(no subject)

[ladyfirestarter]

It's the same hallway as the last time he came through. The drawings have changed; one of them is a careful pencil sketch of two hands in repose, fingers halfway overlapping.

Charlie stands aside to let him pass, studying him carefully as he crosses the threshold.

Comments

[ladyfirestarter]

She gives him a small rueful smile. "Sorry about that."

The poetry section of the library is surprisingly extensive, and has a reading area of its own: two soft armchairs, and a table with another chair next to it.

[thisfatefulhour]

Charles passes her and goes up to the shelves, running his fingers along the spines reverently. They pause several times -- The Road Not Taken; Nocturne of Remembered Spring; The Sea and the Mirror; Words for the Wind -- until finally settling on Questions About Angels.

It's probably safe to say he's in his own world right now.

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie finds a chair and seats herself comfortably, watching him study the shelves.

The kids should be getting out of morning classes fairly soon now. Some of them will doubtless find their way here: if she concentrates she can hear the word passed through the goodmind, the one that says someone we know is here, he's come back.

[thisfatefulhour]

He cocks his head slightly, and shoots Charlie another look, this one less readable.

(he's come back)

(It echoes slightly, under the goodmind, plucking at the constant homesickness and the nervousness.)

Shaking his hair out of his eyes, Charles settles into a chair and starts to read. It's something to focus on.

[walk_ins]

Winter sunlight sifts through the windows, moving across the floor slowly, almost imperceptibly.

Light footfalls, and a face appears around the corner of one of the bookshelves.

[thisfatefulhour]

(no wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart)

Charles' head comes up a moment before Avi is in sight.

The look in his eyes (the feel of him) is a jumble of anxiousness and hope and pleasure.

[walk_ins]

Avi studies Charles for a moment in intent seriousness, then gives him a tentative smile.

"Hi."

[thisfatefulhour]

A quick smile in return, almost as tentative.

"Avi. Hi."

[walk_ins]

He glances at Charlie, who smiles back at him, and back at Charles, and then his gaze wanders along the wall.

"Is it better?" he asks, apparently of a bookshelf.

[thisfatefulhour]

The smile fades.

"Better," he says finally. "It's not what it was before, though. You take it day by day."

[walk_ins]

Avi nods, the gesture a little jerky. He hunkers down to a crouch next to the bookcase, wrapping his arms around his knees, and settles there.

[thisfatefulhour]

He glances away briefly.

(He knows.)

It's only a moment, though -- then he looks up again, expectant.

[ladyfirestarter]

There's a muffled giggle from somewhere, quite close by.

Charlie looks up at that sound, and suppresses a smile.

[thisfatefulhour]

Charles' own lips twitch up, and he shoots a glance between Charlie and Avi.

(The nervousness lessens a little.)

[walk_ins]

Another giggle, louder.

And an aggrieved sigh from the other side of the room, where a thin red-haired figure stands leaning against the doorframe. "He can hear you," she informs the air pointedly, before turning and stalking out.

[thisfatefulhour]

The smile firms, and he calls after her, "Nice to see you too, Beth."

A glance around the room (with another amused look at Charlie). "And all of you."

[walk_ins]

"She's fretful," an amused voice says, very near.

Zillah's face peers out from around the edge of the bookshelf.

[thisfatefulhour]

Charles shoots an wry look towards the door Beth left through. "I know how she feels."

Then there's a smile for Zillah -- a little tentative, but pleased.

It looks rather like hers when they first met, actually.

"Hi."

[walk_ins]

"Either was deafer than neither was dumb," she confides.

She's studying him intently, and then her gaze drifts sideways.

[thisfatefulhour]

"But under the wonder," he counters with hardly a pause, "is over the why."

[walk_ins]

Her eyes flicks back to him, and she beams.

"It's now," she says softly, happily.

"Hi."

[thisfatefulhour]

He nods at the library. "Yours is mine."

Beat.

"We'll be at it all day if we start now."

[walk_ins]

Zillah nods, but the laughter's fading from her face.

"The world is quiet here," she says, uncertainly.

[thisfatefulhour]

"Yes."

Slowly -- "The heart breathes to music."

[walk_ins]

"You came here seeking shelter."

A tiny upright line appears between her eyebrows as she studies him.