"I'm not helping you with this mess because it's a mess of your own design. What did you expect from stacking towers upon towers of books?" He looks at her as if to say it should have been obvious. He bristles a bit at being accused of ulterior motivates, even though, yes, he might have spotted an opportunity and thought...why not take it.

"No, what I'm interested in is your research in exchange for mine," he says, proudly patting his own book. "Tit for tat, as the saying goes. Sharing notes--ongoing, if we're both amenable--because as you said, there's certainly not enough hours in the day, even without sleep, for all there is to know. I'm interested in Sundering and you're interested in the world, and together I think we could amass a great deal of useful research. ...And you might still be able to catch a bit of apparently much-needed shut-eye."