Keeper's Oath

Chapter 28: Hopeful Future

Days had gone by since they returned from Aeria. Hope was taking it easy while she was with her friends. Knowledge was resting more as well. Slowly, his markings began to glow again softly. She barely saw Forgo around, though they all went over to him and visited. The God of War made his famous hot chocolate each time they visited.

Life went back to how it had been for a while. Hope was gazing through her window to see tiny snowflakes fluttering down onto the snowy ground. In her room, there was Knowledge sitting against the wall underneath the window. He was engrossed in a book. Every now and then, the guardian would flip a page. Otherwise, it was quiet which Hope found calming.

It was past afternoon. Hope wondered what Livius was doing. They had seen each other a few hours ago for breakfast. He had been in a good mood like always. After debating on it for a few minutes, Hope jumped off her bed. She stretched her limbs before making her way over to the door.

"I'm going to go and see what Livius is up to." Hope announced to Knowledge as she saw her guardian's head veer from the book he was reading.

"I'm sorry for not being good company to you, young one." Knowledge's ears flicked as he stared down at the book and at Hope again. His golden eyes were filled with worry.

Hope waved her hands in front of herself. She didn't mind it at all, after all, Knowledge was looking into the shades and the well where there wasn't much information. While Knowledge was taking it easy, he had decided to visit the library and get a few books to see what he could research while at the Court.

"Don't worry about it, Knowledge. You are fine." Hope said as she neared the door. It still felt a bit off for her to have Knowledge around. Slowly she was getting used to his presence. She looked behind herself to see her guardian staring at her still. "I'm also curious as to how Hari is doing."

Knowledge took another moment until he looked down at his book. The guardian nodded while beginning to read again. She watched him ready for a few seconds, a small smile was on her lips. He wasn't bad as she first thought him to be, Hope thought to herself. Knowledge was still quite reserved. A bit like herself, the two of them were similar to each other.

Hope exited her room to notice that Livius had his door open. She closed her door quietly so she wouldn't disturb Knowledge reading. When the young guardian peeked into the room, she saw that Livius was at his desk. The man had his back against the doorway. From his movements, Hope could tell that he was writing.

She gently knocked on the door. Livius jumped out of his chair a few inches. He turned around to see that it was Hope and took a deep breath. The man was clutching onto his chest.

"Don't scare me like that, Hope!" Livius placed a book on top of what he had been writing on. The guardian stretched on his chair and got up from the chair.

"You could have just closed your door. I would have knocked anyways but wouldn't have seen you get scared." Hope smiled as Livius nodded to himself. The man chuckled to himself. Livius approached Hope. He stood a few feet away from the doorway.

"Aha! I'll need to do that next time but figured to have air flow into the room. It can get quite stuffy in here." Livius told Hope. She was surprised how little hair Knowledge had which came off him. Though it wasn't shedding season yet. The young woman felt quite bad for there not being a bed for Knowledge. He slept against the wall, a bit like how he read when she had left the room.

"It would be nice if the weather would be a bit better so we could have the windows open." Hope said which Livius agreed to by nodding. "I'm going to walk around, did you want to join me?"

Livius looked at what Hope was wearing.

"You mean inside the Shadowlight Court, right?" He asked her as Hope had figured out why he eyed the way he did. She nodded to him. Whenever she would go outside, Hope made sure that she had her jacket which Sorrel had given to her while back. The weather was slowly starting to settle but spring seemed far away still. "Yeah, I'll join you for a stroll."