Random 31

"So, you wouldn't mind lending them out? It seems a bit much for an afternoon." Sylvie did not want to seem presumptuous, lest he changed his mind.

Auker snickered. "Not for him, but he keeps on forgetting that," she said, perhaps a bit mockingly. Perhaps.

The mage turned to look at the priestess as if he was contemplating a rude gesture. "No, no, I don't mind at all. After all, if they go missing... oh, well, I'll be most displeased." He frowned absent-mindedly just for a moment. Montmore wasn't really being threatening, just casual.

"That means I get to listen to him cry some more," Auker purred, trying to defuse what seemed to her an awkward situation.

"Ha, ha," said he.

"Well, I've treated books with care as long as I can remember - even before I heard of volumes full of curses meant specifically for people who don't return borrowed books," Sylvie added lightheartedly.

"Really?" said Montmore, who seemed surprised to hear of this. "If you happen to find out someone who has one of those volumes..."

"I hope to Fortuna she doesn't tell you," Auker said, quite amused. But then... she seemed to take most everything in stride. "It was a joke."

Montmore grinned. "You hope it is, at least. But come, more tea? Wine?"

The priestess looked at Sylvie with askance. "Well..."

"I'd like tea, unless you're in a hurry to get back to work?" The question was directed at Auker. It seemed impolite to Sylvie to leave as soon as they had what they wanted, maybe even moreso because they had not just asked, but she wanted to give Auker a chance to back out.

"Oh, no hurry at all," Auker said happily. She certainly didn't mind having wine with Montmore.

Montmore himself seemed happy having company. "Marvellous, marvellous. How is the tea, by the way? It wouldn't be hard at all to get some other flavour."

"I thought it was pretty good," Auker said, then grinned as if she was anticipating something.

"You barely touched yours," said the mage. "But then, I was expecting that. Oh, how's Rosz doing? Still neck deep in trouble?"

"Unfortunately yes," the priestess said. "It just looks like he can't stay clear of the thugs at school... not that he's had a chance to go there with the rains."

He chuckled. "You work him so hard, Auker! But oh, when do you suppose I could come and enjoy your hospitality instead?"

"Any time at all. I'm still in the money. I can afford a party to your liking."

"Oh, please. Let's leave the snobbery here. And you still haven't given that recipe to my cook," Montmore sniffed.

"I haven't? Well, maybe I'll do that when we're leaving. Do you mind if I take one of these bottles with me, Monty?"

"I thought you were in the money," the mage commented wryly. Nonetheless, he indicated that it was fine.

"Outstanding!"

"It had better be. It's ten years old."

"Really?"

"No."

Auker laughed, absolutely delighted by the slightly pouty look on Montmore's face. It was most likely the wine, too. "You never were any good at cards or lying, Monty."

"I know, I know."

They chuckled at that for a while.

Sylvie listened to this and further banter while enjoying the tea, giving a passable impression of being relaxed, but shy, while actually being somewhat nervous, mostly frustrated, and slightly homesick. Their - Auker's maybe more than Montmore's, oddly enough - reaction to her mention of the book-curses, and old and widespread story back home had made her wary of contributing anything.

She did try some gentle verbal prods to remind Auker she'd said she couldn't afford to stay late.

These prods worked, surprisingly or not. "I'll see you when you visit," Auker had told Montmore, receiving a promise to visit when she was sober. Auker seemed to find that a hilarious thought, and was still giggling when they left the mansion. Montmore had even provided them with an umbrella, which Auker had happily given to Sylvie.

The priestess didn't complain even once along the way "home". She did laugh and smile a lot instead.

"Good wine, was it?"

"Yes, yes it was." Auker laughed. "And he was so nice to let me have the rest of it. Come to think of it, we'll probably need some, you know, when we get back. You know?"

"No, not really. What for?" Sylvie wondered if trying to keep close to Auker got the priestess wetter than she'd have been otherwise, since she kept getting under the drip.

"For getting warm. It's so good, wine by the fireside," she said and sighed. Almost immediately Auker began to look a little worried. "Oh, wait. You don't drink, do you? Damn! I'm sorry!"

Sylvie smiled reassuringly. "Not much, particularly when I'm expecting to stay up late." She tapped the bag with the books, wrapped up securely against the rain, she was also carrying. Luckily two of them had been rather compact in binding, and the third not too huge, either. Sylvie was still tempted to tilt the umbrella just a bit more in Auker's direction.

"Oh, okay. I'll keep that in mind," said the priestess, blinking at Sylvie a few times. She seemed curious and suspicious, but not in a way that bespoke of possible ill intentions. Just as quickly did Auker look away and continue to navigate the rainy streets.

Sylvie turned to Auker again in tie to catch that look, and instead of thanking her, or possibly apologising for breaking her mood, asked, "Is there a problem?"

"I don't know. Well, hey, of course there's a problem," she said and made a roundabout gesture with the hand holding the wine bottle. "The rain! And, heh, of course... there's the Pawn. He's a fair bit of trouble in his own right, though not all his own fault. No, uh... how'd you even befriend a tyke like that? He's like a, like a..." Auker ran out of words for a moment.

"We talked," Sylvie answered shrugging. Then, all friendly curiosity with a small dash of amusement, "He's like a what?"

"Anything from a myth to an elusive shadow. I didn't even realise it was him until..." Auker fell quiet, grinned, snickered. "Until you visited me and I dropped that book."

"Stories have a way of changing and growing, I've heard." Sebastian certainly hadn't seemed very elusive when she'd found him. He'd managed to knock himself silly with and trap himself under a heavy branch. On the other hand, he had disappeared quite soon afterwards.

Sylvie shook off the memory and asked Auker about her little story, "You're used to those chains of coincidences?"

"Well. Yes. I wouldn't be a believer otherwise," Auker said, adjusting her coat. "But he's not a story, is he?"