Arabica

'A library of wisdom, then, is more precious than all wealth, and all things that are desirable cannot be compared to it. Whoever therefore claims to be zealous of truth, of happiness, of wisdom or knowledge, aye, even of the faith, must needs become a lover of books.'
-Richard de Bury, Philobiblon

Every hatchling generally goes through a “why?” phase, where they incessantly question everything. Most parents accept that they're just learning how to interact with dragons and the world around them, and that they'll outgrow it eventually. Arabica's why phase started when he was old enough to comprehend that the world around him contained more things than were inside his head, and never really ended. But unlike the unfocused “Why? Why? Why?” of a hatchling who thinks it's amusing to keep making a grown dragon elaborate on previous answers, Arabica absorbed the information and based more questions around it. He quickly learned that questions like “Why is that your charge and what is so special about it?” to a guardian would receive long enthusiastic answers, but asking his parents things like “If hatchlings are meant to be seen and not heard then why are dragons always having them?” did not. His parents were relieved when the never-ending questions finally stopped, assuming he had at last grown out of that phase, but he hadn't. He'd only moved on to questioning a source that never got tired of answering him.

Books were his first great love, and even though the majority of the books he found in The Shifting Expanse were engineering texts and machinery guides, he still gamely made his way through them, enchanted by the way the pages explained every little detail to him. But it was the few “frivolous” texts (by the definition of lightning dragons anyway) on history, philosophy, archeology, all things about how those in the past had lived and how they lived now, that truly caught his attention. Finally, he had all the answers he wanted.

Now, settled in his own cozy study in his clan's lair in the Southern Icefield, he's free to pursue his love of literature to his heart's content. Historical texts from earth flight, philosophical treatises from light, abstracts on new magical breakthroughs from arcane, and even the occasional engineering manual from lightning for old time's sake all find their way into his claws, and his study can be a hazard to navigate, between precarious stacks of books. He's going to shelve them of course, according to subject and in alphabetical order, but he just got caught up in a new manuscript and... well, he'll get around to it.

Arabica has a reputation for being both extraordinarily smart, and extraordinarily absent minded. He's well known for his habit of leaving things behind and forgetting where he left them, setting something aside and immediately losing it, or needing a quiet remember of the name of a clanmate he hasn't seen in a while. Arabica's well aware of this, since he takes pains to cultivate just such an appearance. After all, as any would-be archivist knows, people say more than they mean to when the listener is attentive but vague. You don't have to worry about letting any secrets slip to someone who will probably forget them along with his hat when he gets up, do you? And he does like to know everything, for posterity’s sake.

All his absent-mindedness, both fake and real (he really can't seem to hold onto his monocle to save his life, even though it's fastened to his vest) vanishes when he talks about his books, however. The hatchlings of the clan particularly like him for his patience in explaining things to them, and that when he doesn't know something, his answer is not to grumpily shoo them off, but say: “I don't know, but let's look it up together. I have just the book.” (They adore being able to stump an adult, and he quietly enjoys teaching a love of reading and learning.) With older dragons, he can teach and converse on an amazingly wide ranging number of subjects, from the social dynamics of pearlcatcher architecture, to the history of the first age. Visiting dragons are likely to get dragged into his study at least once, and if they have specialized knowledge he doesn't yet possess, then they're likely to be questioned, scroll at the ready to record their answers, as enthusiastically as the wide-eyed, inquisitive hatchling he used to be.