Sorry that everyone has had to wait so long for another story.

Just so that everyone knows, unlike the other stories in the TLC series, this one is planned to be a multi-chapter fic.

I would suggest you read TLC #3 before reading this one but it's not like you'll be lost if you don't.

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: All characters are property of Garth Nix. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.

I wonder if there is a scientific explanation of why time flies when you're enjoying yourself but drags on when you're not. If there isn't then there should be.

"I still need to go back Nick, but…" Lirael trailed off.

"But what?"

"Would you like to come back with me?"

Nick froze and stared at her once again.

"I would love too."

Ever since that fateful day six months ago when I met Lirael at the Wall and she once again saved my life, time seems to have raced by quicker than one of my uncles automobiles. The initial worry about being accepted into the Old Kingdom by Sam and his family had proved to be wasteful.

We had swiftly arrived at the Royal Palace in the wonderful paper contraption of Lirael's- a Paperwing I was later told it was called- and was greeted by Sam himself who was waiting to check out how Liraels new hand had held up on the other side of the Wall.

A quick explanation of my appearance to Sam while en-route to the infirmary concluded with the arrival of all the documentation I would need in order to become a full citizen of the Old Kingdom. I was even granted an allowance for my "services to the crown" from when I had tried to stop the joining of Orannis by shutting down the lightning rods.

Apparently the fact that I was the person who had released and transported him to Ancelstierre had been gratefully over looked.

Yet, despite the fact that it felt as if all the different parts of my life were finally falling into place, one thing was still missing.

Lirael.

You would think the fact that we were now on the same side of the wall and often living in the same building would help two people get closer but if anything it seemed to tear us apart.

Not that we were that close to begin with of course.

I would prefer to think that she was trying to avoid me rather than just not thinking about me at all but it seemed as if the second explanation was the most likely.

She means so much to me but I mean so little to her. Not even a bond of friendship has emerged from this infrequent relationship. That is, if a relationship can be defined as one person repeatedly saving the others life and then disappearing without a trace.

Luckily, the fact that I was now receiving an allowance and had nothing expected of me other than to behave myself left me with ample time to prepare a plan to win the lovely Lirael.

Just six weeks after I arrived, my research began despite the fact that sources were scarce. Most of the information gathered was nothing but speculation and rumors.

Known fact number one:

Lirael is Sabriel's sister who was only recently discovered and as such the new Abhorsen-in-Waiting. Also, the relationship to Sabriel also made her the sister-in-law to the King which most likely earns Lirael some sort of noble right that no one seems to know anything about, if it has even been discussed.

Fact number two:

Lirael was born and raised in with the Clayr since she herself is half Clayr. Information on them is scarce. All I have been able to find out from the Palace Library is that almost all Clayr are born as tall, blonde women who have the sight. What confounds me is that since there are almost no men that are born to the Clayr, all of the Clayr are technically half-blood since the fathers are not of the Clayr. Yet, only Lirael is considered to be a half-blood.

Fact number three:

Lirael does not talk to anyone other than Sam. Period. As a matter of fact, I have learned that after Sam I am the only person who has held a conversation with her for any period of time despite the fact that I have only meet her three times.

The strange Dog doesn't count, she isn't a person.

Fact number four:

Lirael does not show a preference for any of the men who have decided to court her. She doesn't even seem to notice that there are men courting her at all which would be rather amusing to me if I wasn't one of those men.

Facts that are of no help to me at all. No one seems to know what she prefers to eat, her favorite color, the type of music she enjoys, or even what sort of clothing she prefers since she now only wears the uniform tunic of the Abhorsen-in-Waiting while around people.

I had once tried to get Lirael to open up to me on one of the rare occasions I managed to corner her- and I mean I literally trapped her in a corner of the library- I was unable to get any answers out of her.

Before any question could leave my mouth, she for some reason had started spouting out some nonsense about the weather from behind her curtain of dark, silky hair.

I guess my request to have her look me in the eyes had been denied.

Despite all of the dead ends there was still one source I had yet to turn to.

Good old Sam.

He had to know something about his Aunt. After all he had traveled alone with her practically from one side of the kingdom to the other and even if she had never answered any of his questions, which is most likely, he would have had to have noticed some things about her that would be helpful to me.

Yet, despite that fact that Sam is one of my oldest and closest friends, there had been something holding me back from asking him.

I'm not sure if it was because it was almost awkward to go ask a friend for advice on how to court his aunt or if it was because some part of me was almost jealous of the friendship Sam and Lirael appeared to share.

They'd had the rare opportunity to bond over their shared experiences of saving the Old Kingdom. Well, that and saving silly Nick as well, since that had been Sam's primary objective for most of their trip I have been told.

However, it had now been over half of year of failure after failure of trying to catch her attention and I was starting to becoming a desperate man. Every day that I turned away from the door to Sam's tower was a day I was losing with Lirael. That is why one day I finally put steel in my spine and knocked on his door.

Surprisingly, there was no answer. I knew that Sam was in there. He'd been cooped up in there for the past week working on some new project or other for Lirael, only emerging when he realized he did need to eat and get some sleep.

For such a smart fellow you'd think that he wouldn't need to be reminded of that so often.

I worked up the courage to knock a second time to once again receive no answer from inside. The third knock was greeted with an "I'm busy!" and the fourth with a "go away."

Persistence did win out in the end. The fifth knock was answered with the door swinging open in anger until Sam finally saw who was on the other side.

Before he could try to convince me to leave I pushed my way past him and into the cluttered room beyond.

Bookshelves lined the walls filled not only with an assortment of books with colorful spines leaning at odd angles, but also with old scrolls and other nick-knacks such as a collection of what appeared to be little jeweled frogs and one possible toad all staring at what appeared to be a jar filled with prisoner mosquitos.

If I didn't know better, I would have sworn one of the frogs was inching closer to the jar.

There were also four large wooden tables in the room, three of them filled with plethora tools that I couldn't name, wires composed of what looked to be different metals in varying thickness, scattered papers heaped in disorganized piles, and a variety of other strange materials held in different shaped jars.

It was the fourth table that held my attention.

In the center of the table surrounded by strange marks, oils, and four cylindrical metal tubes, all of different sizes, was something that I hadn't thought I would see again.

Liraels sword much changed from the one time I had clearly seen it in the boat of reeds on the Red Lake but instantly recognizable because it had been the first real sword I had ever seen up close in my life.

Well, that and the fact that I seem to have an unparalleled ability to remember all of the little things about Lirael even if only seen once when I was delirious.

Before I could begin to question Sam as to what he was doing to Liraels sword (it looked like ruining it to me), Sam himself began to speak in a voice that clearly displayed his irritation.

"What are you doing here? Can't whatever it is wait Nick? I'm in the middle of something" he stated when turning around back to the table with the sword.

"As a matter of fact it can wait but I don't want it to." I attempted to say in what I felt to be an irritatingly cheerful manner.

I once again found myself not receiving a response from one of my oldest and closest friends.

"Come on Sameth old-boy! Spare just a moment for a needy chap!" I implored.

Sam responded with and aggravated sigh.

"I'm at a critical point right now Nick. Come back to me in a couple of hours and—"

"Does this project keep your ears from working? Just listen and when you're done you can answer me." I quickly interjected.

"Fine, fine. Just try to make it quick." Sam stated as he turned back around to the sword.

"It's just a problem I'm having with a lady right now Sam. I was hoping you'd have some sort of insight into her is all.

I really like her Sam but I'm not so sure she feels the same way. I've been trying to talk to her but it's almost as if she's avoiding me so I've had to resort to finding out more about her from other people.

The problem is that no one seems to know her and the number one response that I receive is to go talk to Sam.

I truly didn't want to bother you with this so I chose a different route to take all together and went to the library to research the people she was raised with but other than a physical description there was very little information.

Actually, I was left with more questions than answers."

During my long speech Sam had managed to make a seventh pipe out of the sword that was much smaller than the other six.

"I'm not sure how much help I can be Nick." Sam responded as he began to re-sharpen the edges of the sword.

"Especially if you don't tell me who she is. To be perfectly honest it might be better to go visit Ellimere—"

"Ellimere doesn't know her. Only you have spent any time with her."

"Who is she Nick?" Sam once again asked as he continued to sharpen the sword.

"Well, I don't want this to be awkward-"

"Who is she Nick?"

It was now my turn to sigh. "Lirael."

Sam paused his well-practiced motions and after a brief minute cracked up laughing.

A little insulted, I immediately prepared to launch a verbal defense of my chosen lady when Sam began to hiccup.

"I'm sorry Nick but I couldn't help it. It's just that I'm not sure how much help I can be. You must realize that you picked one of the most private and insecure people in the world to chase after.

To be perfectly honest I don't know much about her. For most of our adventure I didn't even know that she was my aunt. Of course, she didn't know it either but still."

"So there isn't anything you can tell me about her?"

"Well, when we were still sailing I had tried to flirt with her but she had lied and told me that she was much older than she looked in order to get me to stop.

Honestly, I don't know as much about her as I should. She loves old books and is an excellent charter mage who is mostly self-taught. She knows dozens of old spells and odd marks that have been long forgotten."

At this point Sam had moved onto polishing the sword.

"What about the Clayr? I wasn't able to find out much about them either."

Sam furrowed his brow.

"I've never had much contact with the Clayr. They are one of the original and most pure bloodlines we have. They do a lot of trading and are all women as far as I know."

"Yes, yes. I was able to find that out in the Library but it's not of much use for me."

"I'm not sure how to help you then Nick." Sam replied as he sheathed the finished sword.

"Then that's it. There is only one option left." I finally stated. "We will go to visit Clayr's glacier and take Lirael with us."

"You don't just go visit the glacier Nick. You need a reason."

"We do have a reason Sam. You mentioned the other day you were lost about some reference to a spell that you wanted to look up and what better place to find it than in a giant library? And being in such a big library it would of course be a good idea to bring someone along who knows how to navigate it as well as knows most of the people who work there."

Sam pondered the idea for a moment before finally replying with a reluctant "alright."

With Sam in agreement all that was left was to inform Sam's parents of where we were going and to alert Lirael that she was going along with us.

Lirael was of course most surprised but agreed as Sam handed her back her sword and began to make the arrangements to once again to return to her home.

TBC.

Please leave a review and thank you for reading!

-Ranna