Quinn flipped the book over and frowned: Bahillel's Magical Detection Guide. Not that Hal would bring poison with him, but she was rather apprehensive since she had been poisoned by some random person last time she went to visit Halschius. Moreso, even though she doesn't really want to admit it though, is that if someone could get past the wards Hal put up, if someone could reach her there. Then didn't it also stand to reason they'd be able to reach her right here in the Library?

  Thus, she'd searched and asked, and hunted down a book that could help her. It had sections on all types of ailments and hidden affinity afflictions. Some of it was pretty dark stuff. But she figured, while she waited, and because she didn't want to drive herself up the wall by constantly trying to figure out what she'd forgotten to add to the murder board, she'd absorb the book and see if any of the application in it could help her.

  Not to mention that she was the Librarian and her track record of encountering people who wanted her dead was starting to get long.

  She ran over the directions once again, and closed her eyes, placing herself briefly in a meditative state.

  Magical Aura Affinity allows you to do many things.

  Identification. Interpretation. Alteration. Manipulation. Dedication. Nulification.

  Should you have all of these, no one will ever be able to cast a spell on you that you can't see coming, poison you with any type of poison, or slip you anything else nefarious.

  As long as MAA remains active, it will feed information back to its caster, allowing them to ascertain different things at diffrent power levels. But even if the detail isn't as intricate as one might expect, it will always flag if whatever is being inspected is harmful to the MAA caster.

  Intermediate books, it seemed, were somewhat more difficult to grasp. Still, Quinn reckoned with all of the affinities she possessed, that this should be relatively simple. All she had to do...

  But it was more difficult than she'd anticipated.

  Aradie hooted one long low note from next to her and Quinn scowled briefly.

  "It's not that easy. I have to locate something and scan it, but know what it is that I'm trying to scan or else I won't know if it worked." It sounded perfectly logical in her head. But when she said it out loud...

  Aradie hopped forward to sit next to her and gave her one of those looks.

  "Fine." Reluctantly, Quinn opened her eyes, but activated her Magical Aura Affinity in order to observe Aradie.

  It was almost like she had one of those weird vizers people used to put in movies as some new fangled technology. All of these numbers and swirls began to emanate from Aradie. She couldn't make heads nor tail of it, but what she did notice was the abundance of energy suffusing her. The energy was a low-key blue.

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  "Right then..." she stood up, pushed herself back from her desk and headed out to go grab Farrow, Aradie gliding effortlessly after her.

  Farrow's appearance always threw Quinn. The Caretaker looked like a living tree, but more in the way that a tree would be painted, than the way a tree really was. Sort of cartoonish, in fact.

  "Librarian," she inclined her head in greeting and waited.

  "This is going to sound really weird." Quinn started. "I need to borrow something poisonous to put in a cup of water so I can see what the aura of poison looks like in order to potentially prevent disaster from striking me."

  For several, what seem like very, long seconds pass before Farrow nodded very slowly. She walked two terrariums over and plucked a sprig of... something out of it and walked over to one of the huge washing basins at the other end of the room.

  Quinn dutifully followed, unsure how she should act in here. She'd always meant to come and check on this area. After all, she knew every other aspect of the Library. "Your helpers aren't here today?"

  "Everyone desderves a day off, Librarian. I do seem to remember you making a point of it." Farrow's smile took any edge off the words.

  Quinn chuckled because they both knew she was just trying to make small talk. Which was seriously one of Quinn's weakpoints.

  After running a cup under the water and thoroughly washing it, Farrow placed water into the cup, dropping in a leaf of the plant she'd picked up, and muttered something under her breath that Quinn couldn't quite pinpoint.

  Engaging her Mental Aura Affinity, Quinn kept her eye specifically on the cup. A haze formed around it, tinting it ever so slightly red. It wasn't vibrant, so if what she absorbed was correct, then wasn't a deadly poison, but would make her ill.

  Still not going to drink it.

  Maybe she'd just have to get used to constantly engaging her MAA.

  "Thank you." She said to Farrow finally. "Sincerely really appreciate this."

  "Always." The caretaker frowned ever so slightly. "Are you alright, Librarian?"

  "Yes. Just trying to tick all the boxes I need before I need them."

  "Wise choice."

  Back in her office after snagging something from the kitchen, Quinn realized it's late in the day and Hal wasn't about to go and read through information about herself to find out what to do. "What do you think?" she asks Aradie, but for once the owl doesn't offer an opinion.

  Quinn studied everything in her office through her Magical Aura Affinity because it was fascinating, and there was a book up in the right hand corner of of one of the bookshelves that she didn't ever thing she should open.

  The knock at the door startled her, because she's actually engrossed in her reading, she barely heard the sound.

  "Little egg?"

  Quinn's head snaps up to see Hal standing in her doorway.

  "About time, you were very excited about these."

  "Good to see you too, Hal. How have you been?" Quinn just skirts any other questions posed. "Are you ready to give our place a once over?"

  "Actually, that's what I came to see you about."

  That didn't sound ominous at all. "Fine. Spill the beans."

  He raised an eyebrow. "I need you to come and check in on Kajaro and Adrito."

  Quinn stared at him. She sort of understood Kajaro... the amount of people she'd let him put in danger? He'd obtained a sample of her blood, so she had no idea what else he could manage. "When?" She found herself asking much to her surprise.

  "Preferably now... unless you really need some sleep."

  "I need sleep. Lynx will kill you and then me, otherwise. He doesn't like first thing in the morning."

  "Just give me a few hours, okay?" Quinn wondered if it was normal to be so excited about traveling tp Halschius. Then again, not much about this new life had ever been dull.

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