Knowing... is half the battle

[Metarie]

Ree just gave a little smile and shook her head slightly. She knew they were an army given the task of policing. It’d be no use to lecture them.

As Cam spoke, the slight smile remained. This was what she saw in him. He believed, with everything he was, in the Tomes. She respected him for it and loved him for it, too. Ree could tell he did not approve when she voiced her concerns regarding the corruptions affecting the city. She was not above the law and did not believe for one moment that if he were ordered to arrest her, he would refrain from doing so. This commitment to his duty spoke to the part of her that felt it was her duty to heal ills.

Ree nodded. He was right. No monsters from across the plain would reach them. But what about the monsters within their midst? What could they do about those? As if he heard her thoughts, Cam’s words cut through all the noise in her head.

“The people need to be reminded of that. They need to read the tomes.”

The tomes. Perhaps he was right. Certainly, there was a motive behind re-establishing Marn - perhaps not a utopia, but certainly enlightenment and a means to live without the damaging effects of magic on the human psyche. In the scheme of things, the number of inherent magic users were a minority.

A gentle smile curved her lips. She stood, moving to where he sat. “I want to show you something that I think you will appreciate.” Stepping back, she held out her hand to him to lead him across the room to her desk.

Cam followed gamely enough. Ree gestured to the desk chair and he sat, still quiet.

"My parents were among the first settlers. As a founding member of the University, my father's duty was to compile much of what we know of the Tomes. As a first settler, he and my mother both contributed to the contents within them. I'm sure you knew that, but what many do not get to see are one of the first printings of the tomes." Ree put her hand on Cam's opposite shoulder as she leaned over the desk to touch the six volumes with her fingers. Ree smiled at Cam, eyes shining with suppressed excitement, happy to share something with him she thought he would truly appreciate. She watched his expression intently, hoping for a glimmer of what he might be feeling.

[Camulous Smithson]

Camulous, intrigued by what she might have to show him related to the topic of the tomes, followed her with a politely inquisitive expression. He knew she had books on all sorts of things ranging from magic to the tomes. Actually, he suspected she had a few more books on magic than other people knew about. Surely nothing dangerous, but with her family history and the leniency afforded her by her professional need to use magic in her work surely suggested she had books few others dared to keep.

It was an early copy of the tomes - one of the first. He raised an eyebrow.

"These are before my time." He spoke while carefully approaching them, courteously making sure she didn't mind if he touched them. After a modicum of hesitation he withdrew the book he knew best, Law, and held it in his hands. It was weightier than his own copy. The paper must be thicker, he thought. "Even the copy we keep at Omenbryn isn't this old. You have a treasure in these books."

He flipped through the pages. They didn't feel any thicker than usual. Flip flip flip. His brow furrowed after only a few pages. He knew the book so well he didn't have to read anything to spot a difference. "This copy is unrevised. I've never seen one of these."

[Metarie]

Ree expected Cam to be a little reverent, perhaps even a little excited. Instead he seemed… concerned? Put off? She nodded at his comment. “The Book of Law is the one most commonly revised. Laws can be amended and changed.” Ree leaned against the desk, partially sitting on it, and crossed her arms. Resting her chin on the knuckles of her left hand, she looked off across the room and spoke in thought.

“My parents came to Marn to establish the University. Their contributions are mostly in the books of Knowledge and Wisdom. Father did have ideas about how people should be governed and the use of magic. He did not think those that are inherently magical could be as restricted in its use as humans. Research indicated that humans would become warped through its use. His reform ideas were to govern the use of magic and limit it to those who were better suited for it. A concept that was put into place.”

Ree smiled ruefully. “After all, what good are swords against a spell that can open the ground beneath ones feet? For almost 80 years the laws in that version served Marn. The economic reforms resulted in another revision. Though I’m sure you know that.” Ree slipped from the desk and moved to the bookshelf nearby. She pulled two more books from the shelf and placed them on the on the desk in front of Cam. At the mention of the economic reforms, she touched one of the books and slid it toward him.

“Father died before the anti-magic laws were enacted officially. Some of his more lenient ideas regarding inherently magical persons were not used.” She looked at Cam as she pushed the third volume slightly. It was possible she had missed publication of a more recent revision, but to her knowledge she had copies of them all.

[Camulous Smithson]

Once his attention was drawn in by the book he began to examine it more closely, flipping to sections he knew best and skimming them for details. Most of the copy was the same as what he was familiar with, but there were additional sections. Whole pages had been missing from the official copies. Noting the differences and barely listening while she was talking, he flipped to the end to get the final page number.

"There have been four official amendments to the Tomes since their first writing, of which I have a copy. We rewrite our civic statutes regularly but never the Tomes, and never has text been removed from any of them. This copy has thirty two pages worth of text that I have never seen before...

"If this was just another draft he made, why would he print it like this? Where did you get it? May I borrow them?"

For Camulous, it was like discovering a window into a history that defined who he was. Whatever the reason for the missing passages, he wanted to find out what they were and why they would have been removed.

[Metarie]

Ree realized after a moment or two that Cam had stopped listening to her and was intently studying the Tomes.

"I... it is a first printing. It is my Father's copy." She reached over him and flipped to front of the book. There was the family tree with her parent's names inscribed, followed by hers. Beside the names was noted the date the Sehkhara's had arrived in Marn and dates of birth. "I inherited it."

She was confused by his question. Father did not have that printed especially for himself. It was from the first run printing of the Tomes. So far as she knew, all the first families had copies.

"32 pages? So far as I know, this version is the version all the Descendants have." Ree looked at the copy he held in his hand. Well, that might explain why some of her views were slightly different from others... how odd. Ree had never thought to pickup another copy of the Tomes. The civil laws, yes, understanding the changes to the civil laws was important. She'd always thought it was her Elvishness that spawned the differences. In a way, she supposed it was.

Metarie was hesitant to let the books leave her home. "You want to take them?" She couldn't explain it, but the thought of losing the books made her feel anxious. She worried they would not come back. Not only was it a first printing, it was her father's.

"Perhaps you'd just like to copy down the passages on those 32-pages?" The question held a hint of hopefulness. She felt terrible that she was being so... stingy. She felt... base and ugly for not wanting to allow the Tomes to leave. But, she just had this feeling that nothing was ever going to be right again.

[Camulous Smithson]

Camulous let her flip to the front of the book to show him the inscriptions.

"Hm."

Countless books had been made illegal by the Marnian government. Most were books that the citizenry had never seen - books that expressed foreign opinions on the origins and nature of magic or its use, and a few pieces that were considered politically dangerous that the Judges had managed to get banned because there was little knowledge or objection from the populace. Old copies of the tomes, however, were cherished by everyone and no old copies could be made illegal. The could only be removed from circulation and ignored. Even if others possessed a similar copy as this, they weren't officially recognized and the owners might not even know about the differences.

"The library keeps only the official version. If there are others like this, I haven't seen them."

If they didn't keep a copy of it on public record, it was because someone didn't like what it said.

"I'll need to read through them to find the differences." He leafed through the book absently while he spoke. He found a passage near the end of the section on the guard itself that used different wording, but nothing in it stood out as significant. "It won't be as easy as finding a few pages..."

After finally pulling his eyes away from the book, he closed its pages and looked at her. His mind was elsewhere. "I'll need to bring my copies here and compare them, then. Tomorrow. If... that's alright with you?"

[Metarie]

At the base of the page where the family tree was inscribed was also an official, raised seal of the City. This, above anything else, marked the Tome as a legitimately printed copy. On the opposite page from the family tree was an inscription:

"In appreciation for your contributions, this Tome is presented to Fithin and Ciara Sehkhara. May you and your family prosper." Beneath the inscription were signatures of other founding members, and, even that of Belatucadrus.


Ree watched Cam quietly as he leafed through the pages. Relief washed through her when he said he would come back instead of taking the Tome with him. Ree smiled gratefully as she nodded.

"Of course." Reaching into a side drawer, Ree pulled out a pouch. Opening it, she slipped a key from it.

"Here. If I get stuck at the hospital, you can come and go as you please." Any other implications of his having a key to her home were not given thought. The gesture was done purely to give him access to the Tomes when it would be convenient for him. She trusted him implicitly. Cam was the Captain of the Guards. If she couldn't trust him, then who could she trust?

"Feel free to get something to eat or drink, too."

[Camulous Smithson]

Camulous took the key with an intentional smile. It was quite a gesture on her part - she was giving him access to the tomes, which she clearly cherished, whenever he needed it. He knew she trusted him not to go stealing things from her house, but permission to enter at his convenience was something else entirely.

"I'm honored... and should you ever get locked out by mistake, you know where to find me."

After a quiet pause that might have matured into an awkward silence, the captain took his cue to leave. He straightened up his shirt after slipping the key away in the front pocket of his pants, and made his way to the door

"Thank you for your hospitality. Tomorrow, then? Just before sunset."

Unsure of how to dismiss himself, and hateful of lengthy goodbyes, he held her hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek. His own cheek was rough with stubble.

[Metarie]

"I'm honored... and should you ever get locked out by mistake, you know where to find me."

Metarie gave a small chuckle. "Indeed."

Camulous and Metarie just looked at each other. Cam straitened his shirt. The fabric was not finely spun, nor was it coarse. Too, it was neither too snug or too loose.

Ree would admit to herself later that she liked looking at him.

"Thank you for your hospitality. Tomorrow, then? Just before sunset."

A smile curved the edges of her lips.

"You are welcome, Good Captain." She nodded."If I am not here, you know where I will be."

The pair stood in her open doorway. The tableau as chaste as any courting couple in Marn. The Captain held her hand and leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek.

Ree gave his hand a little squeeze and leaned in for the busk on the cheek. His lips were soft and warm, couched in a day's worth of stubble, a contrast of sensations. A prickle of color lit the apples of her cheeks at the kiss and his proximity. Her heartbeat jumped and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Her eyes probably sparkled, too. The newness of their relationship, the long-time crush she'd had on him; was it any wonder he affected her thus?

Heart on her sleeve, Ree waited until he had progressed past her front lawn and crossed the street to close the door. After closing it, she rested against it for a moment with her fingertips lightly touching the place he'd kissed. Shaking her head, she smiled at herself, and moved away. Tidying up would allow the butterflies to settle down enough for her to sleep.

[Metarie]

Metarie continues in The Doctor is In: http://www.tharshaddin.com/rp/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2777

Ending season is Spring, 122 PW