Let's Try This Again

Sam smiled, in a way that seemed like his cheeks would have flushed if he still had the blood for it. "Thank you. I've had many years of practice - I'm sure everyone will learn." Not that bookmaking, at least not in the classical and decorative sense he had been taught, was a common skill now; his desire to take on an apprentice was born of the knowledge that the craft was slowly dying out. "Oh. Um.." Pausing and sighing, Sam knew he'd have to admit something embarrassing, though maybe not what Jigano thought. "Honestly, I need to fact check a lot of them with Nephele, if she returns, because...erm, well, there's a lot of old books with parts I can't translate, and I thought one of the words might be Fae. But in the last week when I looked at them again, I wasn't quite sure...? So..." He chewed at his lip. This was particularly shameful for him because he valued accuracy of information and the correctness of his books greatly. "I do think though that some stories must have travelled from before the barrier to people here, and to their children, and so on. There might be something there, even if it's not in the same form. This is partly why it's such a big project - there's a lot to check on." It seemed like Jigano was receptive to his idea so Sam smiled back, happy to find only a little of the usual dreading anxiety sat in his chest now he knew he had a social event to attend. As Jigano digested the news about Loren and the loss of Abasi, Sam learnt that his friend had been there at the night of the fire. Concern on his face, he asked: "Are you alright? What...happened to Abasi, exactly?" He could guess, but the way Jigano described it as 'hard' made him think there had been something more. "I don't know if he's leaving the guild or not. He didn't seem to want to talk much...understandably, of course." Samuel He took a step but then felt tired He said, I'll rest a little while But when he tried to walk again He wasn't a child