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Sophie would like it on the record that, when she accepted the job, she didn't know that the Librarian had to do so much bloody politics. She could be out healing the sick, like Natan in his day. She would love to be out healing the sick. Instead, she's in one of the innumerable studies of Hush House, searching for a book for Hokobald, even though she wishes dearly that she could toss him out on his shiny arse. She doesn't mind helping out Yvette, or Arun, or really most of the others. It's just Hokobald in particular who should really go fuck himself. But it is her duty to remain strictly neutral, and she takes that duty seriously. So she'll find his damned book, and watch like a hawk while he reads it. And should he happen to violate that neutrality himself, well, she might have a few things in her pockets to introduce him to. (Swaddled Thunder isn't casual to make, nor the Rubywise Ruin in case of violence. But she's made them enough to feel they're replaceable, at least.)
She rolls that around in her head.
"Can I ask... why did you do it? I'm extremely grateful you did, you've given us the chance to get our family back, but it... you barely know us."
"I did it because... I am here. I do not know you, but you are the only ones here with me. You are good. You are... Good. You were in pain. I thought of something that I could do to help you."
Then she shakes her head. "...it was not really for you. It was to make me feel strong. To say, I have solved your problem, and I am important. I am very stupid."
...oh. She nods in understanding. "It may have been a thing you did for you, but... you still solved our problem. Thank you."
She reaches out and pats Sophie on the knee.
"...I am the stupid one, in my family, the one who does impulsive things when feeling scared." smile. "I have never killed a dragon about it, though. It was very impressive."
...awww, Sophie has such a nice smile. "Even if we ask very nicely?" She bats her eyelashes.
Yesss she made their new attractive and dangerous friend laugh!
Luto giggles. "You have only met two of us! Maybe we will get Zan back and she will say" (she adopts a noticeably different voice and register) "'O Great Sophie, I know it is not easily done and I do not wish to impose on your kindness, but I do have a small, tiny, very big and also urgent problem with this other dragon, and I have nobody else to turn to in my hour of need, please help me', and then poor Ridaya will be out-voted..."
Her eyes are sparkling in a way Sophie's never seen them before.
"I'd want to see if that one dies to thunder, at least! It's not my first instinct. That would be terribly expensive."
"Maybe there are kinds of dragon who die easily to thunder... I don't know much about the kinds of dragons, just that there are lots of them. Umakhi, the one with the wings, is our main Knower of Things. A scary number of things, really. We joke sometimes that has a hard time with people because she is too busy being friends with every book she ever meets."
She sighs, and continues in a softer voice. "...I miss her. Miss all of them. I really hope we can get them all back without more problems."
She hugs her knees.
She uncurls a bit. "We have the money to buy diamonds, once we get to a city. You got us the bodies back, and that we could not have bought."
"Well. That is good."
Before the silence can get too awkward, Sophie says "Would you like to practice Celestial? I am close to knowing it properly."
She nods. "Yes!"
Luto is... not nearly as good at impromptu language lessons as Ridaya, but she knows Celestial just fine and can be prompted to give Sophie more words and better grammer.
More words are most of what she needs, by this point. Her grammar quickly solidifies, leaving only the awkward circumlocutions around vocabulary, and that part can only be fixed by exposure. But she takes less exposure than most.
A few minutes in, the red thread in her game of cat's-cradle begins to weep black ink, and she knots it off sharply before it can get everywhere. "There."
"Ah – it's a little charm." She traces the knotwork with a finger. "I am not me, it says, in Killasimi, a language of secrets. The threads are soaked in Perhibiate, the ink of naming. It should be very annoying if anyone tries to find me."
Ah, okay, this is just Sophie is doing her Weird Magic again. She doesn't seem stressed about it, so Luto doesn't need to worry. She nods.
More language? Luto has been telling stories of her early life, before she met Zan and Vakt. (She lost her parents when she was twelve, and stowed away in a trading caravan and convinced the swordswoman there to teach her how to fight.)
Sophie can return the favor with exciting tales of the life of a British schoolgirl. (She's not really ready to get into her professional origins, but Queen's College had plenty of adventures even for a mousey wallflower.)
Luto seems to have no context on anything post-industrial-revolution, but she's plenty interested!
Ridaya stirs, and then wakes up and unrolls in one swift motion, shaking her head. She says a word that doesn't sound like it uses Celestial phonemes, and an obviously-magic book appears out of nowhere in front of her. She catches it without looking.
She looks worried about Luto still being awake, but she doesn't say anything to her.
"Good morning," Sophie says, in now-nearly-perfect Celestial. "If you'd like tea or coffee, I can brew some up."
She looks grateful. "Tea sounds very nice. I will need about fifteen minutes to ready my magic, and then we can explore this place, try and find our way out?"
"Very well. I might prepare a few reagents of my own."
Sophie tries for a nice Assam, this time, in place of the witching tisane, and finds it straightforward. It feels odd, like it's stretching different parts of her soul than before, but not in a bad way, and she's used to stretching her soul in all kinds of ways.