1stwitness | (no subject)

She chuckles, grinning. "Fine. I think we can orient ourselves by that."

She points up to the large pendant lamp overhead, in the shape of an eight-pointed star.

"If we came from the 'South', say? Keep going 'North'?"

"Yes", he agrees. "Until we reach a dead end and must turn back."

She sets off again, staying a companionable distance from him.

"So you were at Oxford?"

"I was, and subsequently taught there. Like my father before me."

"Me, too. Well, my mother anyway. My father went to Cambridge."

She cuts a glance at him, curious to see his reaction.

He stops in his tracks, startled, but there's a smile starting to appear.

"Your mother went to Oxford? Well, finally."

"Yes. And I did as well. Sorry, didn't make that clear."

"Not before time. I always disliked their policy of refusing entrance to even the most able women."

"Well, it's still very much an Old Boy's Club. Sometimes it felt like I had to prove myself twice over just to get the same respect, but that only prepared me for my career at the Met."

The shelves have changed again. This time into an array of tiny slots containing four inch long cylinders of what appears to be glass. And they're all glowing slightly, in various shades of blues, greens, reds & yellows.

"But you were given opportunities women of my time could never hope for, however hard they worked." He stares at the cylinders. "Do you know how these might be read?"

"Oh I know. My mother was a very vocal advocate for equal rights."

She pauses to examine the labels on the shelves.

"These are apparently data crystals? Colour-coded for -- I can't even read that script. Someone's handwriting is terrible."

"...apparently some things never change, even in the distant future."

She laughs under her breath.

"You'd think this place would have librarians, wouldn't you?"

"But who in the world could ever keep up with such a task?"

"Someone with a fleet of minions who need neither food nor sleep."

She taps the shelf again, and it's obvious, she has to tear herself away.

"Right, moving on. We're on a mission, and must not be deterred."

"I can see why you've had a problem in the past", he says, eyeing the contents of the shelves. "Everything here is quite fascinating."

"It's more than anyone could read in a single lifetime. Which makes my eye twitch, frankly."

"Multiple lifetimes, I should think." He peers ahead of them. "Is it growing lighter up there?"

She squints, glancing behind them and then back forward.

"I can't tell. Maybe? No, I think you're right."

"I am not sure if that means we are reaching the end or... something else."

"Only one way to find out."

She grins at him, and heads toward the light.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me."

Ichabod hurries to catch up, then stops dead.

"...well, at least we are not lost."

They've emerged back at the hub, seemingly from the east.

A laugh bubbles up in her chest. "No...? But, if this happens when we go back that way, how will we find where we came in?"

"Perhaps when that is our intent, the library will allow it", he suggests. "As we were not attempting to leave that time."

She puts her hands on her hips, spinning slowly on her heel.

"Perhaps."

She certainly hopes he's right.