Put back together

15. Found

Patton woke up early the next morning, but at least he woke up on his own, slowly and well rested.

Roman was still asleep and he decided not to wake him up.

Instead he got dressed and slipped out of the room.

The first few people were setting up breakfast. From what Patton assumed to be the kitchen the smell of freshly baked bread filled the air.

The familiarity of it made his chest ache.

He pushed the feeling away, forcing a smile onto his face.
He looked around and spotted Logan at the back of the room, reading.
The smile on his face grew as he made his way over to the librarian.

"Good morning," he said as he sat down across from Logan.

The other man looked up startled.

"Oh, Patton. Good morning. Did you sleep well?", Logan asked and pushed his glasses up.

"Yes, I did. How about you?"

"Fine."

"What are you reading?", he tried to catch a glimpse of the writing. It looked like Slyn but he of course had no idea what it said.

"It's one of the books about the ancient gods from downstairs. You most likely want to find what you are looking for as soon as possible, so I decided to continue looking for answers," he gave Patton a tight smile. "Prophecies can be very confusing, can't they?"

Patton smiled back at him.

"You're right. But the mage who made it was even more confusing! He kept using words and phrases that I didn't know and was just really unnerving."

That seemed to spark Logan's curiosity.

"You met a mage? A real actual mage? Who was affected by his magic? I have read about them but never actually seen one. They aren't allowed inside the library, after all."

"Well, yes. By 'affected by his magic' you mean that he went insane, right?

"It is usually referred to as 'magical induced madness' but there are theories about it. For example a famous writer named Emile Picani wrote that the 'madness' seems too similar from mage to mage. They understand eachother with no problem, tend to use the same words and phrases and talk about the same nonexistent people and events while insane people usually have vastly different people and events that their minds tell them are real. Plus insanity in general can be very different from person to person. Some are violent, some are convinced that they are haunted or cursed - I could go on. Therefore Picani suspects that mages are granted some sort of knowledge others simply don't have access to. Like how for example only fae know how to get to their hills or mers can feel where the next lake or river is. It is quite fascinating."

Patton starred at the other man ramble and couldn't help the fondness blooming in his chest. He still didn't want to have anything to do with mages but the way Logan talked about them, so full of passion and excitement, made him smile.

"Mer can feel where the next body of water is?", he asked, prompting Logan to keep talking.

"Yes! For years researchers have been trying to figure out how, but to this day there are only speculations. It seems to be some kind of instinct, integrated into them since birth. They can also-"

Logan didn't stop for a long time. He didn't stop when the bread was brought out, he didn't stop when he and Patton ate (only for short moments to chew and swallow) and he didn't stop when Roman stumbled into the dining room looking like he had just fallen out of his bed and took a seat next to them.

And Patton just kept listing and smiling at him. He had never know any of the things Logan told him and doubted that he'd ever need to but he enjoyed it.

Only after Logan had finished explaining how Unicorns originally came to existence he noticed Roman's presence.

"I- Good morning. My apologies, I was rather distracted. I did not mean to ignore you", he rambled and pushed up his glasses.

Roman mumbled something along the lines of "it's fine" past the bread in his mouth and pointedly ignored the irritated look Logan gave him at the action.

Patton decided to change the topic.

"So, are we going to go back down today?", he asked.

Logan focused on him again: "Yes, that's the plan. Valerie won't be able to join us today as she has some other business to attend to. Would you like to stay up here and find something else to do as well?"

Patton thought for a moment then shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. I think I'll just pass the time with those darts again. I think I'm slowly getting better!", he smiled.

Maybe he was just imagining it but he could have sworn that the corners of Logan's mouth twitched upwards even just a little.

They took the same elevator down and again Patton couldn't help but feel uneasy at the thought of standing in a box that was being held up only by rope which might snap at any moment and let them fall through the entire mountain.
It reminded him of the bridges.

Once they stepped out, Logan lead them the the right niche and they settled back into what they had been doing the day before.

Patton had no idea how much time had passed (he only knew that he had managed to hit the middle of the target six times) when he heard something other that the flipping of pages and the occasional shuffle from the direction of the others.

"I think I got it!"

*throws world building at you*

I know it's a bit shorter than the others but for some reason I had trouble even getting it this long. I'll try to make the next one longer I promise.

As always feel free to comment, ask questions and roast me for spelling mistakes!

Have a nice (gay) day!