Among the Stacks

[Threnn]

"Annie, I need yeh ta head up the library." Tarq poked his head around the door and waited for her to look up from her stack of correspondence.

Annalea regarded him balefully, pen poised over a sheet of parchment with an official-looking seal the Mathers girl had given her. "'Hi, Annie, how are you today? Are you busy? Would you be heading anywhere near the Keep later on? Because I have something I'd like you to do.'" She set down the pen and folded her hands, trying to look offended. But the corners of her lips twitched, destroying her attempt.

"Ah, fuck oaf it. Yir love letters ta Lenny Bends kin wait." Tarq stepped all the way into the office and sank down into the visitor's chair across from her. For a moment, he seemed to contemplate kicking his feet up on the desk, but thought better of it when Annalea picked up her pen once more. It wasn't worth risking a nib through the shin if he scattered her papers. "We've been hired."

"By whom?" She pushed her papers to the side and put the pen back into its bottle of ink. The boss usually sent other Riders out to do this kind of work, content to let her wrangle the mess that was his desk. Asking Anna to take on a task was something new. She suspected it stemmed from his instruction that she ought to get out more, but she decided against arguing the point for the time being.

"Warlock woman wis in here early. Sarcanna de-wha've-yeh. De Roux. Yeh ivir heard the family name?"

Anna shook her head, but she'd met the white-haired woman in question once or twice before. "I've seen her before, in Dalaran with Bricu and Tif. She sounds almost... Gilnean?"

"Ayeh."

"If she has relatives in Stormwind, I haven't heard of them. I can't think of any Houses that have relatives with that name, either." The drawer at her right hand held a bottle of bourbon and two glasses, for hospitality purposes when Tarquin conducted business. Anna figured this was close enough to business and retrieved them now. Tarq apparently considered it close enough, too. At least, he didn't complain when she slid a generous measure over to him.

"Cheers, Annie." He sipped at his drink and waited, watching her expressions while she worked out the obvious questions.

"So... we got hired to go to the library. What, they won't lend books to Gilnean warlocks or something? Afraid they'll spirit them back over the Greymane Wall?"

"Summat ay the like." He gestured with his glass, making a vertical circle in the air: go on.

"That has to be the most boring job we've ever taken on." She eyed him over her own glass. He tried on an innocent face and only succeeded in looking even more conniving. "Which means it's not just a trip to go take out books, or you'd have told her to go hire, I don't know, the Rose."

They grinned at one another, sharklike.

"Nivir let it be said that Threnny got all the brains."

"I can hit you with this glass from here."

"Yeh'd do na sich thing. Still go' whiskey in." He had the right of it, but when she knocked back the rest of her drink and brandished the glass, he made a show of ducking nonetheless. "Anyroad," he said, straightening again once she broke down and giggled, "she wants us ta take out some books and, ah. Not return 'em."

Anna refilled her glass. "Are we not returning them because she's keeping them, or..."

"Because the rest ay the job involves destroyin' thim. Burnin' ta ash."

"And you want a look at them before we do that, I suppose."

His grin widened, showing even more of his white teeth. "Fuckin' aye, I do. Books this woman'll pay us ta destroy? Like ta be'n int'restin' read."

"By 'interesting,' you mean 'good for blackmail.'"

He put a hand over his heart. "Yeh wound me, Annie. Accusin' me ay sich villainy."

"Mm-hm. So why me?"

"Because wee Avers Brackwell still works there, betimes, an' outside yir sister an yirself, none ay us in the Black an' Red are welcome. O'Connaugh's made thit quite clear."

"Oh, I see." Anna sat back and folded her arms. "Let Avers be upset with me for not returning books instead of Threnny. I always knew you liked her best."

"Yeh've seen the moon-eyes he makes at her!" To demonstrate, he clasped his hands beneath his chin and heaved a sigh, looking nothing like Avers. "I'll no' be the cause ay sich a tender heart breakin' ta pieces when the sun thit his world rises an' sets oan has used him an' abused his trust."

She mmphed. "You just don't want Threnny on your case if he feels all betrayed and she feels all guilty for betraying him."

"See? Brains."

---

Annalea looked around the library, getting a feel for the layout. Sure, she'd been here a hundred times before, but never with the intent to steal. She noted the sections she'd need to visit, how well- or lightly-trafficked they were, the best routes to the door. Ideally, she'd get the books she needed and slip out unnoticed. But she took note of the distance between the desk and the door anyway, just to be safe. She'd counted how many guards there were outside, too, and memorized their positions.

What she really needed was a dupe. So far, there'd been no sign of Avers Brackwell, and for that she was thankful. The boy was sweet, and she'd felt awfully guilty at the thought of tricking him in the first place. Better, then, that he wasn't here.

She fixed her eyes on a young man just ahead of her wearing the blue-and-gold librarian's sash. He had the look of a cleric about him, someone fresh from the Abbey. Inkstains smudged the cuffs of his crisp white shirt and his hair was close-cropped in the fashion of the Northshire brothers.

Anna'd kept herself out of his line of sight so far, but she'd seen him sneaking glimpses at a group of young noblewomen who sat whispering to one another at one of the tables in the common area. He'll do nicely, she thought, and loosened the laces at the top of her already low-cut blouse to provide a bit more distraction. Her lips parted, their corners turned up into an impish grin. She ducked her head a bit -- a hint of shyness to counterbalance the mischief -- ready to turn the full force of her slate grey eyes onto him. She shifted her weight, preparing to step into his peripheral vision.

"Oh! H-hullo, M-miss al'Cair."

Anna whirled at the touch on her arm, too startled by Avers' sudden appearance to wipe the come-hither expression off her face. She winced inwardly as she saw it hit him, saw the color come into his cheeks as he dropped his eyes to... oh, Elune, when did he shoot up to chest-high on me? He went bright crimson as he got an eyeful of her cleavage.

"Avers!" She took a deep breath to collect herself and realized that was a bad idea, too, when the boy gave a little squeak and began furiously studying the book bindings on the shelves next to them. Poor kid's going to implode. "I, um. Didn't realize you had a shift today."

"Uh-huh! Yes, Miss al'Cair, W-w-wednesdays I work in S-st-stormwind." He stole another glance at her face, saw that it seemed at least mostly safe again, and fixed his eyes firmly on the tip of her nose. "Can I, um. C-can I help you f-find anyth-thing?"

"Actually, you can. I'm looking for some books on shadow magic. I have a feeling they're going to be in with the rare collection, if you could point me at them."

That made him relax a bit. Back on solid ground again. "Oh! Yuh-huh! I can f-find anything! F-follow me!" He set off down the row, heading towards the back of the library, but not before sneaking one last glance at what she had on display.

Fuck. If Threnny doesn't kill me, Fells will. She tugged at the laces, tightening them a bit, and set off after him.

---

She spent the better part of the morning among the musty old tomes of the rare books section. Avers set her up at a long table and seemed happy to fetch the obscure titles she'd jotted down on a slip of paper. While he was dashing about looking for those and other, related ones that might be useful to her, she drifted among the stacks with a second list in her hand: the one Sarcanna de Roux had given to Tarquin.

These she piled on the chair beside her, keeping it pushed in so Avers wouldn't see upon his return. Fifteen books in all, most of them fairly slim volumes that she could tuck into her satchel and no one would be the wiser. But four or five of them were books that could double as doorstops or murder weapons. How the hell am I going to get these out of here?

She eyed Avers, who was returning to her with another stack of books that he kept from toppling with his chin. "I br-brought you these, M-miss al'Cair. I h-hope it's o-okay. I used s-s-some of them in my own studies before I went t-to Dalaran."

"It's perfect!" She sifted through the stack and selected a few, exclaiming over their titles or listings in their indices. He lit up when she praised his choices. All the while, her mind raced, wondering how she could get the other books out of here unnoticed. One method kept floating to the top of her mind, but she pushed it away guiltily again and again.

Maybe I can wait around until he goes home. "Your shift must be coming to an end, Avers. You don't have to stick around with me. You've found more than enough to keep me occupied."

"Oh! Th-that's all right, Miss al'Cair. My sh-shift ended a half hour ago. I wanted t-to stay and help!"

Shit. I'm tricking him and making him late for lunch. That put her back at the option she'd been trying to skirt. Suck it up and do it, then. She resisted the urge to groan, instead selecting a few books and holding them out to Avers. "How about this, then? I'll take these with me, and come back for these ones next time?"

"O-okay!" He gathered up her pile and paused, hovering but trying not to look like he was doing so.

"How about you bring them up to the desk for me while I pack up? I'll meet you there so you can check me out."

He blushed again, and Anna felt herself cringing as she realized her double-meaning. He's been checking me out all day. Threnny's going to kill me. Then pick me up and kill me again. "Okay. I-I'll see you up there." He clutched the books to his chest, backed up three steps, and fled.

She didn't waste any time, slipping the thinnest volumes into her bag and following Avers to the librarians' desk, where he'd already started copying her titles into the log book. Silently begging forgiveness, she extended her senses out towards the dark-haired boy.

He was there, all right, sharp and alert, and very aware of the woman approaching him. Anna stayed well out of his thoughts, seeking only the very surface of his mind. Careful, now. Too much and he'll know something's off. She tugged on one thread of his consciousness, subdued another. By the time she reached the desk and turned a much more tame version of her earlier smile on him, he was intent on her, but not the books she carried.

"Y-you're all s-set, Miss al'Cair." He slid the small stack across to her, but didn't look down as she placed de Roux' books atop them and picked up the whole lot.

She beamed at him. "Thank you for all your help. It's appreciated."

"Yuh-huh!" He beamed back. For a heartstopping second, his eyes dropped to the books in her arms. His brow furrowed the tiniest bit, then smoothed out as he looked up once more. "I-it was n-nice to s-see you!"

"You too. Elune guide, Avers." She took her armload, headed for the door, and didn't exhale until she reached the street outside the Keep.

---

Tarquin watched as Anna switched her stacks around yet again. His eyebrows climbed at her string of profanities. "If it's any help, yeh kin be in charge ay the burnin'."

She blew an errant lock of hair out of her eyes and shoved a sheaf of papers at him. She stood up to pace around the office, throwing a murderous glare at the books every few steps. "That's what I've got so far."

Paper rustled as he thumbed through the sheets. "Wha's all this, then?"

"All the groupings I can think off. Alphabetical order by title. Then by author. Grouped by subject. Order they were written, where the authors were from. Who donated the book to the library, if I could find it. Who's checked them out before." She stopped pacing and showed him the pocket on the inside back cover, where years' worth of scribes had etched borrowers' names onto cards. "Benefit of stealing them rather than checking them out by the rules. I get to see the records they usually keep."

"Any names in common?"

She folded her arms and leaned against the wall, dangerously close to pouting. "No."

"'Och. Annie." Tarquin set the sheaf down and leaned against the doorframe. "Yeh did a guid job gettin' these. Sure eno' yeh kin hunt up wha'tis they have in common."

"Mmph. Tables of contents next."

"Tell yeh wha'." He snatched up one of the stacks. "We'll bring thim upstairs. I'll buy yeh a drink an' keep yeh in cigarettes while yeh work. Deal?"

"Deal. I'll be up in a minute." Anna pulled fresh sheets of paper and a new bottle of ink from the desk drawer and ran a finger along the spine of the book on top of the remaining pile: Corin's Crossing: A History. It was recently written, its last chapters expanding their focus to the Third War's impact on the North as a whole. "May as well start with something interesting," she said, and headed towards the sound of laughter and clinking glasses coming from above.

There were worse ways to do research.