[Very minor spoilers for Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman and The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson].
I am looking for a very specific kind of story in which one character wants to (or must) research a certain topic or finish a certain project while receiving help from another person.
However, this "other person" must be someone who is barely associated with the project itself – just someone who goes along for the ride (this doesn't mean that they can't have any stake in the research / project themself, they just shouldn't be someone the character doing the research / project intended to bring along the way).
Examples:
- In Shusterman's Thunderhead, there are a few chapters where a character visits the Library of Alexandria to research a certain topic. They are helped by one of the librarians who works there.
- In The Emperor's Soul, Shai is more or less forced to help recreate the soul of an emperor. One of the characters associated with her captors shows an interest in her project and helps her along the way.
While I used Thunderhead as an example, I'd prefer a story where the research or project is the main focus, instead of being just a subplot. I'm looking for something closer to second example, where the project is the driving force of the story and the resolution of the story depends on the characters finishing it.
by Litera259