Shady

Rana nodded. “Yes, sir. I think so. I’m progressing slower than I’d like, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it.”

“Mostly the pronunciations, I think,” she answered. “They’re so different than I’m used to.”

“… no, sir,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Yes, sir,” she said, switching to it.

“Thank you,” she murmured and slipped through.

Oh, gods. She was going to get babysat by Ash himself. How could she get out of this? She shuffled forward.

Rana hesitated at the end of the shelves, feeling very uncertain of herself. She needed some way to get back to her room. She was starting to spiral. Father would ...

"...Oh." She nodded and took a hesitant step after him. This was a nightmare. So much for avoiding Ash by hiding in the library. She shouldn't have gone to investigate ...

Rana faltered. That seemed more convincing. Why would a random man in a library know all that, if he weren't expecting her? "I... am, yes... I apologize for not recognizing ...

Rana looked at him suspiciously. "You're the Lord of the Keep?" Her brain was coming to a screeching halt. Her better sense wanted to prostrate herself before him and beg ...

Rana tensed, whirling around at his abrupt interjection. "I... who are you, exactly?"

Rana blinked at him. What an odd response from an odd man. She wouldn't be following his advice, of course. He wasn't even a librarian, what authority did he have ...

"I'm going to read as many as I can while we're here," she declared, looking around wistfully. "I want the answers to questions I don't even know I should ask ...

"Oh. My apologies." She bowed slightly. "I suppose I shouldn't have made assumptions." She looked around the collection longingly. "It'd be a dream, wouldn't it? Getting to be a librarian ...

"Of the library?" She clarified, furrowing her brow slightly. "I assumed you were a librarian?"