"Ah, there you are. I was about to...ouch..." Guardswoman Vara spoke as soon as she noticed the librarian and me, only to be cut off by an elbow jab from her colleague, Elira.

"I'm sorry, sir. She doesn't know how to speak quietly."

"Indeed, I have noticed. However, it would be rude of me not to admit that my tardiness is partly to blame. Apologies, but I had a conversation with this nice lady," he said, gesturing to me, smiling. "It has been a real pleasure, Miss Grey, and I shall look forward to seeing you again."

An obvious farewell and a polite suggestion that I could go while he tends to the two guardswomen.

"M-me, too, Mr. Sandoval," I stammered, wanting to head for the door, but to the librarian's confusion, instead of leaving, feeling that the two women weren't here to borrow some books, I gave them a wave. "H-hi."

"You know each other?"

"W-we met when I got into the city," I explained hastily, not wanting the two to say anything the old man didn't need to hear about me, like the fact that back then, I walked the streets basically naked.

"I see. So, maybe a story for next time," said the old librarian, stroking his beard. Then, likely finding it rude to pry further, he turned his attention back to the two guardswomen. "What can I do for you ladies? It's been over a year since Captain Rayden sent someone to look up information in the books. Or are you here privately, Miss Hakhe? If so, I regret to inform you that the book you are interested in has not yet arrived."

"N-no! No, that's not why I'm here. We're here for..."

"Hang on a minute. A book, Elira? I know you read, but... OH, fuck my tits! Your evening strolls! You lying bitch, I thought you were seeing someone, you know, to have fun with, but - you come here to read fucking books?"

"T-that is what you assumed, I just..."

"Yeah, right, it's my fault that my best friend didn't tell me the truth."

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react this way," Guardswoman Elira said, clenching her fists, barely holding the frustration shadowing her blue eyes out of her voice. "Please, Vara. Can we discuss this elsewhere?"

Apparently having no qualms about raising her voice in the library, the tall, auburn-haired guardswoman crossed her arms over her chest, giving her colleague a death stare, obviously pissed. A breath later, however, she huffed more hurt than angry: "Sure. But don't think I'm just gonna let it go. For tits' sake, I was happy that you finally found someone, El."

The blue-eyed guardswoman's cheeks flushed, upon which she covered her face with her hand and took a breath, giving both her colleague and the old librarian an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry that you had to hear that, Mr. Sandoval. If I knew..." she trailed off with a sigh.

"Well, I suppose knowing where the mistakes were made is what matters," the old librarian said, smiling warmly, his gaze falling on Guardswoman Vara. "To broaden your knowledge, young lady. Silence within my library and others, for that matter, is not solicited to annoy you but to keep you from annoying others while they read. It is highly galling when you are engrossed in the heat of the story written on the pages of a book or study a complex matter demanding your full focus, and someone's voice jolts you out of it. Now you know, and I expect you to act accordingly next time."

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"Sure, sure. Not that I'm planning on coming again. In fact, if they hadn't sent us here, I wouldn't be here at all," grunted the auburn-haired guardswoman, this time keeping her voice down.

"You will certainly not be the first or the last to do so. However, you've made me more curious about the reason for your visit. Captain Rayden is not the kind of person who would send someone with no appreciation for books to my library."

"Well, that's..."

"You're right, sir," Guardswoman Elira cut her colleague off before she could say anything else. "We were sent here for Grey."

'Shit! Just as I thought.' The question was why, though. Why did Rayden send for me, if the whole point of being a bait was to make me look as mundane as possible, and especially not to let the mind mages get a whiff of me working for the city guards?

"To arrest her?" Mr. Sandoval asked, no doubt wondering if I was a criminal. It hurt, not just a little. Nevertheless, I had to admit that taking me in for some made-up crime would make sense.

"No, sir," the blue-eyed guardswoman dismissed the librarian's concerns, much to my surprise and relief. "Just for questioning."

"Q-questioning?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Sorry, Grey, that's all I know."

"My guess is the mugging," Guardswoman Vara butted in, her disregard for the silence in the library back. "Something I want to hear more about, by the way. Clay was strangely tight-lipped about it."

'The city guard who speared me?' Well, no wonder. I wouldn't feel like talking about killing someone by accident, either.

"Don't worry, sir. She was the victim," the blue-eyed guardswoman quickly added to clarify for the librarian before a misunderstanding could arise. And for that, I was grateful.

"Ha, a victim? I heard that..."

"Vara!" Guardswoman Elira shouted in a whisper at her fellow guardswoman, again with a look of apology to the old librarian. "It happens all the time, sir. Stolen items are found, more things need to be cleared up, or just to see if the person in question has remembered more details."

"Thank you for the clarification, Miss Hakhe. You see, despite my age, I haven't had the experience of being mugged. Thank the emperor for that. Although my not very frequent trips to the city could be to blame," said the old librarian, obviously amused by his own words. However, seeing no one laughing, he cleared his throat and looked at me. "Well, I hope this doesn't disrupt your plans, Miss Grey. As it is, I won't keep you any longer. I wish you good luck in mastering Standard and will look forward to your next visit."

"Me too, Mr. Sandoval. I learned so much more than I came here for."

Seeing that we were finally done here, the tall auburn-haired guardswoman didn't hesitate to leave, almost as if she might catch something contagious from the wisdom stored in the books here. In contrast, apologizing once more for her colleague, her colleague Elira waited for me to exit before following me out.

"Tits!" Guardswoman Vara roared, stretching. "I feel like I've aged five years inside there."

"She doesn't like old places - or talking to old people."

The blue-eyed guardswoman's whispered clarification, however, did not escape her colleague. "Fuck you, El. I say you're the weird ones. Just imagine ending up like that old man one day... damn, it gives me the creeps."

"Then why are you slacking off on our daily practice? Or your job, for that matter?"

"Because there's no fucking point. As if I would ever reach the third array. Nah, better to enjoy the youth the second array gave me while I can, and when the time comes, I'll swap my weaves for ones that keep me from being all wrinkly, stinky, and pissing my pants."

'Third array? Youth?'

"The arrays will keep you from aging?" Without a doubt, a stupid question that slipped out of my mouth while a much more pressing one was burning in my mind. 'Where the bloody hell was Blaine?