Valerie didn't come out of her room again until the next day. She spent all the time looking through her book, seeing if she could find the spell that had brought her to Krynn. So far, she had had no luck. She only left her room when one of the tower's guardians came and asked her to come to the study. She promptly hid her book (she had found that she didn't need to have it with her to use the spells within its pages) and made her way to the study. She wore a dark blue long sleeved dress and had her hair tied back into a braid.
In the study, Raistlin sat at his desk, his hood pulled up to hide his face, and Caramon was there as well in one of the chairs before the desk. The difference this time from the first day she had arrived was that the third man present was not Dalamar, but a young man wearing white robes. He looked surprised by her appearance and stood immediately to get a better look at her.
Valerie smiled widely at him. "Let me guess, you would be Palin, Caramon's son and Raistlin's nephew." He nodded at her, looking closely at her dress, since it was a cotton polyester blend from her world (she had found that if she wanted something, the book provided either a spell for her to summon the item, or just made the item appear on its own). "What, nice stitch work? Or is Usha just not thrilling you like usual?"
Palin turned a bright red and looked immediately away from the dress to her face. "I've just never seen a dress of that material before." He answered stiffly.
Valerie laughed lightly. "Yes, I know. I'm just teasing." She walked over to stand before the desk. "Did you want to see me because your nephew showed up?"
Before Raistlin could answer, Caramon spoke up. "Isn't it a bit warm to be wearing a long sleeved dress? It is the middle of summer after all, and even though the tower gets cold, I don't think it gets thatcold, does it?"
Valerie stiffened just slightly. "You'd be surprised how light this material can be."
"Oh." Caramon shrugged while Palin took his seat again.
Raistlin looked at Valerie shrewdly for a few moments before finally speaking. "Palin has come here to ask about this book you have."
"Right." Valerie turned to look at Palin. "Well? What would you like to know?"
Palin cleared his throat. "Well, where was it you said you found it?"
Valerie rolled her eyes. "Well, I came into work for the day and it was sitting inconspicuously in one of the totes from another library." Palin blinked a few times in obvious confusion. Valerie sighed. "Alright, here's the thing. In my world, we can get first jobs almost anywhere. They don't pay very much most of the time, but that doesn't always matter. I got a job at a local library. I do all the little odds and ends in the library, most importantly putting books back onto the shelves so that other people can take them out."
"Only you reshelf the books? They must work you like a slave!" Palin looked a bit appalled at the idea.
Valerie laughed it off. "No, no. My library is very small, smaller than this study even. We only get a few patrons, mostly small children and really old people."
"Small children read in your world?" Caramon looked quite impressed.
"Well, not so many as you'd think. A lot of the time parents will read to their kids and the kids look at the pictures in the books. It's long and complicated; we really shouldn't get into it just now. Suffice it to say that the book was just lying there by itself and I wanted to see what it was about. I read a page out loud, and then I was here." She shook her head slightly. "I have no doubt that I freaked out everyone there." All three men looked at her oddly at that statement, making her laugh again. "Sorry, can't help but use slang from my world." She looked at Raistlin. "So, is that all? I was sort of busy reading my book still. And I certainly don't want to keep anyone from anything of importance."
"How can you understand what you're reading? Who taught you the language of magic?" Palin wasn't done with his questions yet, it seemed.
"Well, no one taught me the language of magic." Valerie folded her arms across her chest. "Actually, I shouldn't be able to understand what I'm reading, but I can. Every word of it, or at least the gist of it with some stuff." She got a sly smile on her face as she said that. "That's how I was able to drop Dalamar in a lake." She looked side to side quickly, "He isn't nearby, right?"
Caramon sighed. "No, he left before you showed up."
Valerie laughed softly. "Still steamed about the unexpected bath?" She tried to stop smirking, but failed utterly.
"In any case," Palin interrupted her thoughts, "what you're saying is that you have a magic book that allows you to cast spells without study and without any lessons on how to cast the spells?" He didn't seem to believe it. "What about fatigue?"
Valerie blinked at him a few times. "Hm. Well, I never thought of that. I don't seem to get tired after casting any spells." She pursed her lips. "As for the book, I don't know why the hell I can read and cast spells." She was really getting tired of the repeated questions. Phrasing a question differently didn't mean you weren't asking the same question as everyone else.
"Where is the book now?" Raistlin was hoping to get her to slip up while she was distracted.
"I hid it so that I don't have to worry about it being stolen." Well, she did say something about the book without thinking about it. Which she realized after the words were out of her mouth. "Hey!" She glared at Raistlin indignantly. "Stop trying to take my book! Don't think I don't know you were the one who snuck into my room late at night." She wagged a finger at him, much to Palin's and Caramon's horror. "And sneaking into a lady's room while she's dead to the world is such bad behavior."
Palin and Caramon looked at Raistlin in worry, waiting for him to vaporize Valerie for speaking to him in such a manner. They were, then, quite shocked when they distinctly heard him start to laugh. The laugh, of course, quickly changed to a cough. Caramon started to get up, but Raistlin irritably motioned for him to sit back down. Taking his blood stained cloth from a pocket, he held it up to his mouth (at least they all assumed so, since the cough was somewhat muffled under the hood).
Valerie was looking at Raistlin in obvious worry. When a line of magic words appeared before her, she hardly looked at them as she spoke them. When she had finished, a steaming cup appeared before Raistlin, filled with his tea, by the smell of it. Not being much able to talk (or breathe much by the sound of it), Raistlin didn't even bother questioning the cup, but grabbed it and brought it to his mouth to drink. The cough immediately began to fade, and after a few more sips he was breathing much more steadily.
Valerie wiped her hand across her forehead. "Thank goodness. I didn't think you'd ever breath again. The books really don't do justice to your cough." Raistlin's hood tilted up at her and she was sure he was glaring at her. "What? I realize you hate pity, but I'm not even allowed to worry? Come on, be realistic!" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at him.
Of course, Palin and Caramon both sat very still, looking from one of them to another. They wouldn't at all be surprised now to see Raistlin cast a spell, but they didn't really want it to be at one of them. Finally, Raistlin spoke, turning his head just slightly in Palin's direction. "Do you have any more questions for her, nephew?" His voice rasped slightly more than usual (well he was coughing).
Palin jumped slightly. "Ah, I think I'm good for now." He suddenly really wanted to leave. "I think I can come back another time. Father, will you be coming with me?" He stressed the last few words while he stood up quickly. Caramon, taking the hint, also stood and promptly tapped his amulet while Palin vanished from the room as well. Valerie raised her eyebrow at Raistlin.
"Was it something we said?" She smiled at him slightly.
Raistlin sighed. "I'm fairly certain it was the glaring. Not many people are willing to glare at me."
"Well, good thing you have me then, right?" Her smile got wider, and Raistlin snorted. He wasn't sure if he was amused by her or annoyed by her. "Oh come on. Doesn't it get boring with everyone afraid of you?" Raistlin silently conceded to her that point. "So is that the only reason I was called here? A curious nephew?"
"Of course not." Raistlin smirked beneath the hood. "I told one of the Tower guardians to search your room for your book."
"What!" Valerie's eyes widened in horror and she vanished after quickly reading the spell presented to her. Raistlin stood and followed after.
Back in Valerie's room, there was a guardian just as Raistlin had said. Valerie quickly jumped forward to her bed as Raistlin materialized in the room. She quickly pulled part of the bed frame away and pulled her book from the hiding space, holding it to her chest and glaring at the guardian.
"How inventive." Valerie whirled around to turn her glare on Raistlin.
"Apparently I need to be inventive with you around." She stuck her tongue out at him.
Raistlin walked forward to stand near her, waving the guardian away. "You know I won't give up trying to get the book, of course." Valerie looked at him wryly before nodding, one half of her mouth curving in a smile.
When Raistlin continued to stand and stare at her, she began to blush. "What? You're not thinking of interesting and painful tortures are you?"
Raistlin shook himself mentally. "Maybe. It might work, after all." With that said, he disappeared from the room, leaving a nervous Valerie clutching her book and wondering how the weather was in Solace right now.
Raistlin didn't return to the study, but went to his own room. Sitting on a table by the fireplace was the composition book Valerie had apparently forgotten in the laboratory. He hadn't managed to read much of it yet. The first few pages were rather boring, talking about the families of the people in her class. Raistlin sat down, leaning his Staff against the chair, and picked the book up, opening it to where he had last left off. If the book didn't have information about her world, maybe it had something about the woman herself that he could use.