Chapter 7

More Friends

"Nothing here," Ashley called from the top of the bookcase. He jumped down from the stool. "I don't thing we're going to find anything here."

"Whey not?" Steve asked as he scanned the bindings of one of the rows of books.

"Kanon donated most of the older ones to Sielje. They were going to copy them, give Kanon the copies and keep the originals."

"Then it's a good thing were going there," Steve replied.

"Ashley, Steve," came a voice over the intercom. Ashley answered.

"What is it, Kate?"

"We're passing over the Sielje region now. Kanon wants to know if you found anything in the books." Ashley looked back at Steve. He looked up from the last book on the shelf and shook his head. "We haven't found anything," he said into the com. There was silence for a moment.

"Please meet in the control room for depatture."

Ashley turned back to his friend. "Come on," he said. Steve replaced the book he was looking at, and followed ashley out the door.

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The group stepped out from the circle of light ona on to the busy street of Sielje. Crest sorcerers lined the streets. The city was seething with magic power. Steve could have felt it if he tried, but he didn't feel a reason to try sensing the power. He was just starting to get the hang of magic sensing, but there would be time for that later. The magic book he had gotten for a gift was really helping with that.

"Nice place they got here," Steve remarked. "Now who do we talk to to get permission for the library?"

As if right on cue a high pitched voice cut through the hordes of people. "Ashley?!"

A young girl, about Steve's age, stood before them. She had brown hair, pale green eyes, and wore a short, red dress. She walked over to the group with a confused, yet still happy expression.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked as she hugged each of her friends. When she came to the brown haired boy she expected to be Tim, she hugged him too. The girl gave a startled jump when she looked into the face of the stranger in her embrace. Steve was now blushing like crazy, as was the energetic young girl. He wasn't used to being hugged by girls.

"Steve, this is Lilka," said Brad, fighting back a laugh.

"Friendly, isn't she?" Kanon cut in.

"Sorry," Lilka said sheepishly as their friends laughed at them. "I thought you were Tim."

"It's okay," Steve replied. "N-no harm, aside from emotional." Lilka giggled at the comment.

"So what are you all doing here?" she asked

"Our new friend here asked for our helped in getting home," Ashley replied.

"He lives in Selije?" Lilka questioned.

"He claims to be from another dimention," said Kanon with a condecending tone.

"My god, Kanon!" Steve said exhasperated. "You still don't believe me? How else would I know so much about your group's adventures if my story wasn't true?"

"Asking people," she replied.

Steve threw his hands in the air. "Fine. You want me to say something that nobody knows? Ashley, did you tell anyone what you saw just after you defeated Vinsfield?" Steve and Kanon were now trying to stare each other down, and didn't see Ashley's shocked expression.

"Not exactly," he said slowly.

"You had a little run in with the Sword Magess," Steve started. "As well as Lucid. As you walked, talked, and fought, you were interrupted several times by Marivel. Now, am I right or am I mistaken?"

There was silence for a moment. "That's amazing," was all he said.

Kanon turned her gaze from the boy. "Still doesn't prove anything," she muttered. Steve heard the remark, but decided not to push the subject further. This was not the time or place to try and resolve this.

"Lilka, we need to use the library here," said Brad. "It may hold a way for Steve to ger home."

"Another adventure?!" exclaimed to young sorceress. "All right! I can probably help too. What are we looking for?"

Steve unfolded a piece of paper from his sorcerers robe. "We're looking for this structure or the name Stone Hendge." Lilka took the paper and studied it for a minute.

"I'm sorry. I've never seen it before. And I've never heard of Stone Hendge."

"It's all right. I just hope the library can tell us something."

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"I'm sorry, Kanon. Your books aren't ready yet." The group of six now stood before the librarian's desk. What seemed like miles of bookcases stretched out over the massive library.

"Actually we just need to see the library," interrupted Lilka.

"Shhhhhh!" came the voices of several people around them. Lilka slunk back behind the biggest thing she could find . . . Brad.

"Of course," whispered the librarians. "Look at anything you like."

The group looked at the huge amount of books before them. Brad gave a very audiable sigh. "Looks like we could be here a while."

"All right," Ashley said, taking charge. "Two people to a bookcase. Steve and I, Brad and Kanon, Marina and Lilka." Marina began to protest, but stopped when Steve raised a hand.

"Just a second," he said pulling her aside.

"Why can't I work with Ashley on this?" she asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Adventures sometimes mean not working with everyone you want. Besides, how are we supposed to talk about you if you're there?" Steve smirked. As Marina looked into his face. Her stern face gradually grew into a smile. She nodded, acknowledging she understood. They walked back to the group. "Let's go. And mind to old books.

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"You owe me big," Steve stated as he and Ashley walked to a nearby bookcase.

"For what?" he asked in suprise.

"For pulling your ass out of the fire just a minute ago. What's the idea of not picking Marina to help find books with you. I had to come up with some kind of story to tell her. You almost screwed yourself again."

"It hurt her that much?"

Steve sighed and pulled a book off of the shelf. "Man, you really need to think of how something will affect Marina's feelings . . . before you act. Adventures use snap decisions, and you're good at that. The thing is, Marina is not a real adventurer. I'm trying to turn her into some type of adventurer or at least to understand why you are." Steve leafed through the book as he continued to speak.

"If you don't let her do more adventurer stuff with you, you're not going to get much understanding. I'm not gonna be here all the time to fix things."

Ashley looked through his own book. "I'm just trying to protecther. I'm worried about her."

Steve put his book back and got a new one. "And by having her look for books with Lilka she is protected from the evil book monsters? Or does Lilka have a special crest that protects people from paper cuts?" Ashley glared at him, telling him that he may have went too far.

"Listen, if you're scared about her getting hurt, why not teach her, so she won't?"

"I don't know how to use a blade, aside from Argetlahm."

"Talk to Kanon. I'd do it myself, but I somehow get the feeling that she doesn't trust me. Ah, maybe I'm just paranoid." Ashley gave a chuckle. It was the first time he'd laughed in a while. It felt good.

Ashley looked toward Lilka and Marina at another case. She really is beautiful, Ashley thought to himself. When's the last time I told her that?

"Do you think I should . . ."

Steve cut him off. "Man, if you don't switch with Lilka, I'll go switch with Marina." Ashley smiled and walked over to the women.

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"Trying to fix those two, huh?" Steve shrugged.

"So?"

"You're a brave one. Those two are so strange when it comes to love, it's not even funny.

Steve smirked. "Oh, I don't know. It's a little funny."

"All right. Maybe a little," she giggled.

Steve held outan old book. "Come on," he said. "We have a lot of work to do."

The searching went on for hours, only stopping for lunchand bathroom breaks. The searching continued well into the night. It was almost midnight before anything happened.

Steve jumped as he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Don't do that," he whispered harshly. He began to take deep breaths to let his heart settle down.

"Sorry," Brad apoligized, while his friend turned around. "We think we found something." Steve's head shot up. Brad had spoken softly, but loud enough for the other groups to hear. Ashley and Marina were at Steve's side in a second.

"What did you find?" Lilka questioned. She was sitting across the table, with an open book in front of her.

"Well, we found a picture of the structure, but . . . you may just want to come and take a look."

Brad led them to the table where Kanon sat. She was obviously frustrated when they got there. "I can't read any of this. What now?"

Kanon stood up and walked over to Ashley and Brad. "That book is in a language that I've never seen before."

Ashley sighed. "We could go to get Marivel. She knows about ancient languages."

"But do we need it done right away?" Brad cut in. "It may not have anything and we'd be wasting a trip."

"Or it may hold everyth . . . "

"Do you guys mind? I'm trying to read." Steve now sat where Kanon had gotten up from.

"Don't tell me you can read that," Kanon said, exhasperated.

"But if I don't tell you, you won't get fed up with me. And that's no fun."

"How do you understand that?" inquired Marina.

"Same way I can understand you guys, I guess." Everyone looked puzzled. "Back on Earth, there are a ton of different languages. Azoric had a spell called Universal Speech' where, if I talked anyone could understand me, and vice versa. I also seem to be able to read any language as well, but not write it. Don't ask me why."

"What about the book?" Kanon asked, impatiently.

Steve scanned over the book again, "I believe it will work, but right now I'm tired. So unless someone else can read this, we should probably ger some sleep."

They agreed and followed Lilka to a nearby inn. She left them to get their rooms and went to her own dorm.

AN: Hello all, and thanks for reading. I am sorry that this chapter took so long, but it couldn't be avoided. I am also sorry for what I have to say now. Unfortunatly this fic will remain stagnant until at least after the semester or baseball gets finished. I am sorry, and hope that you all will keep reading anyway

Live With Honor

Anon E. Mous