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 Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:42 am
Lutra froze as she was noticed by the woman. The woman was pretty and seemed nice, so maybe she really was nice. And she was looking at healing books, that seemed nice, too. This was probably safe, then. She stared up into the woman's face.
"I've never seen you either," she said, ignoring the fact that this older fey had probably been around this castle much longer than she. "Who are you? I came to the library in case, well, in case there were bad people around and I could find something to help, but you're not bad are you?" She paused for breath and remembered some of her manners, so she introduced herself. "I'm Lutra."
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:48 am
Ursa beamed and curtseyed, "Wow Lutra, what a pretty name!" Grinning she introduced herself to the little girl, "my names Ursa!" She dropped the books down and moved over to her. "Nonono course I'm not someone bad, but I'm looking for recipes for herbal medicines to help people, when the bad people try to come again, well IF!... I really like to help people as well!" Pausing, she looked down to the books Lutra had.
"What sort of books you looking for? Hey! Maybe I could help you search? I know this library fairly well now~!! "
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:57 am
Lutra smiled-- the lady was nice! Clumsily copying Ursa's curtsey, she said, "Hello miss Ursa. I don't know what to look for. I guess... well, mama always showed me books and I thought if I could find some good ones I could be safe. Like spell books, only I can't do magic yet, but maybe someday. Can you do magic?" She held up the book she was holding, which happened to be a boring old history book. "I want to learn to smith like mama, are there any books like that?"
Her eyes widened at the mention of the bad people returning. "Again? The bad people were here and... and coming back? Are they very scary?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:02 am
Ursa smiled back and ran her fingers along the spine of one of two books, before replying, "magic eh? Yup, sure can, don't worry about it, I developed my magic as I grew, I'm sure you will too..." Returning her attension to the books, she began to inspect some certain ones on metals and smithwork.
"Naw! Don't worry about them, if worst comes to worst, they'll have me to attend to their wounds," nodding she pulled down two books, and handed them to Lutra.
"Smithery, a guide"
"Metals and properties"
"Now, these should be quite good to start with, but they might be a bit hard to read. You can always call me to help you, and I'm sure your Mama would help you too!~"
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:10 am
"Wow, what kind of magic can you do?" She hoped she would learn spells someday like the lady said. "Are there lots of good people here? To keep away the bad ones?"
Lutra took the books and held them carefully, determined not to drop these as she had the history tome. She opened one and read a few lines slowly. "They might be a little hard." She paused, determined not to be sad now. "My mama? She's gone, like all the others, isn't she? And that other lady who found me, I don't know where she is now," she added, still fairly confused about that whole episode. "I'm glad you can help me with these, I think I will need help with the bigger words, at least."
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:20 am
"Mostly my magic is just basic stuff, but I have one or two pretty cool things I guess," she shrugged, "yes, the sun court and the moon court, but your far to young to be worrying about that now!" She grinned briefly.
"Ohnono! I meant your Kithain, sorry. I call my Kithain Dad," she shrugged once more and gazed with an interested fashion. "Well.. You could always come round to my chambers sometime, and I'll help you all you want! But you could take those books away first, the pictures might be able to help you huh?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:25 am
Lutra almost scowled, but stopped herself. No need to annoy the only person she'd met so far, and a nice person at that-- but she was not too young to know! Big people always seemed to think that she was too little to know important things, she sighed. Oh well. Maybe one of these books would have something about the bad Moon Court. She'd have to explore the library further when no one was here to tell her what she was too little for!
"My... kithain? Is that who that lady was? She's gone now. I don't know where she went. Does everyone have a kithain? Does yours go away a lot, too?" She hadn't even seen that kithain-woman since she was freed from the window-- why wasn't hers around to be called mom and to talk to her? Oh well. She nodded. "I'll try them myself first. Thank you, miss Ursa for helping me!" She looked once more at the books in her arms, then back toward the hall. "Is the castle safe now?" she asked, just to make sure.
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:39 am
Ursa turned around quickly and admired one or two of the books she'd noticed when looking for Lutra's. "Yeah, every fey has a Kithain. Mines is away alot yes, but then again, he was around alot when I was at your age, he just knows that I can take care of myself better now and lead my own life."
"Thats quite alright, you make sure you come around anytime, it'd be a pleasure to see you again." She paused, and giggled, "of course the castles safe, I doubt anything would get past these walls. If it really concerns you, I can walk you back to your chambers?" She felt slightly sorry for the girl, not having a Kithain to be there 24/7 at her age. 'She must get quite lonely,' Ursa thought, stroking her chin, and feeling a tad sorry for her.
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:01 am
"Oh. You're lucky then, I think." Reassured by Ursa's confidence that the castle was safe, she shook her head resolutely. "No, thank you, miss Ursa. I can get back by myself." She forced a smile as she thought of her chambers, empty save for herself. Did everyone else have a nice kithain like Ursa? She shifted the books to carry them more easily.
"I want to take these back now to look at later." She turned to go, then hesitated and looked back. "I'll come visit you later!" Her parting smile was real, not forced at all. If everyone here was like Ursa, there wasn't much to worry about from the bad people, she thought as she headed back to her own chambers.
((Have to run to class!))
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 1:25 pm
After making small adjustments to his robes to be sure the fabric fell properly and smoothing the feathers of his head wings, Ardea opened the door to the library and stepped inside. There were few fey who used the library as regularly as he did, and often he found the room empty, but he couldn't take the chance of any fey seeing him unkempt. He knew he was not nearly as handsome, or muscular, as many of the other male fey; the only way he had of combatting this was always appearing clean and proper. Naturally, he had his intelligence - it was likely greater than that of all the other fey combined, not that he had spoken to them at length to find out - but Ardea was smart enough to know that his appearance was the first thing he would be judged on.
Once inside the room, Ardea examined it as thoroughly as he could without leaving the doorway, trying to see if anyone else was inside. It had been a long time since he had really spoken to the other fey...maybe he would find someone worth talking to. If not, he had a long list of books he wanted to look through, and a long list of events he wanted to record...
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:49 pm
Lutra was bringing back some books she'd looked at in her rooms-- they hadn't been very interesting. Not enough pictures. But, maybe the nice lady would be in the library again, she'd thought, and so here she was. Carrying quite a large stack of books for one so small, Lutra managed to open the door to the library, pushing it open further with one foot as she entered the room. A slim fey was standing in the doorway, and she stepped to the side to get around them. "'Scuse me-- eek!" Bumping into the other fey, she tripped, sending her books flying.
"Sorry miss... oh! I mean, sir...?" Conscientiously retrieving the books and smoothing the pages, she glanced quickly around for Ursa. Well, the nice woman wasn't here, but maybe this new person would be nice, too! Smoothing her clothing, she looked back at the fey in the doorway and asked the first thing that came to mind, pointing to his headwings as she spoke. "Do those help you fly?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 11:50 am
Miss? Miss?! He might not be the most macho of the fey, but to be mistaken for a girl...!
Ardea was about to retaliate with a scathing remark about how most people walked about with their eyes open when he noticed the title of one of the books the child had been carrying. "Metals and Properties" He knew it to be a big, stuffy tome, written by someone who knew quite a lot about metal, but not how to write. And the other books seemed equally thuck and hard to read...it reminded him of his reading material, at that age. Maybe this child would grow into someone worth talking to...
Handing her one of the tomes that had fallen at his feet when she tripped, he considered an answer to her question. "I've never tried using them while I was flying - the thought's never occurred to me. If I had to guess, though, I don't think they would help much...I could flap them all day and never get anywhere." After a quick glance around to make sure no adult fey were watching, Ardea demonstrated, flapping his headwings quite comically. The end result was that he was no further off the ground than he had started, though his hair was mussed quite a bit from the wind the wings had created.
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:12 pm
Lutra took the book the fey handed to her with an automatic "Thank you." She hoped he wouldn't be angry she'd thought he was a girl-- well, it wasn't her fault that he kind of looked like one, was it? She listened, wide-eyed as he answered her question and then giggled. He looked so silly! It was fun when bigger people could be silly sometimes.
It was too bad his wings wouldn't help him fly; her tail helped her swim, so it only seemed natural that extra wings would help someone fly. But if he'd never tried, maybe he just didn't fly enough? "They look pretty though," she said, almost as a consolation, and she giggled again when she saw the state of his hair. Then she held up the other book Ursa had given her, Smithery, a guide.
"Do you know where I can find more books like this one? With--" she almost said pictures, but that wasn't really what she wanted. What was the word? "with di-a-grams? Miss Ursa was helping me, but she's not here now. She reads medicine books, what kind of books do you like? I like the library only it's dusty sometimes." She paused in her chattering as she realized she hadn't given him a chance to say anything, and belatedly remembering that it was polite to let bigger people talk once in a while too.
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:50 pm
"You're welcome," Ardea replied properly to her thanks. He couldn't help but preen a bit at the compliment; it made up, somewhat, for her mistaking his gender. "Thank you," he said, then turned his attention to the book she held up to him.
"Hmm..." Ardea mused. He wasn't sure of the answer, and he hated that; he liked to think his knowledge of the library was unrivaled. "I don't often read books about smithing, but I think most of them can be found..." He walked over to a section of the shelves that seemed dedicated to books on various crafts. "...here. Perhaps if we look through these, we can find one with diagrams in it."
He considered her other questions as he pulled out a book from a high shelf and began flipping through it, trying to gauge whether or not it would be helpful to the child. Ursa...that was the woman with the bear totem, was it not? He had seen her here a time or too before, but never had the courage to speak to her.
"I mostly read books on history," Ardea answered. "My father was a scribe, as was his father, so some of the books are theirs." He smiled at the girl, even as he replaced the book on the shelf and pulled out another. "I like the library, too. It's quiet here."
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:30 pm
She followed him, remembering which section he looked at for when she came back later in case there was no one to help her-- she really should try to learn and memorize where things were on her own, after all. She felt better than she had earlier-- maybe she could take the books outside and read them by the water later, now that she was feeling more safe in the castle.
Spying a slim, rather worn book entitled Lockpicking: improvised tools and methods, she tucked it under her arm, thinking that maybe it would help to learn this, too... especially if she ever wanted to explore the castle. Maybe there were secret passages? She couldn't remember, but all good castles had some secrets, passages and other kinds.
So this bigger person read history books? Well, maybe that could be interesting too, if it was like the history she'd heard told as stories long ago. "Did they write lots of books? It takes a long time to write a whole book, doesn't it? They look like they would take a long time. Do scribes write down what happens and make it into history?" She eyed some of the other books she could see from her much lower eye level, but didn't see much of interest.
He liked the library because it was quiet? She didn't feel very quiet, maybe she should be quieter? But she still had questions and-- oh, and she didn't even know the other fey's name yet. "I'm Lutra, I forgot to say before, and what's your name? Do you know miss Ursa too? Isn't she nice? She's really smart, and she's going to help me with harder words if I need help."
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