The Mountain Dancer

Chapter 33: Shaynike & Rekness

She found him near the top of the Grand Library, amid massive piles of dusty old books. The shelves nearby were bare, their contents now stacked high on tables and the floor. Rek was inspecting book spines with all the interest of one who might be told to count the bristles of a broom or the bricks on a wall.

It had been two whole days since he had been set free, and their schedules had only afforded them time to shard or see each other briefly in shared lectures.

Shay swooped in for a hug, which he returned with lackluster enthusiasm. All this manual sorting must be dragging him down, she thought.

“Looks like fun!” she said aloud, only half sarcastically.

“I can’t use Wayfaring or Skyhook at all to help. Gotta read the titles, and mark it, and rate it for how good it might be for Tutor Stoneworth’s lecture on...” Rek consulted a scrap of paper that was placed atop a nearby book, “...on the histories of enchanted artifacts.”

“You want to know what some of the most famous enchanted artifacts were?”

He gave her a look.

“Haha, fine, fine. I missed you, you know,” she moved a little closer, hoping for another embrace, or more.

“Yeah, it sucked. But! Well, I’ll tell you,” he lowered his voice, “after.”

He had kept the details of his adventure on the rooftop vague, even in his shards, apparently worried that someone might tap the mindtether and intercept them. Shaynike thought that idea was a little paranoid, but figured she’d humor him. Also, she wanted to hear it in person anyway. Once again she was thankful for her crazy schedule, as it left her with little time to be distracted by the suspense of it all.

But now that she was here, and now that they would soon have some private time together, she found she could not wait.

“Can’t you just whisper it to me? No one will think anything of it, c’mere.” She moved even closer and reached for his head so she could bring him near, but Rek flinched away, almost as she was going to slap him or something.

“After,” he said.

“What’s the matter with you?” she asked, but at that moment, Tutor Stoneworth emerged from behind one of the little paper and leather mountains.

“Hail, Shaynike!” she said. “Come to steal my book slave away, have you?”

“I haven’t seen him in a week, you know,” she replied, smiling.

“Ah, to be young and in love again.” Tutor Stoneworth draped a dramatic wrist over her eyes. “Alas, he is mine for the next, oh, half hour?”

“Yaaay,” said Rekness, rolling his eyes.

“If I can find you the most interesting book in this mess before then, can I have him early?”

“Unfair. You’ve probably read all of these. Also, where did you get that dress?”

“Very funny. And Lauresh and I crafted it.” This outfit was a new approach; a pale blue number with little buttons down the side (matched her eyes) and light brown flats that went with her hair. Stoneworth nodded and gave Rekness a thumbs up. He just kind of stared back at her.

“Did you break him?” Shay asked, and gave Rekness a little poke in the shoulder. That seemed to liven him up a bit: he grinned a little and stuck his tongue out at her.

“It is possible. The romanticism of sorting books by hand is truly lost on Pupil Locktree, I fear,” said Stoneworth. “Tell you what. Forget the interesting book. I won’t tell Minyel that I snuck away a half hour early if you don’t tell him that I did it to grab a wonderment and a drink.”