[Scholars' Nook] Standing on the shoulders of giants?

[Faith Augustin]

26th Cylus 717

"I'm just saying someone should stay home with the dog and I feel like a fraud," she whispered to Padraig as they entered the Scholars' Nook. Faith had been very pleased and supportive of the idea of Padraig attending the meeting of the Intelligentsia but when he had said that she should do the same she had shaken her head and told him he was being foolish. When, most unreasonably she thought, he'd asked her why it was that he should and she should not, she'd been completely stumped. The best she'd been able to come up with was the fact that someone should stay home with the dog. Said canine had conspired with him by being perfectly behaved and was, in fact, curled up in the dog basket she'd made, fast asleep with the cat.

She had to admit, though, she was pleased to have finally come to the Scholars' Nook. She'd heard about it but hadn't gotten here yet and as they walked in she looked around in delight. "Look at all the books. Books and tea? It's like it was made for us both. Is there cake?" Faith asked with a grin, recalling his horror at a teashop in Rharne which only sold tea. They were early, but the place was filling up and Faith stood and looked in some surprise, wondering whether they should back out again quickly when a woman with shoulder length brown hair and a wide smile walked up to them. There were very faded bruises still on her face, almost gone now and a small cut. Nothing like what had been there.
"Welcome, welcome! New faces, always nice to see! I'm Caz, I own this place," she gestured around the establishment with an obvious pride. Faith kept quiet, quite happy for Padraig to make the introductions. Once made, Caz continued "We keep a table for the new folks, you're the only ones so far, but always hoping to see more. That one over there, that's my brother Flea, he works here too. You need anything, come see one of us?" She gestured to the young man in question then ushered them over to a large table, capable of seating at eight humans easily. "First drink is on the house," Caz said, handing them a menu each.

"I'll have a mint tea, please?" Faith said and Caz grinned.
"I like you two already, most people look for the most expensive item, not what they'd want. What about you, Padraig?"
Once she had their order she assured them that their drinks wouldn't be long in the arriving and that she'd be around should they have any questions.

When Caz had left them to it, Faith leaned in to whisper to Padraig, "Do you see the man over there with the hat and the white hair? Recognise him?" It was the Dean of the University, the one who had overseen Faith's entrance exam and her acceptance onto her Diploma in Medicine. Under the table, she put her hand in his and held a little more tightly than usual. This was all rather a lot of people and she didn't do entirely well with that, although she did a damn fine job of not showing it. However, her knew her too well to fall for the calm and disciplined exterior for a bit. "Do you think there'll be other new people?" Faith wondered. Then, her attention wandered to the small notice which explained the Book Exchange Tariff System and Faith's eyes took on the kind of mushy expression that usually only he saw. "Have you seen this? Oh, I have to try and build links between here and the Order of the Adunih"

Squeezing his hand under the table she looked at him and smiled. "So, do you know anything about this group? Or anyone here, come to that?" Looking around, she spotted a few familiar faces, but not worth noting other than the Dean, who she'd already pointed out.

[Padraig]

"You're completely grasping at straws," Padraig reminded her quietly as they walked into the Scholar's Nook. "If he could have, the dog would have told you you've nothing to worry about." And in fact, so far as Padraig was concerned, both dog and cat had done just that by curling up for a nap and making a fibber out of her. "You have as much business as me or anyone else here. More in fact," he whispered. After all, his Faith was brilliant and had overcome more in an arc than most people did in a lifetime.

And no cake, he informed her with a grin of amusement and then added that he'd be sure to speak to them about it as soon as an opportunity presented itself. But in fact cake increased the chance of sticky fingers, and sticky pages in valuable books. There was probably good reason for serving tea, and only tea. He held tight to her arm when he thought she might bolt, and smiled when the woman approached them. "A pleasure to meet you, Caz," he said when she introduced herself. "I'm Padraig, and this is Faith."

He ordered a cup of apple tea for himself and as they sat down, he looked over at the man who'd caught Faith's eye. "I've seen him around a number of times," he whispered back when she took his hand beneath the table. "His son, or I believe it was his son, attended the class that I taught." He knew she was nervous, though she didn't have any reason to be. But it would take time, he thought, for her to see what the rest of the world did. Or at least the part of the world they occupied at the moment.

Hopefully they wouldn't be the only new attendees. But at the moment, "There's no one here yet that I'm familiar with. The group though, as I understand it, is a group of scholars of different disciplines, who gather to share knowledge and resources, and learn from each other." In honesty, it was about all he knew just yet. But hopefully they'd learn more before the evening was done.

[Anos]

Anos slowly pushed open the door, stepping inside as he did. Cassander, on his shoulder, dug his talons into the basic wool shirt he was wearing. Anos hissed in annoyance, but Cassander preened as if he hadn't done anything, and Anos didn't have it in him to be mad at the bird. His hand absently began to stroke the bird's head as he took in his surroundings.

Books were everywhere. Shelves were crammed to overflowing, stacks of the leather-bound ones sitting precariously on various tables or on vacated chairs. Every shape, size, and colour of binding imaginable seemed to be represented here. He was staring around in awe when a loud, and quite pointed, cough was directed his way. Anos' gaze shot over to a man sitting at a table by the door, his lips pressed into a firm line as he looked back and forth between Anos and the door that was still held open behind him.

Blushing, Anos let his gaze drop and closed the door behind him. Before he could even begin to look for a place to sit, a man bustled up next to him.

"Good morning, I don't think I've ever seen you around here before. My name is Flea, and my sister and I run this place. What is your name?"

"Uh- Anos," he said, sticking out his hand. The man offered his own hand, disappearing inside of Anos' fist. Anos felt Cassander's tail begin to swish as the owl regarded the new arrival, and he quickly retracted his hand to soothe the bird. Ever since they had come to Scalvoris, Cassander had been fidgety and unsettled. "Don't mind him- he's well trained."

"Well," Flea chuckled nervously, "Let me tell you about the Scholar's Nook." Anos could tell that the man thought that he was in the wrong spot, and he wasn't wrong exactly- it would take Anos more arcs than he had left to read through all these books, assuming he could actually understand them. His reading was decent, better than most in the orphanage, but hardly on par with the scholars that this tea shop was named after. "We have a system here, called BETS-Oh, follow me."

The man led Anos through the crowded tables, chatting the whole way. Anos paid close attention to his words- it was easier to listen than to have to read. "We have a large library, as you can tell, and we like to change it up. So you bring in a book that you no longer wish to have, we take it and appraise it. Depending on how old, rare, and its quality, we will assign a value to it. You then get tokens to turn around and buy one of the books that are here! It's a wonderful system that encourages a variety of literature and collects scholars from all over. Ah, here we are."

They were in front of a table, one of the largest Anos had seen in the place, where two people sat. The man was fairly average looking- brown hair, tousled, and his look reminded Anos of several of scholars he had met. The woman on the other hand...

Anos began to feel nervous again, and he fidgeted as Flea offered to bring him a drink. He nodded absently, asking for some lemon tea. Cassander fidgeted as he tried to look around at the whole room while Anos stuck out his hand towards the duo.

"G-Good morning. My name is Anos- you are?"

From their body language, Anos quickly realized they were a couple, and some of his tension began to bleed away. He took a seat next to them, eagerly sipping his tea as it arrived. "So, what are you two here for? I don't suppose you know where the Intelligeista are? I'm afraid I might have butchered their name," he finished lamely, hoping that the other two would have some idea. Preoccupied, he held his cup of tea up for Cassander to drink between his own sips, and soon the tea was gone.

"Oh, right." He suddenly said as he pulled his owl off his shoulder, petting the bird in his palm. "I didn't introduce him- this is Cassander." He held the bird above the table, wondering if they would guess who it was named after.

He greeted everyone the same way as they arrived, sticking out his hand and introducing himself. He had resigned himself to waiting for a break or so, just until Cassander was well and truly asleep, before going to find the Intelligista, where ever they were in this maze of a shop.

SOURCE

[Niv]

Niv was told by Padraig to come to the Scholar's Nook again to meet the expert in medicine that he had told her about. Niv had another class to attend in the meantime, a short one with Esata Broca. She was the teacher who frequently frustrated Niv with her soft spoken voice and the difficult questions she posed to the class. Not only could Niv not hear the women but when Niv did, the she didn’t understand the complicated language used. Only a small few were able to keep up and they were already knowledgable. Niv mostly just sat in her usual hiding place, in the book shelf listening to whatever information she could understand.

When the class was finally over, Niv felt drained and less knowledgable. She waited until the herd of students left before she made her move from the book case. When the coast was clear she left the class room and headed on her way to the Scholars nook.

The Tunawa hoped that Padraig would be able to answer a few of her questions, Like which element had the most Atomic mass. Niv was still having trouble understanding the basics of Chemistry, she knew the names of nearly all the elements on the periodic table but not much else about them.

Niv casually slipped through the door of the Nook, and wandered around the establishment in search of Padraig. In her search she spotted an owl perched on the shoulder of a man, She got sidetracked and followed the man hoping to talk to his bird. When the man turned towards a large table Niv’s eyes widened with surprise as she recognized the face of Anos, the man Niv studied with in the library. Niv continued to walk closer when she saw Padraig at the table with a raven haired women who seemed oddly familiar.

After quickly climbing to the top of a chair she leapt, just barely landing with a clumsy tumble on the table top. She used the strength in her legs to lift herself up in an effort to make her clumsy landing seem intentional.

“Sorry fer deh ruckas” Niv scratched her forehead in embarrassment realizing too late that she was interrupting an introduction.
“It’s nice teh see yews again Anos and dis your owl friend Cassander.” Niv smiled and then hooted at the bird in greeting. “he seem nice he should meet my friend Patcha some time.

She then turned to Padraig and the mysterious women. “Dis deh Expert in medicine yews talked about Padraig?” Niv walked closer to the raven hair women and squinted her eyes as she looked over the oddly familiar face.
“I feels like I seen yews before..My name Niv…wat yews name?”

[Faith Augustin]

"If they've killed each other whilst we're out, it will be very hard not to say I told you so." Faith smiled at him and her expression was clear; he was right, she knew he was although only in part. "If I'm having trouble with having as much right to be here as anyone else, you're going to have a hard job justifying more you know." She felt his arm tighten as she looked around and felt more than a little overwhelmed and she smiled gratefully to him, squeezing his arm back so he knew she wasn't about to bolt out the door.

Her expression was somewhat wide eyed as they sat and he said, oh so calmly that he'd taught the Dean's son. Faith shook her head, "I'd die. There and then, I would just die. I still don't know when or who or what I'm teaching. Professor Carter seems very nice, but a little forgetful." She liked him, though, there was no doubting it from her expression and how she had spoken of him. Her other professor, though? Far less keen. She hadn't spoken to Padraig about it yet, but she would, once they got home from this.

Then, another new person arrived, a tall man, standing at well over six foot with intense blue eyes and an owl on his shoulder. As he spoke she thought he sounded a little hesitant and she smiled at him as she stood (for all the good it did her, she might as well have stayed sitting down, she thought) and shook his hand. "Good trial, Anos, it's nice to meet you. I'm Faith, this is Padraig." In terms of who the Intelligentsia were, Faith smiled and shrugged slightly as she sat back down. "We were just talking about that, actually. Our understanding is it's about scholars working together and sharing knowledge and learning."

She smiled at Padraig, it had to be said, when Anos introduced his owl. "Cassander? You a fan of the king of Rynmere?" Looking at the owl, Faith had to admit it was a beautiful animal, majestic even. "I think, well, when we were shown here it was this table for the newcomers, so I guess we just wait and the meeting starts?" She looked to Padraig to see what he thought. Just as she was about to ask about more details, the fourth newcomer arrived in the strangest way.

A tiny little person literally tumbled on to the table and spoke to both Anos and Padraig as though she knew them. This was the Tunawa, Faith was sure, that Padraig had told her he'd met. She looked at her and a sudden realisation hit her. She knew her. "Hello, Niv," Faith looked at the small woman and she smiled. How on Idalos should she deal with this? She decided that there was only one way, and that was the truth.

"My name is Faith. I... somehow, you and I shared a dream with a woman called Kura. We've met her, she's real too. It was, a while ago now. How are you?" This was, of course, from her time with Jamal and Faith knew that what brief moment of her past not mattering she'd had was over. "You introduced me to your friend, Skret, who nestled in my hair, you told me that you eat poisons and they cause things to grow out of your head." She looked at Anos and Padraig and gave a slight shrug, "As strange as it sounds, Padraig and I met the third person from this dream whilst we were on holiday in Rharne. It... seems to have been something unique"

Suddenly, though, Faith realised that Niv had asked about an 'expert in Medicine', and she looked at Niv with an interested expression tinged with concern. "Are you in need of a medic? I work at the Order of the Adunih and I am studying medicine at the moment. If I can't help, I might know someone who can?"

Caz's voice hollered over the hubub saying that the meeting would be starting in a quarter break, to get into their topic areas, she then motioned over to the four of them and added, "I'll be coming over to you to give you information, an induction sort of thing. Don't worry, you're good where you are."

[Padraig]

They'd just sat down and gotten comfortable, when one, then another at least wandered into the Scholar's Nook. If they were new like Faith and himself, it meant they would no longer be subjected to the awkwardness of sitting at a very large table alone.

First there was possibly the tallest man Padraig had ever seen. The large bird on his shoulder with a view from on high ought to have appeared out of place. But somehow, it managed to compliment and complete what was already an unusual sight.

Too...something, Padraig thought as the man was shown to their table. Perfectly, strangely pretty, was what occurred to him after tall, bird. Like the collection of men and women on Faldrass, who Faith suggested had been grown underground in pods, and Padraig couldn't find it in himself to disagree. But, those were uncharitable thoughts and he smiled in greeting, standing when Faith did and offering his hand. "A pleasure," he said.

"As I understand it," he added as he sat back down again. "There's a large number of regular members. I wonder if the place will hold them all should each turn up this evening." Then noticing Faith's interest in the bird, Padraig grinned a little, hoping she didn't get it in her head to want one of their own. One dog, one cat were plenty enough. Their home would only erupt in chaos he thought, if they began to collect a menagerie.

And then there was the little Tunawa that he'd met the trial before. When he saw her come in, apparently having taken seriously his suggestion she should attend, he grinned. She was both a maddening and engaging little creature at once. And then before he knew it she was on their tabletop. "I'm glad to see you've come, Niv," he said. But it appeared then that she and Faith already knew each other. Sort of.

When Faith told him just how that could be, he might have been skeptical. Except this wasn't the first time she'd run into someone she'd met before in a dream. It was curious then, yes, but not out of the question. "Yes," he confirmed. "This is Faith, the one I told you about." But to Faith he added, "Niv is studying chemistry at the university, but is very interested in medicine. She had lots of questions and while I did my best, as I explained, medicine is not my specialty"

"So Anos," Padraig said, turning to the other man at the table after nodding his thanks to Caz. "Are you attending the university or planning to?" What area of study, he wondered? "I'm focusing on physics myself, and Faith, medicine."

[Anos]

Faith stood to shake his hand, and he had to hide a smile as he realized how short she was- her face would have been level with the center of his chest, at most. Padriag stood too, and Anos smiled warmly at him.

"I don't know if I would go quite that far," Anos said to Faith. Cassander was small, barely over half a foot tall, and was rather fluffy looking totrial. Hardly regal or impersonal, like Anos imagined Cassander to be- he didn't have the best opinion of the king, but with how quickly she recognized the name, she had obviously spent some time in Rynmere. Best not to offend anyone by bringing up politics, he thought.

He nodded as the two gave him some information about them, all new to him. Given that the group was large, they likely would know something about what was wrong with him, even if they couldn't fix it.

He nodded to Niv, Cassander stirring briefly and chirruping at her before drifting off again.

Anos' eyes grew wide as Faith talked about a dream with Niv, the small stick person. That was a thing? You could dream about someone you'd never met before, and then recognize them later?

It seemed there was more than his odd and abrupt magic that he needed to learn in the world.

Apparently Padraig already knew Niv, and Anos smiled. Something had brought them together, and he felt certain that the answers he sought were not far away now. After all, what were the odds that he would have met Niv, and be given the information about the Intelligista with her, Faith would have dreamed of her, and Padraig met her?

This had the makings of fate written all over it. His free hand fished about in his neckline, tugging the medallion out of his shirt and rubbing it absently between his forefinger and thumb. It was a habit he had picked up whenever his thoughts turned to the deeper side of life- fate, death, that sort of thing. He wasn't sure what the medallion was of, but something in it had convinced him to keep it through the flight from Andaris.

Padraig's voice cut through his thoughts, and he jerked himself back to the present.

"Um," he stammered as he paused. A faint blush climbed its way up his neck and tinged his cheeks a faint red as he rubbed his chin. "Well, not particularly. From everything I can see, you need to have a bit better grasp of... well academics in general, I suppose."

He let out an awkward laugh as if it weren't a big deal and shrugged. "I need their help, that's why I'm here. I, uh, well I won't be blending into that group, that's for sure. But that sounds interesting- what do you actually do in, physics, was it?"

SOURCE

[Niv]

Niv gasped at the information Faith had given her, unable to fully comprehend what was going on. The more details Faith shared however, the more Niv grew to believe.
“yews..imaginary friend faith..?” Niv asked hesitantly, glancing up at Faith in the process. When Niv made eye contact with Faith, the memories came flooding back. There was only two dreams Niv remembered but they were so different to her other dreams that they stood out. In the walking world when Niv thought of a name for something it was typically some variation of faith. The beautiful women who was a slave and worshiped a dark immortal.
“Yews faith! I not believe yews eh real person!” Niv exclaimed happily with a cheerful thrust of her hands in the air.

Although as Faith mentioned Skret, Niv went quiet and distant. The Tunawa didn’t know how to tell someone who had never met the timid squirrel that she was no more.
“I no need medic..I’m in deh order of Adunih..like yews.” Niv tired to bring her cheerfulness back with a faint smile but all she could think of was how she was unable to help her friend. Niv struggled to keep it together as Padraig and Anos continued to talk amongst themselves. She tired to mask her conflicting emotions as focus by looking at who ever was talking the most at the time. She felt she might burst into tears if she actually addressed what was bothering her, this was not the time for that.

To keep her mind of the loss she suffered Niv poured herself into the conversation.
“I not have much knowing of Deh reading but I still study? yews should study as well Anos, Maybe learned more abouts deh magic yew like so much.” Niv turned to nod at Anos, noticeably moving away from faith since, facing her meant facing the loss of Skret.

“I would join dis group as well if it help make smart. I needs all deh help wit dat.” Niv nervously chuckled.

► Show Spoiler

Sorry for the wait

[Faith Augustin]

The tall man looked amused at her when she stood up to greet him, although he smiled to Padraig. If she'd been able to without being noticed, Faith would have kicked Padraig with a gentle kick to tell him she'd told him so. Even the new guy thought it was amusing that she was here, with no such expression for him. Sitting back down, she focused on what the other people at the table were saying. Anos needed the help of the Intelligentsia, maybe he had a problem he needed to solve, Faith thought and she smiled at him with a slight but encouraging smile. When Padraig explained what they both studied, he asked Padraig about physics so, figuring that he wasn't interested in medicine, she was quite content to sit back and just let that conversation happen.

Niv's realisation that she was her 'imaginary friend Faith' delighted her and she nodded. "That's me. It's nice to meet you in person, Niv" At first, Niv seemed as pleased to see her as Faith was to see Niv, but quickly, the Tunawa changed. Had she remembered the whole slavery thing? Faith thought probably so. It had upset her, after all, when they'd shared the dream, to the point that Faith had agreed to not speak about it. Maybe it was that, Faith reasoned ~ it wasn't that she wasn't wanting to associate with her, it was the slavery thing upsetting her. Which made sense right up until Niv said, no, she didn't need a medic then moved away, quite obviously. It was strange, Faith thought, Padraig had said that she did. Evidently, it wasn't that Niv didn't need a medic, it was that she didn't want this one. That was fine, it wasn't the first time she'd seen that reaction. She'd just rather hoped that it had been the last.

Well, she considered, this was going about as well as she'd expected. Niv purposely moved away and engaged in the conversation between Anos and Padraig, encouraging Anos to study and leaving Faith wondering just what she should do here. Had she been the kind of person to do so, bolt was exactly what she'd do, but she would not do that to Padraig. Still, she wasn't going to make a fuss and she certainly wasn't going to spoil anyone's time here so she reverted to what she knew, what she understood. She sat, remained quiet and listened to the conversation around her whilst she sipped her tea, which she held on to with both hands and looked at quite intently, it seemed.

[Padraig]

Things became quiet strange rather quickly, and Padraig couldn't quite figure how it had happened. Faith grew suddenly quiet, and Niv, well, Niv seemed suddenly twitchy and somehow unpredictable.

Hadn't she told him just the trial before that she'd like to meet Faith and talk about medicine? Padraig was sure he hadn't imagined it. He frowned then, sipping his tea and squeezing Faith's hand beneath the table. But even the newcomer, Anos, seemed suddenly distracted. "I apologize," he said, "I assumed you were a student."

Physics, he explained, was a science concerned with the nature of things, of energy. "It distinguishes itself from chemistry and biology because it includes the study of mechanics, heat, light, sound, magnetism, and the structure of what things are made of," Padraig added, and then asked curiously. "What is it exactly that you're needing help with?"