Chapter 10

Aduil was as good as his word, and two weeks later, they were flying through the journal, almost to the point that they could chat as old friends. Even Kate's Elvish was coming along, though not nearly so fast as Aduil's English. She figured it would take her months, if not years, to reach his level of fluency, but then, it was probably easier for him since he was an elf, and naturally talented in such things. He'd laughed it off when she'd told him as much, insisting that languages had always been the weakest of his studies, though, he had added with a smile, perhaps he had only lacked the proper motivation.

She had tried not to read anything into that, she really did, but she couldn't deny the way her heart fluttered at those words. Or at the way his whole face seemed to light up when they met in the mornings, as if it had been months and not hours since they had last seen each other, and he had been counting the minutes. Or when she caught him out of the corner of her eye, watching her with such a soft, awed expression, like he couldn't quite believe she was real.

She was probably just imagining it—she only seemed to attract creeps, and Aduil was far from that—but even if it was real, it didn't matter. And even if Kate had to remind herself of that more and more frequently as the days passed, it still didn't matter. Because, unless something went horribly wrong, she was going home, and she refused to start something she couldn't finish.

Still, they were learning a lot about each other with the amount of time they spent together. For instance, Kate quickly learned that Aduil couldn't sit still for more than a few hours before he became fidgety and frustrated and, frankly, useless. So, they had taken to going for walks just after lunch, and in the late afternoons or early evenings, usually to the garden—which Kate had learned was actually called the bower, but that sounded so stuffy, she refused to call it anything but the garden—or just around the larger parts of the library. It wasn't much—she'd much rather go explore the village—but the change of scenery was more than welcome, and it was worth the interruption if it meant they could actually get things done; besides, it was comfortable and relaxing, and she was getting used to the curious glances of the other elves they passed.

"What is it about spiral staircases that make them so much more fun to climb than regular staircases?" Kate asked as they stepped out onto the third-floor mezzanine. She winked and waved at an elf to their left who was doing a bad job of pretending not to stare, before she followed Aduil to the right.

Aduil chuckled. "I can not say. I have never…known any staircase to be fun." His eyes narrowed as he paused briefly before adding, "No, that is not true. There is a staircase with a… I do not know the word." He gestured to the railing to his right.

"Banister," Kate supplied.

"Ae, banister. There is a staircase in the east hall with a…curved banister, which Lindolir and I would slide down when we was small. That was fun."

"Really?" Kate laughed.

"Why do you sound surprised? Do you not think me…capable of such an act?" He raised an eyebrow and glanced back at the staircase as if thinking of proving he could do it.

"No, no, it's just… you elves all seem so dignified and elegant. I just wouldn't expect it, is all."

"We was elflings," he reminded her.

"Were. You were elflings." Kate corrected.

"Is 'was' not past tense?"

"Yeah, but 'were' is for two or more; I was, we were."

"Ae," he said with a slow nod.

"Anyway, I guess kids are kids wherever you go," she conceded with a shrug. She still couldn't quite picture it, though.

"What is 'kids'?"

"Oh, it's slang for children. Which brings me back to what I was saying before. See, when the author of the journal wrote 'the place was hopping,' he meant it was busy, there were a lot of people there, not that it was literally jumping up and down."

"So, slang is a word…changed to mean another word?"

"In the simplest terms, yeah, but the original meaning usually still stands. Like, 'kid' originally meant a baby goat, but it was adapted to also mean a child. Or elfling, I guess, in your case. But there are others with multiple meanings. Like, uh…oh, sweet. It can refer to taste, like, 'that fruit is sweet,' or it can be used to describe a kind person or act, or to express that you're pleased with something, or to describe something cute and adorable."

"But how do you know…which it is?"

"Through context. Like, take fruit again. If I took a bite of an apple and I said, 'this is sweet,' I'm most likely referring to the taste, right? But if I said, 'oh look, that baby is so sweet,' am I still talking about taste?"

Aduil chuckled. "Only if you…" He paused, as if trying to find the word, then stuck his tongue out and mimicked licking.

"Exactly." Kate laughed. "Only if I had licked the baby. Which, by the way, I would never do. That would just be weird."

"It is still… strange to me, yet I believe I understand," he said as they stopped in front of a bookcase that was a lot slimmer than any of the others, just a little wider than a doorway.

"Yeah, it can be a little confusing," Kate said as Aduil lightly tugged on the bookshelf, pulling it away from the wall. "Especially since the words keep changing because every generation comes up with their own slang. Actually, I don't think I even know half of what the current slang is, just what was popular when I was a kid. Do kids still say 'cool'? Wait, who am I asking, you wouldn't know."

"Kate."

"Yeah?" He was looking at her expectantly. "What?"

Aduil rolled his eyes with a small smile and pushed the bookcase back to the wall then, with a pointed look at Kate, pulled it back out again, revealing a doorway hidden behind it.

"Oh. Oh! A secret door! Sweet!" Kate laughed as she leaned over to peek inside. All she could make out was a distant wall of gray stone. "Where does it go?"

"Perhaps we should find out," he suggested with a shallow bow as he swept an arm out in a 'after you' gesture.

"Well, I figured you would already know, but alright." She grinned and stepped through the door. It opened onto a landing for another staircase, this one wrapping around the inner wall of a wide tower. She couldn't see how far down it went, but it looked like it only rose one more floor.

"Interesting," she glanced at Aduil, who had stopped beside her, "up or down?"

"Up," he answered, and they began to climb.

"Can I ask," Kate started when they were about halfway up, "why is this secret? There doesn't seem to be anything particularly valuable here. Unless it leads to a secret laboratory or something. Wait." She stopped and spun to face him a few steps below her.

"Is it a secret laboratory?" she asked, eyes wide with excitement, imagining a room filled with elven alchemists working magic with glowing cauldrons and crystals and bell jars and vials, surrounded by shelves filled with all sorts of nifty tools and gizmos.

Aduil cocked his head. "I…am not certain what that is, but there is nothing secret about this place. Only the doors from the library are hidden, and I am told that is only to make room for more books."

"Ah." Shoulders drooping a bit in disappointment, she started up the stairs again. "Well, I guess I can't fault you for that. No such thing as too many books."

There was nothing particularly special about the door on the wide landing at the top of the stairs, at least nothing that jumped out at Kate. It was just plain wood without any carvings or adornments of any kind. Boring really. Still, she hesitated with a backward glance at Aduil, who nodded, before she opened it.

The sound of rushing water was the first thing to hit her as she stepped out onto a small balcony. She followed the sound to a waterfall off to the right, some distance away but almost eye level from where she stood. Beyond that the forest seemed to go on forever, as far as the eye could see, the treetops cast in the golden glow of the sinking sun as it painted the sky in pinks and oranges, like the sweetest of peaches.

"Oh, wow," Kate murmured as Aduil came to stand beside her.

"What do you think?"

"You show me the coolest stuff," she said, shaking her head in wonder.

"Coolest… slang, yes? It means good?"

"Very good," she agreed, bumping his shoulder with hers. "You're getting the hang of it."

He beamed at her before turning his attention to the view.

"This is one of my…favorite places," he said after a while.

"I can see why. Bring out a few lawn chairs, a little table for drinks and snacks, and I could spend the whole day out here. It's so peaceful."

Aduil only nodded to that, and Kate leaned her crossed arms on the railing, an easy silence falling over them as they watched the sunset.

It was a long while before either of them spoke again.

"May I ask you a question?" Aduil said, and Kate couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about his tone that made her wish he wouldn't.

"Uh, sure, I guess," she said hesitantly. "Shoot. I mean, go ahead."

"Ae." He studied her for a few moments before he asked, "How do you know my brother?"

Kate froze, only for a second, before turning back to the sunset, hoping he hadn't noticed. "Your brother?" she asked.

"Lindolir," he said with a hard edge to his soft voice. "Please do not act that you do not know who he is."

"I'm not acting, you never said he was your brother, I wasn't sure," she said, maybe just a bit too defensively.

"Lindolir is my brother. How do you know him? How do you know him before you met him in the forest?"

"Did," she muttered. "Well, he's a prince, isn't he? Doesn't everyone know him?"

"Our people, yes, but few…from outside know him on sight. And none carry his portrait."

Right. The bookmark. She'd known that would come up eventually, and would be hard to explain, especially without mentioning the Talerian Chronicles. Thankfully, she'd had some time to come up with what she hoped was a plausible answer.

"Well, there's this trader," she started.

"A trader?" Aduil frowned.

"Yeah, Malric." Kate nodded, using the name of a side character she remembered from the book. "He was a friend of my family, and he did trade all over Taleria back in the day, before he died." Oh. She hoped she wasn't jinxing things with that. Malric wasn't supposed to die in the story. Then again, he was human, he'd have to die eventually.

"Anyway," she went on, "Malric came to the Meadowood a few times, and apparently, he saw Lindolir here. I don't think he ever talked to him, but I guess just seeing him was enough, and he, well, he kind of fell for him."

"Fell… for him. What does this mean?"

"Fell in love," Kate said. "You know, love?" She held a hand over her heart and let out a dreamy sigh to try to demonstrate.

Aduil slowly shook his head and Kate scratched hers, trying to think of a better way to explain.

"Oh, I know," she said. "It's like on the first page of the journal, when the author saw that woman, the way he described her, and all the things he was feeling about her."

Aduil's eyes widened slightly as understanding dawned. "Love…" he repeated softly.

"Yeah," Kate said with a huff of a laugh. "So, Malric saw Lindolir and fell in love on sight, and whenever he came home, Lindolir was all he wanted to talk about. He'd go on for hours if you let him, about Lindolir's beauty and strength and agility, blah, blah, blah. Kind of drove the rest of us nuts, to be honest. And that's where, uh, what did you call it? The portrait. That's where the portrait came from, too. Malric drew it."

"This Malric was a fine…artist," he said slowly, as if he didn't quite believe it.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Kate said with a nervous giggle.

Aduil frowned. "Well…it is a fine drawing, and—"

"What? No, 'tell me about it' is uh, it's sort of a different kind of slang. It means 'I understand and agree'."

"Ae. Your language is… confusing."

"Tell me about it," Kate said with a wink, earning herself a small, but brief, smile.

"What of the Tolar? You called it 'Jex'."

"Ah, yeah, Jex." This was where the story got a little less believable, but honestly, for all the time she'd spent thinking on it, she couldn't come up with anything better.

Kate looked out over the forest, the sun had almost set now, then turned her attention to her hands, picking at a bit of grime under her nail as she spoke. "Like I said, Malric didn't know Lindolir, not really, but he wanted to, so much so that he would imagine things about him; what he was like, what he did with his time, stuff like that. And he started making up stories about Lindolir, because I guess it made him feel closer to him or something. Anyway, in one of those stories, Lindolir found a wounded Tolar, Jex, and he helped him, saved him from the slavers he'd run away from, and the two became friends. They went on all sorts of adventures together, and even saved the world once."

It was almost true. The part about how Lindolir and Jex met, and how the two of them—with the help of a few others—saved the world, that all happened. Or would happen. Assuming Kate didn't do anything to screw it up, anyway. Because if Aduil didn't know who Jex was, then the story hadn't started yet, and while that was a relief in some ways—there was a lot of scary crap between those pages she'd really rather not face—it made having the book in this world that much more dangerous and meant that Kate had to be so much more careful about what she did and said. The right word at the wrong time could spell disaster. But if he thought it was just a story…

Kate dropped her hands and looked up at Aduil to gauge his reaction, but his impassive expression showed nothing of his thoughts. He was turned away from her, looking out at the view, and as the silence stretched between them, Kate searched for some way to fill it, some way to convince him, but she couldn't think of anything that wouldn't tip her hand. In the end, she just leaned on the railing, settling herself in for a long, uncomfortable wait.

"A story…" Aduil said at last. "That is truly all it is? A simple story from a fool in… love?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "I mean, I wouldn't call him a fool, Malric was a good guy, but yeah, that's pretty much it."

When she glanced over at him, he was still facing away, but he was nodding, his posture more relaxed, like a weight had been lifted and the world was making sense again.

"Can I ask you something now?" She kind of hated to ruin the moment, but she had to know.

"Yes. Shoot," he said with a sweet little smile she couldn't help but return.

"What did you think? About the picture on the bookmark, I mean. Why did you think I had it?"

"In truth, I did not know. Though, I admit, I feared the worst. That you had come to harm my brother."

"So then, why have you been so nice to me? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it, but… well, I don't have any brothers or sisters, but if I thought someone was threatening someone I love, I don't think I could be nice to them. I think I'd probably get violent. In fact, I know I would."

"Violent?"

"Yeah, like a fight," she said, dropping into a fighting stance and putting up her dukes to illustrate.

Aduil raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Is that how you fight?"

"No," Kate said defensively, letting her arms fall. "It was just to show you what I meant. I wouldn't actually try to fight you; I'd probably get stabbed by one of your buddies over there." She jerked her head to the door, and it was only then she noticed it was closed. With the guards on the other side. Huh.

"I would not…not allow them to harm you," Aduil said softly, pulling Kate's attention back to him. "I believe I have shown that."

"Yeah," she murmured with a half a smile. "You have."

"Besides," he said, and the smirk was back. "If that is a… a show of your skills, I believe I am safe."

"Hey, don't underestimate me, buddy." She narrowed her eyes. "I have moves you've never seen. I might be able to take you."

"Take me…where?" he asked, confusion written across every feature.

"No, take you in a fight." Kate laughed. "Like, I could win."

"Mmmm, yes. I am certain you could." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I've seen you move, you're too fast for me." She paused before adding, "In a fair fight, that is. I'd have to catch you off guard."

"Is that a challenge?" Aduil asked, leaning forward with a wicked grin.

"Pfft. What? No, why would it be a challenge?" Kate waved the idea away, like it was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. Aduil straightened, his smile slipping away.

"If it was a challenge, you'd see it coming," she finished, and was rewarded with a laugh. Not that little chuckle she'd become used to, but an untamed laugh, full and deep and joyful. She liked the little chuckle, more than she wanted to admit, but oh, this was something else, and she couldn't help a little giggle of her own as she basked in its warmth.

A bit of Aduil's hair had come loose from its tie at some point and flittered in his face. As he reached up to fix it, his sleeve fell just enough to reveal the edges of a few swirled lines etched into his skin.

"What's that?" she asked. "Do you have a tattoo?"

Aduil paused, following her gaze to his wrist. "I…am not certain. What is a 'tattoo'?" he asked as he finished his task and dropped his hands.

"Oh, a drawing, a permanent drawing on the skin. Though, sometimes it's words or numbers, just something significant to the person getting it."

"Then, no, it is not a tattoo. I did not 'get it', I have always had it, from the… the first moments of my life."

"You were born with it? Like when you were a baby?"

"Yes. It is a…" he trailed off, brow furrowed in thought. "What do you call it, the… the you that is inside you? The…thing that gives you life?"

"Lifeforce, maybe?" she suggested, squinting as she scratched her cheek. "No, wait. Spirit, or soul."

"Soul, then. It is my soul mark. It is the first words I will hear my… my One speak."

"Your One… Like a soulmate? The person you'll spend the rest of your life with?"

"That sounds right," he answered.

"Huh. Is it always on the wrist?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Aduil dropped his gaze, just for a moment, before he nodded.

Well. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Besides, she reminded herself, it's a good thing. One more reason not to get attached.

"So, what does it say?" she asked with a bit of forced cheer.

Aduil tugged at his sleeve, though the mark was already fully covered, hesitating before he answered, "It is not… kind."

"What, you mean like an insult?"

"…yes."

"Oh, well, now I have to know!" Kate grinned. "What does it say?"

"It… though it is known I have a mark, it is not… not to share, save for close family, until the marked meet," Aduil explained.

"Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"It is well," he said with a small smile.

Kate tapped her fingers on her leg, an awkward silence growing between them as they both looked out to the horizon. The sun was almost gone, just the faintest glow behind the tips of the trees.

"Do all elves have soul marks?" she blurted, to break the silence more than anything else, though she was curious. The books hadn't made any mention of soul marks, but then, they hadn't exactly been romance novels. Not much room for finding a soul mate when you're fighting for your life and the fate of the free world.

"No, only those who must meet." Aduil frowned slightly. "Are there no soul marks where you come from? No Ones?"

"Uh, no. Why must they meet?" she asked before he could follow that up with more questions of his own.

"It is... difficult to say," he answered after a moment's thought. "It may be that the two are to... to do something that one alone cannot. Perhaps they will... make something, fight a great battle or even... cause an idea in another. It may be known upon meeting, or long after, if it is known at all. Whatever the why of it, it is always...important, always needed."

"Huh. That sounds like a lot of pressure. What if your One is somewhere on the other side of the world, with no way to travel? Or if they die before you have a chance to meet? Or you do meet, but you don't even like each other?"

"If it must be, it will." Aduil shrugged, glancing away. "But come, the hour grows long. We should return."

"Alright," Kate agreed. "But this place is awesome, we have to come back here at some point. As long as I can grab something warmer first," she added under her breath, rubbing at her arms. Maybe that cloak in the wardrobe. She'd already taken to wearing the elven clothes she'd found in there—because no one had batted an eye when she'd done it the first time, so why not—and they were a lot warmer than her own, but if the temperature kept dropping as it was, they wouldn't help much longer. And it was chilly on the balcony. Well, it was chilly everywhere, but if there'd been any wind, she'd have been shaking like a leaf.

"As you wish." Aduil bowed, sweeping a hand out to the door with a little flourish.

Well, how gallant, she thought, glad for the growing darkness to hide her blush as she slipped past him and out the door.

The guards, if they were upset to have been excluded, gave no sign of it as she and Aduil passed and they fell into step behind, but then, she really wouldn't have expected it of them. Statues could take lessons from those elves.

"So, the first thing your One will ever say to you is an insult, huh?" Kate said as they started down the tower. "That doesn't seem to bode well."

"Perhaps I will do something to…invite it," Aduil answered.

"I don't know…" she mused. "I can't really see that. You're too sweet."

A soft chuckle sounded from behind her, and she paused to glance back at him. "You're thinking about that 'licking babies' thing again, aren't you?"

He bobbed his head in a quick little nod and Kate rolled her eyes, but smiled as she started down the stairs again.

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Translations

Ae. Ah.