Cinnamon Bun

Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty-Six - Broccoli Bunch and the Search for the Public Library

"I think I'm gonna miss Booksie," I said. I was back in the dining room of the Beaver sitting down on the seat that had become, through repeated use, 'my' seat. Not that I'd mind taking another, but everyone seemed to go back to the same seats at mealtimes. Weird how we did that.

"We'll see her again soon enough," Amaryllis said. She paused to look at me, then at the thing in the centre of the dining room table. It was the clockwork timer that Rainnewt had sent. We didn't really have a place for it, and having it in full view was probably smart. "Are you planning to spend the rest of the day wallowing or did you have other things in mind?"

"Hmm?" I wondered as I let my head fall onto the table. "Maybe just a bit of wallowing. But I'll do some lolling about after, then maybe some moping? I might even do some indulging later."

"What will you indulge in?" Desiree asked as she stepped into the room.

"Self-pity?" I answered, uncertainly.

"How about you don't?" Amaryllis asked. "I recall you being in need of some training. You still haven't unlocked Mana Regeneration or Thick Skin. I'm full up on mana, if you want to practice dodging some more as well."

I looked up, my face partially hidden by my flopped ears, and tried to hit Amaryllis with my most pitiful, teary-eyed, sad bun look. It bounced off of her like an arrow ricocheting off a mountain. "I don't wanna train," I said.

"Were you not just going on about becoming stronger to Booksie not an hour ago?" Amaryllis asked.

"I meant... like, incidentally, while having fun? It's like getting stronger by playing games and running around with friends instead of going to the gym to train," I said.

She huffed a sort of 'you're very silly' kind of huff. "If you're not going to be productive in training, you can at least head out and do something else. Check out that library, maybe?"

"I like libraries," I said. "But can't we just have an at-home day? I think that rest and relaxation is very important for growth too. You need time to process things, you know? Let your brain calm down, lower your stress levels, and all that."

"Pft," Amaryllis said. "Sounds like the kind of hogwash you hear from lazy birds. None of that here, captain. If you want a break, you can have it once you're retired."

Then I'm retiring. Right now." I said, yawning. "I can come back out of retirement tomorrow." Amaryllis gave me a look. I shrank back a bit, then sighed and sat up straighter. "Okay, fine. I'm not sure I want to do more training just yet though."

"That's fine," Amaryllis said. "I'm hardly going to push you into doing something you don't wish to do. But have you considered not being a lazy bun?"

"Amaryllis!" I whined. "I'm not lazy."@@novelbin@@

"Oh? You're not?"

I stared at her. "A few months ago I only had the clothes on my back. Now I have an airship filled with cute friends, I have contacts across multiple kingdoms, I've fought my way through nine dungeons, leveled up twenty-five times, raised Cleaning to S, and I've helped a lot of people along the way."

Amaryllis pushed, frowned, then eyed me suspiciously. "Okay... that's a fair point. It's hard to argue that you may be lazy when you've accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. But that's no excuse to become lazy."

"Yes it is," I argued.

"Get out of the airship, Broccoli," Amaryllis said. "Go get some fresh air."

"Oh, fine," I said as I stood up. "I guess I'll go to the library. I was meaning to anyway."

"If you will have me," Desiree said. "I'll accompany you there as well. No doubt it will be educational. Furthermore, I've yet to master the local dialect, and wouldn't mind the practice."

I nodded. I wasn't about to say no to some company! "I'll ask around and see if anyone else wants to come," I said.

"Awen and I are going to the Exploration Guild," Amaryllis said. "So she's out. For that matter, so am I."

"Oh, okay," I said. "Want to meet me on the main deck in five?" I asked Desiree.

She nodded, and so I skipped off with a smile to put on something warmer. I wasn't gonna slip out with my breastplate on. A big chunk of metal like that was the opposite of warm, but I did have a nice sweater somewhere that could serve as armour against the cold!

Maybe I could bring some money along to buy a nice winter jacket? Oh! And a scarf! Scarves were comfy.

I found Calamity and Caprica chatting in the corridor and asked them if they wanted to come. Caprica said she couldn't. She had some paperwork to do for one thing or another, and wanted some time on her own in her room to take care of it, but Calamity said he had nothing better to do, and when I mentioned scarf shopping, he grinned and said he was in.

And so, about ten minutes later, with the three of us bundled up as best we could under the circumstances, Desiree, Calamity and I stepped off the Beaver to explore some of Port Royal.

"So," I said as we walked down the busy docks.A few light flurries gusted around us. The roads weren't covered in snow, but there were a few piles off to the side where the snow from the last few days had been piled up and left to melt. It was just a bit below freezing at the moment.

"So what?" Calamity asked.

"Well, I was wondering, where's the library anyway?"

Desiree raised a hand to cover her giggles. "Do you mean to say that we've departed from the vessel with no clear idea of our destined destination?"

"I mean, I know it's in Port Royal," I said. "I figure that if none of us know, we can always just ask someone." I gestured to the dock workers moving about. We were just a bit past noon, so people seemed to be coming back from their midday meals. I saw some food vendors looking like they were taking care of their last few customers before packing up for the day as well.

"Nyeah, that might be the best idea," Calamity said. "I don't rightly know where to begin looking for a library, though I'm guessing it'll be in the nicer parts of the city."

"I guess. But libraries should be spread out a little. Everyone should get to have one."

"Indeed. Sharing knowledge is a good way to foster civilized behaviour," Desiree said with a serious nod. "However, I believe that the library Miss Booksie... hmm, what is her proper name now?"

"You know, I never thought to ask," I said. "Do dragons even have family names?"

"Curious," Desiree said. "In any case, Miss Booksie suggested a singular library, so I suspect that there may only be one central repository in Port Royal. Mayhaps we'll find it by searching, or we may take the easier route and question someone along the way."

That's exactly what we ended up doing. We slipped out of the docks and headed towards the inner city. Port Royal had all of these big walls and gates inside the city itself, with various parts cut off from each other. The guards were usually a little rude about who could go where. The noble quarter to the north was hard to enter for normal people, for example.

Still, we didn't even get questioned as we moved into the merchant's quarter. Perhaps we were recognized, or the guards saw the Exploration Guild pins on our clothes, or a group consisting of a bun, a catboy, and a two-tailed fox person was strange enough that they figured we probably had business in the area.

I ended up stopping some nice-looking grenoil ladies on the road to ask them where the library was, and they gave us directions that lead up and deeper into the city.

It wasn't exactly the noble quarter, but it was quite close.

The library was a stately building, all carved stones and pretty arches. There were several huge windows at the front to let light in. It wasn't as big as some of the other libraries I'd seen, but it seemed welcoming enough.

"Do you think they'd let us borrow something?" Calamity asked. "Or are we gonna have to pay?"

"Some libraries lend books for free at home, but most charge a small security deposit," Desiree said with a knowing smile. "Though I wouldn't be surprised if they have some rare tomes they guard jealously."

"Rare books, huh?" I said, my ears perking up. "Let's go see! And then, we buy some scarves. We can't forget that, it's important!"

***