"So, um, you're the librarian here?" Mina breaks in.
"Yes."
"Are there any others?"
"No." Inric is not normally talkative, but this is particularly monosyllabic. Were there bad memories behind that?
"What happened here?" Jakin asks, distracted from his own guilt. "There's so much damage."
"Much has happened here," Inric says, still evasive. "Most recently, neglect."
"Well, fixing the shelves shouldn't be too hard," Jakin says cheerfully. He's kneeling down, stroking one of the broken pieces. "You already have the broken bits. They just need a bit of neatening up, then you can use them again." Mina stares, unused to this side of her brother. He catches her eye and scowls. "What? I'm a builder, I've made shelves!"