The Villain's Hero
There was a scattering of ancient books, their pages bleached and damaged by exposure to water and sun through the gaps in the roof.
“Oh, no,” I mourned the loss and immediately began to gather the books from the floor and stack them, closed, on the tabletops. Many were mouldy and heavy with damp, and I did not honestly know whether closing them was preserving or irreparably damaging them, and yet there was no space to spread them all open, and all I could do was lift them up above the ground in the hope that would be enough to dry them.
“Spell books,” Aien commented as he helped me. “It’s unwise to leave them open.”