Part 3

A stifled giggle came from the brunette as she pressed her hand against her mouth, her cheeks slowing turned red. "I could help you," she added shyly.

Akkarin only just held in the sigh of relief and exasperation. Finally!

As punishment for destroying his room, he'd been sentenced to helping the new librarian, Lord Jullen for a month, including free days. It had been extremely dull and tedious. He didn't even have Lorlen to keep him company as he'd been sentenced to helping the healers. What really annoyed him about this, however, was that Lorlen almost seemed to be enjoying his punishment. He couldn't even rant this out in his dairy because, even after a month, he had been unable to find the dairy that had 'flown' through the window. He could always buy another one, but that still meant that he had lost two years in writing. However after a month he had been forced to give up on it.

However today was his last day of punishment, so he was eager to finish the task that Jullen had set him for the day and leave. Akkarin had been overjoyed when Jullen had said that all he had to do was take some book to the appropriate places and then he could finish…that was until he saw how many books there was. This would keep him busy till the evening.

Then, while strolling through the rows of shelves, replacing books, he noticed that he was being watched. A small first year girl with curly brown hair, whom he had half-heartedly noticed watching him before today. A first it irritated him, not only did he have to spend a free day in the library working, but he had to do it being watching by some silly first year. Suddenly a stroke of genius hit him, changing his opinion of the girl completely. Two people would get a task done far quicker then one person.

So he had drawn closer to the girl. Replacing the books along the row, mostly in the wrong place, till he reached her and then engaged her in conversation, acting clueless of where to put the remaining books. He had flirted with her, and acted dismayed and upset about staying in on a free day, dropping subtle hints as he went. Unfortunately for him Lorna seemed to be the living breathing proof that power and intelligence didn't necessarily go hand-in-hand. She was obviously far too powerful for her parents to stop her coming to the Guild, but he wondered if she was intelligent enough to actually succeed here. It had taken him thirty minutes for her to volunteer; he had nearly been ready to give up.

"Oh, I couldn't let you do that for me," he said, trying not to be too obvious.

"Oh no, It would be a pleasure, I'd love to help you," and her cheeks flushed even more.

After what he considered a convincing pause he replied, "Well, if you-"

"AKKARIN!"

Akkarin spun round at the sound of his name. In front of him stood Lord Jullen, arms crossed and a frown marring his features. "You're here as punishment, not to flirt with young girls."

"I'm not flirting, My Lord."

"No? Then what are you doing?"

Akkarin was about to put forward a believable explanation when Lorna spoke up, "I'm sorry Lord Jullen. Akkarin asked me if I knew where the rest of his books should go and then we started talking and he said that he was disappointed that he couldn't enjoy such a nice day and so I volunteered to help him."

Akkarin wondered if it would be too obvious if he started banging his head against the shelves. Lord Jullen looked at him and he raised his eyebrows, "You did? How very fortunate for Akkarin," turning from Akkarin he looked at Lorna, "As generous as your offer is, I'm afraid that Akkarin must decline. This punishment is not a group activity. Go and enjoy your free day." Lorna looked back over her shoulder as she walked off, disappearing round the corner, along with the rest of his day. "Akkarin, once you've finished with those books you will come and see me for more work." Jullen walked off, leaving Akkarin alone once again.

Akkarin dropped into a nearby chair and let his forehead fall onto the desk, making a soft thump. Great! Not only had he lost his only chance of getting out here early, but now he was sure to be stuck here till the damn library shut. Nothing could make today worse.

He felt a shy tug at his sleeve and he looked up. There was no one there. He frowned and then he felt another tug at his sleeve. He looked down and saw two large blue eyes looking up at him. A small child with blonde hair framed the eyes, looking particularly shy and nervous. Strange, not even magician's children were allowed in the library unaccompanied. Perhaps he was lost.

"Erm…are you Akkarin?" The child asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"I found this and father said it belonged to you."

Akkarin looked down at the object in the child's hands in disbelief. It was his diary. Relief and gratitude flooded in as he took the object from the boy. Smiling widely he said, "Thank you. Thank you so much. I thought that I'd lost it forever. Thank you."

The little boy grinned and, happy that he had done the right thing, took off. Akkarin watched the boy run straight to Lord Rothen who had watched the scene from nearby.

"I returned it father."

Rothen scooped up his son, "Well done Dorrien; that was very good of you." Turning to address Akkarin, Rothen spoke again, "A word of advice; if you want something to remain a secret, throwing it through a window usually isn't the best way to go about it."

Akkarin stood and bowed, "Yes Lord Rothen, and thank you."

Rothen smiled at him, "All your thanks should go to Dorrien. He found your diary and insisted on returning it himself."

Another wave of gratitude washed over him and he looked back at Dorrien, who happily sat in his father's arms. "Thank you again Dorrien. I wish I could make it up to you."

Dorrien just smiled and rested his head against his father's chest.

"Now Akkarin," Rothen said, in a voice more suited to a teacher, "I think it would be best if you got back to your work before Lord Jullen returns. I doubt you would like to see how much work he can force you to do today."

After a hasty bow Akkarin rushed off again, feeling lighter then he had done all day.

End

There you go. I hoped you all enjoyed reading that. Thank you Zurina, as per usual, for beta reading for me. :D