Curse Divide

[DarkAngel013]

Her:
He was too occupied, staring blankly off to the distance that he barely heard her laughter. Her light tap on his shoulder brought his attention back to the present. A frown of confusion creased his brows when he found himself staring at a strangely familiar girl, yet he didn't recognize her.

"Hello, Jegan.... It's a good morning, yes?"

The mage? He retreated a step hastily and bowed. "Good morning, my lady. It's a pleasant morning indeed." Formal... but he couldn't help himself when his mind was truly elsewhere. Formality was something he could easily slip into, like an automaton. He hoped it didn't sound too distant... otherwise, from what he had seen from the previous day- the mage was a brittle little thing.

"Have you any plans, my lady?" he asked, putting on his polite smile. "The two Knights whom the King had appointed were supposed to meet your ladyship today, but there was an urgent matter they had to look after. I hope a day's wait isn't too long?"

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Me:
Immediately, she noticed the distant response, blushing slightly at the bow. "Y-You don't have to bow to me," she muttered, slightly embarrassed. She looked at him, realizing that he was having his mind elsewhere; after all, he was acting the way she did when she was deeply thinking about something else as it was always easy to be formal with someone when you can also begin to think about something else.

Something inside of her felt uneasy, and the dream still hadn't faded away like most dreams usually do. The feelings were still raw on her skin...

She shook it off quickly when he asked what her plans were for the day. Then he mentioned the other two rune knights that were coming along with. I wonder if they're going to be male or female? she thought for a moment, before turning her attention back to Jegan.

"Well, I'm ready to meet them whenever they are ready, I wouldn't want to impose on them," she said, frowning slightly. "Although, I'm probably already am so it'd be pointless of me to even say that." She sighed. "Well... I guess I'm just going to go into the library to read some stuff, seeing as if I practice my magic here, people here would just want to kill me or shoot bad looks at me."

She twitched slightly before turning on her heel. "Where's the library or shall I have to go explore the castle myself to find it?"

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Her:
"Y-You don't have to bow to me," she muttered, slightly embarrassed.

He tilted his head curiously when she blushed and chuckled quietly after. "It's a common etiquette we are all expected to show whenever we greet our charge, lords or ladies. It is expected that I bow to you. Perhaps our culture is too... formal to you?"

A slight pained smile tugged the edge of his lips when he caught the faint despair in her tone. The mage loves magic.... Just like how he loves to study the ancient runic magic. "The people here... do not trust magic, especially magic that the people of Rania utilizes," he said hesitantly. "I do know a place, however, where you can probably use your magic freely. But let me show you the library first."

Jegan crossed the courtyard and headed towards one of the stone arcs that led into the connected buildings of the Royal grounds. "Come." He paused to beckon her, ensuring that she was astride him where he could see her before he continued forward, through the extensive first hall, into passage ways and up a few flights of grand stairs.

They had passed a few people- mainly the guards, then some in fine robes, either hurrying about or leisurely crossing the floors. Just at the end of the corridor was a dimly lit flight of stairs that twisted upwards. He continued up, occasionally glancing back to see if she was following, or if she had any trouble.

When they had finally emerged onto a balcony, Jegan stood at the golden rails and extended a hand outwards. "This is the mid-level of the Grand library of the Royal grounds." His face was masked with silent fascination, wonder, pride and a small wistful smile touched his lips. The structure of the library was gigantic, majestic. The dome above had a clear glass, rimmed with colorful stained glass that depicted horsemen and fantastical beings. Like a massive birdcage, the curved walls were lined with books and scrolls. Several balconies stretched around like rings above and below. Paths of marbles stretched from several levels to converge, forming platforms- places where tables and chairs stood. Some green robed people were about and bustling on the first floor, piling books, passing pages.

Jegan frowned slightly when he saw a group of them clustered together, ushering a boy through a door. It was too far to see what appeared... off about him, but one of the possible reasons could be due to the fact that the boy was staggering along like a drunk. Well... and I thought I'd get a break from worrying....

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Me:
"It's a common etiquette we are all expected to show whenever we greet our charge, lords or ladies. It is expected that I bow to you. Perhaps our culture is too... formal to you?"

"It's not that, it's just I'm not used to people actually bowing to me, per say, after all, many didn't really treat me like royalty," she said, shifting slightly. She paused as he replied to her comment on where she could practice her magic, and her eyes lit up for the first time since coming here.

She followed after him, happy that no one gave her a second look as many would have back at her home castle. For once, she felt lighter than before, glad that no one actually gave her a look of distaste or of something of jealousy or anything that relates with bad emotions.

The castle was beautiful, gorgeous even. She followed him up the stairs until he lead her out onto a balcony, overseeing many rows of books as well as the overall design of the place. It was absolutely stunning. The art and the way everything was line up in the library were absolutely gorgeous and she fell in love with books all over again, feeling happy that these books were taken such good care of.

"I'm glad to see that the library here is beautiful," she whispered, her awe still in her eyes as they skimmed the walls until she came to see a bunch of robed people ushering someone away. She tilted her head in questioning.

"Are they supposed to do that and is that guy that they're ushering off supposed to be acting like that?" she asked her voice soft as if something bugged her about it. Although, her mind at the moment was full of thoughts about the library's book collection and what she might find inside them, but part of her nature was to notice suspicious things, such as what the green robed people below had just done and it was done out of pure habit, from living around deceitful people all of the time. "That didn't look right..." she added a few moments later, as if it were an afterthought, her voice depicting that she was slightly worried.

End of Chapter Three.