Work Text:
Another day, another room to clean.
Today Cyril was cleaning the library of Garreg Mach, found on its second floor. It had been a few months since he was hand picked by Lady Rhea to come live at the monastery, and since then had adjusted to his new home. Sure, there were now more people to avoid, and just as with the Gonerils he still received bad looks and occasional bullying, but Garreg Mach was a far larger space then any he’d seen before. His small home in Almyra was at most the size of a single room here. With the added space it was easier to hide, stay out of others’ way, and keep to himself.
Still, there were occasional setbacks. When he had to clean public rooms such as this, he often had to deal with bothersome students, asking questions about his life and home that made him incredibly uncomfortable. He had already learned that trying to convey that to them was a worthless endeavor, especially after one instance left him with bruises. They had ideas about Almyra, about him, and nothing he did changed their mind.
Just work, the books with weapon pictures go here, the ones with saints go here.
Still, over his years living in Fodlan he’d grown accustomed to such treatment. He did his best to disappear, such that the people of Fodlan can continue to believe they are great, while those they mistreat are hidden and forgotten, as they’d prefer they be.
Luckily it was late in the day, so the library was largely vacant, with only a few students present. Cyril could focus on his work: putting the books students had left out away, cleaning up the cobwebs and dust on the shelves he could reach, and clearing out any bugs that would scare the delicate students of Garreg Mach. It was the sort of work no one at the monastery wanted, and that always fell to him.
“Um, excuse me.”
A voice. Addressing him. Sighing, Cyril turned to find another student speaking down to him. Great. She was small at least, not much taller than him, and while he’d seen many like her, the snow like color of her hair gave a distinct aura. He put his books down once confirming that she was not talking about him but to him.
“Hm? Something wrong?”
“Yes! Well, I notice that you aren’t putting the books away properly.” She folded her arms. “I was struggling to find one on magic tomes, and now I know why. Here, take this one,” she pointed, “this is a story of Loog, amongst other legends from the Faerghus Kingdom. This should go in the Faerghus section, yet you’re placing it with encyclopedias of weapons.”
Yes tell me how bad I am. “Oh. I gotcha. Over there?”
She followed his direction. “What? No, that’s the Seiros legends. The history section is on the other side.”
Hm “So the history of Kings isn’t a part of Seiros legends?”
“No! Well, it kind of is. But books on the three lands are kept separate to make locating specific books easier. Really, why are you putting the books away if you don’t know where the different sections of the library are?”
“Lady Rhea’s too busy to help me with that. Look, you’re interrupting my work, I can’t put these away with you bothering me, so could you let me be?”
An annoyed look crossed her face. “How rude! I’m helping you to organize these correctly. Let me help you then if no one else will.”
He responded with his own frustrated look. “This is my job that Lady Rhea gave me, I don’t need anyone to help me do it.”
Their voices were rising. “Clearly you do if you’re not putting the books away correctly!”
“SSSH!”
They turned to see the remaining library students starring at them. A nun passing by the entrance had alerted them of their noise, glaring at both with a finger to her mouth. The white haired girl whispered an apology as the students went back to their studies. Cyril gave a quick glare at her before returning to his bookkeeping, grabbing the one she pointed out and taking it to the Faerghus section. When he returned to the pile of books, he found them organized. The girl was standing next to them with her own glare.
She’s still not done with me?
When he was within speaking distance she crouched down, looking around to make sure they were no longer the center of attention.
“Listen,” she whispered. “I also noticed you could do this job faster. Look, rather then returning them one at a time, I’ve organized them by their subjects, so now you can bring as many as you can to each section. It saves both time and work.”
He glanced at the four stacks of books curiously. She’s right.
“That is a good idea. I’ll start doing that in the future then. Thank you…”
“Lysithea, your helpful big sister Lysithea!” she said proudly.
“…sister?”
The bizarreness dawned on her as she backed up in surprise. He could see her cheeks turning a slight red. “Ah it’s nothing, nothing! That was ah…”
What an odd girl. “Well, thank you for the help Lysithea. I will put these back now.”
He went to grab a stack. “Wait!”
Sigh “Hm? What now?”
“Do you know where those stacks go? Where in the library?”
At this Cyril knew the answer. He knew, but he didn’t want to say. He hated having to voice his own inadequacy, his lack of understanding the way Fodlan and its culture worked. He’s had to deal with so much shame in that regard, so many nobles and peasants who expected him to know Fodlan as if it were his home, and then chastising him extensively for any fault he made.
Pushing those memories back, he turned to Lysithea. She didn’t look upset like earlier. Before he could reply however, his sad expression gave it away.
“I see. Well, never fear, Lysithea is here to save the day!”
Phew. He smiled. At someone. He wasn’t sure when that last happened.
“Here,” she said while grabbing a stack and carrying it to a nearby table. “I can teach you what words to look for and where on the books it denotes what section they belong to.”
“Ah…”
As she motioned for the Almyran to take a seat, he debated if he should tell her about his illiteracy. Surely she would know? They couldn’t possibly expect a foreigner to know how to read Fodlanic right? He assumed people would, but it hadn’t come up in the few conversations he’s held. Are the people of Fodlan really so oblivious of outsiders?
Lysithea showed Cyril the spine of the books, pointing to letters and numbers that could be found on the bottom of each spine. “See the ‘S’ here? That stands for Seiros…or Sothis? I’m not sure, but it means this book, which is about…Saint Macuil! This would go in the church section.”
Cyril looked at the cover being shown. There was an image of someone wielding a large sword. He wore a long cloak and an odd-looking hat.
“So this is Macuil…right, I think a statue looked like this in the cathedral. That was Saint Macuil?”
She beamed like a proud teacher. “Yes! The statues of the four saints reside there, and you can read all about them there.”
Cyril looked away, a frown emerging instinctively.
She tilted her head. “Hm? What’s wrong?”
He examined her expression. There it was again, that lack of judgement. Her pink eyes were not like others, like the many who have starred him down, seen him not as someone, but as a foreigner, a stranger, someone unwelcome.
But her...
He put his hands down and looked away. “Lysithea I…I can’t read…”
He didn’t need to look to guess her reaction. “You WHAT!?”
Before she could continue Cyril motioned for her to shush. Upon realization she immediately covered her mouth. They turned to see that by coincidence the same nun was passing by the entrance, and was once again glaring at them.
Once she resumed her walk they both let out a sigh.
“You can’t read!?” still alarmed, but much quieter.
Cyril looked down. “No…”
“But, everyone at Garreg Mach can read, can’t they? This is the most prestigious school in Fodlan!”
“I’m not exactly from Fodlan you know.”
She blinked for a moment, then looked him over. “You’re not!?”
The words stunned Cyril. “You…you don’t know? I’m from Almyra.”
“Almyra!?” Now she was the one looking down, clearly embarrassed. “I…well I’ve never met an Almyran! How was I supposed to know that!?”
The dots began to connect. So that was why she didn’t give me that look. Why she only wants to help. Why she treated me like someone…
He smiled, and for the first time in who knows how long, Cyril let out a laugh. It was quiet and short, but a laugh nonetheless.
“W-why did you laugh!?”
“You’re such a strange girl Lysithea,” he chuckled.
Her face turned bright red. “I was just trying to help okay! I’ll leave if you really don’t want me here!”
Cyril put a finger to his mouth to remind her to stay quiet.
After they once again ensured no one was watching them, he replied. “No, please don’t. You have been very helpful Lysithea. Thank you so much. If I could make a request, I…”
She examined his expression. “Hm?”
“If I could read Fodlanic, or at least tell what the important characters mean, it would let me work better for Lady Rhea.”
“Hmmmm?” it was as if she was humming now.
“You don’t have to teach me, but, if you could help me read them better, it would be a great help.”
Lysithea smiled, reassuming her proud tone. “Well, I am very busy. A student like me has much to study and learn. Although, I could spare some time every now and then. It is just the sort of thing someone like I would do.”
Cyril smiled, understanding what she was getting at. “Thank you Lysithea! Although…do I have to call you big sister from now on?”
“Ah ha ha ha, very good question!” She was doing her best to not turn red. “Please, such talk is unnecessary. You may simply call me…um…mentor.”
“Ok.” He nodded. “It will take some getting used to, but I will do that…mentor.”
She flinched at his uttering the word, and he wasn’t sure if it was in a good or bad way. While she shook it off, Cyril looked around, noticing they were now the only two in the library.
Lysithea’s gaze followed, and upon noticing, she stood up. “Well, I must be going. I have much to do, and you still need to finish cleaning these books.”
“Yeah. So, I’ll see you this time next week Lysithea?”
“Yes!” her energy had returned. “I will see you then…”
“Oh, it’s Cyril.”
“Cyril!”
It was strange. He hadn’t heard someone say his name before with such…spirit. No, not since Almyra…
Lysithea picked up her belongings, and before leaving leaned in close.
“Could you also keep it a secret that I wanted to be called big sister?”
“If you keep it a secret that I can’t read.”
“Deal!”
With a handshake and smile from both parties, Lysithea bid the Almyran farewell. Cyril returned to his book organizing, but he couldn’t help but watch her leave. There was something about her that stirred something within him. He hadn’t felt this way about someone in a long time. It was a feeling that came up when he visited Lady Rhea, but in such a way that let her shine while he felt shallow and lacking. With Lysithea however, it felt like she was brimming with something, in such a way that reciprocated the feeling to him.
This feeling…it felt like with her, the two of them had…
Limitless potential.