Isuma was licked more than once before she figured out to bounce back a little ways before pouncing forward again, peeping happily as her companion's aching sadness retreated and let her natural cheerfulness begin to shine through again.
The Provost's lips quirked in a wry smile at Kiada's relief that they would be picking and choosing their books carefully. It faded quickly, however, at the reminder of why he felt the need to do it. Paranoia? Perhaps. But it was that habit of looking ahead of his enemies that had saved his life, and the lives of his friends, on his world when they had faced a tyrannical ruler who had set all of Starfall's forces to seeking his team. It galled him that now that scenario was writ small again in the Hollowed Grounds. "Some of them would be unreadable, and therefore of little use to Zariah's folk," he said grimly, "but that doesn't mean I want to risk her getting a hold of them. Or us losing them."
He looked over the books she had grabbed and nodded his approval of her choices as he went to his desk and dug in the bottom drawer, coming up with some tough sackcloth that had originally been used to bring books down from the main library. Nothing went to waste in the Hollowed Grounds, not if it could be used again (and again and again), and Jigano had kept the sacks under the assumption that they would bring more books down to the Hall as they found them upstairs.
Now, it seemed, they would be used to take books out instead.
"If you could pack these carefully, I'll hand you books to put in them," he offered, laying the two sacks out on his desk. "And if you see any books that you'd like to read, just let me know." His smile was sincere in spite of the seriousness of their task, his love of the tomes that he handed her obvious in the gentle way he held them and the care he showed each one.
The Provost's lips quirked in a wry smile at Kiada's relief that they would be picking and choosing their books carefully. It faded quickly, however, at the reminder of why he felt the need to do it. Paranoia? Perhaps. But it was that habit of looking ahead of his enemies that had saved his life, and the lives of his friends, on his world when they had faced a tyrannical ruler who had set all of Starfall's forces to seeking his team. It galled him that now that scenario was writ small again in the Hollowed Grounds. "Some of them would be unreadable, and therefore of little use to Zariah's folk," he said grimly, "but that doesn't mean I want to risk her getting a hold of them. Or us losing them."
He looked over the books she had grabbed and nodded his approval of her choices as he went to his desk and dug in the bottom drawer, coming up with some tough sackcloth that had originally been used to bring books down from the main library. Nothing went to waste in the Hollowed Grounds, not if it could be used again (and again and again), and Jigano had kept the sacks under the assumption that they would bring more books down to the Hall as they found them upstairs.
Now, it seemed, they would be used to take books out instead.
"If you could pack these carefully, I'll hand you books to put in them," he offered, laying the two sacks out on his desk. "And if you see any books that you'd like to read, just let me know." His smile was sincere in spite of the seriousness of their task, his love of the tomes that he handed her obvious in the gentle way he held them and the care he showed each one.
