Soltera: The Times of Trouble (Full)

[Kaewyn Star]

Ari gave a sideways look to her mother and then to Kit. Kit’s flattery had obviously worked because Sabina was all flustered and ran back into the house muttering under her breath about the “lovely young gentleman with such impeccable manners.” Ari showed him inside, leading him through the foyer and to the sitting room where a huge fire was blazing. This was Ari’s favorite room in the house because it had a huge western window with a spectacular view of the water. Kit immediately went to the window, in awe of this magical view. Ari placed her homework down on one of the tables and offered to take his. He graciously refused and placed it next to hers instead.

“I hope you don’t mind me eating with you tonight,” he added remembering her odd expression at the door.

Ari shook her head slightly, and for the first time looked Kit directly in the eyes. Her heart skipped a beat as she explored his kind gaze. His eyes were like deep emeralds with small flecks of golden brown around the edges that made Ari weak at the knees. Ari smiled. She had never had a boyfriend, but then again she had never wanted one from the poor selection at school. She knew Kit was one of the nicer, and cuter, ones, but never got the courage up to talk to him.

Just then Sabina burst into the room. “I was thinking that it would be a lovely night to eat at the Silver Spoon, don’t you?” Sabina had, in record timing, run to her room and changed her clothes. During the day Ari’s mother gave archery lessons to younger children who haven’t started school yet, not really for the money, but so she will have something to do all day, and since she didn’t want to return to service with the honor guard, she chose teaching instead. Now Sabina was wearing a semi-formal dress of deep blue with silver trim. She always looked beautiful, but when she dressed up, Ari’s mother could have any man in the whole of Ballaryn.

“But I am not dressed for such a dinner, mother,” was Ari’s initial response looking down at her scout’s attire and then to her mother’s lovely dress. Unlike her mother, Ari took quite a while to get ready for fancy outings, and she felt she never lived up to her mother’s image.

“Well, I am not dressed that nice either, Ari,” Kit cut in. “And I would feel embarrassed to be the only one that was underdressed.” He ended his sentence with a small wink.

“Oh, yes, yes,” came Sabina’s reply, catching on. “You look fine, darling. You know you are ten times more beautiful than I.” Ari rolled her eyes, but felt much better about going to dinner.

**********

The dinner went very well as a matter of fact. Ari relaxed and laughed a lot with her mother and Kit. They ate a good meal of venison and vegetables, and enjoyed the bard that was there, telling stories and singing songs. At the end of the night, Kit escorted the two women back to their house, which was two blocks from the restaurant, and said goodnight. The sun had set a while ago, and the street lamps were lit, but people were still walking up and down the roads.

Sabina was still excited after Ari shut the door. She grabbed her daughter and dragged her into the sitting room. For the rest of the evening Ari’s mother wouldn’t let her rest until every detail was spilled. Ari had so much fun it was hard for her to sleep that night, but for the first time, she didn’t think it would be a problem for her to be on time to the Library tomorrow.  

[Ronyo Storm]

Kit walked home after his interesting night with Ari and her mother. It had defiantly been an interesting night to say the least. His walk home didn’t take long being only one district from Ari’s. Upon reaching his house he found his father sitting in one of there many trees. He looked down at Kit as he passed under him.

“So, what might be your reason for being out late?”

“One of my class mates mother invited me to dinner. I didn’t want to seem rude. I hope that was ok?” Kit smiled as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Of course it’s ok, we wouldn’t want you being rude to anyone, so who was the class mate?” Kit’s father asked with a grin.

“Her name is Ari Morningstar, she’s a scout.”

“Morningstar you say? How is Sabina?”

“She’s fine, and has a very active personality.”

“That’s Sabina, good to hear it. Alright you bets get in the house before Nova come out after you.” Kit’s dad said with a grin as he warned Kit about his kid sister.

Nova was an interesting girl to have as a sister. She regarded her fashion since to be of the highest taste and was always trying new outfit ideas. She was fare with the blades and would probably be great when she grew up. Although she will have to work on that temper of hers.

Entering his house Kit was immediately ambushed by Nova. She stood looking at him with a wry grin playing on her face. She was wearing her blue and black ensemble and had already taken her hair down, that normally took her an hour to do.

“Hey there bro, what took you so long?” Nova asked while tapping her foot

Kit smiled as he walked past her, “ A class mates mother asked me to dinner with them, I didn’t want to seem rude.

“An who might this class mate be?” again with the foot stomping

Kit smiled and tussled her hair a bit, “I’ll tell you in the morning. Night fashion queen.”

With that Kit went to his room and went almost immediately to bed. Tomorrow was going to be another full day.  

[Kaewyn Star]

The next week went by unnaturally fast, too fast. Before Ari knew it, it was the last day of her sentence, which strangely felt like the last day of bliss. She had so enjoyed getting to spend her days working in the Library surrounded by the books that she loved, and being with Kit everyday wasn’t so bad either. Ari had finally found someone who she could talk to… really talk to, and she enjoyed it very much. She no longer felt so lonely.

At the end of the day, Mrs. Birdsong approached them with one of her rare smiles. “Well, I very much hope that you two have learned something about not fighting being here away from the temptations. Now, however, you are being sent back to your regular classes, and I know that some of the students can be hard to get along with, but I trust you two will try your best. On a good note, since your behavior has been exemplary this past week, I have arranged a reward, which will be taken away if you are caught in another fight.” Ari and Kit both nodded in understanding and looked at each other with confused and excited expressions. “I have arranged for both of you to have after school activities. For you Ari, since I know how fond you are of books and how many times you have told me you wish you could work here, your wish shall be granted. Since my current assistant has asked for a significant vacation to accomplish her book, I have decided to offer the job to you, if you would like it,” Mrs. Birdsong paused waiting for her response.

“Yes, yes, I would be honored,” Ari couldn’t help but run up to Mrs. Birdsong and hug her. The librarian looked very shocked by this reaction, and so was Ari. She quickly righted herself and apologized. Mrs. Birdsong just smiled and nodded and then turned to Kit.

“And for you Mr. Leafstorm… at first I thought about offering you the same position, but then thought about your background. I have talked to the royal stable master and he has agreed to allow you a position under him, helping with the animals. Your job would include helping to train the hunting dogs and birds, caring for the horses, and other such things. What do you think?” Once again she paused and waited for a response.  

[Ronyo Storm]

Kit nodded with a smile at the offer from Mrs. Birdsong.

“Thank you Mrs. Birdsong, I shall not let you down.”

Kit was excited about his new job. After walking Ari home the young swordsman told his parents, who were thrilled. Nova just seemed horrified at the idea of shoveling horse manure. Kit just laughed and rolled his eyes. The next day he reported to the stable master.

*********

“When your done with the stables come out here and help me with the dogs Kit,” Said Vincent Wildspirit, the stable master. As he spoke his large mustache seemed to bounce.

“Yes sir Mr. Wildspirit, I just finished.”

Kit was enjoying his time with the stable master very much. He was getting to work side by side with the hunting dogs and birds of some of the biggest rangers in the land. Plus he helped maintain many of the horses that the knights used, and through this got to meet a few older knights who acted completely different then the ones from school. Kit smiled everyday at work and after work too. For at the end of the day Ari and him would always walk home together and trade stories about what they did. Many of Ari’s included finding rare books on subjects she had never thought of, and some funny incidents with Mrs. Birdsong trying to get a book that was to high up for her. Things seemed to be going a lot better since he meet this interesting little scout.  

[Kaewyn Star]

One night, two weeks after Ari began her new assignment in the Library, Mrs. Birdsong asked her to stay later and do some extra work in the restricted section. Kit had come by to walk her home, and decided to stick around and do some homework while she finished up. It was getting very dark, and everyone except Ari, Kit and Mrs. Birdsong had left.

“Ari, dear. Would you take these books to the second basement restricted section? Here is the key,” Mrs. Birdsong asked giving her three very old books and a huge old key. “It will be the third hallway from the stairs, fifth door on the right. The door sticks sometimes and can be hard to open. Mr. Leafstorm, please escort her. Carry the torch so she won’t have too much to carry.”

Kit jumped up and the two walked to the lower level staircase. Kit grabbed one of the torches from the wall as they walked and held it high to illuminate the ground. It didn’t take long for the two to find the second basement. It was very dark, and dirty. The stone walls weren’t very good insulators, so the temperature was quite a bit cooler down there. Ari shivered.

Kit led the way to the huge wooden door that had the sign “Restricted Section” written on a plaque hung on the wall. Ari took out the huge key and looked at it before unlocking the door. It was very intricate with swirls weaving in and out of each other. Ari had never seen such a beautiful key before. She gingerly stuck it in the keyhole. About halfway in, the key got stuck, so Ari pushed harder.

Ari gasped as the door open a crack. Ari looked at Kit who slowly drew his sword. He then motioned for her to backup. She did so. With the torch held high, he pushed the door opened the rest of the way with his shoulder and entered the dark room. No one jumped out at them, and nothing happened. Kit lit the two torches at the entrance to the room. Flickering firelight flooded the room, casting tall shadows from the large bookshelves. Kit disappeared from Ari’s sight as he began to search down one row of shelves for possible intruders.

After a minute of nothing, Ari slowly tiptoed into the room, cautiously looking from side to side, expecting one of the shadows to jump out at her. There was a small desk next to the door and she placed the three books down. As she did, she noticed a single piece of parchment on the desk. She picked it up and held it to the light. Strange symbols were drawn on the page and under them were words Ari had never seen before. She was studying the words very hard when suddenly…

“Ari, look out!”

Ari looked up to see a dark figure right in front of her face. He wore a black cloak, making him look like nothing more than a shadow, until he got up close. Ari screamed as the figured snatched the paper from her hands, pushed her over, and ran out the door. His movements were silent and swift, almost like he was gliding. Kit ran over to her, asking if she was ok, and seeing her nod, ran out after the cloaked man. Ari came back to her senses, and followed. Kit was already out of sight, and in pursuit.

As she ran to catch up, something caught her eye down one of the hallways. She skidded to a stop and turned around. She darted down the hall just in time to see a dark shadow running toward a dead end. Ari drew one of her daggers and called out Kit’s name to let him know where to come.

As the shadow neared the end of the hall, he yelled out something Ari didn’t understand. A flash of blue exploded in front of the man, momentarily blinding Ari from its brightness. She skidded to a stop, her heart racing, knowing that this enemy was now going to attack as she was disoriented, but no such attack came. Instead Kit rounded the corner behind her, sword drawn, torch still in hand. He looked down the hall and saw nothing but the wall.

“Ari, where is he?” he asked encouragingly.

“Right there,” she said pointing to nothing but the wall. Her eyes adjusted fairly quickly and realized she was pointing at nothing. “That’s impossible. Where did he go?” She was asking herself more than Kit. Kit stomped his foot and cursed.  

[Ronyo Storm]

Kit searched the room over again to make sure the man was gone. He came back to Ari who was still standing and looking at the area she had called Kit to.

“Ari, we need to tell Mrs. Birdsong what happened.”

“Yes I know, but he just vanished Kit.”

“Come on we should go back up. If that guy comes back we’ll need some help. I don’t know if I can take him,” Kit said as he put his sword away and took Ari by the hand.

The two of them made there way back up to the main floor of the library. Where Mrs. Birdsong was tapping her foot waiting on her assistant.  

[Kaewyn Star]

Mrs. Birdsong finished pouring Ari and Kit hot cups of tea. They had been over the same story twice now from beginning to end, and still no answers were forthcoming. The Chief Librarian had sent for two of the knights on night watch and accompanied them searching the entire second basement. They found nothing, and no trace of the man in the dark cloak.

Mrs. Birdsong had listened intently to Ari’s and Kit’s description of the events, and none of them could figure out what happened to the dark figure. At first they thought that he snuck past Ari when she was momentarily blinded, but Kit was right behind her and carrying a torch. Another thing Ari didn’t understand was how he had made to flash of blue. Mrs. Birdsong said that it could have been a flash cannon, a weapon embedded with a rare mineral that made a bright light when it came in contact with fire.

Indeed any of these possibilities would explain what happened, but not completely. Either they were dealing with a master of stealth beyond any of their understanding, or something else was going on. Mrs. Birdsong decided to send Ari and Kit home. She told Ari that the Library was going to be closed tomorrow for a full investigation, and not to come to work.

“But, I wasn’t hurt, and I want to help. How will you identify the man? Kit and I were the only ones that saw him. Please let me help! I am an Assistant Librarian, and I know the Library better than most…” Mrs. Birdsong cut her off with a raised hand. Silence hung in the air as Mrs. Birdsong looked at Ari, then her hands, and back again.

“Alright,” she reluctantly agreed. “But you will stay out of the second sub-level unless escorted by a full-fledged Honor Guardian.” Her tone was final, but that was all Ari wanted to hear. “And I suppose, you as well, Mr. Leafstorm, since you witnessed the intruder. I will expect both of you here at the crack of dawn. Now, it’s late enough. Your parents are outside waiting on you. Go home.”  

[Ronyo Storm]

Kit spent the rest of the night taking with his father about what happened. There wasn’t much that the worldly ranger had not experienced. However this time Ronyo Leafstorm was at a loss.

“And Ari says the man just vanished in a bright blue light. Do you have reason to doubt her?” Kit’s father asked.

“No, that’s the thing. Ari doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who would make something like this up. Besides that’s quiet a tale to have just made up.”

“I agree, and I agree with Mrs. Birdsong. You two had best stay away from that level for sometime, and make sure you stay on guard more now. I know I’ve never had to tell you to be careful but something just doesn’t feel right here,” Kit looked at his father with an upraised eyebrow, “I know that sounds weird but something is wrong. No one who would risk everything on breaking into the library, of all places, is someone who needs to be watched.”

With that Kit and his father decided to cal it a night and see how thing went in the morning. Which came earlier then Kit would have liked. He had strange dreams of a blue light flashing and then beast of all kinds appearing and trying to eat him and Ari. The swordsman got dressed and headed to Ari’s house so th two of them could arrive at the library together.  

[Kaewyn Star]

The Great Library was crawling with guards when Kit and Ari arrived. They almost didn’t let the two enter, but Mrs. Birdsong came to meet them at the entrance. She ushered them to her office.

“Alright,” she began briskly. She obviously had a lot of work to do. “I will be very busy today and since you two were the only ones who saw him, I have first arranged for the two of you to meet with an artist who will draw out the descriptions you give him. After that Sir Fireheart has requested that you demonstrate the happenings of last night.” Kit and Ari groaned. Sir Fireheart was Tanya’s father, and neither of them were excited about meeting him. “Now I will be here and there this morning. After lunch I want the two of you to resume your training classes. Oh and Ms. Morningstar, Mrs. Featherfall has requested that you stay late for some urban exercises this evening.” Ari nodded with some excitement in her eyes.

Mrs. Birdsong went over to her door and opened it, showing in an older man who was starting to lose his gray hair. He had bright, friendly eyes and a matching smile. “Alright, I will leave you now,” said Mrs. Birdsong and promptly exited the room.

The drawing session was a success and a failure. The artist had separated Ari and Kit so that their descriptions would be completely separate from each other. He had one sit outside of the office while one sat inside and then switched them. The success was that their description matched almost exactly. The failure was they were vague with no defined features to identify the culprit. The kind old man thanked the two for their help and then left the office.

Before the door even closed, a tall muscular man with bright blonde hair in full knight’s armor walked through the door. He would have been a handsome man if not for the deep scowl that seemed etched into his features. “You two, come with me now,” he demanded. Not even waiting for a response, he left the room. Ari looked at Kit with a depressed, mournful expression; then got up and followed him.  

[Ronyo Storm]

Kit and Ari followed Mr. Fireheart down into the basement. There the scowling knights stood near the table were Ari had found the paper with the odd writing. He turned to look at his two “witnesses” and gave a growling sigh.

“Now, What happened? Will start with you Mr. Leafstorm.” The knight gave a side long glance at the swordsman.

“Ari and I came down to put away some book for Mrs. Birdsong…”

“It took two of you to do this?”

“I was holding the torch for Ari. Mrs. Birdsong had given her some heavy books.”

“Very well, continue.”

“I noticed the door to the basement was open. I moved in front of Ari and drew on of my swords…”

“What did expect to find? Drawing your sword is a big deal.”

“Well, Sir, this level is restricted without permission and a key for the door. Anything that was in here without Mrs. Birdsongs knowledge didn’t sit well with me. Anyways I went in first and held the torch high to give better lighting. I told Ari to stay were she was and I began looking up and down the isles…”

“You did, your not a scout. Why didn’t Ms. Morningstar do that?”

“I was the better armed and better suited for the task. My father has taught me how to move silently and I put it to good use. Besides, what kind of man sends a woman in front of him?”

“Do not try my patience swordsman. Continue.”

“Out of the corner of my eye I saw a quick dash of movement. I noticed it was heading towards Ari so I dashed to her. I called out to her as the cloaked figure grabbed something on the table and pushed Ari over. I ran to check on Ari and then…”

“Why did you not immediately pursue the figure?”

“Ari had been knocked over. I wanted to make sure she hadn’t been stabbed as the man passed her. I ran after the man. Ari came a few moments later and that’s when she called me over. When I got to her nothing was there. I checked the place over a bit more then returned to tell Mrs. Birdsong.”

“Very well, And why did you call Kit to you Ms. Morningstar?”  

[Kaewyn Star]

“Well, I called to Kit because I saw the man out of the corner of my eye. He had turned down the second hallway, which led to a dead end. I knew I couldn’t take him alone so I called Kit to back me up.”

“Yes, yes. Smart thinking on your part. You wouldn’t have lasted one minute, I’m sure,” said Sir Fireheart condescendingly. Ari raised her eyebrow. “So, what happened then?”

Ari paused for a second, sighed, and then continued. She once again explained the strange disappearance. Sir Fireheart looked as if he was contemplating every word she said, scrutinizing each syllable. “So this flash of light blinds you, and you allow the culprit to escape,” Ari opened her mouth to object, but his accusations continued. “And you,” he said turning to Kit, “were too slow to apprehend him as well.” Kit’s eyes just rolled at the accusation.

“If Tanya had been there, the intruder would be in custody right now.” Sir Fireheart was shaking his head at these two’s incompetence and rubbing his chin.

“Doubt it,” Ari said under her breath making Kit smile. Sir Fireheart turned a penetrating eye on her, but said nothing.

“I’ve heard enough,” he said finally. “You two stay in this room while I go inspect the hall this man supposedly ‘disappeared’ in.” He left the room in a huff, leaving the two with only the firelight and each other. Ari and Kit were relieved for his absence, and both let out sighs.

Ari looked over at the desk where she had put the books down the night before. She decided she should go ahead and file them like she was suppose to yesterday. She picked them up and walked down the aisles placing each book in its rightful places. When she was done, she walked out of the aisle. She saw Kit leaning on the desk near the door and realized she was where the cloaked figure had snuck up on her. It was a strange sensation. She turned around to see if anything was behind her, maybe gaining some insight on where the man had come from originally. A few aisles back was the wall lined with huge old intricately carved shelves.  

[Ronyo Storm]

Kit looked around the room and just sighed. Thinking about Sir Fireheart looking around the hall trying to find something that would prove that Ari and Kit were lying.


‘If Tanya had been here she probably would have run up the stairs crying for help.’

Kit just sighed again as he looked over at Ari who was staring hard at the shelves in front of her.  

[Kaewyn Star]

Ari moved along the shelf looking for something, but she didn’t know what. Maybe there was nothing to find. She was about to give up when she noticed something white on the floor under the shelf. When she bent over to pick it up, she realized it was a small scrap of paper. It was no bigger than her hand and had something written on it. Once again it was one word with a strange drawing next to it, just like the papers the cloaked man had grabbed from her.

“Hey, Kit come here, quick,” she said excited. This might be an important clue.  

[Ronyo Storm]

Kit walked over to see what Ari had found. As the swordsman bent down to look he saw a small scrap of paper with a symbol he had never seen before.

“What is it Ari?”

“it’s a piece of paper with strange markings on it, kinda like the one on the piece of paper the man in the cloak took from me.”

Kit looked at the paper closer but still had no idea what it meant in terms of the cloaked man or in terms of what happened down in the basement.

“Well, should we take it to Sir Fireheart or Mrs. Birdsong?”  

[Kaewyn Star]

“What?” came a voice from behind them. It was Sir Fireheart, returning from his inspection. Ari looked at Kit. For a second she thought about lying and just taking it to Mrs. Birdsong, but she decided against it

“We found a scrap of paper over here by the shelves,” she said. Ari stood up and walked over to him. “It has a word written on it I’ve never heard before… Aperio… I think? And there is also some little scribble on it.” The little scribble looked like a bull’s-eye but the rings were fractured in certain places. The knight jerked the scrap from her hand and looked at it, intrigued.

“You found it by the shelves you say?” he repeated more to himself than to Ari. “Alright, I’ll escort you two back up to the main level.” He folded the paper and slid it into one of his pockets. Ari looked back at Kit. He just motioned towards the door, and they walked out.

When they reached the main level of the Library, it was time for the Ari and Kit to go to their classes. Ari wanted very much to talk to Mrs. Birdsong before she left, but she found out the chief librarian was busy and unavailable. Ari would be sure to come back after her class to ask Mrs. Birdsong about the paper, but now it was time to go to urban landscape training.