A Hand-Woven Universe 16 16. A Land Before Time

While not much had happened over the past year, no one could deny the improvements Noone's body had made while here. He had grown another half a head taller at the very least. While that could be chocked up to his age; before, Noone had fairly well-defined muscles but over the last year they became pronounced across his body like steel cables woven under the skin.

His hands had gone rough and callous from constantly swinging his pick, his shoulders were broad and sturdy. He looked nothing like the 15-year-old he was.

The rest of the miners in the main hall waved to Noone when they saw him arrive. After word of what he did got out, everyone had gone to check out the tunnel Noone had dug. Seeing him standing there now they really had to admit that he was a fine specimen despite his young age.

Noone hopped up onto the podium in a single leap, the dust that had been collecting on the top scattered outwards upon his landing.

Before he could call out though, a voice hailed him from one of the tunnels.

"Noone! Noone no please I am right here." Tommy came scrambling out from one of the mines.

Originally Tahmel had just been passing through while on his rounds. However, when he had glanced into the main room and saw Noone walking towards the podium his heart immediately leapt out of his chest. Oh No. Not again. He thought.

Unsure if his heart could take another explosive yell from Noone backed with the power of the podium, he quickly called out.

Noone had already taken a deep breath, but he let it out quietly when he heard Tommy yelling. If he didn't have to, he obviously wouldn't want to bother the rest of the miners.

"Tommy!" He smiled and hopped down of the podium coming to stand right in front of the old miner.

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief. Now that Noone was off of there he wouldn't have to worry. "What are you doing here boy? You don't have to come back to work so soon after that haul you got. In fact, you could take the rest of your life off." He heckled. Noone smiled wryly. Who in tapestry would ever take extended time off like that? Even the elders worked every day to keep tapestry running. It was just how things were here.

"Actually... I was hoping that I could talk with you and the crews that are under you. I need their help." Noone said discretely. Tahmel was surprised at this, what could Noone possibly need their help with? He thought about it for a bit, but honestly, he could not come up with anything.

"Sure Noone, I can do that for you, but only this once! People got work to do you know."

Noone smiled and nodded. Even though he had only been in the mines a year, he got to know a lot of the miners really well in that time. He knew that once he asked them, they would be more than willing to give him a hand.

…

Adria was sitting with five elders and Liter in a secret room towards the back of the library. Elder Azelle was there, along with the head of her family, and the short air-attuned elder.

If Noone had been there, he would have noticed that this was in the same area where he had run into Liter earlier - when he had been looking for him.

"In this room is all the records we have left from the time before the Ancestor and the end of the world. If the world above is finally inhabitable then the information in these books will be very useful in re-establishing society up above." Elder Azelle spoke gravely. This was his first time directing someone in the rite. There was a weight in his heart that he did his best to hide.

"For the next few years it is going to be your job to study and memorize as much of these as you can. When Noone returns from his coming of age ceremony in a few years, we will head out together with him." The elder continued. Liter who was standing off to the side quickly hid his forlorn expression.

Adria looked around from shelf to shelf. Despite the books being as ancient as time itself, there was not a speck of dust on them. In fact, there was not a speck of dust in the whole room. It was brightly lit and there were no smells in the air either. If Adria was being honest -it was more than a little disorientating. It felt like this room was removed from the rest of the world around it.

"Shouldn't Noone be studying here with me? I mean, if he is coming along to, it might be more important he know this information?"

Liter shook his head, "Sorry Adria, but this room is protected by a seal so that only those with the heritage of The Ancestor can come in. The books cannot be taken out. You can't make copies of the books and take those out either. These are all stipulations that had been set by the ancestor when he put the barrier in place." Adria looked around in wonder. Until now, she had never realized there was such thing in Tapestry... The ancestor was truly amazing.

"Of course, you can relay the information to him with words once you are outside. But I think it would be better for you to take as much of the time you can to learn all of this by heart first." Liter conceded.

All the elders nodded in agreement. They did not have a problem with Noone learning it as he would be making the voyage too. But in the limited time that they have it would be better for Adria to focus on learning it herself.

Adria nodded. Inside of her, all sorts of feelings were fighting for dominance. All of the elders began to leave the room. The head of Adria's family was the last to leave. He too felt a lot of mixed feelings inside of him. Was this really necessary...?

Of course, the answer was yes.

Yes, it was.

He finally left too. Liter took Adria around showing her the first books she should start with.

Tapestry had attempted to keep the languages of their ancestors pristine through the millennia's that have passed. However, language is a slippery thing and inevitably the languages of the now have diverged significantly from the languages of the then.

As such the first thing Adria would have to learn, is how to read the language of the ancestors.
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And it was like this that Adria came to spend her every waking hour in the ancient room of the library.

Chapter end