The young mage said this eagerly, happily but politely taking the book from her hands. It was an important book to her… one a certain fellow mage had offered to her. She’s since used it as a reference… a means of learning to understand words better. With help from friends, of course.
“ It’s nice to meet you, Espella! I’m Nino! I’m from another village further away! ”
The young girl gently held out her hand for the other to shake. Maybe she was going rather fast, but… she could already feel she wanted to be on good terms with this girl. She was pretty, she seemed nice, and Nino did love making friends when she could.
“ Sorry about leaving that book there… I fell asleep while I was looking at it, and… I guess I forgot I left it there.
Reading is hard, after all…”
Nino's gratitude in her voice was evident, and Espella felt good to have helped.
"Well met, Nino." Espella took Nino's hand and shook it, not put off at all by the rapid greeting. She didn't meet many people from outside her village, as it was a fairly close-knit community. When she did venture out, it was to run errands for her family, and so she was often too quick to return to meet new people.
"No, no, I understand, accidents happen!"
Wait. "Reading is..." Espella stopped herself. She'd been fortunate enough to learn to read at a fairly young age, which was helped by the fact that her father was a scribe. She didn't often consider that others might not be so lucky.
"Ahh. It's a very useful skill, and the sorts of things one can read are very diverse. Are you still learning? I might be able to help, if you'd like..."