Elwen the Conquered

After a long night’s rest, Elwen was awoken by the morning sun. Like usual, she was beaten by Varian, who was already awake, sitting at the desk looking at a map of the city. She didn’t know when he got it; she hadn’t seen it yesterday. Maybe he got it from the innkeeper? It didn’t look to be a very detailed map, rather just a general outline of the city, with many of the important locations and business marked on the map. It looked a lot like a mall map, with little boxes where the stores were, labeling them. Although, the map wasn’t color-coded like she was used to, nor where the shops grouped into categories based on what sort of business they were. If one was looking for all of one type of store, they would have to go through the entire map and guess what each store sold based on their name, and compile their own list. It wasn’t exactly convenient, but it was better than not having a map.

Elwen left the room, hoping to get a quick bath in before the day’s activities. If they were leaving today, it would be her last opportunity to use a proper bath for a few days, even more if they couldn’t find transportation to Marsburg. There was no guarantee that they would be able to find a bath there, although she doubted that there wouldn’t be. Marsburg was supposed to be a major trading city, meaning it should be wealthier. She would be surprised if the inn here had a bath but there wasn’t anything similar in Marsburg. If anything, it should be better in Marsburg, like they had private baths in the rooms rather than a shared bathroom.

She brought her clothes with her, although she noted that she needed to find a place to clean them. Washing them in the river was okay, but she felt like she never quite got all the dirt and sweat out. Maybe if she had more time, it would work better, but they were always short on time. Maybe in the future, they could travel in a less rushed manner, having more time to rest in the evenings.

The bathtub itself was a little small, although it suited her very well. Turning a little knob, water began to flow from a little spout into the tub. It took a little while to fill up, although she was happy that she didn’t need to fill it manually. She was also glad that the water was heated, although it was still a little colder than she wanted. Even when she turned the heat knob all the way up, the water that came out was still only warm.

After scrubbing herself off and a long soak, she put her clothes on and left for the room. She met up with Varian, and they went downstairs for breakfast. Today, they had scrambled eggs, with cheese, and a large piece of toast with jam on top.

“So,” Varian spoke up, “I was thinking of staying here for a few days. Give us some time to rest and recover before we head on.”

“Mmh!” Elwen was surprised, “You want to stay here?” She really enjoyed staying in a proper room last night and thought she would have to give it up today. She had already started missing the bed’s softness, even though it was still firm by the standards of their previous world.

“Yes. There is a branch of the Adventurer’s Guild in this city. I was planning on checking it out. We need money, and the Guild might be the best way of earning some easily.” He explained. “Ah, and there’s also a festival happening in a couple days, if you want to go.”

“A festival?” Elwen asked while her mouth bloomed into a smile. “It sounds fun! Let’s go!”

“Alright, we will.” Varian declared as he inwardly celebrated. His half-hazard plan from when he heard about the festival was now green lit. He would just need to revise and perfect it before implementation.

Once they were finished, they returned to their room. Varian didn’t take most his equipment with him, including the bag of holding, when they left for breakfast. So, they needed to return to gather it. Varian took the bag from the desk, taking the map of the city with him. He swooped underneath his bed, collecting his sword as well. Elwen, similarly, checked underneath her bed, although she was looking primarily for anything that she accidentally left behind, rather than collecting her weapon stash. Once they made sure they had everything, they left the room.

Before they left the inn, Varian asked the innkeeper to extend their stay for another week, paying him the necessary money. He didn’t have any large silver coins left, so he paid him in gold coins, receiving a number of silver dragons in change.

They left the inn, stepping into the bustling streets. It wasn’t as busy as last night, perhaps because most of the townspeople were at work rather than wandering the streets, but there were still quite a few people moving about. Some were shopping, some hauling around small carts, some were simply meandering around. Elwen noticed a few couples among the crowd, holding hands. She instinctively brought her own hand close to her chest, glancing at Varian's hand.

Could they be like those other couples? She thought it would be nice, to be like that. Her heart fluttered at the thought, her hand tightening near her chest. Tentatively, she extended her hand towards his. Her heart thumped louder and louder as her hand came closer to his.

Suddenly, she hesitated, drawing her hand back. What if Varian didn’t want to hold her hand? What if he didn’t want to have that kind of relationship?

Just as her hand began to retreat, drifting back its place at her side, she felt something warm encircle her fingers. Looking up, she saw Varian reaching out to her, a radiant smile on his face with the sun shining brilliantly behind him.

She happily took a few slow steps toward him, stopping at his side. Was this really okay? Could she stay here?

Varian answered her voiceless questions, tightening his grip on her hand and pulling her closer to him. In this way, they slowly meandered down the street, making slow but steady progress to their destination.

It took a while for Elwen to regain her wits. When she did, she found herself in the market square, her hand still firmly in his.

They stopped by a fountain, briefly pausing to orient themselves. Elwen sat down on the edge of the fountain, idly running her left hand through the cool water as she stared at her right hand, the one that was, just a moment ago, entwined by Varian’s.

Varian smiled at her actions. She got so flustered from something so simple. It was terribly cute. He would enjoy the next few days.

He took out the map, the one he got from the innkeeper, and unrolled it. The merchants had spoken about a dwarven smith in the city, one that was supposedly immensely skilled in his craft. He had no idea what the man was doing here, but the merchants said that the goods were of excellent quality and the prices fair, so he thought that he should at least check it out. After that, he’d check out the Adventurer’s Guild.

There was a library near the square, which he hoped would have more information on the world. He planned to drop Elwen off at the library, she always loved books, and go to the smith before joining her. He didn’t want to leave her alone for long, but the library should be safe enough.

After finding the three places on the map and orienting himself to where they were physically, he plotted a route to take. Closing the map, and returning it to his pocket, he offered his hand to Elwen again.

Her little jump as she saw his hand and the ensuing blush was wonderful. She timidly took his hand and he helped her up.

“There is a library in the city, do you want to visit? I have a couple of things to do, so you should have plenty of time to read.” He asked, pulling her forward and back by his side, where she belonged.

She looked up at him, smiling. Her cheeks were still red, the blood flowing warm through her face.

“That sound great!” She said, snuggling into his arm, her other hand finding a place on his forearm. It didn’t take them long to reach the library, it was just across the square, down wide alley.

The library was a little out of place in the city. It was tall, around three stories in total. The building was made of marble, with column lining the face of the building. A set of large double doors were in the center of the building, a set of stairs leading to it. The door was on a little platform, the pillars marking the edge, with the stairs forming half ellipses around a bronze statue of a man holding a book and a quill. There were a couple of extra steps between each of the columns, leading up to the final layer.

The entered the library, stepping into a large open lobby. They could see lines of bookshelves on the other side of the room, a short wall dividing the lobby and the start of the library proper. Their path was blocked by a small gate, short enough that Varian could jump over it if he really wanted to, but it was a little too tall for Elwen to do the same.

There were a large number of desks, sofas, and armchair littering the lobby, providing places to read. To their right was a counter, staffed by an older woman. She was reading her own book, a rather thick and dusty tome, paying them no attention.

When they approached, she put down book, greeting them.

“I haven’t seen you here before. Travelers?” She croaked.

“Yes, we just arrived yesterday. May we enter the library?” Varian answered, return her question with one of his own.

“Without a membership, the fee is four silver dragons each, with a deposit of one gold drake. Be careful not to damage any of the books. There are separate replacement fees.” She said, narrowing her eyes.

Varian took out the coins for Elwen to enter, placing them on the desk.

“Go ahead for now. I’ll be back to join you once I finish my business for the day.” He said, turning to Elwen.

The librarian took the money, depositing it in a large box behind the counter. She pressed a button, and the small gate opened. Elwen walked into the library, heading straight for the gap in the wall that led to the bookshelves.

Looking up, she could see two floors above her, both filled with more bookshelves. Directly above her was a dome, the floors above her having holes in them, forming concentric circles around the outline of the dome.

Striding through the lobby, she saw a few others reading books, some even taking small stacks with them. They all appeared to be well-off, certainly not peasants, but not necessarily nobility.

 When she arrived at the gap in the wall, she saw a small map framed next to it. Searching it, she found what she was looking for.

The magic section.

Elwen wandered through the aisles, heading in the general direction of the where the magic section was. It should be somewhere around here, the sign directed her to this area. However, she had yet to actual find what she was looking for. The books around her were not magic books, unless one considered cooking to be magic. Why these two sections were so close to each other, she had no idea. The librarians should really reorganize the shelves, and while they’re at it they can make a better map.

She stopped, a brief worry running through her mind.

What if they had reorganized the library, and just didn’t update the map? She looked up, staring at the seemingly endless shelves above her. She would never find the magic section in this labyrinth! What should she do? Should she ask someone? But there wasn’t anyone around! The people in the lobby looked like they were busy, and she didn’t want to disturb them. The librarian at the counter? She should know, but she was a little scary. She didn’t want to talk to her alone if she had the choice.

She stumbled through the rows of bookshelves, desperately search for anything that might be considered a magic book. Anything to indicate that she was where she wanted to be, a spell tome, an alchemy book, anything. It didn’t matter to her. She would be happy even if it was just a book talking about magic in general terms.

She read the titles of books as she passed by.

‘The Wanderer’s Cookbook’

‘Denise’s Book of Recipes’

‘Cook Like a Pro: Grandma Ginny’s Cuisine’

It was endless, like the entire row was just cookbooks. How many recipes could one possibly need?

She skipped over to the next row, hoping to put the cookbooks behind her. Reading the title of a random book she grabbed of the shelf, she smiled.

‘Fighting Humanity’s Greatest Enemy’

Looks like she finally got out of the cooking section. She still wasn’t where she wanted to be, but she wasn’t sure how many more cook books she could look at in one day. It was like they were taunting her, laughing at her lack of cooking skills. There was even one that was called ‘How Not to Burn Your Kitchen Down’! It was one time, and it was only a little fire! One sweep of the fire extinguisher and it was out. Sure, the cake was ruined, but they didn’t need to replace anything in the kitchen. Even so, everyone made fun of her for it.

This booked looked to be an adventure book or something. The dragon on the cover was probably what the ‘greatest enemy’ was referring to. Strange, she thought that the adventure section was on the second floor?

It didn’t matter, she returned the book to the shelf. Her eyes glanced over the book next to it, widening.

‘Uncle Murfy’s Turkey Dishes’

She spun around, horrified that she was still trapped in the cooking section.

She grabbed another book from the shelf, hoping that someone just put the book back in the wrong spot.

‘How to Make Your Boyfriend Fall in Love with You; The Fastest Way to A Man’s Heart is the Stomach’

This one… might actually be a good book to read. If it brought her closer to Varian… It might be worth it…

She shook her head, throwing the thought aside. She didn’t have time for this! She needed to find the magic books!

She returned the book to the shelf and left the row. There was a small plaque on the end of the shelf with a number on it.

’26R’

Wait, 26R? But that was on the other side of the library! Has she been on the wrong side this whole time?

She left, hurrying over to the other side of the library.

‘That was embarrassing’ She thought.

She quickly found row 24L, the row she thought she was heading to earlier. The magic books should be here. She wasn’t sure exactly where they were on the shelves, the map just said that they should be somewhere around here.

She started perusing the aisle, sampling a book title every now and then. This way, she should be able to find the magic section quicker, although it also run the risk of missing the section entirely, if she either misinterpreted the title or the section was too small and she skipped over it.

About a quarter of the way through she came across something interesting.

‘A Discussion on Veneficii Lapis’

She had no idea what ‘Veneficii Lapis’ was. She tried looking at the books around it, seeing if she could find any context behind the book.

‘History of Magic’

‘A Record of Demonic Magic’

‘Chronology of Enchanting Developments’

She was in the magic section? She was happy that she found what she was looking for.

She glanced around, trying to see if there was any spell books or other interesting books. She didn’t really want to read a history book, which was what the books she found seemed to be.

A few minutes of searching yielded no results. There were a bunch of history books, several guides on how to fight different types of magical enemies, books on magical tools…

She couldn’t find anything that would be useful to her. She wanted to find something that would have unique spells or something that could help her be more useful to Varian, but it didn’t look like they had anything like that.

She settled for reading the book she randomly picked up earlier. At least then she would find out what a Veneficii Lapis was…

Lapis was a mineral right? So it’s some type of stone? And they are in the magic section, so it has to be related to magic somehow…

She started to head back to the library, intent on finding a nice armchair to rest in as she read the book. As walked through the aisle, she came across a little alcove, complete with just what she was looking for. A cushioned armchair, a small table with a little lamp on it. It was perfect, and she would be hidden here, away from the prying eyes of strangers.

She took the seat, sitting all the way back against the backrest. The chair was big enough that she could bring her legs up with her, so she did, nestling comfortably in the cushions. The opened the book in her lap, making sure the lamplight was hitting the pages well enough for her to read.