Ravenswood Ch. 02

Maura nodded and smiled. "Thank you," she mumbled. As they entered the room she sat her backpack on the workbench and examined the tools displayed on the wall behind it.

Mrs. Warren sat in the stool behind the workbench. "Have you repaired books before?"

Maura shook her head with a meek smile. "No, this first for me."

"Well, you'll get the hang of it soon enough. Mrs. Williams and I will be happy to help you where we can."

Maura turned from the wall of tools and smiled. "Thank you."

"Are you taking classes now?"

Maura shook her head then nodded. "Not yet, soon, I hope."

"Well, I've been told it's the best way to learn about a new culture." Mrs. Warren stood up and turned to Maura. "I'm sure that coming from your home, the things we do here often are a bit confusing, aren't they?"

Maura nodded meekly.

"Well, you'll get used to it in no time." She opened the workroom door. "I'll be right upstairs if you need anything, just come find me. In the meantime, ask Natasha, she's new here too, but she's done this before in her home country, bye," She waved and closed the door and leaving Maura standing in silence as another girl emerged from a storeroom behind the shelves.

"Hey," she muttered as she lifted a pot of hot glue onto the counter, steam rose from the top.

Maura turned quickly drawing her sword from its scabbard.

"Whoa, take it easy, kiddo, I'm on your side," Natasha said holding her hands up in the air.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, jumpy when live on streets." Maura sheathed her weapon and bowed her head. Then she turned to sit on a nearby stool and waited for the other girl to say something.

Natasha came around the counter and joined Maura on another stool. "Where are you from? You sound Russian."

"No, Est..."

"Estonia?" Natasha interrupted. "Were practically neighbors, I'm from Latvia, a little town called Kulvizi, it's on the coast, constantly smells of fish."

"You speak good," Maura stumbled to get the English words out.

Natasha grinned. "Well, I've been here for two years and I studied English in high school before I came here. You'll get better, watch cartoons and soap operas, you'll be speaking fluently in no time."

Maura looked around the room. "You work here?"

"Yup, fixing the libraries' broken books. I'm glad you came here, this is a big job, it needs two people, easy. Have you done anything like this before?"

Maura shook her head as she lowered her backpack to the floor.

Natasha scooted the glue pot towards them and dipped a brush inside. "Each book needs to be fix differently, for example," she pulled a book that was coming apart at the spine and spun it around so that the spine faced them. "Take this book. The spine is busted. You need to apply glue here, and here, and here to bring it all back together. Then you put it in this book press and clamp it down." She held up a book she glued earlier. "See, good as new. Well, almost, it's still frayed around the edges but at least its serviceable, right? You try one."

Maura pulled a book off the stack of books with broken spines and loose pages. She took a paintbrush and began to coat the broken area with glue.

"That's it, not too much, great, just like that. Now replace the cover, reinsert the loose pages and put the book in the press, perfect. That's how it's done. You finish up that stack and I'll tackle the one with torn covers."

Maura glued up two more books, until the book presses were filled, then she looked over Natasha's shoulder and watched her complete another process. Before the end of the day, she learned several new ways to repair books. She felt rather good about it.

Natasha put several things in water to soak then pulled her backpack from a locker along the far wall before she turned to Maura. "Want to get a bite to eat? There's a cafeteria next door and they make decent sandwiches."

Maura nodded. She picked up her backpack and scabbard to follow Natasha up the stairs. Natasha turned to Maura part way up the staircase. "I forgot to mention the lockers," she said pointing to the far wall. "The one on the left is yours, bring a lock next time if you want to keep anything personal in it." She turned and began to climb the stairs. "Come on, I'm starving."

Maura followed her up the stairs and past Mrs. Williams at the checkout counter. Natasha grinned as she walked by. "G'night Mrs. Williams, we locked up downstairs, were going for sandwiches at the cafeteria. See you tomorrow," she said with a wave as she pushed open the glass front doors.

Maura paused once they got outside of the library, Terrian coins were all she had in her backpack and they wouldn't spend here. Natasha turned quizzically to Maura, then, as if she suddenly understanding her dilemma, she grinned. "Euro's don't spend well over here, do they?" Natasha took Maura's hand and led her towards the cafeteria. "Come on, I'll buy today, you can owe me for next time."

The cafeteria was small but bright and clean. Rows of tables and benches filled the room opposite the sandwich counter. Once the girls made their selections, they carried their trays to the checkout counter and Natasha pulled out her wallet, handed several small bills to the clerk and took her change.

"Let's sit over here," Natasha said leading the way to a table with two benches.

Maura was happy to let Natasha lead the way, even something as simple as filling a cup with ice and selecting a beverage would have baffled Maura if it weren't for Natasha showing the way. Maura was learning so many new things in this world.

"Hey Fen!" Two girls shouted from across the room.

Natasha stood and scowled at the interruption. "Excuse me, I won't be a moment." She walked briskly across the room towards the two girls who waved cheerfully. She leaned in and whispered to them, her body seemed tense and agitated.

"What do you two think you're doing, idiots! You'll blow my cover calling me Fen."

One of the girls peeked around Natasha at Maura. "Is that the girl?"

"Yes, now go away or I'll have to be reassigned," Natasha whispered.

"She's pretty."

"Whatever, just go."

"Okay," the other girl said, "see you at the dorm later."

They left Natasha standing there. A moment later, she turned to Maura and smiled politely as she walked back to their table.

"Sorry about that, a couple of classmates from one of my morning classes."

Maura watched the two girls leave. "They called 'Fen'?"

Natasha blushed. "A nickname, they use it in class, I don't really like it."

Maura nodded, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"So, have you registered for classes yet?"

Maura shook her head.

"You get one free you know, it comes with working for the college, it's a benefit," Natasha said. Maura looked confused. "Something they give you as a thank you for helping out. It's called a benefit; you get free tuition for one of the classes each semester. You should try one, it'll help you acclimate to life over here."

Maura blushed a bit. "Don't know what pick?"

"Well, how about Math? That's the same the world over." Natasha reached into her backpack and pulled out a pamphlet. "Here's a listing of all the classes for next semester." She opened the booklet and began to scan the pages. "Here, Dr. Wilson is teaching a Mathematics for Beginners on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at seven, that wouldn't conflict with your day job either."

Maura looked at the page, the words all seemed like hieroglyphics to her. She pointed to the listing that Natasha mentioned.

"Yes, that's the one. If you want, we can go to the registrar's office tomorrow during a break and sign you up," she said cheerfully. "The class starts next week for the spring semester."

Maura looked a bit dubious but then a sense of determination spread across her face. This was her new home; she needed it to work. Terrus was in the past, Earth was her future and a simple mathematics class was her first step.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

The author copyrights Ravenswood and all of its parts. The reproduction of any part of Ravenswood without the written permission of the author is expressly prohibited. This story is a work of fiction. All of the characters, their names and the places they visit, are purely from the imagination of the author. Any resemblance to persons, places, or things is not intentional and purely coincidental.