Zorian waited patiently for the librarian to run out of steam. She was an unassuming middle-aged woman at first glance, but the moment she had begun speaking, he realized her looks were rather deceiving. She was cheerful and had an indescribable energy about her. Just standing around her made Zorian feel the same sort of pressure he felt when stuck in a crowd of people, and he had to rein in his instinct to step back as if from a raging fire.
“I’m guessing you don’t get many work requests, then?” Zorian said. “Why is that? Shouldn’t people be fighting tooth and nail to work in a place like this? It’s a pretty famous library.”
She snorted, and Zorian would have sworn he could feel the derision and a touch of bitterness in the seemingly innocuous sound. “Academy regulations require us to
