Crowns of Flame and Ice - Book One

(41) Under Love's Heavy Burden Do I Sink

As it turns out the home of the book decipherer, whose name I'd learnt was Thea, was not as grand as I'd thought it would be. Thea's home was a small thatched cottage with slightly paint-chipped walls. Despite the obvious signs of age, it was still beautiful. A small garden sat out front peppered with purple and blue flowers. A cobbled path lead up to the house, made from a chalky grey stone. It was clear that great care had been taken to ensure the upkeep of the garden. I could almost imagine it, Thea kneeling under the sun and tugging weeds from the beds, carefully nipping the heads off browning blooms, picking up stray leaves.

That image vanished with the wind as the front door banged open and a woman, presumably Thea, stormed out towards us. She briefly glanced at Quilo giving him a dismissive look and then turned her gaze to me. Thea was tall, unnaturally tall. I had to look up at her to see her face and see her blue-grey eyes. She had muddy brown hair that had been pulled back into a short ponytail, revealing her arched ears. "what are you" Thea grumbled by way of greeting. What am I? I really wasn't sure how to answer that so I ventured "my name is Anala, I am a princess of Vauxhaven." Clearly, based on Thea's revolted look, that had not been the correct answer. She harumphed, "I care very little for false titles." I resisted the urge to snap back at her for talking to me like that, but then I considered her words. She was right, all I had done to gain that title was when I'd been born.

Quilo stepped to my side, his face a mask of neutrality, he almost appeared bored. Thea glanced between us then sniffed, once then twice. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she studied us, I had to plant my feet in place to stop myself from shifting them. "we require your assistance" Quilo said... no ordered. I'd forgotten what the voice of the prince sounded like, the voice of the future king. Thea's lip curled, "obviously. Give it here boy." My eyebrows flew up in surprise as I watched her snatch the book from Quilo. Thea gestured for us to follow her into the house and I mouthed 'boy' over a shoulder at him, he glared in response. It was odd watching the interactions between them, how annoyed Quilo clearly was by her. If this was anyone else Quilo likely would've sent her head rolling to the ground by now.

Quilo and I had not spoken much since we had departed from the lake. It wasn't an awkward or hateful silence like it had been weeks before, but it had been tense. I had a feeling it was because we both knew what today would bring and neither of us wanted to admit it. Admit that neither of us wanted this trip to end. We'd been strolling through the centre of the busy town when I'd tried to ask him about it, ask him what we were going to do, but Quilo had just shaken his head. I had not touched the subject since. I wondered how Quilo felt about the whole thing, did he really believe that this book could be something? If it was, we could hardly just hand it over to the kings. I shivered at the idea of what they would do if they had all of the magic in Crevah, likely nothing good.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Thea led us into a large dimly lit room that didn't have any windows. In the faint flickering candlelight I noticed the large ceiling length bookshelves that covered the walls. Various old looking books were slotted into every available space, most tattered from use or old age. She sat down at a worn wooden table in the middle of the room that was empty except for the candle and a pot of what appeared to be pencils and pens. I tried not to look too long at the one that appeared to have a rodent skull glued on top. she flipped to the first page, "this is... this is very old." The phrase no shit threatened to roll off my tongue but I bit back the words, after all, we did need her help.

Her eyes widened with shock and I got the distinct impression that that wasn't something she did very often, "this is the story of before. The story of how Crevah came to be as it is now." I frowned, I hardly saw how that was shocking information. Thea noticed my expression and continued "you don't understand. This is about how to heal the land, well I think so."Thea jotted something down on a nearby paper and circled it muttering "ridding the land of rot." Quilo and I glanced at each other, patience with the old woman wearing thin.