The Great Library was vast and beautiful. Paradox had never seen anything like it before. The pristine architecture was bordered by perfectly manicured landscaping. She approached the large building, her hooves clicking on the cobblestone and gravel walkway, and stopped in front of the large entry doors. The oak was tall and wide, built by exceptional carpenters. She smiled up at it, excitement bubbling inside of her. She slipped through the gap between the two doors and stepped inside.

The room she entered was large and long. Soft carpet lined the floor, with several tables and chairs throughout. Windows were everywhere, letting in light from outside. There were several balconies above her connected to the ground floor by spiral staircases. Rows upon rows of bookcases lined each side of the carpet, filled to the brim with books of varying sizes. There were many people in here and a constant sound of light murmurs and the turning of pages.

She looked in awe at the entirety of it all. Woah. She thought to herself, eyes bright as she took it all in. She stepped forward, inhaling the scent of parchment and the wood finisher, that kept the bookcases in perfect condition. Several people glanced at her curiously. Centaurs weren't as commonplace as they used to be, most wouldn't be caught dead in a library, much preferring their forest homes over human dwellings. But she wasn't an ordinary centaur, not anymore, not by a long shot. She had a thirst for knowledge and adventure that couldn't be satisfied by being surrounded by trees.

Paradox was getting used to being around humans on a more daily basis and didn't mind the stares. She walked confidently, her head higher than the human men by several inches. She stayed on the carpet, enjoying the feeling of the soft texture. A sparkle caught her eye and she turned to look at a striking blue lantern. She had never seen something like this and was immediately intrigued with it. She noticed that they were all over the room, providing light for the readers. One was hanging near her, by a book case. Cautiously, she stepped off the carpet and onto the wood, careful not to leave marks in the finish. 

She approached the blue light, tail flicking in curiousity. She stopped in front of it and looked at it from different angles. It looked like a normal lantern, but blue in color. She didn't smell anything odd about it. It must be a type of magic. Slowly she brought a hand up towards it, the light reflecting off her palm. She hesitated for a second, and then touched it with a finger. The blue magic snapped and sent a shock up her hand. She lurched back quickly, as if she had been bitten by a snake, pain going up her arm. She felt her hindquarters smack into the bookcase behind her and felt it tip. 

She twisted back around to face the bookcase. Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Frantically she grabbed at the shelving, trying to stop its descent. She let go and leaped back as it collided into the case directly behind it. There was a scream and people started running out of the line of bookcases. Books crashed to the ground as each bookcase hit the one behind it. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. The smashed to the floor like a set of dominos. 

Paradox stood still, ears dropping down to the back of head. With the bookcases down, she was clearly able to see the other side of the room. She felt the hundreds of eyes stare at her from the people on the ground and the balconies. The entire room was now silent, the only noise coming from a few pieces of paper, which had separated from their books as they fell to the ground. One word echoed inside her head, louder than the whole room. Crap.

It wasn’t often that he gave himself a true day off, but for so long his life had gone up and down, pulled in so many directions and he was emotionally exhausted to say the least. And even though he could summon any of his weapons to his side should the need arise, he was only allowing himself one blade to keep on his person. Presently it was sheathed safely into its spot on his back, crossing over his shoulder blades comfortably. Should the need arise it would take nothing more than a quick pull to have it at the ready, but he highly doubted such actions would be necessary in a library. Much less this library.

Some time had gone by since last he had conversed with Chae, and it was still strange to think of her as a deity. On the one hand he respected how she had hidden her place in the pantheon when first they had met, but on the other he knew what she was capable of. And all that he had seen her do had only been the very tip of the ice burg in her abilities. She was smart, she was precise, and she was ruthless: a deadly combination.

Her library was unlike any he had ever seen, not even during his years in training at the Shadoka School, though their lessons were more in experience and stored in the mind rather than put onto paper. It was as if every thought ever pondered was slipped onto a page and nestled into binding: all to be found here. He could spend the rest of his life amongst the shelves and knew he’d never read through all of them, not even a fraction.

And while he was pulled to the vast selection of magick and psionic tomes, he knew he’d slip too easily into work or training should he go that route. So instead he was trying his best to find a good work of fiction to fill his time. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had read merely for enjoyment and imagination. Hmm… Not wanting to think about if that fact was sad or amusing, he pulled down a particularly thick book.

Its spine was old, already cracked from use and affection and he ran his fingertips along the soft edges of the pages. He looked to his left, then to his right before opening the book and inhaling its scent. The smell of a book was unmatched; all of the effort, years, degrading of paper and ink, wrapped into one handheld package of nostalgia that he hadn’t even been there to experience for the first time. That’ll do. It’d be a start, and with how quick his eyes, mind, and fingers could move he’d probably have it fully read in an hour or two.

As he walked from the aisle to find a table he took note of the faintest sound of hooves. Strange, he couldn’t remember if transportation was allowed inside the library, but he was surprised to see that it was no mere steed but a woman. A centaur. He’d never actually encountered one in person before and he tried his best not to stare, thankful that she was a good distance from him. It wasn’t often that you’d see one outside of a wooded area and he pulled his eyes away from her and continued over to a table. She was a person, not a spectacle.

When he opened the book he was surprised and yet not to see that it was written in another language. The characters were that of the common tongue, but nowhere near the same language. No matter, the root was able to be obtained and it would be a nice work out for the mind to try and decipher through. As he was making it to the second paragraph he heard the first crash.

His green eyes flashed to red and his hand raised to pull his blade before he realized what had happened: each book case was slowly falling, tumbling into the one behind it, all starting at the woman who had come in. His mouth slowly opened in surprise and shock and he was left only to watch as they came crashing down. All of the atrium had gone silent and he followed the line of fallen shelves back to the young woman centaur. Oh that look of humiliation was unavoidable…

Before a fuss could be made, he gently closed his book and moved up from his seat, leaving the novel on the table. His steps were light but his pace was brisk as he made his way towards her, ignoring any looks he may have gotten for being so outwardly casual about what had just happened. A gentle smile spread on his lips and his eyes softened, returning to their emerald hue, "This must be your first time…It can be hard getting your bearings." The only thing worse than being different was being made to feel like an outcast, and he didn’t want that to happen.

His voice quieted down even more, keeping a soft timbre as he looked to the fallen line of bookcases, "Nothing that can’t be cleaned up…" He gently rose up his hand, slowly curling his fingers and keeping his eyes focused on the cases, watching as they slowly righted themselves once more. It took a great pull of his energy to do so, but his focus was steadfast. Despite this, he spoke back to her, though his eyes stayed forward to watch them as they rose, gently lifting the books in the same way to replace them onto their respective shelves, "If you don’t mind me asking, what brings you here…?"

Paradox was still standing there when she saw a young man quickly walk up to her. Here comes the lecture and the invitation to leave. She thought. The man did the complete opposite of what she was expecting, however. He looked at her with a smile, there was no intimidation in his eyes. He spoke to her, his voice soft, lacking in the malice she prepared herself for. She watched him raise his hand and she stepped back as he started a spell to right the bookcases. 

There were several dull creaks as the empty frames were magically made to stand upright again. Along with the frames, the books were picked up, spliced back together if needed, reordered, and placed back onto the shelves. What would have taken hours of work and dozens of people was accomplished by this young sorcerer in mere seconds. She looked at him, a small smile on her face. "Thank you," she said gratefully. He started speaking to her again. Now that the worst was over, she turned to look at the young man, her grey eyes intent as she cocked her head to the side thoughtfully.

The man wasn't the tallest she'd met, but he wasn't a runt by far. No, not all man. She smelled something sharp and off about him. He wasn't completely human. He had a thick mass of long hair and stunning green eyes. She noticed a sword on his back and she flicked an ear back briefly. "I heard this was an amazing place to visit," she replied. "And it is. There's so much knowledge and information stored within this building. It simply astounds me."

When everything was back in its proper place he rested his hand back at his side.  His fingers slowly curled in and out, releasing all tension that had stored from the build up of energy.  It wasn’t too much this time, luckily he was used to working out that part of his mind every day, but the urge to crack his knuckles was always lingering afterwards.  He held back the urge as he looked up at her, his smile widening, “Think nothing of it.  Everyone has an accident every once in a while.  I daresay it happens to the best of us.”

 

He looked out as she spoke about the library and he nodded his head in agreement, “There is.  This is but one part of the library, have you been to the other areas yet?”   He tiled his head back slightly to look up at her, unaccustomed to having to look up to someone that advanced him so much in height.  He wasn’t a giant by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn’t every day he found someone so much taller.  With how drooped her ears had previously been it was an adorable contrast to her stature.

 

“The North Wing is my personal favorite.  In fact with the novel I’d chosen for myself to read, I might end up needing to make a stop there.”   He thought back to the foreign words on the time worn pages and knew that people there would be able to decipher them easily.  That took out some of the challenge, but he also loved to watch them work and loved to learn what he could just from being near.

 

“What brings you here today…?” His eyebrows gently rose, keeping his eyes up on her and hoping that she was more eased now that everything had been righted.  The quiet sounds of the Atrium started back up; turning pages, careful footsteps, chairs being pulled out from under tables.  It was so constant but so light and calming at the same time.

Paradox listened to the young magician, and was glad to see the smile only growing on his face as he talked with her, not shrinking away. She felt herself grinning back at him. The North Wing was his favorite. She wanted to see it. She wanted to see all of the library. She turned and watched the people around them go back to their reading, chairs scuffing lightly across the floors and books being placed on the tables. Soon she heard the light flutter of pages turning again and the Atrium soon appeared as if there was never a disturbance. 

Looking back at the sorcerer, ears forward and a smug look on her face. "I'll make it a note to not mess with the blue lanterns again," she said quietly. She flicked her tail back and forth, the end of the long braid brushing her hocks. She glanced up at the bookcases, still amazed that they were all put back together so fast. "Thank you again, for the help. That would have taken a much longer time to do by hand." She smirked and fiddled with her mane, redoing the braid. 

Once she was done, she threw it over her shoulder and clasped her hands in front of her waist. "Can you show me the North Wing?" She asked, curious and eager as a young student. "Can you show me all of the library? I'm really interested in seeing the rest of it. I've never been in a library before." She turned her head to the side and stared at his green eyes. She turned slightly and walked towards the stairs a few paces. She stopped and looked back at him expectantly. 

She walked forward towards the spiral staircase, hooves clicking on the wood floor. She grabbed the railing with her hand and lifted a hoof onto the step. It held so she continued upward. However, the next spiral was too low for her head and her body wasn't flexible enough for the tight spiral. She ducked low, yet still hit her head several times. She accidently put a hind foot through the railing a the bottom of the stairs as she tried to twist out of the stairway. She hissed under her breath as she hit her head yet again before she could back her way out. She pinned her ears back and walked back to the sorcerer, slightly annoyed. "I'll meet you up there," she huffed. She turned and walked down the side of the balcony.

His eyes softened as he watched her, wondering briefly what it would be like to look at something with such fresh eyes. True that there were things he learned every day, some good and some bad, but it was times like this that he realized how much he took certain things for granted. And it was at that moment that he realized she was alone. Well, of course she was alone: another centaur would have been more than easy enough to spot, but he hadn't thought about it. That very fact made him wonder about the nature of her visit…as he'd thought before, it wasn't usual for their kind to come to places such as this. Those were a few questions to save for later should they come up, he wasn't one to pry and didn't want to make her uncomfortable.


His eyes widened and his lips parted, thinking about taking someone throughout this entire place. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he did wonder about her safety with some of the different areas. While most were accommodating for many different types, it could prove to be difficult for someone with her…situation. That very notion was what had him nodding his head: he knew he'd worry about her the rest of the afternoon otherwise, aside from that though he just really wanted to help, "That would be fine, just be sure to keep your hands close to yourself in some of the areas."


As he watched her at the staircase he winced, shrinking down a little with each bump of her head and moved forward quickly when she made it back down. Yes, he'd definitely help her maneuver through the library. Rather than go up the stairs he walked alongside her, mulling an idea over in his head and deciding it couldn't hurt to offer, "If you trust me, I can get you up to the second floor with no physical hassle…" His eyebrows rose and his lips pulled in as he looked up at her, "I would teleport us from here to there, I've seen the second floor enough times to have it properly in my head."

Paradox walked along the balcony, eyeing the shelves and bookcases around her. The balcony overhung considerably over the Atrium, and it wasn't that far above her. She stared at it while she went. She was glad that the sorcerer would take her to see the rest of library. She was eager to discover the secrets that were hidden in its walls. A small smile broke on her face, even after she rubbed the bruises on the top of her head with a hand. She would live.

It wasn't long before she heard quick footsteps walk up behind her and flicked an ear back. The magician was following her? Why didn't he just take the steps. She'd be up there in a minute, she just had to find a way how, that was all. Now that she knew for sure the steps were no longer an option. She glanced at him when the magician came into view. "I have some advice for you," she said, still looking at the shelving. "When you come up behind a horse or a centaur, I strongly urge you to say something. Our only blind spot is directly behind us, and we have a nasty tendency to kick and then look when something comes from the rear. It's an instinct, but I just thought I'd warn you as I really do not want to hurt you on purpose."

She heard him speak to her and she stopped to look at him. Teleportation? She looked down at him, skeptical. "Thank you for the offer," she said turning away. She reared up on her hind legs, towering over him and looked again at the bookcases and the balcony. "But I believe I can manage." She dropped back down and trotted up towards the bookcases. She placed her forehooves onto a low display case and leaped up onto the top of the bookcase. She balanced on the narrow top and trotted towards the edge. She ignored the individuals staring at her in moderate shock. She tensed her muscles and easily cleared the gap between the bookcase and the balcony.

With a clatter of hooves, she landed on the balcony, her hind feet missing the railing. She smiled down at the magician on the first floor. "Coming?" 

His head tilted to the side as she spoke, keeping his eyes up on hers but always with that inquisitive look. As she spoke he smiled but only a little and shook his head, "Apologies, I’ll be sure not to make the same mistake again." While half of her was that of a horse, another was more humanoid and he had been focusing on that aspect of her more, not realizing that her instincts could be so close to other equine creatures. No, he most certainly did not want to suffer an injury from such powerful legs, thankfully his reflexes were usually fast enough given the prey he usually hunted.


All he could do was watch with slowly parting lips as she leapt up and ran along the book shelves, tensing only when she had to make her final jump onto the balcony. His eyes widened and moved to the other patrons, smiling nervously. This wasn’t exactly normal for a deity’s domain, but there was no harm to be done and he didn’t want another stirring of worry.
 

Her voice pulled him back to attention and he looked up at her from his stationary spot. He returned her smile with one of his own and flickered out of sight only to reappear next to her. Safely in front of her and out of kicking range as he was going to heed her warning, "Hard to follow an act like yours, I’ll remember that." A soft chuckle escaped from his lips as he nodded back towards the North Wing, "Come with me."


It wasn’t too far of a walk to get there and he looked up at her as they went, "So, if you don’t mind me asking, are you here by yourself today? What languages do you know?" The second part seemed a bit out of place, but after all they were going to the linguistics area. On top of that, he was also genuinely curious.

Paradox walked next to the young magician as they went towards the North Wing. He seemed amused by her antics and she smirked to herself. "With a form like mine, you have to think outside the box of what is normal to get around sometimes. Especially in these close quarters, human dwellings, ya gotta love em." She said jokingly as she followed him. He was easy to keep up with, her strides almost twice the length of a human's. 

She saw him look up at her and start talking. She flicked her ears forward, attentive and eager. "Aren't you just full of questions," she said, teasingly. "But yes, I am alone. I enjoy the company of myself, unlike others of my kind. They are rather loud and obnoxious, some of them I question whether they are half bull instead of horse, their skulls are so thick." She looked at the magician thoughtfully. "You can have dense beings in any species."

She continued walking while she considered his second question. "Languages," she said slowly. "I only know Common as a spoken language for people." She flicked an ear casually. "As for unspoken languages, I was taught several different forms of Aves by my herd Mothers, though I find them quite repetitive, and certain birds are notorious gossips. Mockingbirds and Crows are always talking about one thing or another, you never know what they are going to say and they always start rumors or repeat things at the worst time. Peacocks and the majority of other flashy birds are, as a general rule, egotistical, narcissistic and quite rude. Avoid getting into a conversation with an owl if at all possible, I'm convinced they are all deaf to some degree. They only answer in questions, mostly just saying, who?"

"Besides Aves, I'm pretty good with most kinds of Mammilia, though talking with rodents and smaller creatures hurt my ears. Their voices are very high pitched, only sometimes do large male hares and fox squirrels have a voice low enough that I can stand. Beavers have prominent lisps, I think because of their teeth getting in the way and I met a porcupine with a stutter once. Canines are very loud and Felines of any size have a slight whine in their voice. I'm only really fluent in Perissodactyls and Artiodactyls. Pretty much anything with four legs or wings I can usually understand."

She stopped behind the magician as they reached the North Wing. "It's the two leggers I have trouble understanding mostly."

He couldn’t help but be impressed by how much she knew at such a seemingly young age. Most people that more than likely doubled her age were not learned on such subjects. "That’s quite impressive. I’m surprised that this is your first venture into The Great Library." He continued to lead her until they came to the archway of the linguistics area. The smell of fresh ink and dusted paper filled his senses immediately, and the scratching sound of quill against parchment was calming.
 

As he walked down the steps he made sure to clear out of her way so that she could make her way down with comfort: it was only a step or two, but tripping still wasn’t pleasant, "Have you ever considered going to an academy?" Though places like that weren’t for everyone, she seemed to have a great thirst for knowledge and he could see her enjoying herself within such walls.


"Personally I’ve never gone, but much of my training was done at home." As well as other places that he wouldn’t mention, that information would have been more appropriate for meeting with a friend at least a second or third time. "I’ve never tried speaking with creatures of the forest before, to be honest I’d never really thought about it as another language." He tried to picture himself making the necessary vocal sounds to even be able to communicate properly.


"You know I might even look into that, though I highly doubt I’d be any good at it." He smiled and looked forward again, "This is my favorite area, I love linguistics, with how quick you seem to be in picking it up both written and spoken, I think you might like it here too. Though I’ll admit it’s not as physical as some of the other areas."