Finding the Way

(This thread is a direct continuation of “Watching the setting sun through stained glass” which was a thread started in April and concluded in July, and as such, any events that have occurred after that thread will not affect this thread. Also, it would be best for all members who joined from August on to not join this thread to help prevent any paradoxes. Thank you for your understanding.)

Having left the teacher's lounge behind him, Gunnar walked down the halls of Caislin Hallows with the young woman in tow. It had not been until after they had disembarked that he had realized that he was unfamiliar with the way to the library. The quiet clomp of his thick soled work boots filled the silence in between his sparse and short-lived attempts at conversation. The older man's eyes darted beneath his bushy eyebrows, searching for any familiar landmark or even better a marker pointing the way to the library.

After a good twenty minutes of walking, during which Gunnar was certain he'd lead her down more than one hall twice, an ornate pair of doors announced that they had finally arrived. “Here yah go, Miss,” said Gunnar as he opened the door to usher her into the library. The faint musty scent of ancient texts and tomes drifted through the opening, tickling Gunnar's nostrils. Wrinkling his nose in mild annoyance at the scent, he waited for her to enter before following her inside. “Was there anythang yah was lookin' for in specific?”

Shelves upon shelves of books greeted them in the stuffy room. The dozens of standing bookcases obscured the walls, making the library seem both vast and cramped at the same time. In small pockets of open floor devoid of shelving, there were tables with comfy arm chairs clustered around them. While during the day, the large windows lining one wall, the only one that seemed to lack shelves laden with books set in alcoves, would have provided enough light to laminate the entire library, at night, they did little to brighten the room. Beyond the glass, the darkness left after the setting of the sun seemed a vacuum that devoured all light, with only tiny specks, the stars in the sky, managing to pierce the black expanse. Thankfully for the pair, the lights seemed to have turned on upon their arrival or had been left on by some previous visitor.

When he lifted his gaze, Gunnar realized that the library didn't only have a lofted ceiling, but that the shelves extended all the way up, with a second story that in some place seemed little more than a catwalk that ringed the perimeter of the room. As his gaze swept across the room, he saw two double staircases leading to the upper areas, but the bottoms disappeared behind bookcases. “Pretty big place...”

Wiggling her nose, Vixen followed the man her blue eyes watching the trees as the passed. " You have no clue where you are going do you?" She laughed lightly before looking towards the ground. Pulling a packet of Cigarettes out of her pocket, she lite one holding the packet to him." Want one?" She yawned lightly watching the building come into view.

Entering the building she sighed taking in the smell." Why am I here again?" She looked to him raising her eyebrow. It had been a long walk to the library she had forgotten. " Hmmm I think it was something about school." She tilted her head looking up at the levels of the library." Is it big enough for you guys?" She rolled her eyes before laughing " Well everyone gets their kicks from something." She smirked before sitting on a table. Picking up a book she flipped through it before looking to him." So, how did you get stuck showing me around?"

“Nah, no thanks, Miss,” answered Gunnar with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Kicked the habbit years back, not lookin’ to get into it again.” Old yearnings, long since denied, clawed their way to the surface of his thoughts as she exhaled. The cigarette turned the young girl’s breath visible, puffs of smoke laced with the scent of nicotine drifting through their breezeless hallway. Gunnar quickened his pace, trying to distance himself from the cravings that gnawed at him.

When Vixen spoke, Gunnar turned to face her. “Yah said yah were lookin’ for the library when yah walked intah the lounge. I know we took a while getting’ here, but surely yah haven’t forgotten why yah wanted to come ‘ere in the first place, did yah?” There was a soft grumble lurking in the ex-ranch hand’s gruff voice as he spoke. “I offered tah lead yah ‘round while the other man led the other girl tah the kitchens.” Gunnar’s gaze drifted from the young woman and settled upon the ornate fireplace set between the two grand staircases. Before it waited several plush chairs meant to invite any reader in the library to come relax in their embrace. Though he wasn’t planning on plucking a book from the shelves, he wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to sit and unwind. A few quiet clomps of his boots across the floor and Gunnar had settled into one of the chairs. He stared into the unlit fireplace, contemplating lighting it.

Shaking her head some Vixen sighed." I think smoking right now is the only thing that keeps me calm." She turned her head to read through one of the books. " Ever wonder if there is other dimensions?" She tilted her head before flipping through the pages." Like what if each book was a different world? And we never knew it?" Wiggling her nose she looked up at him." When reading a book have you ever been focused on nothing else but that book? What if that was you entering that world?" She laughed before jumping down from the table." I think it would be wonderful. Maybe in some other world, I am an heiress. With blonde hair, green eyes." She laughed" maybe I am shy! and I had a mother." The last words were a whisper as she sat back down onto the table.

While Gunnar had figured that once in the library, the girl would know what she was after, and he could be left to his own entertainments, he quickly discovered that was not the case. Turning in the overstuffed chair he had chosen as his seat, he watched her as she spoke up a storm. Before he could get a word out, she kept launching herself further into the conversation until at last, she had whispered a sorrowful sentiment.

Instead of voicing his own opinion that he had enough troubles in this world without going to dozens of others by some secret, mysterious magic bound between the pages of a book, he gave a soft smile. The gruff face of the ex-ranch hand softened just a little, though the crows feet still etched shadows around his eyes. "Sometimes it's best not tah think about the things that could've been because if we only ever do that, we ferget about the things that are," offered the old cowboy in a gentle voice.

Looking to him she laughed lightly." I guess. Still I have to wonder. Why people are afraid of me? I mean I know that my power is to convince people to do what I want....or whatever, I never got it explained to me. " She shook her head once more before standing." So what are the classes here. I was never told about them. " She wiggled her nose before leaning against the table." I didnt really do school back home." Walking away from him she dissapeared around a corner looking at some books." I mean, I always got by, by saying shit out my ass." Rolling her eyes she picked up a gold covered book.

Gunnar exhaled, a slow sigh as if expelling the smoke from a cigar. His answer was long in coming, moments passing before he finally spoke. "Folk naturally fear what they don't understand, just how it is, miss." It was a strange statement spoken with surprising melancholy considering the man who said it was a murder of the mythical, of the things that men feared. The man shrugged, the upholstery of his seat whispering as the fabric of his shirt slid across it, and settled into the cushioning as he dismissed further thoughts on the topic.

It seemed the girl was filled with questions, ones that he didn't know the answers for. "I don't know, not really affiliated with the school much. Not even quite sure why I'm here." Seated as he was, facing towards the unlit fireplace, Gunnar's back was already to the young woman, so her disappearing between bookcases did little more than further dampen their voices to each other's ears. Or at least they should have, he realized, when he noticed her voice carried to him as certainly as before, despite the obstructions.