"Looks like you're back to yourself then," Mala said, pulling up a chair beside Rabb at his tavern table. The Merry Hart was quiet this early in the day, most of the travelers either already having left or not yet arrived. The attached tavern was empty save for Rabb and Mala and the barkeep busy fussing with the kegs behind the counter. She wasn't drinking, but Rabb looked well into his cups, even at this early hour. "Are you okay, Rabb?"
"Fuckitall," he said, one word, slurred and followed with a low belch. "What's the point, Mala? Why even try?"
"That bad, huh?" she asked, resting her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry about the witchwoman, but it's not like we can just give up, right? What about Shai? What about your great quest?"
Rabb sighed, resting his forehead on the tabletop. "It's just...it's just so hard. Why do wizards gotta be like that? All high and mighty up in their towers, lookin' down on us small people, small like, like ants from up there."
"Well, it isn't like they haven't earned it, Rabb," Mala said. "They go to college for that sort of thing, yeah?"
"Pssh, college. What good's that done anyone, huh?"
"Well, there's the Barber Surgeons' Guild, and the Astromancers', and again, the wizards and the spells they use to keep us-" Rabb cut her off with a glare.
"Right, fine, well, you like 'em so much, you go marry one then, huh?" Rabb grumbled and finished off his tankard before resting his head back on the table and belching again. "Fuckin' wizards, I mean, fuck 'em all."
Mala frowned, then did something she had never done before. She slapped Rabb upside the head. Not hard, but firm enough to get his attention. "Rabb, you idiot. You're just drunk and feeling sorry for yourself. One bump in the road and you give up? That's not the Rabb I know." She stood in a huff. "Didn't even ask why I came by, did you? It's not like I don't have things I have to do in my day-to-day!"
Rabb stared in surprise at this new, angry Mala. He did not like it at all. "Mala, I-"
"I came here to tell you what I'd found, but now I think I'll just take it with me, if you're going to act like this sad little babe." She turned to leave but was stopped when Rabb grabbed her by the elbow and held her. Her heart leapt a bit, like it always did when Rabb touched her.
"Mala, I'm sorry. You're right. I'm acting like an idiot," Rabb said, thoroughly admonished. "What is it you brought me?"
Mala had to sigh and collect herself before she turned around. When she did, she was all smiles. "Well, you know how sometimes wizards will write down their spells?"
"Yeah, the grim...grim wards...something?" Rabb hazarded.
"Grimoire," she corrected him, but gently. "Well, I've been doing some asking around, and at the library it turns out they have a whole archive of 'em secreted away! I figure we can pop by there when we're free and have a look-see, find out what we can about any spells."
"Won't we need a wizard to cast them? I mean, aren't they magic?"
"That's the thing! These have to be kept under lock and key because they're inscribed so's anyone can use 'em! All you have to do is read 'em and bam, magic!" She was getting excited again.
"About the reading thing," Rabb said, blushing.
"What is it?"
"I, uh, never got around to learning how."
###
The local library was a low brick building, standing out against the wooden ones that surrounded it in the neighborhood. It had seen many renovations over the years, and if you looked closely, you could see the seams where new brick met old and didn't quite line up perfectly. This library was dedicated to the Duke and as such bore the royal seal over the doorway. Rabb didn't know heraldry from a halberd, but Mala always thought the stag on the shield looked a little cross-eyed, like the artist who painted it had some difficulty trying to capture the creature in a stylized brushstroke. However it came to be, the two entered the Duke Elphraim Library and were at once awash in the smell of old paper and ink.
Rabb, not one for proper schooling, had no nostalgic love for the smell, but Mala was entranced by it. No sooner had they cleared the doorway than memories of old stories flooded her mind, the smell of long nights in her room, reading by fleeting candlelight, lectures in the classroom and the ink-stained fingers that came from practicing her script, all of it rushed her and overwhelmed her and she had to stop for a moment, leaning on a display rack of local maps.
"Mala? You alright?" Rabb asked, looking around and looking lost in this place of books and learning.
