Treasure Trove

Heron was excited about exploring a new place. He had long known every hall and passageway back home and it was sort of exhilarating knowing he had a new place to become familiar with.

And it was nice having someone to explore with, most of his exploring at home had been done by himself – usually at night.

He hadn't really thought when he had grabbed Elswyth's hand and now it would just be awkward to let go out of nowhere, and she didn't seem upset really, so he just left it. No point making a big deal out of it.

So he continued pulling her along as she followed him silently.

The halls were all made of black stone, they looked a bit different than what had made the outside of the castle but it was still a black stone, though a bit duller in color. Or maybe it was just the sun didn't really shing on it so it wasn't reflecting.

Heron had no idea what stone had been used to get this color, as he had never really studied that. Magic was more his forte. And history, but the history books he had read had not recorded what kind of stone was used in the building of this castle. Some of the other castle's had been recorded. It was probably because any records of when it had been built had long been destroyed making it hard to say for sure. Well, good guesses on the outer parts but who could tell if it didn't have some other kind in the middle.

Heron did not spend too long contemplating the architecture of the place. It wasn't that important. It did give a certain ambience to the place though, this black whatever it was stone thingy. Especially with the flickering torches that lined the walls.

Every now and then there were windows, rather big ones, at least out here on the outer edges of the castle.

And there were a lot of doors. As they passed by, Heron peeked into any of them that weren't locked. Most of the ones near his bedroom were guestrooms that were empty but after they went up a flight of stairs it became different kinds of rooms. He find a sitting room, storage closet, an art gallery, three locked rooms that Heron decided against picking the lock of – at least in broad daylight, another sitting room though this one looked more like it was for a small gathering of friends, and a study. The study looked largely unused. Actually most of these rooms appeared unused.

Afterwards he came to another set of steps and went down them, this time going down two flights of steps, which if he was remembering correctly put them on the first floor.

Continuing his exploration he quickly found the kitchen. Noting where it was for future pastry thefts he continued on.

There was also some food pantries and after that no doors for a long time.

The next door was another locked room. Next to it though was a study – this one looked used, though rather neatly arranged. Someone liked their stuff neat. The most messy thing was that one book was laying on the desk with a bookmark in it.

Heron continued down the circular hallway. Looking out the occasional window he could see the gardens. It looked like they were close to the front of the castle.

There were not too many doors in this location. Then he did come to a more elaborate looking door. It opened pretty easily as he peeked inside.

An instant smile came to his face as he peered in. It was a library. And it was pretty clear why there were not many doors along the hall – this room was quite big.

A whole lot of bookshelves lined the walls, and then seemed to curtain off the room into different sections. There was a sitting are for reading that was fairly close to the door, and he would not have been surprised if there was more further in. The whole place looked rather cozy.

Heron was pretty sure he would spend a lot of time in here. He loved reading and the place had such a nice calm atmosphere.

He came in, deciding to take a little break from exploring. Elswyth followed him, not looking nearly as excited about the library.

It really was a magnificent library. Even better than the one back home. Though some of that was it actually had books on magic and actually correct history books.

It did not take Heron very long to get a stack of books and carry them to one of the sitting areas to read. Maybe five books were a bit of an overkill just for a break from exploration, but… Heron could not resist.

Elswyth sighed, but joined him for reading, finding a book on military strategy. Heron thought it looked interesting but he was more in the mood for a good story.

They had been reading for a while when Heron heard a very startled voice say, "Oh!"

He looked up from the book he had been reading and was startled to briefly meet a semi-familiar pair of purple eyes.

Kuryzan almost immediately shifted his eyes away. Then he took a deep breath and turned back, not really meeting Heron's eyes but he was smiling a bit stiffly, "I see you found the library. May I be of any service?"

"Uh…no?" Heron was not sure quite how to respond.

"I see. Well, uh, doenjoythelibryancomeaginsumtime." The man slurred his words as he rushedly spoke and walked off. Heron heard him mutter to himself quietly, "Right. Let's review. Where was that paper?"

Heron watched him and then shook his head. Were all elves this weird?

He had a feeling that the elf would not have even talked to him if it wasn't for the fact he seemed to be the librarian.

Heron decided to ignore it and go back to reading.