and Boula winced, ears flattening, as the sound came closer and closer, until finally he rounded the corner, half-tugging and half-shoving at a very reluctant ladder that was attached to a railing along the topmost shelf of books.

When finally he reached where Boula was, he sighed, adjusted his enormous scarf so it draped with marginally more order over his shoulder.

"There you go," he said, and patted the ladder, then jumped as it began to wobble horribly, emitting more shrieking noises. He stilled it hurriedly and then nodded at her. "Take whichever one you want, stay however long you like. Prices are on the back."

She didn't reply; after a while he shrugged, and then made as if to start back, but she held firm, standing in his way.

"What's wrong?" he asked finally, having failed to move past her, and she swallowed.

"I'm...not so good with ladders, actually," she said, and held up her hooved hands, and scuffled the ground again, hhhrunk. "If you could just...?"

"Oh...no, sure, it's fine. Sure." He turned back to the ladder and then amiably began to scale it. The ladder screeched and wobbled horridly, and after a while Boula clamped her hands against her ears, flattening them to her skull.

"Hey," the hire-ee said, then shouted, "Hey!"

"Oh! Sorry, I -- I couldn't hear you, I --"

"Which one do you want?"

"-- couldn't hear you...um, which one do I want? Oh..." She squinted up at the titles. Couldn't even see them on the bookshelf, much less decide which one she wanted. "I'm, uh...kind of looking for...a textbooky one...but with pictures, and easy to read...and nothing before the Tragic Age, or the War, I'm researching modern and potential methods..."

"Oh...yeah."

"Ah...was that too confusing?"

"No, I...it's just...there's a lot up here..."

"Oh! Well...if you just bring down a handful of them, maybe five of them? I can choose from those."

"Actually, looks like there's a pulley up here." The hire-ee reached up and rattled something hanging down from the ceiling. "There's a rope already too. Why don't you go look for an empty basket somewhere? They should just be around, or else you can go back to the front counter, I know there are some there."

"Oh...okay...alright. I'll be back."