Arae sighs and pulls her homely honey-brown hair back in a bun. She brushes stray strands from her face and pulls the white robes of the Domini of the Library of Gettan over her gray housedress. She grabs her checklist and pulls on her slippers as she begins to prep her mind for the day's work ahead.
After deeming that her mind has been flexed, she brushes out stray creases in her robes and opens the door from the small cubicle that serves as her bedchamber. Her first duty is to find Ti'rok and relieve him of his duties so that he may rest easilly. Again, Arae sighs. Surely it would have made sense to assign the Domini with brighter colored robes than simply white!
Upon inquiring of one of the Sub-Domini who were busilly shelving books nearby, she is pointed to Ti'rok. The squat, fat-handed, middle-aged man is discussing something avidly with a visitor. Approoaching diffidently, Arae shuffles up to them both.
"Ah! Arae! We were just discussing you. This man, here, is named Goloth. He is visiting from far away, and has expressed a distinct interest in smaller draconic creatures," Ti'rok explains, rising and nodding to her. "I leave him in your care. Do watch after him well, Mistress Arae."
"Of course, Master Ti'rok," Arae replies, half-bowing as the far older man waddles off to his own quarters. When he has gone, Arae turns to the traveller, Goloth. "Which small dragons, in particular, are you seeking, Master Goloth?" she inquires with the innocence of her youth. She has become, over the years here, painfully aware that, at seventeen, she is one of the youngest to ever become a Dominus, in charge of any section at all, let alone the small magical creatures section - one of the largest in the Library of Gettan.
"Just Goloth, if you would, please, Mistress Arae," the man replies, and his accent solidified the advice that he was indeed from afar. "And to be honost with you, I really do not know what type I seek. I was travelling, and somehow I found this egg," he further explains.
"And...?"
"And I'd like to know what sort of creature it is," Goloth replies, as if it would be obvious, which, of course, it should have been.
"Oh! Yes! Of course. My apologies!" Nodding, Arae smiles. "It would, of course, help if you could describe the egg, say exactly where you found it, and any other sort of trivial thing that may be of help."
"It's a smallish egg, about the size of my fist. It's dark purple, and it's pretty dense. I found it during one of my travels, but I can't quite recall where."
Arae considers this for a moment before pulling an excruciatingly thick book off the shelf. She seems as if her arms will fall off from lifting it, but they do not, and she wrestles it over to a large table. She thuds the gargantuan book onto the table and opens it, begining to flick through the pages. "Is there anything else? Any other sort of information will be very helpful to me, Goloth."
"Well, I, err... have it here with me, if you'd like to take a look?"
Arae beams but continues to flick through the book. "If you'll give me just a few minutes, I can narrow down this search to discover just which type of creature it is."
"But won't seeing the egg help?"
Arae turns and flattens herself against the edge of the table, blushing. "Well, yes, there is that."
Goloth rolls his eyes and pulls out a smallish, soft pouch, lined with fleece. He opens it and shakes out its contents: one slightly small, purple egg. He places it on the table next to the large text and returns to where he had been sitting.
Arae's eyes light up almost instantaneously. "Why didn't you tell me it was a necco egg?" she exclaims, taking the egg and holding it close to her with gentle hands.
Goloth blinks as Arae places the egg back on the table and finds the place for neccos in the huge text. She lifts it off the table with a little difficulty and drags it over to Goloth. She deposits the huge text on his lap and points to a picture of a small, greenish egg, the same size and shape as his purple one.
Goloth blinks and stares at the picture. "This is a necco egg, eh?"
Arae nods. "And this," she says, flicking the page, "is a fully grown necco." It depicts a weird bird-dragon-thing swooping down with bizarre patterns painted on its wings.
"Tides! That thing's creepy!" Goloth declares.
"What? Creepy?" Arae blinks as she returns to Goloth's side with the purple necco egg. "I think they're adorable!" She rubs the purple necco egg with her cheek and affixes Goloth with a curious stare. "How can you possibly think they're creepy?"
"Look at it! It's got huge talons and gigantic wings!"
Arae blinks at the book, her decision to defend the neccos dropped, if only for the moment. "Don't be ridiculous," she replies flatly. "They usually don't get to be any bigger than kittens. You do know what a kitten is, don't you? Baby cat?"
Goloth blinks. "Yes, I know what a kitten is!" he snarls.
"Oh! Good! I was afraid I would have to direct you to the small baby non-magical creature section."
"They're scary, too."
Arae nearly drops the egg. "How can kittens be scary?" she demands.
"Well, they have those things that stick out of their faces -"
"Whiskers?"
"Yeah! Them! And they have those little talon things -"
"Claws?"
"Geezuz, you're smart! Anyways, then, to top it all off, they've got fur!"
Arae blinks and returns the egg to Goloth's pouch and hands it to him. "I think you need some sleep, sir," she remarks casually as she struggles to shelve the very heavy text. She shuffles back over to him and drags him to his feet. She hands him the pouch and the necco egg and grabs him by the elbow to drag him to the overnight suites. "Why don't we continue this conversation in the morning, hmm? After you're rested, I'm sure you'll be far more sociable and bit less... err... paranoid."
"I'm not paranoid! A bit jumpy, but not paranoid!" Goloth protests, following her closely nonetheless.
"Right," Arae replies, drawing out the 'i' of the word. "Anyways, these quarters are free for you to use. Why not rest up to continue your journey tomorrow. In either case, the Domini and Sub-Domini are at your call. If something goes wrong, feel free to ask one of us. We're more than happy to help."
Goloth nods and enters the room, muttering something about insomnia. Arae sighs, finally glad to have taken care of that. Still, she is elated. She had seriously thought that neccos were merely myths. One had not been spotted around here for ages. Nonetheless, her views on the rarity of neccos in her world had been frowned upon, especially after she became one of the three Domini of the magical creature section of the Library of Gettan. Even before becoming a Dominus, when she had been merely a Sub-Dominus of the small magical creature section, her view had been thought absurd. Now, it had just been proved wrong, and Arae is ecstatic. She had always wanted to see a necco in real life, and a necco egg is just as good!
The end of her shift is fast-approaching, and Arae would like nothing more than to hit the proverbial hey, but more and more little, smallish problems keep cropping up to delay that. Really they do not delay anything, because she still has about an hour left to work her twenty-four hour shift, but usually not this many things go wrong. To make it all worse, a new Sub-Domini has been appointed under her care. He pretends like he knows what he is doing, but really has absolutely no clue, and his infernal pride keeps him from asking for help.
Sighing, Arae goes along behind him and takes out all the books he has misshelved. "Someone has to teach him," she groans, her eyes starting to feel a bit heavy. She would take some Hya'to to wake her up, but in only an hour, she will be able to go to sleep. She does not want to take Hya'to an hour before sleep, or she will be wide awake, if only artificially, for the next five hours. That is no good for her massive need for sleep.
Suddenly a fantastically loud scream echoes through the library, coming from Arae's section of overnight suites. Groaning, she takes the books she has unshelved and scurries with renewed vigor over to where the new Sub-Dominus is shelving manically. Being bad with names in general, Arae simply presses them against them and says in her mildly mousey voice, "Be a dear and shelve these books the right way for me, won't you?"
The boy simply looks at her. "What?"
"Properly shelve these books for me," she repeats, her tone a bit louder and harder.
The boy blinks. "Come again?"
Arae glares at her. "You. Books. Properly. Shelve!" she practically shouts.
Not waiting around to find out if he heard her properly this time or not, Arae shoves the stack onto the boy and resumes her shuffling steps towards from where the screaming is coming. It doesn't take her long to figure out that it comes from the room of Goloth. She groans and rolls her eyes before flinging open the door.
"Mister Goloth!" she exclaims, bustling into the room and using a firmer hand than she thought to shut his gaping jaw. "What the devil is the matter?" she demands.
Goloth removes her hand from his mouth and blinks, pointing to the pouch with his necco egg in it. "It ... I ... Err..." was all he could manage.
Arae sighs and takes the egg from the pouch. "If you're really that upset about the necco, I'll keep it. You're obviously not in a fit enough humor to brave the perils of raising a tiny dragon."
Goloth works his jaws a little before realizing he can't make himself speak. Instead of trying, he simply nods. He rolls out of the bed and begins muttering insanity.
Arae shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "I bid you farewell, then, of course." She leaves the room, tucks the necco egg neatly in her pocket, and closes the door behind her.
She bustles back to work, making sure everything is in proper condition for when Remalt, the third Dominus, takes over for her in an hour. She double-checks the bookshelves, scanning for any that may possibly be out of order. She switches a few of them around, envigorated by her aggrivation at the idiocy of some people.
"Mistress Arae," one of the Sub-Domini ventures. "Remalt is rising now. He should be out in a few minutes. Shouldn't you calm down and rest a little?"
Arae sighs. "I'll rest when my shift is completed. Until then, help me check these books and keep them in order."
"Yes, ma'am," the Sub-Dominus replies and begins checking the books on the shelf behind her.
Remalt came soon enough, and he relieved Arae. After her shift was officially over, she ran down to the first floor and ate some breakfast/lunch/supper, a bit from each meal of the day. Afterwards, she visited the showers and cleaned herself up nicely. Then, all relaxed finally, she retreated to her quarters and found the egg in her robe's pocket before tossing her clothing down the laundry chute.
She changed into her nightdress and collapsed onto her still-made bed, clasping the necco egg close to her. She stared up at the ceiling, still trying to relax. Now, she rolls off her bed and paces across the room to the smallish dresser she calls her own. It sits below the equally tiny sheet of buffered metal that serves as her mirror. She takes a smallish handkerchief from her dresser and crucnes it up into a little wad with an indentation in the center. She places the egg gently in the indentation so it does not roll away.
She pats it and yawns, stretching. She will have to access the ancient language section of the library tomorrow to make certain her Faidian is accurate. After all, that is the first thing neccos speak.
These thoughts in her head, she peals back the covers of her bed and collapses into it. She pulls them up to her chin, relishing in their warmth, despite the relative warmth of her room. She sighs, and quietly drifts off to sleep.
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