Mysteries of Aurora - Thursday, September 5th - Lunch time

 

Alexia saw that Freya was a little different and it wasn’t just her pink hair and the energy she exuded. It was obvious that her focus wandered. She also saw that she squinted a bit when she turned the pages quickly. ‘I don’t want to ask,’ she thought. ‘She would be ready to say when she wants to say.’

 

 

Freya knew that Alexia was curious. ‘Let her be curious,’ she thought as she flipped through the pages.

 

 

Elsewhere in the library, Olivia was wandering the area of the Nordic section where the records of that era (and the copies) were kept. ‘Amazing that the paper is still viable,’ she thought. But then she knew that AAUA was one of the best places in the world for preservation of old records. She glanced at one of them. The dyslexia defeated her for a moment and then she realised that it was in Norse, rather than the Auroran of the period. ‘Of course,’ she groused to herself. ‘I’d be better off looking at the Roman records.’

Even so, she was more curious about the Nordic Era. ‘But I will get to the Roman Era eventually.’ She continued wandering. ‘There has to be some Auroran translations somewhere.’

 

 

Freya looked at the time. “12:20,” she said. “I have Introduction to Renaissance Art of Aurora in twenty minutes.”

 

“Oh,” Alexia said. “I’ll see you another time.”

 

“I will!”

 

 

Olivia found some records in Auroran. “Of course it’s still Old Auroran, but that’s fine.”

 

“How may I help you?” It was David, the library assistant who had helped two days earlier.

 

“Yes, I’m browsing this area.”

 

“The Late Old Auroran translations of the Norse records?”

 

“Yes. To get a taste of the period, as it were,” Olivia answered.

 

“A good idea. Let me show you something.”

 

Olivia nodded. She followed David to the end of a shelf.

 

“This is the index of the records,” David said as he pulled out a book.

 

“Thanks.”

 

 

Freya arrived at the lecture theater and saw that there were just as many people there as there were for the Music lecture. She went up to a few other students. “Hey, I’m Freya!”

 

One turned to her. “Hi, Freya. I’m Michaela. You certainly look the part.”

 

Freya shrugged. “I have always stood out.” She looked at Michaela, who had a small amount of blue highlights in her auburn hair, but otherwise looked conventional.

 

“I guess so,” Michaela said as the doors opened.

 

 

Olivia ran her text to speech pen over the page in the index. She quickly realised that she was without the context. ‘Maybe I need to start somewhere. But where? The Unification and working backward? Or forwards from the capture of Urbs Aeturna?’ She stood up. “943, the capture of Urbs Aeterna by Eric Leifsson and his forces,” she said from memory. ‘Maybe there are first-hand accounts, somewhere. Or maybe it’s too soon.’ She decided to find a general work on Urbs Aeterna during the Nordic Period and work from there.

 

 

Again, Freya found that the professor had had experience with teaching neurodivergent students before. “…Mostly those who are on the autism spectrum, but a few with ADHD,” he said.

 

“I see,” Freya said.

 

“And you’re not the first synesthete either.”

 

Freya nodded.

 

“You can go now.”

 

“Thanks for the reassurance,” Freya said as she got up.

 

“Any time.”

 

 

Freya found Daniela at the Main Cafeteria, which was on the opposite side of the Central Plaza from the western entrance of the Main Library.

 

“The oldest coffee house in Aurora,” Daniela said, as Freya came up.

 

“Is it?” Freya asked.

 

“That’s what they say.”

 

She looked around. It certainly looked to be from that era.

 

“How were the classes?” Daniela asked.

 

“Engaging, and the professors were understanding of my needs and questions. It helps that there have been others in the past.”

 

“I wonder if it’s gone under the radar in the past.”

 

“Quite likely, but it seems that AAUA has always moved with the times,” Freya said.

 

“But there also parts that seem reluctant to move forward.”

 

“That’s true of anywhere.”

 

“But especially of Aurora.”

 

 

They soon got their meals. “I have travelled,” Daniela said.

 

“Oh,” Freya said. “Overseas?”

 

“Mostly to Britain, Ireland, Munssland and America.”

 

“Munssland?”

 

“Yes. It’s still quite Auroran, even if they’re mostly Auroric speaking,” Daniela said. “Even there, it feels a lot younger than Aurora. America a lot more so.”

 

“I’m sure you have to go to the Middle East to find a city as old as Urbs Aeterna.”

 

“Damascus is older, I’m sure.”

 

“And others,” Freya said.

 

They continued talking, as Freya savoured the old-style coffee, with her eyes closed.

 

 

Olivia took a break, as she realised that she had researched well into the afternoon. “I need lunch,” she decided.

 

On her way out of the Library, she ran into Janara at the Grand Atrium. “Janara!”

 

“Olivia. How did the class go?”

 

“It went well. There are accommodations.”

 

“That’s good to hear,” Janara said.

 

“Now, somewhere for lunch.”

 

“I heard there is a good place on the roof of the Art Gallery.”

 

“That’s interesting,” Olivia considered. “I’d like to hear the story about that, along with everything else.”

 

“I’m sure it’s here somewhere.”

 

 

After the previous day’s experiences, Daniela didn’t find it that odd that Freya was keeping her eyes closed as she ate lunch and drank the old style coffee as she talked. ‘It’s part of how she experiences the world she said.’

 

“…And so, I can trace my ancestry back to the Vikings in the early Nordic period,” Freya said.

 

“That’s good, most of my lines peter out either in the Renaissance, or in the late Nordic period, shortly before the Unification.”

 

“Apparently, the keeping of those records really only start in the Renaissance, in the rural areas.”

 

“It goes back a lot further in the cities, especially in Urbs Aeterna,” Daniela said.

 

 

It didn’t take Janara and Olivia long to find the place above the Art Gallery. Olivia was relived to find that it wasn’t crowded. ‘That’s good,’ she thought. “Multiple layers,” she commented.

 

“Huh?”

 

“The University, Urbs Aeterna, Aurora.”

 

“Definitely,” Janara said. “Even with the local internet. The Auroran and Auroric language internets have more older sites than most other languages, especially those in English.”

 

“I had heard something about that.”

 

“And so, Aurora proves to be unique yet again.”

 

“I’m sure there other nations that claim to be unique,” Olivia said.

 

“I’m sure there are, but I’m sure you’ll agree that Aurora has the best claim.”

 

“Yes.”

 

They then came to the counter.