# [closed post]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan has devised another activity to occupy her days. By the calendar's reckoning, the start of spring is roughly a week away. Between her and Tress, they've got the outline of a plan for the next Dark, and Susan is happy to rely on people who've got greater interest in and skill for growing things insofar as agriculture goes. But the growing season here shall be longer than usual, and Susan should like to have some idea about what that might mean for the ecosystem,

This is her flimsy excuse to pardon the latest stack of books she's currently carrying out of the library. There is a marginal off-chance that preparatory reading on soil biota could, potentially, be useful. Perhaps she might even talk someone else into reading on the subject as well, so that they might discuss it.

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[quote_gentle_unquote]

All right: in this specific instance alone, Susan is impressed. "It's been ever so long since I've had jellied eel," she breathes.

[az_fell]

For a bit of surely-misdirected whimsy, Aziraphale pretends to be plucking a spoon from his breast pocket. He passes it to Susan along with the bowl. "Vinegar, my dear?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan spares him one lightly-suspicious look - she's wary of self-avowed powerful beings who manifest food out of thin air, for several reasons - and then sighs. She has been craving jellied eel rather a lot lately. "Oh, very well."

[az_fell]

Aziraphale smiles. Ever so helpfully, he takes the stack of books from her, trading it for the bowl and spoon, and then produces a bottle of malt vinegar to top it all off. "Do let me know how it is."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, I shall." Susan hesitates. "They're not bespelled, are they?"

[az_fell]

"No," says Aziraphale with surprise. "I'm not sure I'd even know how to bespell a jellied eel. I'm an angel, not a witch."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Hmm," says Susan. Balancing the plate carefully, she adds a little vinegar and then gives the eel a cautious taste. Her eyes fly up to the angel's.

[az_fell]

Aziraphale smiles again, right back at her. "Well?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, I have rather missed this," says Susan, and takes a larger bite.

[az_fell]

"It's all yours. Have as much as you like."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"So how have you been, Aziraphale?" Never let it be said that Susan Pevensie isn't deeply polite!

[az_fell]

She is so deeply polite that she's asking after him for a second time! Such a kind young lady, whose opinion of him is surely just as positive as his of her. Aziraphale's smile persists. "Well, I believe my struggle to organize the library may be an eternal and Sisyphean one, but there are worse fates."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"And how are you going about that?"

[az_fell]

"Quite futilely, I'm sure. I've spent months trying to arrange it as though it were my own bookshop. When I turn my back, it rearranges itself happily."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Have you got a system, though? For the steps you're taking when you're arranging it. Or are you just moving books about individually?"

[az_fell]

"Not individually," he supplies, remaining eminently helpful. "Typically in stacks. Rather like this one." He hefts the pile of Susan's books, which he's now holding, demonstratively.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan marvels, privately, at just how persistently this angel redefines uselessness. Perhaps that's his utility? Setting the lowest bar? "And you carry these stacks around and place books onto shelves?"

[az_fell]

"Here and there." He laughs. "It's become obvious that it's rather pointless, so I've abandoned any hope of permanent change. It's only somewhat soothing to bustle about as if I were in my own shop every now and then. Besides," he adds brightly, "the shelves in our bedroom are much more obedient."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan is a strong woman; she barely manages not to roll her eyes. "That's because you're doing it wrong."

[az_fell]

"Oh?" Aziraphale cocks his head at her, just a bit. "I'm rather set in my ways. Do tell."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Oughtn't an angel have tested approaches to making the world respond to him in the way that he prefers? Susan had this sorted out almost immediately! "You must remove every single book from a given shelf first, if you don't want them to rearrange on you. Even if you'd like to maintain some of the books already there."

[az_fell]

"Fascinating," says Aziraphale. He means it genuinely. "How very arbitrary of the house."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I imagine it's a form of taking and ceding ownership."

[az_fell]

"You've done a good deal of experimenting, clearly," he notes. "Have you got theories about the nature of this place?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I'm still gathering data."