Hey, sorry this is later than the others, life got in the way. Anyways, here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy!

Blood had never given Richard Grayson much reason to pause, neither had death. He'd seen both in his life and had trained himself to deal with such unfortunate events. The dense dark New England forests outside his Gotham home, where hunters never tread and where the sunlight never reached had taught him how to move in the darkness, how to utilize what few tools he had to solve his problems. There was nothing, he had reasoned, to fear from the wilderness. Yet, when the problems started appearing within him, when his own instincts failed him, when he failed to operate the way he knew he should, that's when Richard Grayson often started to panic.

Thus, motivated by equal parts fear and curiosity Richard Grayson once again approached the Arkham Library, taking the long walk up exactly 56 stone steps, ambling through the firm doors before stopping and taking the chance to smell the crisp new paper smell of the latest arrivals as well as the musky scent that always dwelt in libraries. The familiarity, the sights and sounds immediately gave him a sense of security, something to ground him after the hectic night out. Even if it had, not half a day earlier been the sight of a grisly and bizarre murder it was now a place of learning, a place he was perfectly at home with.

In the middle of the library sat a solitary woman behind the counter. She was young, quite pretty he mused to himself confidentially and had a perfectly cordial air about her. Compared to the spacious well-lit room he'd stood in yesterday the library was dark. Only the librarians desk lamp was on and the sunlight from the windows cast long shadows across the bookshelves. A pair of reading glasses slid halfway down the librarian's nose, her face half concealed by a wave of straight fiery red hair. Yet, her eyes still popped up as she noticed his presence.

"We do not get many visitors this time of day…or year for that matter," she smiled cheerily, it was warm, inviting and matched her sunny disposition. "I would guess that you are not just here to browse?"

"You'd be correct Ms…" he replied returning the smile and glancing down at the silver plaque on the librarians desk. "Koriand'r."

Was that…Slavic? No, Germanic probably…unless it was Aramaic…it could be Aramaic. Etymology had never been one of his strong suits, nevertheless he'd studied it for many long difficult hours. Deep in the libraries of Wayne Manor, not so dissimilar from the one he stood in now, maybe that's why it felt like home. Koriand'r just laughed at what had to have been a puzzled looking face.

"My friends simply know me as Kori," she said. It was subtle, but it was there, a faint accent. "Now, how may I assist you today?"

"I'm looking for some material on symbolism. Symbols, signs, messages…" he let the words trail off, not bothering to try and hide his cheesy mysterious tone whilst briefing flashing the old Grayson smile for added charm. Kori looked like she wanted to giggle before she began thinking just where one would find such a book. She scrunched up her face in puzzlement.

"Symbols, that is still a very broad topic," she said flipping her hair back behind her shoulders as she began browsing through a stack of ID cards. "Could you be more specific friend?"

Friend, well good to know they were already on amiable terms.

Richard fished his pen out of his pocket again and tried to recall the symbol he'd seen last night and began to draw it on the library paper. How did it go? Roman style right? A small X then…hmm, the memories were already fading. He cursed himself silently for not having recorded them the second he'd left the library last night. Finally, he completed the drawing to the best of his abilities and slid it over to the still gently smiling librarian.

Kori stopped, and for a moment a look passed over her face that Richard had seen many times in his line of work, on the faces of clients or suspects. A look that betrayed something more than simple fear, it was an enlightenment, a soul crushing enlightenment when two cogs in the brain, two ideas that subconsciously perhaps you've prayed and hoped would never come together suddenly do. It flashed on her face for a brief second, and then it was gone. Keeping her pencil trained on the symbol Kori tapped it for a few seconds in thought.

"Something wrong?"

"Maybe in a dream…Nope! I have never seen it." Kori beamed back up at him. Richard raised an eyebrow at the girls reaction. Maybe he hadn't just dreamt it all up, and he wasn't going crazy, this was obviously something worth digging into.

"Well who hasn't seen some crazy stuff in the middle of the night?" No reason to get a pretty girl like her involved though. Kori smiled back with an air of what looked like cool relief. Richard caught her subtly wiping a sweaty palm against her purple pant leg.

"Yeah," she said with a laugh. "You're probably right. I am afraid I really can not help you with your search though. This seems to be outside my field of expertise. However, we do have a number of reference materials. You may find what you are looking for if you browse through them."

Richard just nodded with a sigh. This was going to take some research, like always.

"Do you have one that at least groups them by culture? I'm pretty sure this is Greek or Roman." Kori paused and looked back up at him before breaking into another sunshine smile, her worried reaction to the symbol all but forgotten.

"Then you are in luck, we have a new adjunct professor here, an expert in that field." Kori bubbled, standing up and looking around the library. "Her name is Rachel Roth. You will probably find her down in the history section, that's the east wing on the library towards the back. I am certain she can help you."

Richard thanked the girl and bid her farewell as he took the short trek across the less trodden steps towards the history wing, the university apparently, only kept the most well visited areas in pristine condition. He paced the corridors before finally coming to an open set of fading brown door.

"History Wing," a wilted and barely legible sign above the pair of doors read. Almost cautiously he strolled inside, taking time to look down all the alleyways between the shelves; a lifetime of reading, a lifetime of information passing before him.

He stopped as he finally came to the center of the wing, a white, finely carved marble statue surrounded by a set of reading tables marked the area. The statue was female, well chiseled, and beautifully kept. Long curly hair, passive almond shaped eyes, a relaxed figure, Greek robes dangled over the body…

"Pardon me," the sudden lethargic voice and touch made him jump in genuine surprise. He looked back to see a woman brush past him. It was like he was a little kid again, all by himself in the large lonesome corridors of Wayne Manor. He'd gotten lost more than once in that first week there, and every time Bruce or Alfred would be the ones to find him. Noiselessly searching, silently walking the grounds, like cats patrolling their habitat. They had been his teachers in stealth, how to approach others unseen and unnoticed. It was an art that had taken a good number of years to master, and it meant that this woman, whoever she was, was good, really good.

"Can I…help you?" she asked suddenly. Richard snapped out his flashback. He must've been staring. She looked as mysterious as she moved, medium inconspicuous build, with a slightly pointed face, pale skin and short purple hair. And to think he wore a trench coat to make himself look mysterious. Some people just naturally had that kind of aura.

Deciding to break the ice he nodded towards the statue.

"Aphrodite right?" The woman rolled her eyes and jerked her head towards a small sign right next to the statue before turning back towards her bookshelf. Richard looked over to see the words.

The Aphrodite, Hellenistic Period

Anonymous, 150 B.C (?)

Acquired and Donated by Oliver Queen 1855

Well so much for breaking the ice. Okay time to try again. He looked over at the woman ascending the library ladder towards the top shelf and asked.

"Can I assume that you are the new adjunct professor?"

"You could assume that, yes," oh great and she was a smart-alerk. He really hoped this was Rachel Roth or he was going to look even worse. It was obvious that no amount of charm was going to work on this woman. He needed to dial it back a bit, speak in her terms and hope she had some answers. He held up the paper to the dim window light.

"Could you tell me what this…"

"Chi-Rho," the woman said without turning around. Richard looked back at her with a rare befuddled face.

"Huh?"

"Chi, is the X, Rho is the P, the X symbol is supposed to overlap the bottom of the P symbol though, not the top. They're the Greek names for the first two letters in Jesus's name. It's a Christogram early Christians used to invoke the name of God though other religions have used similar symbols in the past." The woman continued not looking up from the books.

"So it was Greek," he muttered more to himself than anyone else before looking back up the woman with interest. "How did you…?"

"It was hanging out of your pocket as you walked in," she finished for him. Richard took a deep breath inwardly, well he'd gotten his answer, a lot faster than he'd expected. He looked back down.

"I was kinda hoping for something more," he said out loud, again mostly to himself.

"What else is there?" the woman monotoned, coming down from the shelf with a new book and brushing past him as Richard leaned against the wall, hand in pocket.

"There's always something more," he replied lazily looking up at the paper in his hand.

"Relevant to your work? She answered dryly fishing yet another book from the dusty shelves.

"Something to discover, something to know," he replied nonchalantly, turning his attention towards the pine trees out the window.

"The wisest man in the world knows…" the woman began again dropping her stack of books carelessly onto one of the firm tables, as if releasing some pent up emotion.

"That he knows nothing?" Richard finished. The woman turned to him and cocked an eyebrow. Richard smiled back, a little cockily, but genuine nonetheless. "Socrates right?"

The woman examined him curiously, before finally extending a hand.

"Rachel Roth," she introduced herself. Richard, smile still on his face returned the gesture as the two shook.

"Richard Grayson."

"Private eye?"

"How'd you…"

"Just a guess," she replied with her dry monotone, this time her lips piqued upwards into a small smile. Coy, mostly silent, witty, intelligent, yeah some people just had that aura about them. "So what else brought you here?"

Richard must've looked puzzled at the comment because she the smile stayed on Rachel's face as the girl continued.

"You can't tell me you came down here just for one little symbol like that. You probably could've guessed the meaning with a little work." She finished turning back to the shelf and examining the books once again.

"I like to be thorough, I have this nasty habit of not trusting things that I can't see with my own two eyes," he countered with a smile. He had to admit, this was refreshing. After a month or so of nothing but small talk with cops, long heartfelt discussions with witnesses and violent confrontations with culprits, it was nice to just trade barbs and banter with someone.

"And I can't see the point in that, the more we learn, the less we know."

"I'm not sure many of your colleagues would agree with you," Richard chuckled, leaning towards the bookshelf and browsing the titles.

"When humanity makes a discovery are they content with that? " Rachel returned, her eyes boring into him now. Richard stopped dead in his tracks, there seemed to be something in her eyes, something dangerous, something ethereal. "Is anything immediately gained by the discovery? Or does it just lead to more questions? For every one that is answered how many more arise? What does discovery and law create? Just more of the unknown, and yet we continue on pretending like the nothing we have discovered is something we can build a civilization on."

Was is just him or had her voice…changed, in the course of the discussion? It must've been the echoes in the library, he told himself as he looked down at he shaking hands. Consciously he shoved them into his pockets and forced them to stop. Looking back up, despite himself, he smiled.

"The ancient Oracle declared that I was the wisest of all the Greeks. It is because I alone…" he began with a smile, waiting for her to close.

"Of all the Greeks know that I know nothing." Rachel finished, sheepishly smiling once again.

"Quite a philosophy you've got there," he smirked.

"It is isn't it? Sorry I was preaching again." She sighed, the smile still pursed on her lips. With that Rachel reached over and collected her books before placing them in her bag, as she picked it up she reached in and pulled out and old looking cloth. Daintily holding it in front of her face she flipped it around, revealing the embroidery of the eight-eyed raven. Richard took a deep breath…that was…

"There are things in this world that lay beyond our capacities," Rachel began again "Intelligence, drive, level headed nature, you have everything needed in a private eye; but it might be best if you let this trail go cold."

Just like that she was gone. Heading towards the double doors, bag in hand, with catlike steps, and not a single glance backwards at the detective.

Human kind is utterly unaware of its own existence and stature in the universe. The point of illumination for the corporeal mind can be a maddening experience, a terrible loss occurs, the foundation with which we have constructed our entire existence. Yet, the journey to that point, the journey to that piece of enlightenment is wrought with human experience of its own, and as Richard Grayson watched the professor disappear down the long halls, hips swaying back and forth a coy smile appeared on his lips.

"Rachel Roth," he said out loud, she was proving interesting.