When I mention the damage the inept binding had done to my work, he seems genuinely distressed. I can't tell if it's a matter of pride in his work, a horror at damage done to books, or both. If it's the latter, better that he never finds out what some of the rest of my 'work' consists of. Well. Not that I don't still have a love of the written word. I just recognize that it is better for all if some things from the old world slip quietly and permanently into oblivion.
One can love a thing, and still commit oneself to its destruction. Love even lends beauty to the act itself.
"Were you able to effect repairs? But yes; the tanner in town does rather sound work, and I will inspect anything I might use."
"I had to recopy a dozen of the maps and have it bound all over again, but ultimately there was no permanent loss." I had given serious consideration to having it bound with the hide of the man who had bungled it in the first place, but really, what do I know about proper tanning? It would have been the same problem all over again.
Not that the rest of the world would thank me for prolonging his miserable existence. It nags at me, to have tacitly rewarded incompetence. Perhaps someone else will excise him, where I failed. It is the way of things.
"What brings you to Excolo? Certainly you would not be the first individual I met again here, but I have not heard enough to say if there's anything of particular interest here."
"It's... complicated. I hadn't actually heard of this place until a few weeks ago." Finishing my tea gives me time to settle on an answer, and I set the cup down on the saucer. "I don't just make maps of the wilderness, I make records of human activity. Settlements, organizations, institutions. Technology. You might say I'm engaged in compiling the first real history since the bombs dropped."
It might be more accurate to say that I'm pruning humankind's passage through this new history, but I can't exactly say that. "I hadn't planned on staying long, but since I arrived I've had some unusual experiences and encounters. They suggest to me that there is a story here worth recording."
no subject
One can love a thing, and still commit oneself to its destruction. Love even lends beauty to the act itself.
"Were you able to effect repairs? But yes; the tanner in town does rather sound work, and I will inspect anything I might use."
"I had to recopy a dozen of the maps and have it bound all over again, but ultimately there was no permanent loss." I had given serious consideration to having it bound with the hide of the man who had bungled it in the first place, but really, what do I know about proper tanning? It would have been the same problem all over again.
Not that the rest of the world would thank me for prolonging his miserable existence. It nags at me, to have tacitly rewarded incompetence. Perhaps someone else will excise him, where I failed. It is the way of things.
"What brings you to Excolo? Certainly you would not be the first individual I met again here, but I have not heard enough to say if there's anything of particular interest here."
"It's... complicated. I hadn't actually heard of this place until a few weeks ago." Finishing my tea gives me time to settle on an answer, and I set the cup down on the saucer. "I don't just make maps of the wilderness, I make records of human activity. Settlements, organizations, institutions. Technology. You might say I'm engaged in compiling the first real history since the bombs dropped."
It might be more accurate to say that I'm pruning humankind's passage through this new history, but I can't exactly say that. "I hadn't planned on staying long, but since I arrived I've had some unusual experiences and encounters. They suggest to me that there is a story here worth recording."