Double the Pay

The Library paid the same as the tavern: one silver coin a week.

That meant Annan would earn two silver coins a week, about as much as many workers in town. And he could spend it however he liked.

But the aptitude test was still a distant dream. Even if he kept earning two silver coins a week, it would take him at least a year to save one gold coin.

Annan consoled himself with the thought that the knowledge he could gain from the Library was worth more than the wages.

Besides, he had beaten the other three applicants by sheer luck. He could still picture their astonishment as they left.

"Your job is to keep the Library clean and tidy, memorize where each book belongs as best you can, and record visitors and the books they borrow."

Leaning on his cane, Victor led Annan between rows of bookshelves.

"Treat these books as you would your own life. And you are absolutely not to bring anyone here."

"Does anyone usually borrow books?"

Annan looked at the many books that still seemed brand-new, with no sign they had ever been opened. Like the Library's empty shelves, they were waiting to be used.

"They don't come here to read."

Annan understood what the old man meant. His own motives weren't entirely pure, either.

After leading Annan around the Library and laying down rule after rule, Victor was about to send him away when Annan finally asked, "Mr. Victor, where should someone who can't read start if he wants to learn?"

"Is that someone you?"

Heat rose to Annan's face at being found out. Then Victor said curtly, "Bring me the book."

"Are you talking to me?"

"No, I'm talking to Evil Hollow on the second shelf of the bookcase behind you."

"Which book is Evil Hollow...?"

Victor's brows drew tight, as if he already regretted hiring this country bumpkin.

"The one-inch-thick book with the... cover."

Sweat beaded in Annan's palms. He hadn't understood the word for the color.

Under Victor's gaze, Annan moved to the bookcase and studied its second shelf. He knew brown, purple, red, black, and gray, so he ruled out books in those five colors. That left three: two deep blue books and one beige one. One of the blue books was about a handspan thick, while the other two were roughly the same thickness...

Annan discreetly wiped his damp palm on the hem of his clothes, reached for the beige book, and looked back at Victor.

"What are you waiting for?"

The old man's frown put Annan at ease, and he pulled out the book. But his ordeal wasn't over...

"Read what's written there."

"Mr. Victor, I can't read..."

"Read it."

"All right." Dejected, Annan opened the book, skipped the title page, and read the words he recognized on the first page. "I... you... I... you... he... I..."

This damned book was apparently written in the first person.

"You... I... I... he... bard! You... I..."

"That's enough. Stop." Victor cut off Annan's halting recitation and gave a quiet sigh wholly at odds with his stern, rigid manner. "I don't want a librarian who can't even read, so..."

As Annan waited nervously, the old man spoke.

"I'll find you some books with phonetic guides..."

"Phonetic guides?"

"Miskigma above! You don't even know your syllables?"

"No..."

"Come here at nine tomorrow morning. I'll teach you!"

At least Annan hadn't been fired right after being hired.

"My name is Annan."

"Victor. Shiro Victor."

"A toast to our friend, the new librarian!"

The bard struck up a cheerful tune, and the customers raised their cups, grinning along. Cries of "We'll come give you business at the Library!" rang out from people who didn't even know what a library was.

Annan smiled as he wiped the counter. This was the moment to shout, "Drinks are on me!" and add to the celebration, but he couldn't bear to spend the money.

"I heard you beat three other applicants. Well done." Faster leaned over beside Annan. Beating a rich man, a noble, and a Mage Apprentice as a commoner was more than even he could have managed. "Evelyn, get our future mage a drink."

"I don't drink."

"Then juice."

Evelyn turned to prepare the juice. After a moment's thought, Annan asked, "Will they come looking for trouble?"

"The ones who didn't get the job? No. They aren't that foolish. And even if they were, their elders aren't."

"Mr. Fast, what do you think I should do next?"

"Learn the Common Tongue, study, and make Victor like you. That last one matters most."

Annan thought so too, but he couldn't make that last goal obvious. He had a feeling Victor had hired him precisely because he hadn't come to the interview for Victor's sake. The old man was eccentric, not stupid.

Since Annan would now be working at the library during the day, Fast gave him a little leeway: he could leave early on quiet nights.

"Think of it as a small investment made ahead of time," Fast said.

Leaving a few dozen minutes early, Annan returned to Aunt Susan's house.

Back in his room, Annan took the wooden box from beneath his bed. Two silver coins lay quietly at the bottom. It would be another week before they became four.

He put the box back, blew out the oil lamp, and climbed into bed, letting the darkness swallow him.

Annan arrived at the Library before nine the next morning.

The door was still locked. Only when the grandfather clock behind the window struck nine did the neatly dressed old man appear, leaning on his cane. He tossed Annan the key and had him open the Library doors.

When Annan tried to return the key, Victor refused to take it back. That stubborn show of trust made the old man easy to like.

Annan began sweeping the Library floor and dusting the shelves. Victor sat in the Library's sunny corner, a spot sunlight reached at every hour, reading a book and drinking coffee.

Annan had learned a little from the bard beforehand and written down the phonetic guides. Once he finished cleaning, he went over them again with Mr. Victor.

Annan's gift for languages extended to the written word as well.

Holding a book with phonetic guides, Annan sat at a desk and silently practiced reading. Before long, the day's first visitor arrived.

"You're learning the Common Tongue?"

The girl in the robe looked at the title on the cover: Common Language Phonetics.

Annan nodded. "What's your name?" He was ready to write it in the visitor log.

She said nothing, so Annan leafed through the dictionary beside him and laboriously wrote down "girl in a robe."

Watching Annan finish, the girl mimed a finger to her lips. "What did you say to Mr. Victor at the end?"

"Keep quiet."

"That's all?"

"Mm." It was Annan's turn to ask a question. "Are you a Mage Apprentice?"

"I'd hoped Mr. Victor would become my teacher." She studied Annan, puzzled. "But he chose you."

"Maybe because I was the only one who wanted to be a librarian."

"Why?"

Annan gave the book with phonetic guides a little shake.

"I haven't learned the Common Tongue yet."