The rest of the banquet passed by in a blur. The food that had previously entranced me was now all but forgotten. My mind whirred as I gnawed distractedly on a hunk of bread, thoughts filled with possibilities.
My father was the Captain of the Royal Guard, or at least he had been. The position was one only afforded to the greatest warrior in the Kingdom so he had to be an unparalleled swordsman. But why had he never told us? More importantly, why had he never told me, knowing as he did my dream to become one of the renowned El'sui of Aema. Why then would he not tell me of something so obviously relevant.
'With training and aid from such a revered source my chances as an El'sui are all but guaranteed.' I thought giddily.
'Wait...is that why he didn't tell me? Does he think that it gives me some kind of unfair advantage over others? That's ridiculous! Everyone would use whatever resources they might have on hand.'
How many could say that they were trained by one of the greatest warriors alive? Perhaps Father was right not to tell me.
'Don't be a fool. I'd have to be a knave to turn down free training. I'll simply ask Father the moment the banquet ends then I can get a straight answer.'
My musings were interrupted by Sparrow jabbing a spoonful of soup into my mouth.
"If you don't eat now you'll just get hungry later." she said in her overly serious manner.
Sparrow proceeded to force enough food down my throat to feed a small army throughout the rest of the evening. By the time the banquet was drawing to a close I could barely stand from all that I had consumed and could only be grateful that I had enough foresight to forego alcohol of any sort.
Luckily for my clueless self, Sparrow had somehow memorized the path to our rooms. Without her I would have doubtless spent a small eternity wandering the halls. When we arrived back I wished for nothing more than to fall asleep on the massive silk-bedecked bed in my room, but instead held to my resolution and sat myself in an armchair to await my parents' return. The minutes ticked by. I vaguely heard a bell tolling some late hour. My eyes drooped. Father would probably be playing catch up with the King till the wee hours of the morning. I yawned contentedly, my stomach pleasantly replete. My head drooped towards my chest.
'Perhaps I can ask tomorrow…'
The sun rose on my thoroughly irritated self wrapped in silks in the comfort of my own bed. Doubtless Mother thought she was doing me a favor by moving me to bed without waking me. I cursed at myself.
"Damn it all! how could I be so weak-willed as to fall asleep?"
'No matter' I thought 'I can simply ask him today.'
Clambering out of my oversized bed, I tugged on a tunic and trousers and made my way to the dining room. Breakfast had already been laid out for us and I felt a little guilty that I couldn't even thank whichever servant had brought it in. It felt odd to have everything done for me. Normally Mother and Evan split kitchen duties (Father was an abominable cook) while Amber and I shared the washing of laundry. Here in the palace all of that was simply a thankless job for nameless servant's. I wondered how many nobles really thought about such things or if they even cared.
'Well time will tell whether all these are in fact rich snobs or regal sages. It's always one or the other in books.'
All such thoughts were dispelled the moment I sat down at the table and ruthlessly began working my way through the indulgent breakfast. It was with a twinge of embarrassment that I noted I was the last of us to reach the dining table, or rather the last bar one.
"Where's Pa?" I asked "Is he still asleep?"
Mother glanced up from her meal, which she somehow managed to eat while appearing graceful despite the fact that the rest of us all looked like unwashed ruffians in the morning.
"No he had some business to attend to with Lionel and couldn't make it to breakfast."
I nearly choked on my glass of juice.
"You're on a first name basis with the King!?" I asked incredulously.
Mother laughed, clearly relishing my and my siblings' shocked expressions.
"I actually used to call him Linny but I thought it wouldn't be appropriate seeing as we haven't seen one another in twenty years."
All of us had our jaws hanging open, looking for all the world like a set of dullards, while Mother turned back to her meal like nothing had happened.
Once breakfast was finished Mother turned to us and said,
"I hope all of you are tidied up and ready to go. If not you have five minutes before we leave you behind."
"Go where?" Jenny asked.
"Oh you'll see" Mother replied with an enigmatic smile.
What followed was a veritable stampede as we all rushed to make ourselves presentable. I for one yanked on my boots and trousers before helping Sparrow quickly brush her hair, knowing that she would ignore it if left to her own devices. Once our gaggle was arrayed outside the door Mother strode off purposefully, never once looking back to make sure we were following. Like Father, she seemed to have a solid grasp of the palace's layout though in retrospect it only made sense that he did given his previous position.
'I suppose Mother must have lived here for a time as well. Perhaps these halls are where they met.' I mused.
Within a few minutes we had arrived at an unassuming door on an otherwise empty stretch of wall. Mother withdrew a key from her pocket and unlocked the door. Stepping aside with a small flourish she led the door drift open.
"Behold the most valuable room in the Kingdom." she said.
Behind the door lay more books than I had ever seen in the rest of my life put together. Ten - no, a hundred times more. A thousand. The shelves stretched up towards the vaulted ceiling and the rows spread to either side for at least a good two hundred feet. Each one of those books cost a small fortune, some were worth a large one, yet here they stood, all within spitting distance of my greedy fingers.
"Sit." My mother commanded, and it was only then that I noticed the row of tables set in front of the stack with several readers and scholars sat at them quietly.
My mother, seeing some dismay at her brusque order - mostly from Sparrow - explained a little further.
"I am the only one with permission from His Majesty to peruse the stacks. The Royal Librarian can be extremely overprotective and might go into cardiac arrest if he saw several children sullying his precious tomes. In fact this is the only room in the palace permitted to use magic. It is considered too precious to risk a fire. You can simply find some comfortable seats and I will bring some books over to you so you don't have to worry."
This proved to be a lie on two fronts, first being that there were any comfortable seats to be had. The second was that we needn't worry about the books. We needed to worry - no - we needed to escape, for the books she brought over were the most boring works of literature conceivable. I held out some hope when I saw the illuminated book of nursery rhymes at the bottom of the pile but that was swiftly crushed when she proffered it to Jenny and Sparrow to help them learn to read.
My younger sisters looked delighted meanwhile I was stuck with Alminar the Wise, the 4th king of Aema.A quick glance at Amber and Evan revealed that my selection was one of relative mercy as they had been saddled with the Elder Sal, councilmember of Bospor from 900 years ago whos mere name was rumored to cause innocents to keel over from boredom. With a sigh I turned back to my own work discussing the renovation of Aeman mercantile structure and trading networks. Luckily I was spared the pain of taking down notes as I hadn't yet perfected the process of writing despite being extremely proficient at reading for my age. After a slogging hour, Mother gave me a break from Alminar in favor of some writing drills. My handwriting was still abominable but I was getting used to stringing the letters together and my speed at writing full sentences was gradually improving. Only when each of us looked like our brain was going to melt from our ears, did Mother finally relent and entertain a single literary request from each of us. Jenny chose a book of simple poems. Sparrow picked fairy tales. Amber wanted a romantic drama while Evan asked for a manual of fashions from the Azure Isles along with the patterns for reference. He sought to become a tailor so such manuals were worth their weight in gold to him. I considered carefully, hesitating for a moment. My instinctual response was to ask for the Stand of Six Shades but that was a tale that could be found anywhere and one that I had practically memorized, instead I asked for something that was a little more esoteric but still a work they were sure to have.
"Grimkeeper. They should have his book here. I can't imagine they wouldn't have a work of The First Shade in the royal palace."
My mother nodded and headed off to fetch our requests. I had a feeling she was familiar with the library's organization but it still took nearly half of an hour to find 5 individual books among so many. We all watched with eager eyes when she returned, arms laden with books. I immediately attempted to snatch my pick but Mother held the stack tantalizingly out of reach.
"Eh, eh, eh. First we have a little history lesson to do."
Hearing our groans, she pouted at us.
"Oh stop whining. It won't even be hard. We're just going over the Flight and Founding."
Amber gave another sigh of exasperation.
"Mama we've heard this a thousand times. Why the hell do we need to learn it again?"
"Because the Founding Festival is coming up and Jenny and Sparrow aren't as well versed in history as you and Evan are. They should at least be aware of the history behind the Festival, not to mention their nation and race to boot."
"I don't see why you are so passionate" Evan grumbled "you aren't even Aeman so why does it matter."
"Look, you are going to review the history no matter what so would you like to continue yapping or will you let me start so we can finish faster?"
We all shut up as Mother fell into what I called her 'storyteller mode'
"A long, long time ago-"
"How long exactly?" Sparrow interrupted innocently.
Mother gritted her teeth.
"650 years ago give or take the goldeneye didn't exist. There were only the elves, orcs, dwarves, and humans. Your ancestors were of the latter category. Greatest among the kingdoms of humans were the Morus. For thousands of years the elves had reigned as the greatest mages, druids, and sorcerers, their magical prowess unparalleled by the other races. But nevertheless their dominance was hindered. Their long lives were accompanied by few births and their magic-riddled bodies were unable to wield the sword. They could not dominate the humans but the elves rested assured in their magical supremacy. However the Morus were different. As their empire grew the other kingdoms, elvish and human alike began to notice the strength of their great mages, and more than that, their numbers. The Morus could call to arms entire companies of mages. Mages had always been rare and prized, trained for years upon years to reach competency, yet seemingly overnight the Morus had gathered an army filled to eyeballs in witches, wizards, and druids alike. The Morus had made no moves of hostility towards the elves but the elves grew jealous. From that jealousy grew fear. The precious skill that had kept the elves safe for so many millenia had been usurped by humans. They couldn't abide the thought of losing their one advantage and so they gathered the greatest elvish minds and they schemed for 13 days and nights. Those elves never emerged from their cloister but their work was complete. As dusk fell on the 13th night the Morus found themselves cut off from their magic. Even the residual mana in their bodies was shunted out leaving them cleansed and their eyes a bright gold. As their great empire collapsed without the magic they so depended on, they fled to the only haven they could find where the greed of the other kingdoms of humans and elves would not encroach: The Great Desert or as it is now known, The Aeman Desert. No other race could survive the trek to this plateau but when the elves cleansed the Morus of magic they gave an unwitting boon. Without the mana that had weakened their flesh, the bodies of the Morus were strong. Stronger than the humans, the dwarves and even the orcs. With this newfound strength they endured to reach the plateau where they founded a new city. A city named after the dawn itself in the elder language: Aema, The City of Dawn. Thus to celebrate their arrival and survival to reach the plateau we have the Founding Festival which will be starting in a few months."
Though I had heard the story before I had to admit it was still slightly awe-inspiring to hear knowing that it was my own history not just some distant fairy tale.