Darin didn’t know as much as she would like about Azurei culture, but even as a human the gesture Ridahne used was strangely intimate. Darin had meant it as a joke, yet Ridahne had seen through the shaky laughs and tired smile to see a truth that the human was struggling with. Darin had to bite back a sob as the warrior pressed their foreheads together. How was Ridahne so good at this, at loving, at saying what needed to be said? Was it practice like the Elf implied it was? Darin let Ridahne go back to the research. She felt her friend’s absence keenly. 

Without thinking about it her head craned back to look at the canopy above her. It was an old habit, looking up at the sky to think or look for rain. There was nothing to see her except the rustling leaves. Darin heard creaking noises and shot a sharp look at the nearby branches and trunks. There was the air of a child would had been caught in the act and scolded removing their hand from the sweets jar. Darin may have wanted to see the sky, but she wasn’t going to have a repeat of last night. The creaking noise stopped, and Darin crack a smile.

It quickly disappeared as she looked down at her hands. One was clasped in the other as she kneaded her hands in another old habit. This one was an end of day chore designed to work the stiffness out of her joints and tendons. As she did so she thought. It was a sobering thought to know that if she asked for it Astra would tear itself apart and sink into the sea. She couldn’t imagine doing that. She couldn’t see a reason for that. Yet her emotions were getting the better of her and in those emotions were subtle requests. She may not consciously ask for it, but if she got angry enough or depressed enough it would be easy to loss track of what was happening. Astra would be no more before she could stop it. She found herself reentering the Archives. She had research of her own to do.

The person at the desk looked up as she approached, “How can I help you?”

Darin sank into the bow of a student towards a teacher, “Um yes. Thank you. Can you tell me where I can find books about controlling your emotions? Well not your emotions. I mean for me. To control my emotions. In Common please.”

The woman cut off her babbling and gave her a location. There was another bow from Darin and more babbled thanks and then the human was off. It didn’t take her long to find the books. It took a little bit longer for the girl to decipher the titles. Thankful there were no nearby attendants to make fun of her sounding the words out loud. She found a thin book with a title about meditation. Darin had a vague idea of what that was. She had no idea what it was. She sat down with her legs crossed and her ankles on her knees as she gingerly opened to the first page. Oh, there were lots of words. Darin’s face screwed up in despair as she started reading with a whisper. This was going to take a while. She would probably be here until she got kicked out or Ridahne came to get her. Or until she got frustrated and stormed out of the building. Whatever happened first.