"I don't know anybody who brought a natural philosophy book out here."

"The fellow as teaches the class on it has a book on types of demons."

"It did seem unlikely, but asking is the way to know."  And to the second, "One could practice his class for Nethys, as well as for not dying, I expect we shouldn't do nearly as well copying the book without the teacher."

"Anyhow, if we're meant to know things, I want to know if it has sex scenes," says the squadmate who asked in the first place. "That's something we could know and don't."

Khalida digs the book out of her bag and passes it over to him.  "Would you like to read?"

Paula's father died of recklessly sleeping in his own bed in his own home,

Chapter Two shifts the scene to the forest and introduces a dashing lone adventurer, questing after the great beast that rampaged through his village when he was but a child.  Just as he thinks he's picked up its track on the banks of the river, however, he hears the cries of a girl with a sack of kittens, being swept downstream towards perilous rapids!  Unhesitating, he strips off his jacket and dives in to rescue her, scooping her up just inches short of the jagged rocks and bearing her to the shore in his lean yet muscular arms.

Khalida is actually struggling rather more than she expected with vernacular Chelish in its written form:  the alphabet is the same as the Taldane she learned but pronunciation has shifted quite a bit, and she doesn't know half of the adjectives, particularly the ones describing the swordsman's clinging garment situation.  She's putting a brave face on it but as usual her Bluff couldn't beat their Sense Motive even on a good day, and it's obvious she's burning with embarrassment about it, even more than over the subject matter.  She passes the book off to the next reader as soon as she's soldiered through enough to do so with some dignity. 

After the girl has finished drowning her kittens properly, the man delivers her back to her family and sidesteps several obvious offers on their part to make it have been worth his while, but does sit down to dinner with them and in his departure is spotted by someone who's just been retained by the ascendant Countess.

(And now they are out of time.)

The mess hall is getting abruptly more crowded- oh right it's almost channel time.  Khalida reclaims the book at the end of the scene and stands up.  "I thank you all for attempting with me.  I'll bring the book again tomorrow evening if I am in the fort, else I'll put the next day on the sign.  Does anyone wish to discuss before I channel?"  She's mostly not blushing. 

"I can't wait to see what Paula does to that overripe adventurer," volunteers the squadmate who wanted to know if there were sex scenes. "With an intro like that it's going to be brutal."

This is too many adjectives put some of those back.  She nods to him and clambers up on the channeling table, closing her eyes and running her thumb along the curves of her little wooden mask.  

Hi, Nethys, see what I have done in Your name.  I stuck to it even though it sucked and everything. 

She lets the tension ease out of her shoulders, and reaches, and opens her eyes, and channels.

Scattered applause and thanks.

The next day passes relatively uneventfully.  Khalida wakes instinctively at dawn, and prays, and dozes for a bit because she didn't quite manage to get to sleep on time, and prepares her spells, and does a midmorning channel, and fills the cistern, and has lunch.  Tariq and Omar get back, and she flops on Tariq and complains, and he pets her hair and doesn't tell her she's being a wimp.  Fucking him is legal again but she's sore and exhausted and doesn't particularly want to, and he doesn't seem to be overwhelmingly in the mood either, so she just kisses him for a bit and then heads downstairs to go find the guy she got Mount from, or somebody else who wanted to swap for it.

That guy is on patrol but another guy can be found pretty readily.

Sweet.  It's maybe not properly Abadaran to swap full-price for a spell she already has part of, and could maybe get the original guy to give her a second crack at for a cantrip or something since it'd take less time, but she doesn't have workable notes now which is her own fault, and she wants to get it back as soon as possible.  And also she owes her primary allegiance to Nethys now, and Nethys is definitely in favor of spreading Secluded Grimoire more widely rather than making the most efficient possible trades.  So there, imaginary childhood priest she definitely doesn't need to be arguing with in the back of her head.  Sketch sketch sketch oooooh this guy's notation is slightly different than the last guy's, nice.  Afternoon channel and unless people want to talk to her afterwards, she'll head back up to their room to get it inked.

Someone has turned up a spare pair of standard issue socks that might fit her, does she have sufficiently warm socks already or does she want these?

Yes definitely thank you, those look warmer than her existing ones (and also then she can turn the existing ones into gloves).

Great, they're hers!

And off she tromps to ink Mount before anything else happens. 

Nothing else tries to happen to her at this time.

Then a few hours later she'll emerge, freshly armed with ugly but functional sock-gloves and Potential For Magic Horse, and heads down to the kitchen to kill a little time gossiping helping out with the dishes before dinner.

Here's a great big pile of dirty dishes. The ptarmigan is getting defrosted and someone's scared up some dried mushrooms rehydrate to go with it.