The Better To See You With

Jigano just shook his head ruefully, appreciating his friend's confidence in him, but knowing it was misplaced. Oh, he'd be better than Sam the first time the Ascended did it, but by the bookmaker's third time or so, he'd probably outpace the bard, just like everyone else had done. Even Hiraku, in heavy armor! But at least now he could look back and laugh... though, at the time, he had experienced a very unpleasant combination of mortification and frantic fear for his survival.

Worries over whether his request would be turned down were, thankfully, unfounded as Sam responded with open, genuine pleasure and excitement. Jigano relaxed, grinning hugely in relief as the bookmaker already began making plans that sounded marvelously detailed and beautiful. "The first chair hit what you were aiming for!" he reassured his friend with a chuckle. "And I'd rather the chair than that queen's stinger!" Especially after Amalia had told them about the creatures and how bad those stings could be!

Sam's tentative question only drew a nod from the lorekeeper, and a gentle smile, though Jigano didn't reach out to touch him again as he might have when the day had begun. "I trust you, Samuel Wordsworth," he said, the words sincere and solemn in spite of the smile in his eyes. "But if you feel the task is becoming too much with your other work, please don't hesitate to ask myself or your other loreseekers for help. The reason I brought us together into a guild is so that we can help each other, so no one feels like they have to shoulder things alone." He smiled again, this time a touch of his wry humor back in it as he reached up to rub ruefully at his neck.

"I find that asking for help is often harder than offering it to others," he admitted, glancing off in the direction the rabbit had run. "But that's what friends are for. It just... takes a little getting used to."

Jigano laughed about being hit with the chair, which brought Sam considerable relief. While he certainly wasn't going to make a habit of it, it was nice to know he could make such a mistake and be forgiven easily just because he held the mantle of friend.

To be trusted was wonderful too, Sam unable to stop the proud smile on his face. Jigano, whom seemed so strong and steady, trusted him to do something. He knew he could not fail. Whatever books he made for the guild would be his most beautiful work, thick tomes with gold cover details and intricate lettering. He would even risk some art, twining vines up the sides of contents pages and dragons promising danger on the pages where they were on adventures.

"Mmm. I never had...f-friends before, like I do now. It's...a lot. G-good and...new." Not bad, not exactly, just hard to navigate when he didn't know how. "Your..f-friends before. Before all of this. Were they any-anything like the people here?"

His smile had softened as Sam talked about his own friends, but the question caught him unexpectedly. He exhaled slowly, gathering his thoughts. "They were... different," he said thoughtfully, quirking a brow at the bookmaker and starting to walk again, but this time more slowly. With the clouds dropping a few white flakes of fresh snow, he was getting a little chilled, and it felt good to start moving again. Especially when the memories had a way of setting his feet in motion, never growing too attached to one place or the people in it...

Until now?

"Those back in the Northlands, and everyone I've met here... each is their own person. Unique." His lips quirked wryly, though a shadow seemed to fall over his gaze as he looked ahead, seeing some other place, a different world. "Those I traveled with and was closest to... well. Humans were distinctly in the minority, for one. Seeing no one but humans here has been... a little jarring."

He took a deep breath, letting the chill of the Caido Deepfrost air clear his head a little. "Most of them... we were thrown together by circumstance. Chance... perhaps fate, but who can say? We found ourselves connected and driven by a shared experience, and shared questions. We... probably would not have come together on our own, otherwise. Riz and Yohgel were related, of course, but Jenny, Oni, and I..." he shrugged eloquently. "But we had to work together and rely on each other, and friendship bloomed from those seeds. Hiraku was sent to my side, and Isuma and Cassandalee had no one else, though in the end they were closer to me than any others. But... still, there was that foundation of 'necessity' to how we met. Here, of course, there has been nothing quite so... forceful, in drawing me to others. Here, I've been able to choose my friendships, freely. Yourself, Isla, Edy, Vervain, Amalia, Caiside, Nairi, and others... I may not know you well yet, but I've seen enough to know that I want to, as time and chance permit."

He offered his friend a lopsided smile. "May I ask how you've been doing? Has coming to the Rathskeller sometimes made it easier to meet people? Or is it still intimidating, having so many strangers around?"

Sam listened raptly to Jigano describing his friends, as if he were listening to a storyteller lay out the characters for an epic tale. The names were unusual, foreign to him, which only added to the mystery and interest of it.

"People...o-other than humans? What...were they, then?" Fantastical images from storybooks he'd read as a child came to him, cats in waistcoats and talking trees. Sam had always thought talking to a tree would be dreadfully dull, but in fantasy tales they always had so much to say.

He noted that Remi was absent from Jigano's list of friends, but didn't comment on it. He'd often forgotten things sometimes and had hoped no one would point them out.

"I...t-tend to meet people outside. N..not in the Ra-Rathskeller." Whenever he'd met someone new, it tended to be in the fields or woods. "B...but I'm not s-so scared of strangers. Anymore. They...can b-be friends. You were a s...stranger once, right? Then.." Sam smiled. "We were trapped in a b-book."

Jigano grinned at his friend's curiosity, even though the memories he asked the bard to sift through were painful. It was nice to see the bright spark of interest in Sam's eyes, the eager desire to learn something new. It was precisely that quality that had drawn them together in the first place, and which had cemented the lorekeeper's certainty that the bookmaker would be a good fit for a guild based around knowledge.

"Jenny was human," he began, starting with the easiest. "Oni was a shadowkin. Small - barely three and a half feet tall - with greyish-black skin and pointed ears, and a long, hooked nose. Riz and Yohgel were goblins. Small, green-skinned, oversized heads with too many teeth and all. I know, not what you'd expect," the bard chuckled, though there was a note of wistful pain to his laughter. "But they were... extraordinary. And then Isuma..." he trailed off for a moment, head sinking down as his smile softened with both love and loss. "Isuma wasn't of my world. She was from... elsewhere. Her kind are called 'Kasathans' and she has ivory skin, a long narrow skull, and four arms. And then Hiraku... he was sent from the land of my ancestors, halfway across the world, at the behest of an Oracle who foresaw his need at our side. He didn't arrive soon enough to save Jenny..." Jigano exhaled slowly, raising his head again to offer his friend a lopsided smile. "But he became like a brother to me. Hiraku is stonekin, a people who have both human and some sort of earth elemental in their ancestry, with grey, rock-like skin. And Cass..." He shook his head ruefully. "Perhaps the hardest to describe... Cassandalee's body was lost long ago, but her spirit lived on in a... a sort of crystal matrix I carried until she no longer needed it." This time he didn't hide his grief, though it was not for Cass, but for others he had lost when the android's spirit had ascended to the stars and the aftermath of that moment of mingled joy and pain.

He took a few slow breaths, walking in silence for a little while before he seemed to process his companion's words. "I'm glad they aren't so scary anymore," he said with a smile, and appreciating the simple joy of that statement. "And that some of them are becoming friends. Like we became," he agreed. The day had been filled with unexpected emotional lows - and a few highs, too, and the bard was still a little off balance from the ride. But... even if Sam did drift away from him into Remi's orbit... that didn't change the good memories they had made together. He was not so churlish as to deny someone who had been - and still was - his friend that recognition. "You were a royal huntsman. And I... I was a horse." He grinned, raising a brow at his friend. "And you gave me a firebird feather to save me, even though you were afraid and in greater danger. I have not forgotten, my friend. Indeed, it is a memory I treasure."

Sam listened with the rapt attention of a child being told a bedtime story to the description of Jigano's friends. He had so many questions at each junction, too many to put voice to because he could not decide which was best. Was a shadowkin actually made from shadows? What should he have expected from goblins? Was having four arms useful? Why did he sound so sad about Cassandalee?

But he didn't ask any of them even when Jigano had finished and there was a pause. The other man sounded sad, and last time Sam had been too curious about his past he had been gently told to stop. Instead he busied himself imagining what each person described would look like in his mind.

He did not even consider that being close to Remi could pull him from Jigano. As far as Sam saw it both relationships were good, but for different things: He didn't want to kiss Jigano and he didn't want to ask Remi for sagely advice.

"...I..d-don't know if I treasure it." He admitted with a laugh. "I was very sc-scared. But...I am glad...it brought me y-you. Oh, th-that reminds me." Sam put his finger to his chin as if considering how to say it, then said:"...D...do you think we c-could...make our own adventure books? L-like the ones we've been in. There has to b-be a way, right? We could u-use it for all sorts of things..."

He could see the questions in Sam's eyes, but he thought his friend also sensed the sadness the memories brought the bard, and Jigano appreciated that the other man didn't press for too many details. Even talking about his lost friends this much was... new. Something he hadn't considered he could do for a long time. So perhaps he was healing, a little? Slowly, but even a little bit helped...

Sam's laugh brought the grin back to Jigano's lips, and he gave a gracious nod of agreement that the adventure had brought them together. He opened his mouth, reaching for the pocket in his sleeve as he sensed the moment was right--

And Sam quickly moved on. Jigano had to stifle a rueful chuckle at how tricky the timing was proving to be, but the question was a good one, and he found himself momentarily distracted as his expression turned thoughtful. "I... I honestly don't know," he said slowly. "I don't know how those sentient books were made or where they came from. You're right that they'd be useful though, not least for safer training purposes." He thought particularly of when he and Isla were discussing how to train him to set stitches in a squirming patient, or performing resuscitation. His attention focused back on Sam, lips quirking up into a smile. "But with your skill at bookmaking, you would be the best person to research it, I think. Perhaps there are books in the Atheneum that talk about its history and might give you clues? We do need to know more about them as we collect them back into the vault."

He cleared his throat, a little self-conscious as he glanced off to the side, slipping the charm and a gold coin from his pocket and into his hand. "Ah, and speaking of the books and our first adventure, I wanted to give you something... a memory token. A luckpiece. To commemorate our first meeting." He stole a glance at his friend, trying to judge his reaction.

Sam nodded thoughtfully. If he could find out how to make the sentient books...well, the possibilities were basically endless. He could make whole worlds, fantasies, cater them to someone. There could be educational options, entertainment, erotic, medical...it was a power he didn't it possible for him to actually have, but it seemed a noble goal to pursue for now. "I will...tr-try to look in-into it." He promised.

He looked about to see if he could spot any other animals. Sam supposed the snow was probably keeping a lot of them in hibernation right now,  as he could not immediately see any.

"A....token?" Sam asked, blinking at Jigano confused. Slowly the word turned around in his mind until he realised it meant yet another gift he couldn't return. He was both thrilled and upset, a guilty smile on his face. "Oh, J-Jigano, you don't h..have to get me so many g-gifts. I can't....I can't re-return them. " Still, he was actually rather excited.

Sam still seemed surprised to get gifts of any kind, and Jigano's heart ached a little for the lonely bookseller. He gave a gentle shake of his head, smile softening at the guilt on his friend's face and in his voice. "They're gifts," he said gently. "You don't need to return them. This is something I decided to do on my own, because I enjoy your company and your friendship. Those are the gifts you've already given to me." A slight twist of his wrist slid the coin back into his sleeve even as he turned his hand over to reveal a small golden charm, an inch long, of an incredibly detailed and almost life-like little horse. "I had it made from the coins I brought from my world," he explained, smile brightening hopefully. "I remember how you liked the gold in that story, when it was all piled up and shining in the sun. And the horse, well..." He chuckled ruefully, giving his friend a wink. "That's our little secret, just between us, isn't it? I thought you could maybe use it as a luckpiece... or attach it to a bookmark, perhaps? Whatever you want, so long as it makes you happy to see it." He reached out to place the token gently into Sam's palm, if the other man would accept it.

"But I don't want you getting too cold out here. It seems fairly quiet now, so maybe we should--" He was interrupted by a flash of grey as two squirrels darted out from the nearby trees, very near to the barrier. One had more eyes than it clearly needed, the other, chasing it, had part of a second tail growing beside the first, though stunted and dragging behind it rather than flicking with liquid grace like the more normal one alongside it.

Jigano froze as they came near, trying not to startle them away as his eyes darted quickly to try and pick out details as they zig-zagged and zoomed over the snow - in either play or some squirrelish territorial dispute, he wasn't certain, but at least they weren't talking in human speech!

His whole face lit up as he saw the little golden horse, Sam's hands rising up to take it slowly and shaking, as if he were scared to. "Jigano...i-it's... you made it for me?" It was almost unbelievable that something so intricate could be made for him. Tears pricked at the back of Sam's eyes as he held the charm close to his heart. "Thank you."

Sam had little concern for himself in the cold; all sensations negative or positive were novelties right now and he quite enjoyed it on his skin. "If...if you want t-to go...we can...C-come for some tea at the sh-shop."

But any thoughts of what kind of tea they could have vanished as he was surprised by the squirrels running past. They looked nearly normal, except for the extra tail. He got his notebook out as quietly as he could and drew a simple diagram of them. Almost like a child, he asked: "Do you think they're f-friends...?"

"I  had it made," he admitted, a little regretful. "I wish I had the skill to make you this with my own hands... but I could never make something so beautiful. At least I contributed the raw materials for it though, coins from a foreign world," he temporized earnestly. "But yes, Sam, I had the horse made specifically for you, because of our first adventure together." He tilted his chin, smiling warmly at his friend. "You were my first friend here. I want you to know how much that has meant to me. Without you - and Isla, too," he hurried to add, not wanting to leave the lovely doctor out. "Without the two of you, I would have been, well, a lot lonelier." And Rory, of course, but he didn't know how to talk about that bond in human words when so much of it was tied up in complex emotions that hadn't needed words before.

The idea of tea at the shop would have been lovely - and still would be, later - if the squirrels hadn't chosen that moment to begin their chase. They didn't seem bothered by Sam's writing, too caught up in their own game - dispute? - but they didn't come near enough to the humans to be caught, either. Jigano retrieved his own notebook, jotting down a written description as Samuel handled the diagram end of things. "Could be," he said absently as he wrote. "Could be courting, too. Some animals mate in the winter so they can have their young in the spring when food is more plentiful." He nibbled his lip, glancing up as the pair scampered back into the shadows of the trees. "Did you catch how many eyes the one in front had? I counted four but there might have been a fifth higher up on its head..."

Sam didn't care who made it, the fact that Jigano had had this thing created just for him was more than enough to make it more precious than diamonds. He looked at it one last time before carefully placing it in a pocket of his bag. He wondered if Isla would get one themed a different way,  perhaps something medical.

"I...it's a b-bit cold for mating." Sam said with a smile, considering his and Remi's time in the snow-covered cave. Still, that was possibly more likely than just 'friends', he supposed.

Jigano asked him about the eyes; Sam had been so caught up in the charm and then the relationship of the squirrels that he had not even noticed one of them had had an unusual number of them. Blankly, he shook his head. "I'm...s-sorry. I didn't no-notice. Maybe...in the Flowerbirth, when th-there's more animals around...we could come b-back. Even catch some to ob-observe."

It took a moment for Sam's words to sink in as Jigano finished his hurried notes, but when they did they surprised a laugh from him, and he grinned slyly over at his friend. "Is it?" he teased gently. "Though, perhaps not, if you have the right motivation! As those two might!" He chuckled, closing his lovely journal carefully and tucking it safely away again to keep the snow from its pages. "Ah, but yes, they could be siblings playing a game, or simply neighbors having a little spat over territory. Maybe one got caught raiding the other's larder?" There were quite a few options, really. He'd never bothered himself with the inner lives of squirrels before, beyond occasionally trying to catch one if it strayed to close to his fox form, but that didn't stop him from offering cute little vignettes about them now, with a smile for his friend.

"No matter, you got more information on the one with two tails, yes? That's a good division of resources for us. And coming back in the sp--in Flowerbirth is a better idea, certainly. Though..." He hesitated, tilting his head curiously at his friend. "There was a meeting, where they talked about plans for dealing with the spire and the guardian... did Remi mention that? I can't remember if that was before or after you said you met him. I think they're planning an assault on the spire in Flowerbirth, when the snow melts." And if it succeeded, the hope was that the barrier would come down. Jigano knew Sam wasn't happy about that thought, but he had a right to know what the congregation of outlanders and naturals alike had planned, since it might profoundly affect his world.

Jigano's smile and joke made Sam flush and look down, unsure if he was being teased for his tryst with Remi or flirted with. Either way, it wasn't something he knew how to respond to. "I...I suppose it must be hard to find f-food around this time of year. Even...even if you h-have a lot of eyes."

At first what Jigano told him didn't really sink in and he just smiled blankly, not sure what he was saying. When he did understand though, Sam's eyes widened in an instant shocked frown. People were going to...go to the Spire? Remi was going to the Spire? Why couldn't they just leave it well alone? To Sam, if something was dangerous and hurt people, it had made itself more than clear and could expect to be left well alone.

"Jigano...y-you aren't g-going, right? T...th...they..." He took a moment to try and calm his speech, remembering that there was no charge right this second. He had time to discuss it. "...It's going to k-kill them all. Why do they wa...want to? The barrier is fine." Sam was rarely angry, but his fear here worked itself into an irritated frustration.

"I...I will ha-have to convince Remi not to. It's...I can't lose all my f-friends so soon. You don't know how d-d-dangerous it is."