"I thought I told you to bring back my horse."
"...you did, sir. And I did."
"No, you brought back my brother's horse. Not mine. I distinctly remember my horse having a white dot on his nose."
"...I can understand your quandary, sir, but this was the only horse I found in the forest with the directions you gave me. Now, s there anything else I can assist you with?"
"No. No, I think that will be all I ever ask of you, thank you very much. Now, how do I tell Bertram that you found his horse and not mine? His horse was right where I left it at the stables last night after I went drinking with-oh. Oh. I...I suppose you are right, miss. This is most assuredly not my horse, but my brother's. Have a nice day."
"You as well, sir," I smiled, shaking my head with a giggle as the man rode away, scratching the back of his head. Picking up my pack, I adjusted the leather straps before walking down the street, whistling a tune under my breath. During the long afternoons, I worked as the assistant to the palace librarian, but in the early mornings, I could do as I pleased, which was how I got stuck volunteering to find the poor horse in the woods. I was the girl everyone always asked to do odd jobs for, from gathering pine cones and dandelions for the village children for their fairy fields to asking Dahlia the Deranged to stop harassing people about not wearing shoes. The palace librarian said I was getting taken advantage of and I knew she was right; but what hard could I bring to myself if all I was doing was helping others? Shrugging, I skipped towards the palace doors, smiling at Deran and Calliope as they winked at me and opened the gate. Deran and his sister Calliope were some of the first friends I had ever made when I came to Katolis as a child, treating me with the utmost kindness and generosity, while others would look at us with shame. Some of the older villagers still treated me with disdain, knowing of how I originally came to the city with a cloaked stranger who came, left me on Deran and Calliope's doorstep, and left. There were whispers of me behind closed doors and alleyways, of how I was an orphan and a threat to Katolis; I paid no mind. Besides, Deran and his sister were always at my side, always protecting me. We had had many a night of drinking and dancing together in the tavern, along with some adventures in the woods when we were young. They and their mother had raised me until I was old enough to live on my own, and I have come to think of them as family.
"Whatcha up to today, little sis?" Deran asked playfully, nudging me on the arm, and I rolled my eyes.
"I do the same thing every day, dork. Dust and listen to Falima complaining about how we need more shelves," I said, and Deran snorted.
"Why'd you choose that job over being a soldier? You even get a free sword!" Deran said with a grin as he playfully swished the gleaming blade at his side with a dramatic flourish.
Putting my hands on my hips, I scowled.
"Because I don't want to be covered in blood and smelling like I haven't bathed in a week when I get home."
Deran and Calliope howled in laughter as I walked away, flicking my hair behind me and harrumphing in a mock gesture of insult with a grin.
"See you in ten hours! Don't kill anyone," I yelled back, waving to them as I passed through the library doors. The library of Katolis was beautiful, with its swirling stained glass windows reaching up to the domed ceiling, and rows and rows of carefully organized scrolls and books stacked along the walls in every corner that seemed to stretch on forever. Tall balconies and spiral staircases filled the empty spaces on the floor and high above, creating many alcoves for one with a love for reading and knowledge to get lost in. Cedar tables and chairs lined the main hall, designs of dragons and battles carved into each one as if they themselves were stories waiting to be told. The whole place smelled of ancient, unopened knowledge and dust-covered spellbooks; I couldn't be happier in a place such as this.
"Oh, Astraea! Wonderful! Do you know where the scroll titled Ruminations of the Water is? I have been searching for it for hours, and cannot manage to discover its hiding place," Falima asked as she popped her head around a ladder on one of the balcony shelves, and I smiled.
"Yep! It's in the new section I categorized last week next to the Primal Scrolls. Let me find it for ya," I practically ran over to the shelf, weaving my fingers through the stacks, finally plucking the scroll she needed off the back row. As I turned, I caught a glimmer of something shining on the row below and bent down to see. Quirking a brow, I picked up a scroll that had no title seal, looking as if it hadn't been dusted in ages.
"Hey, Falima? Looks like we missed a scroll from last week's categorizing. I thought we titled everything?" I said as I walked back to the elder librarian, handing the old scroll to her. Falima narrowed her dark eyebrows as she popped her glasses down from her dark curls and squinted through the lenses, unraveling the scroll carefully. I watched intently as light emerald eyes scanned the contents, the scholar's features looking quizzically at whatever was displayed on the scroll before handing it back to me a few moments later.
"The script is unfamiliar. It looks like it could be elvish, with the elegant strokes and the delicate attention to each symbol, but I cannot be sure. I've studied all Elvish dialects that are in existence, yet this one seems...different. Ancient, even. Where did you find this?" Falima asked, her eyes still searching the opened scroll as she laid it on a table nearby.
"It was with all the other Primal Scrolls, on the bottom shelf. It was behind all the others, and I saw something shining on it, so I picked it up."
"A scroll? Shining? Astraea, dear, did you have too much Dragon Whiskey last night?" Falima joked, chuckling to herself as if she had made the funniest joke in the world, and I stared.
"No! I just...I could have sworn I saw it glimmering, like...I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired," I murmured, sighing as Falima walked away. Glancing once more at the mystery scroll, I rolled it up carefully and tucked it in my pack as Falima turned the corner and disappeared.
"Just a little bedtime reading," I told myself, trying to keep the incident out of my mind while I worked, the day quickly turned into evening as the sun set over the mountains. As soon as I had finished organizing the children's books, I stepped down from the short ladder, wincing at the ache in my limbs. Falima began lighting the candles on the tables as she dusted, a few people milling in and out of the library as she went.
"Hello, Falima. Do you know where you categorized the new spellbooks? I was wondering if I could review some of them for my studies." My head snapped up as I saw Lord Viren conversing with Falima, and I got an idea. Lord Viren's son Soren had always been close with Deran, and they were practically brothers with the amount of time they spent together in training and on patrols. Many an evening had been spent at their home when I was younger, but ever since Lord Viren's ex-wife had left, visits were few and far between. I still considered him a friend, however, since he and I seemed to share a strange affinity for magic; him with his elusive and dangerous Dark Magic, and me with my curiosity about the Primal Sources. Now, he was less of a friend and more like a weird, socially awkward uncle. As Viren began walking towards the shelves in the back, I walked quickly after him, peeking around the corner and waiting to see what he was searching for.
"I can see you, Astraea," he hummed, a smile in his voice as I grinned sheepishly, walking up behind him.
"I just...I had a question. About this scroll I found today. I was wondering if you could take a look at it?" I handed the rolled-up scroll to the mage, who took it delicately in his hands. As he unrolled it, I saw his eyes widen briefly, and he glanced up at me.
"Where did you say you found this?" He asked, and I shrugged.
"On the back wall with the rest of the Primal Scrolls. Falima was looking for the Ruminations scroll on water runes, and I found that glimmering on the bottom shelf."
"it...glimmered?" he asked, a disbelieving look in his eye, and I frowned.
"Listen, I know what I saw, even if Falima doesn't. I don't make things up," I said, crossing my arms and glaring, and Viren mumbled something under his breath as he smirked at me.
"What?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Anyways, this scroll shouldn't even be in this library. It belongs in Xadia. It must have been left behind after the great war. This Elvish dialect dates back centuries," Viren said in astonishment as his hands scanned the print, and I smiled.
"So it is Elvish! Cool! Thanks, that's all I wanted to know. I'll have that back now, thanks," I said, but Viren held it out of my reach.
"Oh, I don't think so. I'll be taking this. Besides, you do not have the knowledge to possibly understand this language. It is not known among most people nowadays," Viren said as he began to tuck the scroll away in his robes. Right as he was about to zip his jacket closed, I felt my hands move on their own, pushing him against the shelf.
"No. Please, I know you know something. I saw you reading it. I...I want to know," I said, desperation in my voice, and Viren's smoldering gaze grew quiet and calm.
"...alright. Follow me," he said, and I walked behind him as he picked up the books he needed and walked out the library doors.
"Leaving early are we, Astraea? That's a new one," Falima joked as I paused at the entrance, looking back at her with a smile.
"Yeah, just this once. I'll be back bright and early tomorrow, I promise," I said, and Falima shook her head and chuckled.
"Oh, don't threaten me! I'll make sure to leave you some books to categorize," she said, and I grinned, following the palace mage down the hall.
As soon as we had reached his office, Viren shut the doors behind him, putting the scroll on his desk.
"What would you like to know?" He asked, moving across the room to study a painting on the back wall as I sat down on the floor.
"I...I want to know who I am. Who I really am. I hear the stories, Viren," I said as the mage turned to face me, a question in his gaze as I held up a hand.
"I know I'm different. I can see Deran and Calliope trying to shield me from their gazes and whispers, but they can't do that forever. I hide in the library to escape everything, but now...I want to, I need to leave. I know I do. I can't stay stuck here in Katolis, wasting my life away, when I know I'm meant for more. I know you've heard the stories too, and I know you wonder about me; who I am, an who dropped me on that porch as a kid. I love books and knowledge, but that's not me. I love Deran and Calliope just as much as I loved their mother, but she's gone, and they're talking about moving away, and I...I feel restless, Viren. I feel lost. I need to leave, but I...I don't know where to go," I said, wiping away the tears gathering in my eyes. Viren's gaze grew sad, and he sat in front of me.
"I can't say I didn't see this coming; The stories this city makes up about you make me want to-smush them," he corrected as I rolled my eyes, laughing softly. "But," he continued, "as your honorary uncle, I say go for it. This city has been a prison for you long enough; you need to explore, discover, and make a name for yourself. Something...something that you feel is right. And you won't find that here. You will be missed, but Katolis is not your destiny. There is an entire world just waiting for you to step into it. So go Astraea. Go find yourself."
My eyes misted as I threw my arms around the mage, grinning.
"Thank you, Viren. For everything."
"Always. Now, did you have any more questions? About the mystery scroll perhaps?" he asked as we stood, and I cocked my head to the side, studying the parchment on the table.
"I just...wait. The-the letters. I recognize them," I said, the scroll seeming to glimmer once more as I approached the table slowly, the elegant script seeming suddenly familiar and unfamiliar all at once. Viren's gaze flickered briefly to something on the far wall as he nodded, but I wasn't paying attention.
"Viren, the letters. They-I know them. I-I don't know how, but I do. They-these were written by-by-" I stopped, my mind skimming through the darkness as I tried to remember, but found nothing.
"Would you like to take the scroll with you, perhaps? There might be someone on your travels that knows more and can help you," Viren said gently as I grunted in frustration, nodding.
"Y-yeah. That would be great. I-I'll be going now. I need to pack. Thank you again. For what you said," I told the mage as I carefully rolled up the scroll and placed it in my pack, giving him one last hug before departing. As soon as I left, Viren sighed, shutting the door.
"She-she looks just like her mother."
The mage looked up, watching as the ancient elf before him stared at the closed doors as if expecting them to burst open.
"She cannot know, Aaravos. not yet," Viren said softly, and the elf's shimmering gaze turned towards the human disdainfully.
"Do not talk to me as if I do not already know of this. This was my decision, after all. The cursed decision which left my wife dead and my child without memory. You do not have to remind me," the elf said, narrowing his eyes at the floor.
"All I am trying to say to you is to not go racing after her. I told you this would be difficult. Give her time. When she has freed you, you will have all the time in the world to reconcile," Viren replied gently as if he was consoling a child, and the elf scoffed.
"If she does not kill me out of anger first, then perhaps we will. Once she learns what happened, she will not be happy with me, mage," the elf replied, his voice quiet, and Viren shut his eyes briefly.
"Trust me on this. Please. Just-don't do anything rash," Viren said, and the elf rolled his eyes.
"Me? Rash? Never."
Viren raised an eyebrow but said nothing, sitting down at his desk with a sigh.
"She does truly look like Faelwen. A spitting image. But she has that same spark she had when she was young. The same fire. I just wish I could have been a part of it."
"I-" Viren looked up, but the elf's mirage had disappeared.
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