I awoke the next morning in the bedchamber of the Doyenne of Alizaima, a noble now, a baron to be exact.
The Baron dai Moinia. It still sounded weird to me, to roll that around through my thoughts.
I had land, I had a manor, and I had a future awaiting me, as the Grandeor of the Books, if ever we made it past what was to happen in two days hence.
Today was go time. I looked at the hourglasses, five hours past midnight, and rolled over to make sure Avelyn was awake.
I should have known she would be.
Stumbling out of bed, I stretched, and fumbled around, looking for my pants. They had been discarded fairly hastily.
Avelyn had really taken saying goodbye to a whole new level.
I remembered but scant pieces of how the night had unfolded; the way the fabric of her gown had slid off her perfect form, her hair tumbling down out of the crownlet, the smell of her soft skin, pressed against mine, in an attempt to meld together the fragile humanity we held in each other's arms.
It had been very hard to fall asleep after that. Even now, I couldn't really function, without drifting back to last night, to her arms, her smell, her sex, and her eyes. Eyes that adored me and me only.
Eyes that I knew would always be mine.
Now, these same eyes scrutinized me, as they wandered out of the washroom, the form they belonged to now dressed in a simple, brown dress, covered with strategic leather padding for protection. They nodded tersely at me, asking me a question.
I replied positively, and satisfied, they left the room, the hips that belonged to them swaying so temptingly out of my field of vision.
Cursing, I slammed the door to the washroom. This was going to be a long and vexing day.
I dressed hurriedly, and slathered on some cologne quickly, making sure to cover up the smell of any coital activity that had happened last night. Avelyn's perfume still lingered in the air though, and I slammed my fist down in frustration. Must everything today remind me of her?
Stomping out the door, and down the hall, I realized that I had no idea the innards of the Doyenne's palace, or how I was supposed to get anywhere. Where were we in relation to the Library, was my first thought, but the Library was a separate building anyways.
I have never been so frustrated and confused at the same time.
All of a sudden, on the very next step I took, I felt the floor drop out from underneath me, and I was falling, falling through some sort of chute of soft and shiny metal. My cries of surprise rang down the chute, as it suddenly turned into some sort of slide, and I was slipping along, unknowing of where I was going.
I noted the lightness of the slide contraption, just before I fell out of it, and onto a very bouncy set of bean bags.
"What-?"
I could hear giggles in the far corner of the room, and looked over. There was Avelyn, smiling, in her brown attire.
"Isn't this awesome? I tripped down it on my way to breakfast, and it turns out, this room is a secret sort of room, and it tells me where all the secret passageways and the like are in the castle!" She spun around, happy as lark, somehow finding through the heaviness of the situation the ability to laugh.
I looked around the room, full of comfy chairs, tables, and bookcases with books and diagrams all over them. I shrugged noncommittally.
"That's pretty awesome, actually."
