Welcome to Gaia! ::

So much to do and so little time. Jessie had less than a week to get everything situated so she could be gone for a few days at a time and not worry about the store. Her employees could handle it but that didn’t mean she didn’t worry about it since she had never taken more than a day off at a time. She told them she wouldn’t be far and would be reachable but it wasn’t like she could tell them that she had a super secret meeting slash training sessions full of knights that all came from space and had magical weapons. When Jackson pushed Jessie lied with the age old, ‘family issues’ and in some ways it was true since she was now part of a new ‘family’… even she knew that she was stretching it.

With a shake of her head Jessie focused on work. She wanted to make sure everything was set up for her employees while she was away, even if it was close by and she would return every few days. No point in making life harder for them. So with a list of books in her hand to pull, organize, and either ship or hold for customers, Jessie headed into the stacks. Into the heart of her shop and one of the few places that she felt complete peace and in total control. How would she survive for two weeks with strangers without this to come home to?

Jessie was focused on the list in her hand and didn’t even see the little girl until it was too late. The papers went fluttering to the ground as Jessie scrambled to help the young child up. By the time she was bending down the girl was up and curtseying, with a smile Jessie quickly turned her helping hand into a graceful bow to mirror the child’s curtsey. Standing up right Jessie waved away the girl’s apology, “It’s okay. Neither of us was paying attention.”

She knelt down to pick up the papers not worried that her khaki slacks would get dirty since the shop was swept every night. With a simile for the girl Jessie appreciated her outfit, the hat, dress and sandals were a big step up from some of the getups that Jessie saw children wander the store in. Shorts and t-shirts were the general uniform of the young with a few variants in color, pattern, cut, and brand. “It’s just a few papers, no harm was done.” With all most all of the papers in hand Jessie asked, “Was there anything I could help you find?”

Jessie smiled brightly at the child as she handed back her lists. It wasn't every day that the kids who roamed the shop helped her pick up her papers, and called her miss as well. With laughter clear in her voice Jessie introduced herself, "You can call me Jessie if you want. Miss is a bit more formal then required around here," she laughed as she added, "at least its better then 'ma'am'"

Jessie kept quiet when the young girl mentioned being here before and seemed distressed. She pried herself in the store being the brightest and most colorful bookstore around so seeing someone who did not seem happy to wonder in the shelves made her want to ask why.... but it was none of her business and it seemed to stem from a issue with her mom. A topic strictly off limits as far as Jessie was concerned.

"Sure.... princess hun? Well I can definitely help with that." Jessie started to walk towards the young adult section. "How do you feel about dragons and witches?" She was already cataloging various books that would fit the bill that she had enjoyed at a young age.... hell some of them she still enjoyed. It was a pretty short walk and it wasn't long until Jessie stopped just before the turn to the section. Along the way she had gotten an idea and was hoping the young lady was willing to indulge her. "Would you be willing to help me with a little magic of our own? All you have to do is close your eyes and think really hard about the books and maybe just maybe we can find someplace really wonderful." Jessie hoped that with the little girls help she could lead her into the brightly lit, whimsically decorated section and Jessie would see the joy light up her face. After all that was the whole reason she set this area up the way she did. It was still her favorite section in the whole store.

Jessie nearly broke into a laugh at Mercy’s comment of dragons and witches… it bode well for the books that Jessie would personally select for the young girl. “Ahh then you have not met the right dragons or witches.” She smiled secretly and then with a twinkle in her eye motioned for quiet, after all they were going to perform some serious magic.

She gently guided the child around the corner and positioned her in a spot where the color from the stain glass splashed across the bright carpet. Jessie left her standing there with a whispered, “Think hard about magic and on the count of three open your eyes.” She quickly picked up the stuffed animals that had been left scattered across the floor and placed them back on the shelves, she sent the fairy wind chimes spinning with a touch, and on the count of the she opened a music box that she had hidden high on a shelf. As the strains of the music filtered through the area she glanced around the space with the same eyes a young child might have.

The dozen metal and glass fairies danced on hair thin wires in front of the large window that looked out over the courtyard that was now in full bloom, the stain glass at the very top tossing even more color into the space. The carpet was a wild array of color and shapes and the ceiling was painted to look like the sky, there was even a rainbow in the mural. Dragons looked down from the shelves, along with wizards, submarines, mermaids, robots, spaceships, and even a TARDIS. There was a small teddy bear tea party set up in the corner and other various toys set within easy reach of little fingers. The more fragile an object looked the higher it was on the shelves. Unlike the rest of the building this area was completely enclosed by bookcases. The tall ones acted as ‘walls’ and contained the young adult books while small waist high bookshelves enclosed the ‘play’ area in the center around the window contained the true ‘kids’ books but like all the other shelves throughout the store each shelf had objects acting as bookends even if it was just a teddy bear.

Jessie was a bit taken aback by the strong reaction of Mercy, never had she seen a young girl cry because of her store. Normally it was laughter, wonderment, joy… tears were a bit strange. But there wasn’t anything Jessie could do about it since they had to be from something extremely personal and it seemed that Mercy quickly put them behind her. She was even able to greet the bears at tea.

“Hum?” Jessie took the book that was handed to her and after a quick look at the title and author she flipped it over to read the book blurb. She silently read it and tried to place it in her mental list of books. Had she read this at some point in time? Was it one of those books that sat on the shelves until someone picked it up at random?

The Kingdoms of Lethara, once proud lands, have fallen under attack by a threat they were not prepared to face. Dragons. Under the yoke of their scaled overlords, each royal family must sacrifice their youngest daughter every 15 years. On the eve of her 15th birthday, the current sacrifice - Llea, must make a decision that could change the fate of the Kingdoms forever.

Go through with the sacrifice - or trust her life to a dastardly rogue dragon slayer.

Will Llea survive her harrowing journey to the heart of the Dragon's homeland? Or will she meet the same fate as her sisters before her?

After a moment or two to think about it a bit more Jessie admitted, “I’m not sure dear. It’s not one of the ones that is bought all the time but it does cover a fairly common genre so I had to have picked it up for a reason.” She looked at the cover for another moment before handing it back, “sorry. I, myself, am a big fan of this type of fantasy but I can’t say I’ve ever read it although I do think I have heard about it.”

Jessie was surprised. It wasn’t often that she had met someone who wrote a book, not without purposely searching that person out, and she had questions that she wanted to ask. But the child was only a child and it was her mom who wrote the book so there was no point in asking the myriad of questions. But Jessie did make a mental note of the book so she could read it later. Maybe it would give Jessie some ideas and the nerve to finish the various stories that she had started and yet never published. Writing fan fiction was all good and fine but Jessie had a hidden wish to see her name, or at least her pen name, shelved next to Tolkien, Rollings, or Goodkind. To walk into a different bookstore and find her book on the shelves for anyone to buy… that would be great.

It took her a moment to realize that the young girl had put away the book and was now interested in her suggestions… of which she had many. But keeping it to a minimum Jessie went and grabbed three thin volumes and one much larger book. “I might not be able to help you with the unicorns but these books all have princesses in them. Although maybe not the type of princesses you are familiar with.” She held up the first book. “’The Frog Princess’ by E. D. Baker. It’s a very cute fairy tale but with a twist since instead of the frog prince turning human when the princess kisses him, she turns into a frog. The new Disney movie was loosely based off of this book.” Jessie then showed Mercy a second slim volume, “Also by E. D. Baker is ‘The Wide-Awake Princess’. Now this one is very hilarious and chronicles’ sleeping beauty’s younger sister’s adventure in trying to find her sister’s true love.” She handed both books to the young girl and showed her the last slim volume. “Now this is a book from the Once upon a time series and it’s a retelling of ‘the princess and the pea’. It’s called ‘Violet Eyes’ by Debbie Viguine. All of the books in the series are retellings of classic fairy tales but this is one of my favorites.” She passed the purple book over as well before holding the thicker book up.

Jessie patted the book like it was an old friend. “Now this is really the completion of the four books in the series so we can grab the first one if you would rather not buy such a large book in one go but in my opinion if you’re looking for dragons, witches, princesses, and wizards you can’t go wrong with this book. Patricia C. Wrede’s ‘The Enchanted Forest Chronicles’ is not your normal princess book but then again Princess Cimorene is no ordinary princess. “ Jessie’s smile was bright and she gladly passed the much thicker book over. If these four weren’t what Mercy was looking for then Jessie could find more but she was rather sure that they would fit the bill nicely.


((The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, The Wide-Awake Princess, The Frog Princess, Violet Eyes))

Jessie smiled at her and nodded, "Its a bit daunting in size but it is four books in one and its definitely worth it." She could only nod in understanding about the money comment since even Jessie, the owner of a bookstore, had to keep herself in check when it came to buying books. "Your welcome to read them here but we do ask if you do that not to dog ear the pages and try not to crack the spine. Sometimes its best to read a book for a little bit to get a feel for it before buying it." And Jessie found that more often then not if the book was enjoyed it was bought but if it wasn't even more were selected to find the right fit.

If possible her smile got brighter but she didn't elaberate since she didn't want to ruin the surprise of just how unusual Princess Cimorene, the dragon Kazul, and the witch Morwen were compared to most fantasy books. "Hum? Oh, sure." Jessie looked at her simple silver watch and read the time, "It 2:15. Your welcome to stay as long as you like, and since it's monday there is a book club meeting tonight after the store closes at 6 if you and your mom want to come." The meeting was more or less informal where locals and other book minded people met at the store to talk about recent books that they read, books that they cant wait to be published, and everything book related.

“I didn’t think you would but you would be surprised what some people do and all well loved books do get some cracking of the spine unfortunately.” Jessie said, she had several books that she had to shelve permanently in her personal collection do to the spine and the tattyness of the books. Getting second editions were always advisable for books that were often read, or at least that’s what Jessie did with her favorite books. “I personally like bookmarks. I can remember the place in the book but it’s so much faster to just open to the right page when you use a marker of some sort.”

Jessie nodded in understanding. One couldn’t spend all day in a bookstore unless of course you worked there. “It’s ok and we have the meeting every Monday after the store closes, we even have a story time once a month if you’re interested in coming. Your always welcome to just read some. In fact…” Jessie trailed off as she got an idea. “If you still have some time you can help me collect the books for my list and we can discuss some authors and genres as we go.” She took a few steps away and swiped one of the few baskets that the store had for patrons to hold books in. Apparently it had been forgotten back here in the stacks on the last walk through. “Teddy bears and rabbits are good for a tea party and even for a picnic but as book critics…. They are well known as being softies when it comes to talking about books.”