The Angry Reader

It took all of them several long minutes standing next to the doorway so as not to be in the way before they finally returned to a sense of normalcy. They were still sensitive, but every sound or feeling was now reasonable to their senses. It was at this point that the majority let out a breath they didn't realize that they were holding. If they weren't holding books, they may have collapsed from the sheer relaxation of exiting the taxing environment.Of his teammates only Julie and Jien had seemed relatively unaffected by the shift from silence to deafening cacophony. Julie though appeared just as on edge as she had been throughout the ordeal, so it was unknown if she wasn't affected at all or just not pushed past her threshold. Noticing that everyone else had appeared to get their wits back about them Jien directed them to move with a firm nod of his head in the direction of their quarters. It appeared that he didn't want to impact the others with the use of his voice until they had more time to acclimate to normalcy.They made their way back down the many steps with Jien and Julie taking the lead, their larges stacks of books. It became rather apparent that while Julie didn't have whatever Jien had used to find the best route to the library, she appeared to have a good memory and sense of direction. In the majority of cases she took the lead, turning corners before Jien could indicate one way or another, which didn't seem to bother Jien in the least from what the others could tell.Truthfully, Jien felt this move was a good thing. Julie was showing signs of trying to take up leadership, even if only in the form of leading the way back to their new home. As long as she took her studies seriously and decided to take the role of leader seriously, he had a strong feeling that their split formation had a good chance of working. She just needed the proper knowledge to guide her fellow team members in the way she felt best and the experience that they would get from training together to find her own path to leadership.It wasn't long before they had made it back to their new home and met with the cooled air of their flat. They made it to the table and dropped their books before everyone besides Jien and Julie slumped into their seats as if they were puppets with cut strings. Jien placed his seat calmly after placing his own stack on the table, taking the top book which had a title that everyone struggled to comprehend and flipped it open, leaning back in his seat to start reading without a word.Julie on the other hand nearly slammed her heavy stack of books on the table. If she wasn't concerned about punishment, she may have just dropped them on the floor in a fit of rage. Given the force that she had put down the books it was a wonder that the table hadn't shown any signs of cracking or bowing. Her teeth were still grinding and when she ran her eyes along the table, across each of them, they seemed to freeze under her scrutiny. Everyone besides Jien anyway. He seemed so immersed in his reading that her continued stare didn't even seem to grab his attention, or perhaps he was just expertly ignoring her.Jien's prior teammates knew that this wasn't him ignoring her, he was truly immersed in what he was doing. This had been a common scene during their downtime in the Warping Forest, but it did not mean that he did not have his wits about him. This was further proven when Julie seemed to reach toward him as if to grab hold of him to beat a lesson into him. Her hand missed because though he didn't lower the book in his hand or turn her direction, he pushed his chair back just enough for her grab to hit nothing but air.It was only after the missed strike that Jien spoke for the first time since they had exited the library, his tone neutral and his focus still on the book. "If you are upset that I found you the basic materials you need to be able to last in the classes starting in seven days then learn it all quickly so that you won't lack anything." His tone was deadpan, and he didn't even meet the glare of the girl even at this point. "If you can't learn what is needed to be a leader then you won't be able to gain the resources, not only for yourself but for those of our team. I don't think of you as dead weight, but you will have to work to ensure that impression remains."With his statement made he stopped talking and flipped the page, after scanning the first pages once again, this time his eyes holding an almost unnoticeable glow. Julie was left stewing with rage burning in her gut and nothing realistic to take it out on. She wanted to prove that she could be a leader so that she wouldn't have to deal with Jien's way of leading. The only way to do that in this environment was to have the requisite knowledge and then be able to implement it in a practical manner during their physical training sessions.She took a deep breath and with a fire burning in her eyes took the first book from the stack, sitting in a huff before poring over the first pages with gritted teeth.