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"No, that won't work." Lysithea happened to glance over Constance's papers as she was walking by, and saw multiple errors in the calculations. As Constance herself seemed to have left the library (while leaving her notes available for anyone to see, which is not proper protocol when doing research, what was she thinking?) Lysithea decided she'd do her own work in an adjoining seat until she returned.
And then Lysithea finished her work. And Constance still hadn't returned. Lindhardt a few tables over seemed to have fallen asleep, leaving Lysithea the only person awake in the library. Reaching a stopping point in her own research, she knew it was too late in the day for any more substantial progress with her own work. Yet, it was too early to retire completely - there were still a few hours before the sun would set. The training halls were closed, the dining hall would be too busy (she was not in the mood to deal with Claude, though she rarely ever was.)
…There was some perfectly interesting research a couple paces away, though. Lysithea packed up her own materials and moved over to where Constance would have been sitting.
Hm. It seems this was worth the investigation. Constance was deep in white-magic research, looking into… healing the mind. Top-level mages from the School of Sorcery were working on such things - it was a difficult and delicate matter. It was very thorough research, as well - not a simple flight of fancy. It certainly wasn't anything Lysithea had delved into - any research she'd done in white magic was generally for the body - her own mind was fine. Nevertheless, there were some computational and logical errors that Lysithea swiftly corrected on a seperate paper (it's not like she was an instructor, she couldn't just mark up someone else's work, even if it was wrong.)
After compiling the mistakes and adding some thoughts of her own, the sun had finally hit the horizon, and she figured it was time to leave. With a moment of consideration, Lysithea began packing up Constance's materials. She did seem the type to leave things behind, and if it were Lysithea she wouldn't want anyone to steal her research.
Just as she finished, the door to the library burst open, and Constance von Nuvelle stood in the entrance. Her eyes looked around, and landed on Lysithea.
"My, Lysithea von Ordelia! I do hope you're not planning on walking off with those items that aren't yours. A scholar of the noble art of sorcery should know better, yes?" Constance swiftly walked over, and began rifling through the materials Lysithea had just gathered.
"Well, it wouldn't be a surprise if someone did. You left this all here for hours. It's irresponsible to leave your research unguarded." Lysithea went back to her original seat and grabbed her own research. "I did look over it, though. Gave you some pointers. Nothing from the books, just personal experience. Take it or not, I don't care." One arm full of her own books, Lysithea walked over and tapped the pages of her additions to Constance's notes. Constance looked over at the papers, and she stopped. As Lysithea moved past to leave the library, Constance called out.
"Just a moment, dear Lysithea! I-" she hesitated. Lysithea turned around. "Your contributions are quite intriguing. Why don't we discuss them?" Lysithea thought for a moment.
"Fine. I'm heading to the dining hall after I return my stuff. Meet me there, if you want." Lysithea turned and walked out.
Now alone (a sleeping Lindhardt did not count as a person), Constance reordered her papers and put the library books she'd pulled out back. As she was doing so, she noticed by one of the shelves - her umbrella.
"How in Fódlan did this get left here?" She had left it behind while talking to Hapi outside, and Hapi had ended up walking her all the way back down to Abyss. And since she didn't know where her umbrella was, she didn't want to risk getting caught outside by unknown people in the search.
So she had been stuck, until the sun went down enough that she couldn't feel its effects. She had been lucky that no one had done anything with her stuff. She was embarrassed that the accusation was the first thing she said to Lysithea, but the girl hadn't seemed too bothered by it. She was always a bit prickly, but Constance's invitation being accepted was a good sign.
She finished the rest of cleanup with haste, and quickly gathered her items and left. She had a date discussion waiting in the dining hall!