The Book Keeper
by TimeAndLife21
Chapter 3
It was late at night and Stephen couldn't sleep. The trembling and pain in his hands have been keeping him up. Not even the regular painkillers that he had left would help him. He quickly got dressed in his blue robes and took a walk.
It was quiet in Kamar-taj. Only the sounds of the night seemed to be prevalent. He wandered around for a while, trying to ignore the pain in his hands, and instead focused his mind to recall spells that he was practicing. He was lost in his thoughts when he started to hear something that brought him out of his mind.
He followed the soft crooning that seemed to echo through the night when he stumbled upon the Book Keeper once again. In the small private area that was used for meditation, she was there sitting on the stone bench. Instead of her signature green and silver robes, she was wearing a thin silver fabric that was similar to a nightgown and a light blue kimono like robe over the nightgown that was tied at the waist. Her hair was let down instead of it's usual bun. She had very long hair as reached to the small of her back. She was drinking out of a large tea cup and a book was floating in mid-air in front of her.
She was singing a melody that wasn't familiar to him but he stood where he was to observe her. The soft lilt of her voice seemed to soothe him, momentarily forgetting the pain in his hands, he could probably sleep if he wanted to.
Then he heard the words.
"It's a long way forward
So trust in me
I'll give them shelter like you've done for me.
And I know I'm not alone
You'll be watching over us
Until you're gone."
She sung the melody as the book was turning the pages for her. She then abruptly stopped.
This startled Stephen as he was a bit miffed that she stopped her singing. It was quite alluring her voice was. She placed her teacup down and grabbed hold of the book that was in mid-air and scrunched her face in concentration. She then lifted her left hand and he saw her creating a spell. Instead of the orange-red spells that he usually sees, this spell was a dark green. The symbols were in Ancient Celtic and she was looking to and fro to the spell and the book.
She then put the book down and raised her other hand to complete the spell. The spell was like an alchemic circle with diamonds and circles intersecting each other.
She then crossed her arms across her chest sharply before separating them horizontally. The result was...exhilarating to say the least.
The dark green spell that was hovering in mid-air slowly turned a bright crystal blue before it shrunk rapidly then suddenly exploded into millions of tiny green and blue lights. It filled up the area. He was standing in shock as the lights twirled and spun lazily in the air. It was a rather beautiful sight. Something that he hoped could sear into his mind and remember it.
"See something interesting, Doctor Strange?" The voice penetrated his mind.
He blinked a few times before looking down and it took everything to not jump back in shock. Anaiah was right in front of him. Her eyes, not the chocolate brown that they usually were, were glowing a dark emerald green.
"That's an interesting spell that you performed." He managed to say.
She tilted her head like a bird. As if she was processing his words before reaching out to take both of his hands in hers (the pain suddenly returned in his hands). He winced a little as he let her guide him through the light filled area.
"It's more of a difficult spell to work with. But It calms me when I've had a particularly rough day." She spoke as she guided him to the bench she was occupying. "You are having a hard time sleeping."
He sat down, being mindful of the teacup and the book that was in between them.
"I am." He grimaced. " My hands…"
She reached for his hands yet again and held them lightly in hers. He blinked a little at the touch again before he could feel his heart beating just a little faster. His hands still trembled; flexing them a little, a dull pain shot through them and he couldn't help but let a hiss of pain go through.
"Hmm…" She hummed. "I'm no doctor, but I could give you a herbal medicine to ease the pain for you."
He looked up at her with surprise and saw that she was smiling at him. Even with her eyes glowing like that, he could see that she genuinely wanted to help him.
"I doubt that it may work." He frowned.
"Oh ye of little faith, Doctor Strange, I will warn you, it's a bitter drink and it will want to make you curl up into a ball, but trust me when I say that it will help you if you are having pain in them." She chuckled.
"This from experience?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Oh yes." She deadpanned. "My monthly cycles give me hell."
Had he been a lesser man, he would have blushed profusely of the mention of the female menstrual cycle, but he was a doctor who have done many surgeries on people and blood isn't a stranger to him. He chuckled at her.
"Well I would prescribe some painkillers…" He smiled.
"Funny, Doctor. Very funny." She said as she let his hands go.
He just barely missed the warmth that was in his hands when she was holding them.
She held up her teacup and offered it to him.
Wasn't that teacup empty earlier?
"Trust me." She spoke.
He hesitantly took the teacup from her hands, into his own trembling ones, and looked into the cup. It was a deep red color that was similar to the color of blood. He looked up at her and she motioned for him to take a drink.
He took a large gulp of it before the harsh bitter taste hit his tongue. He almost dropped the cup but he held onto it. She was right. Clearly this brew must be poison. His face twisted in disgust and he couldn't help but shake his head a bit.
"God, that is disgusting." He said finally giving the cup back to her.
"It may be disgusting, but come morning you will hail this as a miracle brew." She smirked at him.
She then waved her hand and the mini-lights faded out of existence and her eyes returned to the dark chocolate that it was. She nodded at him before taking the book and the teacup before standing up.
"Let me know if you need the brew. I make it quite frequently." She spoke before she left the area.
He sat there for who knows how long before he returned to his chambers. He could still hear the soothing melody in his mind before he fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, he didn't feel any pain in his hands. Yes, they still trembled and it was still hard to flex them, but he didn't feel any pain while doing so. He just may have to ask Anaiah for the recipe for the drink she made.
TAL21: Here is another chapter for you guys. I'm churning these out like hot cakes. I wanted to address the pain in Stephen's hands as it seemed to be the common theme in the movie that he can't use them that much. But with Anaiah's 'miricle' poison brew, he may be able to tolerate the pain a bit more now. Some of you guys are curious on what Anaiah's relics are in the previous chapter, but trust me, they are pretty cool. Anaiah isn't a stone cold woman in this story. She's just a little distant (save for some people that she get's along with: Mordo, Wong, and the Ancient one to name a few) but she has a reason to be. I'm thinking that the next chapter will be Anaiah's chapter just so that you can see who she is and where she comes from. But that is up to you guys. PLEASE LEAVE DETAILED REVIEWS! If you give me detailed reviews, I will churn out more chapters. There's not enough reviews from the previous chapter (i'm not surprised, I'm literally posting a chapter day to day...) so there's no Shout outs today. See you guys in the next chapter!
Question Time!: Would you guys like to have a chapter of Anaiah's origin? Should I switch from Stephen's POV to Anaiah's POV every so often? Or would you rather have everything from Stephen's POV?
KEEP ON READING AND WRITING! :D