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"Is there anything in particular you're looking for?" Keerk, the elderly kobold proprietor of his eponymous shop looked up at Coifare and Chitara with congenial expectation.
“Leid Kituss was hoping to find something she can’t find back home in Ebemar, something distinctly Nerathi.” The eladrin’s smile encompassed both the diminutive bookseller and their companion.
“That might be a tall order,” the man offered dryly. “Fiction or otherwise? Prose, poetry, pictures?”
Coifare gave a wry smile, wondering at Keerk’s tone momentarily, but he’d always been the soul of courtesy.
“Oh, well, if you have anything that would cover some of Nerath’s native artists, that would be fascinating, but I’m also quite happy to browse.” Chitara’s eyes danced over the neat, crowded shelves with an almost child-like anticipation.
“As you wish, my leid. I will pull some titles for your perusal, but please feel free to explore at your leisure.” He bowed slightly, his tiny pince-nez precarious on the end of his snout, before disappearing into the stacks.
“He’s adorable,” Chitara confided, stepping further into the labyrinthine shop, trailing her fingers over shelf labels as she went.
“I think you might injure his dignity if he heard you say that, but I’m inclined to agree. If I recall, he was an Explorer before opening this place.” Coifare shadowed their companion, idly noting titles here and there as they walked. They’d discovered Keerk’s almost a decade ago, some few seasons after their debut. It was a welcome respite from the constant stimulation of the various balls and salons, though it had its own sensations in which Coifare revelled. The scent of paper and leather, a bit of dust (though they’d never say as much to Mr. Keerk, of course); the soft susurrus of foot traffic outside; the orderly kaleidoscope of the books themselves.
“How fascinating. We haven’t quite adopted your guild structure back home, but every Ebemari knows the Explorer’s Union.”
“Should I be proud or offering apologies?”
“A bit of both, I would think,” Chitara teased with a glancing smile.
“Then my sincerest thanks and deepest regrets, my Leid Kituss.” Coifare made a formal bow, rising with a smirk. “And yet you said your goal in Highmark was alliance? Are you certain of your Nerathi? Perhaps you meant ‘dalliance’ instead? An easy mistake.”
Chitara chuckled affably. “Are all Nerathi so forward?”
“Few enough, if I’m honest, though some might say otherwise.” The eladrin’s smile was more open and genuine than a moment before. “My god enjoins us to appreciate beauty wherever it may be found; I can do no less.”
“Arawai, yes? Rather, you call her ‘Corellon’, I believe?”
“Possibly. Forgive me, but we don’t subscribe to your Host here, and it continues to be a point of ongoing theological debate. Are you particularly religious?” Coifare was no scholar of Akhasic religion, but any good education included some instruction as to the foreign region’s singular faith.
“As any good Vassal, I suppose,” the kalashtar replied nonchalantly,” but my fervor tends to lie elsewhere. I take it you are?”
Coifare smirked, mentally marking to be sure to follow up on their companion’s statement, but answered her query first. “Anointed and sworn, an otorn of my leid of Arvandor, monarch of my people. It is both a personal and familial calling.”
“That would be considered quite odd amongst my people,” Chitara commented conversationally. “Few hear a call to only a single member of the Host.”
“Gods in Nerath aren’t a monolith. One might say ours are truly a host,” Coifare offered lightly. “The Seldarine alone number well into the double digits, depending upon the counting, and they’re only the pantheon of, hmm, perhaps a fifth of the Confederacy.”
“How your people are unified while mine squabble ceaselessly, I’ll never quite grasp.” Chitara shook her head and smiled.
“Oh, we’re not, by any stretch, but we can fake it enough for self-interest.”
“Is that the solution? Naked self-interest?” Chitara’s chuckled was equal parts amused and dismayed.
“It’s a solution; I can’t speak to its singularity.”
The pair perused the shelves in companionable silence for a few moments, trading furtive glances here and there. The kalashtar’s attire was bright and striking, not unlike herself; a short coat over a high-waisted gown was not unusual, but the cutaway to reveal the breeches and boots beneath were intriguingly daring. For their part, Coifare was dressed in somewhat more traditional going out attire, her pelisse’s intricate golden embroidery the main nod to their usual flamboyance. At length, Chitara spoke, her comment soft enough not to carry, but full of flirtatious humor.
“And here I thought you might take the bait at ‘naked self-interest’.”
Coifare smiled at that, their golden eyes twinkling. “My naked interest is less self-directed, my good leid, though perhaps I could be convinced.”
Chitara’s answering smirk would have made a Sehanite blush. “Perhaps we should look to make evening plans sometime soon. I should relish hearing your opinion on further Nerathi-Ebemari entanglement.”
“I would be most pleased to aid in furthering diplomatic relations, of course.”
The pair had taken steps closer to one another, practically touching in the closeness of the overstocked bookstore. Their hands on the shelves, Chitara’s left and Coifare’s right, slid closer together along the polished wood. Both heads tilted ever so slightly, forward toward the answering expression…
“Ah, my leids, I have a selection of prints that I believe meet your requirements,” Keerk offered brightly, without a hint of awkwardness or censure. He primly held a small stack of books up for perusal. “Have you found anything else you like?”
A shared glance between Chitara and Coifare produced a mutual bout of laughter, to the kobold storekeeper’s nonplussed consternation. Chitara took one of the offered books with a grateful smile.
“Why yes, Mr. Keerk, I do believe I have.”