33 SIXTH FACE (1/2)
”'Manifold' Zentzu,” the librarian's voice came back to a normal level, ”He's been misbehaving a lot since he entered the library. He crossed the limits by recording a fraudulent name in the register. Since you are here, you must punish him appurtenant to his actions.”
Zentzu viewed at Lirzod who portrayed a pococurante face, resulting him to ruminate. (He must have not heard him. What should I do?)
”You must be joking,” the guard chortled, ”this library isn't even officialized and yet you want to punish him? For what?”
The librarian's shoulders slumped. He looked at the commander, hoping he might still help him.
”He's right,” Zentzu was quick to back the guard's words.
The librarian let out a bitter smile.
”Don't worry,” Lirzod placed his hand on the librarian's shoulder and said, ”you can hurt Tarqa if you want.”
”Tarqa?” the librarian gave a puzzled gaze, as he unknowingly spoke aloud. ”You mean the one in the book? He's real?”
”Of course.”
”He's on this ship as well?”
”No.”
”Then how can we hurt him? Not that I want to hurt him.”
”It's fine. You can strike Tarqa whenever you want,” Lirzod took the register from his hand and stricken over the signature 'Tarqa Pudota' with the ink pen. ”There you go,” he handed the register back.
The librarian got buffaloed by his action, and couldn't tell if Lirzod was willfully being facetious or not.
At a certain place.
Tarqa just came out of a room, and a passing by crow discharged its waste on his shoulder. Seeing that, Tarqa fumed. ”You cheap crow!” He picked up a nearby stone and darted it at the flying away crow, and badly missed it. ”Come back here! You useless bird.” He could catch its caws as the crow distanced itself, for the reason it employed its wings.
CAW! CAW!
Back to the library on the tenth deck, the four of them were subconsciously speaking lustily.
The caws of a crow reached Lirzod's ears making him look around. ”Did I just hear something?”
”Mm?” the librarian paused a moment before replying, ”ah, it's a passerine.”
”Oh, where is it?” Lirzod asked as he looked around. ”I can't see it.”
”What the hell is a passerine?” the guard murmured to himself, but his voice ended up reaching the commander's ears.
”A passerine is a songbird that sings for communication, halfwit,” Zentzu coldly said.
”S-Sorry, commander,” the guard almost crumpled to the ground when the commander suddenly replied to his susurration.
The librarian asked Lirzod to help move the desk, and when they did, a tiny creature revealed itself.
”So, here you are,” Lirzod picked it up and the other three came closer.
After taking a closer look, the guard smiled. ”What, so it was just a crow,” the guard snorted, but after receiving quick stares from those three, he shut his mouth and stepped back twice, before opening his mouth again. ”It's a passerine!”
”What's this baby crow doing here?” Lirzod looked at the librarian. ”Are you raising it?”
”No. It was just waiting at the door last night. I tried feeding it, but it wasn't eating anything.”
”Can it fly?”
”I didn't see it fly. It's only a couple of weeks old, I guess.”
Zentzu intervened. ”Must have left the nest before it could fly.”
”Or, the nest might have gotten destroyed as well,” Lirzod said and looked at the librarian. ”Did you check if there was any crow's nest on this deck?”
The librarian's face warped badly. ”No. Why would I do that?” But seeing the blank stare from the commander, he cleared his throat. ”There's no way I can look for a small nest on this deck and succeed in less than a day.”
”There's always a way,” Zentzu said, in an ascetic tone. ”Go and look for it.”
The librarian was bewildered. ”C-Commander, I am doing my job. I can't just leave the library for a crow! Neither is it my job nor am I interested.”
Zentzu narrowed his eyes.
The guard gripped his weapon tightly. ”Did you just raise your voice against the commander?”
The chills that spread across his spine brought the librarian to his knees and made his hand touch Zentzu's bantam feet. ”I was foolish. Please, look past this mistake, commander. I will immediately look for the nest.”
”Success shouldn't get into one's head,” Zentzu calmly said. ”I will be shifting a thousand books from the library to my room. If I see that your character improved with my own eyes, then I will consider giving back the books.”
A severe chest pain quaked the whole of the librarian's body. A thousand books wasn't a small number. He never felt so miserable in a long time, and he was just a step away from crying his eyes out.
”Here,” Lirzod handed the baby crow to the librarian. He took out the unpleasant almond out of his pocket and left it at the crow's feet.
”It's waste,” the librarian said, in a sorrowful tone, ”I already told you. It wasn't eating anything.”
The next moment, the almond disappeared and ended up in the crow's stomach, surprising the librarian.
”H-How?” he looked at Lirzod, expecting some answer, but Lirzod shrugged his shoulders.
”What did you try giving it?” the guard asked.
”A fresh piece of apple,” the librarian said.
”Maybe that's why it didn't take it.”
”What do you mean?”
”That crow probably likes to eat rotten food.”
The librarian gave a suppressed version of displeased look to the guard. He wanted to slap the guard so hard at the time, for everything he did. If only the guard wasn't there, things wouldn't have ended up the way they did. And as if everything he did wasn't already enough, he was trying to crack jokes.
Zentzu surveyed Lirzod for a slight moment before speaking, ”Did you come here for a casual read or for a particular work?”
”For a poem of Surya Chand.”
Zentzu was surprised. ”You are a fan of him?”
”Not really. Duera is his fan, but you can say that I'm half the fan she is.”
”My girl—” Lirzod paused for a second, ”friend.”
”Oh,” Zentzu spoke without even pondering for an instant, ”then you can take that book for free and then gift it to her.”
The librarian could no longer hide his tears and they streamed out. He ran behind one shelf, not wanting to show his crying face to the commander and especially the guard. The tenth deck commander was well-known for his competence in dealing with people. Those who were on his good side got to borrow money at low interest rates. But those who were on his bad side were not left alone and were languished in one way or another. Now, it was the turn of the librarian to experience the impact of staying on his bad side just for a brief moment. The price he had to pay, however, felt too much. Though many thoughts flooded his mind, including the settling of the score, vengeance wasn't a discreet way when a deck's commander self-embroiled into the affair. Still, he couldn't believe how he enmeshed himself into such a harrowing plight.
”Is she a girl friend or Girlfriend?” The guard just wanted to ask.
Lirzod stared at him for a moment before patting his shoulder. ”Both are friends only, right?”
”They are not—” the guard was about to say, but the commander's clearing of throat alerted him to a stop.
”Go and bring that book of poems,” Zentzu ordered the guard who responded with no delay. After the guard brought the book, Zentzu opened it up and stopped at a particular poem named 'I promise'. He looked at Lirzod. ”What do you think about this one? Surya proposed his girlfriend through this one, a driftless art.”