Closed [The Syliran Archives]Like A Closed Book (Imellion)

[Garland]

Fall 32

The day was starting out so beautifully, the sun was shining, the day wasn't starting out cold. It wasn't uncomfortably hot, it just just the right amount of wind to keep one cool, and just enough shine to put a smile on a man's face.

Garland looked out the window of his room. The sunlight reflected off some Knight's armor and into the room. Garland recognized his Patron Knight's orange-red hair, and her tomboyish gait. He quickly threw on his clothes and his borrowed plate armor, and his sword. He ran out to meet his patron, with a smile on his face. Anybody would be happy to be outside on a day like this.

Then it all came crashing down when Catherine opened her mouth.

"You're going to learn how to read and write today. You'll need to learn how to fill up a report and need to remember not to just skim reports, and don't even think of doing anything else today." with that she made her way off to somewhere.

"But... But... But! Oh come on!" He sighed and looked at road leading to the city proper, "Aww..." He crossed his arms with a scowl.

On his way to archives, everything just seemed so dead... Boring... The sun didn't have the shine it had earlier, the wind sent chills down his spine instead.

He had made it to the large building housing thousands of books, which didn't really interested him as much as physical contact. He pushed open the large doors and walked into the antechamber.

Set Ortis, the head scribe of the library, had his nose in a book, as usual, but Garland didn't know that because this was his first time being inside the archives.

"Oh, hello there? You must be new to the knighthood. I'm Ser Ortis and welcome to the Archives, I just need you to write down your name and you will have access to the general section of the archives." Ser Ortis handed Garland a small list of people that have visited the archives in the last 24 bells.

Garland scribbled down his name, it was clumsily written but could still be readable. He gave back the list and headed inside.

The rows and rows of books were impressive, but it was more daunting than impressive. He went over to one of the big shelves and grabbed one of the books that interested him. He took it to o e of the nearby tables and sat down to read.[/color]

[Imellion]

Imellion took a deep breath outside the archives as the sun kissed her skin and the wind rustled her hair. Why could she not stay outside in the sun and soak in its rays? It soothed the tension that lingered in her shoulders and quieted the voice in her head. It was always there, whispering, hissing, smirking at her. Mocking. Revealing her true value.

Trust nobody. They're out to get you. This is all just a front. A trick. Don't show any vulnerability. This isn't where you belong.


She shivered as the voices died down beneath the light of the sun. A new voice whispered softly inside her head. Thank Priskil for that light. The monster inside her head hissed and withdrew back into the corners. Imellion took one last deep breath of the clean air, ringing the sound of armor and boots and swords and life, and then scurried through the crowd towards the entrance. She paused before the entrance and squared her shoulders. They slumped again. Who was she kidding?

Everything quieted down as she slipped into the archives, and she paused to adjust. It was peaceful, actually. Not unlike how she felt outside. How was that possible though? She tilted her head slightly, eyebrows drawn together. She jumped slightly as someone spoke behind her.

"Another new squire today? Wonderful! Just sign your name on this slip and you may access the general section."

Imellion drifted closer, wary, half-hiding behind her hair. He seemed kind enough. Even genuine. Trustworthy, perhaps? Besides, if she was to learn to really read, she would have to sign. She took a half-breath and moved towards his desk, awkwardly picking up a quill. How to do this? There was a certain way to hold it, based on how others seemed to manage it. She managed to pinch it between her fingers so that it wouldn't slide around too badly. She had it pinched between the tips of her thumb and first two fingers. It was awkward and stiff, but that was probably to be expected.

She dipped it into the ink, splashing some, and blushing, reaching out to mop it up with her sleeve.

"Thi-I am sorry, ser," She spoke quickly and softly, beginning to soak the ink up with her sleeve. He waved her off, pulling out a rag.

"Have no fear, child. It happens to me too." He gently nudged her sleeve away and wiped the ink up with the rag before setting it down again, wiping his hands. "What is your name?" Name. Imellion Sylira. It was still odd to have a surname. Sylira. So long without one had made her used to only being Imellion, or the girl, with variations thereof.

"Squire Imellion Sylira, ser," she replied, ducking her head in a small bow. He nodded.

"I am Ser Ortis, head scribe of the Archive. Here you will find all the knowledge of our order. But first, and you may access all their secrets in time. But first, stay in this general area."

"Understood, ser," She said, dipping the quill more carefully this time, and pausing uncomfortably. How was her name spelled? She wasn't entirely sure. She put down the first two letters. Those she knew.

Im-

What was next though? She chewed her lip, and then added the next few.

Imell

The last three letters. What were they? Vowels? Yes, two of them. And the third was the miniature m.

Imellion.

She moved onto her last name, mouthing out its sounds as she deliberately and oafishly scrawled out her name. She studied at the finish. It was over-large, hardly legible, and crooked. Her cheeks flushed again. Another failure.

Ser Ortis paid it no heed. He nodded approvingly and then looked up with a smile.
"I hope you find what you're looking for in the archives."

"I thank you ser," She bowed again, and turned, almost flinging herself into the archive, but keeping herself under control and walking instead.

Now she had to find a book. A thin one with lots of pictures. She shifted through the shelves, searching. Where were they? They all seemed the same. A young man sat nearby, reading. Perhaps she could ask him? It was possible. The thought sent a shudder down her spine. No. She would not let it rule her this time. She would beat it. Imellion strode towards the man at the table and took a deep breath.

"Excuse me...can...you show me where the small books with pictures are?"

There. The words were out. It actually felt good. She might have to do it more often now, depending on how this turned out.

[Garland]

Garland had almost fallen asleep, in fact, everything he had read went through one ear and out the other, this was getting him nowhere. He yawned and slapped himself awake, and continued to read. That was when he had heard a voice from behind him, asking where the easier books to read were.

"Excuse me...can...you show me where the small books with pictures are?"

He turned around with a smile. "Nope, but I would be happy to help you look for them." He stood up from his chair slowly, trying not to make too much noise. He didn't want to get in trouble again for breaking the rules and whatnot. He extended his hand in a formal greeting. "My name is Garland. Pleasure to meet you."

He looked at the girl, she looked about his age, and a bit skittish. He would not be surprised if she didn't shake his hand. The Archives had a few people reading here and there, some of the younger squires were groaning because they were being forced to stay inside all day. Garland would have joined in, if he wasn't so lazy that he didn't want to groan along.

"Actually, this is like my first time coming here. I don't recognize your face, are you new to the knighthood?" He asked, trying to break the ice. He looked over to the large aisle filled with colorful covers, that would be a good place to start. He noticed the slightly messy, unkept hair, even though it was in a tight bun. She seemed very small, even to Garland, which was around her height, which was saying something. She must have had a story, nobody is ever that skittish and never trying to be that small.

He gave a weak smile, trying to show that he was friendlier than most of the young squires, some could be very hard headed and loud... He guessed that sparring with her is out of the option. Besides... He never liked hitting girls, except for one, he found to be his equal in a lot of ways.

When he turned to face the aisle he expected the books with pictures to be in. "Should we start looking? Seeing as you're trying to find a book with a lot of pictures, I could help you read... I mean, if you want though."

[Imellion]

32 Fall, 514 AV

Imellion tensed slightly as he moved towards her and extended his hand. She eyed it warily, and didn't take it. Touch was not something she was fond of. It send burning tendrils of lightning up her skin. She shifted her weight backwards as he moved towards her. Slowly, but still rather unexpected. All she had wanted was directions.

Yet she was getting more. Why was that? What ulterior motive might he have? Or might he just not have one? Maybe he was actually sincere? Her brow furrowed at that. That was still a strange idea. A lifetime worth of suspicion and defensiveness took longer than a few seasons to overcome. Garland. That was an interesting name as well.

"I am Imellion," She responded, slowly, and then remembering her surname, "Imellion Sylira, and I am..not new." She frowned, trying to remember how long she had been here. Two seasons? Three? Right around there. "I have... been here.. a few seasons." She had just never made her way to the library before. Her patron tended to work with her alone in her chamber more often than not. She had only recently begun moving around on her own and pursuing the lessons semi-independently. Part of her personal growth, she'd been told. The foundation for all the later knightly skills.

She browsed along the shelves of books in the shelf, unsure how to answer. Responding to offers of help was like responding to a command phrased as a question. She wasn't sure how. She frowned. No pictures. She tried another book, moving along from one to another. Still no pictures. No pictures anywhere she could find actually. She turned and looked back towards him, eyebrows furrowed. "There... are no pictures. I'll have to sound things out."

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[Garland]

"No pictures? Hmmm... Oh well, I'll be more than happy to help you read if you want." He looked around, trying to find the simplest book he could get, there are a few story books here and there, that might be a good place to start.

"Well... I think a few story books might do some good." With a cheerful smile, he picked out a few colorful books, some with a sort of design on the front. He carried them towards the table, there were three books in all. With a small smile, he opened one of the books, hopefully this girl could help him stay awake to learn a thing or two here.

"Well here's what I picked out, Imellion. The Songs Of The Mountain, Fingers and Gloves, and Little Teal Trotting Hood? That last one is a very strange title? Though it looks like it might have a few picture here and there, though only a few sadly enough." He said flipping the pages for a quick skim. He counted a few pictures in the book total.

He gave a reassuring smile, and patted the seat next to him. "Come on, don't be shy." That might have been the wrong thing to say. Honestly he had dealt with people like her before, he needed to be calm, show her that he means no harm, and hopefully he won't scare her off. Helping her read might help him make friends with her eventually.

"Once a upon a time..." He said, as he started reading the first line of the book. "There was a large mare, with a teal colored coat, the people in the woods called her Hood the Teal trotting horse." He said, finishing the first line of the first page.

"Would you like me to continue or would you like to read on your own?" He offered, pushing the book back towards her.

[Imellion]

Template by Avarice

D

Imellion followed along behind him as he took out books, and she inspected other ones on the shelves. She didn't recognize any of them. Or even read most of their titles. She recognized a few simple words, ones like "the" or "an" or "knight." The other letters seemed familiar, as they appeared in other words, but the names eluded her.

Story books seemed good, especially since she didn't know any other options. Holy books, she had heard of those. Some people quoted them an awful lot. She was just never sure whose holy book they belonged to, or if they were just attributing them to a holy book to be more credible. Perhaps both. She usually couldn't tell how they related to any of the situations at hand.

She hovered at the opposite edge of the table, frowning slightly. Could he be trusted? Most people didn't go out of their way like this for a stranger. What was his motive? An attempt to get in on her patron's good side for some reason? Something worse? He was a squire though. They could all be trusted, couldn't they? What was it Sera Lyonia had said? If she wanted to be a knight, she'd have to first start trusting them. Looked like this was a good place to start.

She slowly sank into a seat. Not the one next to him though. The one across from him. Just because she would start trusting ones she didn't know a little bit didn't mean she'd trust them that much. He pushed the book towards her, and she very gently, as if holding a glass bird, moved it closer to her to examine the pages.

She frowned, and her hand went up to her neck where she rolled the small wooden pendant in her fingers, taking comfort in its smooth edges. What was it he had just read?

Once upon a time there was a large mare with a teal colored coat, and the people in the woods called her Hood the Teal trotting horse.

Trotting she knew. Horses did that. Hoods protected from rain, as did a coat. What was teal though? A color? A type of coat? Why would a horse be wearing a coat?

"What's teal?" She asked finally. There was no use attempting to guess at it. She had no idea. It could have been anything. Better to admit she didn't know everything and ask for help, "And...I can continue reading now....if you will assist."


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[Garland]

"What's teal?"

"Umm... Well Teal is..." He paused trying to think of an example for teal. He couldn't think of anything that came to mind. "Well... It's sorta like blue, and green together? Its a really rare color for horses, so this is mostly a children's book." He said looking at the book, though it was hard to read the next few words because they were sitting opposite of each other.

Despite the problem, reading was still possible. "Well you can start reading and if you can't read the word or if you don't know it, I could possibly try and clarify the word to you."

He said looking at the book, needing to lean on the table. The next page of the book had a large drawing of a horse with teal colored coat, trotting in the woods, hopefully this answered her question about the teal.

He thought for a moment, he didn't really know many deep words and maybe they might encounter a few deep or unfamiliar words here and there, he might try to find a dictionary later if he needed it.

[Imellion]

Imellion frowned at that description. So it was a color. What color though? Blue? Green? A combination of the two? And why was there a teal horse that wore a hood? That made absolutely no sense.

There was the picture though, and she craned her head around to study it. So that was teal. She'd seen a few things that color. Why was there a horse that color though? Who came up with this story? She shrugged and moved on with the reading.

Or attempting to read, anyways. She went back to the beginning where Garland had read it aloud. The words still echoed in her brain.

Once upon a time there was a large mare with a teal colored coat, and the people in the woods called her Hood the Teal trotting horse.

Her heart fluttered in her chest. What was she thinking? She could barely talk. How was she supposed to be able to read? No, that wasn't right. What was it that Lyonia had told her? The mind ruled the body. Not the other way way around. She took a deep breath and bit her lip. Focus.

She sounded out the first word and frowned. Not quite right. She tried again. Better. Less wunce. More like wonce. Irritation sparked through her, and she tried again. Once. It actually sounded correct. She gave herself a small smile. Only a few hundred more words to go.

.

[Garland]

This was good, Garland's new friend(if he can call her that) was learning how to read. Maybe he should brush up on his writing while she was reading. He took out a piece of paper and a pencil. Spelling was easy enough for him, well, some words were easy, others were hard, but he has always gotten it right at least. Though his penmanship was lacking, or one could say abysmal. It looked as if a baby was holding a crayon and was drawing on the walls.

He took out a book which had the alphabet on the first page. The writing style was simple enough to copy, unlike some other written works where it was nearly impossible to write an "A" without curves. The letters here were all a simple format, straight lines, and small curves and such.

He started with an "A" and followed with an "a". He did this repeatedly for the whole paper to be filled with a childish scrawl that somewhat resembles the letter he was intending to write. The first paper was easy enough to fill up, but he did feel his hand starting to cramp up. He flexed his wrist slowly, hearing his joints clicking as he rotated his hand.

He then continued to write "B" and its lowercase counterpart. He was going a bit slower with this, mostly because the upper portion of the "B" was a bit hard for him to get right. It was either too big or too small. Frustration was something he rarely has to deal with. The only other time he was ever frustrated was when he felt as if his archery wasn't getting any better after spending hours trying to hit a target.

The "B"s were annoying to say the least, but because he was going slower than the first time, it was a tad bit neater to look at than his "A"s. He continued working on his "B"s until he felt he was ready for the next letter.

"Just tell me when you're done, so I know when I can help you again." He said to Imellion as she was trying to read. She seemed to be learning rather quickly at least.

[Imellion]

Imellion looked over as Garland started practicing his writing. She tilted her head, and pursed her lips, curious. She hadn't really started much writing yet. Her own hand was crude, scratchy, and not even legible. But then, since she barely knew what the symbols meant, she hardly knew exactly what she was drawing, which made it difficult.

She turned back to the book, frowning again. What was the next word? Upon? Yes, that was it. She remembered the whole sentence now as well.

Once upon a time there was a large mare with a teal colored coat, and the people in the woods called her Hood the Teal trotting horse.

She took a deep breath, and then spoke them out loud, slowly and carefully, trying to pronounce them exactly.

"Once upon a time there was a large mare with a teal colored coat, and the people in the woods called her Hood the Teal trotting horse."

Excellent. She gave a small, secret smile, and then it faded away. That was a success now. Or was it? Simply knowing what the words were didn't mean she read them, did it? No, probably not. Her shoulders slumped. In fact, it definitely was not the same as reading. Sera Lyonia may have even said that.

So she'd actually have to read from this point on. The next word was not one she knew. The letters were familiar. There was an "S," an "H," and an "E." The first was the snakey one. It made an "sss" sound, the one at the beginning of her adopted surname. The second was one she didn't remember. It was related to horses. Sort of a "heh" sound, wasn't it? It seemed likely. Then the last one. Very common. That was in her real name. The one her parents had given her before they abandoned her.

Or was that really true? Now that she'd grown to know the knights, she couldn't trust the people who'd raised her. Slavers. Scum, they were referred to here before being summarily executed. SHe tilted her head to one side, considering.

Imellion. What had been on her parent's minds when they gave it to her? Was it a family name? Or a new one? Did they choose it for some special meaning it held? A stream where they secretly met before their marriage? If they were married?

She sat back in her seat, blinking in confusion. This was strange. Why had these thoughts never occurred to her before? A lump formed in her throat and her eyes began to burn. She bit her lip.

Off in the distance, bells chimed the time and she stiffened, counting them quickly. Thank Priskil. She wasn't late. She had enough time to reach Sera Lyonia's chamber. She stood, barely stopping herself from scraping the chair along the floor.

"I-I am sorry," She stammered quietly, "But I must go meet my patron. Please... pardon my departure... and... thank you... for your help." She forced an odd, awkward smile, and quickly bobbed a half-curtsey.





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