Rue was up and wandering the streets far earlier than she needed to be, the next morning.

  The previous evening was spent sorting out finding a public bath. A few had actually turned her away, citing they needed payment and then listing a fee higher than she was willing to give over just to get clean. At the third bathhouse to do so, she had a fit of frustration that she just needed to get cleaned to start a job, and the lady of the bathhouse seemed to feel bad enough to finally allow her in, for three copper coins. It wasn’t busy at all, and Rue managed privacy, though she noted with disdain that one room had several baths in it. It was her first time in a public bathhouse, and though it was more private than bathing in a river or a pond, it still felt less private.

  After venturing out for the day, she had sought breakfast, though her coins didn’t afford much. Nothing at the stalls with fancy pastries, or otherwise extravagant spice-smelling creations that she had seen while wandering. She ended up with a warm stew with stale bread, and unidentifiable chunks. Rue was used to eating without luxury. It felt much easier picking the bland, unimpressive food than trying to decide if anything more expensive and unusual was more worth her while.

  Finding a quiet corner to sit down and eat, she thought of the day previous.

  Things had been going well, but she was hit by some hyperactive whimsical urge to play a prank on Thaddeus. It was pretty stupid. That was probably the biggest thing against her in securing the job.

  …Apart from the glaring reasons, such as an inability to read, no prior knowledge of how a library works, hating the magitech the library operated with, and a general lack of care of books overall.

  She could learn. She would learn.

  Unless she didn’t, and everything spiraled out of control, and her lack of survivability and worth were proven to be less than nothing.

  The ruminating thoughts didn’t help. By nine and a half bells of the morning, Rue took herself to the library, deciding she would just show up early. Even that was proven a waste, as when she went to wrench open the heavy doors, they failed to yield.

  Shivering, Rue looked at the sign, and recognized the world for Closed.

  “I can fucking read,” she grumbled to herself. Rue huddled up against the door. At least, in the dip of steps to get down, the wind did not reach her as well, and the streets above were cleared of snow so well that not much ended up on the bottom steps.

  Eventually the tenth bell started to ring. Rue was grabbing the doors to wrench them open before the second of ten rings had even finished, hauling at them. To her delight, they did open right up, a startled satyr standing right on the other side. They stared at each other, and Rue realized she held the Open sign. Wordlessly, she reached for it, tugging it from Tomeheart’s grasp.

  Tomeheart didn’t stop her, watching as Rue trudged up the stairs to plop the sign down, and take up the old one. She was back inside within seconds, slipping into the warm foyer, door shutting heavily behind. She set the Closed sign against the wall, and Tomeheart made no complaint.

  “You’re right on time,” she commented, needing to lift her voice as Rue stalked to her desk. She followed after a moment, her hooves clicking softly.

  “I’ve been here awhile. I didn’t think a library would have the damned doors locked up like that,” Rue said. “It’s freezing out there, you know.” She pointed a sour look at the librarian.

  Tomeheart blinked.

  “My living quarters are here,” she explained. “So I’d rather not have anyone wandering in and find their way to that room. Just come at the tenth bell next time.”

  Rue looked around, trying to find evidence of another room. She didn’t see one. Tomeheart continued to talk.

  “On that note, however.” There was a long enough pause that Rue met her honey-brown gaze. “I spoke to Thaddeus. He had some interesting things to say about the time he spent with you.”

  “If he made it sound bad, then he’s lying,” Rue asserted. Her gaze went steely, and Tomeheart measured it quietly before speaking again. “I did everything he said to. I figured out that lift, I put those books away, he told me all about how books are supposed to go in the library.”

  “I see. If you learned so much, where do books regarding clay-based pottery go?” Tomeheart’s voice was flat.

  Rue stared at her, then threw her hands up. “I don’t know! Probably, uhm…With books on useless craft trade?”

  “What floor?”

  “I have no idea. I wasn’t down there that long. I can learn all that today!”

  “That was the first book on the cart that Thaddeus would have put away, more than likely, as it belongs on the fourth floor. The one he was on originally,” she said pointedly.

  “Alright, well, we put a lot of books away. You can’t expect me to remember all of them.”

  “Do you remember any of them?”

  Rue stared. Excitement flit through her gaze and she snapped. “Yes! A book for doctors and such. Medicine and all of that.”

  Tomeheart nodded slowly. “And what was the title of it?”

  “What? I don’t know!”

  “Which is the second, and third problem,” Tomeheart said. “You cannot read, and you do not pay much attention. Those are, objectively, important skills to have here. Thirdly, you have lied a few times, or at least bent the truth a few times.”

  Rue scowled. “You’re being dramatic about that. Did you even list a first problem?”

  “No. The first problem is that you harassed a man while he was reading. Based on Thaddeus’ account, I’m shocked he didn’t want to lodge an official complaint.”

  Rue started to argue, but she was surprised when the librarian raised her voice to speak over her. It effectively cut her off.

  “That being said, for some reason, Thaddeus has voiced his desire for me to hire you. He would like to assume responsibility for you, which is going to be no small matter. This means teaching you not just how to work here, but he will have to engage in reading lessons. He claims you have a small grasp of rote memorization already and believes you will learn quickly. But-” her gaze turned stern. “You will not ever harass another person within the library again. You will not waste time with little pranks. You will not lie or otherwise display manner of disrespect. Is that understood?”

  Rue felt like a child being scolded, and if it wasn’t for the good news portion of the scolding, she wanted nothing more than to lash back at the overly-serious satyr. She could feel her cheeks burning hotly, and her shoulders were stiff to the point of pain. She swallowed.

  “Yes, I understand. But you gotta under–”

  “No, I do not need to understand anything, Rue. It is only you who needs to understand me. This is not just my place of work, but my home, as I have already told you. I will do whatever I must to keep order within my home. I am incredibly blessed to hold this position, and the court of the King could strip it from my hands if someone very important were to ever take offense from your antics.”

  Rue’s mind churned. She took a breath, her eyes fell to the carpeted floor, and she nodded.

  “Okay,” she said. Tomeheart admittedly was surprised as several seconds elapsed after the word. Rue seemed like the sort of person who valued having the last word. There was a small part of her that had expected Rue to doubledown, and give her an excuse to not honor Thaddeus’ request. The man rarely asked for much, and she had a soft spot for him, though she was having many second thoughts about it.

  “...But I gotta ask you something,” Rue continued suddenly. Tomeheart nodded for her to continue.

  “Why are you running this place?”

  “I possess the ability of translation. I am able to study and record many languages, some that are considered otherwise lost, and expand our archives upon them,” she answered matter-of-factly, but there was a certain glimmer of pride in her brown eyes.

  “I’ve never heard of that magic,” Rue said. Tomeheart had certainly said something interesting, but not quite what she was trying to get out of her. “Is it…You know. Does it run in your blood?” She squinted.

  Tomeheart’s pride fell to immediate irritation, eyes narrowing to slits. She understood what Rue was fishing for now, but it wasn’t going to be given easily. “No. There is no record of translation abilities passing along in bloodlines. In fact, there are only two others within the kingdom that also possess the ability, and neither have any account for it within their family lines, which are ones of royalty.”

  “Are you royalty?”

  “I am not,” Tomeheart scoffed at the question. “Stop your pestering. Thaddeus is already here. Go find him on the first floor.”

  “What? He’s already here? I didn’t see him come in!” Rue glanced back in the direction of the door.

  “He has a key, Rue. He arrives early to begin his duties. Go to him and he will lay out the details of your…Hiring.” She sighed as she said it, the regret not having abated even a fraction.

  Rue felt more words shifting on the front of her tongue, begging to be released to argue more with the woman. She resisted. Tomeheart was not who she needed to quarrel with. She even liked the woman, simply because she was someone who was an obvious outlier in her environment. It made Rue want to trust her.

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  “How did you open the door from your desk?” Rue asked her. “I found the rune imprint yesterday, but you did it from here somehow, too.”

  Tomeheart hummed and stepped around the desk. She gestured to a stretch of the wood, where, when Rue leaned in, could see faint etchings of several different runes. The librarian held her hand on top of one of them, and as a result, the door behind her awoke and churned open. Rue briefly looked up to watch it settle shut, then looked back to the desk.

  “What are the others?”

  “You only need to know that one. Though, please do not use it, in the case that you activate the others on accident. Just use the ones at the door itself. Now go on. Thaddeus is waiting.”

  Rue was not impressed with being denied the knowledge, but again, she fought the urge to argue and make things more complicated than they needed to be.

  “Alright,” she chimed. “I’ll see you later.” Rue turned and strode through the door, and went down the stairs. Tomeheart watched but didn’t say anything. Shortly after Rue disappeared down the flight she sat down, leaving the door open for now.

  —

  Rue swept through the first floor of the library in search of Thaddeus, as instructed. She didn’t see him out in the open, and so she approached the study doors at the back of the room. Without knocking or otherwise trying to listen, she opened the first door on the very right, thankful these didn’t operate off of runes.

  Apparently very lucky with her choice, a startled Thaddeus jumped in place where he was sat at a table, a few books and several sheets of paper set in front of himself, along with a pen and an inkpot. He stared at her in shock, standing up from his seat. “Rue! Why are you here already?”

  She gave him an odd look. “I was told to come at ten bells, I came at ten bells. The lady sent me down here.”

  “It’s the tenth hour already? I lost track of time,” he said sheepishly, tugging at the collar of his sweater. He was dressed in a way that Rue found somewhat annoying, a sweater overtop another collared shirt, a scarf set aside that he must have come in with and discarded. He wore a pair of slacks that didn’t have a single wrinkle upon them. All of them were boring, earthy hues, which she did appreciate. It was better than the typical overdone fashion of the city, and she still felt silly about her bright orange scarf, even if it didn't actually make her stick out compared to anyone else. She was still quite dull in color compared to many others.

  “Come on inside, I’ve got some stuff for you,” he said, gesturing for her to take a seat. Rue closed the door and walked over, plopping down in the chair beside him, gazing over the different items. He spoke on.

  “So, I got some stuff ready for you. I think it will be fairly easy to teach you the library system if I just have you memorize some words first. I assume you’ve been doing that, because no-one can get this far without already having done so.” He paused, squinting. “Right? Oh no. I’m probably sounding like an asshole again–”

  Rue cut him off. “No, I’ve got some words memorized, you’re right. It isn’t that hard. I just don’t know, like, a bunch of words together. Or things like that.” She huffed.

  “Oh! Okay. That’s great then. Not for you really, but that’s okay. Well– Okay.” He took a deep breath. “...I’ll teach you about each floor and the different sections. I hope you remember what I taught about sections yesterday?”

  “I wasn’t really listening that hard.”

  He made a face, then it eased. “That’s fine. We’ll go over it again. That system is a combined number-letter system. That might be a bit more difficult, but it’s the same concept on each floor, for what books go in what section. There are other duties, too. I’ll have you help with cleaning. Not every floor has to be done daily, it’s a lot, but it will keep you busy. You won’t be working every day, anyway. You do have to check each of the reading rooms though, just to make sure no one left books or other items, or any kind of a mess within.”

  “I won’t be working every day?” Rue frowned deeply. “What’s the point if I’m not working daily?”

  He didn’t expect this, and leaned back against his chair. “I don’t think Miss Tomeheart needs another full-time employee. She didn’t tell you?”

  “No. She only told me to go find you, and that you’d be telling me everything. I came here to work, not to sit on my ass,” Rue protested. “Can I at least work everyday, and just…Not the full day?”

  Thaddeus hesitated. “I don’t think she wants that,” he said. “You could ask, but…Why not try to get another part-time job? If you’re here every few days, you can be somewhere else the days in between?”

  “It took me days to even find this place to work!” Rue leaned forward, planting a hand over her face tiredly. “Whatever. Whatever. I’ll find something. Just…Get on with it. I’m listening.”

  Thaddeus seemed to want to say or ask something else, but nervousness overtook him. Whatever he was going to say went unsaid, and he went with something safer.

  “...We’ll work it out. But, uhm, okay…Right. We’ll take some time out of every day that you are here to teach you how to read.” He hesitated and added on. “...And, if it works out, I can probably still teach you on some of the days that you’re not working. I would be certain Miss Tomeheart won’t mind. I’ve helped with individual studies before.”

  He cleared his throat.

  “How does that sound?”

  Rue was still sulking, but she nodded. “Yeah. That’s all good.” Part of her was upset that there would be some days she’d be stuck outside, no place of sanctuary, without this job. Some days were better than none, for working, but it meant she’d just have to start the hunt all over again to look for something to fill the gaps. That probably meant learning even more new skills. She’d learn, by way of pure determination, but it was none less frustrating.

  Thaddeus began to give her a run-down of the different floors. He had written a lot of it out, some of it partially finished, but it didn’t matter much to Rue. She stared at the papers as he babbled, and the words seemed to float around the page, inducing a headache right behind her eyes. It was dull and mild, but helped with nothing.

  “...If it were up to me, there would be a separate library containing everything for magical use, so that it’d be easier to keep it catalogued. We’ve already run into problems with expanding the library downwards, but apparently when Whesirki was founded, it already existed with one floor down, so they kept it like that. The city has rejected the idea of expanding upwards, but they have yet to reject the idea of opening another location. The only problem is space. Something would have to get moved, and they wouldn’t expand the wall just to add in a new library. In the last hundred years or so, there has been a specific fad of writing books that are not informational, but instead for enjoyment. This has mostly come from those with wealth and time enough to divine some fantastical stories of heroship, adventure, and even romance, but every single time they’ve written something, they practically beg for a copy to be put here. We have very few people visiting us to look for new material in this area, but they are persistent in checking every single week.”

  Rue wasn’t really listening, and Thaddeus seemed to realize that, coming to a halt. He stared and it took far too long for her to register he had stopped speaking. She blinked a few times, sitting up.

  “...Uh, sorry, what was that?”

  It had been hours. They had taken very few trips out of the room, mostly with Thaddeus checking on Tomeheart and collecting a few books to return, or to gather information on if there was anyone she suspected he would need to find for help. Another time, Tomeheart sent someone to him for help. He used those chances to show Rue around with the information he had given her.

  It was the first day of a new beginning, and Rue had lost every ounce of excitement in the boring monotone of it.

  To her frustration, nothing he explained really made sense without going over it again and actually seeing what he was saying. Thaddeus didn’t seem to mind. He was quite into the project of training Rue, to which she was grateful, but still couldn’t help find annoying in some way. She wasn’t sure about what was so annoying.

  Thaddeus sighed and smiled tiredly at her. “It’s fine. None of that was very important anyway. Look, it’s been a long day. How about we go do a sweep of the rooms to get them cleaned up? Then you can be done for the day.”

  Rue rocked the chair back, stretching her arms to each side. “How long is the library open?”

  “Until the eight hour, but Tomeheart sometimes keeps it open longer. I usually leave around the fifth or sixth hour.”

  “And, right now, it’s…” She raised her brows. Without the sun, and far too deep to hear the ring of the bells, she had no clue on the time. Her internal clock was at a loss.

  “Oh! We’ll need to get you a pocket watch,” he said as he pulled his own from a pocket. She had seen them before, but they were a luxury. He flipped it open. “...Oh, four and half.” He swallowed. “My throat is pretty dry. I don’t usually talk this much.”

  “You’ve been talking non-stop,” she complained, standing to stretch her legs. “I should be glad I don’t have to come every day to this nonsense.”

  Thaddeus laughed and began to clean up the stack of supplies. Rue eyed it warily. He hadn’t even gone through a quarter of it by now, and her head was still throbbing. Once he was done, they started a walk-through together, checking each room. They mostly just had to put chairs back in place, and rarely did anyone leave a book on the table. No one had ever left an actual mess, which made it feel useless, but Rue didn’t mind the time spent moving and walking.

  “Come back the day after tomorrow for your next shift. We’ll refresh everything we talked about today. I’ll also be checking the integrity of all the runes, so you can watch, though it won’t be very exciting.”

  Rue stopped dead in her tracks, staring at him. “You’re a runic mage?” She asked, surprise etching through her. Thaddeus went slightly red, mostly from her unexpected surprise. “Uh, yes? I didn’t mention it before this?” He asked.

  “No! You didn’t. Why are you working in a library of all places? Isn’t that the best magic you can have?” She gestured around her, and Thaddeus looked, though he didn’t know what else he expected. There were books, books, and even more books.

  “Don’t say it like that, Rue. A library is very important.”

  “Okay, whatever, but still! Couldn’t you be making a hoard of gold with other jobs?”

  He sighed and continued walking, forcing Rue to follow him. “Yes, I suppose I could. Miss Tomeheart pays me well. But I don’t really need more coin. My family is well off.”

  “Are you a noble?” She sounded affronted, and Thaddeus shot her a look.

  “No, I am not. Not really. My family is recognized by the court, and our bloodline is long enough to not be considered a witchline, but neither are we part of the original foundation. I could get hired by the King’s court, but I am also free enough to pick any job I wish within the city, and so I picked here. The library is peaceful and uncrowded.”

  “For someone who likes peace, you don’t shut up,” she huffed back.

  “I like teaching! Really, I go days without talking sometimes,” he said, sheepish. Rue noticed he often got sheepish, but he seemed genuinely into the teaching thing. She didn’t argue, rolling her eyes and fighting off a smile. He was easy company.

  They checked each floor, which Rue found to be a workout, but a pleasant one. Thaddeus only insisted on using the lift to go all the way, but Rue refused, sending him on his own. He waited at the top when she popped out panting and exhausted from trying to run up fourteen flights, her legs weak. Thaddeus had gone over to talk to Tomeheart, grinning as Rue popped out from the top floor, hobbling over to them.

  “Rue,” Tomeheart greeted. “It sounds like the day went by well. I thought you said you learned how to use the lift?” Rue wasn’t sure if she was teasing, given her flat expression.

  “I did,” Rue huffed with a chestful of forced air. “I gotta stay in shape.”

  “Mm. I see. Very well. I will see you again in two days time, then.”

  “Wait, when do I get paid?” Rue frowned at her.

  “Ah, yes. I pay out on a weekly basis. Since you started mid-week, I intended to pay you at the end of next week, so that it would not be a partial amount this week.”

  “No, that’s not gonna work,” Rue frowned. “I need to be paid this week.”

  Thaddeus winced as Rue talked back with a sharp tone. Tomeheart raised her brows.

  “Why is that?”

  Rue gestured at herself with a flourish of her arms. “I’m poor! Why do you think I need a job? People don’t work ‘cause they’re rich!” She glanced to the man beside the librarian. “Unless you’re him!”

  “Not just me,” Thaddeus protested, and Tomeheart spoke right after him.

  “Plenty of those with wealth work, Rue. Whesirki actually relies on some of the most wealthy continuing to work in order to function. I won’t fault you for not knowing that. But very well. At the end of your shift tomorrow, I will pay you.”

  Rue grumbled a reluctant thank you. After a few more words of her schedule, and being denied working on a daily basis, Rue departed from the library and into the cold evening. The sun was still up, but it was sunken low, and orange light flooded into the deep blues of the sky. Cold crept onto her warmed body, threatening to invade it in a similar manner as the orange upon blue.

  At least it wasn’t snowing.