He had known there were others in the library - there usually were these days, regulars that he recognized and offered polite nods to even though they never spoke. Since he had arrived hours ago they had made quiet sounds from other nooks and tables - the quiet susurrus he had noted earlier, the library far from silent. He had, in fact, been hoping to perhaps gain the assistance of one of them, but the woman's appearance and then dismissal of him had dampened his enthusiasm for that plan, not least because he hadn't wanted to bother her.
As a lorekeeper he treated the books in his keeping with respect, his touch gentle and caution taken so that no harm would come to them by carelessness. As a bard he was exquisitely attuned to sounds both loud and small, and so he knew he had made been packing up in near-silence. And it wasn't as if packing up a mere half dozen books took him even a full minute to accomplish, his motions deft and practiced. As he placed the last book into his pile and gathered them up - already dressed against the weather - he glanced to his unwelcome companion with a polite smile, his voice as pleasant as if she'd greeted him with the usual courtesy in such situations.
"Only when someone comes stopping through the library as gracelessly as possible, making it impossible to concentrate." He nodded down at the small woman in farewell, and turned away, heading for the exit and more convivial scholarly company.
As a lorekeeper he treated the books in his keeping with respect, his touch gentle and caution taken so that no harm would come to them by carelessness. As a bard he was exquisitely attuned to sounds both loud and small, and so he knew he had made been packing up in near-silence. And it wasn't as if packing up a mere half dozen books took him even a full minute to accomplish, his motions deft and practiced. As he placed the last book into his pile and gathered them up - already dressed against the weather - he glanced to his unwelcome companion with a polite smile, his voice as pleasant as if she'd greeted him with the usual courtesy in such situations.
"Only when someone comes stopping through the library as gracelessly as possible, making it impossible to concentrate." He nodded down at the small woman in farewell, and turned away, heading for the exit and more convivial scholarly company.
