With light footsteps Asana wandered among the silent narrow aisles of the great library of Dalaran. The public one that is, she was of course not allowed in the Kirin Tor’s secret archives where the truly valuable things were kept. The massive shelves towered above her to a ceiling that was barely visible and far out of reach. Each one packed to every inch with dusty books and scrolls of so many varieties that she couldn’t begin to guess where they had found them all.
She turned a corner and finally found who she looking for. A small grotto was tucked away in the heart of it, lined with desks and comfortable blue chairs, as well as two large couches facing each other. A young human woman wearing dark pants and a plain white blouse sat at one of the desks scribbling something down. Asana noted her blonde hair still left in a perpetually messy state just as usual.
She smiled mischievously and crept over behind her. “Hi, Shannon!” she said right in her ear.
Shannon jumped so violently that it almost upended the desk. “Wha…Asana!” Her shock switching to surprise at recognition. “Can’t you ever just say ‘hello’ like a normal person? Every time!”
Asana chuckled and collapsed on a couch, rolling over on her stomach to face her. “Oh where’s the fun in that? I’m trying to teach you better listening skills.”
“And you need better social skills!” Shannon retorted playfully while rearranging her papers. Asana just raised an eyebrow at the hypocrisy of that statement, causing Shannon to blush faintly. “Oh hush. So what brings you here? It’s been awhile! You don’t visit as often as you used to.”
She shrugged. “I found myself with some free time and wanted to be somewhere quiet to relax. Then I remembered I have this wonderful friend who lives in just such a place! You know, if you wanted to see me you could always try leaving the library once in awhile.”
Shannon looked mildly perplexed. “Why would I do that? All of the books are here! My superiors keep nagging me though. They keep telling me the same thing. ‘Get outside, Shannon. Stop reorganizing the books every other day!’ It’s just so bothersome you know, but I don’t really mind. I do go out for food at least every so often. There’s a wonderful place just down the street that makes the best desserts!”
Asana just watched her rattle on in amusement. This woman never did change. Much of the time she was so silent that she could be mistaken for a ghost, but get her going and she chattered on endlessly. It was pleasant conversation though. After all of the stress of recent months she somewhat understood how Shannon felt. Sometimes you just wanted to hide away for awhile and take a breath.
“Sounds fun, we should go together while I’m here! So what are you working on?” she asked, nodding to the papers on the desk that looked full of very dense complicated writing.
“Hmm? Oh!” Shannon clapped her hands and stood up. “It’s a new spell I’ve been inventing. I’m still experimenting with it, but here I’ll show you! I’m curious to see what you think of it.”
Asana sat up and nodded enthusiastically. “Let’s do it! Are you sure you should do it here in the library…?”
“It’s just an illusion is all. Completely harmless, don’t you worry. Now give me a moment.” Shannon held out her arms and crooked her fingers in a spell casting pose. She closed her eyes and began muttering some mysterious incantation under her breath. Asana waited patiently, interested to see what was going to happen.
After about half a minute Shannon held her palms to her lips and blew into them. From seemingly nowhere a torrent of bubbles erupted from her hands and filled the open space rising above. There were dozens of them, some as small as an apricot and others as large as a cannonball. They all glowed with luminescent rainbow colored light that seemed to shift and change with every passing second. Refracting off each other in a spectacular light show.
Asana looked on in wonder as they lazily floated around them and down some of the aisles. “That’s incredible, Shannon! They’re beautiful.”
Shannon grinned in unashamed pride. “Right? It’s more just a simple parlor trick, but still interesting to see. I’m actually pretty surprised too. This is the first time it came out so well!”
“Perhaps I’m your good luck charm then.” She watched one rainbow bubble in particular float just a foot in front of her face. Curious, she reached out with her finger and touched it. Instantly the bubble burst in a loud thunder-like boom, followed by a shock wave of air that slammed her with so much force she was blown backwards over the couch.
She landed hard on the floor behind it. “Ow…what the hell was that?!” Her gaze looked up at the bubbles above them. The detonation didn’t just hit her, it also scattered the rest directly towards each other. As if time slowed down her instincts kicked in and she saw what was about to happen. “Shannon, get down!” She vaulted over the couch and without hesitation tackled her stunned friend to the ground.
A split second later a chorus of more deafening booms ripped through the space above. She felt each blast of wind reverberate through her body like a bell. It was over within seconds. Carefully, she let Shannon go and looked around to make certain it was over. “I think your spell might need more work…” she said jokingly.
Shannon was about to respond, but was cut off by a loud groan coming from the bookshelf near them. In horrified fascination they sat there and watched as it tipped forward and slammed into the one in front of it. A cascade of books tumbled off the shelves to the ground below. Yet to her amazement it didn’t stop there. Like a chain of titanic dominoes the second one fell as well…then the third, and the fourth. The fifth shelf thankfully seemed to end it when it defiantly didn’t budge. Huge clouds of dust erupted from the sheer volume of the collapse and coated both of them in choking grey powder.
Asana coughed heavily and grabbed Shannon, pulling them both farther back out of the danger zone. When it was over they gaped at the devastation of this once well organized wing of the Kirin Tor’s library. Almost everything had landed in great heaping piles on the floor beneath the fallen shelves. Without quite knowing why, she just started laughing and couldn’t stop. “Oh my, that was amazing! I mean we almost died and we might get banished for this, but that was worth it!” she stammered between breaths.
Shannon picked up a book and smiled sheepishly, her face glowing red with embarrassment. “So…um…would you like to be a wonderful person and help me put these back?”
She waited until she calmed down, her sides aching painfully now, then sighed regretfully. Well so much for relaxing in a quiet place with good company. Fixing this already looked like it would be a royal pain, but she was partially responsible for it… “Alright I suppose. But you should brace yourself, I think I hear them coming for us already.”