It was early morning, his grandfather and Neiran were still asleep, and even though he still wanted to rest a bit after a day like yesterday, he pushed himself out of the bed because this was the only time when he was free to do a bit of investigation. Tercius could not wait any more to get access to that book store and he knew just the person to question over it. Madam Maya.

So he sneaked out of the room and went to do his morning business outside first. After that and a morning shower with water so cold his small testicles became practically non-existent, he went to the back door of the kitchen and knocked.

"Come in! It’s open! Why did you take so long, I almost..." Maya stopped when she lifted her head and saw that he was not the person that was meant for. "Tercius, good morning. What made you get out of bed so early?" she said wiping her flour covered hands on her apron.

"Good morning to you too. I wanted to ask you something, that is the reason why I am up so early. I wonder if you know that book store down the road?" he asked in his most polite tone.

"Perdy’s place?" she must have seen that the name rang no bell. "The one with the large sign of an open book above it’s door." so she clarified.

"That one, yes." he answered.

"What do you want with a book store boy? Do you even know how to read?" she inquired. That took him aback. He did know how to read, but it was in a language no one here spoke let alone wrote. One more thing to learn. It seems that he had to answer a few questions before she gave him any answers. Well a trade it is then.

"Not yet, but I will soon learn. I was just curious." he answered.

"Hmm, good for you boy. Why didn’t you ask your grandfather this?" she got out another question in-between the pies she kept making so fast, you could mistake her for an assembly line.

"I will ask him, I just wanted to ask someone local first about the owner, and I figured an owner of an inn was more likely to have that information." he answered truthfully. After all he had no money to buy books, should his plan of convincing this Perdy to give him free access to the books fail. Only he wanted to do something on his own and this seemed harmless enough to do. I mean, what could go wrong in a book store?

"Are my ears failing me or did you just call me a gossip-woman, young man?Eh?" she looked up her gaze sharp and meaning business. What?! How did she come to that conclusion? And why can’t I get a single answer straight out of this woman? He had to calm the tension.

"No! No, no, no madam Maya I didn’t mean t...." he realised she was messing with him when she burst out laughing. She went on for a few moments, ignoring him completely.

"Ah I needed that. Sorry boy, but you better learn your lesson now. Be careful what you say, some may take offence. Now about Perdy, well he is a young man, recently moved to this town. No one knows much about him, he is of the sort like your grandfather. Keeps to himself and politely greets his neighbours. He never came here if that is why you asked me in the first place." she talked and rolled the dough at the same time never stopping either for more than a second.

"So I am afraid I can’t help you much there. I know he opens every day at 9am and closes at 5pm. Oh and the name. That is all I know. Now, grab a sweet roll from that pile over there child, it’s painful for my eyes to watch you sit there so skinny. One won’t help much, but it is a start." she pointed to the pile in question and he reflexively took one and started to eat. He didn’t think he was too skinny, in fact his body proportions were just fine.

He made the mistake of staying fat way past his teenage years and had to spend a lot of time to get rid of the fat later. And he always found physical exercise incredibly tedious, unlike some of his friends who seemed to thrive on the pain and misery of sore muscles working out hours in the gym, he much preferred walking and sometimes running. Swimming was also a favourite of his, but that was only a seasonal recreation for the past him, when the weather grew hot enough.

Maybe I should start running every day? Maybe even get a skill for it? He could just picture himself with a level 100 skill in running just appearing in a flash near an unwitting passer-by, literary scaring the shit out of them. Only he still had this reservation, the people here said it got harder and harder to get a new skill when you have over five or six of them and each next took months if not years.

But running sounded both extremely practical for in a lifesaving kind of way and a fun way to get into shape. I will have to talk to grandfather about this... If he truly had a limited number of skill to learn and it was true that the earlier you started in the childhood the better, then he had one more reason to get to that book shop. Knowledge waited for him there and he should go for it sooner rather than later.

"...u listening? Of course not. That doesn’t change for them no matter their age." Maya grumbled to herself.

"I am sorry I just got lost in thought." he apologised.

"Oh don’t worry about it honey, men will be men. If I am not mistaken I hear your grandfather approach. No one else has a stride that big coupled with weight for by poor floor to make a noise like that. Go, and take a few of those sweet rolls for those two. Tell your grandfather your lunch may be late, that awful man still hasn’t delivered my supplies..." he left her with a thank you and went into the common room where his grandfather and Neiran already found a table.

"There you are! I thought after a day like yesterday that you would sleep in." his grandfather said. Neiran at the side looked as tired as he was last night, barely lifting his head off the table to greet Tercius.

"I wanted to leave you two here today with Maya if she proves willing. Neiran could certainly use the rest. How about you?" inquired the elder.

"I feel fine but if you allow I will stay with Neiran. Also I have to ask you something grandfather, Did you see that book store down the street? Can I go there for an hour or two today, I found out they open around 9am." he better ask than face repercussions. Hmm, one more plus for getting a skill for running, then I could just get out of the way of the belt.

"But we still haven’t taught you how to read or write. Why do you want to go there?" a reasonable question from his grandfather.

"Now is the best time to start, besides I have some spare time while Neiran rests." he said pointing at the snoring boy next to them.

"It’s not something you can learn overnight Tercius, let alone in an afternoon. And besides I can teach you." Tercius gave his best puppy dog eyes impression. "Let me see with Maya, maybe something can be arranged. But I don’t want you going alone anywhere outside the inn, is that understood? Neiran doesn’t count." said grandfather when he caught him looking at the elders older student.

"All right, it’s a deal."

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***

His grandfather left for work and Maya bless her heart promised to take him. He figured right away that this was a good enough reason for the woman to snoop around this new shop and maybe find out something about it’s owner.

He left Neiran in their room to sleep after the boy had something to eat, promising to be back as soon as possible. Maya had left her daughter and her husband to watch over the inn, but that was how things usually run anyway, with Maya preparing meals while those two took on the roles of a manager, a maid, a bartender, fixer, hell whatever was needed and they knew how to do. On top of all that they had two energetic boys Neiran’s age that would not stop running. He honestly had a profound admiration for what they managed to do on a daily basis. If only those two children were left to him for 15 minutes he would lock them in a small room untill they calmed down or killed each other. Whatever worked. Now, because of him, they had another big responsibility on them and that earned him a few nasty glances.

The book store was a lot larger than the surrounding buildings,standing out a bit. They arrived a little after 9 to the sound of a door bell and found themselves on a raised area walled with metal railing, with two ways forward. The raised area was overlooking a large space made from the connection of the basement and the ground level, giving the whole room a cave like atmosphere. Stairs leading downward on the left and right side right out of the entrance. Down those stairs awaited them a floor filled with books. Books everywhere! And boy was it a sight to see. Each of the walls was covered with rows upon rows of the things, with only the windows left empty to let in some light. In the middle of the large space there were a couple of columns of books, beginning on the floor way up to the ceiling. He could see that behind the books a large stone column propped up the next floor, and his mind noticed something interesting. In this part of the city most of the structures were built with either wood or a mix of rock and wood, but this one was a solid piece of stone.

It looked like something his grandfather would build, so he filed this note for a later date. He continued observing from one shelf to the other and truly he could not understand a word.

"Is anyone inside?" asked Maya hoping to alert the owner. No one appeared. Tercius kept looking around, moving between the rows of books. Almost all of the books had a leather binding, some made of a harder kind of paper and a rare one here and there bound in something unknown to him. On a counter near a door to another room he found some scrolls stacked on a pile, the same way like a child would draw grapes, nice and orderly.

The windows had curtains, of a heavy kind, large enough to cover even a window that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, yet these here used maybe a third of that potential. Upon a few free spaces on the walls stood tapestries in the likeness of monsters, strange enough that you had to take a minute to figure out what was what. All of them striking a noble almost regal poses, as if they preened for a crowd. The pathways between the bookshelves were covered with carpets dark in colour, his feet sinking a bit with every step yet when he looked back no indentation was left behind.

It all left a very imposing feeling on him, so much so that multiple he wanted to turn back and go out. He persevered, exploring every corner and looking over any nook and cranny that he could see with his current modest height.

Yet something kept scratching his sense of wrongness, but he could not put a finger on it. Tercius kept walking until he came back to the door that they used to enter. He saw Maya standing in front of the counter, waiting for this mysterious new neighbour to show up. He was impressed by her willingness to wait with such calm, most people would find the whole situation weird by now.

His gaze went to the thing hanging above the patient woman and his breath stopped. There it was. The thing that kept nagging him.

A chandelier.

It gave away light allowing the center of the room that was shielded on all sides from direct sunlight a good enough substitute, you could barely see the difference.

There are no candles here... thought Tercius. It made sense that those flame hazards would be kept out of a book store, but what else was used to bring light to a dark room. Up until now he only saw candles and fireplaces as light sources. The chandelier was a large sleek thing, root like, made of some kind of metal with orbs that emitted light evenly distributed all over it's branches. Now looking back he saw smaller ones in between all the passages.

How blind can I be not to notice something like that? More importantly how does that thing work?

"Do you think he went out? Maybe we should return later." he said to the older woman. It felt wrong to make spend more time on this than absolutely necessary, he knew she was sorely needed.

"Nonsense my boy. I needed to get out of that kitchen and this is a fine way to spend some free time. It's been a while since I've read a good book. No time, you see, my inn requires my full attention. It gets exhausting sometimes, but I wouldn't change it for the world." she elaborated her reasoning. If she insisted they wait, he would not argue. After all, he wanted to do the same.

Well we need something to pass the time while we wait and we are standing in a room full of books...

Tercius started browsing looking for anything similar to a map or a picture book, something that had a visual component he could understand, his index finger brushed over the covers as he walked around.

"You know some of those are easily damaged. You should really stop doing that." a man’s voice said. Tercius startled looked around yet he didn't see anyone.

"I am sorry I was just looking for something." he said.

"Who are you speaking to Tercius?" Maya asked clearly confused. Did she not hear him?

"To me ma'am, I just asked him to stop scratching those books. They are very delicate." a man appeared behind Maya, startling both her and Tercius. Maya raised her hand on her chest, suppressing either a scream or a gasp. He had to give the older woman some credit, she recovered almost instantly.

"You scared me something fierce, young man." she said. He looked like he was in his late thirties maybe early forties, a pale skin not found around these parts. He had light blonde hair closely cropped, a short stubble growing along the yaw line and his roving light blue eyes kept going from Maya to Tercius, as if searching for something.

"That was not my intention ma'am, I do apologise. My name is Perdinar, but most just call me Perdy. How may I and my humble establishment be of assistance?" Perdinar said smoothly putting his hands behind his back. Tercius could swear that this man would have been a butler in his past life, he just had that vibe of barely contained irritation and snobbishness, in his mind a core tenant when they treated with anyone else than the mar or woman who employed them. At least that was how he imagined them.

Perdinar dressed in fashion that was completely different than what people used around here. A mixture of grey, black an white, sleek to his form, the lower part a pants of a sort, while the upper was something he had seen men in India wear. No wonder he screamed of butler.

"Ah yes, my name is Maya, I am the owner of the inn just down the street. This little man is Tercius, grandson of a friend of mine. He was the one that insisted we come here today." she said indicating to Tercius.

"Nice to meet you mister Perdinar." he said.

"A neighbour then and a fellow book enthusiast. What can I interest you in young Tercius? Some novel of a grand adventure? A mystery? Perhaps a romance?" Perdinar said his hand showing he direction to the shelves with those topics.

"Actually I wanted something that would help me learn to read and write. Something easy. " Tercius said.

"....Hmm let me think a bit... I don’t think I have anything here for that, but ... wait a bit I will be right back." the man said and went to that door at the back of the shop.

"He seems ... polite." said Maya when the door closed behind the man. Tercius kept looking around, this book shop being the most Earth like environment he encountered so far. In a minute Perdinar was back and carrying in his hands a cover-less mass of paper, the loud sound of shuffling paper only proof of the speed that this man walked with.

"Some scribbles from dictionaries, you have a sheet with all the letters, a few short stories. A good start for someone to learn. You don’t have to pay anything, this was just something I had lying around. If that is all I need to return to a task I was doing prior to your arrival." Perdinar offered the large heap to Tercius and he took it clutching it to his chest with both of his hands.

"Tercius go wait for be by the door, I want to get a book for myself. Go." Maya ordered making him feel like a shooed away cat.

"All right. Mister Perdinar thank you for this." he said raising the stack in his arms. As he was walking away form them he heard Maya say: "... You mentioned romance novels earlier?..."