Among the scholars and the stacks, Nell did her best not to stand out.
At mid-day, the room was alight with people: academics in long, jewel-toned robes hustling about with their noses in the air, apprentices straining to follow them with their arms full of heavy-looking volumes. The sun streamed in through the front door as Nell slipped through. She took notice of the dust motes that swirled up from the floor at the disturbance; they glittered in the light before vanishing into the bustle of the room. Nobody looked up at her entrance. Excellent, Nell thought. Like the dust motes, the note of anxiety that had risen in her chest swirled away into the bustle; she could linger among the books and not be noticed.
But first, Nell realized, there was a job to be done. She paused at the entrance, shuffling off to the side when a particularly distraught-looking apprentice bumped into her. The anxiety came back at the realization that she would have to bother someone; she wore her fingers over the straps of her rucksack, mulling over the decision. There were already two dark circles in the leather where she’d been wearing it through; her anxious habit was beginning to catch up to her.
She should ask someone where she was supposed to drop off deliveries, but they all looked so busy. The maps in question poked out of the top of her rucksack, encased in specially-made metal tubes engraved with Nell’s signature. She just had to go for it, didn’t she? Don’t think about it, she told herself - just do it.
“Excuse me,” she blurted, flagging down the next person who passed. “Can you tell me where-”
All the color left Nell’s face all at once. Of all the people to flag down, in all of the places.
10-07-2023, 01:07 PM
