Prideful

Chapter 1

It was a cold day near the end of the Execution month when Celia first noticed her. She had taken a different path through the courtyard to avoid the stinging flakes of snow that fell from the grey sky, and it had brought her to the long white hallway outside the library. Normally, during the winter, the hallways were clean and reflected the bits of scattered light that shone in from the tall windows. The colored glass was characteristic of Adraya. And the Third Prefecture, which was where Celia lived, was famous for its gorgeous marble hallways.

Today, they were marred by a figure robed in slave clothes carrying a heavy stack of books. It wasn't unusual to see slaves in the hallways, especially if there were no nobles, or no passageways leading to their destination, such as the library.

What did strike Celia as unusual was that their hood was down, and their face mask pulled to their neck. Occasionally they paused, leaned their stack of books on their knee, and wiped beads of sweat from their forehead. Sweat! Who could sweat when they could see their own breath?

Another unusual aspect was their face: it was rather nice to look at. While all elves looked rather feminine to Celia, this one she was sure was female. She had very pale skin, it almost looked yellow, which only made the darkness around her eyes stand out, where had a slave gotten charcoal? Her eyes were a striking blue, icy and cold like the wind outside. And her brown hair neatly hid her ugly ears.

That was, until she pushed it out of her face as well. Then those nasty pointed things were impossible to miss, and Celia was pulled from her daydream.

Despite this, Celia followed her through the heavy doors of the library. Inside, the cold draft of the hallway was lessened, to an extent. It was hard to heat such a large space as this, even for the roaring fires. The tall shelves reached so high that balconies encircling the room were required to reach them, and even then, both levels boasted tall ceilings that rested on piles of books. The atrium formed in the center of the long room held ornamental chandeliers. Holes were allotted in the shelves for more tall windows, creating comfy nooks to hide in when tutors insisted on chasing someone down for their silly lessons.

Rooms branched off the main library to create teaching and reading spaces, as well as small offices and rooms for specialty books. Celia had spent more than her fair share of time in the library, though not nearly as much of it had been spent reading as playing. It wasn't that Celia couldn't read, she could, or that she disliked reading, that was up for debate, but a girl like her had better things to do than lean over a dusty old book.

The slave had headed away from the main desk, where the librarians sat, to one of the smaller rooms, that Celia had never been in. The room was small, and the ceiling couldn't have been more than two meters from the ground. The floorspace, which wasn't much to begin with, had been greatly diminished by a desk in the center and a few tables pushed against the walls. These housed various tools, some Celia recognized, like awls, and loose signatures, all waiting to be stitched back together into a book. The remaining space had been taken over by piles of ancient tomes save for a small path directly to the center desk. At the desk sat another elf girl, this one with red hair and round glasses that slid down her nose.

Celia sleuthed near the entryway until she found a spot reasonable enough for someone of stature to sit and listen for scandalous secrets and petty gossip. The slave had placed her burden on the bookbinder's desk, next to piles of other books. This red-haired girl was very behind in her work. The binder looked up from her task with pursed lips at the other slave's intrusion. She closed the book she had been stitching with a disapproving thud, and looked directly at the newcomer.

"What have you brought me, Kuro?" her voice sounded annoyed, "More work?"

Celia recoiled slightly at this, why did slaves always try to shirk their duties? Especially elves...