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Xavi dozed at some point, and had no idea how long it had been when she awoke. It could have been hours, for all she knew. Long enough to get a very stiff back, leaning against a stone wall as she was. The dragon's morning nap dragged on, and thinking it could be several more hours yet before Xavi had a chance to actually speak to him, she renewed all her enchantments on him.

It was going to be hard to face him without her magic. Though her heart broke for him, he was still a dragon. To face one with no defense seemed foolhardy. She thought of removing only the spell preventing him from hearing her; to remain invisible to his eyes while she spoke to him. But she couldn't let herself consider such a poor show of faith. She needed the dragon to trust she was not a threat, and she didn't imagine speaking to him as a disembodied voice would help her cause.

She dozed a few more times, finally roused when the dragon woke. As he rose, he stretched out his hind legs to their fullest extension for several moments. Then, after just one step, he stretched out his front legs, lowering his chest nearly to the ground while his haunches stuck in the air. All the claws on his front paws unsheathed like a cat's, and he bared his teeth with a grunt of satisfying exertion. With all his feet under him finally, he yawned widely and made his way back to the stairs. Xavi followed, finding herself yawning repeatedly as well.

The fire in the library's hearth had died down, and Xavi guessed the bare embers were doing a poor job of keeping the dragon's next batch of glue warm. He poked through the hearth with his bare paws, but it was mostly ash. Again, Xavi wondered where he got his fuel for the flames.

"There is something you must do first," the dragon told himself as he gazed at the upturned coals.

He had a spark of bare determination in his eye as he returned to the side-chamber where he was currently copying the crumbling book. Xavi worried he might not leave the library at all if he went back to writing, but the dragon completed only a single word before covering his ink again. That was all he could manage - even writing the Aldaian word for 'mothers' left him shaken, and he hurried from the room.

From there, he made his way to the library's front doors. Xavi fought a small battle of relief and contention; she'd have a chance to approach him soon, and and she was split between dreading it and wanting it over with. What was she even supposed to say? Obviously, she had to make sure the dragon understood she and her companions weren't a threat.

The doors were still shut, just as he'd left them, and the raven was relieved Jadere had had the foresight to close the door when she'd left. And that the dragon was downstairs at the time. Again, she scurried through the door before the dragon shut it behind him.

Daylight was blinding, and it was several moments before Xavi could see anything but white beyond the immediate building's shade. The sun was high overhead, and air shimmered over the plazas and streets. It was high noon, and Xavi groaned as she stepped out sweltering heat.

Showing no sign of discomfort, the dragon was soon trotting across a street, Xavi hurrying to keep up. One of the broad, mushroom-shaped buildings stood by the road he took, its roof casting a shadow over the path a ways ahead. If she was going to do this, she would at least prefer to talk in the shade. Her mind set, she pushed her legs to hurry just a little faster, veering off toward the base of the building. Coming up to its walls - and the blessed relief of its shade - she lifted her wing and turned back to the passing dragon. Uttering a few simple commands, each accompanied by a sigil, she dismissed each of her enchantments upon the dragon's senses - first scent, then sight, then sound.

She was vulnerable. She found it a struggle to lift her voice. "H-Hello."

The dragon jumped three feet straight up in the air. Eyes wide, ears splayed, tail stiffened, and wings half-spread, he scrabbled sideways away from Xavi, claws skittering on the on the flagstones a moment before he found the traction with his paw pads and faced her.

Under any other circumstances, Xavi might have laughed at his shock. "I'm sorry," she said at once, walking about the building as though she'd just come around from the other side. "I didn't mean to startle you."

The dragon took a slow step backwards.

"Wait!" Xavi spread her wings, showing she was unarmed. At least, she hoped that was how the dragon interpreted the gesture. "Please. I'm not here to hurt you. You... can understand me, right?" She wanted to express some uncertainty herself - she certainly had no trouble feeling it - as well as a desire simply to communicate.

Frozen tense, the dragon's stare locked with Xavi's. In his eyes, the raven saw a mirror of her own fears. Just as she was wary of what the dragon was capable of doing to her, just as she was wary of what might set him off, the dragon himself was terrified of the creature before him whose motives were a mystery to him. Yet it was far more intense than Xavi's: she, at least, had observed the dragon for a time, and even what little she had gleaned gave her some slight assurance.

The dragon blinked. His claws scraped the flagstones.

Xavi shook herself, realizing the next instant the dragon was running. "Wait, please!" But by the time she'd taken a step, he was tearing away from Xavi at an angle, wings flailing. The raven barely left the building's shade before she gave up. She could never catch him like this; he was too fast.

With a sigh, she stepped back into the welcome shade. Come to think of it, Xavi wondered why he didn't just fly away. At least she'd made the attempt. And maybe it would be best to let him go for now, and not startle him next time.

While she couldn't follow him as such, she knew how to find him easily enough.

Jadere was, unsurprisingly, back in the vault, cautiously turning over a crystal hourglass just as Xavi stepped in.

"Gave him a bit of a fright, did you?" the vixen chuckled.

"Then you saw..."

"It's not really 'seeing', in a strict sense," the fox shrugged, setting down the hourglass. "But yes, I got the idea. You said hi, tried to invite him for lunch, and he bolted."

The raven scoffed, "I did not invite..."

She broke off upon hearing the fox's laugh; it was a joke.

"Really, Xavi. Do you take everything so seriously?"

Shaking her head, she only asked, "Do you know where he is?"

Jadere appraised the raven with a slight grin. "Well, well. Like the task or not, once you set yourself to something, not much stops you, does it? Alright, then. You know the building we first saw him? He's upstairs, on the balcony."

Xavi knew the place. When she'd first gone looking for him alone, that was where she'd found him, and where she'd first heard him talking to himself. "Thank you." But before she left, she thought to ask, "What about Warrav?"

"This building has a basement, and he found something that looks like a record room. He's down there."

Giving the fox a nod, Xavi left. Her mind was laden with things she might say to the dragon when she found him again, anything she might do to quell his fears. It was easy to imagine their roles reversed; Xavi defenseless, the dragon approaching... She tried to imagine what he might say that could put her mind at ease. Such thoughts took her mind off the heat, too, when she stepped back out into the midday sun on her way to the dragon's balcony.

Perhaps a hundred feet from the shade of the entryway she was aiming for, the raven glanced up.

He was watching her.

It was surprising, until she remembered her spells were gone, her time of hiding was done. There, huddled against the railing was the white form of the dragon, and even at such a distance, Xavi's keen eyes met his. She detected his uneasiness - the uncertainty of a cornered animal.

As much as she would like to simply explain to him she was not a threat, her words would mean little if the dragon felt threatened by her approach. Perhaps there was another way to reassure him. Raising her wing, hesitantly at first, Xavi waved to him broadly. Whether or not the dragon understood the message of the gesture, all she needed to convey was that she knew the dragon was there too. Then she turned and began to walk away.

She hoped it was a clear enough message for him: in full awareness of his presence, she chose to let him be. He wouldn't hear her sigh. Jadere might think Xavi was avoiding her task, but she wasn't. In truth, she wished she could approach the dragon, as long as she had the nerve to do so. But she simply felt this was the best way, for now. Still, not desiring to confront the vixen, she instead sought out her brother.

It took her a while wandering dark corridors to find the record room, and a while longer to find Warrav amid the honeycomb of slotted walls packed with aged, brittle scrolls. There was a weathered old desk in one corner, and that was where she found him, pouring over text by his lantern's light, plus a few candles he seemed to have found locally. A cracked scroll occupied the center of the desk, but a half dozen books surrounded it - all notes he'd brought on this trip to help him translate whatever he found.

"Xavi," he acknowledged her, glancing up from his notes for a mere moment. "I thought Jadere was keeping you busy?"

"She asked me to explore a bit," she half-lied. "I just wanted to stop by before I went back to her. I don't suppose there's anything I can do here?"

"Avoid distracting me - that would be most helpful at the moment, I think," Warrav said flatly.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," Xavi countered in an equal tone. After a moment, she waved a wing at his work. "So are you learning what you hoped?"

"Not precisely. I would like to be able to present the university with a timeframe of this city's occupation, to place it on a historical timeline. Thus far, I haven't found exacting records." He lifted his eyes once more, regarding his sister. "And you? No more run-ins with that dragon, I hope? Keep your distance if you see it."

Xavi could have told her brother she'd been trailing the dragon unseen. She was trying to come up with a jest about her skills with illusion, something about being able to hide no matter her distance from the dragon. Warrav would probably tell her not to take such matters lightly, and Xavi would inform him she'd been perfectly serious, then go on to tell him she'd been keeping an eye on the dragon most of the day.

She knew she should tell him. On second thought the exchange in her head seemed much less probable to play out that way, and far more ridiculous on her part. Still, she had to say something... It was on the tip of her tongue, a simple blunt statement, as she mustered her motivation...

But Warrav, beak hovering over the crumbling old scroll, spoke first. "I should hate to think you begged to come all this way just to lay about."

All her plans died on her tongue. "I did not 'beg'," she grumbled.

"Headmistress Sanchievi seemed to think it highly inordinate of you to so greatly desire to trek across a desert."

"You talked to her?"

"And why shouldn't I?" Warrav shot her an inquisitive look. "I was surprised you asked to come, but none of your tutors seemed to have the slightest inclination why you might wish to break from your studies."

"One would think you'd never had to study," Xavi chafed.

Warrav chuckled. "Some of us learned to deal with it."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Certainly not if you won't tell me," Warrav grumbled with a chiding tone, and asked again, "Wasn't Jadere keeping you busy?"

Xavi loosed an irked sigh. She had been going to tell him about the dragon, but Warrav was obviously not in an receptive mood. Now, she shook off the notion of making that revelation just yet.

Warrav glanced up from the scroll he was translating, grabbing up one of his books to reference something.

Once, Xavi thought his ability to translate Aldaian was impressive. The dragon could easily have read the scroll without a reference, Xavi was sure. For some reason, that thought gave her a hint of smugness. But obviously, she was unwanted here, so she left her brother continue his struggle.

Xavi wandered back to the vault, back to Jadere, bracing herself to explain just why she'd turned back without talking to the dragon. Sure enough, as soon as Jadere saw her, the first words out of the vixen's muzzle were, "You didn't talk to him?"

"I decided to leave him alone for now," Xavi explained hurriedly, "He saw me coming, and he was afraid... I don't want to push him, and I want him to realize it too. I'm not waiting for a perfect moment, or whatever... This isn't some excuse not to talk to him."

"Relax, girl," Jadere laughed. "That's your choice. This is why I asked you to do this. Words aren't your best tool for reaching him; your empathy is. I saw it in your eyes when you watched him."

"You... You believe me?"

"Yes, I do." The fox smiled. "As long as you're not ignoring the matter, I can accept there's merit in what you're trying to accomplish with a strategic withdrawal." The vixen shrugged. "So, how long are you planning to leave him alone?"

"Can you let me know if he leaves that building?"

"Of course, Xavi."

With little else to do, Xavi offered, "Would you like my help in the meantime? Though I'd not want to slow you down..."

"Nonsense!" The vixen beamed. "Come, I was meaning to show you this..."

The raven found it considerably more difficult to concentrate than the previous day. Whether the vixen didn't notice or simply didn't mind, she never mentioned it. Though Xavi was sure her involvement did nothing but slow down Jadere's work, the fox seemed to prefer the company more than anything else.

Hardly a quarter hour had gone by when Jadere reported the dragon was on the move, but not outside. "Actually," she corrected herself, "he's swimming. Must be an underground lake or something. Hard to tell."

Xavi chose not to make her move until the dragon was outside again. And it wasn't long before Jadere alerted her to the opportunity. The raven was gone almost before the fox could wish her luck.

She spotted the dragon just as he entered the central plaza, the road he aimed for leading straight to his library. Clutched in his teeth was a bundle of some gnarly, knotted vines. His ears shot up the moment Xavi set a talon in the plaza after him, and his head whipped in her direction. The vines slung about, and Xavi squawked as she was spattered with water droplets flying off them. Her wings came up to shield herself, but too late. Though she was more surprised than actually wet.

The dragon's drew his head back, his neck forming an 'S' as he began to back away.

Collecting herself, Xavi decided it was a good sign he wasn't running outright this time. Still, the lesser his fear, the greater Xavi's at having to stare him down. Yet she made herself raise her wing and wave at him, repeating her original greeting. "Hello."

A choked noise through his mouthful of vines was the dragon's only response. He turned away, glancing back over his shoulder. Xavi took a slow step after him, plainly in his view. He took two more steps, and she took two more. Then the dragon looked ahead and froze in mid-step, a front paw suspended limp in the air. His eyes darted from the distant library to the raven and back. Xavi watched the evolution of his thoughts from uncertainty to disconcertment.

Xavi followed his eyes and realized the dilemma that must have been racing through his mind: he was headed back to the library, but he must not have wanted to lead her there. Of course he'd be protective of it, Xavi thought with a cringe. He believed secrecy was his best defense at the moment. She just hoped he'd prove reasonable. If she could just get him to talk to her.

The dragon began to walk again, now angling toward the doorway of a relatively nondescript structure astride the plaza, obviously thinking to mislead her into thinking that had been his destination all along. Xavi continued to match his steps - though his were longer strides than hers, and she gradually fell behind. By the time he reached the doorway, she was only a little more than halfway through the plaza.

He ducked his head and slipped into the building. For a moment he turned out of Xavi's view, then his head reappeared at the door, minus the bunch of vines.

Xavi took another step toward him experimentally.

The dragon growled. At least, she thought it was supposed to be a growl; it half sounded like a disgruntled whine. Still, she stepped backward. It was a truce of a sort, and Xavi thought of it as progress. Nevertheless her mind attacked the situation, hunting for ideas.

She didn't really relish the idea of attempting conversation across the plaza, with the dragon sitting indoors while she baked in the sun.

"Hello?" She repeated, raising her voice to carry across the plaza. "May I come closer?"

He stared at her warily. She began another step, but he growled again.

Was he trying to act like an animal? She tried, "Will you speak to me?"

Still she received nothing but his apprehensive eyes. With a sigh, Xavi entertained the notion of letting him be for a while longer. It seemed to have done some good the first time. He could speak, read, and write, but he didn't know she had seen these. As much as she longed to simply speak to him and come to understanding, she couldn't do that until he trusted her enough to interact on a higher level than his simplistic, instinctual reactions.

So she met his gaze for one final moment. "I will see you again." A simple promise that this was not the end of their interactions, to leave him thinking. Then she turned her back and walked back the way she'd come.

Only a few steps taken, she heard a murmur behind her, and she couldn't help but glance back. The dragon was no longer in the doorway; he was probably talking to himself again.

The temptation was too much. Xavi hurried away as quickly as she could, but the moment she could duck out of sight behind an obelisk beside the road, she was uttering her spells and once again blotting herself from the dragon's senses. The moment she was undetectable to his eyes and ears, she set off across the plaza yet again.

The first words she was close enough to hear the dragon mutter were, "Why do you think she...?"

Xavi slipped through the doorway. The place had the airy feel of a foyer. Nothing but ornate pillars divided the space from the next room to the left, which had been a dining room, she guessed by the crumbling table. To her right, his bundle of vines was crammed in the nearest corner, and the dragon himself lay huddled in an alcove in the other corner.

His head hung over his white forepaws, the dragon stared across the room blankly, slowly spilling broken phrases. "She wants to talk to you..." He breathed deeply of the stale air of the place. His tail twitched and batted at the wall behind him. "You cannot know, but..." The claws of his left front paw unsheathed absently, scathing the floor. A deep inhalation and a sigh escaped him, descending into a soft groan. "But... You cannot just sit here..." For all his fidgeting, he didn't seem able to muster the motivation to rise.

Xavi wished desperately to simply reveal herself and belay his fears with words. Yet she could only watch. Across from him, she sank to the floor a with her back against one of the ornate pillars and tucked her knees to her breasts.

"Maybe... Maybe they will leave." The dragon murmured on. "But if they do not... You cannot know why without... going to them... going to her."

For long minutes he spoke to himself, the same phrases on his tongue again and again. Xavi could easily imagine the kind of protests welling up in his mind in the silences between his short, persuading words. She had had Jadere to speak reason through her fears.

The dragon had only himself.

"Mother..." The dragon's eyes slid toward the doorway. Xavi's followed, but there was nothing new to be seen in the plaza outside. She wondered what suddenly brought his mother to mind. Perhaps he longed for some assurance, some guidance. Or perhaps he was even recalling a memory of just that.

The dragon sighed and set his head down on his forepaws, earfins listless. He squirmed, though, curling one forepaw up under his chest. He lay his head sideways against the hard floor, scraping a horn against the stone flopping his other paw across his snout. With a long sigh, his eyes closed and his fidgeting lessened, except for his twitching tail.

Though he would never hear it, the raven whispered, "It's alright."

She wondered if he was going to sleep again. It had only been a few hours since his nap in the library basement. Had he even slept all night? Or had he spent all that time scrounging together those few rats he'd eaten this past morning?

If he was going to sleep more than a few minutes, Xavi thought to return to Jadere. Yet he did not sleep; his eyes opened, if only to gaze emptily into space. Xavi gazed into those slitted pools of jade, and could almost feel the dragon's creeping thoughts as he slowly fortified... something. Confidence, she hoped.

She wasn't sure how long she held his gaze. When his eyes slid shut once more, Xavi's drifted. She noted again his bunch of vines. Where had those come from, anyway? They had no leaves, and she didn't recognize the plant. She was hardly versed in the subject. And what did the dragon want with them?

Xavi's eyes drifted back to the dragon, just beginning to entertain thoughts of leaving him be for the time being.

The dragon moved first. ÿHis paw slid off his snout as he inhaled deeply. ÿThere was a spark in his eye: the spark present as he'd found it within himself to finish the Aldaian word for 'mother'. ÿHe gathered his paws beneath him and pushed himself to his feet, angling toward the door. ÿHe didn't stop for his vines.

The raven rose, taken aback by the rather sudden shift. ÿAll the more curious because of it, she followed.

The dragon paced out, his head swaying to and fro as his eyes scanned in every direction. ÿThen, in the middle of the plaza, he sat down on his haunches. ÿHe sighed a bit, some of his determination visibly waning, and he shot a glance straight through Xavi to the doorway he'd just emerged from.

He'd worked up his confidence. He was waiting for her.

And Xavi couldn't just inexplicably appear right there in the plaza, she realized with a start; hurried, she dashed in the direction she'd last let the dragon see her. Her feet couldn't carry her fast enough. Oh, how ironic would it be should he finally prepared to speak to her and she missed her chance because she'd followed him in hiding again.

She was still a stone's throw from the cover of a building, but when she glanced behind, the dragon wasn't looking her way. She couldn't wait a moment more, releasing her spells one after another in a rush.

As though the dragon had conquered Xavi's fears as well as his own, she found herself calling out more boldly than ever, "Hello."

He didn't seem at all surprised when his jade eyes met hers. The tip of his tail quivered, however, and he shuffled his wings. Determined or not, he was not entirely comfortable.

"Will you speak to me now?" Of all the things Xavi could have said, she wanted him to respond, and to verbally agree to the implications - that Xavi was here to talk.

His jaws parted, but his reply came several moments of hesitation later, almost too quiet to hear across the space of the plaza separating them. "I will."

With that affirmation, Xavi took a step toward the dragon. His weight shifted, but he remained still. Encouraged, the raven approached slowly as she spoke. "We came to learn about this city. We thought no one lived here anymore. When we found you, we were afraid."

She tried to measure his reaction. Though he held her gaze, his frilly ears perked up and his brow lowered. He'd stared at the book he was copying with that kind of concentration. Xavi didn't know whether the dragon believed her or not, but she had given him something to think about.

Ten steps from the dragon, she stopped, not wanting to get too close and frighten him again. She wished they could have held this conversation indoors, out of the sun, but that was going to have to wait. "Why are you here?"

He didn't hesitate so much this time. "I have always been here."

Xavi was hoping for a little more response than that. "You were born here?"

"Yes."

"Why do you stay?"

"I have no reason to leave."

His answer was so flat, such bare fact, Xavi was momentarily stunned, and her tone rose sharply. "No reason? How do you survive?"

The dragon's neck curled back into an 'S' at her dumbfounded yelp, his ears instantly pinned back. His mouth hung agape.

Of course; if he'd been born here, she couldn't blame him if he could scarcely imagine a different existence. "There are other lands." She flung her wing toward the desert. "Places you could hunt far more easily than you can here." What mother would so utterly fail to let her child go without knowing there were greener places in the world?

Then it dawned on her; none would. At least not one the child would wish to return. "H-How long have you been... alone?"

He answered, but Xavi did not recognize a single word of what he said.

It must have been Aldaian. "Is that a date? Do you know dates in this language?"

The dragon cocked his head. "I do not know another way to say it." Again his scute-heavy brow lowered, and he glanced over the surroundings until his eyes settled on the plaza well. Rising from his haunches, he stepped toward it, glancing back at Xavi. Reaching its edge, he lifted a paw. "I was this length," he tapped once upon either side of the well, indicating its diameter.

The raven stared. That well was barely four feet across. "Head to tail?"

"Yes."

A few rats would've made a veritable feast for a dragon that small. She didn't know how many years that was, but if his size was any clue, he'd spent more than half his living in this city in total isolation.

Xavi found her beak hanging open and shut it with a click. She collected herself; she couldn't ignore the dragon now of all times. And the subject was rather close to that of the dragon's mother, and Xavi wasn't sure she wanted to bring that up. So she asked, "Could you speak? When you were..." She waved at the well's diameter.

"I spoke these words. This... language. And I knew the sounds of the letters the people of this city used, long ago."

A picture of the dragon's life began to form in the raven's mind. For whatever purposes his mother came here, it was a fine place to let a hatchling hone his hunting skills jumping rodents. Whether she left or died, the hatchling had to raise himself. He taught himself to read and write the language of the city he called home. The Aldaians must have had educational writings. Judging from the sense of importance the very architecture of their library imposed, she would hardly be surprised to find knowledge - and therefore education - were highly prized. As the dragon grew, he had to hunt down more and more rats, but larger prey were not available. Perhaps the notion was even inconceivable to him.

But Xavi didn't want to pry into the details of the dragon's life just yet. They'd exchanged enough about their respective pasts and purposes. The question of the future remained, and the sooner she learned whether he might cooperate with Warrav and Jarere's studies the better. "If you speak the language of the people of this city... The others who came with me, they can read some of it, but no one remembers how it is spoken. You may be the last who knows. We could learn from you."

"The last?" His eyes grew distant. "No one remembers?"

Well, his mother might, if she were still alive somewhere. "No one we know of," Xavi corrected herself carefully. "We can't say for sure."

"How many... people... do you know?" The dragon questioned slowly.

Xavi silently chided herself for not seeing this coming. For all his life, his world consisted of this one city, and for most of that time he himself was the only soul to occupy it. And the scope of a far larger world was implicit in the words of a stranger. She hesitated, unsure how to break it to him gently. "Do you know how many lived in this city once?"

"Many, yes."

"There are many more like it."

"I have read of them."

"No..." Xavi shook her head. "There are cities besides those of these people. Cities that are still full of people."

"You came from one of these cities?"

"Yes," she began.

The dragon cut her off. "Do you know them all? All the people in your city?"

"Well, no." So the scope of the world wasn't his problem after all. If he'd studied how the Aldaians lived at all, he'd have at least some concept of widespread societies. But he'd never experienced them. "I've seen many... more than I can count. I actually only know a few."

"How do you know them?"

"How...?" Xavi guessed he wasn't asking for a list of the types of relationships she had - family, teachers, fellow students.

The dragon shifted his weight, leaning his head in. "You have seen many but know few. How do you know them?" He repeated.

"Well..." How to define knowing a person? How to explain it to this dragon so woefully inexperienced in personal interactions? "I start with names. Do you have a name?"

His ear-fins shot up. "Yes. Arothmel. My name is Arothmel."

The raven spread a wing across her chest and gave a little bow. "Mine is Xavi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It... It is? A... pleasure?"

"Yes," Xavi chuckled. "I've been waiting to speak with you all day. And here we are!"

"I knew this, but I feared you," the dragon explained as a matter of fact.

Xavi nodded. "I know. But I hope we have nothing to fear from each other. I don't want to hurt you, and neither do my companions. As I said before, we could learn from you. Would you be willing to help us understand this city and those who lived here long ago?"

"I... do not know." The dragon paused, his eyes beginning to drift in the direction of the library before he snatched them back. "What do you wish to learn? Only their speech?"

"There's so much... But my companions are the ones to ask, really. I'm not so knowledgeable."

The dragon, Arothmel, seemed torn. The spark fading from his eyes as uncertainty once again clawing at his composure. Once again he shifted his weight, wings shrugging.

"Would you like time to think about it?" She offered. After all, he was used to having much time to himself.

"I would... prefer that, yes."

"Alright, Arothmel." Xavi made herself turn away. She had done it, she'd spoken to the dragon, and here she was walking away. "Come find me when you decide. Can you do that?"

"Yes. I..."

The raven paused, glancing back curiously.

Their eyes met, and Arothmel steeled himself. "I will see you again... Xavi."

It was a promise, just as she had promised him earlier. She accepted it with a nod, and let him be with a tangle of excitement in her chest.

Xavi was almost out of breath by the time she returned to the vault where she would find Jadere. The vixen was waiting for her with a smirk, eager to hear the tale. And when Xavi recounted the dragon's words, the vixen gave a deep nod.

"Nicely done, girl."

Those words would ring in the raven's ears the remainder of the day. Though Jadere had her pen some findings and observations, the raven heard only her conversation with the dragon in the back of her mind. And though Warrav called upon her to to help with a cabinet full of crumbling tomes with rusted hinges he could not force alone, Xavi had no more anxiety, as she was no longer worried about telling her brother. No, the dragon was no threat, and even Warrav wouldn't be able to counter the evidence.

Though, she didn't tell him just yet. First, Xavi wanted to know the dragon's reaction to the idea of letting others into his library.

She would bring that up next time she spoke with the dragon. It was difficult to settle her mind for sleep that night, anticipating that conversation.

Her last thoughts as she drifted to sleep were of him. Arothmel... The name reminded her of an old and sagely soul. Perhaps he would grow into that, someday. She dreamed of him, as she imagined he could be in years to come. A proud and wizened creature, passing on his knowledge to a handful of little white hatchlings. Little hatchlings pouncing rats and fighting over food. One hatchling clumsily chalking a wall, trying his best to duplicate the shapes he saw on paper with his unpracticed paw. In a dark catacomb, he pounced a mouse, happy at first... but began to whimper, as he could not show mother his catch.

* * * * *

Xavi stirred, feeling a hot breeze on her face, and threw a wing in front of her beak. She forced her eyes open and blinked groggily at her feathers. A dream? Odd, that had seemed so real. She could almost still feel... Wait... Lowering her wing, she peered in befuddlement at a white-scaled snout, the dragon's warm breath ruffling her wing feathers. The raven yelped instinctively, flailing and kicking to crawl backward out of her blankets. "A-Aroth...mel... Wha..."

"You were sleeping?" The dragon asked as though that were not as plain as day.

"Yes, what did you think..." she broke herself off with two realizations. Firstly, the dragon had never been exposed to a common sleep schedule. Secondly, Jadere and Warrav would still be sleeping nearby.

"I said I would speak with you again, Xavi," he persisted, a spark of excitement in his eyes.

The raven waved her wing at him frantically, cringing at his exuberant voice. "Shhh! The others..."

The dragon cocked his head, his ear frills perking curiously, and attempted to imitate her shushing, which came out as a low, ominous hiss.

"Quiet...!" Xavi all but begged in a strangled tone.

"You wanted to speak..."

"Yes but... Be quiet... please!"

Mercifully, he fell silent with a highly confused furrow to his eye ridges. Xavi took a deep breath, then another, collecting herself. Well... she was certainly awake now. Though judging from the weariness lingering as the rush of excitement began to fade, she hadn't gotten very much sleep. She could forgive Arothmel and was certainly eager to talk, but she didn't want to wake her companions. She beckoned the dragon, stepping past him on the way out the doorway.

When all he gave her was a bemused stare, she had to beckoned him again, whispering, "Come."

Xavi rushed out her door and straight into a furry mass, who gave a startled "oomph!" - it was Jadere, and she caught the raven by the wings. "Did he just hiss at you...?" the vixen asked in a worried whisper.

"It's ok, it's ok," Xavi breathed. "He's here to talk, but I don't... I'll just take him outside..."

"I saw him coming and I didn't want to scare him... but I didn't have time to wake you," the fox intoned apologetically, releasing Xavi's wings.

"It's ok," the raven repeated, catching her breath somewhat. The dragon's head came around the corner. Jadere showed him her empty hands, showing she wasn't a threat, and slowly retreated into her room - though she gave Xavi a parting wink. Arothmel eyed her warily, but followed as the raven beckoned him down the hall, through the main chamber, and out into the chill night air.

The moon was hidden behind the cliffs that shielded the old city from the elements, and only the stars gave any shape to the horizon. Though this was more than out of earshot, Xavi walked on at an easy pace and gathered her robe about her tightly. It was cold enough it felt good to be moving. She eyed the dragon striding beside her, his white shape discernable even in such poor light. Though she could see him and the road well enough to manage, Xavi fished the glass artifact from a pocket of her robe and lifted it to her eye. Through that eye, the black night brightened to gray, and the dragon's features grew bright and sharp. The raven sighed at his confused, uncertain look.

"I'm sorry," she told him. "You can talk now. We were all... My companions and I, we were all sleeping. I didn't want to wake them all up."

Arothmel's eye ridges pinched as he processed this, and he nodded back in understanding. "I... I wasn't thinking of them. I see. And... I apologize."

Xavi shifted her fingers on the glass she held to her eye; it wasn't entirely comfortable to just keep holding it to her eye. But it wasn't too bothersome yet. "In cities, see, most people do everything during the day, and sleep at night," she explained.

The dragon paused in his tracks. "So, you... don't...", the dragon's ear frills began to droop.

"Oh, I'm not blaming you for something you couldn't have known, Arothmel." Xavi gave him a genuine smile. "And I'm not saying I won't talk to you. I want to."

The spark of excitement returned to the dragon's eye, and he trotted to catch up. "Even though it's night?"

"Yes, I do," the raven chuckled. "We're talking already, aren't we?"

An amused smirk tugged at Arothmel's muzzle. His eyes were warm and thankful before they drifted off to the silhouetted cityscape. It was a brief moment, but it put Xavi greatly at ease.

They came to one of the smaller plazas that dotted the city. It was a crossroads, an obelisk standing at the center, and a few stone benches sat just off the cobblestone circle. Being the nearest plaza to where they'd chosen to sleep, Jadere had taken to cooking here - the cold fire pit built in the sand off to the side attested to that. Xavi settled into one of the benches, sucking in her breath at the frigid surface. Arothmel sat on his haunches nearby.

"You... and your companions wish to learn from me. That is what you told me," the dragon began. "The language of the people who lived here, and other things. I have decided, I will try to teach... if..." His eyes flitted to Xavi and away again. His forepaws flexed, and his weight shifted from paw to paw. "That is, I want something in return."

The raven braced her wing against the arm of the bench to relieve some of the mild exertion of holding the glass to her eye. "What is it?" She asked curiously.

"I... want to learn as well."

"What about?"

"That is..." He stared off into the night, wrestling with something. His eye ridges scrunched, his tail flicked. Finally he shot Xavi a helpless look. "I do not know... how to say it." He struggled with a concept beyond his vocabulary.

"Relax," Xavi told him. "Think of one thing you want to know."

Arothmel took a deep breath. "How often do you touch?"

"Touch? Touch what?"

"A person. When do you do it... Why?" The dragon spoke yearningly, almost keening. "What do you do with people, and what do you do with no one but yourself? How do you consider others, and what are the words you use?"

Xavi blinked. Here was the loneliest creature she had ever encountered; of course he desired nothing more than to know what it was like to be in contact with other people. She smiled at his uncertainty. "There is so much about dealing with others... that can't be described. It's not something one can learn without living it."

Arothmel's head lowered a bit.

"Why did you ask about touching first?"

The dragon hesitated for a hushed moment. "I remember that most. My... My mother, she... would touch with her nose and tongue. Or her paws. Her tail. Or pull me against her, and I would feel safe. I would sleep against her."

He had handled the reference of his mother quite well, Xavi thought... She felt a little proud of him.

Arothmel shifted uneasily, however, perhaps a bit shaken nonetheless. "That was... long ago, but I still remember."

Xavi rose silently and stepped close to the dragon. She switched the artifice glass to her other hand and lifted the wing previously holding it, her fingers nearing his neck. "May I?"

The dragon blinked at her, hesitant. "I... Y-Yes."

Her fingers met his scales. Xavi took in their smooth texture, and the quivering muscles beneath. A soft croon rose in Arothmel's throat, and she could feel it. The dragon slowly leaned his head against the raven's wing.

Smiling, Xavi lowered the glass from her eye and put it away; she could hardly make out his features without that simple piece of artifice, but it didn't matter. She could feel him trembling, and she knew it wasn't fear. The raven brought her other wing up around his chin, drawing a rumble from the dragon.

"Arothmel... I said this isn't something you can learn without living it. But you are living it, as long as my companions and I are here. I may not be the best at explaining it all, and I won't have all the answers. I haven't done everything - no one ever can. But I will try to help you understand. This... is one reason we touch someone we know. To comfort them."

As the dragon pressed his head against her wing, Xavi brought her hand to his snout to stroke it gently with a pair of fingers... and found his scales damp. Arothmel wept silently. Xavi almost pulled away. "Are you alright?"

"It feels... right," his voice shaky and cracking. "And... good."

The raven smiled. He was simply overwhelmed. "It's alright... You're not alone anymore, Arothmel."

He tilted his head, and even in the dark, Xavi caught the grateful spark in his eye, and his shimmering tears.

"Arothmel..." She intoned his name quietly. "Hmm. May I call you Aro?"

"W-Why?"

"It's easier." Xavi chuckled. Aro was a cute nickname, too. "Sometimes, we call people by special names if we know them well."

"Yes. You may call me... Aro."

Xavi contented herself to simply offering her reassuring touch. The dragon's next few breaths grew steadier, and he stopped trembling. He took another breath, and a few more... until he finally lifted his head. Xavi hurriedly fished the artifice glass out once more so she could see him. He wore easily the most contented look since she'd first spoken to him.

"Thank you... Xavi."

The raven nodded.

"Why do you do that?" Aro asked.

"What?"

"Move your head after I say something."

"Oh! This means 'yes'," she demonstrated nodding, "Or that I understand. Doing it this way means 'no'." And she shook her head by example. "I guess you wouldn't read about that in a library."

The dragon's contentedness drained from his features. "A... library? How... did you know...?"

Oh dear. Xavi covered her beak with a wing. Her mind raced. If he knew she had spied on him... Well, there was a dark side to interacting with people. She couldn't bring herself to lie to him so soon after they'd kindled a sort of friendship. And, in the long run, maybe it was for the better that he know sooner. "Aro... I should confess something."

"Confess?" The dragon cocked his head, curiosity of the new word almost overshadowing confusion and suspicion.

"It means I'm going to apologize for something you don't know about me yet." Xavi covered her breast with a wing, bracing herself and searching for words. "I've been... watching you. Before I spoke to you, I mean. My companions and I were afraid, so I... Ah... Have you read about magic?"

His eye ridges lowered in concentration. "I don't know that... word.

Xavi sighed. Of course, even if he had, he had read about it in Aldaian. She quickly discarded the idea of trying to explain it in detail. "It's a... power... I have, Arothmel. I can make myself invisible." A part of her flinched at the faulty definition.

"In...visible?" The dragon shook his head helplessly.

"I mean I can affect you so that... you wouldn't see me. I've been in your library because... I followed you, and there was no way you could have known."

Arothmel began to rise to his feet, shifting uneasily, yet his ear frillss were pert and attentive.

"I was afraid, so I watched you to learn... and tricked you so I would be safe. And I'm sorry. I should have just spoken to you from the beginning but..."

"I think... I understand," Aro said slowly, his head lowering. "I think... if I had a way to learn about you before I met you... I would have done it too. H-How much do you know?"

"Your library, your ink, your writing," Xavi quickly listed, surprised how freeing it felt to get it off her chest. "I've guessed a bit about your past from the way you... talk to yourself."

A faint pink tint grew in the membranes of the dragon's ears. "You... You listened to that?"

"I did," the raven admitted. "Hearing you... That's what convinced me I didn't have to be afraid of you."

Arothmel settled back onto his haunches gingerly, staring thoughtfully at the indistinct horizon. All the while, he gave the raven sporadic glances as though worried she might vanish.

Xavi hardly blamed him. Deciding to let him think through the situation, she returned to her spot on the bench. Her beak chattered a bit; the stone was already cold again.

After a moment, the dragon asked, "You won't do it anymore, will you?"

"No, I won't. I don't have to hide from you, and I don't want to anymore."

"And... the others, your companions? Do they... go invisible too?"

The raven shook her head and - remembering he was new to the gesture - added, "No, they don't."

That seemed to let Aro breathe a bit easier. "And do they know any of what you learned... from watching me?"

Xavi nodded. "Yes, I told one of them about your library. Jadere. She's the fox - the white one. The other raven like me, that's Warrav, my brother. I didn't tell him anything because... Well, he still thinks you're dangerous."

The dragon's tail swished. "Tell him I'm not."

His simple, innocent response brought a laugh to Xavi. "I wish it were that simple, Aro. He'd have to meet you, but he'd never want to. And he wouldn't like me meeting you either."

Aro blinked. "But you did."

"Yes, I did," the raven affirmed with a nod. "I'm glad I did. And I bet he'll be glad too, if you can teach him anything about the Aldaian language. He'll never tell you he's glad, though!"

"That... is an odd way to think." The dragon cocked his head, his eye ridges pinched in puzzlement. "He'd be glad, but not act like it?"

"People can think oddly." Xavi shrugged. "My brother, he... likes to know everything, especially about Aldaia. And he begrudges anyone would who has knowledge than he does. He'll want to learn, especially such rare knowledge, and it will make him happy... But not happy about you."

"Begrudges?"

"Dislikes."

"And the other one... Jadere? What is she like?"

Smiling softly at the dragon's curiosity, the raven mused aloud, "Well, I haven't known her long. She seems quite wise..."

"The white one," Aro began, "she was the one that tried to do something when you first saw me."

"Yes, that's her. She was about to use magic against you." Quickly, Xavi added, "Which she's sorry for, since she knows I met you."

The dragon questioned, "I thought you were the only one that could do magic?"

"Jadere can too, but she learned it differently."

"I think... maybe I have read of magic. Or what the people of this city used to call it. There are books full of strange words, symbols, theories... They never made much sense to me, but other books spoke of it. Of thousands of different ways to use it. I haven't read about your... going invisible... How does Jadere use it?"

"I'm not sure what all she's learned." Xavi considered mentioning Jadere's wards - those could seem a lot like spying. Yet, the vixen didn't seem to be able to properly hear or see by way of wards, only get a very general sense of the area and any commotion. "The magic I studied is called illusion - controlling what people see or hear, that sort of thing. She studied what's called conjuration, which controls... space. Effecting it as though something were there that doesn't really exist. Remember the hound that tried to chase you when we first saw you? That was her magic. I don't really understand it. It's really complicated." She spared a glance at the dragon and found him shifting on his feet again. "Oh, don't worry, she's not going to hurt you again."

"If she's wise, then why did she try to hurt me that first time...?"

"I guess she has a rash side." As soon as she said it, Xavi wondered if Aro would know that word. And sure enough, at a glance, she saw the question coming. "Rash means... if she thinks quickly, she doesn't think as well. We weren't expecting to see a dragon, so she started to do the first thing that came to her."

Again, the raven fell silent to let Aro digest this information. Xavi lowered the glass to switch hands, and found herself blinking repeatedly, one eye well adjusted to the dark, while she could see nothing but an incandescent afterimage of the dragon through the other.

"If Warrav likes knowledge, and Jadere is wise but rash," Aro began while the raven rubbed her eyes, "what about you?"

Xavi slipped the glass back up to her eye to meet his quizzical gaze. "Well, I'm... shy, and I'd like to think I'm a good student, for one thing. And... I guess It's not easy to answer that, really..."

The dragon tilted his head. "You don't seem that shy. You don't know yourself better than Jadere?"

"That's just it, Aro. People... aren't that simple." She shrugged her free wing. "When I started learning magic, I was younger than most others who were learning with me. Some would call it talent, but I was working so hard because I had never felt I was good enough at anything. My brother often acts like I'm incapable, and I keep trying to prove him wrong. I chose to use magic to trick people, to hide... and some people would call that fearful. But others would say it took a lot of courage to speak to you. I don't really care to be adventurous - trying a lot of new things. And I like studying magic. But over time... little things about my studies slowly frustrated me, and I wanted to do something different. So I came here with my brother, and this is far more adventurous than I've ever been. I don't really care to meet people back home who do a lot of the same things I do every day. But I wanted to meet you, even though you're so different from me. I don't know how to describe myself. And everything I can say about Warrav and Jadere is just what I've seen from the outside."

The dragon nodded slowly. "And what about me?"

"Well... You've lived a very lonely life, but you're very intelligent."

Aro pulled his head back. "I... see what you mean."

"You don't think you're intelligent?" Xavi smiled.

"No... There is so much I cannot understand. And... I never considered myself lonely." He lowered his head back toward the raven. "Not... until I met you."

"You haven't?"

His eyes shifting away, the dragon fell silent, his eye ridges sinking.

As much as she hated to break it to him, though, Xavi remembered she had a goal in speaking with the dragon. "Aro... I need to ask you something."

His eyes flitted back to the raven. Whether he felt lonely, with that forlorn gaze was the most solitary Xavi had ever seen.

"About your library..." The raven began slowly. "Warrav and Jadere will want to study those books. Everything they can."

"I understand."

Xavi sighed quietly in relief. "Then, you should know... they won't be the last to want to study there."

Aro drew in a deep breath. Xavi took it to be anxiety, at first, but as she watched his expression... he was peaceful, perhaps savoring the thought. "That doesn't bother you at all?" The raven asked.

"No, Xavi... It was never my library."

"I thought it might be a very personal place for you," the raven shrugged. "You've lived there for a long time, and when I told you I knew about it... you didn't seem too happy about it."

"I was surprised. I..." Aro's voice trailed off, with a slight sigh. "You said before... you and the others came to learn. You thought you could learn from me, but... you could learn from the library too. I wanted to show you, when I had the chance. But I wanted to be there to apologize if... I did anything wrong."

"Wrong?" Xavi shook her head. "You mean in trying to... preserve the library? You couldn't have known to do any better, Aro. You're not to blame."

The raven spread her beak, overcome by in an irresistible yawn. When she recovered, she found the dragon's eyes glazed with thought.

"Perhaps," Aro replied slowly, "if your companions... and the others, in time, learn anything from what I have saved... then I will have served a purpose. But there is so much in the library I have not learned or understood... so I can only hope I followed my purpose well enough."

"That's very noble of you." The raven smiled. "Though, what makes you say you have a purpose here?"

"Doesn't everything?"

Taken aback by the simplicity of his answer, Xavi couldn't help but chuckle. "People have been questioning that for ages."

The dragon blinked, ear frills sinking for a moment, then popping back up as he gave her a quizzical look. "Why?"

Grinning at his innocence, Xavi simply said, "because it seems some people's sole purpose is arguing about philosophy."

"Phil-o-so-phy?" The dragon sounded out the word, cocking his head.

"Ah... I'm not sure I can explain that one, Aro," the raven chuckled. "I guess it's the study of why everything is the way it is, and what's right and wrong. I don't spend much time thinking about it. When it comes time... I usually know what I think is right."

The dragon said nothing at first. Their eyes met for a time, then the dragon's drifted toward the stars.

"You have given me... a lot to think about," Aro said, at length. "I need to hunt... and eat. How do talks... end?" He lowered his head, ear frills drooped as though shamed. "I mostly just... ran away."

"It's alright," Xavi smiled, "A conversation can't last forever. Last time we parted with 'I will see you again...' That's fine. Or 'I'll see you soon', or just 'Goodbye'. And I do hope I'll see you again soon, Aro; I've enjoyed our time."

Aro smiled at her, reassured. "I have too. And yes, I will come talk again soon."

"I would like that."

After a few hesitant moments, the dragon bade her "Goodbye." Xavi rose and nodded to him - and Aro stood there a few moments more, as though doubtful the conversation truly ended.

"Go on, Aro," Xavi told him finally, making the first move by turning and taking a few steps toward the building where she and the others slept. She heard the dragon's padding away as well. She looked over her shoulder for one last fond glance at his receding form before putting the artifice glass away.

Though she enjoyed the conversation, the raven was very much looking forward to wrapping up in her warm blankets for a few more hours.

Rather than go straight to her bed, however, she poked her head into Jadere's room. The vixen had apparently not gone back to sleep - or hadn't been able to. She didn't even notice Xavi, her attention thoroughly absorbed in the book she was curled up with. The sight made Xavi smile.

Idly, the raven stepped across the hall to her brother's room. Warrav was tangled in a sheet with his face flat on the cold stone floor a full foot from his pillow. Xavi didn't recall him tossing that much in his sleep since she had asked him if he would help her get into the university.

Soon, she promised herself. She would tell him about Aro soon. Perhaps the dragon's sense of duty in preserving the library would endear him to Warrav. Hopefully, her brother wouldn't disparage the poor dragon.

Xavi was surprised to find she had a good feeling about Warrav's first meeting with Arothmel. The dragon's knowledge and the library - it was going to be more than Warrav could have dreamed. Thinking of it made Xavi smile; even if she rarely saw eye to eye with her brother, she was happy to play some small role in his success. Everything would be alright... For once, she was sure of it.

A soothing warmth in her chest, Xavi returned to her bed.

* * * * *

Warrav opened his eyes to the stone wall of grooved Aldaian make, groaning at the aches of sleeping on hard floor and rating his night's sleep at a generous three out of ten. His mind quickly set about cataloging the finds of past two days and the prospects ahead. He growled to himself quietly; if only the prospects weren't such a question mark. Hopefully this third day would turn up something that would garnish more academic interest than a cache of artifice. He rose, untangled and folded his bedding, and straightened his clothes, and was out his door in under a minute.

A rustle from the vixen's room drew his eye. Jadere was just closing a book, and the raven's sharp eye caught the by-line.

"Good morning!" bade the fox.

Whether it would be 'good' remained to be seen. "Of course, Esvandiir's conclusions on Aldaian culture must be a wonderful omen for such a morning," he drawled, tone dripping with sarcasm. "The inane fop."

"Oh, his theories may be built on presumptions, but you have to agree they're fascinating to wonder at." Jadere slid out of her bed, brushing her robes straight, for all the good it did their wrinkled state. "Now, let's not ravage a day so young with this pittance of a quibble, hmm?"

"Well look at miss positive in fine form. Such optimism is doomed to be disappointed more often than not, you know."

"Disappointment can be handled gracefully, you know. And listening to you grump, I am doubly glad of my choice of outlooks," she quipped.

Warrav just gave a disapproving "Tsk."

After a moment's Jadere's eyes slid to the doorway across the hall, where Xavi was curled in her blankets. "Hush. Let's not wake your little sister, eh?"

His eyes followed the fox's. Watching the rise and fall of his sister's chest, he wondered just how she managed to sleep looking quite so peaceful. Whatever it was, he envied it. And for what must have been the hundredth time, he tried to puzzle out what made her ask to come along on this expedition.

"You don't like her being here?"

The vixen's soft question jarred Warrav, and he chided himself for letting it show. He fought to keep his voice a low whisper. "I'd be fine if she had the slightest interest in what we're doing. As I understand it, she hasn't even studied the sort of artifice she's 'helping' you with." He hissed the word, 'helping'.

Jadere gripped Warrav by the wing and drew him away from Xavi's doorway. "She's learning from it. I think she will prove she's being more helpful than you think."

He shook his limb from her grasp, but took the hint and distanced himself from her hearing range. It allowed him to growl more of his vexation, "Perhaps that will spur her to study artifice, then; if it must be magic, why would she study what's not even real?!" He waved a wing dismissively. "If illusions are all she takes away from her education, she most she'll make a living at is cheap parlor tricks. Artifice, at least, can be sold."

"You of all people should understand it's not about money."

"Well, I don't see her aspiring to anything else." The raven harrumphed. "Now how would it be if we got to work? We've only five more days to scrape together whatever findings we can present to the university."

"I'll fix us some breakfast if you want-"

"Fine, fine," Warrav interrupted, "if you and Xavi wish. I think I would prefer to be productive in the morning, apparently unlike a certain vulpine." Besides, the excuse to part ways from Jadere was worth skipping a meal.

The fox sighed in resignation, and deigned not to pursue Warrav as he headed for the records room he'd been hunting through.

It wasn't far to walk. At a brisk, refreshing pace, it wasn't long before he stood in the entryway of the record room. It was U-shaped, walls slotted with spaces for scrolls and documents, and a desk by the door. Mentally listing his findings so far, he growled a bit in disappointment. Laws, judicial precedents - it was a storehouse of legal documentation, much of which was brought from decisions made in other Aldaian cities, so none of it pertained to this specific city. Surely there must be something relevant...

It was as he mentally placed each of the documents he'd already scanned that he took note of the categorizing system. It was chronological within each category - which was typical of Aldaians. But some things could not be kept chronologically, being regularly updated.

And so it was he found himself carefully drawing the first sheaf from a column of scroll slots, translating the first line to determine the type of document, and replacing it gingerly. A few nearly crumbled at a mere touch, so he left those alone. Making his way around the room in this fashion, and skipping wide swaths of likely similar documents, he soon found something that fit what he was looking for:

A bill of sale.

Property was always changing hands - this was true in any nation with a free economic system. And while the street name meant little to him, it meant something much more useful was close by. Scanning the columns in the following section, he came by one slot occupied by a large, folded parchment. This, he drew out gingerly, and found it mercifully intact and not so brittle it would fall apart when opened.

"Excellent," Warrav muttered aloud when he confirmed what it was, grinning at his discovery.

His talons rapped the floor with his eager haste, bearing him to the plaza just outside, where he'd undoubtedly find Jadere stewing rations, for what little flavoring she could give it.

* * * * *

Xavi had woken to voices echoing down the hall, and vaguely recalled stumbling out of her doorway and Jadere offering to make her some tea. Tea currently warming her fingers, still steaming and too hot to drink. It occurred to her she'd sat in this plaza, this very bench, just a few hours ago speaking with Arothmel. Now, the vixen had brought a flame to life in her fire pit, and now that the tea was off the fire, she had started throwing dried meats into another pot.

A great yawn split Xavi's beak - perhaps the third of the last minute. Or was it ten minutes? She shook her head, trying in vain to clear the grogginess from her mind.

She registered Jadere's voice. "Well hello again, grump-beak! Come to join us for breakfast after all? It'll be another-"

"No, Miss Positivism, I'm here to show you you were right for a change - look what I've just come across."

Xavi tilted her head toward her brother's voice, seeing Warrav unfolding a large parchment.

"Oh? Found something interesting, have you?"

"This, my dear, is a city map."

A thought like an icy shock banished the haze over Xavi's thoughts: she hadn't told him about Aro, yet...

...and he'd found the library.