Toying with Time

[Caira Ayryn]

As the two Primes entered, Caira passively swept the familiar library. It was given that she was searching for the same clerk she had spoken to about her crash landing, however the scent of the library had changed and the atmosphere was no longer full of idling attendants. Time flies when you're reading. Caira reasoned and felt bewildered for a moment as her mind reeled on the idea that her and TBG were a team, united by the unusual reinforcement of an agreed enterprise.

"That just means we'll have to be hot on his trail. And perhaps even faster than him. But.. Directions first, and well.. I'm not so sure about the element of surprise if we have the poster, we should assume he is at least aware." Her voice spoke in response to TBG's words that alluded to teleportation. But that sort of thing.. It's an omnipotent ability and can't really be possible.. Even here.. Right? Her skepticism raced back to the fact that she crashed a winged horse into a floating island. There had been magic and unexplainable things in her land but teleporting was something she considered with a great esteem as something even more improbable than its magnificence in power. But then again, their target could be too.

"Hmm.. That one!" It didn't take long for the Prime to locate her objective. With a flash the luminous purple eyes flickered fervently with new life as they descended on the thirty-ish mage with scraggly hair that was pinned back in a bun with a pencil poking out one end and it's tip protruding the other. An iconic librarian with a round face but thin and narrow build, strolling the isles and shelving a single leather-spined book.

Draped over the clerk's shoulders appeared to be a blue cape or shawl of some kind and with an excited speed, Caira approached so swiftly that it caused a flush of air to flutter the woman's cape, alerting of a presence behind her. Caira couldn't see it, but the clerk's eyes teemed with a livid fear and beneath the shawl the set of boney shoulders tensed.

"Oh, I'm very sorry. Did I startle you?" The Prime said in the most compassionate and languid performance she could muster from her excited vocal chords. A hope to butter the clerk up, formed in her mind. A negotiation tactic, to jog her memory. I know she knows something... She seems to respond to the idea of violence.

Caira's eyes flickered to the moving window of shimmering light as the familiar stranger turned flimsily to face the Prime whose stance was overwhelmingly charismatic.

"Oh, it's .. You."

Caira couldn't hide the gentle curling that formed at the corners of her lips. She's glad to see me AND she remembers me! At least I'm impressionable.. Her thoughts resided as her gaze directed upward, away from the clerk. "Still enjoying my window I see. Hmm, the shape has changed." Her precise observation of the stain glass and shift in attention to the object involved in their previous altercation caused a flash in the clerk's eyes as the pencil haired woman eyed the window with suspicion.

Her gaze read Are you going to break another one? As her lips moved toward another path, "Ah yes, funny how magic works.. Do you need something?"

The clerk had sized up Caira's easily read interest in the clerk rather than the window she alluded to. And that though the Prime's eyes were on the window as she mentioned it, her attention was fully set on her reaction.

It wasn't the Prime's mistake that the library clerk was entirely devoted to reading people as well as books while perhaps paranoia had heightened her skepticism of any of the Dalaran visitors. So much to the extent that suspicion fell on any and all who caused the woman disease.

Caira was glad to get to the point, for she had just told TBG they should make haste, "Um, yes." There was a filling pause as the library hostess reviewed and assumed the words Caira would presume. "I was wondering if you might have information on a particular wizard that may have been in here recently. He's a Prime and apparently he caused a scene."

For a moment, the clerk just stood there. How did she know about that? The bookkeeper's vague suspicions confirmed. This sorceress Prime was most certainly in association to the one whom had threatened to melt her! Of course she knew exactly who the Prime meant, how could the woman forget such a beastly man! Her expression crumpled into one that reconciled with distress to conceal her distraught thoughts.

Caira explained further, before the frantic woman could have a panic attack and start bellowing any sort of war whistle. "I um.. Or we, rather, are searching for him, for Dalaran's sake. "

How do I conceal little and yet so much? Toybox Girl was right that people could be working with him. And yet, this lady's lip trembles at the idea of him. This certainly gives me an impression of whom I am soon to face. She seems like the type of woman who demands answers up front and will want to know the whole story before obliging. Still, I'm not sure if it's safe to tell her here, a spy from the next isle over could easily eavesdrop and we would loose any advantage of time or speed. Our conversation must be in secret.. But there isn't time to choose a room when even the ears have walls.

Caira's hands became a flurry of movements as the clerk interjected "What are you doing-" her eyes scowled as the pencil was pulled from the ball in her hair, "That's Dalaran property-"

"Shh. No talking in the library." Caira flicked her finger toward the sign and her opponent crossed her arms with a seething anger.

Caira wrote, "Listen, I'm searching for the Mage that may have stormed in here. Do you know of him or not? Reply with only a nod of your head."

The woman was still startled, however the idea that it was a secret, seemed to quell any anger that was targeted at the confronting Prime. Secrets and silence seemed to be something any assistant would respect.

With a designated nod, their interrogation proceeded, any authority was only obeyed from the words on paper. "Will you please imply that occurred-"

"Better yet, I'll take you to the records room."

Caira folded her book and frowned, Great, just what I need, to be seen going into this "records room" with a Dalaran Library official. Well, I can only hope my efforts weren't in vain.

As if picking up on Caira's train of thought, the clerk nodded and put on a mask of emotion, "No of course we have ALL the books you could ask for, but if it's a record directly of Omni and Aragorn you want, best follow me."

Beckoned and prodded into the room by prying eyes, she finally found herself in the back room after a labyrinth of messy filings that seemed larger than the library itself.

"Alright, don't tell me why you are here for that mage, I don't want to know, I can guess well enough." The auditor said with a low voice and assumed and hoped that Caira would hunt the enemy mage down. "He came in here not too long ago, when he demanded to see the Librarian. He had a sort of darkness protruding from him, he was quite intimidating and caused a scene. Threatened my life," she said dramatically, to incite interest. "It was then when I called the guards over and I really can't remember much else, I heard that they weren't much of a match for him."

"Did he end up.. Er.. Talking to the Librarian?"

"Yes.. Yes, I think he rather did. Actually, the guards stopped because the Librarian requested it to be so. However you can probably see that it did not change the outcome."

Caira couldn't believe her luck. This seemed like good and valuable information, unless it was set to throw her off. She quickly dismissed that idea as she asked another question, one that was crucial, "Did you see what direction he went in?"

With a sigh the clerk sat in a plush chair, "No, I'm afraid not. The guards were all around and well, I'm not much of a fighter."

The.. Guards.. TBG had mentioned something about that.. And then there was that strange puff ball of a wizard that appeared to be a guard as well.

"Hm, but I can't just ask guards all day, do you know if there is a guard tower or have any other suggestions? You guys are wizards don't you have any means to track or cast spells to trace the invisible lines of his footsteps?" After that sentence left her lips, Caira wasn't sure what direction to turn to.

"You're the Prime, why are you asking me?"

"Because you know Dalaran and live here. Say, so you know a short little wizard with a twirling beard in a guard's uniform?"

Her mind pondered the puff of smoke once more as the conversation with the clerk came to a close.