the stork drops, the snake swallows | Glowfic Constellation

"Two bagsful, I mean," he says, laughing.

secondchance

"Ah, that'll do it no problem."

He questions Kib about Kib's world all the way back to Eonwë.

secondchance

And Kib is happy to oblige.

And the room gets static-y. Eonwë greets Fëanáro formally.

secondchance

Can he come along to have a look around?

There was no serious disagreement about whether he'd ask, and only mild disagreement about whether it was wise. Finwë Curufinwë, if you die there we are not confident Mandos can find you.

Noted, he says.

secondchance

Try not to get in the way of a rampaging golem.

I have better reflexes than you.

secondchance

And golems may be faster than you, so. It's not that big a risk, couple days, but still.

We'll go, he says to Eonwë, and then they are standing on the street Kib vanished from.

secondchance

People are very surprised to see people appearing! Kib explains to curious bystanders that the snake thing got him, what ever happened to the snake thing, oh somebody chased it down with an industrial puppet and held it still and it was set on fire, oh is anyone else back yet? no nobody else is back yet who's this ridiculously tall person? this ridiculously tall person is from the place I landed, rejoice, being snake monstered is not necessarily fatal! and then they can be on their way to a bank and then Kib's teacher's house (the bank is on the way).

The city is admittedly aesthetically repulsive but still he is so so happy to be here and so delighted and the language and the floating ball of fire in the sky and this is great.

secondchance

Kib points out things that he may not recognize as they go! Evidence of servantmaker presence, there and there and there. Barbershop! Lamps, because the ball of fire in the sky is only around half the time! Creche full of giggling children, spilling out into their playground!

And here's the bank, which can in fact give Kib fiat currency for holy fuck that's a lot of diamonds man where'd you get them. (Kib's not saying.)

Finwë Curufinwë is examining the countertop delightedly and is also not saying.

secondchance

Anyway they will buy the diamonds. And they go the rest of the way to Kib's teacher's house. Kib's teacher and to a greater extent some of Kib's co-prentices are delighted to see him being all not dead! Hugs! The co-prentice with thirty pets is only a little reluctant to give up a few of them but they can have a mouse and a lark and a small snake all transferred to Kib's custody.

Kib packs up his notebooks and a few other things, explaining where he's going to be and why and hugging everybody goodbye and apparently he owes this co-prentice money so there's that settled and now it is time to buy Oh So Many Books.

Book-buying is foreign but books they understand very well indeed and he is enraptured.

secondchance

Kib's not being selective. He has a lot of money to burn. "Do you want to see where you can get with the foreign language section? I'm not going to be able to translate it but we could get stuff from there anyway."

"Yes," he says somewhat alarmingly forcefully.

secondchance

"...Okay!"

So they get some of everything. It's a nice big bookstore. Kib makes especially sure to load up on comprehensive servantmaking texts so he has references.

This is a lot of books and will be hard to transport.

secondchance

They don't have to transport it, just set it aside clearly and have it in mind as their cargo, assuming Eonwë was accurate.

And perch outside the bookstore and wait to be taken home? Or will no one touch their books?

secondchance

The bookstore is willing to store them in the back set aside from the stock for a little extra money! The bookstore is so enthusiastic about all this money.