Chapter 2

Meeting in the Library

"Mistress Willow, your mother wishes to see you and Master Kaydell in the library in one hour," the little human servant, Leva, curtsied.

"Thank you Leva," she replied.

Leva, with her large brown eyes and graying brown hair smiled as she straitened, "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find your brother would you, Mistress?"

She smiled back, "Where else would he be? I'll get him Leva, don't worry about it."

Leva smiled, curtsied once more, and left her back to her large, quiet tower room.

Willow stood from her wooden desk, she stretched her long body, knowing that she got caught up in her reading again, and placed her leather bookmarker on her last page, and closed the tome.

She went to put her shoes on, knowing that she'd have to track down Kaydell in the Bronze Dragon barracks with Beldovin. She figured the two were sparring again, bruising each other until next week after the ones from last battle healed. As she pulled her shoes on she glanced about her room. It was a comfy sort of room, in actuality it was a section of her family tower.

Her room was round, just like the tower, the ceilings were roughly twenty-five feet high. The way that her living area was set up was unique; part of the reason she picked this particular room. It was split into two levels, the top level only being half of her lower level; it was sort of the shape of a crescent moon. It was supported by deeply carved wooden pillars, stained and polished.

The upper part of her living quarters was where she had all of her equipment; equipment being a table filled with dried herbs and plants, some she grew in her windows and balcony over the summer, some her brother brought back from his ventures into the forest, ceramic bowls and crushing tools, glass bottles of every size and shape, ceramic jars that she contained her salves in when she was done creating them and a book of notes that she would write in. Right now it was littered with growing boxes, now empty, due to the growing season being over.

The lower level was were she lived like a normal girl, her gargantuan four poster bed was directly across from the ten-foot maw of a fireplace. She had a wardrobe that Kaydell would joke was her 'second room', and a full-length mirror set against the wall by the wardrobe.

In one 'corner', corner meaning in the east direction, she had a small, round, wooden table and four chairs, by one of the many ten foot tall windows. The table, at this moment, contained a green and lavender checked woven mat, with a tea pot and four cups, mostly for when her and Kaydell would stay up late at night and talk, or when her Kaydell and Beldovin would stay up all night and talk or when one of her siblings came to visit, from the oldest sibling, to the younger ones, she like to be a hospitable hostess, even though it was just a living area.

She liked her windows, only about six-foot wide and really were ten foot tall. The were clear glass for the most part, but at the edges they were angled in such a way that when certain angles of light came threw them, a small rainbow would appear. The last two feet of the windows were delicately cut in this way, so when the sun rose, rainbows would be cast upon the dark wooden floors, then, at night, when the sun sunk, rainbows would reappear on the opposite end, but on the center shaft of tower in her room this time. It didn't matter that she had seen this act for almost one hundred years, she still thought it was beautiful and amazing.

The double doors to the balcony were of the same design, but instead of just looking pretty, they actually led to her favorite spot over looking the river and, if the night was clear enough, to their farming town, Farrnor, directly across from the castle.

She had stood, stretching again, and looked at her pale gray stone walls, she didn't understand why, but in the winter months, these walls did not get cold, nor did her wooden floor. She understood that her home, the castle of Paramin, was enchanted in ways that she could not imagine. Her father and several of the teachers of the Mages school were still, even now, discovering more and more about this castle, from it's enchantments to it's history.

She loved her home, she was happy, safe and loved, what more could she ask for? Without another thought or hesitation, she stepped threw the wooden door leading to the inner stairwell of the tower in search of her twin.

Lunge...dodge...swing…block…. counter attack…. block….

Kaydell could feel the sweat trickle down his spine...block...block...swing…

It's been at least an hour that they've been at this...dodge...that was close!

"Getting tired...old man?" The dark haired one asked in gasps.

"Me? No…" the other replied, "Who's the old...man here?...You're at least...90 years older….than I am…"

"Minor...technicality…"

"Excuse me...Master Beldovin…"

The dark haired glanced to his right to see one of the servants form the castle waiting to speak with him. "Yes...what can I...do for you…", block...

"Her Highness has asked me to invite you to the castle library in one hour." The messenger answered.

Both young elves stopped, "Why?" They both asked in unison.

"I do not know, sires, but it is important, she did say not to be late." Derit replied; the human man opened his arms in a gesture of not knowing what Lady Kailya has in store for the dark haired elf.

"Did my mother ask for me also Derit?" Kaydell, the red haired elf asked.

Before Derit could reply, his sister, Willow, entered the practice hall, taking long strides to stand next to Derit; she dwarfed him by almost six inches. Derit glanced up at the lovely red haired elven woman. Her hair seemed exceptionally red today, probably due to the facts that she was in full afternoon sunlight and wore a pale lavender long sleeved cotton gown. He also noticed that at the hem of her gown were tiny embroidered purple flowers, wrapped around her slim waist was a purple belt/sash thing, he never really understood what the proper term for girly clothing was. Either way, she looked very stunning today, just as she always did, at least he had good looks too or she would make him look really bad. "Yes, she did, she also asked for me. Leva came to me with the message, she couldn't find you so I offered to find you for her." She looked down on Derit with a friendly smile, "It's all right Derit, we'll be there."

"Alright...you three didn't get into trouble again, did you?" His smile to the elven woman was wide and warm, his blue eyes were almost accusing in a childish kind of way.

Willow laughed, "No Derit, we've been covering our tracks very nicely for almost 15 years now."

"Thank the gods, your parents were so enraged last time that I thought I'd be serving you your meals in your quarters to you for the rest of my life," he turned to leave, then paused, "Oh, my grandmother says hello, by the way."

Willow smiled, "Really? How is she?"

"Very well, she still gardens and cooks, she can run circles around my children."

"That doesn't surprise me! She was so full of energy and life when we were together. Tell her I'll try to stop by to see her soon." Willow's sudden vision of her old friend almost brought tears to her eyes.

"I will, Willow."

The mid day autumn sun warmed the air it also made the outdoor practice arena full of others wishing to bush up on their defensive plays. The grass was still green in the arena, there were some patches of dirt scattered about, mostly from over practice, killing the grass with swift moving feet in over practice.

As Derit left the practice arena, Willow approached her brother and their life long friend Beldovin, a Valley Elf. She watched as her brother opened his mouth to ask her his question, but she interjected before he could even speak. "No, Kaydell, I don't know what it's about, we'll just have to show up and find out, won't we? It does sound like something important though, normally she would come to us herself." She glanced at Beldovin, "As far as why she has asked you to show up as well is another very good question."

"Yes, I guess it is." Her brother replied, jabbing his friend in the padded arm with his hand.Beldovin laughed, "Is it so hard to believe that I might be just as important as the infamous twins of Paramin, not to mention the grandchildren of the Queen of the Torin Elves…" he straitened himself out a bit, to emphasize his self proclaimed importance, "I think not!" He tried to hide his little smile.

Willow chuckled, as did her brother, "How are you Beldovin?"

"Simply wonderful, Willow, and how fairs things with you? I haven't seen you for some time, you must have bought a new book, or you're hiding from yet another man who's fallen helplessly in love with you."

She smirked at him, "No, just rereading an older book, refreshing my memories, and I'm still being chased and dodging the same man who's been hopelessly in love with me for fifty years. I am fine though, I couldn't ask for much else in life." She eyed her shorter friend, he was a flashy sort of fellow, and if someone didn't know him they would never guess that the young elven man was a cleric. He had fair, sculpted features with a shock of dark, wavy, brown hair and soothing gray eyes. For his race he was a tall five foot eight inches, what they didn't have in height they made up in gaudiness and egotism. Today, she could see under his padded practice armor, her friend wore a deep orange tunic with crimson trim, and crimson trousers with decorative mid calf orange dyed leather boots. Surprisingly, he rather fit the attire that he adorned himself with.

"How is training at the temple of my god's brother?" He questioned as the trio meandered toward a wooden bench, with, what looked like, the rest of the dueling friends cloths.

She often wondered why he referred to her temple in that fashion, all drawn out and complicated like that, ' The Temple of Perth' would be so much less hassle, but he is a Valley Elf and that's the way they are, "Very well, and how has your training at Paladine's Temple been for you?" She asked.

"Marvelous, I feel so strong and enlightened after each of my lessons." He began to undo the ties to his practice armor.

"As do I." She smiled to him, knowing he was too busy undoing his armor to even see her smile at him.

She looked around, the oval arena was in the center of the Bronze Dragon Barracks, it had a few brightly colored trees and set against the walls were wooden benches, for breaks, cloths or to pass out on as some trainers were known to do. Doors leading into the building itself were open, due to the warm air. Other paring partners practiced today in the sweet autumn air, some with axes or halberds, some were even practicing hand-to-hand combat, not an easy thing, due to popular belief.

Kaydell, her twin brother, also began to undo the ties on his padded armor. He looked rather tiered after that practice, he was probably out all night in the forest again, not bothering to sleep. At least he had changed, she saw. He wore a long sleeved light green tunic with a wide leather belt at his waist. His two belt pouches were full, probably with berries, roots, herbs, leaves or a little of each. His short, wavy red hair was tousled, as usual, but at least he was clean. His dark freckles scattered across his nose gave him a childish look, but his bulky, muscular body made him look very manly and powerful. Kaydell towered over Beldovin by almost one foot; he was only 3 inches taller than she was.

Both of them began pulling off the padded armor and dropping them on the bench for one of the many servants to clean up.

Kaydell untied the two belt pouches from his belt and tossed them to his sister, "I almost forgot, these are for you."
She caught them easily, pulled one open, "Oh! Barbanes root and..." she dug around for a moment, "Cormay bark! You must have gone really deep to get the root."
Kaydell shook his head, "Only to the middle, not quite to the feeder stream. Look in the other bag, good stuff in there too."
She did as he said, "Ah!" She squeaked as she pulled out 3 small corked glass tubes, "Jumby Sap! Oh, wow! How many Jumby trees did you have to climb to get this much sap?" She eyed him curiously.

"Believe it or not, only one, it was one of the really big ones, found a good vein that popped, would have gotten you more, but I only brought those three bottles." He apologized.
"Three's enough, this should last me for quite some time." She dug around the pouch some more, "Here's some Gather stems, some Elva bulbs and Mugni seeds, you must have hit a good spot last night." She complimented him.
"I did actually. I'm thinking about going out again tonight, Uncle Tyason asked for some stuff too, but my priorities are to my closest first."
Willow smiled at him, she white teeth flashing at him. "I knew you loved me!"Beldovin coughed, "Well, are you ready, my lord?" Kaydell asked his sparing partner, with his left arm extended.

"Indeed, my lord." Beldovin replied in his 'play' voice, taking Kaydell's offer of his arm. The two, now arm in arm, marched seriously ahead of Willow, as she rolled her eyes and followed her brother and their friend out of the Bronze Dragon barracks.

The three, now walking side by side headed slowly for the castle, threw the streets of Paramin. They had noticed how everyone was so busy preparing for the one-week event of the Harvest Festival. Bright colored banners were being hung, flags were hoisted, gardens were being trimmed and windows were decorated.
The homes and taverns and shops ranged in size, shape and color. Most of the homes though, were about two levels made typically of stone or logs. Some of the wealthier families had much larger homes, some three or four stories tall and made of the paler of the river rocks. A lot of the homes had small flower beds lining the walkways to their doors, now with only a few remaining flowers left.
The roadways were hand laid river rocks, something that Paramin produced a lot of. These roads got a fair amount of travel on them, ranging from just simple walker, as the party of the twins and the Valley elf were at the moment, to people on horses, wagons and carts. Not all of the streets were laid though, there were some dirt roads still, on the outer edges of the city, closer to the walls, but they were small and in the more quite residential areas.

Stores inside the city were many. On one block could be found tailors, cobblers and jewelry makers, on the next, apothecaries, herbalists and booksellers (mostly tomes of magic). Then, if someone were to travel further down the road armorists and smithies would be found pounding away with their hammer and anvil, sweating in the heat of the fires. Once again, if traveled even further down, taverns and inn's could be found, fires always burning, bards singing, the aroma of bread or wine would tease one's nose.Paramin was not a city of prejudges, bigotry or hypocrisy. In fact, it was a city that was brought to power by many different races, religions and magic's. Life of all kinds lived in this city, more here than many others, abnormalities seemed to rule here. Kotchti Imps could be friends with half dryads and, like the life long friends that now walked together, Torin and Valley elves could be, well, life long friends.

Horses with riders trod by, nodding to the party, some of them aware of who they were, acknowledging them a "my lords and lady" and a nod of the head, some in fact, did not know who they were and simply gave them a 'good day' and went on their way. The small party was usually thankful for this, coming from families of high rank sometimes brought unwanted attention, something that they liked to avoid, for now anyway. "Tomorrow is the big night, are you ready?" Beldovin asked his companions.

"I guess so," replied Kaydell, not really finding any interest in the whole ordeal of the Harvest Ball that took place annually at the castle.

The Council from the different cities of the country of Paramin arrive with their families, and the more wealthy lords and ladies, are honored guests of the their Lady Kailya, the twins own mother. It was simply a time to celebrate the passing of a good season and for the merchants of the country to come into the capital and sell the left over of their bountiful harvest year, keeping the prophet for themselves, no taxes went to the city from their sales this week.

The three friends have found that the smaller parties held outside of the castle walls, in the city limits, are where, they have found, all the real fun is.

"If we can survive threw the ball, we can make our yearly escape to Herish's Inn for the real fun!" Willow shot her companions a playful glance and giggled.

"As long as I don't have to beat the men off with a dagger once you start dancing after a few too many drinks, then that is definitely worth looking into." Beldovin laughed to himself remembering last harvest how the stunningly beautiful Battle Priestess of Perth had a few too many mugs of ale and started dancing...provocatively. If he didn't love her like his own flesh and blood, he was sure someone would have had to beat him off of her. She was almost always the center of attention with the circle of men at the parties. With her long, wavy red hair, her pale freckled skin and green eyes, her, oh so long, legs and very womanly body, it was hard for people to not to miss her, especially the opposite sex.

"ME? Excuse me? I wasn't the one who was trying to seduce every female humanoid at the party with poetry and kisses!" She was laughing the whole time as she accused him.

"Yes...well...so what? There is nothing wrong with reciting poetry in public and getting payment for it!" He pretended to be hurt by her remark, but she knew better by the twinkle in his eye.

"I guess, but kisses for payment? Whatever you want, Beldovin!" She was openly laughing at him.

To change the subject from his last year's experiences he switched to the silent Kaydell, "Yeah, well, at least I wasn't the one so drunk that he couldn't take the smell of wine or ale around him lest he gag!!"

"We'll see who makes the bigger ass of themselves this year and then we'll get together and compare stories my friend." Kaydell chuckled.

During the journey to the castle the companions made note of the preparations of the city and castle. The Inn's, Tavern's and Bars were all decorating the doorways with bushels of wheat and flowers, each window had a display of candles or more of the flower/wheat décor.

The walkway to the castle was lined with flag poles, each bearing a flag with the city seal. One for Ren, Erin, Sarralmin, Farnnor, Pallet and Margiles. Over the main entrance of the castle was the Parmain flag.

After entering the main gates, the trio was overcome by the sheer beauty of the Paramin castle. The light gray stone of castle was covered in almost three hundred and fifty years of all sorts of rose vines and creeping ivy, that had already bloomed and gone, the ivy still retaining it green color covering all three hundred feet of the castle itself and all four, five hundred foot adjoining towers on each corner of the boxy center. The newly washed windows gleamed like mirrors in the mid afternoon sun.

Beldovin sighed, "It makes me proud to be apart of this great country when I see the castle looking so spectacular."

"You're not going to cry, are you?" Kaydell mocked.

Sniffling, he looks at his taller companion, "No, I shall do that in private, so as not to embarrass you or my lady."

Willow shook her head, with a small laugh and started off towards the doors before the other two caught up to her.

Servants were buzzing all around the castle grounds, really, just like bee's, some giving directions, some working, some gathering but it was work sculpting the hedge maze to the tomb, trimming and pruning the gardens around the castle walls and the castle garden and setting up elaborately decorated torchiers beside the stone walkway to the large wooden castle doors.

Kaydell searched the castle yards, "I don't see Trint. I wonder what happened to him?" Trint, the family 'pet' was a nine foot tall Behir. Lady Kailya had brought him to the castle after killing his rampant parents. She couldn't leave the hatchling alone after making him an orphan; she knew he would surely die. Her hopes of raising the dark purple serpentine, scaled creature were a success and he became a much-adored companion to her children and the other inhabitants of Paramin.

"He's probably in the back harassing the people bringing in the food for the banquet." His sister knew full well what the large animal was capable of. If he couldn't get attention by looking cute, he'd accomplish it by brute force. When the playful Behir attacks someone, they have no choice but to pay attention.

"I could go for a drink before we meet with your mother."

The three nodded in agreement and entered the castle.

Inside, along the walls and the pillars hung long autumn colored silk drapes and ribbons with wheat strands bound in certain areas of the drapery. The white marble floors shone under their feet, Willow felt guilty walking on such a pretty shine.

From the eighty-foot ceilings hung enormous chained solid glass globes that glowed independently. The castle was enchanted all over, from the warding symbols on the castle walls and above the doors; to the continual light spells that illuminated the entire castle. The advantages of having a school of mages in the city and magically inclined residents were definitely beneficial.

The kitchen hands were at its minimum. Only five were preparing for the ritualistic evening meal. The preparation tables were at the moment, moderately clean a few splats of dough or flower here or there but not too messy. The storing shelves and bins, on the other hand, were stuffed with flour, sugar, potatoes, onions, carrots, wheat, corn and anything else that was conceptually ever used in daily meals.

The head cook, Melhera, turned to see them standing in the doorway, the opening between the kitchen and the ballroom. "Ya haven't come to clutter up the kitchen now have ya?" She accused.

"No ma'am, we came for some water before we meet our mother," Kaydell told her, "Just a pitcher and some mugs would be fine, we could take them into the library and drink in there."

The voluptuous, rosy cheeked woman approached them with her hands on her hips; "Why don't'cha go have yer selves a seat in the library and I'll have one of'da girls bring ya in some water there." Her common human drawl was unusual for the area; it had gotten better over the past 25 years.

"That be wonderful," Kaydell told the middle-aged woman. She was once blond, with curly hair that reached her mid back, but now it was streaked lightly with white and was almost always pulled into a braid. Her eyes were still the palest of blues, he remembered looking into those eyes and felt his heart skip. What a thing to have a crush on a human servant. It was unfortunately harder to have close friends that were human. His race, the Torin Elves, would age tremendously slower than the human race. His mother told him that it was roughly eight human years to one year of Torin age. So in his race, in two and a half years Melhera had aged over twenty years. Life went on though, and so did his love interests.
Melhera was still attractive, even for a middle aged human, she had married another servant, had four children and had their own home not too far from the castle. Two of her children actually worked in the castle as well, one in the kitchens with her mother and the other in the stables, one was an herbalist in town the other had simply married a merchant and had a family of her own.

The walk to the library was much the same to the kitchen, the servant decorated, cleaned, moved that, put this there, that sort of thing, most ignoring them, but some of them giving semi-menacing glances for walking on the newly polished floors.

The wooden doors to the library were open, as usual, as the trio entered without any hesitation. Being as libraries are, it was filled, top to bottom with books, tomes, scrolls and anything else that could be read, studied, looked at or flipped threw. It wasn't stuffy, like some libraries or studies usually were, but instead it was warm and inviting. There were no windows, unfortunately, even if there were they would most likely be covered by selves of books.

Directly opposite of where they entered was a fire place, not just any fire place, but one that would house two full grown horses. Yes, it truly was that big. The fireplace was brown marble and dark, carved wood. Hanging above it was a portrait of the dragon, Moon Rumor, their mothers stead, so to speak. He wasn't a greater dragon, but one not to be toyed with regardless. The hide of Moon Rumor was grayish-violet, his eyes were deep blue, like a sapphire. In the portrait, the dragon was sitting on his landing, which was at the very topmost part of the twins family tower, his long, graceful neck outstretched and looking to the morning sky. Portraits of this kind were all threw the castle, thanks to the resident artist, Malichias.

To either side of the fireplace were two other sets of doorways, both open. The floors in the library were not of marble, like the halls, but a dark wood, laid in a pattern of boxes with squares of brownish marble centers, rather exquisitely done.

Round tables, desks and couches were placed around the room, to give it a more welcoming feel, something a lot of the residents appreciated. All of the wood was dark, to match the floor and the mantel of the fire place, the material on the couches was brown satin with flowers woven into its sleekness. The desks were always supplied with quills, ink bottles and paper, another feature the scholars appreciated.

To their surprise two persons were already here, seated almost in the middle of the library at a large rectangular table. One they knew, the other was unfamiliar to them, almost shocking in sight.

"Klayn!" Beldovin shouted, as he took long strides to greet the man.

Klayn, the tall humanoid creature stood to greet the rapidly approaching team. Klayn appeared human, but they knew better, they were present at his creation, if that's what one could call it, thirty years ago. He was tall, with a darkish completion, long strait black hair that just reached past his shoulders, deep brown eyes and a chin beard that was kept short. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, always has and always will. He was garbed in blacks and grays, very non-descript.

"Beldovin," the humanoid grasped Beldovins arm with a friendly grin. " Kaydell, Willow," He shook their hands in turn.

The other, previously standing, turned to the watch the group. He was extremely unusual, even for Paramin. If he were not in the open he would have certainly blended into the dark corners of the library. His skin was the closest color to black without it being unnatural, his eyes were also black and his most peculiar features were the two, ebony, feathered wings he adorned on his back and long silver hair that he wore loose. The theme for this winged elf seemed to be black, because he wore skin tight leather pants and mid calf boots of the same color, his chest was bare, revealing that he was well muscled.

"Let me introduce F'vell," Klayn nodded to the winged elf, "He is to meet Lady Kailya here, as am I." He paused, observing the bewildered looks on their faces, "And by the looks on your faces, I'm assuming that you are to meet her here as well."

"Yes, we are. Have either of you heard anything about what this is about?" Beldovin was hoping their friend would have some answers.

"No, I do not. Sorrow, received a letter from Lady Kailya asking that we arrive earlier than planned, and that when I get here to meet her in the library at four after noon on the day of the Ball. We only just arrived, I went looking for you," looking at Kaydell, "but one of the servants told me that Willow had gone to find you herself, so I waited."

"I see," Beldovin said, almost to himself, he turned his attention to the winged elf. "Let me introduce myself, I am Beldovin Brockwic, a priest of Paladine," Beldovin extended his hand, the other excepted, "This stunning pair are the twins Willow and Kaydell Rannesinn-Lady Kailyas and Lord Daiwens children."

The twins nodded to F'vell, he nodded back, looking slightly confused, "If you are her children, why do you not know why she has asked us here?"

Kaydell shrugged, "Our mother is busy and it is often easier for her to have us meet her somewhere, because we are not always where we should be."

"I see."

"How is it that you come to meet our mother here, F'vell?" Kaydell asked.

"The head Mage Leena came to me and said that she had chosen me to go meet Lady Kailya by special request. That is all I know." He had a very deep, quiet voice, rather calming.

The party five sat at the rectangular table while they waited for Lady Kailya, a servant brought in a large, glass pitcher of water and five glasses on a tray in the mean time.

Peculiar, Kaydell thought to himself, they brought in five mugs, they must have known there was going to be more than just the three of us.

Not much was said while they waited, all were curious about this 'secret meeting'.

F'vell, never being inside of the castle before was looking around at the many stuffed shelves that lined every wall.

Forty foot book shelves lined this chamber, and four of these forty foot shelves lines extended from, where they were sitting, the left hand side. Ladders, like portable staircases were placed every so often to make getting to the top of those shelves easier. Above the main entrance, were the Valley elf and the Torin twins entered was a painting, it was longer than it was tall. With a viewpoint from the river, the painting was of the castle Paramin . The sun was rising behind the artist; the windows of the castle caught the rose, yellow and orange colors of the rising sun. The castle looked almost white in this picture, the vines on the towers and the foyer were in full green, late spring was when this painting looked to have been done. There were distant river birds in the sky that will float forever there with the clouds in this painting. The water entrance gates to the castle were closed, but at the Water Druids Temple there were two small boats docked. Little patches of fog scattered lingeringly over the calm river water. If someone were to look hard enough, they could see the little shapes of the guards along the water gates. Only the sharp eyes of the winged elf would have picked those details out the first time he saw it.

Finally, what seemed like a lifetime, the Lady of the castle entered at the far end of the library. She was unmistakably the lady of the castle. She was tall and lean, with long flowing golden hair that seemed to almost run like water down her back and she had clear bluish eyes. She wore a simple silver circlet around her head with tiny sapphires set at the front. She was garbed all in blue, close to the color of the sky at night fall, a very simple but elegant silky gown, with a silvery colored sash tied loosely around her slim waist.

At her arrival the five stood, she motioned for them to sit back down.

"Good day my children, hello Beldovin, hello Klayn," she eyed the other two, "And you must be mage, F'vell, from the academy?" Acknowledging F'vel with a nod of her head.

They all nodded to her and all seemed to say some reply that slurred together.

"Good, then you are all here. This won't take long." She pulled out a chair at the table and sat down, "As you all know tomorrow night is the Harvest Ball. I ask that when I give my annual speech that you all stay together. I'm going to make an announcement that involves the five of you. I don't want to tell you what it is now, I don't want to ruin the surprise, but it should lead to a very interesting situation. F'vell, you will be our guest in the castle for the next few days, I have informed the guards, you may leave the castle at anytime, but I ask that you be here for the announcement tomorrow evening. I have taken the liberty to have a seamstress meet you tonight to fit you with formal wear, F'vel and Klayn. The expenses have already taken care of . She eyed her children and the other three, "Make sure you stay close to each other."

The five looked at each other and nodded with a few, "Yes, Lady Kailya" 's.

"F'vell, I will have my children show you your room when you are ready. Kaydell, Willow, take him to Timmorelle's room."

"Yes, mother," they replied in unison.

"Mother…" Kaydell began to ask, but was cut short.

His regal mother looked him square in the eye, "Kaydell, my only hint is that you get to know a ship."

She rose from her seat; Kaydell began to protest, she smiled down at her son, patted him on the arm and began to walk away, leaving her son confused.

"I'll see you all at dinner, have a nice afternoon." With that she left the library.

Kaydell sighed. The other four looked at him.

He glanced at each briefly, "What?"

They all shock their heads, "Your mother must know you very well in order to know what you say before you say it." F'vell commented.

Willow laughed, "She's just that good, F'vell, she' just that good."

Dinner was marvelous, of course. The regular families were extended this night. Some of the Council and their families had arrived, so there was a lot more noise and laughter as usual. The little alcoholic dwarf of Ren sat with his wife and talked with the council member of Farnor and his family. Sitting next to Lord Daiwen, the husband of Lady Kailya, was the fuzzy, blue, giant rock troll Kobain. He dwarfed everyone, he was almost 11 feet tall, he was the first of his kind to take a home, his people being clan oriented, never took high positions. Kobain was a pioneer of his people.

Sorrow, Klayn's creator and master, sat on the other side of Lord Daiwen, partaking in the talk with the others. He was a rather dark, quite, eerie man with great powers. There were councilmen from Kerin, Erin and Ren with their families.

Dinner consisted of a cheese soup with a bread bowl; several roasted birds, vegetables and for desert was a moist candied fruitcake with a sweet creamy sauce. And of course there was wine and ale, what large dinner party would be complete without it?

F'vell, Beldovin, Klayn, Willow and Kaydell sat close together, talking amongst themselves, getting to know each other or catching up on the past years events.

F'vell explained to his new friends that he has been attending the mage school for almost thirty years, he obviously wanted to keep his home land and life private because he did not mention them at all, the others did not press. He seemed honest and trustful enough.

Klayn spoke of hunting ventures and things that took place in the forest, where he spent most of his time. His trip down the river to get here and the dream he had about chasing a small winged fairy that turned into a sea bird down the river to the ocean.

Beldovin, Kaydell and Willow talked of castle happenings and what they were doing with their lives the past year. Willow mostly studied and went to the Temple for her lessons. Kaydell talked of his ventures in the woodlands, finding lairs of bears and a nest of eagles, that sort of thing.

The meal went well, all were stuffed, the exchange of stories were still being passed from person to person like the wine.

"If it is all right with you, I think I would like to retire, I have some things to read and I want to be refreshed for this announcement tomorrow evening." F'vell slowly rose, and the others joined him.

Willow nodded to the winged elf; "We'll show you to your room and where the bath area's are."

"I think I shall also retire, the trip here was rather long and has worn me out a bit, I shall see you all tomorrow at breakfast." Klayn bowed slightly and walked away. He already knew where his room was, Sorrow and he had come to stay many times, Klayn was finally given his own room in the castle.

Beldovin looked at the twins, "I will walk with you up to F'vell's chambers and I shall also depart. I have…things to do…"

The twins gave Beldovin a knowing glare, he meant, 'I have more drinking to do, but not here'.

The four left the dining hall, leaving the sounds of laughter and catching up behind them. The castle was rather quiet now, except for the commotion from the dining hall. The stairwell to the second floor was a giant tower, set inside of the castle walls. The stairs themselves were about 30 feet wide and wound the hole way up. The marble for the staircase was medium blue with deep teal swirls laced threw it. The railing was thick black iron molded into curves, twists and spirals, they resembled waves. The only window in this stairwell was about thirty feet wide and twenty-five feet tall. At one time it was just a plain clear glass but it was a work of art now . In stained glass, faintly glowing with the moons light stood a regal ship, sailing on dark blue water, with the purple sky of evening behind it.

"Your home is so full of wondrous things." F'vell, who had stopped to admire the stained glass scene, remarked.

"Thank you. It's really our parents doing." Kaydell said, "They've added on the terrace to the side of the castle, our mother has a love of plants and colors. They added the stained glass windows throughout the castle and a lot of the marble."

"Mother also had the ball room floor done in sections so that the emblem of the country could be done in different colored marble. They really made this place beautiful."

"They have done lovely things," F'vell complemented them.

Beldovin also looked at the window, "My father used to tell me how dismal and foreboding this place used to be until it became inhabited. It took such a long time to rid this place of the curse, to defeat the Kria and to establish the city here."

"I have also heard the tales. The land where nothing grew, the river was poisoned the undead walked. Yes, I have heard much of the history."

They continued up the stairwell, exiting to a long wide hallway with large oaken doors the whole length down, leading down to what looked like giant doors with circular windows. The hall way was well lit with glowing glass orbs placed upon silver stands set into the smooth stone walls. Their feet made no noise on the red rugs that ran the length of the hall, the dark stained wood flooring could be seen around the runners.

Between doors and lights hung tapestries of vibrant colors, elaborately woven. Each one they passed was a different scene, they had passed one that was dark blue with mountains and a caravan of horses, oliphants and troops marching to the snow peaked mountains. Another was of what F'vell figured was the challenge and defeat of the dragon Moon Rumor, that is now the high Lady's steed, this one was dark purple in color.

"This room that I am staying in, the Lady Kailya referred to it as...", he struggled with his memory.

"Timmorelle's old room," Kaydell helped him out, "She was one of my mothers companions many years ago. She was only human, she lived to be quite old, with help from some magical water she obtained, but died. She lived to be 103, extremely old in human years."

"Ah, I see, and this is the room that she stayed in at one time?" The winged elf asked.

"Yes, she only actually lived in the castle for about 15 years. After most of the kingdoms were joined she built a tavern in the city, Singers Circle it's called, it is still there today, still run by her family line."

F'vell, nodded, seeming pleased to hear such a tale of the room he was about to inhabit.

"I do believe there is a portrait of her hanging in the room. Malachias asked her to pose for him one day and she did. She was quiet a lovely human."

Willow nodded, "Dameson said she had the reddest hair, redder than ours, and lots of freckles and emerald green eyes. Most of her family members still carry that of their grandmothers."
"This Malachias that you speak of, he is an artist?" F'vel seemed interested.

They all chuckled, "Yes," Beldovin answered, "he is a spectacular artist, a majority of the painting in the castle are done by him. His paintings in town are sold at high prices, he is very well known among the higher classes."

F'vel frowned, "Why did you laugh, just then, when I questioned about this artist?"

Kaydel sighed, "Malachias has the distinct pleasure of wearing the cursed family heirloom." They all shook their heads, "Most would think it easy enough to just remove it and be gone with the cursed ring, but it's just not that easy. Whoever cursed the ring really made sure to cover all his exits."

Halfway down the hallway it split, strait ahead, the left, the right, or behind them. The party turned right, this half also resembled the hallway they were just in. Then half way to the end they turned left, into a door, that led into a thinner hallway.

"How terribly unfortunate. Has he not made any attempts to...take his life, if he leads a cursed life?" F'vel obviously felt bad for the man.

"It's funny that you would say that, F'vel, because he told us that when he found out the ring was cursed, he did try to take his life, several times, actually. But when it failed, or should I say, when he came back to life, he realized it was futile. He did some light adventuring but now resides in the city in his rather large estate, painting, sculpting and gardening. He leads a good life now...still cursed, but a good life." Explained Willow.

"Unfortunate but interesting tale," the winged man remarked.

Three doors down, on the right, they entered a tall dark wooden door, inside dimly lit by candles, they could see the guest room F'vel was to stay in. This room was large, with a huge gray and black blanketed bed to the left side, an even larger stone fire place set to the right side of the room and in front of them, slightly to the right were two large curtained glass doors that apparently led to a balcony. A square center of the floor was black marble laced with white veins and trimmed in wood to the walls, there was a bear skin rug in front of the fire hearth and a gray rug under the bed. In front of the fireplace, so that the bear skin rug was used to warm the feet, was a couch upholstered in black fur, very warm and squishy looking.

"There," Beldovin pointed above the fire place, "That is the portrait of Timmorelle."

They all observed the vibrant painting of the woman. She did indeed have red hair, curly at that and creamy white skin, and however Malachias managed, there were freckles dotted on her face. She was sitting on a large dark green chair on what looked like a balcony, the light was coming in from the left. It was probably this very balcony that the painting was done. She wore a lovely lavender gown that fell off the shoulders and revealed a lovely amount of her collar bone to show off an amethyst necklace that twinkled like a star around her throat.

"She was indeed lovely." F'vell said, "It will be an honor to sleep in the room she once stayed in."

They were all silent for a moment.

"The bathing rooms are directly across the hall from this room, breakfast will be served at 3 hours past dawn, if you miss it, don't worry, we frequently do, we'll just go sneak some melons or bread from the kitchen." Kaydell was rather offhandedly explaining to F'vel.

"I shall be at breakfast," he assured them, "I hope that I will see you there."

"We will try," Willow offered, "We wouldn't want to leave you alone with all the councilman recovering from tonight."

"I shall see you later in the morning, my friend, I, surprisingly, have my own family I share my morning meals with. That's really the only time that we can count on all of us being present." Beldovin nodded to the winged man, "Until then, good night and may good dreams be with you this eve." At that Beldovin nodded and left.

Willow and Kaydell backed towards the door, "We shall see you in the morning F'vell, good night." Willow said as she stepped into the hallway.

"Good night, F'vell." Kaydell echoed her.

"Good night, to you also."