Friendly(?) Invitation

As it had been arranged, Albatross came to pick up the borrowed books from Theodore. And as promised, Theodore had thought about the kinds of books he would like to be brought to him.

"You want newspapers?" Albatross asked with a quizzical expression.

"Yeah. I can't exactly leave the workshop grounds at the moment, so I thought I could learn more about the city through that," explained Theodore. There was no falsehood in his words. He did indeed want to learn more about the city, though it's so that he could formulate an escape plan rather than simple curiosity.

"I'm afraid there are no newspapers here. Mages don't like other people poking their noses into their businesses you see. However, I can share some unconfirmed gossips with you, if you'd like."

(*Unconfirmed* gossips? Meaning she can't share actual information?)

"I guess it's better than nothing," said Theodore, figuring some information, even if untrue, could be useful. Where there's smoke, there's fire, as they say. "As for the books, I guess I'll go with whatever you think is good. You must be delivering books for quite a while to memorize all of them, right? Surely you would know if something is a good read."

"Oh, you have no idea. Most mages never go to the library themselves. Instead, they rely on couriers like us to pick the books up. Still, if I don't know your preferences, I can't really make a selection."

"Just pick whatever the other mages are reading these days."

"Very well, I suppose I can do that. Anything else?"

"That should be it."

"Then I'll see you later."

With her usual unnatural cheer, Albatross ran off into the streets. Having interacted with her for the third time, Theodore still could not quite make up his mind about her. That being said, he was starting to get used to her and had begun to unconsciously relax in her presence. That wasn't necessarily a good thing, not in this city, but he couldn't possibly keep his guard up all the time around everyone. Without him realizing it, Theodore had begun to yearn for someone he could afford to let his guard down around. He wanted a friend, so to speak.

***

In the afternoon, Albatross returned, bearing a package containing three hefty tomes for Theodore. The three tomes were: 'Notable Artifacts of Great Mages Past,' something quite often read by apprentices old and new as they dreamed of owning a powerful artifact of their own one day, 'Myths and Legends of the Ruins of Stargazer Isle,' another popular read for new apprentices, and finally, 'An Investigation of Leylines Within the Nixian Empire,' a must read for those trying to understand leylines and those planning large scale magic within empire territories.

"Only three?" Theodore mused. he didn't think that the subjects of interest of the time would be so narrow.

"I am afraid these three copies were the only ones still in the library when I went to pick them up. I'll fetch the other ones once they're available."

"The library here sure is popular, huh?"

"Well, it *is* the only library in the city, not to mention that the entrance exam, I mean the regular one, was only held a year ago, so plenty of students are still rather fresh when it comes to magical knowledge. In fact, these three tomes were supposed already reserved for someone else, but the moment I mentioned Elder Kalman, they let me have them ahead of the others. I suppose that's the perks of working under an elder, on paper anyways, since I'm not supposed to mention his apprentice."

"I see..."

Theodore frowned at that last part. He should have told her not to mention Kalman at all. After all, someone might figure out that Kalman had received an apprentice from looking at the sort of books being borrowed. Perhaps Theodore should have thought things through, but then again, there were only so many things his mind could handle at a time, to think through every little thing down to every minute possibility was impossible.

"Well, thanks for your trouble," said Theodore as he proceeded to close the gates.

"Wait! Aren't we forgetting something? What about our other promise?"

"Promise?" Theodore reflexively tilted his head. He couldn't recall any promises he had made recently.

"I thought you wanted to hear about the rumors and goings-on in the city? I said that I'll tell them to you sometime, didn't I?"

(Right, there were talks about that, weren't there? I guess that's a promise of a sort.)

"We're doing that right now?"

"When else? Unless you have something else to do right now."

"Well, there are still assignments that I haven't finished and I planned to check out the books you've just brought me after that."

Though, in truth, that was a lie. Theodore had already completed the assignments Fiana had left him and he had no intention of touching the books until after dinner. At the moment, he was preoccupied with something else, a little thing he's been working on for the past few days, and he would rather minimize the chances of someone finding out about it.

"Oh, I see," said Albatross, looking somewhat disappointed. "That's a shame. Perhaps another day then."

"How about tomorrow? Come around this time tomorrow and we can sit down and have a nice chat," Theodore suggested. He did need information in regards to the city, after all. He just needed to know when Albatross was coming so that he could clean up before then.

"Really? Is that alright?"

For a moment, there, Theodore spotted a glint of excitement within Albatross's eyes. He could not help but wonder if she was that happy about the invitation, or if there was something else on her mind. After all, Theodore couldn't imagine that a regular mage would get to visit an elder's workshop all too often, much less an apprentice-in-name.

"It should be fine as long as we don't disturb Elder Kalman," Theodore cautioned, bringing up Kalman as a warning to discourage any 'bright ideas' that might be in Albatross's head.

"It's a promise then! I'll see you tomorrow."

After that, they had a brief exchange of farewells before Albatross rushed off into the streets.

To Theodore, it seemed that Albatross was always rushing from one place to another. Although, she would always take her time when talking to him. Perhaps it was just her taking care to not offend a proper apprentice, but from her display of friendliness and proactive approach, Theodore felt that things might not be so simple about her.

(She's up to something, I can feel it in my guts. Still, maybe I can use this. Maybe...)

***

End of Chapter 39

***