The Storyteller

Introduction: The Storyteller

He is weak because he is nobody. The day of his birth was a lonely one, only a sympathetic nursemaid and his mother were present. Even at that, only the baby and the maid left the room breathing. Born to the east and with his father unknown the infant had no family, no one to go home to. The maid walked for hours, showing him to anyone who would look. But nobody wanted the baby with bright green eyes. With no other option she left him on the bridge, wrapped in the blanket his mother had made for him. The baby didn't cry, it just slept. People walked past the bundle unbeknownst to the contents, no one spared a glance. And yet as fate would have it one man stopped and picked up the precious package. As he lifted the baby it wiggled, the blanket falling from its face. The man cradled the child as it opened its eyes, his mouth making the happiest shape it could. The man turned, looking for the parents whom were surely missing their infant boy. When no one came to claim the child, the man looked back at the baby. The baby looked up at him with the eeriest emerald eyes and the man knew what he needed to do. Cuddling it close to his chest the man rushed to his home in the East, scouring his books on how to care for the newborn. The man was known as the Librarian, caretaker of the castle Library. He had upheld this title since he had reached adulthood, and never faltered in his duties. Because of his devoutness the Librarian never started a family, never had children of his own. And so he took the baby in, he was too old to consider conceiving one, it was his only chance of fatherhood. And so the Librarian raised the abandoned kid. The baby grew through the years as any normal child would. His hair was always dark, curly, and kept short. The vibrant green of his eyes never faded. Due to the solitary life of the Librarian he learned to read at a young age, never really having a playmate. He spent most his days running through the oldest sections of the library no one ever visited. He helped organize the books, lifting the heavy loads the old Librarian couldn't. The boy grew strong and lean, reaching a towering height of 6'5". The only person he smiled for was his Librarian, the only one who ever called him family. Yet he could always be found happiest curled with a book, a small bemused smile teasing the corners of his mouth. Quiet and kept to himself people often avoided him. His height and somber expression didn't make for an approachable air, adding the eyes he was just plain scary.  And so he was left alone, and that's the way he preferred it. He didn't need anything more than the Librarian and the books they cared for together. He still had the blanket he was left with on the bridge, with one word stitched in the beautiful mismatch of torn banner scraps sewn together. It was his name: TAYLE.