppet show), Loren hadn’t been able to find them anywhere in the Manor. Seemed they were avoiding him in addition to Peter now. It was a problem, but not one he had a solution to. So it was pretty much the same as everything else in his life these days. LOREN Brought back by satisfaction more times than the cat