The libraries around Revaliir all hosted different books. The largest library tended to lay in the domains of the Gods. However, every once in a while there was a book that ended up in the library that she hadn’t read. There were rumors of a book on the herbal remedies that her former mentor had written long ago. 

Angela’s green eyes were focused on the bookshelves of the rather small library. It was small by no means but compared to her own it was but a puddle in a bigger pond. She was dressed in her usual green dress. In this weather it was uncommon but the sleeves were a dainty lace and the bodice was a soft silk lined with gold. Gold flowers came up the ends of the dress. Her red hair was left wild, it now reached her hips. It had taken a time to grow out after her little kick with death.

She used her finger to roam the spines of the books. She would know it when she saw it. Her mentor's name was Arriese and an uncommon one at that. “Let’s see if the rumors are true today.” It was a shame that the weather was snow filled. Though it was good for the crops. It meant that the ground would grow things better when it finally did melt. It was a note that she should check in with the desert towns, Mamlak, and Arri. Their winters didn’t follow the typical ones of the others. Even Laeto was always so warm.

Her fingertips stopped on a book she wasn’t searching for. “At this rate, I’ll be here all day if I keep finding books I like.” She pulled it off the shelf and opened it so she could flip through the pages.

It was such a drastic yet pleasant change, moving from the cold and crowded streets to a quiet and peaceful-seeming library. Oh, yes, libraries were always quite the joy for Claribel Blue, even if the only one she had seen in her short lifetime was the little one in her home village; that library made this one seem like a never-ending ocean of books.

The delicate woman tugged her cloak a little closer around her robed self and stepped for the first shelf she'd laid her soft blue eyes upon. She scanned the shelves with that knowledge-hungry look in her eyes, though there was a look of confusion as well–there were so many books in that library that she had no idea which to read first! 'Maybe a fine and fictional story? No, a guidebook! A guidebook on what, though? Animals? Spells?' Hopefully there was a guidebook somewhere that taught her how to pick a book to read.

Claribel rounded the corner, only to cover a gasp behind slender fingers and press her back against the bookshelf. There was someone else in there with her! She peeked around the corner to have a quick but proper look at her fellow library-goer; ah, another woman! She could rest a little easier tonight. The woman was a redhead, she saw, a pretty head of fire that fell down around the most beautiful dress she had ever seen in her life–no! She couldn't be caught staring!

The young woman pulled back around the corner, her heart still beating fast and her legs shaking after the sudden discovery of a second presence. Maybe the redheaded woman would know what books she ought to read? She nodded to herself, thinking it must be so, but she couldn't muster the courage to speak with her just yet. Instead, Claribel moved for another shelf so that she wouldn't be hovering creepily around the corner anymore. She puffed a hot breath into her chilly hands as she began to look again for a new book to read.

Ah! What was this? 'Arriese…' After some time spent searching, Claribel stood on her tip-toes to pick a book from a higher shelf, then settled back down to begin carefully leafing through the pages. This was a book on herbal remedies, was it not? Perhaps this would be her first read! Adventuring was going to be awfully dangerous if she had no knowledge of how to heal herself, after all, should she come to find injury or illness.

She was reading the book in her hand. It was actually a recipe book on how to make certain pies and other baked goods. If anything the goddess always needed new treats for her guests. She hummed softly and low to herself. Angela had felt eyes on her but when she looked up she couldn’t see who it was. There was only a girl in the store with her, so it had to be her.

Though it was the book in the girl’s hands that made her stop. She could smell the pages from there. Coming over she slowly dipped herself and read the spine of the book.  “So sorry to be intruding on you, my dear. I’ve been looking for that particular book. I didn’t actually think it would be here.” The book was bound in a deep blue fabric and it seemed to have golden letters on it. Quite fetching for something her mentor did. She looked at the words and chuckled a bit. “Do you know how to read Arriese? I wouldn’t mind sharing the knowledge in the book. I’m just particularly curious about its writer. The woman taught me everything she knows after all.”

She looked down at the recipes in the book. “You know if this person left her pies in just a little bit longer I bet they would turn out very, very well.” She mused aloud. “My name is Angela. I’m a healer among other talents.” The librarian scoffed at how humble Angela went about her business. She softly rolled her eyes. “Tell me… do you enjoy herbal remedies? I could impart some of my knowledge with you about what I know. It could take all day, though.”

Claribel closed the book after her leafing and opened it again to a random page to give it a read-over. Her blonde brows furrowed some in concentration, and her lips occasionally moved in the quietest of whispers and imitations of the words upon the page in her own attempt to memorize its contents. With the concentration as deep as it was, when Angela suddenly appear below in her dip, the smaller woman jumped and bit back a gasp as she was caught by surprise, instinctively pulling the book closer to her like it might offer her some sort of protection.

It took her a moment to shake from her second fright and process what was being said to her. Her tight grip on the book loosened as she spoke. "Ah, only a little bit–I can recognize the language just fine, but I didn't learn most of any of the words in this book," she said softly, her gaze drifting back down to the nearly foreign words etched into the book's pages. "I don't know if I could really make use of this when I can barely understand it, but it still seems a curious read..!" She gently shut the book and held it out in offering to Angela as she mentioned her interest in it.

Upon the redheaded woman's introduction, she perked up and said, "Oh, my name is Claribel! I'm just a magic girl looking for a little adventure and knowledge is all. It's nice to meet you, miss Angela. I.. know a few things about remedies, yes, but they're really only simple things. Crush up these flowers for a bruise, crush up those herbs for a cough, the like. But! If you wouldn't mind sharing, I'd love to learn a little something while I'm here; I'm sure it'll come of use one of these days! Adventuring is dangerous, after all–at least that's what my father always told me. Here I am, though! Well and alive, but I don't reckon that'll last for long if I keep going outside."

Angela was amused by the girl. She waved her hand in a gesture that meant she didn’t mean to scare her. “Please don’t be scared my child.” She smiled at her as she watched the grip loosen. “Well luckily for you I am from Arri so I can read it just well.” She smiled down at the words on the page and nodded to her. “It is. My mentor was serious about all things plants. She was phenomenal at her teaching skills. This was almost two hundred years ago and if I’m right this book was written way before then!”

She tilted her head and chuckled. “Just Angela will do my dear Claribel. That is how friends are made when you insist on being not too formal with everyone. Makes it so you are on the same level no matter your status.” She tilted her head and laughed. “That is a good way to describe herbal remedies.”

Angela lead her over to a table and sat down. She opened the book and stayed at it for a long while. “Adventuring is what you make it Claribel. People who say it’s dangerous just fear that you can’t take care of yourself. Go far and wide. Reach the highest cities to the most hidden cities. That’s what I tell my children. If you get in a jam just make sure you know how to take care of yourself. It’s never to late to learn magic or the sword. Whatever floats your boat, and I do hate boats, that is what I say.” She shivered at the word boat. “I’m not too fond of being off late you see. Absolutely terrified of it.”

She flipped the pages and smirked. “One of my favorites. It’s called Evening Time Salve. Sounds more like a tea you would drink to me if you left off the salve. It’s made from Night Lilies and Night Chrysanthemum. You find them in the night gardens of Arri or various dark, dark places. They are odd little flowers with dreadful smells but when you boil them they come to life with a wonderful odor from hitting the bees wax that you use for the salve. You put oils in there as well. They could be aromatic or just plain silly oil. I prefer the fancy oils myself.”

Claribel, with those wide blue-grey eyes, looked down at the book within her soft grip; was it truly over two-hundred years old? In her hands might have been something almost ancient, and, in that moment, she felt both just a little smaller and a little more special because of it. "That long ago? You must be very old, Angela!" she said, the choice words spilling out naturally but in the most awe-struck of ways. If her words were offensive at all, she didn't look to know it.

She followed after Angela as she was led to the table, her hands now free, though she paused and thought to herself for a moment. Perking up some, she pulled on a chair to scoot it closer to the woman and took a seat, that she might have a closer look at the book as well while the woman spoke and turn through her mentor's work.

Angela's words lit that adventurous flame within Claribel, blew on it gently yet in a powerful sort of way. Her fingers curled into calm yet determined fists as once more was her head filled with all the possibilities of things she might and would see on her journeys. "I do my best to prepared! Granted, I've not gone on so many adventures yet, but you can never be too prepared–always be ready for the unexpected, I tell myself, even if you can't think of what could possibly go wrong in any peaceful situation. With luck, however, things will not go wrong very often! With a little more hope, things will actually go your way! Oh, I'm so excited to go adventuring again!"

Her attentions were once more stolen by talk of one of the recipes within the book. "Evening Time Salve," she repeated slowly after her, committing it and what information she was told to memory. Night Lillies, Night Chrysanthemums, bees wax, boil.. However, there was one little thing that was missing from the mental tome, and so she asked, "What does it do, this Evening Time Salve?"