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Jade watches Maranwe pull her book from the satchel hanging at her hip- No wait, this is a different book... Yet another separate set of notes. This book is light blue and much thinner then the other histories he's watched the fairy bard update since she joined them. As she jots something down with her odd writing implement, he tries to think of how many he's seen so far.
"...How many books do you have in there?" He asks her.
It takes her a moment to respond, as she finishes her note, "Huh? Oh, how many? Hm..." She snaps the book closed and lets it hang in mid-air next to her, then pulls all the other books from her bag with that strange fairy magic. Now, what seems like, a whole shelf's worth of books are floating around her. Some he's seen already, the green one with the silver Fairy symbol on the cover, the purple one with the black Demon symbol, and the tan one with Humanity's symbol simply engraved into the leather.
The new ones are the light blue one from before- it doesn't have any distinguishing symbol, a white one with a golden Goddess symbol, a brown one with some green detailing and a bronze Giant symbol, a tan book with Percival's ouroboros on the cover in steel grey, and a smaller red book that had floated out of the cover of the Demon book. There are also three grey books- only distinguishable by dates on the spines, another tan one- this with no discernable markings, and two books that look much older than the others, one a sort of periwinkle and the other yellow. Both unmarked, except by time.
"Uh...14." She answers.
"Ah...wow..." is all he can really manage. He expected maybe half that, and some of those books are rather thick...How does she keep track of it all?
"What even are all of these?" Gawain asks, floating near to grab one of the grey books. Maranwe immediately takes it back.
"They're historical records. That's what the Bard to the Fairy King does; history keeping." the fairy answers, gathering the books and putting them back into her bag in a specific order by hand. "There's one for each race, some that keep record of specific events, some for notes that need to be categorized later or that are decidedly personal..." as she trails off, Percival chimes in cheerfully.
"That one has our symbol on it!"
"Yes. That's my newest addition, a record of the Four Knights of Prophecy- or whatever you lot would like to be called." she laughs a little, holding the book in question.
"That sure is a lot to keep track of." Anne comments.
"I thought she'd have more." Lancelot says coolly, casting a knowing glance over his shoulder.
"Well it's not as if I carry my whole library with me!"
"What other records do you have?" asks Tristan.
"Well back at home I have several more volumes of Fairy history, this is just the more recent volume. Though the others were written by my predecessors. I have a record of the Seven Deadly Sins, several reference guides for all manor of things. More volumes of human history that I'm trying to copy or transcribe, several encyclopedias from various races. Cultural texts for the Fairy race, such as musical compilations and cook books. Anatomical and medical texts... I've also been trying to acquire more obscure information, like histories for the Beastmen and the..."barbarian" tribes. Humanity has a lot to put together..."
"Geeze." Donny says, mostly to himself.
"And what about the magenta book?" Lancelot asks, and he and Maranwe share a strange look for a moment.
"...That's not mine." she says simply, a very slight looks of amusement on her face. The sudden air of curiosity among the teens makes that expression less slight and she elaborates, "The book Lance is referring to is a record of my history. And I don't keep that myself. It's like these-" she levitates the two old books nearer to herself to display them, "These are records of my predecessors, the previous two Fairy Bards, Morvyd and Camellia. They were written by the bard's respective Fairy King. See, while it's our job to keep track of our people's history we tend to overlook ourselves. When Gloxinia, the first Fairy King, noticed that none of Morvyd's records included anything she'd done, he started to keep track himself. And Fairy King Dahlia did the same after that. The "magenta book" is the record Fairy King Harlequin is keeping of the things I do. I have no say at all what goes into that book, I don't even know what's written in it right now." She finishes, and tucks the two old books carefully into her bag.
"Why do you keep those old books with you, then?" Isolde asks "Wouldn't they be safer back in the Fairy King's Forest?"
"Probably." Maranwe admits, "But...well, I like having them with me. I read them often, hoping I can gain some kind of wisdom from the bards who came before me."
A quiet falls over the group at that, each contemplating the concept and the weight they'd heard in the fairy's words.
After Maranwe has all her books put back in just the right order, Anna speaks up again.
"If Fairy Bards are supposed to keep the history of the Fairy Race, why are you so interested in human history?"
Maranwe hesitates, taking a breath to answer then simply letting it out.
"...That's-...Well...hm... Because you're not very good at it yourselves." It seems like a non-committal answer, spit out just a little quicker then it should be, as if she simply needed to say something. Though no one would have time to call her on it, as Chion interjects with an edge to his tone.
"Do you have a record of Camelot?"
A heaviness follows his words, they all remember what the fairy twins had told them about their mother's dealings with King Arthur and how they ended.
"I do." she answers flatly, "Though there isn't much to it. And I do not carry it around with me."