Heart Over Sword - Chapter 86

After roaming the palace further and taking in its splendour and different rooms, Evanna decided to check out the front of the court, where she knew there were more gardens yet to explore and more possible ways to escape. However, her attention was drawn away from her goal when she saw an arched doorway the size of a house, leading to rows and rows of books. It was a library, and a grand one, of course.

Her steps halted, and she eyed the enormous room; she tentatively stepped forwards, awestruck by its beauty. It was like nothing she had ever seen. Which seemed to be the same thought popping up in her mind that day. Every room she had seen was different and beautiful in its own way, making her wonder how long such a place took to be built.

Evanna tilted her head back as she walked through the archway. The library had a closed ceiling, but a wall-to-wall tinted window was in the usual brickwork’s stead. She could still see the sun shining brilliantly, but it didn’t cause any shadows nor bringing the room higher than average room temperature. Evanna clutched her arms as she suddenly shuddered from the different temperatures, it was nothing like in the forest, but it was close.

Lowering her head again, she searched the room, taking in the white trees occasionally scattered, showcasing how high the walls were and how truly magnificent the room was. Their wide branches reached out to one another, causing a sort of path in which Evanna watched a man walking across and grabbing a book from one of the bookcases near it. Her brows raised in awe, and she walked further into the depths of the room.

There was another floor, one that she couldn’t quite understand how to get to, but it had a balcony along the wall, so you could see from every angle of the ground she stood on. It was merely there so one could look at the books on such high shelves, but as she continued to gaze at it, spinning on the spot slowly, she stopped and saw a small area full of settees and armchairs. The whole room was like something out of a fairy tale book. Extraordinary and unbelievable.

Evanna couldn’t help but compare her small library, which was only of cold white bricks with a rug on the ground and a desk in the corner with a fireplace, in comparison to where she stood that would fit about three houses inside. She followed her gaze, her steps echoing across the marble surface, and found at the far left of the room, was a fireplace as wide as the archway that led into the library. Evanna’s lips were unknowingly parted.

The fireplace was of dark green marble with gold etched into it, flourishing out like their own branches of a tree that led to the ceiling. There were no books by such a beast of a fire roaring inside of it, and she found herself inching forwards to feel its warmth. Her hand glided along the edges of a single gold settee placed in front of it. But Evanna did not stop to rest; she felt a swell of excitement fill her chest from so many books. All elven!

She started roaming the aisles, her eyes flickering across different titles, all in Muranthian. There was also a section for Human’s, but these were books similar to what she had read before, and they were not nearly as exciting. So, she breezed past it. Her intent now was to see if there was anything that might help her and her situation. Evanna had no idea what she was looking for, though.

After some time of browsing the aisles, thrilled at coming across books with teachings of the elven magic, books that her mother would absolutely adore, she was reminded of her babysitters. The echoes of their clinking armour made her realise how quickly she must have been stepping through the aisles in excitement. When she stopped and turned, they visibly relaxed their shoulders with sighs.

Somehow, they thought she might try attempting to escape. The thought made her smile as she turned away from them. Of course, she couldn’t possibly escape through the library, but their fear of the prince must be what made them panic. Evanna rolled her eyes, but it also made her very aware of them following her.

She knew guards were not just there to keep you imprisoned or protected but to also inform their master of that person’s activities. She sighed while putting back a glorious green leather-bound book into one of the bookcases. It held information of the different gifts an elf could behold.

It was also, obviously, in Muranthian. Evanna could not simply take the book without explaining that she could, in fact, read it. She felt frustrated about her situation; even at her palace, she had to keep such a secret.

Evanna’s eyes roamed the grand room in want. There were so many books, scrolls and maps of the world she had never seen before. There was so much information she was still yet to learn, although she knew she was a diligent student and knew a fair bit more than her sister. Evanna glanced up at the man again, who wandered across the trees above her; from where she stood, she could see his long greying hair reach his waist and his rounded glasses at the edge of his pointed nose. He was the first elf to have shown any signs of ageing. Was he incredibly old then?

Even from her position on the ground, she could sense he was a knowledgeable man. Evanna always presumed the elves were of high intellect, and after merely looking at that man, dealing with the prince and reading some of the books she came across, it deemed true. Their technologies were also far more advanced than those of the humans. There were many books she also could not understand. Such things as germs had been identified, again showing that her high education was no match to that of an elf’s.

Evanna glanced around once more before she slipped back out and continued towards her original goal, but like she did earlier, the princess stopped, getting distracted by another room that was filled with a few elves. They were looking through jars and talking to one another while they waited for someone behind a counter.

Evanna’s curiosity piqued, and she stepped into the dark room.

Unlike most of the palace, this room did have a ceiling, and multicoloured windows, shining an array of colours into what appeared to be a shop. An apothecary of some kind. The orange-haired woman wore her hair into a braid and walked in an attire of slacks, a baggy white shirt and a green apron covering her. She wandered the room, which had its own brown tree growing from one corner, the roots stretching across the cracked marble ground and along the ceiling.

An array of herbs and flowers hung from the ceiling in which she picked a few from and threw them down onto the counter. Evanna stepped closer, standing among the elves now who merely glanced at her before their attention went back to the woman’s handiwork. She was now grinding the herbs together before throwing them in a bright blue liquid. Witchcraft? She shook her head. Rina told her they steered clear of witches.

Evanna reminded herself that the elves were much more advanced than the humans. Their medicines-

“* Take this three times a day or whenever you have a meal. Take a sip. AFTER your meal. It cannot be taken on an empty stomach. *” The elf with fiery hair said. Her eyes were stern and her tone slightly commanding. But Evanna would not expect less from a healer.

While she served each elf with an ointment, medicine or providing advice, Evanna looked through the jars, only recognising a few herbs and dried flowers; the rest were glowing and, of course, were local. Once the last man left, Evanna’s attention snapped back to the healer, who briefly scrutinised her with slightly narrowed eyes before glancing warily at the guards who stood outside the shop.

“*Hello guest. I am the palace physician. My name is Reselda. How may I help you?*” The orange-haired she-elf named Reselda greeted her in Muranthian as she stood in front of Evanna. Like most of the elves, she was elegant, tall and beautiful, with intelligent dark blue eyes and a few freckles kissing her cheeks.

Evanna parted her lips and switched languages at the last minute, scolding herself once again at nearly exposing herself. “Hi! I am so sorry, but I do not understand Muranthian. I’m Evanna, do you understand me?” Evanna replied, slowing down her speech in case the she-elf did not actually understand her. But she doubted it, so far, everyone, guard and servant alike, seemed to be bilingual.

Reselda rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips, “Of course I understand you. I am no simpleton.”

“Oh, haha. That is great to hear. Thank you,” She smiled in return.

Evanna strolled around the shop, trying to hide the rising nerves behind her actions. Hope was starting to spring up, something she needed to extinguish quickly, but it didn’t mean she was not nervous by the woman’s answers. But after wandering through the library and seeing how advanced the elves were, it made her wonder if, instead of a magic gem, there could possibly be a cure through medicine.

Medicine that the humans had no access to.