One day after school, I decided to go to the Rune Archives to see if I could find any information on Gunie's mysterious illness. That turned out to be a big mistake.

I had learned that the Rune Archives was the town's library from Mist. The only problem was that Amy lived there, because the librarian was her grandmother. I'd never met the librarian before, but I just hoped she wasn't an idiot like Amy.

As I opened the door to the Rune Archives, I was greeted by a book flying past my head.

"Lute!" someone shouted. "Where did you put that book?!" I hesitantly walked into the building, hoping not to get hit with a book. I saw someone bent over, digging through a pile of books, and throwing the ones that weren't the ones she was looking for. The woman was wearing a blue-green top hat with a matching blazer, and a tan skirt. She must have heard me come in, because she stood up and walked toward me.

"Do you love books, young lady?" she asked me.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Do I have to ask any louder?" the woman asked.

"Well," I said. "I guess I like books, but-"

"Like?" she asked. "How can you only like books? Books are the greatest inventions of the whole entire world! If you don't love books, you're out of you're mind!"

Look who's talking, I thought.

"I used to be a princess!" she declared. "And I-"

A man with red hair and blue-green eyes came running.

"Mom!" he cried. He turned to me. "Sorry to bother you. Do you need something?"

"Yes, she does!" the woman cried. "She only likes books!"

"Mom, please," he begged. "Don't intimidate the poor girl." He looked at me again. "You're the girl staying on Raguna's farm, right?"

"Yes," I said. "I'm Ria."

"I'm Joseph," he replied. "And this is-"

"I'm Selphy!" his mother interrupted. "And don't you forget that!"

"Nice to meet you," I said, still incredibly freaked out by Selphy ranting and raving like a madwoman.

"Mom," Joseph said. "Why don't you go back and read for a bit? I'm sure Dad will find your book."

"He'd better!" Selphy replied. Finally, she went into a back room of the messy library and slammed her door.

"Sorry about that," Joseph said. "She's been writing her latest book for days on end. It drives her a little crazy. Were you here for something in particular?"

"Yes," I replied. "I've been looking for information on medical conditions."

"Medical conditions?" he asked. "Of what nature?"

"I honestly don't know," I replied.

"Well," he said, smiling. "I'll try to find you something. Now, the pharmacy stuff is over here…" He stepped over a pile of books, and walked over to a badly-organized shelf. He started looking through books. "I guess you've met my kids by now."

"Amy and Juniper?" I asked. "Yeah…I've met them." I wasn't going to tell such a nice guy that his daughter was a bitch, but I still didn't want to make it sound like we were best friends or something.

"I thought you might have," he said. "After all, Amy's going out with Gunie, and every other word Juniper says is 'Ella'."

"Yeah," I said. "I know."

Joseph sighed, and turned to face me.

"We have some books on medicine," he said. "And one on curing illnesses. You're not looking for something about medicine, are you?"

"No," I replied. "But if it's okay, can I check out the second one?"

"Sure," he replied, handing me the book. "I'll write it down. Come back anytime!"

"Thanks," I said.

I left the library, and began to walk back toward the farm. As I passed the Clock Tower, though, I heard someone singing beautifully. I stopped walking and listened, but I didn't hear the singing anymore.

"Girls," I heard someone say. "Let's try it again."

"Aw, Grandma," someone else said. I recognized the voice as either Lolita's or Poppy's. "Do we have to?"

"Yes," the first voice replied. "You never know when some talent scout will be staying at the inn!"

"But that's highly unlikely," one of the twins said.

Suddenly, the door of the old building opened, nearly knocking me over. A woman who looked about Leona's age came running up to me. She had strawberry blonde hair, and lavender eyes that stared at me sympathetically.

"Oh, no!" she cried. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," I replied. "I'm fine. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just heard singing, and-"

"Oh, the girls!" she exclaimed. "They were just practicing with my mom. She always wants to make sure they're prepared for anything!" She laughed. "Come inside! I'm sure everyone will want to meet you!"

"Um, sure," I replied.

We stepped inside the Clock Tower. Although the outside looked really old, the inside looked as though it had recently been redone.

"I forgot to introduce myself," the woman said. "I'm Doriane."

"I'm Ria," I said. "You're Leona's friend, right?"

"Ever since childhood," Doriane replied. "And my husband, Kevin, is very good friends with Leif."

"Candy, dear!" I heard someone yell from upstairs. "Stop drilling them! I'm trying to sharpen my sword!"

"My father," Doriane said to me. "And I'm sure Kevin and Hugh are up there with him. Although Hugh might be over at Erik's farm…I'm sorry, I'm talking to myself. It just seems I can't keep track of my own kids these days!"

"That's all right," I replied.

Doriane led me up the stairs, talking cheerfully the whole time.

"Please don't go up the stairs like that," a quiet voice said. "I can barely hear myself think." I looked around, until I saw an older woman with faded red hair, who was working with some kind of chemistry set.

"Sorry, Aunt Cinnamon," Doriane said. "Have you met Ria yet?"

"No," Cinnamon replied quietly, without looking up from her work. She muttered something about peace and quiet, and continued her work.

"Lolita," a voice from outside said. "You sing the harmony on this one. Don't keep singing Poppy's part, dear."

"Mom, please give them a break," Doriane said.

"All right," Doriane's mother said. "In you go."

Lolita and Poppy came rushing in, looking tired.

"Hello, Ria!" they exclaimed in unison.

"What are you doing here?" Lolita asked.

"Your mom invited me in," I replied. Just as I said that, a woman came behind them. She looked a lot like Doriane, except much older, and without the elf ears.

"I'm sorry, girls," she said, putting her arms around the twins. "You know how I feel about your singing, and how beautiful I think it is!" She suddenly caught sight of me. "Hello, there! You must be Ria! I'm Candy."

Candy and "Lollipop", I thought.

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"Aren't you just the sweetest thing!" she exclaimed. "Do you sing much, Ria?"

"Um…yes," I replied. "I play piano as well."

A door opened, and two men walked out. One looked to be about Candy's age, and the other looked about the same age as Doriane. The older one had elf ears, faded blonde hair, and blue eyes. The other was tall, and very thin. He had messy blonde hair, and eyes that looked almost like a mixture of blue and purple.

"Don't try to recruit her too," the older man said.

"This is my husband Marco," Candy said, looking as though she hadn't acknowledged what he said.

"And this is my husband Kevin," Doriane said, gesturing to the younger man.

"Hi," Kevin said. "I'm guessing you're Ria."

"Yes," I said, nodding.

"And I know you've met my mom," Kevin said. I furrowed my brow; he didn't look like anyone I'd met. "Oh, sorry. She's Anette. I guess I look more like my dad." He laughed.

"Oh, okay," I said.

"Say, Ria," Lolita said, peering at the huge book under my arm. "What's that book about?"

"Curing illnesses," I replied.

"Oh, no!" Poppy cried. "Are you sick?"

"Her ankle isn't better yet," Lolita pointed out.

"You're not going to find anything in that old book about modern illnesses," Marco said. "It's so old that when I got an infected cut from a fight, it said I had a cold."

"He's right," Candy said. "If you want to find out something about an illness, you should probably go and see Lara."

"All right," I said. "I'll keep that in mind." I paused. "I should probably head home. I don't want everyone to think I got lost or something."

"Of course," Doriane said. "They've got enough to worry about these days. The last thing they need is to organize a search party!"

"It was nice meeting you," I said. "Lolita, Poppy, I'll see you at school."

"Bye, Ria," the entire family said, almost in unison.

I went down the stairs, and back outside. When I went back home, though, I felt defeated. I hadn't managed to find anything out about Gunie, and like I had predicted, it was starting to bother me.

I don't really have too much to say, other than that I really enjoyed writing Selphy. And I knew that the Lute/Selphy pairing was weird, but it makes sense in my mind. XD

And yeah, only three days until NaNoWriMo, so unless I can crank out a chapter in three days, you're not going to hear from me for a long time.

Also, don't worry. There's going to be a lot more of the original RFF cast. And I would also like to apologize for the boringness of this chapter.