As I follow Krystoff down the corridor, we pass by doors that I’ve still never seen the other side of, and I’m left wondering which will be the library.
JUN: What’s this door?
KRYSTOFF: Closet.
Another one??
JUN: What about this one?
KRYSTOFF: Music room.
JUN: Like to listen to music?
KRYSTOFF: A collection of instruments.
REGENALD: He does not actually play most of them. He just looks at them.
KRYSTOFF: This door here… don’t go in there. It’s dangerous.
Dangerous?!
KRYSTOFF: And this here’s the library.
JUN: Damn, okay. I knew it’d be nice, but I didn’t know it’d be this nice.
KRYSTOFF: It is nice, isn’t it?
Though slightly chaotic, Krystoff’s library is unsurprisingly gorgeous and huge. Walls of books fill my entire range of vision, and it’s equal parts overwhelming and exciting. He clearly spends a good deal of time in here, if the piles of books scattered all over are any indication. With my notepad tucked under one arm, I set off to see what this little study of his has to offer.
JUN: Have you read all of this??
KRYSTOFF: Not yet, though I’ve read quite a lot. I also just have a bit of a hoarding problem.
JUN: I think this goes beyond hoarding and comes back around the bell curve to being professional curation.
KRYSTOFF: Oh, I like that! That sounds more fun.
JUN: Haha.
REGENALD: That is not entirely inaccurate—some of the works in this study are extremely old and rare. Which is why it would be preferable for the study to be organized in a more logical manner…
Krystoff holds up his hands defensively, his face anything but apologetic.
KRYSTOFF: Like I’ve said, Regenald, I know where everything is so it’s fine! Besides, reorganizing everything would be a monumental task, and I’m not getting any younger.
As those two bicker about organization systems, I rifle through an aisle. A good majority of the books are in a language (or multiple languages?) I’ve never seen before, but even without knowing the titles, I can tell from the disparate sizes and covers that they were all just kind of tucked onto the shelves without rhyme or reason. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re just organized by when Krystoff got his hands on them.
I wander into the next aisle, but this library isn’t gonna do me much good if it’s all in a language I can’t even read. I skim more spines for anything recognizable and end up pulling out a picture book. Huh. Wonder how this got into Krystoff’s collection. It contains cute illustrations of a baby serpent trying to find its way home, but that isn’t particularly educational for me at this age, so I slot it back into its place.
JUN: What’s the language these are all in? I can’t read it.
KRYSTOFF: Huh? Oh, right, you’re a human. How could I forget. There’s a few different languages I collect books in, two traditional duenkhy languages and one modern one, mostly. There should be english books in here somewhere, though.
JUN: Oh, interesting. I’ll keep looking, then. What are these languages called?
KRYSTOFF: The modern one is actually just called Duenkhy. Confusing, I know. The others are Cyrabuian and Meyodi. Cyrabuian is the oldest known spoken language amongst duenkhy. Meyod is an enormous sector of Duen, and they speak primarily Meyodi there even to this day.
REGENALD: And human languages are scattered all throughout Duen depending on the density of types of duenkhy. Great deal of english in this sector.
KRYSTOFF: I’m fluent in several languages, of course, both duenkhy and human in nature. All the better for me to hoard more.
He flutters away to pull books off the shelves.
(Library background courtesy of @donotwander !!)
The Duenkhy 