Kelsee continued her reading of the books that were instructed by Lady Mckenna. There was only mild reluctance spending her time in this manner. This was mainly due to her brief conversation with Kyjus. He had somehow managed to convince her that there was some greater purpose to the calling charged to her. It was in exploration of this charge that the princess spent the next few weeks engrossed in her readings in the Magus' library.
Kyjus was mysteriously absent. Kelsee had guessed that he was most likely in one of the three spell casting chambers. This made sense as where she had casted and used spells much of her life this poor child was not even aware of magic's existence until a couple of weeks ago.
Kelsee's smiled but at what she thought to herself. Was it the fact that Kyjus was endeavoring to be a better mage to help with their quest, perhaps? Why was she even thinking of him? He was not of any consequence, or was he? Too say confusion meandered into her thought processes would not have accurately portray her current situation.
It was getting late, and it was well past time for her to return to her room, perhaps it was just fatigue that caused her irrational line of thinking involving Kyjus. Finally, she had decided to call it a day, picking up her books she returned to her room. As she came to the intersection that would take her to the spell casting chambers, she half thought of heading over to see how Kyjus was doing, she quickly dismissed that idea once again writing her lack of judgement off to fatigue.
The journey back to her room was an uneventful one. Her Dwarven bodyguards, Glunt and Agnus were alert, as they were on every occasion. Not that they suspected anything would happen Kelsee presumed but as long as she had known Dwarves, she had never seen them behave any other way.
As she opened the door to her apartment, she smiled at the thought of the rest and relaxation she was about to enjoy, these were rare moments of late. Closing the door, she now saw that two figures were staring back at her, both upset and perplexed over some recently escalated situation, no doubt.
"What now", she said as she could tell these two were again not getting along. Kelsee knew as soon as she was assigned a housing attendant that this was going to be an issue as her servant did not take kindly to strangers that were doing her job.
Since Kelsee was of royal blood she had an assigned servant. This particular servant, Cerrah had been assigned to her for as long as she could remember. Cerrah as with most Elves, was very proud and opinionated. Her spirit crashed when she heard the word of this Council appointed attendant.
"She will not let me do my job", Cerrah said to Kelsee
"Nor will she mine", the diminutive figure replied in turn.
"Could you please excuse us Jazelle," Kelsee asked of her Gnome attendant.
Jazelle nodded and huffed as she exited the room, none too happy with the situation.
"You see what I am dealing with," Cerrah asked somewhat apologetically.
"Cerrah I already told you that you were going to have to give up all of your assignments but the cooking. Just try and think of this as some needed time off. Rest, relax and just take it easy while we are here." Kelsee hoped that Cerrah, who had over the years become one of her closest friends, would understand.
"That is exactly what I was trying to do. I was making dinner. She became upset as she said this was her job. I tried to tell her that due to political reasons no one could cook for you but me. She just wouldn't listen," Cerrah said with obvious disgust for the situation.
"I will talk to her," Kelsee replied.
After sorting thru the servant / attendant mess Kelsee retired to her bedroom. Hopefully everything was fixed Kelsee thought as she descended upon her bed. "I wonder if you had to deal with this Lady Mckenna," she said out loud and to no one in particular.
"Why no child I did not", came a voice from behind.
Startled, Kelsee turned to see the spirit of Lady Mckenna.
"I'm sorry did I frighten you Princess Kelsee", she asked giggling slightly.
Sorta, I was more surprised than anything", she responded to the spirit.
"My apologies", she said with a slight bow.
"OK then so back to the matter at hand. Did you read the books as you were instructed", the spirit asked of the princess?
"Yes, and I read them a second time as you requested but honestly Lady Mckenna, other than being an interesting read I saw no real value," one could tell the disheartened tone of the princess increasing with every word.
"No value huh," the spirit questioned.
Kelsee shook her head in agreement.
"So, you have said the books were a good read, can you tell me why you believe this to be so."
"Well, I would guess it's because the people the books were written about, especially Merlin, Copernicus and Socrates were very interesting. They did many heroic and courageous things. Things that were definitely worth learning about, noteworthy things I guess is what I am trying to say," the princess said still somewhat confused by this line of questioning.
"Ah, those are some strong words you are using heroic and courageous are you sure of this child," the spirit said very condescendingly. This was of course to elicit a certain response to which it is safe to say the princess unwittingly accommodated.
"Lady Mckenna I do not understand how you are even saying this if you read the same books that I did then you would know that both Merlin and Copernicus battles were nearly of epic proportions and although Socrates was not afforded near the opportunities that the other two were his other accomplishments, like the cleansing of Danaria and his battle with the green dragon Toenexis were no less breathtaking. And don't forget about his work on inter-dimensional portals," Kelsee paused.
"And in regards to the others, what of the battle of Tenocitlair where Merlin singlehandedly held back a legion of Tundra Yeti's so that they could not get to that group of botanists that there studying the then newly discovered ice thistle herbs. I mean his Teleportation halfway across the planet was impressive enough but to keep the observatory free from Yeti's for over three hours until help arrived…. Well, that seems both courageous and heroic and I am struggling to understand why you think it is not," Kelsee finished somewhat exasperated.
Lady Mckenna smiled. "You know they say Merlin and Socrates were human and Copernicus well he was Plutarian," she said to Kelsee very non-chalantly.
"Of course, they were all of the books about them were very descriptive about who and what each of them were as well as all of their accomp…", Kelsee stopped and trailed off from her remaining thought. She may now have understood what Lady Mckenna was trying to make her understand with all of this reading.
Lady Mckenna nodded, "I believe we understand each other, yes" she asked curiously.
Kelsee nodded in the affirmative.
"We Elves are a fierce and proud race princess and that's ok but too much of any racial feature can be a hinderance if it is not used properly."
"So all of this reading was not in the hopes of me finding some hidden spell or to find some tactical advantage in the upcoming war, was it," Kelsee asked but it was mostly rhetorical as deep down she now knew the answer.
"No", was the spirits response which she now said with a beaming smile upon her face.
"This was done because of my attitude towards any non-elven species was it not," she followed up again this was a pointless question, but she felt the need to ask it anyway.
Mckenna nodded, "Your mother and I agreed you needed to understand more about non-elven culture. You were sheltered most of your life and thus this important lesson you needed to learn first. I can see your somewhat disappointed, but I must again reiterate the importance of this lesson."
Kelsee nodded "I understand its important and believe me over the last week or so I have already changed my viewpoints on quite a few things about humans but I," she paused.
"You were hoping one of the greatest Wizards from the Elves would have something further to teach you," Mckenna said finishing her sentence for her.
Kelsee nodded.
"Well child first and foremost your mother was a most excellent instructor in her own right you should understand at least that much from your time with her," the spirit said to Kelsee.
The princess nodded that she did in fact agree.
"However, I do happen to know of one spell that your mother did not teach you as it was lost to the Elves over seven hundred years ago as the need to cast such a spell was not there. I am prepared to teach you this spell as Tunare has bid this to come to Pass. Are you willing to listen to what I have to say," she asked of the princess?
Stunned and happy beyond belief Kelsee eagerly nodded that she was in fact ready.
"This spell is exceptionally rare among any wizard, but it will be most useful against the army of the Dylonian empire. I call the spell Cyclone for the effects mostly resemble that of a cyclone or tornado," the spirit said to the princess.
Kelsee nodded eagerly as she had heard legends and myths in regards to this spell and knew it to be quite complex.
The spirit then began to go over the complex incantation of the spell and everything involved in its casting. Oh, how she could not wait until she could practice.
Her dreams that night were filled with grandeur and battles but oddly enough in each dream Kyjus was by her side. He was a man now but still he had managed to retain some of his boyish charm. He was ruggedly handsome and very strong she thought and there was something else yes he exuded confidence, like he had accomplished many things.
She awoke from the dream somewhat startled at first, what had just happened she thought to herself, had she just had a premonition she wondered or was it just a harmless and meaningless dream. She shrugged it off and returned to her deep sleep, whatever it was she was sure the answer was going to have to wait.
A gentle nudge produced no response so Cerrah shook a little harder. Groggily the sandy haired princess awoke from her dreams, they had been vivid at times and very confusing but one thing she could say for sure is she slept soundly.
Kelsee made her way to the bath to get ready for her day. Once bathed she dressed and got her Wizard's cloak and her very precious wand out of her safe and proceeded to the kitchen. There was great purpose about her this morning, she was vibrant and happy, and it was obvious to her attendant and servant that something had happened to spur this change. They both looked at each other and shrugged, it appeared neither one of them knew the rational for it.
On this morning Kelsee was so excited to get to her training that she almost left realizing that her guards were not with her. As she opened the door and was somewhat startled by Glunt and Agnus her Dwarven bodyguards.
"And just where do ye be thinking you're a heading without us", Glunt asking musingly.
"Just waiting for you guys so we can go and now you're here so now we can go," Kelsee replied hurriedly but with a smile.
Both Glunt and Agnus looked at each other as if to say yeah right but she was eager to get to training today as they could plainly see so they quickly turned to follow.
As she entered the great room between the library and the Magus' private chambers, she saw that Kyjus, and the Magus were talking about something. Kyjus had this look of dread upon his face, he was blanket white as he also looked somewhat surprised. Kelsee wanted to ask what the problem was, but she felt it was not her place, so she stood there waiting for the Magus to finish his conversation.
As the Magus understood that the princess had wished to speak to him, he held out his finger to Kyjus as if to tell him he would only be a second and he walked over to the princess. She whispered something to the Magus who in turned whispered something back. This continued for several turns before the Magus with a very shocked look on his face, pointed to the set of double doors some thirty feet behind where he was currently standing.
The princess thanked the tall gangly figure, nodded towards Kyjus and headed through the double door's closing them on her way through.
She looked down upon what the Magus called the Dimensional Courtyard. She saw a beautiful statue near the front of what appeared to be a park. There were several benches around the statue and a path that led back into a copse of trees to what may have been another statue. There was also a pretty nice size man-made lake with two small fountains one on the front left the other on the front right and although the lake was not symmetrical in its design the placement of the fountains within the lake most probably was.
Taking the path to the right from the first statue, instead of left pathway to get back to the rear statue, you would find yourself arriving at the lake. This path did not stop at the lake however, it continued out into the middle of the lake where a very large stone square platform was built. This was where the princess needed to be according to the Magus. The only apparent problem is that there was no way down from the balcony.
Luckily the princess had just the spell for this particular problem. Pulling her wand from her cloak she climbed onto the railing of the balcony and said "flotador discende" and feeling light as a feather she slowly drifted towards the ground.
The princess then very hurriedly made her way towards the platform to begin her day's lessons. She was more excited then she had been for a long time.