Connection - 10

~1062

Shaken by her mother’s visible agitation, Kerra took deep breaths on the elevator ride back down to the Lower Downs. By the time she reached her level, she’d decided that she needed to talk to somebody—anybody—else to clear her head of the sound of the smashing vase.

This is how Kerra found herself yet again in her favorite bookshop, Dark Lake Books. The place was absolutely covered floor to ceiling with books. There were tall towers of books as well. These reminded Kerra of the Abyssia itself, with all its tall pillars, but unlike Abyssia, these books had no horizontal supports, so the danger of them falling was much higher. They never seemed to fall though, at least they never had while Kerra was here, which was admittedly a lot.

Kerra loved books. They were quaint and old and had a charm to them that only old things had. They also never seemed to die out. It was as if, long ago, society had decided that to destroy a book was an offense of the gravest nature. Some fell apart naturally of course, but there were still books being printed and reprinted, for the eccentrics and collectors who liked physical copies for whatever reason.

Dark Lake Books had its own printer in the back. Like everything in the Lower Downs, Dark Lake Books was a fairly seedy place. The printer was somewhat questionably legal, and Kerra was positive that there must be some sort of code against having the sheer volume of books that Dark Lake had. But, like everything in the Lower Downs, no one ever snitched, so nothing ever happened to change it. Kerra smiled thinking about it.

Dark Lake had been there when Kerra had gone into stasis for a couple hundred years. And it was still here. Under new management, of course, but most of everything else was still the same, from the chipping paint to the four greasy copies of War and Peace that no one had ever touched.

“Back again, Kerra?” It was Drigg. His grandmother, Maru, owned the shop, but he did most of the actual cashiering and shopkeeping. He was nice enough, and Kerra counted him among her few friends, but she’d have appreciated it if he wasn’t so determined to be such a relentless flirt. Kerra really didn’t appreciate it, knowing that to ever be in a physical relationship would be to be in a state of constant pain. That, and Kerra really didn’t have any romantic interest in Drigg at all, or anyone else for that matter. That’s simply the way it was.

But he was still a friendly face, and he looked so genuinely happy whenever she dropped in that she couldn’t help but smile back. “Of course. How could I stay away for long?” She spread her arms to gesture at the wide room of books.

Drigg seemed to consider this. “You have been gone for quite some time. I’ve missed the little fairy that alights on these flowers of words!”

Kerra snorted. “More like a ghost that haunts the dusty tomes. When’s the last time you dusted, anyway?”

Drigg waved off the question. He was balancing on two legs of a three-legged stool, and he had his feet up on the cluttered glass countertop. He was absentmindedly twirling a cardstock bookmark in between the fingers of his left hand. “Where have you been, Kerra? We can usually count on your appearance, spectral or otherwise. Why, I bet we could even set our clocks to your arrivals. But here you are, almost… could it really be three weeks? Since your last visit!”

“I know Drigg, it’s a full shame. But I’m here now. Wouldn’t want this place to go unhaunted for too long.” Kerra drifted over to the table that held what she knew were new arrivals and started picking through the books.

“But what have you been up to?” He pressed.

Kerra sighed. Sometimes she thought Drigg was a little too invested in her personal life, but then again, they were friends, and Kerra hadn’t seen him for a while now. Wasn’t it only right that he should have an explanation as to why? “Would you believe me if I told you I was too busy breaking the law, and aiding and abetting criminals to stop by?”

Drigg laughed, and the sound of it was bright and clear and had no malice in it. “Oh really? And what exactly have you been doing, Kerra?”

Kerra couldn’t help but give him a sly look. “Oh you know. Breaking and entering. Harboring stolen goods.”

Drigg leaned took his feet off the countertop and leaned forward, resting his hands on it instead, and resting his chin in his hands. “Do tell.”

“What are you, a cop?” Kerra sniffed. She’d found an old volume of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and was riffling through it. She’d always loved the classics.

“Oh, you know me,” Drigg said. “Cop material extraordinaire. I definitely don’t have a printer in the back rigged to print the newest books into physical form. I definitely don’t run an underground droid racing ring. I’ve never once set my foot out of place. I am a perfect citizen.” He puffed out his chest.

Kerra just laughed continued to poke through the books.

Drigg deflated a little. “Come on,” he whined, “you can tell me! I cross my heart and hope to die before I tell any cops about it.”

“Yes Kerra, do tell,” a wavery voice came from behind a shelf of books that was packed so tightly that it was as solid as a brick wall. Maru wheeled out from behind it, in her high powered wheelchair. Kerra had seen similar models go about fifteen miles an hour on the pathways between pillars. Why Maru had one, Kerra didn’t know, but she smiled to think of the old woman flooring it along a crowded walkway.

“I don’t know if I should now,” Kerra said, smiling at her. Maru had snow white hair, and deeply scored wrinkles. It was odd to think that Kerra was actually born far before Maru’s time. It made her shiver. “I know what a gossip monger you are, and I really wouldn’t want this getting back to the law officials.”

Maru chuckled throatily. “Wouldn’t want to lose your cushy government job, now would you?”

A/N: This is clearly not where I would actually end the chapter, but I was very, very strapped for time. Also, Word's word counter froze at 882, so I thought I was a lot further behind than I was, but then it was 11:59, I c/ped it into an online word counter, and realized I had plenty of words. Dang Word >:[