On love, on grief, on every human thing,
Time sprinkles Lethe's water with his wing.
(Walter Savage Landor)
There should have been two statues.
The Librarians and Jenkins were expecting two statues, but under the cloth there was just one. A woman with her face covered by her hands as if she was weeping.
"Is it her?" asked Ezekiel.
"Of course it's her," Jacob grumbled from behind him. "How do we get her out?"
"Maybe we could..." Cassandra began, but never got to finish. The stone started to crumble and in a matter of seconds, Eve Baird lowered her hands.
A teardrop rolled down her face and after four hundred years fell on her palm. She looked around slowly, no joy in her face.
"Where is Flynn?" asked Cassandra shakily.
Eve looked at her, her face devoid of all emotion. "He didn't make it."
"What happened? Did something go wrong?" Cassandra sounded sympathetic, but also a little frightened, because what could kill a Librarian, who stayed alive for eleven years?
"He fell off a horse," Eve said shortly. "Broke his neck."
Then she walked past all of them and disappeared in the Library.
They found her sitting on the floor in front of Flynn's portrait. Jenkins ushered Cassandra and Ezekiel to the Annex, saying that Colonel wants to be alone, but Jacob didn't go with them. He simply brought some research for his new book, sat on the stairs leading to the Annex and got to work. Except for an occasional glance Jacob cast in Eve's direction they ignored each other.
She broke down five hours forty two minutes in.
He didn't raise his head when he heard the first sob. He carefully wrapped the book he was holding (it was a fifteenth century manuscript and Jones could accidentally step on it, if it was left lying around), walked over and sat next to her. She rested her head on his shoulder, he wrapped one arm around her and she cried and cried.
After there were no more tears left, she got up and walked away without even a nod in Jacob's direction. He understood. Eve Baird never showed weakness to anyone, so it was much easier to pretend it never happened than to face it.
She will deal with it, Jacob told himself. One day she will.