In every city there was at least one of a certain type of building whose importance was underestimated.

And no, I was not talking about the one your government uses, whatever its name is. Those are more overestimated than anything and only useful to prolong the simplest of tasks and processes to unimaginable lengths. Sad, but true.

No, the one building I was talking about was a place which could provide so much to those who entered it. A place filled with the greatest treasure we had, a place for young and old. Though, the young part of the equation was hardly met these days, simply because they did not care anymore. Instead they played video games or did similar things.

Though I understood where they were coming from -I loved to play video games too after all- there was a limit to everything and as much as I wanted to play video games, not doing anything productive was not healthy. I was saddened by the amount of people my age who could not appreciate the building in question anymore.

It was a tragedy, really.

For those of you who hadn't figured it out by now, of course I was talking about the library. It was a haven of peace and tranquility with no noisy people or customers in sight but only my books. It was great. Did you want to know what was also great?

Summer had no idea where I was and the last place she would search for me was the library. I did not know why, but the brunette avoided the city library at all costs from what Qrow told me.

Something along the lines of 'we spent too much time in Beacon's library already, no way she would set a foot in the city's.'. When I heard that, a brief prayer to Remnant's hunter curriculum was offered along with a bribe to Qrow to avoid any information about my whereabouts from reaching the bane of my peace.

What exactly the bribe was I sadly could not share. Consumer Confidence and all that jazz.

So, one wonderful Sunday late morning I was sitting in the library, a cup of coffee in my left hand and an open book in front of me. It was a history book. I figured that with me being stuck on Remnant, I might as well learn more about Remnant's past. I wanted to at least try to blend in after all.

Yes, I was aware that pretty much all the information could be found in the net. But there was something incredible soothing about the feel and smell of paper. It was kind of nostalgic, too.

The book I was reading right now told about the Great War. An conflict of epic scale, a fight for the very freedom of Remnant, a fight for tolerance. Heroes, villains, brave soldiers and humble generals and risky gambles which could have doomed as all. A tale of valor, bravery and boldness.

Yeah, it was pretty much your typical war time story.

The passage I was at now read as follows:

Under the command of lieutenant colonel Whitewalker the Valian Armed Forces found great success at the Battle of Winterburg during the beginning of the Northwest Sanus Offensive. A combined attack of the 24th airborne company and the 56th and 59th mechanized infantry battalions managed to push into and break through the entrenchment Mantle's 11th assault regiment lead by colonel Ravenwood had set up.

Winterburg was an obvious first target: It was a central point where all the roads this side of Sanus went through. Additionally, it was one of the few areas where the Grimm did not show a sudden increase in numbers due to the negativity produced by the ongoing war. Winterburg was also the last fortress Mantle held on Sanus. A victory here would accelerate Vale's progress in the war exponentially.

Prior to the attack lieutenant colonel Whitewalker send the 24th as vanguard to disrupt supply lines in what was later known to be the first time in Remnant history that paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines. While the operation was a success it took its toll: the 24th had sustained heavy casualties over the month long fighting, 50 percent of their combat personnel were either killed in action or incapacitated.

I would have loved to soak up more of the wisdom this book contained, he tactics and maneuvers employed by the two leading the opposing armies. Sadly, like always in situations like these, I was interrupted by someone who apparently could not take a hint from seeing a young man sitting alone at a table in the far depths of this library.

"Excuse me, but is this one still free?", the offender in question had a female sounding voice, so I assumed that I dealt with a female. Why I did not know for sure? Mainly because I refused to look up from the book, trying my hardest to sink back into its warmth spending words of wisdom.

Maybe she went away if I did not answer? Judging from the chair scrapping over the floor and the shuffling of paper, fat chance with that. Time for phase two of 'leave me alone with my book':

The Stare Down™.

People did not like being stared at. I did not, you did not, not even the most self centered person on this ball of dirt did not like it. If you thought you were okay with it you probably had not experienced someone staring, really staring at you.

Sadly, for every rule which had ever existed, there was always the one exception. Something which looked at the rule and said 'screw this!'. In the case of the rule mentioned above the blonde exception was sitting right in front of me. Not only was she immune to my stare, her green eyes even returned it with double the intensity through her glasses.

I hated to admit it, but I was impressed.

"You can stop with that anytime. I won't go away."

I felt conflicted about my next course of action. On one hand, the girl in front of me would not annoy me with trying to strike up a conversation. On the other, there was absolutely no reason for her to sit at my table. There were plenty of others she could have sit at. Should I stand up and move to a different table? Ignore her? Shoo her away?

Decisions, decisions.

"You are reading about the Great War? Should you not have read all about it in middle school?", she asked me whilst I was still contemplating.

"I believe that refreshing knowledge is something everyone should do." Not a lie. I did believe that. "There is no shame in doing so."

Judging from the hum and the small accepting smile, she conceded this point to me.

"At what chapter are you?"

"The battle of Winterburg. Quite interesting, even though Whitewalker was an idiot there.", that seemed to have hit a mark, if her glowering at me was any indicator.

"Excuse me?!"

"I admit that he was quite the capable commander, but the airdrop was poorly supported, leading to unnecessary casualties."

"There was no possible way to support them. His own supply lines were interrupted by constant Grimm attacks. Organizing anything meaningful in any reasonable amount of time; There was no way to do it."

"Exactly. That's why they would have been better off trying to capture the port city Ulgaville 20 clicks north of Winterburg instead. It was not nearly as well guarded as his actual target. Easily defendable, too, and just as effective when to came to achieving the actual goal of the operation: Thinning out Ravenwood's troops and cutting his supplies from Mantle which arrived, you guessed it, per boat."

I was aware that discussions about historical events which contained fact after fact and hypothetical 'what ifs' were not everyone's cup of tea. They could become boring quite fast to listen to, making all not interested zone out. I knew that to be a fact for I had the same reaction when people started to argue about clothing or shoes around me, for example.

But both the Girl and I were quite enjoying ourselves. In the end I decided to let her stay.

We sat there for around one and a half hours, just talking about the Great War, key figures, even the huntsman academies. It was the most relaxing and enjoyable break I had since my arrival on Remnant. No whining, no emotional crisis, no dumb costumers and certainly no people coming to me for advice or whatever.

But, sadly, all good things had to come to an end. I would have loved to continue talking, but there were still some preparations to be done for Monday. Preparations Flint had pushed unto me, saying that the extra money would not hurt.

While he had a point there, it was not any help if you thought about the actual work involved: Preparing a coffee shop for the coming week was not an easy task, most of all if you considered Flint's plans to improve it. Something along the lines of 'the floor being to creaky'.

There was also another thing. Even though I could make a perfectly adequate standard coffee, there were more, way more ways to prepare the godly beverage. Flint thought it would finally be time for me to start making coffee for the customers, so he had offered to teach me the way of the barista.

I had made the decision two weeks ago. Since then, he gave me lessons every late afternoon till evening with what what was practically like night school. The upside: I learned to brew and mix really tasty coffee. The downside: My free time was very much limited.

After I said my goodbyes and was on my way home, I realized that I had not even asked what her name was. Oh well, since we decided to meet in the library next Sunday again it was not a big deal. I will simply ask her then.

But why did she seem familiar?