‘You
should go to see the archivist’ suggested John as they walked through the
gardens of the university.
The gardens were carefully planted so that
there were always plants in bloom. This wasn’t so difficult in Kinspit, warmed
as it was by southerly breezes and a warm sea current, but despite that it
still looked impressive all the year round.
‘Laurence knows the head gardener well’ said
John, ‘he often comes down here to savour the blossoms’
John could detect that Kathleen was looking a
little confused. It was clear that the garden wasn’t having the same effect on
her as it always had on him.
‘Or whatever it is that he does’ he said,
hurriedly.
They walked on admiring the plants for
another minute or so. Kathleen wondered how the conversation had somehow
slipped so far away from the pressing reasons for their visit.
‘He does bring some beautiful flowers home,’
mused John, ‘and they look very good in those tall azure vases in the
conservatory…’
Kathleen smiled and nodded politely, but she
had had enough of John’ ramblings.
‘The archivist that you mentioned’ she said,
interrupting him gently, ‘who is that?’
‘The Logotheton...’ replied John, shaking
himself reluctantly out of his floral reverie.
‘...he’s an elf, very helpful, but rather shy
– so treat him gently. He doesn’t get out much’
‘Where will I find him?’ asked Kathleen, who
was already bewildered by the series of grand university buildings that they
had passed.
‘He’s in the main library. Don’t worry I’ll
drop you off there; this place is a bit of a maze’
‘Yes it is – I remember that from when I was
here before – it has very fine architecture, though’
They stopped for a second to examine the
school of languages – it was a very large white building with an arrangement of
columns and arches that seemed to intensify the contrast of light and dark on
its surface. It certainly looked like
the sort of place which held knowledge and craft.
‘The buildings in Helios look very like
these’ said John, softly, ‘but I suppose that’s not surprising’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Kathleen, wondering
how they had got distracted again.
‘This is an Archaic Elven city, at heart – it
was established by them, and they built it in a style that was familiar to
them. Oikonde looks the same. As I said
at the council meeting – the Archaic Elves are undoubtedly a satellite colony
of Helios’
‘And the Visneorians?’ asked Kathleen, ‘what
are they?’
John frowned and turned away from the
Language School building. It was time to get on.
‘That’s what I want to ask old
Macrocephalos…’
***
They
walked on to the Central Library wrapped in their own thoughts. It was a low
grey building, less impressive than some of the others, but John explained that
most of it was underground.
They entered the library through a small, almost
hidden, wooden door. Inside was a low counter behind which stood two humanoids:
one elf and one human. John bowed low to both of them.
‘Good morning’ the two said simultaneously,
one in Archaic Elven, the other in Ethian.
Kathleen thought this was very odd, but she
mumbled back the same greeting in a odd mixture of both languages.
John shook hands with both of them, not
bothering to respond in either language. It was clear that they both knew him
well.
He turned back to Kathleen, smiling at her
bemusement.
‘You
can have the fast or slow service here’ he explained in Ethian, ‘depending on your needs and your patience
levels’
Kathleen looked even more confused. She’d never had a reason to come to the
library before – in the past she had just come to visit particular scholars.
‘Well, I am in bit of a hurry…’ she said weakly.
‘Then Sheila here’s your woman’ said John,
indicating the elderly grey haired human.
The elven librarian, who looked about half of
Sheila’s age, went back to writing on some record cards. She was clearly used
to this procedure.
‘Shelia will be able to take you to see the
archivist – she’s very helpful’ said John.
He turned to leave, waving as he went.
‘Maybe we can meet for lunch’ he said as he
exited, ‘we can share our sandwiches out in the garden…’
‘I’m a visiting scholar from Eth’
Sheila smiled and shook Kathleen’s hand. The
librarian seemed a bit distracted.
‘He’s a lovely man’ said Sheila, watching
through the window as John strode off, ‘so very polite’
Kathleen’s eyebrows arched slightly. She had
never thought of John as particularly lovely.
‘And very well read for a merchant’ continued
Sheila
Kathleen nodded.
‘That’s very true’ she said, ‘I’m sure that
he looks for some unusual books, too’
‘Yes’ agreed Sheila, ‘some very obscure ones.
Not that I like to pry, but I do notice’
‘He’s a wonder...’ said Kathleen, ‘...for a
merchant…’
‘Such a shame that he’s not…umm… available’
This conversation was taking a very unusual
turn. Sheila looked a little bit old for John, although that never seemed to
stop anyone from having a crush. Did no-one realise that she was in a hurry.
The day seemed to be filling up with pointless and perplexing conversations.
‘I’m sorry’ said Kathleen, ‘I’m not really
sure what you mean’
Sheila coloured up slightly. She began to
shift some books from one side of her counter to the other.
‘I have a daughter, she’s called Sarah… she’s
a scholar in the cartography school… I’m sure that they’d get on very well,
if…’
Kathleen wondered if she could leave this
particular topic at the librarian’s ellipsis, but knew that that would seem
rather rude.
‘…if he wasn’t so busy?’ she suggested,
half-heartedly.
Sheila looked up at Kathleen as if to let her
into a secret. She leant over so that they were very close.
‘I don’t think that he’s that interested in
women’ she whispered
Oh really! thought
Kathleen, how on earth did you guess
that?
‘I don’t really know him that well’ she
lied. This was not a conversation she
wanted to get involved in, even here, in the most liberal city in the world.
‘He’s such a charming man… probably very rich
too… such a waste’
It was like waiting for a clockwork toy to
run down. Kathleen hoped it wouldn’t take too long.
‘Well, I hope your daughter finds someone…’ she
said feebly.
‘Oh so do I’ said Sheila, ‘time is marching
on’
A little angry knot formed inside Kathleen.
She felt very sorry for Sarah. Maybe Sarah didn’t want to meet someone; perhaps
she was happy with her work and her little house by the sea – if that’s where
she lived. Kathleen stopped herself but not before she had had a vision of a
grizzled man with kind eyes holding a pint of beer. Sarah was probably too
busy, just like she had always been – too busy for that sort of complicated
thing.
Sheila seemed to wake up to her normal
duties. She smiled a little apologetically.
‘You wanted to see The Archivist?’
‘Yes, if possible’
‘I’ll go and see if he’s available’
Sheila left the counter and walked back
though the small office to another door. She opened the door and disappeared
into a back room. This only gave Kathleen more time to think. The elven
librarian picked up the books that Sheila had been sorting and started to pile
them on to a trolley. She worked very slowly and very methodically; it was
hypnotic in a slightly painful way.
Kathleen knew that Tom wanted to marry her,
but she had no idea how it could possibly work. He had no inkling that she was
a witch – how could she keep that secret from her husband? Yet, being married
to a publican did have its fringe benefits. But she liked living alone. Why did
he have to keep going on about steak and ale pies and stout and cuddles every
night? He was undoubtedly a silly
foolish old man. However she had only been away for a day and half and here she
was thinking about him. She knew that she thought about him far too much and
spent far too much time in his damn pub.
Eventually
the librarian came back with a very young male elf. ‘Not a day over five
hundred’ thought Kathleen.
‘This is Logotheton’ said Sheila ‘he’s the
University archivist’
Logotheton embraced Kathleen formally in the
elven way. He seemed only to speak in Archaic Elven but that was fine by her,
she knew very well that the owner of the still might well have been from
Helios.
‘Would you like to come to my office, Dr
Mannings?’
Kathleen stopped in her tracks.
‘How on earth did you know my name?’ she
asked
Logotheton smiled and lowered his voice.
‘It’s always a good idea to know when a
member of the Hybitor walks into your library, Dr Mannings, I’m sure you can
appreciate that’
They walked into his office and he closed the
door. Outside in the library foyer Sheila lingered over a cup of coffee and
daydreamed of grandchildren.
No comments:
Post a Comment