"Excuse me?"
The librarian looked up at the bright-eyed young woman standing in front of the desk. "Yes, can I help you?"
"I was looking for books from the Old Earth," the young woman said. "Do you know where those are?"
"They should be on the second floor in the history wing. Most of them are on the side opposite the window –"
"No, I didn't mean those. I mean books actually from the Old Earth." The young woman leaned forward. "I heard you had a few of the ones that are still left."
The librarian frowned. How could she have heard about them…? "And why do you want to read them?"
"I'm doing research about the Old Earth. It's for a book for children."
"As I mentioned, there are plenty of books written by scholars in the history wing –"
"But that's not the same!" the woman's voice grew hushed with awe. "I want to see the words of people from the old world, written on paper from trees that grew on a completely different plane of existence…besides," she said, trying to recover an air of professionalism, "It's important to see the original documents, since scholars might insert their biases into their texts. So…please?"
The librarian stared at her for a moment, then sighed. "Very well. However, because the books are so old, you will not be able to take them out of their room, and you will remain under my supervision the whole time."
"Thank you!" the woman said, beaming.
"I'll need to see your library card first."
The woman passed the librarian her card, and his eyebrows rose. "Cendrillon?"
"It's French." Cendrillon bounced on her heels, hands wringing behind her back. "So,can you take me to see them now? Please?"
The librarian unlocked the door leading to behind his desk and beckoned to her, and she hurried after him into the deeper parts of the library.
(As written by Sylibane)