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To ask what he was yearning for was harder than he expected and Poet stuttered, and Papa’s brows ran together into a slight frown, which made Poet stutter again, as he finished his request way sooner than he planned to do.
"Books? About the history of humans? Why are you interested in such a topic all of a sudden?" Papa Smurf said at last, as he observed the young scribe with a hint of distrust in his eyes. Not used to being under such a heavy gaze, Poet felt his face slowly heating up with embarrassment. Despite that he wrote the text beforehand and that he practiced it countless times, and that he waited for the best timing, he started to feel like his request wouldn’t be accepted.
"I…I just…I…"
"Are you planning to make a trip to the human village, perhaps?"
"No!" Poet raised a hand in defence and shook his head, the feather pinned to his hat bobbed wildly from the flourish movement. "It’s not like that, Papa Smurf, I swear! I know and respect the rules! I’d just like to know more, you know. I’d like to understand their thoughts and decisions, so that when I’ll write about them in the future, it won’t be wrong, and..." Good job, Poet, now you are stuttering again!
Papa just kept observing the young scribe with some unknown, unnerving glare, then said at last with a sigh.
"I understand your reasoning, but my answer is still no. It’s laudable that you have such wide interests, and curiosity is a virtue, but I think that you are way too young for something like that yet."
Poet let out an acrimonious cry.
"But Papa!"
"I’m sorry, Poet, but the conversation is over. There are so many beautiful things you can write about, choose another topic instead."
Having said that, the Village leader left the disheartened young smurf alone. The little scribe had no other choice but to accept defeat, but the rejection hurt deep inside, a wound that kept aching all day long, making the lovely spring day dull and the fresh, sweet smurfberry pie bitter in his mouth.
After dinner Poet was still in a bad mood. He didn’t feel like joining the others in their smurfball game, so, seeking solitude he made his way towards the little pond with a defeated gait and a heavy heart. Crestfallen and deep in his thoughts, he almost jumped out of his skin when a familiar voice rang from behind.
"Poet Smurfling, just a word!"
"Ah! Brainy, you scared me for a moment."
The spectacled smurfling stopped next to him, and pushed his glasses higher up his nose, a gesture of excitement Poet was all too familiar with. He looked around, as if he wanted to make sure nosmurf was listening to them, and started talking, voice way lower than usual.
(Which was odd on its own, for Brainy just loved the sound of his own voice.)
"You see, I was around the lab earlier, and accidentally heard the conversation you had with Papa Smurf before dinner. You know, the one about certain books you are interested in. I just wanted to say..."
Great. There was such a meddlesome expression on Brainy’s face, which made Poet dread another lengthy lecture. It hurt enough that Papa deemed him not worthy of his trust, now he had to hear it again from Brainy too.
"...that I agree with you."
It took Poet a couple of moments to realize what the other said.
"Pardon me?"
Brainy repeated what he said with a solemn expression.
"I agree with you, Poet. It’s good to see that there are other smurfs beside me, who are thirsting for knowledge. It’s something that should not be oppressed, in my humble opinion."
Poet could only gape in surprise, but it was far from the end.
"So, I was thinking, and I think I came up with a solution. You know that Papa Smurf trusts me to keep his library clean and organized." The spectacled smurfling puffed his chest out with pride.
"Yes?" There was a spark of hope awakening in Poet’s heart, which must have shown in his voice, because Brainy smiled.
"That means, I have free access to all of his books. Just tell me what you’d like, and I can bring it to you."
Poet pinched his own arm, but it hurt, so it was not a dream, how unlikely it might have sounded.
"But... but what about Papa?"
"Oh, he doesn’t need to know."
Poet’s jaw dropped. Is it really Brainy Smurfling, - the rule-follower - who just made such an offer to him? The master of words almost always, now the writer could hardly find the right ones.
"But why? Don’t take it wrong, it’s a wonderful idea, I just..."
Brainy cleared his throat importantly.
"Just like I said, I believe that it’s not going to do anysmurf any good if knowledge is held back."
Poet felt a flutter of joy in his heart, but he wanted to be hundred percent sure that he’s not mistaken.
"But... but what if I read something that was not meant for my eyes? Dangerous spells, for example, or…"
Brainy put his hands on his waist and shot him such a stern glance that reminded the writer of Papa right away.
"Poet Smurfling, you are the exact opposite of power-hungry and vile. If somesmurf has my whole trust with knowledge, then it’s you. So, what do you say? Is it a deal then?"
Poet stared at him for a moment, before a wide smile spread across his face.
"Deal."
He took the hand the other offered, and they sealed the deal with a firm handshake, just like the grown-ups. Sharing his excitement, Brainy leaned closer and whispered.
"Honour among the scholars! So, tell me, Poet, what kind of books are you looking for?"