(Backdated to January 17th)


The Sun shone from above as grasses and flowers, threatening to bloom soon, waved in the gentle breeze that floated over the rolling knolls. The land itself looked like the ocean as the vegetation bent to the winds call, only to rise back up again. It was a beautiful scene to behold, and one that was very welcoming to anyone coming from the cold of winter every where else on Earth. The island would certainly not be considered tropical in temperature, but it was very comfortable, even with the humidity that sometimes came along with the fact that the Wonder was surrounded on all sides by water, with both ocean and fog.

Taking the time to enjoy the warmth and simple beauty of the Wonder, Hy-Brasil wandered through the near hip height grasses that grew around an ancient celtic castle. The structure was one of the few things that stood the test of time and it was showing its’ age. The squire studied the walls of the castle as she walked, checking for any damage that may result in a collapse. So far though, she’s found nothing that looked terrible. The castle had been built to last, obviously. It seemed that most of the more intense damage had been to anything that was wooden or was near a busted window or roof that allowed rain in. Structurally speaking, it looked good, but then again, she certainly was no masonry expert. She’d never laid hands on stone before, but she assumed that cracks were the biggest threat, and hadn’t found anything significant. Maybe her visits to the Wonder had been helping? Scholomance had mentioned that to her during his visit.

She came upon one of the main entrances. Here the stone was shoddy and crumbling. The gate, which she assumed had once stood firm, was barely hanging on to the frame which threatened to topple soon. There was nothing she could do about that besides hope that the Wonder would work to repair itself with time. There was the chance that Cashel could guide her but, she wasn’t comfortable with it. So, for the time being, she skirted her way through the gate without moving it any more than needed and slipped into a side entrance of the castle.

Little by little she had begun to clean up some of the rooms. It was a tedious process as the dust, grime and mold were not kind to her and usually resulted in sneeze fits. When it all got to be too much she’d call it quits and go bother Cashel. Her mentor was practically holed away in what she called ‘his tower’ now. In actuality, it was the main research tower. She had just come from there when she’d gone out to check the perimeter of the castle on her mentors insistence. “He’s such an old man.” She mused. “Reminds me of Dad.”

With care, she climbed the stairs that spiraled up the research tower. A few pieces had broken off, making the stairwell a bit precarious to ascend, but Hy had traveled up and down it enough now to know where best to place her feet. Plus, she had made sure to go about cleaning any debris up to avoid anything that may cause her to slip. Since Cashel tended to inhabit the top floor, the climb up was always a mighty one.

“Why can’t you do your work on a lower floor?” She huffed when she reached the top of the tower. The stairs opened up right into the top floor, no door separating it from the stairs. Just a half wall was built of stone to keep anyone from accidentally side stepping into empty space and tumbling down the stairs.

“I need to make sure you stay in shape, somehow.” A gruff, heavily irish accent responded to the Squire. The man, Cashel, was busy ‘playing’ around with a glass beaker. Inside some strange concoction that looked an unappetizing brown in color swirled as he mulled it over, and gave it a swirl or two. The man’s long, brown hair, touched heavily with grey, was tied back at the nape of his neck, the tail sitting just between the blades of his shoulders. His face was kind, with steel grey eyes, a non-dominating nose, bushy eyebrows and what seemed to be permanent wrinkles on his forehead. He certainly wasn’t a frail looking man and had probably been quite buff in his prime. His shoulders were large and chest wide. Very much he encompassed the fatherly figure and had compassion for those he interacted with, even if he tended to be distracted most of the time.

Hy-Brasil sighed as she walked over to a chair, pulled it out from under the desk it had been pushed under and sat down roughly. The wood creaked under the strain, but held. “You damn well know I’ve been working out, so traipsing up and down stairs isn’t going to help anything besides aggravate me.” It was the truth, he could have easily moved himself down a floor or two. Each level was the exact same.

“I just prefer…” He started and Hy continued and finished what he was going to say “...the light from the windows up here.”

Cashel gave her a look and Hy grinned back with a shrug. “Sorry, but I’ve heard it so often.”

Cashel turned to look at some notes he had. “Well then you should know better than to ask me to move to a different level.” He paused, the beaker in one hand, his other hand skimming over words on a well worn book. Silence dominated the tower between the two of them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

Hy-Brasil took the time to drink in what the room had. It seemed every time she was there she found something she hadn’t noticed before. There was just so much...stuff. Books, tomes, scrolls, glass, bowls, mortar and pestals, desks, shelves, bookcases, you name it, the room probably had it. The amount of stuff could make the room feel claustrophobic at times times.

Cashel took a pinch of something from a bowl and dropped it into the brown liquid he had made. “So, have you upgraded your signet ring like you mentioned?” He didn’t look at her but instead focused on his concoction that didn’t look like it was doing much of anything to Hy-Brasil.

“Hmm?” She paused in her visual exploration of the room and turned her attention back to her mentor. “Not yet. I need to talk to a fellow Knight about helping me do that.”

Cashel didn’t even pause. “The one you had brought here?”

“Yes, why?” She answered, curiously.

“No reason.” He swirled the liquid again before carefully placing it in a rack to rest.
Such a fatherly answer. Asked a question, but remain mysterious about why he asked. Being around Cashel did make Hy miss her own father. It had been quite some time since she had last seen him. Talking on the phone just didn’t seem like enough. Maybe a trip to New York would be in order during the summer. She could catch up with old friends and her brother too.

She crossed her legs and slouched a bit in the chair. “Right. So, what are you working on now?”

“A new formula to help numb a localized spot on the body when it’s applied.” He paused for a moment. “It’s meant to completely remove any sort of sensation and instead of having to wait for it to wear off, I am hoping to create a counter formula that will lift the effects within minutes of being applied.”

Hy-Brasil wasn’t at all savvy when it come to medical things. In fact, she was the sort who didn’t much care for the idea of needles but tolerated them when needed. So, her knowledge to how such a formula could be useful was lacking. At best she could imagine it would be good for people who need to get stitches, but that was the best she could come up with. One thing she had learned with Cashel though, was to not ask why he was making something, else she’d likely be given a long winded story of some sort. Instead she gave an audible sound as if she understood and left it at that.

She turned her attention back to some of the books on the shelves. Most seemed to have no titles on their spines, at most they had numbers or letter, but nothing to really tell a potential reader what was contained within. Most of the books Cashel read were hand written. Actually, a large percentage of the books Hy had stumbled upon were handwritten and many were in, what she assumed, was a form of Gaelic. There had been a small handful she’d found stacked on one another in a small dusty side room off of the main hall that had been in a language she’d never seen before.

“Cashel, the top floor of the library, what sort of books are up there?” She questioned him. Like the books in his research room, they either didn’t have any titles on their spines, or were so deteriorated she couldn’t read them.

Cashel’s brow furrowed for a moment before he responded. “There are still books there? I had thought after the roof gave that everything would be ruined up there.”

“I haven’t gone through anything up there yet to see if anything survived. But what was that floor housing?” Her foot bounced slightly as she turned her attention back to her mentor.

Heaving a sigh Cashel ran a hand through his greying red hair. “That, my dear, would have held a large majority of the history books housed here. If nothing survived on that floor, I fear that we may have lost some very valuable information. If I had known that there was damage to that roof I would have tried to save some tomes, but alas, I wasn’t aware until I went in search of something and by then it seemed too late.”

Great. Stuff she would have been interested in reading if she could decipher the text. “Do you think there’s any chance some may still be alright?”

With a shrug, Cashel settled himself in another of the rickety wooden chairs in the room. “It’s possible, but I don’t think it would be likely. The elements are not kind to paper and ink. I wouldn’t rule out the chance that a few may be saved, but it’ll take quite a lot of work to sift through what is salvageable and what isn’t.”

Time wasn’t a problem. Gwen could spend some time helping to sift through all of the books. Though, first, she’d need to see about covering up that roof, and she had no clue on how to do roof repairs. Maybe she could find something to drape over top? A tarp? Would that look ridiculous on an old castle? Of course it would. But what else could she do? She didn’t know anyone who could repair it for her. Perhaps it was something she’d just have to let the Wonder deal with itself. Maybe just visiting as often and for as long as she could would speed things along.

“Alright.” She finally said, her foot ceasing it’s endless bobing. “I’ll try and get things sorted out up there. I’ll find an empty room to use to sort what I find. I don’t want to just...throw stuff away, so for the time being I’ll just store what isn’t legible. Anything that is able to be saved I’ll find a new home for until that top floor can be saved.” The floor below the first one also sported water damage. She’d have to go through them all eventually. It was certainly going to be quite the endeavor on top of just taking time to clean up rooms that weren’t beyond her ability to tidy up.

Greying brows rose at his successor’s determination. “I have to admit, my dear, your perseverence is astonishing. Most would find such a job to be tedious and daunting.”

A shrug and a smile was flashed at the old man. “I don’t mind. It will make me feel like I am actually doing something to help the Wonder. I...I don’t like the idea of sitting idle. I want to see it back in its glory if at all possible. It’s such a fascinating place and I feel...at home, here.” Though, feeling at home at her Wonder shouldn’t be such a surprise to her, but it was terribly comfortable and reminded her so much of her childhood. She felt like she could lose herself in the rolling knolls and fields, plus the distant sound of the waves crashing on the pebble beach...it was like heaven.

“Well, my dear, that will certainly help, and you may find some useful information while you sift through all of those old books. I very much expect that you find -something- of interest at least.” Cashel commented, a gentle smile on his face.

Hy laughed softly. “That’s assuming I can read anything. I doubt there is a single book written in modern English there.”

It was Cashel’s turn to shrug. “Then bring them to me and I’ll do my best to help you along. I can’t promise it’ll be a perfect translation, but it will be better than a bunch of symbols you don’t understand on a piece of paper with you staring at it blankly.” He chuckled as Hy gave him a look at the mention of staring blankly at pages. “But yes, bring them to me and I will lend you my aid.”

“Alright. That works for me. I can even transcribe stuff so I can keep it on hand if I feel it’s really important.” Well that was a way to get past the language barrier. There was also the option that she could try and see if she could learn some Gaelic, but she also knew how terribly hard it could be to learn. At this point, she wasn’t sure it would be worth her time. For all she knew, those books weren’t actually gaelic but something that looked similar. Or, they were gaelic, but a much more ancient version of it. Then all that time she spent learning a new language would be wasted. No, it would be better just to utilize Cashel when needed. Especially since the old man was offering his services. “Just….make sure not to get too absorbed in your research to not be able to help?” She said half teasingly.

That comment elicited a full hearty laugh from the man. “I make no promises but I will do my best. After all, as the current Knight of Hy-Brasil it is my duty to make sure you learn whatever you can so you can take over the full responsibilities here.”

That brought up another question for the squire. “Speaking of, what am I suppose to be doing here? Besides cleaning and learning?

Cashel began to grow visibly antsy in his seat and eventually rose to move back to his research. “That, my dear, will need to wait for another day. I need to tend to some more of my research.”

Is Cashel hiding something from me? She wondered, but didn’t push. The man was already moving about to begin yet another project. Perhaps that antidote for what he had just made? Who knew. “Right. Well, I need to be heading back anyway. I will make sure to come back for a weekend next time I come.”

Cashel nodded, indicating he heard her but didn’t state anything. So, Hy-Brasil left via the stairs she had come from. She intended to take one more stroll outside of the castle to soak up the warmth and sun before returning to the dim, and cold world she had left behind for her visit.

WC Total: 2668 (5 solos)