15 The Library

When I woke up, Erevan was gone. I sat up in the bed and looked around hoping to see some sign that would explain why he wasn't here. But there was no trace of him anywhere. I sighed as I sat at the edge of the bed.

"I wish he at least left some kind of note."

I stretched for a bit before heading down to the main floor of the inn. The keeper was there cleaning the main counter and stopped when he noticed me.

"Good morning miss. Is there something you need?"

"Yeah actually. Can I ask you something?"

The inn keeper stopped what he was doing and looked at me ready for my question.

"Do you know anything about the war? Or elves?"

The man folded his arms and slowly shook his head.

"No ma'am. I don't really care for stuff like that but there is a small library here. Doubt you'll find anything useful though. This town may be bigger then others but it's still small so we don't have much use for things like that."

"Where is it?"

"If you walk out of the inn and go to the fountain in the middle of town turn right and it's somewhere near there."

"Ok thank you."

I turned around and walked out of the door seeing that the roads were already full of people. I could smell fresh bread baking and I watched as kids ran around playing with their friends. It was so lively here. For a second I didn't care that I wasn't at home or that I was in a completely new world. It was a great feeling I hadn't felt in a long time.

I pushed the thoughts aside and started heading down the path to the library. As I was walking many people looked at me with some weird looks. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. A kid ran into me and fell down to the ground. I crouched down and placed my hand on his head as I noticed the tears in his eyes.

"Are you ok?"

I gave the boy a small smile hoping not to freak him out or anything but he already seemed like he was scared of me. I couldn't help but show my pain on my face. A woman I assumed was his mother quickly ran up to him and grabbed his arm lifting him up. She started pulling him away but his eyes wouldn't leave mine.

"Come dear. Don't mess with that woman she's no good."

Her words definitely hurt me and she purposely said it loud enough for me to hear. After she said that I finally noticed all the voices around me and the looks I was getting from the people.

"She's definitely not from around here."

"Why does she look like that? Is she an elf?"

"I bet she's from the capital but what would she be doing here?"

I shook my head and tried my best to ignore what everyone was saying. I got up and brushed the dirt off of my dress. I'm supposed to be acting like a lady of class, right? Might as well show it.

I went back to walking to where I assumed was the center of town. I couldn't possibly ask anyone for help at this rate. As I kept walking I could soon hear some sound. It was the sound of water flowing and I knew I was near the fountain. I tried picking up my pace but not too much so people couldn't see my excitement. Once I got to the fountain I couldn't help but let go for a bit. It reminded me of somewhere. Seeing the water flow and feeling the mist come from it made me remember my home. What it reminded me of exactly, I couldn't tell, but I was still pleased.

I stayed there for a bit staring at the fountain when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around only to see Erevan. I smiled when I saw him but when I took a closer look I realized he was holding a rather large bag with some stuff in it.

"What's in that?"

"Just some stuff. Mainly clothes for you since I realized you didn't have anything."

"Oh. Thanks. Is that what you've been doing this morning?"

"Yep. I'm running low on money now so I can't get much else. We should start leave in a couple days. Epona still needs to rest."

"Sounds good."

We stood there for a bit in silence just looking at each other. I started to feel myself get a little nervous so I took a step back hoping he'd say something already.

"What are you doing out here?"

"O-oh! I was um, looking for the library!"

Erevan gave me a strange look before sighing and shaking his head.

"Why would you go there? This town is too small to have anything useful. It's probably just a bunch of novels and fairy tales for kids."

"It still doesn't hurt looking."

Erevan stood there for a bit thinking. It was as if he was trying to find some excuse or reason to just keep me from going there. Was there something he was trying to hide from me?

"Ok, fine. But we can't stay there too long. Even though we're in a town we shouldn't be out past dark."

I felt myself smile and jumped up in joy.

"Yay! Let's go!"

Erevan shook his head but had a smile on his face just like me. He folded his arms and I saw the bag more clearly now.

"Oh, do you want to drop that off first before we go?"

He looked down at it before answering me.

"Nah it's not heavy or anything. I don't mind carrying it."

"Alright then let's go."

He nodded his in response and we started walking to where the library was. I was only going where the inn keeper has told but after a bit Erevan got in front of me and started leading the way. Come to think of it he also knew where to get all of that stuff for our trip too. Has he been here before or something?

I was too deep in thought when I bumped into him. I stepped back a bit and groaned as I rubbed my nose.

"Ouch that hurt."

Erevan turned around and didn't seem to have noticed I bumped into him.

"We're here."

I looked over only to see a small building. He wasn't wrong it is small. It's nothing like the one's I've seen back at home. Then again home was very different from here.

"Wanna head inside?"

I locked eyes with him for second before pushing the door and walking into the small building. Once in I could tell it was definitely a library. The place smelled like old books and there was an old man standing by a book shelf. He seemed to have been moving them around as if to put them in order. I walked up to him and cleared my throat. Slowly he turned around and looked at me. I gave him a simple smile before introducing myself.

"Hi my name is Isabelle. I was wondering if you had any books on the history of this place. Or just any kind of history."

The man was quiet for a bit before slowly shaking his head.

"No miss. I'm sorry but the one's I do have are old and falling apart. Besides they're written in the old language."

"Oh. Thank you anyways."

I was about to walk out when Erevan stopped me.

"I know some old English. Mind if we can still look at it?"

The old man raised his eyebrows.

"A young man like yourself knowing that old stuff? You must be a noblemen. That or an elf. Either way I won't ask. I'll get it but stay out of the sunlight with it and I'm afraid I can't let you leave the building with it."

I felt my face brighten up.

"Really! Oh, thank you so much!"

He nodded his head once before slowly turning around and heading into what looked like a back room. When he came back he had this red book in his hands. It was rather large and dusty. Erevan held out his hands before accepting it from the man and looked at it for a bit. "Thanks," is all he said before heading off to somewhere in the room.

I quickly followed him and found him at a table in a corner next to some bookshelves. There were a couple seats so I took the other one.

"You ready?"

I nodded my head and looked down at the book. I wasn't going to lie I was excited to learn something about this world.

"Alright, no time like the present."