I did get matches and the firelighter from her too.

[kisses his cheek]

Oh well. We manage on our own.

Have you borrowed anything from the library today?

Hmmm... would you like to read my book, then?

[meanwhile, starting a drinking contest]

The last part is rough, but it's mostly ready.

[gets up and fetches it from the bedroom, handing it to Xavier as he sits back down.]

[the writing varies a lot. sometimes his hand is assured, other times scratchier and less solid. most pages have some part of other crossed out before he revised it, sometimes ENTIRE pages have been scrawled over, although he seems to have improved over time. the beginning is the creation myth of Orion.

Noric himself is getting stuck into the drinking contest with Tempest.]

[that is why I gave you the gift of an entire book you haven't read]

[despite the fact that he's an amateur writer at best, he obviously knows his subject matter. and cares about it.]

[other than the history, there are sections devoted to the festivals, the relationships with bordering countries... the war with the beastmen. and as you draw towards the end of the book, it becomes clear that, with the pages left, he's ending it with the Old Woman's wrath. not the Sacred City.]

[when he reaches the end, there's a postscript:

With the coming of the Old Woman's fire, Orion was no more, along with all the other nations of Sabra La Tau. There is more that can be said, of what happened after, but those tales are about people, and despair, and darkness. Of Orion, nothing more can be said.

Dedicated to my country and people, so that they might endure, in such small ways I can manage.

- Noric Pellaeon]

[meanwhile stupid laughter and shoving contests.]

[after he's said goodbye to Tempest at the door, he comes back over unsteadily and drapes his arms around Xavier from behind.]

How was it?