Untimely Needs

Vor had much on his mind throughout the time back to the house. Too many questions with so few answers, a fact that was starting to chafe in his mind. His artistic block had at least been moved for the time, mostly from seeing so many pieces of his people’s artistry and history being recovered, so perhaps that could finally provide some comfort.
He had also been thinking of his talk with Miss Ipsum and Lagrave, moreso how invigorating it had been to discuss and debate so openly. It was something he had desperately needed after everything, that and actually being around others again. While Vor wouldn't call himself the most social of his kind, every Araundan had an innate desire to be a part of things. Even his previous stints of isolation while painting were comparably brief to his recent habits.

All this could wait however as they finally arrived and unloaded. Vor was quick to head to the library after helping unload and being dismissed, quickly making his way to the library. He was making an effort to keep the work out of his room in order to separate it from his place of rest.

There had been much gained from the leftovers of the Children’s hideout. Files, plenty of them, and several he had noted were solely in Greek so he knew they were his to work on. Some were light, including dossiers of him, Sung, and Elizabeth, though they were more sparse than he would have imagined.

Below these were more lengthy documents. More on Lamaire and his family, no surprise there and little that he hadn’t learned already. What was of interest were files of more influential members or informants. These would need to be shown to Elizabeth as soon as possible tomorrow.
Boswell, Pascal, Baddignton, and Sable. They seemed to be the more important files, ones he would show to Elizabeth. One however, he hesitated on what to do. Iris Doukas.
He knew he was too attached, putting more concern on her than someone like Lyam Pascal for example, a member of the Mages Guild and clearly more influential. He just couldn’t shake the guilt that snagged him like a fisher’s hook, making him wonder if he should find one of the others to talk to about it. From several dossiers on other Araundan among the Children, it seemed unlikely he would find any others of his kind to speak to for a while and he could see the thoughts would give him no rest until shared. After all, ‘A river only grows stronger when joined with others.’.

During all of this internal debate, Vor noticed a catch in his breath. It had been there since their departure from the tunnels, but now it had increased beyond being simple dust in his gills, creating a small panic at the idea of some hidden poison he had somehow contracted. It wasn’t until he noticed his arm, covered in what looked like growing patches of dust, that he fully realized how lost in his work he had been. While he had been bathing regularly, he hadn’t fully rehydrated in quite some time, even remembering a comment Iris had made on his skin.

While he did enjoy the necessity, it was now rather an inconvenience. It wasn’t something to be ignored either, assuring himself that the others would understand it as the matter of health it was. He gathered the papers back into a pile and left the library, asking one of the servants to explain the situation to Elizabeth before returning to his room to prepare.