Hello, all! ((Narrowly dodges over-ripe tomato))

Guess you're all mad because I haven't updated, right? ((Dodges over-ripe tomato)) I have an excuse! I was in Maine, and the connection uses...dial-up! ((Hit by barrage of tomatoes for using a blasphemy))

Okay, okay...but lookit! I have a story! Admittedly, it's recycled, but it's still one more than I had up previously. This takes place in the Earthsong-verse (which just happened to have a romantic angsty bit with a female lead whose name begins with a "K," hence the use of a canon character!), and the reason it doesn't contain much romance is that Zaebos has a crush on K'Thonya but he's too shy to say anything, and K'Thonya's so unassuming that she hasn't noticed.

Disclaimer: The characters and webcomic belong to the Lady Yates, whom I sadly am not. I own this story's plot, dialogue, and typing.

So, now that the explainy time of explainifulness is over, I shall leave you to read!

Enjoy!

K'Thonya sat in the library with a book. It was raining outside, certainly a rarity at the Haven. The sun usually was shining brightly at this time of day, but dark clouds had formed in the sky, pelting the ground with rain. Earthsong was happy for the rain, and the good watering that the plants were getting.

K'Thonya would usually be outside in the garden, weeding and planting or molding metal, but it was too wet, and she would prefer it if her hair didn't rust. She decided to come into the library, where she could settle down with a good book and read the day away. A mug of tea sat on an end table beside her.

She was reading through a book of ghost stories that she had found in one of the mythology shelves. She was getting deeply into one story when she heard something scuttle across the floor.

She hadn't realized how dark it had gotten. Shadows fell all over the table, chair, and hallways that she was in.

K'Thonya looked around, searching for the cause of the scuttle. She found none.

Chalking it up to imagination and a realistic story, she curled back up in the armchair she was sitting in and resumed reading.

A little while later, she heard the scuffling again.

Her head snapped up and she slowly looked around, her heart beating in her chest. K'Thonya took one of her bracelets off and turned it into a small dagger, all the while telling herself that she was over-reacting. She held it aloft, hoping that the realism of metal would snap her back to reality. It did, and she giggled half-heartedly at her silliness.

She returned to her book.

'…As the wind howled and shrieked outside and the shutters shook, she passed down the darkened hallway, her single candle weakly lighting her path. The portraits on the wall seemed to look smugly down on her, knowing something she didn't, and she fixed her eyes on the floor, attempting to avoid their gaze.

She picked her way down the seemingly endless staircase, the creaking wood sending thrills of fear down her spine. Her candle flame shivered in her hand, quivering as she fought to keep from shaking, and making terrifying shapes leap and dance and crowd around her, as if they were playing with her.

She reached the grand hall, wide and high and dark as pitch. The tall, arched windows allowed not even starlight to shine through.

She heard a breath behind her, and her head snapped around. The hand that held the candle came around also.

Suddenly, the candle's flame was extinguished. She was left in total darkness.

Warm breath blew over her neck.

"Don't look back," a voice, deep and darkly amused, whispered.

A cry was strangled in her throat as she heard long, fast, strong legs scurry across the floorboards, racing towards her…'

A tiny scream escaped K'Thonya's lips as she caught movement in her peripheral vision. In the same moment, she drew her legs in and brandished her dagger.

She watched the mouse scuttle by, a bit of cheese in its mouth.

K'Thonya dropped the dagger into her lap, clamped both hands over her mouth and listened to the silence of the library. More specifically, she listened to be sure that no hooves were coming her way.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' she thought, though inside she was laughing with relief and her own stupidity, 'now you'll join Felucca; Zaebos'll band you for sure..."

A very slight shuffling, as if he was far-off in the library met her ears.

K'Thonya looked at the book, and actually laughed out loud, quietly. 'I'm such a wreck,' she thought. 'I need to relax. Sorry, mousy.'

She took up the dagger and turned it into her bracelet once more.

Curling up like a cat, she started to turn back to the book.

"Are you all right?" A breath blew across her neck, and K'Thonya nearly leapt out of her skin.

She turned around to see Zaebos looking at her with his eyebrows raised, as her excuses and apologies got caught in her throat.

"Yes," she managed to choke out.

"I heard you scream," he said.

"Oh heavens, I am sorry, I know I shouldn't have, but I was really deeply into this story and a mouse crossed by and…I apologize for shouting!" K'Thonya said quickly, sounding very nervous and not at all like her normal, calm self.

"Calm down, K'Thonya, calm down," Zaebos said, smiling and putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. As quickly as he had realized what he had done, he took his hand off of her, instead saying, "Is something on your mind?"

"Besides mice and ghosts?" K'Thonya asked, smiling. "No, not a thing. I'm a bit tense today, I suppose. I really am sorry about that."

"It's quite all right. Just please, if you're going to scream again, go see Felucca. I'm sure she'll join you," he said with a wry smirk and a roll of his eyes.

"You've got it," K'Thonya smiled. Zaebos started to walk away, but K'Thonya grabbed his wrist.

"By the way," she asked when he had turned around, his cheeks slightly black', "are you working on making your footsteps softer? When I listened to be sure I hadn't screamed too loud, I thought you were far away in the library."

"Er…sort of," Zaebos admitted. "When most people come in here on casual visits, I've discovered that if they can't find you in the first ten minutes, they usually leave. So, for the well-being of the library and my last shreds of sanity, I've been working on making myself quieter."

"Well," K'Thonya laughed, "you're doing a great job. If you keep practicing, you could sneak up on that mouse."

"I'll keep that in mind," Zaebos ironically smiled and went off around a bend.

K'Thonya looked at the book of ghost stories, got up, and carefully replaced it. She pulled a book entitled "EARTH MYTHOLOGY", curled up in the chair, and started reading again.

' A demon's cheeks will turn black when they blush. Zaebos is red.

Zaebos is kind of a goat-man-fire-demon-librarian, as well as...well, bishie :) (Squee!)

K'Thonya is a Gorgon, but pretty, and her hair is made of metal fibers. She can make metal bends and contort to her will, like making sword with her bare hands, or giving her metal hair the apperance of snakes. It's cool.

So that's it! Review, please!

Until next time: this is Semine, signing off!

Post Scriptum: Hey, you ran out of tomatoes! ((Dodges an over-ripe watermelon))