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A New Beginning

Miss Librarian arrives at this new world, assuming it was inhabited by anyone at all. Her surprise is big when she realizes she’s not alone, as she meets a boy, Oleander, who offers her shelter at his place.

Kathrine Snow - Miss Librarian LexiDriftander - Oleander

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Kathrine Snow Three days of wandering. Three days filled with the sound of wind and the feel of grass or flowers or bark brushing though her hands. She had never traveled this long without a path before. She didn’t know why she kept going—nowhere seemed right yet, she supposed. But if felt so easy to go on, here. Her pack seemed lighter. She seemed to go farther, not to tire quite like she should. And so, with the sun before her and the rift marked behind, she pressed on.

She had reached another forest, now. Her hands slid over rough and smooth bark as she walked, slower than in the fields, towards the last light of the sun between the branches. She needed to prepare for the evening, soon. Aggressive creatures appeared at night. They had nearly cornered her that first evening, when she thought they were people. She knew better, now. They weren’t quiet—with their shuffling, lumbering steps and and the constant sounds they made—and they weren’t fast, but she still needed to find shelter, or to make some. It seemed so... effortless to dig into the ground for safety—carve herself out a place to rest.

The ground sloped upward until she reached the crest of a hill. Her hand reached out for one of the dark shafts, and her hand brushed... boards. Her brow furrowed. Despite the falling darkness, she traced the shape. Defiantly a building of some sort. Past the hill lay an open space. A space dotted with—little, unnatural lights. Regular shapes lay among them, the lights clustered around them.

The strangest sense of dread rose in her chest. Was this... a village? A town? This wasn’t supposed to be here—no one was supposed to be here. But it seemed very quiet for an inhabited town, even in the evening. She briefly considered turning back into the woods, but it was too late in the day for that. And the silence seemed so strange. Cautiously, she walked towards one of the patches of light.

Then she heard the shuffle of feet. She tensed, eyes darting towards the sound. But the sound didn’t come towards her, and it didn’t groan like the creatures did. Out in one of the patches of light, she saw the slightest sense of movement. If she strained, she heard the sound of loose earth.

She froze, uncertain.

“Hello?”

LexiDriftander Oleander hefted his bag of minerals higher on his shoulder and quickened his pace. With any luck, he could make it back to the castle with his mining rewards before dark. He was just about to pass Farmer Caltan's community farm when he heard a voice call out to him.

Startled, he carefully turned around to see who he was dealing with.

Oh. He didn't recognize her. He'd grown rather used to this world throwing new people at him, but it didn't make it any less unnerving. Now, who was she supposed to be?

He cleared his throat. "Uh. Hello."

Kathrine Snow The librarian blinked.

“This—is a town. You’re town?” She asked. She hoped the consternation she felt didn’t show in her face.

LexiDriftander "I guess." Oleander shrugged. "A few people live here, in some of the houses. There's a Wayhouse up ahead here, and I live on the mountain beyond."

His gaze flickered to the setting sun. "You need somewhere to, uh, stay for the night?"

Kathrine Snow She understood him. The librarian stood there for a long moment, a nest of unpleasant feelings pulling at her heart. She would have to go back to the rift, then. Start from scratch, search in another place. That wasn’t a bad thing. It really wasn’t. The hostile creatures here would make it very hard to work. She hoped he didn’t try to stop her—didn’t recognize her...

With a deep breath, she shoved those feeling down. Now, it was night, and those creatures would be out soon.

“Yes,” She said. “I would appreciate that.”

LexiDriftander Oleander nodded. “Okay. It’s, uh. This way.” He took off in the direction of the Wayhouse. “I think we’ll have time to make it up to the tower. It’s...on top of the mountain. Is that okay?”

He pivoted on his heel to look at her. A test. How far would she be willing to follow him?

Kathrine Snow Her eyes swung around the clearing, for the good it did her. She supposed some of the deeper shadows in the sky could be mountains, but she couldn’t tell against the dark sky.

“Of course,” she said, without moving forward to join him.

LexiDriftander Oleander waited for a moment, until it was apparent she was waiting for her to make the first move.

Sure, whatever.

He continued on the path to the Wayhouse, veering a bit to the right toward the waterfall that would take them up to his home.

“So, did you come here for any particular reason? Or are you just as clueless as the rest of us?”

Kathrine Snow The librarian found the path and followed, gradually closing the distance between her and her companion. She couldn’t help but notice how distinctly young he sounded.

“I didn’t expect a town,” she answered, carefully. “I came to chart and search uninhabited territory. It seems I was mistaken.”

LexiDriftander “It was uninhabited not too long ago,” Oleander mumbled. “I’ve been here for thirty-nine days. Before that, there was nothing here. That’s the Wayhouse,” he said as they passed it. He gestured vaguely in its direction.

Kathrine Snow The librarian glanced over at the shape in the dark, lights poking though what must have been windows, processing what she’d been told.

“Are there other settlements?”

LexiDriftander “Some moved farther away. There’s a witch that lives over that way.” He pointed in the opposite direction of the Wayhouse, toward Plum Pocket.

He paused a moment to glance back at her. “So really, you thought this place was supposed to be empty, or something?”

Kathrine Snow “Yes,” said the Librarian, and then stoped to consider more carefully “I didn’t expect any sort of settlement here. Now that I know otherwise, I don’t intent to intrude.”

LexiDriftander “People come and go,” Oleander sighed. “They don’t stay long.”

With a shrug, he continued toward the waterfall.

“It’s up this way. You’ve got to be careful though, there’s not much for support.” Without another word, Oleander stepped into the flow of water and propelled himself upward.

Kathrine Snow The Librarian watched as best as she could through the fading light, bewildered as Olli’s dark shape disappeared into the stream of water. After a good long moment, she plunged her hands into the falls, feeling for some sort of door in the stone beyond. The torrent poured down her arms, surprisingly warm, and then her shoulder and then down her side until she finally felt the stone wall beyond, solid.

She pulled back, half-soaked, confusion and dread taking hold of her. Where had he gone?

LexiDriftander Oleander, upon realizing she wasn't following, allowed the water to pull him back down to where she was standing.

"You've got to swim. Up. Can you swim?"

Kathrine Snow “...Yes. I can. But I’m not following your meaning.”

LexiDriftander "I know it doesn't make any sense," Oleander said. "But you can do that here. You've just got to..." He trailed off and fought for a way to explain it. "Just. Like you're swimming, just. Up."

Kathrine Snow The Librarian blinked, ears full of the roaring water and eyes full of the dark. Hesitantly, she stepped fully into the torrent, and did her her best to follow his instructions.

To her shock, she did rise up the waterfall. After a few false starts, she reached the top just behind her new companion, spluttering and gasping. She clutched at the dirt out of the stream, trying to pull herself out.

LexiDriftander Oleander tried to steady her as she emerged from the water. "Gotta poke your head out to breath. Sorry. Uh. Should have mentioned that." He lifted his head to the darkened sky. "My uh, well, it's not really a house... Anyway, it's this way." He led her toward the little cobblestone hut.

Kathrine Snow The Librarian started when he touched her, then forced herself to relax as he helped her re-find her footing on solid ground.

When he moved on, she followed over the uneven rocks and earth, feeling the way with her feet. The sound of his steps lured her forward, and then came the creak of a door and the wash of light. The Librarian stepped forward more confidently, with a clear place to go. Dripping, and starting to shiver, she squeezed into the little space.

LexiDriftander Oleander turned back around to find her shivering in the doorway. “Uh, here.” He gestured toward a bed he’d set up next to his furnace. “Sit here. Forgot it gets cold sometimes. I’ll, uh, cook some food. That’ll get you warm.”

He searched through a chest for some raw fish and shoved it and some coal into the furnace. Immediately, the small room lit up and warmth wafted around the bed.

Kathrine Snow The Librarian glanced over the chamber in the direction he had waved—to the patch of white against the gray and brown walls. She shuffled towards it to half-trip down two little stone stair, but recovered before she hit the floor. Carefully, she lowered herself onto the spongy surface and cloth—a bed, removing the bag from her shoulders and placing it against her leg.

“Thank you.”

LexiDriftander With a nod, Oleander straightened up and tugged at the cuffs of his sleeves. In the mildly uncomfortable silence that followed, he wracked his brain for pleasantries.

And then he remembered...

"Oh. I'm sorry. Uh, what's your name?"

Kathrine Snow “...You may call me the librarian,” she said softly, hands folded in her lap. “What may I call you?”

LexiDriftander "Hmm." The librarian. Originally, he'd pegged her more as a teacher. An educator of library sciences, perhaps.

A few blinks later, Oleander realized she'd asked him the same question. He wasn't used to people not knowing his name immediately upon meeting him. "Oleander. Is my name."

Kathrine Snow “It’s good to meet you, Oleander.”

The room fell into soft silence as Oleander hunched over the fire, the room filling with the smell of fish. Her eyes drifted over the cluttered shades of gray and brown across the space—a small chamber, one-roomed by what she could tell. She ran her hands from the blanket to the wall, feeling along the rough, stacked stones.

Despite her previous dread, he did not speak her language—the more she listened, the more sure she grew. She still understood him, and even more surprising, she responded in kind: though her mind formed her words in her home tongue, it was not her home tongue that left her mouth...

LexiDriftander "It's very good to meet you, too."

Oleander watched her, curiously, as she investigated his sparse living area with her hands. It...really wasn't the most hospitable, was it? He shifted on his feet, struggling to ask the right questions. If she was like the others, he'd see very little of her after today. But he felt she'd come to him to listen, and not to speak. He didn't want to waste his chance.

"Miss...Librarian. Do you think I'll ever make it out of here?"

Kathrine Snow The librarian’s thought de-railed at the question. There was something in his voice that she couldn’t quiet pin. A... softness, and almost a sureness—like he expected her to know.

“...What do you mean?” She asked, her hands retreating back to her lap, pulling gently with the fabric of her clothes.

LexiDriftander Oleander swallowed and gave each sleeve a quick tug. "I'm...just wondering how long it will last, is all. Thirty-nine days, that's...that's a long time."

Longer than he'd ever been out of the hospital, of that much he was certain.

Kathrine Snow The Librarian’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Do you... not want to be here?”

LexiDriftander Oleander pondered that for a moment. “Hmm. I don’t know. I’m trying not to get too attached. It’s only a matter of time before I leave it all behind, anyway.” He scuffed the toe of his boot on the floor.

“I always wonder how long it will last.”

Kathrine Snow The librarian sat in silence. It almost sounded like this boy had come though many worlds... She had read of people like that—who live BETWEEN more IN worlds, and the strange effects it could have. Had he come here on accident—stuck perpetually falling between pocket dimensions? He almost seemed to think this world would push him out. Would it do the same to her?

...Did that matter?

But she felt that she had asked enough questions.

“I can’t say that I know. I’m sorry,” she said, her tone soft.

LexiDriftander “It’s okay. I guess I really didn’t expect you to know, anyway.” Oleander shrugged and sat down on top of one of his storage chests. “So, uh, I suppose you can stay here as long as you like. Just...just, I’ll have to tell you the rules if you plan on building up here.”

Kathrine Snow “I... doubt I’ll stay,” said the Librarian carefully. “In the morning, I’ll take my leave.”

LexiDriftander "Where will you go?" Oleander asked. "Are you still searching for somewhere, um, uninhabited?"

Kathrine Snow Yes, that is my plan, flashed across the Librarian’s mind. But she didn’t say it. The faintest bit of doubt clouded her thoughts. He was not from her home, she was confidant of that, now. How many people lived in this place? If only a few, why shouldn’t she stay?

“I’m not certain. I’ll explore more of this place before I decide.”

LexiDriftander Oleander nodded. "Well, there's plenty of room to build a house if you'd like. There's, uh, a few people around. None that will bother you, though."

He narrowed his eyes slightly, still watching her. He'd been certain she'd come for a reason, but perhaps she wasn't here for his benefit. Still, she was nice to talk to. He wouldn't mind if she stayed close.

Kathrine Snow She nodded her head. The room lapsed back into silence. The Librarian’s eyes darted to the light of the grate as it spit, noticing how potent the smell of fish had grown.

LexiDriftander “Ah! Here,” Oleander eased some of the fish out of the furnace with a stick and into a ceramic bowl. “You’re probably hungry. Uh, I hope you like fish.” He offered the bowl to her. “Or, or you’re welcome to just sleep, if you’re not hungry.”

Kathrine Snow After a tremor of hesitation, the Librarian accepted the bowl.

“Thank you. I appreciate your kindness.” She slid off the bed and sat cross-legged on the floor.

They ate together in silence: though, unlike their walk to the waterfall, it didn’t feel so awkward anymore. When they had finished, Oleander took their dishes and set them near the fire. He directed the librarian back to the bed she had sat on, and with another moment of hesitation, she accepted, rolling under the layer of covers. With some shuffling, Oleander settled to, somewhere across the room. The lights never dimmed, but soon the Librarian heard the soft rise and fall of his breath.

Thoughts spun in her head—things he had said, the tangled-ness of her own plans, plans of what to do with the day ahead. As she drifted, old doubts fluttered up in her mind. Did she want to be totally alone? Go somewhere where the only human contact would come through the rift? Could she even travel back and forth without being pursued? For as long as she remembered, the idea going away had seemed so appealing. But would having a neighbor—another human in an otherwise empty world, ruin that? Nor did having another soul in this place require staying close. She could move out as far as she like and still know he existed here.

With a sigh, she dismissed her thoughts. She would search here more, see what else this place had to offer. Without that information, she shouldn’t bother considering hypothetical decision. She buried her face in the pillow, blocking out the light. And with uneasy thoughts still swirling in her head, she drifted off to sleep.

LexiDriftander The next morning, after a restless attempt at sleep, Oleander pushed himself to his feet. The Librarian was still asleep, but Oleander set to work putting more food on the fire for her when she woke up. Honestly, he was surprised to see she was still here, but, then again. He was still getting used to himself still being here.

"Forty days," he muttered under his breath. "Forty nights."

Kathrine Snow The librarian shifted at the noises he made, but didn’t rise. Outside, the mountain birds had started to sing, and the sunlight crept inside the hut around the corners of the door. Not far away, a skeleton clattered and hissed, burning in the sunlight.

LexiDriftander Oleander nibbled what little food he could stomach and drew his sword, prepared to slay whatever monsters might be lurking outside for him this morning. He'd been killed-- well, killed in the way dying worked here-- several times over by the horrendous green bombs.

It had been terrifying at first, the prospect of bombs walking around. He'd heard about the bombings in Michigan, about the children who'd been killed. He remembered begging his parents to let him stay home from school.

They'd claimed his fears were irrational, as always. So he went to school. Here, his fears were real.

Miss Librarian still hadn't awoken. He had work to do, and she looked peaceful, so he left her to sleep in his bed and emerged from his cobblestone hut.

No bombs today. Good.

Kathrine Snow The librarian shifted again at the sound of the door. Before too much longer, she too sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. She had lay there, listening, going back over the thoughts that had flocked her in the moments before sleep. The soft crackle if the fire filled the room, and streams of light streaked over the dull-colored space.

Carefully, she reached for the floor until she felt her bag and her shoes. Then she carefully made her way for the streaks of light she thought to be the door, feeling carefully for the steps she had missed the night before. The Librarian push out into the open air, completely missing the little bowl of food Olli had left for her.

LexiDriftander Oleander was several meters below her, working diligently on a walkway that led across the ridge of the mountain. He worked entirely with cobblestone, simply because Kaithol hadn't specified a material, and it was the easiest thing to find.

He stopped for a moment to wipe his brow and found he was running low on cobble. With an indifferent shrug, he turned back toward the entrance to the tower with his Curse Guide and began to ascend the ladder.

Outside his 'home base,' he met the Librarian's dull stare.

"Oh. Miss Librarian. Um, good morning."

Kathrine Snow “Good morning,” replied the Librarian, blinking in the light. She raised a hand to shield her eyes as they wandered from him across the tower and a half before her. “Thank you for your hospitality last night.”

LexiDriftander Oleander nodded. “Like I said, you’re more than welcome to stay.” He puffed out a sigh he couldn’t quite hold back. She’d already told him she wasn’t going to stay, but part of him wanted to hold onto her a little longer. He shifted on his feet and stared off into the sky. It felt so much closer, on top of the mountain. Like he could reach out and touch the clouds.

“Maybe I could...show you the rest of the castle? It’s, uh, it’s a work in progress, of course...”

Kathrine Snow Her eyes drifted out over the half-tours again. Slowly, her brow crumpled. What did he mean by “work in progress?” Hadn’t he... said he was alone up here? Curiosity got the better of her.

“Yes. I would like that.”

LexiDriftander The thinnest of smiles emerged on Oleander’s face. “Come on. The entrance is this way.”

He made his way down the staircase to the entrance of the small building he’d built. He watched carefully to make sure the Librarian did not trip, and then held the door open for her.

“There’s a ladder in the back...leads up to the, uh, the tower. The Curse Guide is up there, if you wanna read it.” Not that it would mean anything to her, but he liked to see people’s reactions to it. “Took me a couple tries to get the shape right,” he muttered. “Still not symmetrical. Dunno why it has to be.”

Kathrine Snow She followed him slowly, and then felt with her feet until she found the stairs. The Librarian’s eyebrows puckered at the the mention of the “curse guide.” Her mind kicked out against the idea instinctually, and the nature of these things made it impossible to ask her companion about the truth of any superstitions. But she knew enough about other worlds to question the wisdom of simply ignoring it. She should at least look.

But the train of thought retreated to the back of her mind at his next statement—his conformation. Her eyes drifted upward at tower stretching above her.

“You... built this?”

LexiDriftander "I...I did, yeah," Oleander said. "I know it's not that great. I'm still learning how this works. And it's...it's all cobble because, you know, it's the easiest thing to get."

He turned back to her and noticed she was having a bit of trouble getting around.

"Are you alright, Miss Librarian?"

Kathrine Snow “I am,” she said, and then her brow puckered again as she truly caught up with the question. “Why do you ask?”

LexiDriftander "Because. I." Oleander bit his lip and looked at her eyes, the eyes that weren't quite focused on anything. "Because, Miss Librarian, I'm wondering. Can you see alright?"

Well, he could have said that a million better ways. But it was out there.

"Just. Just wondering."

Kathrine Snow Ah. Of course.

“No, I cannot,” she replied simply. “I cannot see in any meaningful way.”

LexiDriftander Blind. Even though he'd guessed it, the fact still shook him. "I...I led you all the way up here, and I didn't...." He sighed. "I'm sorry."

He moved a little further into the room. She had to be able to at least see something, considering how she hadn't fallen off the mountain yet. "Can...can you see me at all, then?"

Kathrine Snow “I can see light and color. Movement.” Her eyes swept over him slowly. “I see that you wear blue, and your black hair, but that becomes difficult to distinguish with distance. But I am well adjusted, and manage on my own.”

LexiDriftander "Ah." Oleander couldn't muster up much more than that. She couldn't even see him. Something about that fact hit him deep, and he couldn't quite place it. A frown creased his features. She wouldn't be able to see that, either, would she? And she'd....reminded him so much of... But she couldn't even see him.

Kathrine Snow The Librarian sighed softly. An uncomfortable silence followed.

“You said you’ve been here... 39 days. You built all of this since then?” She asked. “On your own? How is that possible?”

LexiDriftander Oleander offered a shrug. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “That’s just how it is here. It’s easy to build. And he asks me to, so I do it.”

He leaned against one of the walls and sighed.

“Just...something to pass the time before I go back, I guess.”

Kathrine Snow The Librarian faltered at the sudden lethargy in his voice. Unsure of what else to do, she nodded slowly, and turned her mind back to the situation at hand. She had noticed the ease with which she could shape the ground, here. And if that easy extended to other materials as it seemed to do...

“Will you escort me though the rest of the tower?”

LexiDriftander Oleander nodded, though his mind soared high above the conversation. Silently, he led the Librarian through the rest of the room, down the ladder, and out onto the walkway. He stopped halfway across and gestured to the unfinished end, where he’d begun carving out part of the mountain.

“That’s where the next tower is going to go,” he muttered. “Uh. Yeah. That’s it.”

Kathrine Snow “You have done incredible work,” she said, and she meant it.

They stood there at the edge of the tower for a moment, the Librarian enjoying the breeze that blew in off the open cliff before. Below stretched waves on waves of textured greens and browns and—yellow. A massive, flat plane of yellow stretching out of sight.

She had taken in so much new information since her arrival here. It flooded her from every angle until she hardly knew how to process it all. And the more she thought, the more intrigued she grew with this place and what it had to offer. The ease with which she traveled, swam up waterfalls—what Oleander had done here on the mountain. Old ideas played at the edges of her mind: plans she had long abandoned as impossible.

“Thank you for your hospitably, and for showing me your work,” she said, turning once again to Oleander. But he seemed almost not to hear.

LexiDriftander "You have done incredible work."

What is that supposed to mean?

I did what I had to do.

Can she even see it?

Trailing his hand along the cobblestone wall, Oleander floated back toward his bunker.

Who is she?

Why did she come to talk to me?

Rung by rung, he ascended the tower's ladder, hands grasping at wood he couldn't quite feel.

She can't even see you.

He emerged from the tower building and trudged up the stairs to his cold, empty house.

She can't help you.

Wait, where did...?

Oleander stopped in front of his bunker's slatted door, hand inches from the handle. He spun around.

Beneath him, the unfinished walkway lay empty.

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