Is there a cure?

[Sukebe]

Sukebe walked through the large archway that was the library's entrance. Inside, there were shelves upon shelves of books. Books of all different colors, sizes, and age.
To the left was a shelf of rather dusty books. Surely they were of great age and quite delicate. Just past them was another shelf, but those books appeared to be quite new.

Sukebe walked down the aisle, looking at various books. It wasn't quite sure what it was looking for exactly, but more than likely it would be quite old.
Suddenly, it spotted a small book. Along it's side were some faded words. From what Sukebe could make out, it seemed to be a book on ancient religious rituals. Perhaps it would have what Sukebe needed?

It pulled out the book and began to sift through it's pages. It appeared to be written in a foreign language, one that none of this area could even begin to read. But Sukebe was more than familiar with it. The fact that it could recognize the writing lifted it's hopes even higher, for that meant the book was written by someone of it's church.
But Sukebe's situation was a unique one. It knew the ritual to put on the mask, and even the one needed to remove it after it's required time. But to remove it required the one who had placed it, and that was no longer possible. And Sukebe had been stuck with the mask for so long, that it was unsure if that would've even worked anyway.
Sukebe placed the book back on the shelf. It provided no help. It merely contained all of the rituals that it had been taught long ago.

Long ago?

It wasn't really that long ago, was it? No. It was only two years ago that the training had ended. It was only long ago because time seemed to move so slowly for Sukebe.

The only known way to remove the mask, would require the priestess who had placed it.
But... she had died only a year ago.
No. She had been murdered. It wasn't her time to die.

Was there no hope for it?

But the head priests words rang in its ears.
If you can find another who loves you the same as Delilah had, perhaps she, priestess or not, will be able to remove the mask.

Was it even possible to find another? Could there be another that could love Sukebe the same?

Sukebe looked up.
"She wouldn't want me to be sad like this. I've got to keep looking, I'll find a way."

With that, it continued on to the next shelf of books.

[eleisiakhartou]

Lost in a reverie of organizational relaxation, eleisia walked down the aisles, replacing books by memory in a slow flurry of reverent disarray. Her dress trailed a few inches behind her; oppressive heat had begun to take over and she was tired of being held together with excessive cloth. Her khimar spilled around her shoulders like a loose hood. Passing a strange presence, she looked through a movable stack, wall-high and full of encyclopedia volumes in random order.

She could see a rush of blue hair, but little else... male, female, age, race... nothing was obvious. eleisia tried to put the odd apparition out of her mind and go back to her work, but her natural curiosity was too much to fight against. Purposefully, she pushed a small wooden children's book through the stack, allowing it to fall to the floor by the feet of the stranger. Her presence thus announced, she returned to her work, calmly reordering the encyclopediae.

[Sukebe]

A small book fell to Sukebe's feet. It knelt down and picked it up, inspecting it.
It appeared to be a book for children. Sukebe opened it and began to read it. Or rather, look at the pictures, for there wasn't much to read. It was a rather obscure story, something about a pink pony and a blue rabbit. It didn't make much sense, but it was kinda cute.

Sukebe couldn't help but smile as it placed the book back where it seemed to have fallen from. Sukebe couldn't see who had pushed the book, but it was obvious that someone else was there. In a playful tone it asked, "So, are there any other books you would like to recommend?"

[eleisiakhartou]

A gentle smile graced the visage of the quiet librarian. The voice seemed to ripple through the floor, and eleisia felt more than heard a curious amusement. Opting to keep her silence, she reached for a pencil and a borrower's slip from her pocket. Marking it 275.4.12, she slipped it inside the front cover of the N-P volume of the encyclopedia, then pushed it backwards through the stack so that the spine of it seemed to magically emerge toward the stranger's face.

[Sukebe]

Sukebe waited for the stranger's response. When suddenly it was greeted by another book.

An encyclopedia?

Curious, Sukebe opened the book and a slip of paper floated down to the floor. Sukebe picked up the paper, and on it was simply the numbers "275.4.12"

Was that some sort of message? What did it mean?

Maybe...
Sukebe opened the encyclopedia and quickly flipped through the pages. 272, 273, 374, finally stopping at 275.

The entries varied from "positive" to "posture". Nothing looked overly useful, but still, the other numbers must mean something.

Ok, the next number was 4. The 4th entry?

Posse? Somehow that doesn't seem right...

What else could 4 be? Sukebe looked at the page confused. The columns, there were exactly 4!

So the 12 must narrow it down further. The 12 must be the entry.

Sukebe scanned the 4th column, down past the first 11 entries, and stopped on the word "possibility"

Sukebe's heartbeat increased rapidly as it read. It wasn't sure why, but there was something that told it that it had found the intended entry.

But... who had sent the message?

Consumed by curiosity, Sukebe sprinted around the large bookshelf, still carrying the encyclopedia in its hand, determined to see who it was.

[eleisiakhartou]

eleisia wished for the ability to fly...

Blushing, she pulled her shirt strings tighter, the fabric covering her chest more completely, and felt her the air circling her baring midriff. The skirt of her dress held to her hips by some miracle of atmospheric humidity and linen, but in the stifling heat, the librarian would not complain.

She moved along, her heart racing at her own boldness. Her hands had begun to shake, and she put down a particularly heavy book before she dropped it. As light, quick footsteps came around the shelves, she tucked one hand into the other, holding both before her as close to her belly as she dared. Curiosity tended to make her stomach flutter.

[Sukebe]

Sukebe stared in awe at the woman before it. She was... absolutely beautiful. Sure, there were plenty of attractive women around town, but there was something different about her, something special. Had Sukebe's face been visible, it would have been a light red.
Still standing where it had stopped, Sukebe awkwardly managed the words, "Um, hello. Are you the one who, um, pushed that book through the shelf?"

[eleisiakhartou]

A nervous gesture masqueraded as a graceful sweep of slender hand to collarbone. eleisia's eyes grew bigger, and she inhaled deeply, seeking calm. The blue hair had not decieved her. Before her stood a being of quiet desperation. Loneliness seemed to curl toward her through the earth. She felt the curiosity within her reaching out, bumping up against a matching curiosity from the... the...

A decidedly sensual overtone flavored the shock of their meeting, and eleisia's heart leapt just a little. The accompanying loosening of her joints was surely just the overexcitement of the day and the sweltering heat-- wasn't it?

Pushing a long lock of hair behind her shoulder, eleisia looked directly into the eyes of the obscured face. Though logical thought had fled, personality remained, and she managed to exude some semblance of her natural sarcasm.

"I'm the librarian. I don't 'push' books." Her words sounded lame, even to her, and she quickly tucked her lower lip behind her teeth, willing the words back.

[Sukebe]

Sukebe managed to will itself to walk slowly closer. It looked toward the bookshelf as though it were looking at the various volumes that lined its shelves, truly, however, it merely used it as an excuse to tear its eyes away from the woman before it and approach seemingly casually. This helped ease part of its nervousness.

"Well, a book seemed to fall mysteriously from the other side of this shelf. Though I suppose there ARE other ways it could've fallen, I don't see many to be quite as likely. But since you're the only one over here, and since the librarian would NEVER 'push books' I guess it must've been something else."

Sukebe's words sank in. She was the only one over here. And, though its movement had been slow, it had made it's way within but a few feet of her. Sukebe's heart was racing, its face quite red now.

[eleisiakhartou]

eleisia swallowed audibly as the tall stranger approached. She felt stalked, surrounded...

The voice, muffled by the mask, took apart her pride-born desire to dissemble and left her unnerved.

The creature was so close now, she could feel the pulse of its heart through the energy field. Her breathing kept catching in her chest; her throat felt stuck together. Words were not forthcoming, her mind swam in a restive unconscious miasma of hormones and heat and desperate loneliness...

Her eyes fixed on the eyeholes of the mask, her mouth moved in hypnotized honesty. "I pushed the books. I push books all the time. I'm a librarian. That's what we do. Push books."

The mechanical blather spilling from her lips provided only an obvious opportunity to stare into the eyes behind the mask... and then her voice came again, slow and quiet... "Who are you?"

[Sukebe]

Sukebe's head was overflowing with thoughts. What do I do? What do I say? Am I too close? Should I move farther? I don't even know her, why am I acting like this? Why did I start a conversation with her? Should I have said what I said?

Sukebe looked toward her and instantly their eyes locked. Sukebe could've sworn its heart had stopped at that moment. All of the thoughts that had been swimming through it's mind were gone. Everything had stopped. The only thing that remained was Eleisia's eyes gazing into Sukebe's own.

Vaguely aware of the question it had been asked, Sukebe replied, "I... I... My name... My name is... You... can call me... Sukebe..."
It was barely aware that it had even spoke. It had lost itself within Eleisia's deep brown eyes. Sukebe couldn't look away from her, nor did it want to.

[eleisiakhartou]

eleisia was completely accustomed to the energy signature of sex. Karador was a wonderful place to live and work, but that didn't mean it didn't have a seedy underbelly- and she was never one to discriminate. It wasn't every day she could go out after work and forget about responsibility, duty, and the morality of her tribe, but when it was possible, she was only as shy as she was sober. The scent of male arousal, the widening of an intoxicated pupil, the aspirated whiff of feminine aroma after the toss of flirtatious hair... all combined to create the atmosphere that, when overlaid with stale beer and fresh sweat, allowed her to forget her codices and her manuscripts.

This was no ordinary attraction. There was something familiar, something comfortable, that mitigated the threatening sense of risk. The mask covered all hints of facial structure, but it did not obscure the press of energetic pull. A magnetism was drawing them together, and no denying it.

eleisia suddenly found equilibrium in recognition. Relieved that there was nothing sinister in the sensual space between them, she listened hard past the rushing in her ears, and found the wherewithal to respond.

That was not to say that she was able to control the hypoxic sense of expectation in her voice.

"kel," she erupted. She could have smacked herself. Her fingers fluttered to her forehead, then shoved through her hair in an atypical demonstration of loss of control. It was a gesture usually reserved for her bedroom, and one only ever seen by the select few who ought to see her hair in the first place...

The sounds of her beloved father's voice echoing in her mind, she thought of her khimar, the sheer fabric now pooled behind her shoulders, and rebelliously affirmed her statement.

"I am kel. They call me eleisia khartou here." Flustered by her own immediate response to Sukebe's proximity, she sought refuge in professionalism, and her spine straightened impossibly longer. "May I help you with something?"

[Sukebe]

Sukebe saw Eleisia take on a more professional air. It was quite obviously forced, but Sukebe took comfort in realizing that she felt just as awkward as it did. Sukebe cracked a smile.

May I help you with something? The things that Sukebe would've liked to answer that with. But that probably wouldn't have been a good idea. Not someone it hadn't even known for ten minutes.

"Well, you seemed to have some idea of what I was looking for. Unless you were only pushing books for the fun of it?"

[eleisiakhartou]

A vibrant blush began to creep up a brown-tanned neck, and eleisia could feel her cheeks growing hot. Certainly this was the oddest conversation she'd had, working here!

Of course, odd was a subjective term; then again, eleisia was the only one currently ruminating on the topic. She hoped. What a thing it would be if this Sukebe could read her clearly!! Which brought up another terribly appropriate point: Why couldn't she read the stranger?

Emotion was blinding to everyone from time to time, though it was not usually a problem for her. Nervous energy could excite submolecular particles and create a haze of adrenaline that did not allow for clear thought. She had sought calm and found precious little more times in the last five minutes than she had all year-- and that included moving to a new home and avoiding two rapes and a possible demon attack. For Pete's sake (whoever he was), she was stronger than this. Better than this! And yet, she felt the familiar warm surge as this most interesting character brought a fresh new intensity to a life spent in the company of dust motes.

Attempting bravely to avoid an obvious stutter, she responded shyly, though her eyes shone with an obvious excitement.

"I crave knowledge with intensity. I ..I need to learn. I have to know more! I couldn't let you leave without finding out what might be going on in the next aisle. And ... And you looked so very interesting! Blue hair, after all, even in Karador, will bring some attention. And you... well, I hope this isn't too personal..."

Her eyes dropped toward the floor as she struggled to explain her sensory ability to a complete stranger, her voice wobbled and dropped and dipped and weaved.

"I can feel a depth of loneliness in you... You haven't come to terms with it yet. It isn't that you are alone. You carry with you the spectre of what you miss. Who? Perhaps it is a person. But I can stand an aisle away from you and feel the shadow of it. And you aren't resigned to it, it isn't something you can accept, it's just pain and loss and maybe even a little bit of fear."

Finished, eleisia's eyes looked up to gaze into the eyeholes of the mask. They were full of unreleased tears and unexpressed sympathy.

[Sukebe]

Sukebe didn't know what to say. THis woman, Eleisia, had described Sukebe so perfectly that it was far from being coincidence. And yet, that isn't what had it speachless, it was how Eleisia had spoken. She sought knowledge, but she hadn't stated it as though they were merely facts. She had cared, she cared for someone whom she had only met minutes ago.

"Delilah... Her name was Delilah. She died, a year ago."

Why was Sukebe telling her this? If it revealed too much, it could lead to problems. But, somehow, Sukebe knew it could trust her.