4Chapter One The Library
The little feyling danced across the courtyard, giggling and chasing the sunlight. Her nurse hurried after her, puffing across the courtyard, her wings flapping in an attempt to cool her down. She stretched out a hand to grasp the child, and the girl danced out of her grip- straight into the statue of an ancient faerie. The statue swayed, and the nurse held her breath. It swayed, fell to the ground. There was an earsplitting crack and one of the carefully sculpted wings f ell off.
The nurse cried, lunged for her charge and clasped her tightly to her chest. She started back to the nursery, and anyone who passed could hear her berating the girl: "you little trouble, you. You are nothing but a little trouble!"
The name stuck.
"Trouble! Trouble! We're going to be late, and you know Jenina doesn't like it when we're late."
Trouble opened her eyes sleepily and tumbled out of bed. At the last minute, she remembered to unfold her wings so as not to hit the floor too hard. Unfortunately, she remembered a little too late, and she thumped to the floor anyway.
"Trouble! Can't you make any less noise? You make it sound like a heard of humans." Ilana reached down to pull her friend up. "Come on, get dressed. I knew we were going to be late."
Trouble refused her help and stood up herself, brushing out the creases in her wings. "You don't have to wait, you know. Why don't you go ahead, and I'll catch up" she pulled a dress out of her cupboard, and began dressing.
Ilana frowned at her. "Don't be silly. I'm already late, and it's better to get in trouble in pairs."
"You mean you'd rather let me take the blame?" Ilana glanced sheepishly at her feet, but Trouble just laughed. "It's alright, I don't mind. I always get in trouble anyway."
She had finished dressing now, and the two girls left their room and ran across the palace grounds to the eating hall.
They reached the hall, and tried to enter without being noticed. They didn't quite manage. Captain Karolina, head of the palace guard and one of their teachers, spotted them coming in. She scowled and beckoned them over. Exchanging worried glances, they did as they were told.
"Trouble Keladrin and Ilana Chenawe. Why am I not surprised? Very well, report to me after breakfst."
"But, Captain, we have class with Queen Jenina after breakfast." Trouble tried to explain, and Ilana groaned.
Karolina stopped her, "Then you will be late. Now go sit down and eat." With that, she turned to the faerie on her right, and ignored the girls.
They moved to the apprentice table, both feeling miserable, and began eating their breakfasts.
Karolina glared down at the young faeries in front of her. She was fuming. Her skin had changed from its usual, pale green tint to a deeper, darker colour. She studied the girls' faces. The eldest of the two, Ilana, was pure faerie, and pretty enough. Her hair was dark, crimson red, and her face was almost the same colour, largely due to her embarrassment. Her red eyes looked anxiously up at the captain. Well, at least she was sorry. The other girl was not quite as easy to deal with. Trouble Keladrin had a reputation for getting into trouble. Ever since she was a feyling, she had been a wild, run about thing. If there was ever any problem, Trouble was likely to be behind it. It was to be expected, though, with parenting like hers. Her mother had been a respectable faerie, well-liked, graceful, beautiful, even. Her father, on the other hand, had been an elf. Karolina shivered at the thought. How a respectable faerie like Marania Keladrin had managed to fall in love with an elf. at any rate, Trouble had inherited several things from her father, as well as her capability for getting into trouble. Her looks were clearly not all faerie. True, she had the clear coloured skin of the faeries, pale blue like her mother, and she had wings, and was small. But there, the faerie elements ended. Her hair, which should have been blue, was dark brown. Her eyes were grey. And her ears were pointed! For the ceremonies, she at least tried to cover them up, but on normal days they were clearly visible through her hair.
Karolina sighed. She had actually found herself rather attached to Trouble. The girl had spirit, it was true, and she was good with arms. If she had been a little more disiplined, she would have made a fine , Karolina had already had to warn her more than enough times. It would seem that Trouble would never learn unless she was given a punishment of some kind. She turned back to Ilana.
"Chenawe. I believe this is your second warning, so I will be lenient. You have been punished enough in being late for Queen Jenina's class. I suggest you hurry along and inform her that Trouble is on her way. And I advise you to find a more obedient friend, if you wish to avoid such problems in the future." Ilana nodded, curtsied deeply and, with a backward glance at Trouble, left the captain's room. Karolina turned to Trouble. "Keladrin, I have had more than enough of you. I believe I've had to warn you already three or four times this week alone.
"Four" muttered Trouble, and Karolina raised an eyebrow.
"Very well, four. Now, if it were anyone else, I would simply give you a detention in the stables or some such, but we've already been through that, haven't we."
"I like horses."
"Don't interrupt. I know you do. That's why I'm going to have to be a little harsher this time. I will expect you to be in the library every evening after classes for the next moon. You will help Librarian Endana. Understood?"
"But Captain, the library."
"It's a punishment, Keladrin, you are not supposed to like it. Now move. You are already late for Queen Jenina's class."
Trouble left the room, glowering and muttering under her breath. Karolina watched her go and sighed. She was a spirited girl, but she could not avoid getting into trouble. Perhaps the most part of that came from her father, but Karolina did remember that Marania Keladrin had never been the most docile faerie herself. After all the problems she had dragged Karolina into.
"The library?" Ilana grinned pityingly at her friend. "you poor thing. I know how much you hate being inside. You did deserve it, though. You're always doing things you shouldn't."
Trouble glared at her. "Thank you for being so sympathetic. Now I'll always know who to come to when I have a problem."
"Oh, don't be silly Trouble. You did have it coming, and you know it. You didn't honestly think Captain K was going to send you out to the horses again, did you? She knows you like them, and its not very good trying to punish you by sending you to them.
Trouble rolled her eyes. "I know, I know. It's library! That's the men's territory. All those busy-headed scholars."
Ilana grinned and pulled her friend into the kitchen. "The Librarian's a woman. Besides, some of those scholars are quite young and handsome, you know."
"'Lana! Is that all you think about? Men and food." Ilana shot her a sheepish smile and picked up a bun. They ran out of the kitchen just in time to avoid the cook's magic, and hurried to their next class.
"Yes," Ilana answered as soon as she had caught her breath, "but then, what do you ever think about except how to cause as much trouble as possible?"
"That's not true," Trouble complained, "I don't think about it, it just happens."
"Yeah, right." Ilana seemed about to add more, and Trouble pushed her into the classroom instead.
Classes finished in the early afternoon, and Ilana had walked Trouble to the Library. She seemed reluctant to enter, despite her earlier reassurances, and Trouble hadn't insisted. Once inside, she began to wish she had. The library was hardly the friendliest place in the city. In fact, the whole place seemed rather cold, and unfriendly. Trouble walked up a corridor that was bustling with scholars, all of them men or boys, trying to find Librarian Endana, as Karolina had instructed her to do.
Eventually, she had to ask one of the scholars. He was an oldish faerie, and he looked down at her with a vague, misty gaze.
"Librarian Endana, did you say? Oh, she should be right in the middle, in the old library. It's just down the corridor, that way." With that, he broke off and wandered away, leaving Trouble looking after him in a rather bemused way. This caught the attention of one of the younger scholars, and he tapped her shoulder.
She turned round and found herself facing a young faerie maybe a year or two older than herself. He had green hair and skin, like Karolina, and a friendly smile.
"You're knew around here, aren't you. Got in trouble, did you?"
Trouble was about to deny this, but instead she nodded. After all, either he knew that or he would think that she actually wanted to be a Librarian. Which couldn't be further from the truth.
"Who did you say you were looking for?"
"Librarian Endana."
He raised his eyebrows. "You really are in trouble, aren't you. Librarian Endana looks after the oldest section of the library, right in the middle. There's hardly any light in there at all. Frankly, I find it rather scary. What did you do?"
She frowned at him, but could find no reason not to say. "I was late for breakfast."
"This is a rather harsh punishment, then. Why didn't they send you to the stables instead?"
"I was in the stables last week. Captain K- Captain Karolina, that is- thinks I was enjoying it too much. Besides, it was my fifth warning this week." she shrugged, "I get in trouble a lot."
The scholar nodded, "Captain Karolina, huh? What did you say your name was?"
Trouble looked at him. "I didn't. But it's ."
"TrMeraladine? That's a strange name."
She pulled a face. "What's your name?"
"Karazhan." They had been walking down the corridor as they talked and Karazhan stopped now. "Here we are, it's just through that door. I'd come with you, but I'm not all that fond of Librarian Endana. Besides, I should get going. Scholar Jupan is waiting for me."
He was gone before Trouble had time to thank him, and she was left staring at an old- a very old- oaken door. Nervously, she reached up and knocked. There was a long pause. Trouble was about to knock again when the door sprang open, and a grumpy looking old faerie peered out.
"What is it? I don't have time for jokes."
"Umm, it's Meraladine Keladrin. Captain Karolina told me."
"Oh. Trouble, isn't that what they call you. How thoughtful of Karolina." She snorted and pulled open the door a little wider. "Very well, come in. And you had better not make any trouble here. I've enough of it without you adding. You can read, can't you."
Trouble was rather taken aback. "Of course."
"Good, then you can start putting books back on the shelves. Those ones there go on the shelves back there in order of subject and then in alphabetical. Do it as fast as you can, and I'll have another pile. If anyone comes in, tell them they can't take anything out unless I tell them they can. I'm going downstairs. You stay up here and work. I'll be up with a load in about ten minutes. Don't do anything you shouldn't." and with that she disappeared down the stairs in the centre of the room.
Trouble surveyed the room as the librarian left. It was strange, for the city, for anywhere to be totally dark, and even here there was some light. Not much, though. That scholar- Karazhan his name had been- was right. It was kind of creepy in that room. As soon as Librarian Endana was out of sight, Trouble moved over to the pile of books and glanced absent-mindedly at the first. 'A History of Invocation'. The books these scholars read!
She picked the pile up and moved about the room, finding the right shelve for each book, placing it carefully in alphabetical order. Endana came back upstairs an hour later with a new pile of books. On the third such trip, she spoke to Trouble again.
"I suppose you can go after this. I hope you've put those books in the right places. I will see you tomorrow at the same time." With that, she hurried down the stairs again, leaving Trouble to finish the pile she had been given and leave.
It was growing dark when she emerged from the library, and she hurried back to the palace to eat. Ilana was waiting for her beside the gates, with a decidedly worried look on her face.
"I thought you weren't going to show up." She hissed at her friend and dragged her towards the hall.
"Well I did." Trouble snapped. She was in no mood to talk. She had not realised she had been in the library so long, and she was hungry.
The two girls entered the hall and sat down minutes before Queen Jenina and the rest of the royal family entered. The men of the royal family were the only males who ate in the main hall. Most stayed in the university or the library, and their eating times were not as structured as the women's. For the times when they did gather, there was a smaller eating hall next door. Trouble had peeked in once, but found it the same as theirs, only smaller.
With a sigh, she stopped thinking and turned to the food that had been placed in front of her. Yes, she was definitely hungry.
AN Well, what do you think? Reviews are always welcome (of course). I'm probably going to continue anyway, but your encouragement will mean I actually try to, rather than giving remember kids, feedback is good.
Thanks in advance,
EleriTrueTre