[url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/197415283?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=1]Catalogue of Art, Profiles, and Fics related to Fireteam Daybreak[/url] --- I realized a few nights ago that I haven’t really gotten the chance to describe what I imagine Rue’s library to be like, which is sad because it’s so central to the story of Daybreak and their friends. And I thought about how I needed to draw up a floorplan of what I imagined it to look like so you guys could at least get a feel for the layout, and maybe if I’m feeling ambitious enough I’d try and do an atmospheric sketch, but then this got me thinking about all the little details in there that I always forget to mention and I just figured, why not describe them instead? What I’ve already explained in my fics is that yes, Rue has her own library to conduct her research and mentor new Warlocks. You may have been able to gather that for most of Daybreak, it’s a quiet safe-haven, a sanctuary- at the very center of the room she has a very large, very twisted, very old Juniper-hybrid tree that she has lovingly named Fjörgynn, whose life she nurtures by infusing its life force with her light; but even with this knowledge, I have left out so, so much. Let’s start with an actual physical location and how she was given the honor of having her own part of (a, not THE) Tower all to herself. Rue’s an old Warlock- and wen I say old, I mean Iron Lord old. She’s seen every battle the Guardians have ever fought, the first of which was the Battle of Six Fronts. So when the Wall and the Towers were finally being built however many years later, with the support of the Warlock order, she was given her own part of Bannerfall tower as a central hub for collecting and continuing her research on anything and everything her little heart desired, her primary focus of which at the time was the study and application of light in medicine. As a Doctor in her previous life, Rue was more interested in using her gift to heal rather than fight, so her first project after building the walls of her library –the vaulted ceiling of which stands at an impressive three stories tall in the center of the room– was to create an environment in which she was able to grow herbs and plants to research their applications for Pharmaceutical usage. To the right of the entrance to the library, in the far corner, she shuttled in soil and built up a raised gardening plot in the corner of the room, and created a raised gardening bed by the floor-to-ceiling window lining half the length of the far wall opposite the door. And one day, when she believed she was ready and had perfected her healing techniques, Rue planted a dying tree at the heart of her library and nurtured it back to health- and it became her companion through the next 150-200 years of her life. Throughout her life Rue saw many Guardians and Apprentices come and go, though until those who would one day make up the Fireteam known as Daybreak began to come into her life, they didn’t stay long. When she ran out of research to work on or while she waited on what was in her decanters to finish simmering, she’d strike out with a few other Guardians to see if she could scrape up any other useful information from the Golden Age and then transcribe what she’d learned into hardcover tomes she bound herself. Sometimes, though rarely, she’d find books still intact and would bring them back and restore them to add to her collection of knowledge or leisure reading. As the years passed Rue’s tree grew strong and tall- the roots broke through the stonework and stretched down into the tower, and its branches eventually punched a small hole in the roof of her library; while it pressed the need for her to rearrange some of the tables she’d situated near it to protect her books and notes from the elements leaking in through the canopy, it didn’t bother her at all. Due to the thick canopy at the crown of the trunk even during harsh storms most rain and snow was filtered through the foliage, but it still let in just enough of the elements and the light to give the spot in the center of the room an ethereal glow as if her tree existed in a pocket in time all its own. The shelves filled and her circle of friends grew, and so did the need for more tables and chairs and private reading areas to accommodate more people. So she built balconies all along the left wall and around the top of the room; from the branches of Fjörgynn she strung cotton hammocks made from old Faction banners and hung lanterns fueled by Spirit Bloom to cast warmth and a relaxing glow. Her library became a hub for members of her Fireteam, a place for them to always return to when they were unsure of where the others were or what their next mission would be, a place of solitude in the chaos of the Guardian life, a safe haven when they felt lost. When many of the towers were abandoned after Twilight Gap, Rue remained in her library in Bannerfall tower, among the remnants of what once were the headquarters for New Monarchy and Concordat. Still, every once in a while an unfamiliar Guardian or a Warlock looking for answers will wander into her library, and she’ll bristle defensively before calming down and asking how she can help. Because it’s been so long since there has been regular life in the tower aside from her and her teammates (who have made homes in some of the spaces around the abandoned tower), she’s grown accustomed to the silence and isn’t fond of visitors, especially ones that disturb the peace of her space… so every once in a while when Shaxx makes Bannerfall a destination for Crucible matches, she’ll lock the doors or leave an apprentice behind and take a leave of absence until all the fighting is over and the gunshots cease. I think that’s about all I have to say about it… for now anyway. As I mentioned before, the library is a really important part of Daybreak’s history and ongoing story, so I just wanted to expand a little more on the topic. Hopefully it helps to give you a clearer picture of what it looks like, if not a closer representation of what I imagine it to look like. It’s really one of my favorite places to go mentally and even though I don’t write about it very often (because I don’t want to get stuck in the pattern of only ever writing what goes on in the library), it is a place where Daybreak finds themselves often.