Bard: Chapter 28

Laura moved through the library, pushing a cart. Mildred, one of the librarians, walked with her. As they passed along each shelf, replacing books that had been taken down for borrowing or studying, Mildred explained how they were organized, and how to find where things belonged. There were dozens of different collections and systems to be learned, and even after a few weeks of following the librarians and being shown the ropes, Laura felt like she had barely begun to understand them.

She still wore some of her knives, if only because she felt too light and vulnerable without them, but they were no longer necessary for her job. Not that they had been much use before. She’d only had to draw steel on a book thief once, and said thief had taken it as a sign to drop his own weapon and whimper about how he hadn’t really meant anything by it.

Regardless, being armed was better than being unarmed, in her experience.

“You’ll be going solo tomorrow,” Mildred commented as they moved amongst the shelves with their cart..

“Really?” Laura asked. “Already?”

“Already?” Mildred chuckled. “Yes, in the history section. You’re beyond ready.”

“This is all still very new.”

“It will become familiar,” Mildred said. “Especially once you’re working independently.”

“Right.” Laura double-checked her placement of a particularly narrow volume of old poems and picked up the next book.

The windows were open to let in the spring breeze. It was already getting warmer, and the days were sunny and bright. Even when it rained, the air felt light and fresh. Springtime in the south came much earlier than it did back home, and with a passion. Laura paused by the window for a moment, taking a deep breath and enjoying the sweet fragrance of the flowering trees outside. One in particular had erupted into a cloud of delicate pink petals just over the past few days.

“You’re fairly new to the city, right?” Mildred asked, catching Laura at the window.

“Yes,” Laura replied, quickly returning to the cart. “My family and I just moved here at the beginning of winter.”

“Where from?”

“Up north,” Laura said, shelving a hefty tome of song lyrics. “I’m from Cedar Rapids, originally.”

“Oh, you’ll love the summer here,” Mildred said. “It gets hot inland, but we keep the breeze all season so it’s delightfully mild, and the festivals are such fun!”

“There’s one soon isn’t there?”

“Of course!” Mildred grinned. “It’s the New Year soon.”

Laura nodded, though she still found it odd that people celebrated New Year in spring instead of at the winter solstice. It had something to do with the world waking up again, which she had to admit made a certain amount of sense, but it wasn’t what she was used to.

They reached the end of the row, and Mildred checked Laura’s work, nodding approvingly.

“Very nice,” she said. “I am glad you decided to stay with us.”

“I’m grateful for the new position,” Laura said.

“It’s not often someone gets a better offer and sticks around,” Mildred said. “We figured you might like something with a little more…room for development.”

“I’m liking it so far,” Laura said.

“Good.”

They made their rounds and Laura spent her break leaning over the railing of the upper floor, watching the people on the first floor milling about, and enjoying the quiet interior of the library. She could hear the hustle and bustle on the street outside the windows, and a few stray shouts.

Staying had been the right choice.

Right as she was getting ready to head back down and fetch a new cart, she caught sight of a uniform at the central desk. There was a city guard there, and Laura looked twice in case it was Liam. It wasn’t Liam though, it was Travis.

He chatted with the librarian at the desk for a bit, handed across a rectangular box with ribbon on it, and left.

Laura grinned. If that was for her, she would know who had sent the mysterious flowers. It would make sense too, why Liam seemed to know but wouldn’t say anything. If she were wrong, at least she’d have an adorable courtship to watch from the stands.

As she approached, Rhea, the librarian at the desk, waved her over.

“A young guard dropped something off for you,” she said, beaming.

“Did they?” Laura asked. She accepted the little box with the ribbon. It was from a chocolate shop. There was no note this time either, but that didn’t matter, she knew who had left them. Laura smiled softly at the box. “How kind.”

“He was very handsome,” Rhea added.

“Was he?” Laura asked. “Did he leave a name?”

“No, just said it was for you.” Rhea tapped her fingers on the desk. “Do you have any ideas?”

“I do now.”

Why hadn't she thought of him before? There weren’t many men she’d spoken to since moving to Everly, not beyond a cursory greeting. In hindsight he was the likeliest suspect the entire time.

He seemed nice enough. Liam got on with him, and he most definitely was handsome. She chewed her lip and fiddled with the ribbon on the box of chocolates, deciding what to do next.