Thorn, an elderly female Blue Techo and the Head of the League of Roses, walked to the back of her small, underground apartment and entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She walked to the far wall, pressed a button hidden behind a picture frame, and the wall shifted and slid back.

Row upon row of ridiculously tall and long shelves filled an enormous cavernous space as large as the Ice Caves. Thorn's life work, or rather, her family's calling for generations upon generations.

A history of Neopia. The True History of Neopia. There were no one-sided, completely biased or foolishly philosophical stories about victories and defeats. These were handwritten, firsthand accounts as viewed from both the inside and the outside, by members of her family that had flatly refused to allow themselves to get caught up in the emotion of whatever events they were recording. Within these caverns, there was no justice, no secrets, no opinions. The life stories of kings and heroes sat alongside the biographies of peasants and villains.

Only Thorn's family, and of them only those who had written accounts themselves, were allowed into "The Library." As of now, that sadly only included her and one other.

"Thought I heard you in here," she said pleasantly to a Green Lutari. "What are you going by now?"

The Lutari, deep in a scroll, ignored her. After a minute, the Lutari laughed and rerolled the scroll, replacing it neatly on a shelf.

"Come on, dear. Tell your old granny what you're up to."

The Lutari seemed to be in a good mood after reading the scroll. "My name is Madeline, for the time being."

"A girl? Oh, you know I don't approve of my grandson doing that."

"Please, gram. I change gender at least twice a week from the lab ray. You know that. It keeps my identity secret."

"You should quit that dangerous job and help me out with the League."

"No, grams. I'm needed at the FPP. Besides, I still help out. Keeping this place clean and organized, for one."

Thorn rolled her eyes. Her grandson (or granddaughter, as the case currently was), Expea, was a complete nut job. Always been a bit on the paranoid side with an obsession over cleaning and organizing, but once he'd met that owner who forced him to go to the lab ray, he'd just gotten weird. Even kept going long after that human was gone.

But he (she?) really was quite brilliant, and it wasn't just familial pride talking, as Expea's success rate as a secret agent proved. And besides, Thorn really did enjoy his… her company.

"What were you looking up?"

"The Brightvalian line of kings, specifically the royal family of Seacrest. I've finally solved the puzzle from that aggravating club owner!" The Lutari's eyes sparkled in victory.

"Black Jack? The one that gave you the Joker card?"

"Yep. I'll head straight over there tonight. He always recognizes me anyway, so it's not like it's compromising my cover. You won't believe who that prince I was researching turned out to be!"

"Oh?"

"Hah! I was such a fool to overlook it! Me – ME underestimating someone based on appearance! Anyway, it finally made sense when I read through the family tree. Marten Seacrest. Ten Sea. 10C! That enormous bartender with the gutter accent and jolly personality! No wonder Black Jack was so confident…"

"I suppose now is as good a time as any to let you know I took Jacque con Triste under my wing seven years ago. League business, though you insist you want nothing to do with it."

XP's smile dropped and she narrowed her eyes at her smiling grandmother.

"Oh, don't worry, you truly solved the mystery of the prince on your own. Jackie never let that slip.

"And you're telling me this now because… Kiote con Triste tracked him down. And that punk went off to face him alone."

"That and Mirelle was captured." Thorn shrugged. "I expected no less, though I've tried again and again to get that dear young pirate prince to rely more on us."

"How come there's nothing more than a statement of existence about the Pirate King in The Library?"

"Jackie is very stubborn. I'm actually writing reports on both him and his father right now, but he doesn't like talking about his history, no matter what assurances I give him of confidentiality, so it's taking a while."

"I'll bet anything that, no matter what orders Black Jack gave him, that stupid bartender is planning to go after him as we speak."

"Undoubtedly. If he is indeed this missing prince, he and Jackie have quite an impressive history together."

"I'm going now. I can't allow that prince to get himself killed after I finally find him."

End of Part Seven