Swamped

"Do you happen to know who that was that just left? She seemed a bit on the shy side, and I felt a bit odd asking her anything."

"Ah, that would be Cindy, Medic's apprentice. Yeah, she's not very outgoing. She told me she's hoping to get better about that by the time she takes over the post, but I don't know how that's going to work out."

Lisa steps a bit closer.

"What, did you ask me here so I could keep you up-to-date on the rumors? I can if you want, but I feel like that's not your biggest concern right now."

You shake your head.

"No, no. Just need someone around, and I don't know that many people. I'm not... not quite sure what exactly I want just yet, though."

"I suppose that's fair, after what you've been through."

She seems a bit sad. Does it hurt her to see you like this? You haven't exactly known her that long, pleasant as it's been...

...but she lost a friend, didn't she. And now that you think of it, he must have been caught by the rainspawn. Damn, you must be reminding her of that.

"I've been working on my reading," you say, in an effort to change the subject. "Could you help me with that? I want something a bit, challenging. But, well, cheerful. Because, you know."

"Cheerful," Lisa says. "Well, I think there might be something good here... ah, this is an interesting one."

She pulls a book off the shelf and takes it over to you. You take a look at the title.

"Sword Games," you say. "What's it about?"

"Sword games, of course," she replies with a chuckle. "Which is to say, it's really word games but they've all got some sort of silly twist to them. My aunt and uncle wrote it together, they were knights here twenty years ago. Playing around with the words might help you learn to read them better."

"Sounds interesting. I think I'll try that."

You turn to the table of contents, and try to pick out a game that sounds interesting.