In Search of Answers (open)

[Rúna]

Rúna paced back and forth between the library shelves, scanning the titles for anything with the word "memory" in it. There had to be something here that could help her get hers back. Maybe she was being impatient, since neither Bolin nor Fable had gotten back to her about looking for this themselves. On the other hand, she'd already been waiting and wondering about her lost memories for over eight hundred years. Of course she was going to take the opportunity to look for things herself, now that she had the resources.

She added another book to the small stack in her arms, then looked at it again and sighed. Nothing helpful, just Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy in one volume. Someone hadn't done a good job of putting it back where it belonged. She turned back toward the fantasy section to correct their mistake.

[Odol Xhyl]

Odol turned the corner just then and bumped solidly into Rúna, sending her books tumbling to the floor. He sighed through his nose and set his own set of books on the floor-- The Labyrinthine Subconscious, a collection of tales by H.P. Lovecraft, and an old musty-looking volume bound in thin leather, bearing no title on the worn spine-- and knelt to gather them for her, careful to avoid knocking any other books from the lower shelves with his wings. He grumbled an apology as he straightened up, then blinked at her once.

He blinked at her twice.

Then he gave her a look that was either slightly offended or aggressively sympathetic. It was hard to tell.

"Where are your wings...?"

[Rúna]

Rúna let out a startled honk as someone bumped into her, and bent to help him gather up her books.

"Not your fault," she said as he apologized.

At the question she stiffened a little, half out of surprise at his bluntness and half out of residual fear. She couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes. "They... someone stole them from me."

[Odol Xhyl]

Odol's eyebrow twitched upwards into an arch. He rose to his full height, lip curling in offense. He knew what it was like to have someone attempt to take his wings, and the idea that it had happened to someone else did not agree with him in the least.

"Who was it? I'll bring them back here in pieces."

He blinked again. "Not your wings. The person that stole them. In pieces. As many as you like."

[Rúna]

Rúna craned her neck to look up at him, biting her lower lip. "His name is Loki. I think he's one of the Fair Folk... I met him in what you call Arcadia. I knew it as Asgard."

[Odol Xhyl]

"So some massive pile of dicks is waltzing around in Arcadia taking people's wings?" His lips quirked into a moue of distaste and he crossed his arms. His wings twitched. He knew that there were collectors, real sickos who liked having the wings of avian Fae on display like trophies. Perhaps this Loki character was one of those.

He would have to ask Auntie Tulip if she knew anything.

And then he would go a-hunting.

He looked over Rúna, his expression softening. It gave him an odd pain in his chest to meet someone who smelled like a bird, but had no wings.

"I'm Odol," he offered, making a conscious effort to keep the growl out of his voice.

[Rúna]

Rúna shrugged and folded her arms across her chest. "I don't know. He took my memories, too. Of before I was taken to Arcadia. But that was more than eight hundred years ago, long before he took my wings."

She looked at Odol's hand, then offered her own. "They call me Rúna."

[Odol Xhyl]

"Geez. Compared to you, I'm just a baby. You're just a a few centuries younger than Auntie Tulip." He gave her hand a careful shake. "It's good to meet you, Rúna."

[Rúna]

Rúna smiled. "Good to meet you, too. Who's Auntie Tulip?"

[Odol Xhyl]

Odol tipped his head back thoughtfully.

"Auntie Tulip is--  well, have you heard of the Roost?  The Avian sanctuary.  She started that.  Takes care of any winged peoples that need shelter or safety or companionship.  She's the only Wakeling I've met outside of Arcadia, aside from my brother.  Or rather, he's her nephew.  He just took me in as his brother."  

Odol shrugged.  "It's complicated.  Whatever.  Auntie Tulip is really, really old and really, really powerful.  I'm convinced she knows everyone.  She was banished from the Wakeling tribes, but they still consider her an Elder and treat her with respect, simply because she's been an influence for so long.  And the Wakelings don't respect anyone."

He quirked his lips again.  "Actually, I can't even be certain what her exact age is.  I say you're a few centuries younger because Auntie Tulip stopped counting at eleven hundred.  I have no idea how long ago that was."

[Rúna]

Rúna nodded slowly as he spoke. "I've never heard of that, or her. Or Wakelings, for that matter. I didn't even know what the Fair Folk were until I found this place. Then again, I spent eight hundred and ten years in Arcadia being told I was a valkyrie, so." She shrugged and lowered her gaze.

[Odol Xhyl]

Odol patted her shoulder. "You know what Fae are now, though. And the library here is huge-- if you're wanting to research where you came from, this is the place to do it."

[Rúna]

"True." She looked around them, then back at the books in her arms. "Right now I'm hoping to find something about getting lost memories back. Professor Honghui said he'd ask Fable to help, but I figure the more I can find on my own, the better."

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