14 - Recovered Treasures

Niveah closed and sat aside the worn gray tome she had been reading and picked up a faded yellow one. The woman sighed and thumbed through the pages to find the appropriate section she had been assigned to read. A part of her felt reviewing the assigned chapters was a crude mockery from the Guardian at her much weaker spell casting. Why assign these chapters to her? These were the basics every aspiring mage was expected to know prior to any attempts at casting a spell. She grumbled and allowed herself to get visually lost in the outside world stretching out beyond the tall paned window.

The ley lines brightly shimmered against the evening's darkened skies. Soon it would be dinner time. She frowned and glanced around the empty library. Moroes had since left to attend to duties elsewhere and Khadgar no where to be seen for most of the day. She saw him briefly during lunch, but their conversing wasn't for long. He was rushed off by Moroes to continue his studies and she urged to do the same.

Niveah stood up, wincing at the many pops sounding from her shifting joints. She tucked the faded yellow book under her arm and reached for her walking stick. She proceeded out of the library when Khadgar calling to her stopped her.

She blinked at her friend in surprise. He looked a bit worn out. His tunic was covered in dust and his hair a tousled mess on his head. "What happened to you?"

"Huh?" He looked to his clothes to see what she meant. "Oh. I was helping Moroes with something, earlier." His hands brushed over the dirty patches splotching his smoky gray tunic. "I came to tell you dinner is ready."

"A bit earlier than normal, isn't it?"

Khadgar assisted the woman and carried her book as they went to the banquet hall. "Guardian's request." They proceeded down the stairs and towards the enticing aromas of freshly cooked food. Moroes was already present and fixing a plate.

The steward gave a timid nod to the two. "Do not worry about waiting for the Guardian. He will not be dining with us, tonight."

Niveah sat down and snorted. "Good. Finally an enjoyable meal."

Moroes felt a bit offended by her comment, but could understand why. After all, she wasn't aware what the Guardian had just done for her. Now, he was resting within his energy chamber. Luckily for him, Moroes had been there waiting. He had a feeling the man's quest would be a bit over exerting and he in need of assistance when returning.

No sooner had the Guardian ported into the chamber than he collapsed to the floor. He barely had the strength to stay conscious, let alone crawl to the energy pool. But, the mission had been accomplished. The recovered horse was in the stables and Moroes ordered to see the lady's belongings brought to her room.

Between all the running around needed, Moroes wondered when he would be able to enjoy his own dinner. With that in mind, he stuck a piece of chicken meat onto a slice of bread and began eating it in his bringing the Guardian dinner.

With haste, the steward proceeded up the tower's spiral staircase and to the energy chamber at the top. Light originating from the pool within filtered through the crack in the partially open door. Its pulsing danced across the stone floor and onto the man the closer he got. A gentle push opened the door just enough for him to proceed inside.

A reassured smile tugged Moroes's lips in seeing the weakened Guardian lounged out on his small bed beneath the stairs. He had changed out of his previous garments in favor of a more comfortable elongated shirt stretching to his knees. His face was buried in a hand resting on an assembly of pillows and his bare feet propped up.

Moroes approached the other man and cleared his throat load enough to be heard.

Medivh gave the steward no visual acknowledgment or even moved in the slightest as he spoke. "I have another request of you, old friend."

He could smell his dinner very close to his face and cracked an eye open to gaze upon the source outstretched to him.

Standing over it was Moroes grinning. "Which would be?"

Medivh forced himself to sit more upright. He kept his groans restrained behind clenched teeth, so as not to outwardly express his discomfort. He did not like being seen like this; weak and barely able to move. No matter how hard he struggled to maintain some sort of dignity, his contorting expression and trembling limbs betrayed him. Sitting up as much as he was going to, Medivh took the plate and set in his lap. He then began picking at the bits of chicken and seasoned vegetables.

He answered, voice barely above a whisper. "There's a saddle bag on the old pinto. In it are a letter and drawing book. If you could bring those to me?" Fatigued gray eyes narrowed in letting Moroes know his request was more of an insistence.

The older man gave a single nod of his head in oblige. "Shall I relay message to the lady her horse has been returned?"

"No," was swiftly given in reply. "Not yet, anyway."

Again, Moroes nodded and silently left the chamber.

Page by page was gently turned in the leather bound drawing journal. Its pages were full of illustrations depicting numerous things. The beginning quarter of it were what Medivh presumed to be of her family doing different chores. An older woman was drawn kneading bread dough. The next depiction was of an older man chopping wood with a little boy kneeling down to gather some pieces in his thin little arms. The three pictures that followed were of a house, barn and pig pens surrounded by fields of tall grass.

Some pages in and closer to midway were when drawings of Dalaran came about. Many were done of the city's features from the water fountain, towering spires, shops and even an overhead view of the city. Given the balcony railing drawn in the foreground, the man thought it the view from Niveah's room.

Further in were more miscellaneous drawings, these appearing to be more like doodles than actual full page works. Sketches of hands in different positions and the occasional undefined outline of eyes littered the page. The next page, though, stood out from the others before it. This one was in color and of a blue rose. The ink used to shade the peddles could be identified as berry juice mixed with water to fade out the color in some spots. A faint green pigment was used for the stem and leaves as black ink was used for the thorns.

Four more pictures were of blue roses, each colored much the same way as the others. After the last rose picture, there were no other drawings. The remaining few pages left were unused.

Medivh knew in short time the pages would be full of other drawings should his guest be given her book back. He closed it and sat it aside on a small table beside the bed. Then came his attention to the crudely folded letter resting in his lap. It was most definitely the one he recalled Niveah speaking of. Careful so as not to damage the letter, Medivh slid it out of the envelope and read it to himself.

He huffed a weak laugh and reached over to the drawing book to conceal the tiny parcel inside it. Both items were then placed behind a red velvet pillow pushed against the side support of his bed. He had every intention of giving the book back to its owner, just not yet. As for the letter, well, he was going to keep that for possible later use.

Feeling satisfied with himself the Guardian smiled and leaned his head back against the soft cushioning of a pillow, there, and allowed himself to fall asleep.

Now time to work on chapter 15. I'm so eager to get to the two and a half chapters I've already written, taking place some time later. And the six chapters taking place some time after that. I'll try to have chapter 15 posted by tomorrow. Please feel free to leave reviews! I love reviews, no matter good or bad. It lets me know how I'm doing with this project.