Jaek

Jaekel upon exiting his room immediately headed for the room Rune had been using, which was right next to his own. That in particular he silently praised Rena for. When he knocked though there was no answer – she must already be up. He frowned slightly, wondering where she was. Back home, he would have assumed the library – and while he did not doubt that was where she would have liked to go – and he figured Rena did have some sort of library, his friend would not have known where it was.

Well, if she was not here – he decided he would just go where his feet led him. He might find her that way. As he wandered, he found himself looking at the pictures in the hallways – pictures of former members of the order with their names underneath.

He caught sight of a picture of two red haired woman together. One was obviously Rena – though she looked even younger and did not have a scar. The other woman had eyes that were a mixture of blue and green it seemed. Both of them had been in one of his dreams last night briefly. He wondered who the other woman was though.

He continued moving, only wanting to find his best friend. A few minutes later he found the library. And, not really to his surprise, Rune was in it reading. More surprising, Talon was also sitting surrounded by piles of books – also reading.

He hurried over, plopping down beside of Rune, "What's the book about?"

She glanced up at him. "It's a history book – of the old kingdoms!" She sounded excited. "Though… some of it jumps around and it sometimes glosses over stuff that nowadays would need more clarification…"

"Well, they probably did not expect some things to be forgotten or needed recorded." Jareth patted her head.

"Mmhmm. Still its an interesting read."

Talon suddenly spoke from his half circle of books. "If you write down what you need explained, I can see if I know later."

"Huh? Would you know it?" She asked excitedly.

Talon looked up at them, with a happy grin, "I'm a historian who can talk to some very old spirits. Earth spirits in particular have very long memory – though they are the hardest to get talking. But they do prefer talking about what happened in the past. So, I know a lot about the old kingdoms cause it's a topic that interests me."

"I will have to take advantage of that."

"Of course I might not get to answer you fully while we are on the road – I'll probably be quite distracted and doing my best in this role I have. But even after you all go back to Carendlus we could have a correspondence."

Jaekel listened to them with some interest – but his eyes were mostly on Rune's face. The way her eyes lit up was something he was sure he would never get tired of – not for the rest of their lives. He truly hoped she would never lose the interest in learning new things that she had always had.

Talon suddenly stood up, "I think everyone is moving now – why don't we go join them? Afterall today is going to be quite busy – at least for me."

Jaekel nodded and stood up, offering his hand to Rune who took it without a word as he hauled her up. With just a hint of reluctance in the back of his mind he released her hand and turned to follow Talon who was already heading out the door.

Rune followed after him. It was because he glanced back to look at her that he noticed it. The books that Talon and Rune had pulled down were moving – reshelving themselves. He was a bit taken aback – but decided that it was not important. Apparently the library had some sort of spell on it – he wondered though what other enchantments were around this place.

They were soon back at the dining hall where they had eaten yesterday – Rena was already setting breakfast on the table. A very wide spread. She smiled at them as they entered, a faintly happy look on her face, "Good morning, children. Sit down. I hope the tea helped some, Jaekel?"

While they had not exactly introduced themselves it did not surprise Jaekel that she seemed to know their names. He did wonder if perhaps she had known their names before they had been born – it seemed possible. This woman was after all someone who had devoted herself to divination.

Niliah came in as they all were sitting and joined them for the breakfast. As they ate, Talon directed a question towards Rena, "Is it ready for me to take the test or will we have to wait?"

"I have already prepared it for you. I wish you great fortune in your first trial." She said calmly. "It will probably take you a while though – the last time it was taken it took a whole three days and from the records that's actually pretty short – most of them take a week to make it through. One even took a whole month."

"Okay."

"Meanwhile, the rest of you." She turned to look at them, "My house is at your disposal – as am I. I do not mind you going anywhere you like."