Quoted By:
This ... you don't know anything for a surety, but you just get a sense that there is something rather ... contrived about the books and papers down here. You are thinking about it thusly; if you were the remediator responsible for setting Aldoin's house right, and you were concerned that someone might get in into their heads that the grass down here has a Mysterious aspect to it, then you would want something on hand to explain it away. And this selection of books and papers does just that. Had you not witnessed the Strangeness here earlier, then taken together, all of this might have been enough to convince you that the grass was mundane and served no Mysterious end. If you were the remediator, then how hard would it have been to simply skim through the books and papers kept here and remove anything that would cast doubt on the nature of the grass? Surely, it would take but a minute or so. And that is something that a remediator would be looking to do. Something they'd <span class="mu-i">have</span> to do. After all, remediation casts deal with the Strangeness, but there can be mundane evidence that points towards someone delving into the Many Mysteries, things that won't be wiped away by remediation.
Actually, now that you think about it, it might be the opposite. Instead of taking things away, the remediator might have <span class="mu-i">added</span> things. The remediator would want the bizarreness of the grass explained away as soon as possible, before the fear of Mysteries and the Strangeness became too deep seated to dislodge. So really, it isn't just the selection of books and papers here that are overly convenient, it is their location too. And if you think about it, why would any of these books be down here, instead of in an office or a library, which you are certain Aldoin must have had here. Well ... perhaps the book with the schedule of care belongs down here, but the books about beach grass? The man managed to grow the damned stuff in his basement, clearly he knows a great deal about it. Would he really need to keep reference texts on hand like that? And the same goes for the papers - excluding the instructions for watering, what sense does it make to keep receipts like this in a basement? In an <span class="mu-i">unlit</span> basement?
It is possible, of course, that this room is how Aldoin left it. That suspiciously worn blank book is probably the best argument for that ... but still, all of this is just too contrived, too convenient.
You stuff the book with the maps of the basement into your central pocket on your apron - the only one large enough to hold it, even with the False Silverware inside - and then you walk away from the shelves. You have spent too much time on this ... and not enough on that chest right by the foot of the stairs.
