"There is the telekinesis."

"Oh, yeah. The cats wanted to be able to like, do things, and obviously they don't have hands, so the Hearthkeeper gave everyone some minor telekinesis. It can't exert very much force, so those of us who do have hands don't make much use of it, but it's good for a few things, and there are some fun tricks you can learn if you practice."

He picks up the (now crumb-strewn) plate that the body was eating off of, as much for the comedic timing as to actually be helpful, carrying it over to the trash receptacle, then back to the kitchen to clean.

Well, that is some comedic timing. "I'm not sure how much use that'll be for me. I guess maybe having a little bit of T.K. that I can actually control might be nice, though."

"You were wondering what there is to do? We have a decent library, definitely not as big as the people who came from worlds with internets would like, but I think the diversity of texts from different worlds is really interesting. The permanent gardens are pretty big, so we can do most outdoor activities. I think a lot of things people do also kinda revolve around what things are easy or hard for us to get from the house. Like, it's easy to find clothing, but not specific things you want or clothing that fits you really well, so some people are into tailoring. Food is popular with everyone and ingredients are free, so cooking is another common hobby. And the house won't give us anything above a certain tech level, or anything that you wouldn't find in like, an actual house somewhere, so there's a group of people working on manufacturing stuff and gradually increasing our technological capabilities. They've got a forge and a machine shop and some generators, stuff like that. And most types of social activities or hobbies or games you can think of probably have some people into them."

"I think a lot of people just like to take it easy, do whatever is fun for them, make friends—you do meet a lot of interesting people here, that's for sure—there are some people who are really devoted to some goal or ambition, but it's definitely not a majority. That's... probably related to how most people end up here. The green door always takes people who have something they need to get away from. And when they do, often what they want to do is like, relax and let themselves heal."

"Yeah."

"I think it's different for everyone, both what they had to deal with and how they handle it once they get here, but the result is that it's a fairly laid-back place."

"The cats were all born here, so none of that applies to them. I think they're just naturally laid back."

"I don't think I've ever met a cat that wasn't laid back, so that tracks," he says, not really respond to the actual content of that exchange for a moment as he thinks. "I guess I'll probably mostly be doing the same, I guess? Maybe try and make some friends."

"They're like, either laid back, or really intently focused on something. And yeah, it's good to make friends. If you want to meet people, finding a group for some hobby you're interested in is a good idea. Dinnertime in here is also kinda a big deal... and a few of the cats are uncannily good matchmakers."

Atrhur flushes a bit without entirely realizing it at the mention of matchmaking cats. "Yeah. I don't know if I'll really be hungry again in just a few hours, I haven't been super active today and eaten plenty already, but I'm still planning to come by around dinnertime, just to try and get situated."

"Alright, we..." she shares a look with James, "probably won't see you then, but you'll probably run into people that aren't here now."

"Yeah, I think Levron has been wanting to meet you."

They've finished eating by now, and stand up to leave.

"Anyways, we're off. It was nice meeting you, Azzy. Welcome to the refuge."

He nods, gives them both a smile and a wave, then polishes off his milk and brings the glass back to the kitchen for cleaning.

He could try and talk with more people, it seemed like there were still plenty eating, but he'd feel pretty awkward just sitting down and talking without anything to eat and he's properly full now.

James did say there were books about magic, even if they aren't going to let him do magic himself. That still sounds interesting, and maybe getting theoretical grounding will still let him understand how this place works better. If he's lucky maybe it'll even help get a better handle the angel.

So he'll go ahead and try to find the library again.

There are more people in the library, this time of day. Maybe two dozen. Sitting behind the front desk (where Dorian was last night) is a hairless red-skinned man with four arms. He's about seven feet tall, quite muscular, and wearing a white sleeveless shirt. He's in the middle of a book, obviously.

Huh. Dorian didn't have any hair either. He wonders whether that's an accident, or there's a clique of hairless people who have the run of the library, or there's some sort of rule about it.

He'll walk up to the desk and, if the guy doesn't greet him, see if there's a reasonably polite way to get his attention, like a bell or something.

He can hear Arthur coming. He looks up.

"Oh, you must be the new guy. What's up?"

"Yeah, you can call me Azzy. I was wondering if you could point me to any books about magic? Especially if there's anything the Hearthkeeper herself has written, or maybe independent research on how the Eternal House works?"

"My name is Ulthi. Magic is different in pretty much every world that has it. We have some books about the way magic works on specific worlds, and some books doing comparative magic—it's like comparative religion, trying to compare how magic works between different worlds, find common factors and trends, etcetera. The Hearthkeeper hasn't written any books, unfortunately, and she's pretty tight-lipped about how her own magic works. She probably knows more about how the house works than she explains to us, too."

"If you want to know how the house works, there are two problems with that. First, if you want to know how the house works on its own, without the influence of the Hearthkeeper's magic, the only things we know are from people who mounted expeditions and returned. There aren't many of those, and they didn't give us a ton of information. Second, if you want to know how the refuge works, we do have some works, but they tend to be pretty specific. Researching a single topic that can be approached empirically, basically, like the frequency of various types of rooms you'll encounter under certain conditions. I don't think we have a good book about how the refuge works in general, because that's assumed to be common knowledge known to pretty much everyone here. Also, the refuge changes with time, so any general overview would go out of date within a couple thousand days, and some of the specific stuff too."

"So, to recommend you a book, I'd need to know more about what questions you're trying to answer, basically."

Arthur nods along and considers this. It makes sense that the refuge is changing, since it's something that the Hearthkeeper made and is, evidently, continuing to improve on. He guesses that she's probably not planning on ever stepping down or training a replacement, or if she is that it's a long while in the future. Maybe that Ton'guni guy, since he seems like he might be something of a fixture as well. Probably no point in begging her to bring him into the loop on that.

So, what does he want to read about, specifically? "I guess the comparative magic studies would be the best place for me to start, then." Hm... "Also, do you know if there are any, like, big surveys of what people's homeworlds are like?"

Wait, he didn't ever actually answer the question. "I want to try and get a better handle on my power, and I'm hoping that I might be able to read something that gives me an idea on how to do that. I guess, I don't know if you have, like, a phonebook? Or if there's a list of people who might be able to help me directly?"

"We do have surveys like that, yes. I think the most recent one is a couple hundred days old. The people who put those together will probably want to interview you at some point."

"If you want help with your power, I doubt you'll get much useful information out of a book about the magic of some other world than your own. There's very little overlap in terms of the practical skills. Probably Ton'guni is the best person to talk to about that. He can get a lot of information about how your power works, and if that isn't enough, he can probably give you a pretty good idea about where you should investigate from there. But no, we do not have a phonebook. There's only a few hundred of us, usually you just ask around."

And Ulthi can direct him to the best books on comparative magic and comparing the various worlds refugees come from in general.

"Thanks," Arthur offers simply but with genuine appreciation on his face, before heading off in the given direction. He does think he's going to try and pay Ton'guni a visit, or at least try and schedule something since it seems plausible that he might be really busy.

He doesn't know whether this is the sort of library where he can just up and take books away, he knows back home he'd have needed a library card for that, so for now he'll browse the books that he's been pointed towards (and, hopefully the translation effect applies to written language as well as spoken, or else that at least one of this is written in English and in an alphabet he's familiar with), before eventually picking whichever one seemed the most beginner friendly and finding a place to sit and read.

Also, just in case he passes through, he'll keep an eye out for Ton'guni.

So will he, though mostly because he'll be people-watching, and occasionally reading over people's shoulders.