At just after midday the library was empty. Even the librarians were elsewhere; Cai had not seen hide or hair of any of them since she had entered. It wasn't odd not to see them, since they had an annoying habit of showing up when you least expected -- or desired. There was many a time during her years as a page when one of the librarians had turned up just as an argument over some math problem or historical fact reached its loudest. She could still remember the look on Mistress Henry's face when her friend Marlon had thrown himself across the table and tackled Barth of Lorenn. The poor woman had looked fit to fall over in a dead faint.

Strolling across the room to the stairs, she headed up to the second level at a leisurely pace; her normally excessive amount of paperwork had diminished to a bearable level and weapons class with the pages had already been dealt with that morning. It had been a long time since her last foray into the stacks -- blame the paperwork -- and it felt good to just walk about and browse the titles. Many were familiar from those long nights spent studying with her friends and classmates, and some were new -- or very old if they had only been just brought out from the archives.

Taking up a spot at an open window, she looked out over the practice yards. A few people were moving about, some leading horses to or from the stables, some in the thick of practice bouts. One figure was even taking runs at the ring quintain; it was a bold move, but whoever it was seemed to have luck on his side -- so far the rider had made each pass without fault. She absently wondered who it was; she was too far to tell definitively, and the names of a few of her best page jousters came to mind, but the person could easily be a knight or squire wanting to keep their skills with the lance sharp.

It was hot in the sun, especially in the middle of the day. Aaron had cursed himself for not thinking ahead of time; even he was having trouble coping with the unusually hot day. so, he'd called the training session quits and declared the day for rest. If one hadn't been standing in the sun for several hours, they might have found the relieved sighs rather amusing. Aaron didn't--he was one of them rather pleased with his decision.

To escape the heat and piles of paperwork, which consisted mainly of requisition orders, official reports, notes from the Spymaster and casual inquiries, he'd headed to the library. The library was a good place to visit, especially when peace and quiet was all someone wanted.

Of course, when you expect a quiet day, you always, always run into someone you know.

Always.

Like now. Aaron had headed down on the many aisles, looking for a book on Scanran history that had been recommended to him by a notable scholar. A part of Aaron wondered how much history Scanra actually had, but that wasn't the point.

He'd noticed a figure through his Sight the moment he entered the library, but had paid no heed. It was no doubt a librarian--or so he thought. Usually there were several present, but when he saw who it was, standing by one of the windows, his feelings turned to a mix of confusion, surprise, and pleasure.

The confusion was because he'd never been in a library empty of its tenders, which led to his surprise, and pleasure as he saw Cailin of Darroch, the training master. He'd talked to her several times, and he thought the two got along rather well. Their occupations were, after all, similar. The major difference was the areas of pressure; Cailin was under pressure to make sure her pages performed well, and Aaron to keep the Palace safe. Both were major feats, the reason why Cailin had automatically earned Aaron's deepest respect (not to mention sympathy....).

"Good afternoon, sir," Aaron greeted. He was looking forward to a conversation, even a small one, to distract him from his duties, and Cailin was no doubt one of the best to do so.

So absorbed was she with watching the jouster practice, it was not until Aaron spoke that she realized she was no longer alone. Normal people would jump or at least look surprised, startled, something...but Cai really could not be called 'normal' unless it as by someone who did not know her. After years as a knight and training master one becomes accustomed to little surprises. The big ones are still out there, but remaining cool and composed for the little stuff is enough, especially when dealing with over-eager first years who are a bit too desperate to get out there and show off with the practice swords.

Turning, and letting the jouster get back to his work unobserved, Cai smiled crookedly at the head of the palace guard. "Good afternoon," she replied in her usual way, voice even and controlled. Glancing out the window she continued, "Hot day today. I can just imagine some of the reactions I would get from the pages on a day like this." The smile grew a bit. "It would be the end of the world just to pick up the lance, let alone take a run with it." There had been a particularly boiling day in late spring, and the looks on some of the pages faces when she told them the schedule.... Some of them looked ready to keel over in the anticipation of it all before she informed them that weapons was to be pared down to fencing and staffwork due to the heat. Of course, she had known this all along, and she told them so (the looks then were almost as funny as their predecessors). She told them also that they needed to realize that there might come a time when they were obliged to work in extreme heat or cold, and they had to be ready for it. Pulling a long face just because the weather was not satisfactory would not cut it in the real world, and it would not cut it for training.

"If you don't mind my asking, what brings you do the library this fine day?" Cai asked, her tone bordering on open sarcasm. It was always enjoyable to talk with someone who knows what you know and goes through much of the same routine: paperwork, training, more paperwork.... It was almost funny how her knight friends didn't understand exactly what it meant to train others - they only had to worry about a squire, if that, and certainly not a copious amount of energetic pages; unless it came to war, which would be the only true exception.

ooc// I am so sorry this took so long to get a reply up for...long story really, really short: school started. -sigh-

Aaron was not surprised when Cailin did not jump. He had developed the unusual habit, as well, but he'd always had the advantage of the Sight. Cailin, however, had no such ability, but had obviously adjusted to constant surprises in the Palace. Hence, the two usually seemed content to, not necessarily sneak, but remain quite when appropriate, like now.

"Good afternoon," the knight replied. "Hot day today. I can just imagine some of the reactions I would get from the pages on a day like this." Aaron chuckled when Cailin continued, "It would be the end of the world just to pick up the lance, let alone take a run with it." It was very true, although it wasn't just the pages--he was still glad he called a day of rest. The groaning alone would drive him past his limit of patience, and then there would be trying to get the guards to actually move. Lips twitching, he voiced some of his thoughts in a dry and sarcastic tone, "Aye, that it would be."

Of course, just because Aaron gave his guards a day off didn't mean Cailin was going to give her pages a rest. He knew she believed that real life didn't allow for a fussy attitude towards the weather in which one responded to a cry for help, but Cailin seemed more used to the heat than Aaron. He could live through it, of course, and would do his duty no matter his personal requirements, but it was still nice to have a day out of the heat, especially when one had spent the last week doing training in it. The trainee guards were prepared enough, and there wasn't much more he could do. Cailin, however, had more pressure and expectations to deal with--hence, she couldn't afford to call it a day.

The Captain was also not surprised when the knight asked why he was in the library. Waiting a moment to appear to be thinking, he replied with a grin, "Trying to relax, actually. I was hoping to steal away with an interesting book, although what on I'm not sure. Goodness knows I need something different in my life. Someone suggested painting, but I think I laughed so hard that they're now determined to see me not paint." Half snorting in amusement at the memory, he asked, still chuckling, "And you? You almost sounded... well, excited, at the thought of sending your pages out into the heat to do some training." Then, straightening his face to appear serious, added, "I never knew you were so fond of torture." Having recently come to the conclusion that a little more humour and light-hearted fun would not hurt, especially when he and Cailin had similar duties, he’d thrown in a touch of sarcasm that the knight would understand, and probably enjoy. The two could understand a joke that no-one else could, which Aaron appreciated. It was nice, having a friend who actually understood the hardships of his work.

((OOC: No problem, it's just great to hear from you again = ) ))

ooc// again, my sincere apologies for taking so long to reply...I do despise college apps....

"Painting? Interesting suggestion," she commented, her tone light and quite obviously not at all serious. "You know, I believe someone suggested that to me sometime in my first year as a knight." She grinned roguishly. "Let's just say that it involved a large amount of blue paint, a quintain, and a giant white sheet." What a morning that was. Cai remembered it clearly: okay, well not that clearly, but she would never forget how the whole thing had backfired and the paint had ended up one her face instead of the sheet -- which remained a pristine white -- and of course that said paint had stained her face and neck blue for nearly a month. How embarrassing.

"Perhaps painting is not the ideal pastime for people in our line of work."

The use of the word 'torture' very nearly set her off laughing. Nearly. She did take pride in her self-control. However, she couldn't help a smile at the word. "The pages would say that everything I have them do is torture; hot, cold, or in between. They are extremely hard to satisfy. That, or they are the best batch of complainers the nobility has ever sent me." Absently, she wondered if Aaron's trainees were anything like her lot of pages. Something told her that in heat like this it didn't really matter, but that same something indicated that the pages had the added bonus of being -- for the most part -- pampered nobility; she knew that from experience. No matter how much any one of those youngsters wanted to be a knight, the actual 'becoming' bit of the process managed to elude their hopes and dreams until they finally realized just how much work they had to put in to realize those childhood wishes.

"Actually, for once I have nothing to do. No paperwork, no weapons training for the pages, and I have no desire to go and tilt in this heat." Gedan would probably thank her if he could talk; the big charger hated the heat almost as much as the pages, and he could be even more surly about having to work in it than her human charges.

((OOC: No problem!))

Cailin replied, and grinned, earning a twitch of the lips from Aaron. The lady knight seemed to fade in concentration for a second, returning her mind to the years before when she was no doubt involved in some incident leaving her rather inclined not to pay attention to the suggestion of painting. Aaron had no idea what--the incident could have been before his time--but he guessed that it had been rather embarrassing. He understood totally--the only reason he'd never taken up painting was because, when he had tried it in his early days, he'd made such a fool of himself even his grandmother decide to keep him away from art in general. Charcoal, they allowed him to play with--he'd always been decent at drawing, which was rather handy when designing layouts for obstacles courses and the likes.

Cailin continued, "Perhaps painting is not the ideal pastime for people in our line of work." Aaron's lips twitched again--"Truer words have never been spoken," he replied with a grin.

Aaron was glad when the lady knight smiled at his comment, as it showed she did have a sense of humour, or at least appreciated it. When she spoke, however, he grimaced in understanding. His men loved to complain, but they didn't complain when it was inappropriate. If Aaron was nearing the point where he'd tell them all to run around the Palace ten times, they'd all shut up, and just get on with their work. Whether or not the pages that Cailin trained had any sensitivity of emotions, he didn't know. Perhaps they did, and were quiet when told, but perhaps they didn't, and drove all of the Masters up the wall.

"No paperwork?" repeated Aaron, trying to turn his amused expression to that of jealousy. He wasn't that jealous, of course, but such an exaggeration in this context would be amusing. "Well then, you can help me do mine. I swear, no matter how much I do, the pile seems to grow every day." Which was true enough--he'd do paperwork for a few hours on one day, even more the next day, and yet the pile hadn't grown or diminished. Guards sometimes asked what he did in his spare time, and commented on the fact that paperwork really shouldn't take up that much time. Aaron'd take them to his office, show them the piles, and how tedious and boring it was, and they'd never ask again. It was a handy threat. One of these days, he'd have to change punishments from laps to paperwork. He grinned at the thought--no-one'd turn up for watches later ever again.