Khenal
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Peek: Navigating the Gardens of Knowledge
🕑 Added 2024-10-21 01:17:42 +0000 UTCWhile Tula would admit she doesn't have the most experience as a librarian, she's pretty sure the collection at the Slim Chance guild is a unique one. She's heard of grand libraries with shelves so grand they could fit an entire lifetime's worth of books, of sprawling complexes containing dozens of buildings, with gardens and forests and all sorts of wonderful peaceful places to read.
A library with a garden would probably attract bees, but certainly not like the ones here. At first, they were simply a curiosity to her. Once Guildmaster Karn explained what they were, however, she considered quitting right there. Why are there dungeon monsters swarming over the library? Why isn't the guild stomping them out?!
If she had other options, she probably would have left, but she had already spent a day among the dungeon bees without any issues. It'll be fine, right?
Surprisingly to her, it was. At first, she shied away from them whenever they'd get close, not wanting to upset them by shooing them away like the Guildmaster suggested. It wasn't until she was researching Fourdock history that she learned to trust the fuzzy little fliers. The book she chose seemed like it might be on the right track for figuring out what an Ice Sage is, but by the end, she was no closer to her goal.
She sighed and leaned back in her chair, before a growing drone of buzzing captured her attention. The bees were bringing her another book! It was only after they deposited it on the desk and dispersed that she realized that's what they were doing. Instead of immediately taking up the tome, she sat there thinking about the odd flying monsters.
What kind of dungeon monsters grab a book from the shelves to help someone in their research? They even brought to her one that looked very relevant to her current trail of inquiry! She perused the book, but found her thoughts wandering to the bees rather than the book. She sighed and closed it once it became clear to her she wouldn't get much from it, and moved to reshelve them both.
She could feel the bees watching her, and felt she should say something to them for their assistance. At the time it seemed silly to her, to talk to monsters, but it was definitely the correct decision.
"Um... thank you for the book? It was relevant, but... I think I need to try a different approach for what I'm looking for."
The bees danced and buzzed in coordinated loops, clearly happy that she appreciated their help. A few even landed on her books to wiggle at her to gain her attention, before flying off to perch on a couple other books. Curious, she inspected the titles. "The Founding of Fourdock... Dungeons of Fourdock... Secrets of the Rangers: The Basics of Mana Flow. Oh!" She gasps as she realized they were trying to help her with her research!
"Those all look interesting, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm on the wrong track completely for what I'm looking for. Here, let me shelve these, and I'll try to explain." She set them in their proper order, still wondering who came up with the system for organizing books. Maybe she should try to look more into that, instead. It'd probably be a much simpler project than the Ice Sage.
"So... I'm looking for an Ice Sage, but I don't know what it is. I was told to go north, and this is the most northern town I know about in the kingdom. I'm... pretty sure I'm not supposed to just go out into the wilderness. I'm no adventurer."
The bees seemed to wait for her to continue, but that's all she had to go on. When there was no more information forthcoming, she sighed and turned to head to the desk, wondering if she was attributing too much intelligence to the bees before they started swarming.
She of course stepped back in alarm, worried she had maybe said the wrong thing, but the swarm was more occupied with itself than her. Watching, it was easy to imagine them arguing amongst themselves about what to do, or maybe what book would be the best for her to study to get the answer.
After a few minutes of swarming, they seemed to come to a decision and moved to one of the other shelves, one not about history, but about classes! They swarmed over the shelf, and though they all seemed to agree that this was the shelf she should look at, they didn't seem to agree on which book to look at first.
Cautiously, she approached and checked the titles, the bees moving out of her way to let her browse, even as they seemed to continue to argue amongst themselves. "It's... you think it's a class?" she asked, though the bees seemed to ignore her. "I don't know too much about classes, to be honest. I'm a scribe, and happy to be one. Is there a book that covers the basics?"
It seems the bees weren't ignoring her at all, as they converged on a single book before dispersing, leaving behind just a single bee to mark the book she should look at. "Oh! Uh... thank you. Do you... know Yvonne? The Guildsmaster said she was in charge of the collection. Did she come up with the sorting system here?"
The single bee did a little dance before flying off to her desk, where it dipped a leg into her inkwell and wrote a single word in a simple yet easy to read handwriting: Honey.
"Honey? Do you want honey before you'll introduce us?" The bee didn't have anything further to say, and simply flew off, leaving her with a book, a word, and a lot of questions. She spent the next few days going over the books on classes, and while the subject is more interesting than she was expecting, she's not sure she's getting any closer to her goal. Even trying to offer the bees some honey didn't seem to do anything, and now she has the jar just sitting on her desk.
It's a good thing she likes her tea sweet.
So today she sits and reads, sipping her tea and pondering the mysteries of the library and her quest, wondering if she'll ever have an answer to either. She's knocked from her thoughts by the sound of a staff thumping against the floor to her get attention. Looking up, she sees a young goblin, clearly a casting class of some variety, looking like she needs some help, but uncertain how to begin.
She smiles at the goblin and stands. "Ah, hello. Sorry, I was engrossed in my study. Can I help you?"
Comments
Ethan Barrow
We're so close now!!!! TFTP!
Ben Bass
TYFTP! I like how Tula is now building a working relationship with the bees. I think she would love to meet honey, and I think she will after she learns more about Thediem !
AssumedPseudonym
…Y’know what, that’s fair. (This is what I get for commenting immediately after getting home from a con weekend and not letting the grey cells recover first. <.< >.> <.<; )
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice peek 😊
MattUDFells
I think they mean that it feels like the first part of a chapter before switching pov for the second half. I think this was made a peek as it wasn't too relevant and would make the next chapter too long.
SpagettiSuppeee
I came from RR. I was eating the chapters and suddenly the " next Chapter " button was grayed out and I was feeling sad, so I looked for a way to satisfing my hunger and ended up here and have been here for a long time by now. But chapters still go by in the blink of an eye.
Robinn57
I hear you've been looking for me...
rawrfish1
I mean yes and no. It’s more of a side plot. Nothing important or ground breaking. Kinda in the same vein as the undercover inspector coming to town. Just an introspective look at a character leading up to main chapter plot.
Gustave Dorland
I think its just the dungeon thats not aloud to rely talk without a voice. The denizens and Sion's don't have the same limitations programmed into their system's.
Herakilla
Thanks for the peek!
Carl Gherardi
Of course they can! Honey aggressively educated the Aranea to fix grammar she surely demands the same of her own. (Yvonne did tell us they had great writing for the Dewey labels)
Juno Tubolino
I knowwww I literally cannot stop myself from reading new chapters immediately
AbyssalIceLord
I agree, but i think he wanted to give us this as an extra so we can get into the nitty gritty in the chapter comin up...no wasting words on the meeting...at least not too many lol
AbyssalIceLord
I was the exact same. Just a couple months in now. Trouble is...i read all the content far too quickly and now i gotta wait :(( its terrible lol
AbyssalIceLord
I honestly hope so too lol, i think it maybe will, but who knows...sometimes writers get an idea and just scrub things off for another thing, but i do have a feelin something will come of it. Khenal seems to actually like to deliver expectations lol thank god
Lord-Siver
"No but I can help you." Thank you for the meal as always it was delicious!
Calvin
I genuinely don't feel like this should be a peek. It feels so right that it feels important, you know? Like, this isn't extra. This is main chapter vibes. Even if it comes with a break before a POV change, if that makes sense?
Kevo
A excellent bonus to what is ahead!
Juno Tubolino
Oh, this chapter ends beautifully, I can't wait to see Tula's click moment in the next chapter. Excellent work as always, I've been reading for a while & only started the Patreon thing a short while ago (after getting obsessed w/ this series & starting from the oldest stuff here) and your work has lived in my head rent free ever since lol.
chris Bell
Haha funny when the thing your looking for finds you first 🤣i hope this continues in the next chapter
AssumedPseudonym
Poor Tula. She really doesn’t understand just how much Thedeim has affected Fourdock, nor that Honey is a *who*, not a *what*. At least she did find what was looking for, though — or what she was looking for found her, more accurately. Also, it’s interesting to note that the bees can write. Not that I’m actually surprised, they’re Honey’s bees after all, but that they can get around the whole communication thing in the same way that Poe sort of can despite not being scions themselves.
Colleen Whelan
I can't wait for their meeting!
