While they were occupied sprinkling the plants with the remaining water in the canteen, Corinthia quietly sidled down one of the trails.She stopped in front of a tree she recognized as a silk bay, one with smooth and fragrant leaves.She looked up and down the trail to make sure no one was watching.
Then she silently kissed two fingertips, and pressed them against one perfect leaf.
14
Rosemary's Interlude
Rosemarystoodonthecrest of the tallest ridge in the Refuge and looked down over the green maze.She didn’t need a staff to keep her footing, but she had picked up a gnarled oak branch in a fit of nervousness, and was rolling it lightly between her palms.
A worry stick, she thought to herself.Larger than a worry stone, for larger worries.
The sun had fallen below the horizon, and all the visitors to the Refuge had left.Rosemary was alone; or, at least, she appeared to be.
The white sand swirled around her feet as if in a sudden breeze.
Rosemary glanced at the dancing sand.“You can’t get carried away,” she said.“You’ll scare her.You’re too much.”
The sand fizzed upward rebelliously before it settled in a grumbly pattern.
Rosemary sighed.After meeting Beaufort, she could no longer think of the forest as anything but an over-enthusiastic dog, one who tended to jump up on unsuspecting visitors and knock them over.
The trees were talking, too, now; making plans, no doubt, of what to do next.Rosemary could hear them whispering among themselves.
“I saidno,” Rosemary added firmly.
A few nearby scrub jays attempted to scold the trees into line.Rosemary appreciated the solidarity but didn’t rely on it counting for much.The forest did what it wanted.And the forest, like Rosemary herself, had become fascinated by the Shadow Ridge librarian.
Rosemary couldn’t blame the forest—a few encounters with Corinthia, and she, too, found herself with entirely unreasonable feelings.
Perhaps it had been forward to return Corinthia’s wallet to her home when she could have reasonably dropped it off at the library’s circulation desk the next day.
It also might not have been entirely reasonable to fall into the pond so that Corinthia could rescue her.
But, oh, the delicious chocolate.The snug little cottage stuffed with books.The silly hound.The starlit library.The kiss!There were so many books to discuss, so many secrets to share with the dignified, intelligent, fascinating librarian… ah, Corinthia!
Rosemary could not help a blissful sigh.
As if conjured, a breeze arrived and rolled over the green maze like a great hand ruffling the branches.
Her whole life she had remained hidden.Watching.Waiting.Learning.Taking only the most careful forays out of the Refuge, until one day she entered the Shadow Ridge Library and met a librarian, and every caution was thrown to the wind.No wonder the forest had become involved—it was quite literally the most natural thing.
Rosemary plucked a leaf from a nearby branch.“We will take it slowly,” she said, hoping the forest would listen.She rubbed the leaf with her fingers and inhaled the faint scent—a discarded plant identification book had described silk bay leaves as having an aroma reminiscent of soap and licorice.Soap she had found in the library restrooms, but licorice was as faraway a concept as the moon.
Despite working up the courage to actually enter the Shadow Ridge Library—rather than just quietly raid the free book cart—Rosemary felt increasingly unsure that her haphazard education would be sufficient to mix in society.
I will learn, she reminded herself.Even if I cannot venture far, I will learn.Look how many more books there are in the world!
And with that thought came memories of Corinthia’s library tour.
So.Many.Books.
The scrub jays called out encouragement, for they were a curious bunch who loved trouble.Between the scrub jays and the forest, it was all Rosemary could do to keep the lot of them in line.
She planted the makeshift walking stick into the sand.“We will take it slowly,” she repeated, for the benefit of everything listening—and herself.
All beings present heard, and at least one did not obey.
15
