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"Well, if nothing else, there's a whole library at my fingertips," Aesir agreed, "I'm still in awe, to be honest."
They ran their fingers over a few books on the shelf, the yellowed, rough paper rubbing against their hand.
"I don't know where to start."
"This is the rare section I was telling you about." they replied softly. "So, do be careful with them. They are not exactly easy to replace." he adjusted his skirt with one hand, shaking their head a little bit as his gaze flickered about the room.
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"Oh, absolutely. I'm always careful with things of value," Aesir promised, "Old habits."
They glanced across the many titles. Some were in their common language, others foreign, and some even in ancient scripts.
Maze nodded a little bit. "Good." they replied, taking a look at some of the titles, but not removing any from the shelves. "And don't try to remove them from this room, either." there were magical barriers in place to prevent that from happening; he wasn't sure what would happen if Aesir tried, but it likely would not end well.
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"Noted," Aesir replied, "Only the regular books can leave."
They scanned over more and more titles, trying to figure out where to start. Yet, the amount of information was startling to take in.
Maze's eyes kept moving over the various titles; he had read some of these, but not many. Reading them was a grueling task. They had to find dictionaries first, then use the dictionaries to translate the text sentence by sentence, occasionally tweaking the wording to make sure the words flowed correctly, and even then he was always afraid he had left something out by mistake.
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"Do you have any recommendations?" Aesir asked, "Of course, you can give them to me later. I imagine we'll be seeing each other a lot."
They paused for a moment.
"Otherwise, I'll probably freeze up with all these choices."
They laughed a little. "We are roommates, and I am supposed to guide you around the school. I am quite sure we will be seeing a lot of each other." Maze replied, still laughing a little bit.
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"I won't lie, I'm quite glad to have a roommate and someone to show me around. It's nice to have good company in this unfamiliar place. And you've been very helpful to me so far. I think we'll get along pretty nicely," Aesir replied.
Maze nodded. "Yes, I believe we will." they agreed, looking at Aesir with a soft smile on their face.
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"So are there any other neat spaces here, besides the library?" Aesir asked, rather eager to see what else lied ahead, "I'm sure we'll hit them on the tour, but I just thought I'd ask."
"Uhm…the gardens outside are pretty nice, and the halls themselves are just fun to explore in general." he replied, laughing a little bit.
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Aesir nodded. "Good, good. I'd love to see them eventually."
They were finally starting to warm up to Maze a bit. Everyone else seemed a bit stiff, unmoving, unwilling to give them answers. Maze seemed more like an open book.
"Yeah. There are stories that there's secret passages, but I've never found one myself." he replied, shrugging his shoulders and smiling over at Aesir. "So, I cannot really make any calls about the truth of those rumors."
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"Well, you'd best believe if they do exist, I'll find at least one of them in my time here," Aesir laughed.
They continued to follow Maze around, still desperately trying to absorb every little detail or their surroundings but failing.
They laughed a little, and led him out of the secret room, closing the door behind the both of htem. "Alright, well, let me know if you do."
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"Of course I will," Aesir replied, "I guess that'll make the passages less secret, but I don't give a damn."
They moved their cloak so it wrapped around their legs, flowing away from the closing door.
"Where to next?"
Maze hummed faintly, leading Aesir back toards the door into the library, so that they could leave. "I'll take you to one of the sitting rooms, I think."
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"Alright, then," Aesir replied, "Shall we?"
They motioned for Maze to lead the way, as they had no idea where anything was. Aesir could maybe find their way back to the entrance if they tried, but even that was a little fuzzy.
Maze nodded, leading them back out into the hallway and back towards the entrance. "I'll take you out to the gardens, then show you to the dining hall."
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Aesir nodded. "Lead the way, then."
They walked alongside Maze, still busy taking in the inside of the building.
Maze led them back out to the entrance, and down the stairs to the ground level, then down and around into a hallway.
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"This place is practically a labyrinth," Aesir remarked, "I'm generally good enough with directions, but I might have trouble getting around here at first."
Maze laughed a little. "When in doubt, try to find your way back to this main hall. It is the central hub for most of the hallways."
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"That seems like my best bet, yeah," Aesir agreed, "I'll get used to it eventually. "
They kept a few paces behind Maze.
Maze nodded, taking Aesir down the hallway, and into a small entry room, then out into the gardens.
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Aesir gave a quick glance at the garden as a whole. They noticed plenty of flowers, but also some medicinal plants, a greenhouse, and a section where there were plants that they thought may have been cultivated through magic.
"It's beautiful here. Who maintains all of this? It seems like a big job."
Maze shrugged faintly. "Some of the Sentinels and some of the students do. I think there's a gardener as well, who does a lot of the main upkeep, but I don't see her much." he replied.
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"That makes sense, I guess," Aesir replied, "Do you take care of any of the plants out here, or was that just a general 'some students do it'?"
They touched one of the rose bushes and got pricked slightly on a thorn. Aesir drew their hand back suddenly, but tried to play it off like nothing happened.
Maze smiled a little. "I do, sometimes, but not all the time. I tend to be pretty busy with other things that make coming out here to take care of the garden rather difficult."
