Finnegan agreed to consulting a librarian, and after a bit of a pause he suggested Alys take the lead.  She was happy to, and indeed she knew where the librarians were likely to be found -- but before she could turn to head off, Finnegan brought up an unexpected memory.  "Our first dance?" she echoed.  "That would have been after I started attending Geraldine's, and the Institute, right -- or wait, no.  No, I remember.  I was what, thirteen?  Fourteen?"  The details came rushing back in a flood.  "I was sick of being shown off to people so I escaped to the manor's library and completely ignored my dance card, but you wouldn't go away."  Alyssana spared a smile for her younger self.  "That was how I thought of you, you know, until we met properly at the Institute.  'The boy who wouldn't go away'.  And I think I judged you rather unfairly, back then.  I am glad we became friends despite that."

If she focused on the memory, she could remember the finer points of it.  The dry, book-scented air of the library.  Her annoyance at being discovered, and her uncharitable thoughts regarding the one interrupting her reading.  The warmth of Finnegan's hand, when she finally acquiesced to his request.  It had been at least a year before they met again, but the encounter stayed with her.  "And I suppose, if I am being honest, that I was a little flattered.  Not at the time, but when I thought of it afterwards.  No one else made the effort of trying to find me -- or if they did, they didn't succeed."