A Tour of the Palace

Effie sat at Reign's bedside, watching him silently as she slept. His chest slowly rose and fell with each gentle breath. His skin had returned to its usual color, and the dark circles around his eyes had almost completely cleared up. The look on his face was no longer contorted with pain, but finally peaceful and serene.

Effie looked down at her hands folded in her lap. Her fingers still tingled with the warmth of healing magic, letting her know that she had been successful. She'd tried to focus her power in the same way that she had done before when she healed him out in Moondshadow forest and it had worked. Somehow, Effie had managed to put an end to Reign's suffering if only for a little while. And almost immediately afterward, an exhausted Reign had drifted off into a peaceful, much needed sleep.

Effie smiled softly, her cheeks flushing red as she was afforded some time to study his beautiful face, admiring the softness of it.

He had talked about ancestry in a foreign land... what was it called again? Ah yes, Lageria. She wondered if everyone from there was just as beautiful and angelic as he was, or if his beauty was a rarity there as well. She was struck with sudden curiosity, but knew she could never ask him, because she'd basically be admitting that she admired his looks, which would be far too awkward.

"I suppose it's time for me to take my leave, your highness," she sighed, finally getting up from the chair and offering a curtsy to the sleeping Prince Reign. "I have to get back to the apothecary to help my Aunt Anise tend to things. You'd never believe the time we've been having..." Effie paused. Normally she wouldn't have brought it up, but she knew he couldn't hear her words as she spoke softly to his picturesque, sleeping face. "I know you told us it might be difficult going back, but I never imagined that the people of Evanore could be so vicious and vile. Ah, sorry my prince. I didn't mean to trouble you with such trivial matters. I will leave you to sleep. Rest well, your highness."

Then, as she turned to head for the exit, suddenly the large door to Reign's bedchamber burst open loudly, startling Effie so much she nearly stumbled backwards onto the foot of Reign's bed.

"Brother!" Cried a young girl, her voice full of concern yet still as melodic as a lark's.

The body that followed the voice was a girl, every bit as beautiful and angelic as Reign was himself. She was practically his female counterpart. Though she didn't look to be much older than sixteen. Long long, shining white hair, like his, flowed behind her as she rushed into the room. Her eyes, however, were not golden, but a beautiful shade of light blue- almost aquamarine.

"Brother! Are you ill again?"

Effie was so stunned by the young girl's appearance, she almost forgot to react. But somehow, she managed to come to her senses enough to respond.

"Shhhh," Effie hissed, pressing a finger against her lips, signaling toward the sleeping Reign.

The young girl froze, covering her mouth with both hands as if to stifle any further noise. The she inhaled sharply and whispered, "Is brother alright?"

At first glance, Effie wasn't surprised that Reign and this girl were siblings. One had only to look to see the resemblance. Both clearly shared the same mother unlike Torin who had apparently been born to King Jaspar's first Queen. What as her name again....? Queen Roseanne if Effie recalled correctly from the stories she'd heard.

"Prince Reign will be alright," Effie answered quietly. "At least for now. He's just resting."

"You must be the special healer from before," the girl said, her large, round eyes lighting up with a smile. "The one who helped with my brother with his curse? That was you, wasn't it!?"

"I- I guess so."

Reign's sister bounded excitedly toward Effie, powder-blue skirts and ribbons flying through the air behind her. Effie considered running away, but there was no time before the girl took both of Effie's hands eagerly in her own little gloved ones, her beautiful glittering eyes level with Effie's.

"So you're the one I must thank!" She blurted a little too loudly, though apparently not loudly enough to disturb Reign's sleep. "Brother has been changed! He's been a completely different person. He's like the Reign I used to know before the curse stole every ounce of happiness from him."

"Oh... well it's really no trouble at all. I just-"

"My name's Verity!" the girl beamed. "Verity Celia La Croix. And you are?"

'A beautiful name to suit a beautiful princess,' Effie thought to herself. Out loud she replied, "I'm Effie Barlow, your highness."

"Don't call me 'your highness,'" Verity stuck out her little pink tongue as if the name tasted bad in her mouth. "It makes me sound so stuffy and old. You can just call me Verity, okay?!"

"Alright then.... and you can just call me Effie. Everyone does."

"Okay then, Effie," Verity winked playfully. "It looks like you're all finished with brother over here, so why don't I give you a little tour of the palace since you'll be coming here more often. It's the least I can do."

"Ah, I appreciate the offer, but I really should be getting back to the apothecary soon..."

"Awww come on," Verity begged like a child. "Just one little peek around the palace. I'm sure it won't take up too much of your time."

"Fine," Effie sighed. "Only if it's quick." It wasn't like she was in any position to refuse a royal member of the La Croix family, not even a teenage princess. So reluctantly, she followed Verity as the girl bounded out of the room and down the hall.

"This is the royal gardens," Verity explained, as they walked through a huge, sprawling courtyard full of perfectly trimmed hedges and rosebushes of all kinds. The area was larger than Evanore's city square back at home, and much more exquisite. "It's my favorite place in the whole palace." Verity went on. "There's a huge gazebo over there, perfect for curling up inside of with a good book. Oh! And a there's a fun swinging bench over there. I used to play on it for hours when I was little. And there's even a small table in the corner over there for hosting tea parties! I've always wanted to have a tea party. Maybe you can be my first guest someday!"

Tea parties weren't really her thing, but Effie couldn't reject the look of anticipation sparkling in the girl's beautiful eyes. So instead, she chose not to respond to it at all. Instead, she said "it's really quite lovely."

"Isn't it?! But come on, there's more to see." Verity grabbed Effie's hand and pulled her in another direction.

The garden Verity had shown her was certainly nice, and Effie could envision the royals spending hours of their day taking strolls, and relaxing in the comfort of the large gazebo. However, the next place that Verity showed her proved to be Effie's favorite part of the tour by far.

"This is the palace's royal library," Verity said proudly. "The La Croix's have been gathering books and records from all across the world for hundreds of years, and bringing them back here."

Effie's breath caught in her throat at the sheer magnitude of this library. She didn't think she'd ever seen so many books in her life. Walls, and walls stacked high with shelves of nothing but books towered over her from all sides. The lower level was open all the way to the ceiling, and Effie could tell that the second story was also full of wall to wall bookshelves. It almost seemed surreal. Effie rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"As you can see, there's a large collection here. They say it's the largest collection in the world. You can read about anything you want. I enjoy romance, drama, and epic fantasy novels the best. How about you? What do you like to read about?"

"Medicine," Effie barely got the word out. She was still so stunned she felt like she needed to pick her jaw up from the floor. "Do you have books about medicine and plants?"

"If you name it, I'm sure we have it," Verity winked. "Let's go talk to Milo. He's the librarian here. Though he's stuffy and a bit of a snob, he's very good at his job. Somehow he knows exactly where each and every book can be found in this endless sea of books. That's probably why they keep him around here."

"Wait-" Effie began to protest, but Verity had already grabbed her by the hand again, and was dragging her through the library past row after row of bookshelf lining the hall, until finally the approached a large counter where a man stood on the other side. He had his back turned to them, sorting stacks of books.

"Good day, Milo!" Verity called out cheerfully. "Can you please tell us where to find the books on medicines and plants?"

"I'm busy." Milo said curtly.

"Aw, come on! Pleaaaaase? Pretty please!" Verity whined childishly. It was rather unbecoming of her age, but somehow it only made her cute face even cuter. "Do it for me, will you?"

An irritated sigh escaped him, and he finally turned to face the girls, revealing a surprisingly young appearance wearing a pair of large round glasses that were far too big for his face. His light chestnut hair was thick and curly, and his eyes were like two pieces of polished amber. He wasn't especially attractive but he wasn't bad looking either. He was average.

Still, Effie was rather surprised by his appearance. He was much younger than she'd expected; probably around her own age. Effie had always thought of librarians as old men with long grey beards and dark robes. Not that she'd ever had any real experience with librarians before. But from the few fictional books she had read in her life, she had built up a specific, albeit biased image in her mind of what librarian's should be, which this Milo guy was quickly shattering.

"Fine. Follow me," he said with irritation, pushing his large glasses up the bridge of his nose. "And don't touch anything unnecessarily."

Verity shot Effie a little triumphant smile when Milo wasn't looking, and then the two girls began trailing behind him as he made his through the library. He lead them up a tall, narrow, spiral staircase until they'd reached the second floor of books. There he made a bee-line across the room.

"Right here you will find the books on medicine." Milo said matter-of-factly, pointing to a particular shelf of books. " And over there, four shelves over you'll find the books on plants. Make sure you put every book back in its place. I will know if anything is out of order or missing. And I will be certain to make a report of it. Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I have much to do." Milo pushed his glasses up his nose again, and headed back downstairs where he had been sorting the books before.

"Well, what do you think?" Verity's eyes sparkled with delight. "Pretty impressive, isn't it?"

"It is..." Effie replied absently as she ran her finger along each book spine, reading their titles in her head as she did so.

'Ancient Medicinal Practices from the Far East...'

'The Medicine of The Gods...'

'New Discoveries in the Field of Medicine...'

Effie gingerly pulled out the last book that her finger landed on, and opened it, the spine cracked satisfyingly in her palm.

"Do you usually read such boring books?" Verity asked, looking over Effie's shoulder. "I can't even understand what all those big, fancy words mean."

"It's not boring to me. This is my livelihood."

"I suppose we're lucky for that then, aren't we?" Verity beamed. "If it wasn't for you, brother wouldn't be getting better."

Effie couldn't say if she was actually helping Reign to "get better." She didn't think she possessed the kind of magic that could break his curse. All she could seem to do was relieve his symptoms for a time before the curse overpowered her healing spell. If only she knew more about that curse... if only there was a way to break it and free Reign completely so he wouldn't... have to die. Effie's heart twisted achingly in her chest at the thought.

If only she was powerful enough save him...