"Hei Kaitaki*, any new books today?" I asked the librarian behind the counter. Her hair had started fading into grey and the spectacles seemed a bit rounder. The same person who had been here since the first day I set foot in here, a place where I'd experience happiness, love, sadness, despair, and comfort all in search of never ending knowledge.
Having attended Silvari's School for the Gifted, I always thought myself a bit above the cut. Afterall, not just anyone got into the school. A test was required to get in, and you needed to score within the top fifteen percentile to get in. I remember the day my grade came back from the test, it was a 9-8-9, one of the top in the country, missing perfect scores by one.
Though the Civil War impeded some of our field trips, I made up for it by spending time in the library. Supplementing practical for mountains of theory. I read books from Admas to Zentor, creating a very wide knowledge base. Once the war ended, and I landed a job as an executive, I travelled the world to many other libraries and museums. Yet there is one library that rules them all; the Xelhan National Library in Blizzaria. The five story vault of knowledge built five years ago to commemorate the restructuring of the bibliographic organization to Ocelot Decimal Classification from the old Xelhan Classical Classification felt more like a homely bookstore than a national library. There are random beanie seats and chairs scattered throughout all five floors. While there is a café on the second floor, food is forbidden beyond the second floor, with bans on drinks past the third floor not including the audiobook station.
Among the books, I often found sanctuary from the world around me. Yet in that sanctuary, I experienced a wide range of emotions; joy as I travelled through The Adventures of Felena, perplexity at the weirdness of the Pasa Language, sadness at the historical failings of Tailanda's governments, and awe at the circumstances that brought WestGroup to almost parity with government control. All under the watchful eye of Miss Ocelot who would sometimes peer at us over her glasses, indicating that we had better settle down or else. Yet that same woman would come over and help you if you require extra help to reach a book or understand a topic. Even when scolding, her voice never wavered much beyond warm and welcoming, and she cared for us all as her own.
I will admit to a schoolboy crush on her, made me feel special, and would entertain many conversations at her desk on the first floor. I would read a book and she seemed to have an endless well of knowledge on them, offering counterpoints on the classics, in depth discussions and analysis that one couldn't easily find in another textbook. During the air raids, she would marshal us inside and treat us as if the library existed in its own space of peace and tranquility. She allowed us kids to be a little bit noisy on the first floor, but always warned us that people on the higher floors needed no noise at all. A stern warning, one which I broke once when opening a bag of chips on the fourth floor audiobook station. Everyone looked up at me and I felt the eyes of the entire floor on me, causing me to sheepishly put the chips away and descend to a lower floor, but I digress.
But all that sanctuary would not save me from the despair of finding out my schoolboy crush was already taken. One day after school, there was another behind the counter with her. She wore the light blue skirt and tie of Blizzaria High. Though not at the counter proper, she was sitting in a corner pouring over a book in her lap."Student volunteer?" I remember asking.
"Oh no," she giggled in response. "This is my daughter Synelia. She's here researching Xoriet."
"D-d-daughter?" I stammered. The word felt like a knife stabbing me in the heart.
"Oh the orange-red hair throw you off? She gets it from her dad," she continued speaking with a slight chuckle. But to me it just felt like more daggers to the heart. The knockout blow came when she mentioned she was married to a lawyer and I remember dramatically falling to the ground. My secret love was already taken. The only woman in the world as knowledgeable as me married to a lawyer, someone I could never compete with. Oh the intelligent conversation we could have had! Up in smoke! And she seemed oblivious to it, instead clapping at my theatrics.
Over the years, I recovered, to a degree. I still did wish I could have her more to myself, but as an adult I had learned a bit more self control and respect. We still do talk about the books I read and events in the news. While I wait for her response, I spy her daughter, still pouring over a book in the corner.
"Must be a rough day," I asked once I snapped out of memory lane. "The only time Synelia is here is when she needs sanctuary from the warzone that is the Foreign Liaisons of Xelha."
She chuckled, as she always did, "Blizzaria National Library, greatest sanctuary in all of Xelha, where at least for a few moments, all your cares of the world can melt away." And to that statement I could do nothing more than nod in agreement.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYWF03zmWF
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFzcPsgngd
Author Notes:277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL5BesbZwbk
*Kaitaki is the Xelhan word for Librarian277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcS9EmW6tF6
