Overdue

"Did you enjoy these?" she asked a Brown Peophin.

"Oh certainly, I never knew that there was a trick to making faerie friends!"

Seshatia sighed. "It's not that complicated as the book makes it out to be, but it's certainly an interesting read."

Soon it was Tavi's turn so she stepped up to Seshatia. She hung her head slightly.

"Hello, um, Tavi was it? We met once at the void council. I don't see a book with you. Are you needing help finding one?"

Tavi hesitated. "Well, sort of. You see, that book about magical herbal teas and their recipes along with their benefits… I brought that with me to the Battle for Altador and uhh, I lost the book while I was helping rescue folks. It might be under a pile of rubble."

Seshatia glanced at Tavi with a piercing glare. And then she softened it. She then wheeled around the desk over to Tavi. Shaking her head, she began.

"I'm sad to hear. The book was a rare one in my collection. I must go to Altador to search for it as it may be one of the few copies left in Neopia."

"Well, since I feel terrible for losing it, I should come with you. Besides, it may involve some hiking."

"It certainly isn't your fault for losing it, but I would indeed appreciate the help. You might be able to tell me where you last remember having it I guess."

Tavi, figuring that she'd have to help search for the book was already packed and ready for hiking. Seshatia, on the other hand, needed to gather more things. She needed a bag that could hold her foldable crutches. She also had an emergency wheelchair repair kit with tools that she tossed into the bag. She also packed a few sets of clothing for herself. She then strapped the bag to the back of her wheelchair. In addition, she added handlebar attachments to chair in case Tavi needed to push her over an obstacle.

"You should pack some snacks too," Tavi suggested.

The faerie tossed in a few Faerie Queen Burritos into her bag.

"Done!"

The two of them set out towards the Haunted Woods for the quickest route to Altador. With the discovery of the tunnel through the mountains to Altador as well as the ancient puzzles to go with it, archaeologists dug an access tunnel next to the original tunnel and made it smooth enough for anything on wheels to access, including wheelchairs.

Unfortunately, the thick growth of the woods proved to be a challenge for Seshatia's wheelchair. At some point the chair got stuck after Seshatia rolled over one set of tree roots but could not get over the next set.

"Well, this isn't good," Seshatia lamented.

"Can I help?" Tavi asked.

"Yeah, can you tilt the chair back just slightly to pop a wheelie and then push it over the tree root?"

Tavi did as Seshatia instructed and got the chair moving again. However, they soon ran into something worse than tree roots.

"That's a lot of mud," Seshatia remarked. "I'm certain it would pose a problem for my wheelchair."

"It wouldn't work too well for my prosthetic foot either. And the only other way around is bumpy for you at least."

Tavi pointed to a steep slope littered with rocks.

"I think you'll have to wheel me carefully over those so that they don't damage my wheelchair. Do you think you can do that?"

Tavi nodded and grabbed onto the handlebars of Seshatia's wheelchair.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yes, go ahead."

Carefully, Tavi guided the wheelchair over the rocks. The chair bumped along, causing Seshatia to put her seatbelt on. The Library Faerie grimaced as they bumped along.

"Are you feeling ok?" Tavi asked.

"It's fine, let's just keep going and get out of here quickly."

As they continued, Tavi then posed a question.

"If you don't mind me asking, why can't you fly where you want to go?" Tavi asked.

"It's… complicated. I would prefer not to explain it much."

Tavi continued. "But like maybe in general, what happened?"

Shifting around uncomfortably in the chair, Seshatia decided to answer.

"Let's just say that flying is a fully body exercise, not just wings. And my body with the amount of magic and strength it has, just can't do that right now."

Tavi thought for a moment and then replied, "I see. And there's not a magical solution? Or maybe modified wings?"Seshatia held up her hand."Tavi, I would prefer not to talk about this further please."

"I… I'm sorry," Tavi apologized.

"It's fine, it's just a boundary I am setting. Nothing personal."

The two of them remained quiet until they managed to reach the top of the rocky slope. Seeing that Tavi breathing heavily, Seshatia suggested that they take a break. Tavi sat down on the ground and pulled out her thermos.

"Tea?" she offered.

"As long as you're not going to make me find some obscure ingredients!"

"Of course not, when have I ever done that?"

"Uh, well I heard from Luxinia that… um never mind heh."

"Is she spreading rumors about me? I thought we were friends," Tavi laughed jokingly. "I was trying to get them to try different teas!"

Seshatia smiled as she took a sip of Tavi's tea.

"Ohhh, there's a hint of mint here and ah, is that chrysanthemum?"

"So you do know your herbal teas!"

"I mean I've spent a lot of time enjoying tea with books or crosswords. It's a great way to relax, especially after long, tiring days."

"Yeah, sometimes during hikes, I do feel exhausted and need a break. In the past, I would try go keep going, even if my friends were tired. That ended up alienating them. It wasn't until I lost my foot that… I finally realized that I needed to take it easier. It's been a process to reconnect with my past friends though, but they seem receptive and a couple have gone on hikes with me again."

"I see, that must have been a hard adjustment. Some faeries didn't think I could maintain my role as library faerie given my condition. Some still don't to this day. Fortunately, Fyora's been quite accommodating and supportive this entire time. That said, I still hear the whispers sometimes. I try not to pay them any mind, but some days are easier than others."

The two continued sharing their thoughts for a bit longer before they continued on their journey. Soon they found themselves before the tunnel entrance. Off to the side was a newly dug tunnel that archaeologists used to access the ancient puzzles. It looked wide and smooth enough for a wheelchair and a few companions.

"If we go this way, we might be able to make it to Altador by the evening," Tavi said. "Especially now that we don't have to deal with all those traps."

Lights lined the tunnel which made it far easier to see than when Tavi first went through. Periodically, there were doors off to the side which allowed researchers to get in and out. The trip through the tunnel was uneventful for Tavi this time. Soon they emerged from the other side to glance at Altador. Scaffolding lined the buildings that workers started repairing. Collapsed walls still surrounded the city though and temporary plumbing had to be installed using pipes rather than the aqueducts that used to sit atop the walls.

"Well, they cleaned it up a bit. It's probably a tough job bringing in all that stone for those historic buildings," remarked Tavi.

"Yeah, although just like Faerieland, Altador focused on Neohomes first. Thus, their residents at least no longer have to live in tents. I guess they're finally now working on the walls and the Hall of Heroes. Anyways, where do you think you last had that book?" Seshatia asked.

"I think we're going to need to get closer. I have to say it's was on the west side of the city though. That's where I parted ways with the group for a bit after Nyx and I needed some time away from each other. But that's all water under the bridge now. We're all good."

As they approached the city, they noticed Torakor moving piles of rubble still. Upon seeing Tavi and Seshatia, he immediately greeted them.

"Hello! Long time no see!" he greeted. He then grabbed a large pile of rubble to move it out of the way.

"Hello Torakor, we actually are wondering if you found any books while you were clearing rubble."

"Books? I mean we found lots of stuff while cleaning stuff up. Whatever we thought was worth anything got tossed in a pile near the Hall of Heroes."

"Alright, let's go look there first. Thanks Torakor!"

Seshatia and Tavi headed in that direction. Soon though, they found that the walkway towards the Hall of Heroes had been blocked by a pile of rubble. In fact, workers had decided to pile it exactly in front of a ramp.

"Well this is quite rude of them, isn't it?" Seshatia remarked.

An irate Tavi went back to find Torakor. "Torakor! What's up with this?" she demanded.

The Grarrl looked across to the pile of rubble.

"What do you me- oh. I'm terribly sorry about that. Let me clear that and then instruct my workers to stop doing this..." "Good, I'm sure some of your residents would appreciate that too," Tavi replied.

"Thank you, Torakor. I appreciate it," Seshatia added.

Further along, they finally reached the pile of salvage. Seshatia took out her crutches from her bag and unfolded them. She parked her wheelchair and stood up to get a closer look at the pile. She used one of them to move things out of the way in the pile.

"Hmm. There aren't any books on this side."

Tavi removed things from the other side of the pile until she uncovered a set of books.

"Hey, I found books! But not the one we're looking for..."

"Oh, one of those is rare. Amazing Altador, I guess the workers didn't recognize it. We should ensure it makes it back to the Altadorian Archives."

Tavi climbed towards the center of the great pile and started shifting things around when suddenly, the pile began to give away.

"Argh!" she yelled as her prosthetic leg slipped, and she took a fall towards Seshatia. The faerie tried to move out of the way, but she wasn't quick enough and Tavi tumbled right into her, knocking them both down.

"Ow ow ow!" yelled Seshatia as she held her left knee.

"Oh no! Are you alright?" Tavi asked. She tried to get up and immediately lost her balance. Looking down, she noticed her prosthetic had detached. Examining it, she noted that it was mostly unscathed except for a small dent. She carefully reattached it before rushing over to Seshatia who was still nursing her knee.

A passing Varwolf came over to attempt to help.

"Are you alright? Wait, you're the Library Faerie aren't you?"

The Varwolf tried to help Seshatia off, but Seshatia shook her head.

"Please get the wheelchair over first. It's much easier if it's nearby so you can just lift me up into it," she instructed.

Tavi wheeled the chair over to Seshatia.

"Tavi, make sure the brakes are on!"

Tavi peered over to the front of the wheels and pushed the levers forward to lock them.

"Both of you, take a side, place an arm under each shoulder, and then lift."

The two Neopets carefully lifted Seshatia and set her down in the chair. She disengaged the brakes and rolled around for a bit. She still pressed down on her knee gingerly and winced a bit.

"You may want to get a doctor to check that out," Tavi commented

Seshatia sighed. "Yeah probably. I can stay off of it with my crutches and my chair anyways."

"Actually, I'm a doctor!" the Varwolf exclaimed.

He showed them an ID card with his name.

"Dr. Rodger Marsh?"

"Yep, that's me. Let me have a look at that knee."

The doctor's enthusiasm made Seshatia uneasy. He pressed on the knee a bit.

"Does this hurt?"

"Ow! Yep! That's a 7 out of 10! Didn't you see the fall I took?"

"Well, I don't feel any structural damage."

"Erm, don't you need imaging to confirm?" Tavi interjected.

"Umm... sure, but you could also take my word-"

"I think I'm just going to stay off this and wait to see my faerie doctor in Faerieland. I'll be alright," Seshatia insisted.

"You sure? I can recommend some oils and ointments to make it heal faster."

Seshatia closed her eyes and counted to ten in her head, carefully deciding her next words.

"No thanks, I think I've got it from here.""Are you even a real doctor?" Tavi blurted. "She's a faerie. Don't you know Cooling Ointment doesn't work on faeries?"

The Varwolf grew irate at this line of questioning. "I'm just trying to help your friend here. Why are you getting mad at me?"

Tavi continued glaring at the Varwolf, but before she could speak again, Seshatia nudged her. She then turned to Dr. Marsh.

"As I said, I'll take it from here. Just wrap my knee up with some ice, if you could."

Seeing that neither of them would take his advice, Dr. Marsh grabbed an ice pack out of his bag and placed it on Seshatia's knee. Then he wrapped a dressing around it.

"Thanks," Seshatia replied.

"You know, maybe you should try flying with those wings," Dr. Marsh began.

"Ok, I think that's enough, we'll just continue on our way."

Seshatia and Tavi left without another word. Tavi helped Seshatia pack her crutches into her bag.

"What now? We still don't have a copy of our book?" Tavi sighed.

Seshatia held up Amazing Altador.

"I think we should try returning this book to the archives and then see if Finneus has an idea," Seshatia suggested. She wheeled her way up to the Hall of Heroes. The wing which housed the Archives was fortunately undamaged, well protected by Jerdana's magical shield. The rest of the building had layers of scaffolding around as workers continued repairs.

Seshatia and Tavi continued up the ramp to the Hall of Heroes which was tucked away at the back of the building. After winding their way around to the front, they entered the Hall of Heroes.

Off to the right was the door to the archives. They walked past an orange yurble who was muttering to himself.

"I swear I'm going to quit after cleaning up this mess," he grumbled, paying no to attention to the two visitors.

The pair went through the side door and into the archives. At first glance Finneus did not appear to be there. But there were large stacks of books and also a pile on the ground. Seshatia winced at the messy arrangement of books.

"How does anyone find anything here?" she muttered.

"No kidding, there's a mountain of stuff here," Tavi remarked.

"Hello!" a voice interrupted.

The pair turned to see Finneus carrying a stack of five books.

"Hi, we wanted to bring you a copy of Amazing Altador that we found. It's a rare one."

The Lenny peered at the book through his monocle.

"Oh, uhh, just leave it on the pile there."

"...which pile?"

"Any pile."

"...ookay." Seshatia did as she was told. "By the way, have you seen a book called Rare Magical Teas of Neopia?"

The Lenny adjusted his monocle and squinted at Tavi and Seshatia.

"Weeeell, I do reckon I saw one. But it's been a while. Workers just took any book they found and tossed them here. Perhaps you could look through them."

Seshatia and Tavi stared at the stacks of books before them and gulped.

"Oh but I did sort the stacks into non-fiction and fiction. The non-fiction pile is back there."

Seshatia looked around the room and did not see a good path forward for her wheelchair.

"Um, I can't get there with all of this stuff in the way…"

"Yeah, isn't this supposed to an archive? It's quite a mess!" Tavi added.

Finneus looked over and nodded.

"I suppose I should start organizing these."

Tavi and Seshatia turned towards each other.

"We can help! It may help us find the book too."

The Library Faerie, despite being in a cramped room, felt at home as she picked up the books one by one, some she hadn't read herself, and placed them in their proper places on the shelf. For the most part, Tavi just did what Seshatia instructed.

"Alright, we have finally put away all the fiction. Now we can make our way back to the non-fiction finally!" Tavi exclaimed.

Seshatia rolled to the back of the room and began working through the stack. She thumbed through various books about Altadorian Flora and Fauna, and then about Altadorian history. Despite this, the book Tavi had lost was nowhere to be found.

"It's not here..." Tavi lamented.

"I'm sorry, I lost one of your rare books," she continued, hanging her head.

The Library Faerie searched for the right words to say before finally telling Tavi, "I'm sure the knowledge in that book isn't lost. Perhaps with your passion for tea, we can find the research again that the author wrote in the book."

Still, Tavi looked glum.

"I'm not much of a writer, nor am I a researcher. I don't think this is for me."

At that moment, Finneus approached them with a set of papers loosely gathered in a stack.

"The book suffered some damage, but I managed to salvage most of the pages here."

Seshatia looked at the stack of papers, the topmost being the title page. It read "Rare Magical Teas of Neopia by Rebekah Taren".

"That's the one!" Seshatia exclaimed excitedly. "It's gonna need new binding and we'll have to check if any pages are missing. But it appears it's what we need.

Tavi smiled slightly.

"But Tavi, as your book came back to me damaged, I'm going to have to ask you for 2000 Neopoints... library fine. Fortunately, we found it today so, it's technically not overdue! It's just for damage repairs."

"I suppose that's fair."

"Or you could make me some good tea sometime and make up for it that way. I know there's a cup out there somewhere that I haven't tried yet."

Tavi's eyes lit up. "We could try one out of the book."

"Just make sure the magic isn't going to give me warts," Seshatia remarked.

The two of the laughed as they thanked Finneus and headed back out of the archives.