Today was already shaping up to be quite unlike her usual days. Which was fun, most times. But maybe not in this particular way, for this particular reason.

Livia was sitting in a corner at the Scoville library and it was the end of the month. The weekend in fact. So, why am I at the library? The coffee shop has Wi-fi too. Oh right, I'm broke and got caught using an old mug and sitting down once already.

She hadn’t really been back here regularly since she was young and first found a book about a boy who met a hat that told him he belonged in a house of heroes; and she got hooked onto fantasy and never looked back.

Now Livia had another birthday coming up, which meant another year of compromises.

A feeling sort of like they ground you down over the years had been hanging over her lately.

Studying everything makes sense the first five or six years, but for how long did they expect you to keep your grades up without the chance to follow your passion, or was it all meant to just work out later, when you knew what you were doing; as long as you got some support from home?

Not that Livia had a ‘professional’ passion, not really. That's why she was in business school. Her father actually told her early on that if she found herself in her twenties still one of those people searching, figuring out 'her thing' then go for business.

Whatever you end up doing, turn it into a business. Solid advice, I suppose.

Now, if only the courses managed to somehow avoid being drier than kindling… It became evident early on that the people teaching business usually didn't have a thriving one of their own to lead, that kept them too busy to teach business. Obvious with hindsight.

Not that I should really be one to judge, but you always hear how important an inspirational teacher is, gah. I suppose it’s my luck. In terms of having worked real jobs Livia still felt as fresh as a high schooler, despite having turned twenty last year.

Well, alright she did spend six months working here at the library, back when she just finished up high school and they needed a temp library assistant, but to be truthful it mostly felt like she came here to hang out and help out the people who got her into reading for a bit. She was familiar with their systems and the different sections, so it was a breeze really, even if she barely left the fiction section.

But again, it wasn’t like she still came here to hang out. She only got the job back then because the staff thought the kids would be impressed by someone with a tattoo who still reads a lot.

Livia has a tiny Pegasus on the back of her shoulder. Mighty impressive.

The point being that Livia had tons of stuff to do, usually. She was not some weirdo who spent all her days hanging out at the library, like she was today.

When she wasn’t in school she had a part time gig writing body texts, mainly fantasy, for mobile gaming companies usually, and she was the Dungeon Master of three different online DnD groups. She did a lot of running and had even recently picked up boxing with a friend.

But the thing she was actually passionate about, the thing she did as if addicted and was forced here to do now, was read fantasy.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

If only that was a job. She certainly treated it like one, which wasn't hard when what you loved to read was the kind of long book series that shot straight past a million words and kept going.

In recent years she’d even started getting into web serials and the like.

As a life-long reader, and now broke twenty year old, the ability to not wait nor necessarily pay for the next installment of her favorite characters was a sanity preserver in what felt like a world gone mad at times.

Most times.

So, why was Livia acting so desperate for Wi-fi?

Because she was out of data, and her internet broke down on her one day off, and her friends were all busy, all four of them.

She was at the library because she couldn’t wait a single hour for her internet to turn back on, because the finale of volume eight in the most epic story, a ten-million-word saga of unprecedented depth, was about to drop and Livia had more than five bets going on about what was about to go down.

Once it was published she would not willingly wait a single hour, nay even a minute, before digging in. In fact the pressing of the publish button should be no more than ten minutes off by now.

The staff here at the Scoville library all knew her of course, and the old building was undergoing some minor renovations, but Livia was used to ignoring outside sounds, so it was no bother to her.

”Livia, could you give me a hand please?” Cried Margaret, the senior librarian.

Some people went to shush her instinctively, but when they caught who it was making noise they all blanched and quickly looked back down.

Livia coughed to cover a smile, she loved to see it; this was a queen in her domain. She walked up to Margaret rather than take advantage and shout back. “Hello Margaret, what do you need?”

“Could you please be a dear and run upstairs to grab the hammer in my office for me?” She asked with effortless charm.

“Of course, I’ll be right back.” Livia had time to spare, and the only people working both had some issues with stairs. There was a small lift, but it took ages in comparison.

Once Livia found what she was looking for she swung the thing a few times and had to laugh. Wow, this is a big hammer, pretty damn sure I’ve never seen bigger in fact. This thing was really overkill for some nails, even if you could still use it with one hand, if you put in some proper effort.

When she got back down she had to ask. “Are you sure you’re good to use this thing?”

But the question just made Margaret laugh. “Of course, my husband gave it to me.” She emphasized the words by twirling the hammer twice. Alright, looks like I might have underestimated Ol’ Margaret.

That was when Livia finally got the notification she’d been waiting for. “Oh cra-, Margaret I really need to read this right now, please excuse me!”

The librarian looked at the running young lady fondly and then went to the back to check on her latest project.