The Birth of Ignaius - (Part 2 of the Ignaius-Saga)

Into a Bigger World

When king Tanier woke up the next morning, Variel was still asleep. For a while he watched the sleeping young man, but eventually he decided to wake him. He was pretty sure that Variel would be disappointed, if he left without waking him and he could not stay in bed forever. He started to run his fingers over Variel's body leisurely, strong enough to eventually wake him, soft enough to do it gently.

Variel woke rather easily, but he did so gently. When his lovely blue eyes fluttered open to gaze up at Tanier's face, a little smile turned up his lips. "...So I wasn't dreaming..." he murmured groggily. "Good morning, sire." It was a wonderful awakening. He'd woken up next to this man once before, but it had been to an urgent knock at the door and there had been no time to actually appreciate the feeling. He doubted he would get much time now, either, but just this simple moment meant so much to him. His king had not just come to him for sex, to use him and then leave. Tanier had come in here to just be near him, to see him, to sleep beside him.

The magnitude of it was not lost on Variel, and the expression on his face - joy and adoration - would clearly convey this.

"Morning, my dear," the king replied. He placed a kiss on Variel's cheek and leaned onto his chest, so that he could lie comfortably at his side and face him. "I'll have to leave soon, but wanted to rather tell yourself about my next plans than sending you a formal invitation. Of course you will still get one, but then you will already know. In three days my mother will be back. She has been travelling the south. This will call for a huge festival and I will introduce you and the other girls to her. But it also means I will be free to travel myself. I intend to visit the west and, amongst other things, your family. You are on the list of people I intend to take with me. Of course, if I am to see your father. We will leave in roughly three weeks, I send out word to our prospective hosts and started putting together my entourage. So if you have anything to prepare, this is the time you have. I hope you like the prospect?"

Variel could not pretend that the prospect of seeing his father - especially after he'd been indulging in the things his father disliked about him so much - excited him at all. He felt that he wanted to avoid his family in general, really, but so long as he was at the king's side, he doubted anyone could actually make him feel inferior. The daunting idea of facing his family was overshadowed by the excitement of being chosen to accompany the king on a trip. He'd never been one for travel, but just about anything was better than being cooped up here forever. Not to mention it would give him more time at the king's side, which was really the highlight of the whole thing.

So, the smile stayed on his lips as he listened, and he gave an honest but optimistic response when he was prompted. "I won't lie to you and say I am excited to see my family again, sire, but doing so at your side would make me feel much more secure about it. I think I would enjoy traveling with you and your entourage; I will look forward to it." Slowly, he sat up while covering his mouth to stifle a yawn. "Um... Sire, before you go..." He never liked asking for things; it always made him feel like a burden. "Would it be... reasonable to request that some books be sent here for me. I... have next to nothing to occupy my time in this room. I... I understand your decision to keep me in here, but... I would just like something to keep my mind active... at least until I can begin working in the new lab."

"I will do something better: Give you access to the library. It was inconsiderate of me to not think of it. You will have more than enough to read soon." Tanier kissed Variel, but instead of long and passionate, the kiss was almost business like, but it probably had to do with the fact that the king's mind was occupied with just that: business, for he rolled out of the bed next, dressed quickly and left, sending Variel a brief smile, just before he slipped out of the door.

Some time in the afternoon a servant came to guide Variel to the library and introduced him to the librarian. The librarian was a middle aged man. His stature was as thin as his lips and his blond hair was starting to grow thin as well. He smiled at Variel: "Ah, Lord Variel! You have been announced to me. I will give you an introduction to the library." He opened a set of heavy doors and Variel immediately understood, why he would need a tour. He looked into a huge room that was three stories high. Shelves lined all the walls and the deep alcoves. Maybe three dozens of equally huge desks offered a place to work and at this time maybe a third of them were occupied by various people. Some wore a uniform, some did not. There were men and women and it was pretty clear that this place was used for entertainment, but much more for research. The librarian guided Variel around, showing him how to find books, how to use the ladders and also pointed out the main sections.

Variel had a similar reaction to when he had stepped into the engineer's college: he was in awe. He had only ever been in small libraries, perhaps with a few hundred books. There had to be tens of thousands here, and he suddenly didn't know where he would begin! His head turned and eyes darted around as he followed the librarian, and he couldn't help but ask questions whent hey got to particular sections of interest. He asked about the availability of specific words or authors, thing he had never found anywhere else but had always desired to read. He was delighted to learn that most of these rare volumes were indeed present, and he began compiling a mental priority list of things that would help him with his lab research. Maybe he would even be allowed to borrow or get copies of some of the reference material to keep in the lab!

He would have to thank Tanier profusely the next time he saw the king; this was more than he could have imagined!

The thin librarian seemed to be amused and pleased by Variel's obvious happiness. He was aware that this was one of the more important libraries in the realm, not because it was the biggest, but because it housed some extremely valuable and rare books and documents. He informed Variel that he would not be allowed to remove any books without explicit permit, so he would usually have to copy them, if he wanted to use them in his lab - something that was probably also sensible, given the fact that some of the books were quite valuable.