Khalida devours The Way Things Work- the author uses mammoths for all the examples, it's a little tricky at first to sort out what's a joke and what's serious- adds parking meter and hydroelectric dam and space probe and sewing machine and combine harvester and aqualung and a dozen more to her list of words to go back to the encyclopedia with- starts digging into the biology textbook, and fully does not notice the time passing until the loudspeaker crackles on with "It is four forty-five, the library will be closing in fifteen minutes."

...maybe she can just read a little while longer...

That librarian from earlier finds her a few minutes later when she comes into the reading room to shut off the lights!

"-You're still here?"

Khalida starts a bit guiltily and glances up at her.  "Oh- is it time already?" She reluctantly closes the book, collects her bag and coat, and hands the pen back.  "Here's your pen, thank you for the loan.  I'll be back tomorrow?"

"...Do you need a place to stay, hun? We can't let people stay in the library overnight but there are shelters around, if people need them."

"Nah, I've got one already, I'm staying at the church down the road- Saint, um, Amal- Amalberg?  Something like that?  Thanks for asking, though, it's very thoughtful of you."  Whyyyyyy do her polite cached phrases come out sounding weird in English. 

"Alright then, let me just reshelve these and you have a lovely evening. I'm glad you liked the books!"

And Khalida will reluctantly leave the library (the library!!! why does it close so early...) and head back along the road to the church. 

Tromp tromp tromp... ugh wow she's a little shaky and she hasn't even been in a fight, she really should've had more to eat earlier.  Tromp tromp tromp.  

She spends most of the walk back thinking about all the mechanisms from the mammoths book, the implications of them being so rich in objects- clean water in every individual house, printing cheap enough they label every pack of bread... 

She does duck into the woods partway back, just far enough to find a discreet bush (checking carefully for beasts in the immediate vicinity first).  As she's about to head back to the road, though- is that a rustle in the underbrush?

There is thick foliage all around. You are likely to be eaten by a grue stumbled upon by a zombie(?). It looks like a man covered in blood, with ragged clothing, clammy-looking skin, bloodshot eyes, a clearly unnaturally bent bone, and a permanent snarl on his face. It grunts in rage and tries to sprint at her!

"Augh fuck!"  Sidestep, back off as fast as she can without tripping on a root, calling Flaming Sphere to her fingertips-

-it looks human, and she's a stranger here, and no one's mentioned adventurers in any context all day, and the houses with their big useless yards don't have fences, and she doesn't know anything about the government yet except Dana doesn't want it to notice her, and there aren't any Truthtellings to be had here and she doesn't have local money for a Zone-

-it's going to look like she straight up murdered a man in the woods-

-she changes tack at the last possible second, "Fuck off!  Glitterdust!"  Let's see if it needs its eyes.

Well it knows where ahe was a moment ago. It'll keep scrabbling roughly over plants towards that spot even if it can't see, maybe getting turned to the side. And if she runs, it can still heaaaaaar her.

Okay yeah now it can get a Flaming Sphere to the face.  (To the all of it, really, she starts it off aiming at center mass, but face is included in that.)  Continuing to retreat in what really ought to be the direction of the road, keeping the Sphere on it as it follows her.

The zombie is not particularly Fire resistant. It goes down pretty quick, gruesome burned.

Some of the little patch of woods in the liminal space between neighborhoods is on fire now!

She'll hold the Sphere on it until she's absolutely sure it's stopped moving.  And then an extra moment just to be sure.  And then she'll start Creating Water all over the general area.  Two gallons every six seconds, alternating a concentrated splash on the worst patches and a heavy rain as wide as she can spread it.

How damp was this forest to begin with, and how much dry brush and leaf litter is laying around?

The woods are pretty damp, actually. It must have rained not too long ago. There's a pretty high amount of low brush smoldering, but the fire isn't spreading far and no big trees have caught.

Create Water Create Water Create Water Create Water Create Waterrrrrrrrrrrr.  Partway through her post-fight shakes hit and combined with her existing shakiness she has to sit down rather suddenly, but she can still cast sitting down.  (She does find a good big tree to put at her back, just in case it had friends.)

The cars on the road continue trundling by. If she stays there for more than, like, five minutes she'll hear a siren in the distance.

The fire probably doesn't need a full hundred gallons of water; once the worst of the shakes have passed off she'll clamber back to her feet and head towards the street...

...wait.

She turns back around and eyes the burned corpse, and reluctantly gets closer.  It looks horrible and smells worse, she really doesn't want to touch it, but she does want to find out what it is... there's nobody here to see her looking stupid, she unties her borrowed Worldwound coat from her bag, sticks a hand into the sleeve, and gingerly touches it through the thick leather and fabric.

Hey Nethys All-Knowing, can you help me know something about what this used to be?

This used to be a human infected with a lethal contagious disease that induces near mindless rage.

Augh fuck fuck aaaaaaaugh.

She jerks her hand away, Prestidigitates the sleeve clean, and doesn't feel like that was entirely enough so she Creates Water directly on it and Prestidigitates it again a couple more times.  Suddenly she is really very glad she didn't care about looking stupid.  

Pharasma take him safe into Your keeping, and Sarenrae guide him to mercy and aid all those yet living in danger from this plague, and Jesus Christ whatever it is You do for dead people here please do that, and aid the living also, and Nethys thank You so so much for the warning.

The siren is getting a lot louder. A big red truck shines bright lights, faintly visible through the foliage.

Oh fuck what now.  She's used two second-circle spells on one fight she is not up for another, she's going to head away from that noise as quickly as possible, parallel to the road at first and then back out to it once she's gotten a bit of distance in between herself and the corpse.  Can she see what's making the noise from there?  (Nothing to see here, just a carless traveler headed churchwards...)

It's a big red truck! Different design than the 18 wheelers. Four people in brightly colored armor and black helmets disembark from it and move to investigate the burnt patch of woods.

Ooooh huh.  Matching armor, that's the closest thing she's seen to adventurers but they're identical instead of at-best-vaguely-themed, that kind of implies 'official'?  And she does not want to come to Official Attention even though she really wants to see what they're doing.  She will make her Will save and continue along the road.  Not too too much farther to the church, hopefully the official whoevers are too busy with the corpse to notice her.

Nothing else interrupts her on the rest of the walk back to the church. There are a few cars here this time, and at least a dozen people inside, seeming unsettled.

Khalida leaves her coat outside, arranged to catch as much sun as possible, and flops onto the nearest available chair to rest for a bit.  If Dana's around she'll wave, otherwise she'll wait to start a conversation until someone asks what she's doing there.