¤ Sticks and Stones

‘Good morning, Apprentices, Ad Libs, Masters, all Librarians. Today, I am honoured to be called upon to present to one deserving member of your number the honours award-’ The woman’s voice was interrupted just then with a loud sharp squeal, the painful continuous sound making almost every member in the audience cover their ears and wince.

‘Oi, smoothen the mana flow there!’ Over the deafening noise, Esther could hear a boy yell from the wings of the stage.

‘I’m trying!’ A girl cried loudly, just as the squeal died down abruptly.

‘Sorry, Priestess.’ The boy whispered to Esther now. ‘The amplifying spell should be working now.’

‘Thank you.’ Esther beamed at the boy’s serious and apologetic face. ‘I hope that hasn’t left any of you too deaf to listen to me; I still have yet to bore you.’ She addressed that to her audience. They laughed obligingly.

‘Well, no doubt all of you know why you are sitting here, why the entire Ellinia Library is sitting before me, waiting for me to get over and done with my speech.’ More chuckles. ‘No doubt, because this ceremony has always been held as a tradition in the Library, in recognition of the best of the Projects submitted every year to swell the precious store of knowledge in the very shelves of this Library.’

‘To select the best, the Masters not only look out for excellence in the Project itself, but also at the benefits that its research can bring to the community. The qualities and character of the Librarian who authors the Project is also taken into consideration for the deserving awardee.’

Some nods in the audience, some heads meeting as people whispered into their neighbours’ ears; this knowledge was more than widely known amongst the Librarians.

‘However, the Masters tell me that even with such stringent criteria, it gets harder and harder for them to decide who to award these honours to. I’m sure that everyone of you sitting before me deserves an award for working so hard and taking such pride in your Library’s mission. So let us all give you a round of applause!’

A reluctant smatter of applause that gained momentum, swelled to a politely subdued volume, before dying down quickly.

‘For the past three years, one Librarian has been constantly winning the top honours.’ A murmur of excitement, as more heads turned to meet each other, the name of that Librarian on their lips. ‘Yes, I can see that you know his name. Brandon! Please rise and identify yourself!’

A tall, muscular young man stood up briefly, a smug smile on his face as he raised one arm to acknowledge the applause and cheers that those surrounding him gave out.

‘The reasons for his success are exactly what I have stated earlier: his Projects have always been of excellent quality, and every one of their findings has found relevance in more than one area, whether of the magical or the mundane. And surely I need not speak of his impeccable character; those who object to that should speak up now or forever hold your peace!’ Laughter and cheers again, this time even more enthusiastic.

‘This year’s honours awardee is no different. This Librarian’s Project is of remarkable calibre, of course, and the Masters have been doubly impressed by the amazing amount of determination, diligence and dedication that the Librarian had put into its completion despite facing overwhelming setbacks that would have discouraged any normal person.’

‘I’m proud to know this Librarian myself and I am very pleased to have the honour of presenting the award to this commendable young person this year.’

A hush falls over the audience, which had grown slightly restless at this point in time. Who would it be this year? Even as everyone hoped that it would be themselves, even as the selfish and vain fantasy of themselves being the one called up to stage flashed across their minds, there was one common thought shared by all:

Surely it would be Brandon, surely this would be the year where he would break the record and obtain honours for the fourth year running.

‘Please welcome the sole author of the top Project this year: Silver.’

It took one moment for everyone to take in that strange, unfamiliar name (‘Who’s Silver?), and another moment for the hubbub to break out in the stunned wake of the announcement, and yet another for the girl in question to be pinpointed by a tidal wave of faces turning towards her.

With the entire hall looking at her as she stood up, Silver calmly adjusted her green robes (‘An Apprentice!’ the gasp was taken up and spread across the room) and made her way up to the stage amidst the roar of applause and discussion.

With her hands clasped around the rolled-up scroll of recognition that Esther handed to her, she turned to face the audience. Somehow, serendipity let her eyes land directly on Brandon. His face was stony, his jaw set, and his smug smile gone so visibly from his face that Silver could see his grim expression from where she stood.

He stared and, without moving his gaze away from hers, leant to whisper to the girl sitting next to him.

You’ll need more than words to make me fall, Brandon. There was a pleasant swell of emotion in Silver’s chest, gently blooming until it felt as if she would burst out in laughter.

Instead, however, the girl’s pale lips only curved up, ever so slightly.

And she smiled.

And the next day, the rumours started.

A rush of whispers, in the lift pods.

‘Hey.’
‘Good morning.’
‘Have you heard?’
‘What?’
‘About that Apprentice girl that won the honours yesterday?’
‘Oh, that girl. No. What about her?’
‘I heard that she broke and entered a Master’s office before.’

Boisterous chatter, in the mess hall.

‘Say what! A thief won the honours this year?! So much for “impeccable character”.’
‘They say that that the Master she stole from was the same one that persuaded the other Masters to let the girl resume Apprenticeship and not be expelled from the Library.’
‘Wow. No kidding. I wish I had a Master to do that sort of string-pulling for me.’

A hushed conversation, amongst the shelves of scrolls and books.

‘So they say that the girl has a… you know, affair with Master Grendel, and got him to help her.’
‘Why do you keep listening to such nonsense? You should know better than to believe in rumours like that.’
‘It must be true. How else could an Apprentice have managed to obtain honours so quickly?’
‘And who’s this poor girl that everyone’s talking about again?
‘Her name’s Silver, I think.’

There was a muffled thud, as the scrolls on the shelf right next to the two talking Librarians fell to the floor. ‘Sorry.’ The soft apology was choked out from the other side of the open shelf.

The Librarians shrugged, not alarmed at all, and bent to pick up the fallen scrolls. Such incidents were common, when someone pushed too much at the row of scrolls and books on the other side, causing things to topple off the shelves on this side.

They tidied up the shelf, still speaking softly. Neither of them noticed the flick of green robes and silver curls disappearing around the corner.

Rei hurried up the stairs and down the corridor, tugging occasionally at his new and too-large yellow Librarian robes. He got ready to burst into Silver’s rooms as he neared her door, but stopped momentarily in astonishment when he arrived. The door was already flung open, and there was his plan of a grand entrance gone down the drain.

Silver was standing just before her desk, a hand running through her silver curls as she contemplated the contents of an open drawer. She was already in her Legolia armour, the dull steel netting of her shirt covered with a short royal blue cape that hung close about her shoulders.

There was no sign of the scars that now ran a dull dark red all down her right arm, covered as they were by her shirt’s long sleeves that ended beneath the cuffs of her golden Scaler gloves.

‘Silver!’

‘Good timing, I needed a second opinion,’ Silver said mildly, without even turning to look at Rei. ‘Should I bring one more pen? I already packed a dozen of them, but you know how they always like to rebel at the worst times…’

Taken slightly aback by the commonplace comment, Rei actually thought about it for a few moments, and answered instinctively, ‘Bring a pencil and a good sharp knife to sharpen it.’

‘Hmm. Good point.’ She rummaged through the drawer.

Rei’s eyes darted around the room. The desk itself was cleared of all papers and books, the wooden surface empty for once. A backpack was laid open on the neatly made bed, a haphazard mix of clothes, book, potions and more books stuffed into it. ‘You’re really leaving?’

‘I thought a change of scenery would do me good. Grendel thinks so too,’ Silver said as she pushed the drawer shut. ‘Ah, but don’t tell anyone that. Heavens forbid that they discover how he’s sending his Apprentice lover away to wait for the scandal to die down,’ she added dryly, pushing the pencil she found into one of the many compartments in her bag.

With one decisive tug, Silver drew the backpack’s drawstring mouth shut and dusted her hands off. ‘All set now.’

‘What, are you running away now? You’re letting Brandon win this? But this isn’t like you!’ Rei cried before he could stop himself. Then, he bit his tongue, checking Silver’s reaction carefully.

She only looked at him, her grey eyes a blank walled gaze.

‘It does feel like I’m running away, doesn’t it.’ After a long pause, Silver started to say slowly. ‘Still, they’ll soon have me sleeping with Athena Pierce if I don’t get out of those gossipmongers’ sights quickly. No other way I could have achieved my second job advancement, right?’ Silver made a soft derisive sound, but her hand flew unconsciously to her right arm even as she spoke.

‘I wouldn’t put it past them.’ Rei knew that the arm still hurt Silver, as it would most probably continue to do so for the rest of her life. But it was working well so far, having healed at a rate so rapid that surprised even Esther; it seemed as if Silver willed it to heal right after she made up her mind to live again.

‘But I’m an Adventurer Librarian now.’ She spoke her new title in full, savouring every single hard-earned syllable of it. ‘I don’t need reasons for travelling away from the Library; I have already stayed on here far longer than most first-year Ad Libs do.’

The second job advancement did not come easy, of course, but Silver had simply fought onward, plunging back into practices at the range right after Esther gave her clearance, with that same cool determination with which she had completed her Project. In the end, with the Proof of a Hero in sweaty hand, Silver had returned, to the Bowman School in Henesys to be granted advancement as Huntress, arm aching but undoubtedly triumphant.

With that, she finally fulfilled the criteria needed for her to graduate to an Ad Lib just three months ago, right on par with the rest of her fellow Apprentices.

‘So. I’m leaving.’ She heaved the backpack up now and shrugged the straps on. ‘Any last words?’

‘I could try to persuade you not to go, but we both know you won’t listen.’ Rei said as casually as he could, as the two friends exchanged looks, hers a degree of amused, his resigned. ‘So I’ll just leave it at “Take care, then.”’

‘Same to you, Rei.’ They hugged, fiercely but briefly.

One hour later, after a brief farewell to Grendel, Silver left the Ellinia Library for the golden lands of Orbis, disappearing through the crowd on Ellinia Harbour to board the ship that would send her on her way to start on another Project.

Little did any of them suspect, that one year or so ago, that this new Project would also change Silver’s life as much as her last one did.

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Links to previous chapters:
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If there is anything to complain about this part, it’s about how vague and boring the award ceremony is. (And how much I feel like deleting this chapter. Better send this before I really do.)

Then again, this accursed chapter is 2,057 words long. You don’t need it to be even more draggy.

Onward back to story present the next chapter! Maybe Brandon will get what’s coming, maybe not. Whichever the case, you guys will be free to have him anyway you like really soon.

Profound apologies to Des for breaking the pact. >< You can have the next entire chapter featuring Verchiel to make up for my promise-breaking-un-spiffiness, you can.

Anyway. Cookies~! *rattles jar*