Britannia, NY

Summer for Cecilia doesn't mean that work slows down -- if anything, it means the library has more patrons on its hands than usual. Which means more desk-time for Cecilia, and later evening shifts while she works to catch up on whatever she can't do from the reference desk. This suits her just fine, for a few weeks anyway, since it means she has less time on her hands to sit idle and brood over her thoughts.

The dreams haven't let up. In the past, she might have sought out Arthur, to check on him, or as some means of comfort for herself, but the last few weeks she's kept to herself. She hasn't even really mentioned it to Larry in their phone conversations. Something in Morgause wants to keep secrets, and Cecilia is finding it increasingly difficult to fight that impulse.

She dreams of her brother, and a kind of angry longing sweeps over her and ruins her whole day. Or she wakes with the sense of all the things she could never have, the sense of being half-exiled to Orkney. The best case scenario is dreaming of her own death -- she never thought she'd find cold resignation to be the preferable outcome.

Eventually, she makes up her mind that it's time to get out of town for a bit. So she arranges vacation time, and calls up Larry to see where she might catch him. Then she heads into town to run errands, doing her best to look open and approachable.