Orobas emerged from the school a few minutes later with a leather satchel slung over one shoulder and several loose sheets of parchment tucked beneath his arm.
He looked at Grub. Then at Luthiel. Then back at Grub. A grin spread across his face.
"Well, well. What do we have here? A new item in town?"
Luthiel's cheeks immediately turned pink. She raised both mitten-like hands to her face and looked away, visibly flustered.
Grub, however, only stared at Orobas with his usual blank expression.
"What item are you talking about? I have the same items I had during class."
Luthiel slowly turned back toward him, her expression caught somewhere between disbelief and something Grub couldn't identify. Orobas just laughed. A full, genuine laugh that shook his shoulders and made his horns bob slightly. He laughed so hard he had to brace himself against the schoolhouse wall.
"Ah, Grub," he wheezed, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. "You are truly a fascinating young man."
Grub remained expressionless while Luthiel covered her face with her hands.
Eventually Orobas regained control of himself and cleared his throat.
"Never mind, never mind," Orobas said, still chuckling as he waved a hand dismissively. "Let's get going." He turned to Luthiel. "Can I assume you'll be joining us?"
Luthiel composed herself quickly and gave a polite bow.
"Yes, Teacher Orobas. Grub invited me."
"Oho!" Orobas's grin widened. "Testing the waters before we plunge, eh, Grub?"
Grub frowned slightly. He looked around. There was no body of water anywhere near them.
Orobas cleared his throat, still smiling to himself, and started walking. Grub and Luthiel fell into step behind him.
The walk to the library was short. When the building came into view, Grub's eyes immediately began moving.
Not toward the front entrance this time. He had already seen the inside. Now he needed to see everything else.
As he carefully studied the exterior he noticed an array of things. Large windows lined the upper levels. A tall chimney extended from one side of the roof. Several narrow ventilation openings sat near the foundation. The walls were smooth but not impossible to climb. If he needed to sneak inside later, there were options. Multiple options.
Grub was so focused on cataloging possible entry points that he nearly forgot to keep walking.
Luthiel and Orobas passed him and pushed through the double doors. Grub lingered a second longer, eyes tracing the roofline, before jogging after them.
The warm scent of parchment and ink greeted him the moment he entered. Inside, Nora was already at her desk. The purple-skinned librarian looked up as they entered and her three eyes brightened when they landed on Grub.
"Welcome back, sir! You really did show up again."
Grub gave her a short nod. "Told you I would."
Beside him, Luthiel's head turned.
"You came to the library before?"
Grub glanced at her. "Yeah."
Luthiel's golden eyes narrowed slightly. "Then what did you get? If you were already planning on coming with Orobas, what was so important you had to come early?"
The question hung in the air for a beat too long. Grub let out an awkward cough.
"I was curious about some stuff. Had to quench my thirst for knowledge, that's all."
He turned away from her before she could press further and tapped Orobas on the shoulder. The teacher had already wandered over to Nora's desk and was flipping through a book he had found sitting there.
"Orobas."
The horned man looked up.
"Yes, Grub?"
"What exactly do you have planned for today?"
Orobas smiled warmly.
"Ah, my boy, you strike me as a young man afflicted with a most wonderful condition."
Grub blinked.
"What condition?"
"A ravenous hunger for knowledge."
Orobas spread his arms dramatically.
"And if you truly are one of the legendary Sky-Fallen, then the opportunity to educate you is a great honor indeed. So I plan to teach you all that I know!"
Luthiel glared at Grub with her golden eyes. The look was brief but sharp enough that Grub noticed it. He filed it away and bowed his head slightly. "Well, I guess you're right."
Orobas turned to Nora with a bright expression.
"First, we will go through the creatures of this world. He should know many of the basics already from class, but today we will go deeper. Grub has already demonstrated considerable curiosity in that area."" He leaned against the desk. "Nora, would you be so kind as to pull some of the best informational texts you have on the fauna of Aethrys?"
Nora giggled, adjusted her glasses with one hand, and shuffled off with four of her other arms already reaching for shelves.
While she was gone, Grub noticed Luthiel shift. It was subtle. Her hair loosened from its braid and fell messier across her face. Red streaks spread through her hair. Her yellow eyes darkened into crimson. Her posture stiffened. But she didn't say anything. She didn't snap or curse or call him Bug. She just stood there, red-eyed and quiet, her jaw slightly tight.
Grub watched her for a second. Something about the shift felt different this time. Less angry, more… uncomfortable.
Nora returned with a generous stack of books balanced across three of her arms.
"Here are some of the best we have on creatures and classifications. Enjoy."
Orobas thanked her and ushered them toward one of the large wooden tables scattered throughout the library. He set the stack down, pulled out a chair, and opened the first book with the eagerness of a man who had been waiting for this moment all week.
Then he looked at Grub and smiled.
"Now then. As you know, there is a distinct difference between what is a beast and what is a person."
Grub immediately opened his notebook and began writing in tiny, cramped letters. Luthiel sat beside him, listening quietly.
"There are two main distinguishing features," Orobas continued, holding up two fingers. "Intelligence and Anima."
He lowered one finger.
"Let's start with intelligence. Now, when I say intelligence, I am not referring to who can solve equations or read the most books. I know plenty of people who are stupider than a draemon in that regard."
He chuckled at his own joke. Grub didn't. Luthiel didn't either, though her red eyes flickered toward Orobas briefly.
"No," Orobas said, leaning forward. "I mean true consciousness. The ability to have infinite options at any given moment without being bound by instinct."
He paused, letting the words settle.
"You see, animals have consciousness. They can think. They can make decisions. They can feel fear, affection, hunger, and pain. I am a firm believer in the reality that beasts are intelligent, capable, and deserving of respect." He glanced at Luthiel for a moment before continuing. "But there is a difference between consciousness and true consciousness."
He reached into his bag and pulled out two small doughy snacks, handing one to Grub and one to Luthiel. Grub took his without ceremony and bit into it. Luthiel scoffed quietly, took hers, and muttered a tiny, "Thanks, I guess."
Orobas smiled and continued.
"A conscious being can make decisions, but those decisions are driven by a preset code. What we call instinct or nature's law." He folded his hands on the table. "Now, imagine two friends. Both starving. They are given a single scrap of food. A being with true consciousness could choose to split it, give it away entirely, or take it for themselves. All three options are genuinely available to them."
He held up a finger.
"But a being with only normal consciousness? Even if it wants its friend to eat, even if it cares, its own hunger compels its choice. It eats. Not because it's selfish, but because nature's coding won't allow anything else. The choice was never truly theirs."
Grub looked up briefly.
"So true consciousness is the ability to act against instinct?"
"Precisely."
Orobas smiled approvingly and leaned back.
"Beasts are not mindless. They are often quite intelligent. They can learn. They can form bonds. Some even exhibit rudimentary morality."
He folded his hands.
"But they remain constrained by the programming nature has imposed upon them."
Grub was writing furiously, his charcoal scratching across the notebook in the smallest handwriting he could manage. He was running out of pages and every word Orobas said was worth recording. He nodded without looking up.
Luthiel's red eyes were fixed on him now. But this time Grub noticed they weren't filled with suspicion. They were just… watching. There was something behind them. Something that told Grub this conversation meant more to her than she was letting on.
He couldn't quite tell what.
Orobas continued.
"Second, there is Anima. A simpler method of distinction. The Anima of people and the Anima of beasts feel fundamentally different to those who can sense it." He smiled. "But I suppose that part doesn't mean much to you yet, eh, Grub?"
Grub said nothing. Orobas was right about that, at least for now.
Then Orobas's expression shifted. The warmth didn't leave entirely, but something heavier settled into it.
"There is, however, a group that ignores both distinctions. Or rather, includes both."
Grub looked up from his notebook.
Orobas sighed.
"Johnnies."
The word sat in the air like a stone dropped into still water.
"A Johnny is an anomaly," Orobas said carefully. "An error in the natural order of this world. They are not beast and they are not person, or perhaps they are both at once. Some seem to possess true consciousness. Others behave like wild animals."
He tapped the book with one clawed finger.
"Their origins are debated. Their existence is feared. Their nature remains one of the greatest mysteries in all of Aethrys."
He closed the book in front of him and folded his hands.
"They are a plague on our world. Many have tried to fight them. Many have died doing so. They are, in the truest sense of the word, a mistake."
Grub's charcoal had stopped moving. He stared at Orobas.
What the hell is a Johnny?
The question burned in his mind but he kept his mouth shut. He wrote the word down in his notebook and underlined it twice.
Orobas coughed, and just like that the heaviness lifted. He smiled again.
"Well, that's just the introductory breakdown of what separates an animal from a person. Shall we get into the specifics now?"
He flipped open the next book with enthusiasm. Grub leaned forward, his charcoal already moving again. The information was coming fast and he was cramming every word into the shrinking margins of his notebook.
After a while, Luthiel shifted in her chair. Her red eyes, which had been quietly watching Grub and Orobas go back and forth, drifted toward the front of the library.
"May I go speak with Nora for a moment?" she asked. Her voice was flat but not hostile.
Orobas waved a hand without looking up from the book.
"Of course."
Luthiel stood and walked toward the front desk, her messy hair swaying behind her.
Grub watched her go from the corner of his eye. Then he turned back to his notebook and kept writing.
His excitement was genuine. Every new piece of information felt like another piece of a puzzle he was only beginning to understand. True consciousness. Instinct. Johnnies. Anomalies. This world was deeper than he had imagined.
But even as his mind raced with new knowledge, he never forgot why he was really here.This library trip had only just begun.