The library in the University was unrivalled in the Eastern lands and wasn’t much the typical library. For starters, when it was buzzing with scholars and students, it wasn’t very quiet. A low drone in the background, but not the all enshrouding stifled silence of most libraries.

But today, the room was mostly deserted and Ashley sat in his favorite chair, one tucked in the corner away from everything else, curled up tightly in a chair, his eyes scanning a book. It was about Laven, one of the first fire mages of Tortall. He wasn’t the most well known of fire mages nor the most powerful, but to fire mage students the best known. He set down theories, most of which had proven true, the first one to do so.

Azarian looked up from her desk in the corner of the library. Loudly she declared to nobody in particular, "Well! It's noisy enough in here that right now the Dove would be quieter to work in. It's a comforting thing in a seat of learning." She scowled at the nearest available person then threw down her quill.

She began gathering up books but managed to knock some off the desk, causing her to curse loudly with a string of words that would have made a guardsman blush. It certainly made several of the academics turn scarlet.

Ashley looked up to see what the new ruckus was. Teacher? He thought spotting Azarian and flinching away into the chair, carefully jamming the book inches away from his nose, and trying to hide from the authority figure.

If he was lucky, nothing was catch on fire or start as it was wont to do when Ashley was under stress.

Azarian tucked the last of the books under her chin and headed for the door. She could feel the book slowly begin to slide out and it slid and dropped off the top of the pile.

"Gods be damned!" she muttered through clenched teeth.

"You there!" she called to Ashley who was painfully obviously trying to hide behind a book.

"You....flame haired boy reading the works of Laven. Yes you. Do me an eternal favour and grab that," she gestured towards the floor with her head, "so that I can get out of THIS hive of buzzing bees and do some work!"

Nope, she had to be talking to someone else, after all there were at least another twenty students lounging around the library. But after the words “flame haired” he knew he was screwed. And then she had to go and be even MORE specific so there was no way that even Ashley could pretend to wriggle out of it.

He somehow compelled his legs to brace themselves against his weight and trudge over to the book and hold it out the teacher. His face was pure white making his freckles stand out sickly.

"I can't take it you fool, just stick it back on the top of the pile for me!"

The deep frown on Azarian's face melted away as she saw the look of pure fear Ashley wore. When he was close enough so only he could hear her she lowered her tone and said, "It's okay, I'm not going to ask you to dance for me next!" She recognised the boy now he was nearer.

"Calhoun isn't it? I've heard mutterings about you before. You don't have to look at me like that, only in the students common room. I'm technically not a REAL lecturer yet so they don't allow me the sacred privilidge of sitting in the Proffessors common room." She realised she'd gone off a tangent. "I digress. Thank you for the help." She nodded at Ashley.

“Ok-k-kay,” he managed to stammer out, setting the book on top of the pile. Ashley was notorious among teacher and staff. He imagined that there were days that Mithrian priests saw quite a lot of the teachers begging the deity to spare them from trying to hammer any knowledge into his skull.

Azarian headed for the door and then turned back to Ashley.

"If you want to read something truly unique on Laven go to the shelves at the rear of the west wing of the library, the scrolls, and look for the Maxius Codex. It will blow old Master Rizen's mind if you use that in a study on Laven."

She turned away and headed for the door.

(OOC: This can be at a later time, or it can be just minutes after. I dunno when this started or when it was supposed to have happened, so I'm trying to make it fit either way. :) Also, I made it so anyone can be this certain person, so please, someone, reply.)

Hanna poked her head in the door and grinned. Students, teachers, and scholars moved about the great library. The bookcases were tall- she spied ladders in some places- and filled to the brim with all shapes and sizes of knowledge, useful or not. Hanna grinned and almost shyly walked inside. It was the biggest library she'd ever seen.

She carefully walked around, going over a mental list of books she ought to read in preparation for her classes. "Excuse me," she asked someone nearby uncertainly. "Could you help me find a few books? I've never been to a library this big before... I feel a bit lost."

((Never mind))

((Aw C'mon Anya!))

Ashley yipped a little to hear someone addressing him so soon after his last encounter. He dropped the book that Azarian had pointed out and whirled around, pressing his back against the bookshelf, and saw a fourteen year old gurl. Oh, yeah. She was terrifying. Ashley blushed a curtain of red behind his freckles. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly.

Hanna looked slightly puzzled. Had she actually surprised him? Certainly she hadn't been trying to be sneaky or anything... She noticed the red hair, the freckles, and, most importantly, the age difference.

'Yay male species!'

"Umm," she started out unsurely, blinking. "Sorry if I startled you- I didn't mean to! It's just, I have no clue where I'm going. This is the first time I've been to a ginormous library before..." Realizing she was rambling, Hanna carefully fidgeted with the edges of her clothes, watching them instead of the stranger. "Er. My name's Hanna, Hanna Syria. Could you help me find some books? I need them for classes; I start tomorrow.. Sorry if I'm being a bother..."

((OOC: ... Can't... write... for beans...))

Ashley looked down at the new student. “You’re getting books first day before you had classes?” He asked. He shook his hair out of his eyes. “Why?” Most of the classes either gave you a book or you had to buy them. But there were a few copies hanging around the library, not in the right place 99.9% of the time, but whatever.

Hanna frowned at the question seriously, studying him with those bright green eyes carefully before replying. Her voice was slow and careful- at least, for the first word.

"Because... Reading is FUN!" She made the super cheesiest smile in existance and then laughed. "Not all the books I'd like to read are for classes, silly. Besides, I'm going to be one of the youngest in all my classes. I don't want to lag."

'As if you were going to lag in the first place, stupid! Now you look like a nerdy little bookworm! Wow, Hanna, you're doing a great job of introducing yourself as a COMPLETE MORON.'

"How old are you? Well, apparently you're a first year, but there'll be plenty of other kids your age in them. Most of them enter young rather than later, especially the Gifted ones." He reassured her, picking up the Book of Laven and studying it once more.