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This library is open to anyone who has access to the palace despite its name. The name is only because all the books here are owned by the royal family itself and a more public library did exist in the citadel surrounding the castle. The library is located near the front of the east wing, and a passage which connects the library to the north wing of the castle does exist. The library is filled with expensive and richly illuminated books from throughout the kingdom. A book on almost anything may be found here.

Roleplay!

Iden walked from end to end of the bookshelf, brushing his fingers across each of the covers he passed. Occasionally, he'd make a remark, usually something along the lines of, "Read that," or, "God, that was awful."

Elsha sat in the back of the library and quietly poured over some ancient tomes. No one had disturbed em all day. Ey had gotten away from all the foppery of court, and ey was more than happy to stay away from it to. Then, at some time late in the evening, ey realized ey heard someone else in the library. Looking up in surprise, ey realized it was just eir brother. Ey didn't say hi and instead watched em carefully.

((It took me quite some time to realize you were using androgynous pronouns))

Out of the corner of his eye, Iden noticed Elsha sitting in the corner, reading a dusty volume. "Hi," he said, not sure if Elsha would hear him or not. Elsha was one of the few people with which Iden could identify, since ey had gotten eir fair share of cruel treatment from the king.

((Oops. I considered saying something, but I was like "Nah, I mentioned them on the character creation thread". I have a few androgynous characters))

Elsha offered him a slight smile. Ey waved at him. "Salutations, brother," ey said. The non-usage of the normal terms was entirely eir intent. Ey was no normal princess, after all. Ey stood up and walked to eir younger brother. He was one of her favorite siblings. He was certainly one that ey actually enjoyed spending time with. Too many of the others were simply too loud. Besides Iden, the only people ey truly liked were a select few of the scholars.

((I read over Elsha's profile, but for a second I just completely forgot that ey was androgynous.))

Iden walked over towards Elsha, looking at the numerous texts piled about eir. He attempted to get a look at some of the titles. He was on the wrong side of the table and a few of the covers were faded, so Iden decided to just ask. "What are you reading?"

((Whoops. =) Would you be interested in a love interest being created for Ayden, btw? I am going to make a genderfluid female, and if the answer is yes, I can make her of an age that would be appropriate for))

"A manuscript," Elsha answered before ey realized that eir brother was probably interested in a little more elaborate a response. Ey blinked slowly before adding, "Just some magic-y stuff. Not even that exciting if you like this type of text." Ey stuck out eir tongue and fake choked.

((Sure!))

Iden smiled, internally laughing at Elsha's pantomime. "What sort of 'magic-y stuff'?" he asked, using air quotes for the last phrase. Iden was genuinely interested in anything Elsha was doing, especially since there weren't many others that would deign to speak with him.

((Okay. That character -Robin Merrill- will either use different pronouns depending on the day or just the androgynous ones. My friend who's genderfluid does the latter))

"Someone trying really hard to disprove the existence of a magic. I can only take so much of his stupidity." With that, ey slammed the book shut and stood up. Standing, ey was only two inches shorter than eir younger brother. Ey sighed and rubbed eir temples. The book had apparently been so despised that it was in terrible condition. Thus, it had given em a slight headache from eyestrain.

((Oh, joy. Poor future Gabbu will have one hell of a time with that.))

Iden winced sympathetically. "I didn't realize there were still writings around for that sort of thing. My heart goes out to your poor head." Iden glanced around the area of the library they were standing in, and realized an entire section of the library was devoted to such nonbelievers. "Ah. It appears the author of that tome isn't the only stupid one present," Iden said, feeling idiotic for having not noticed this section of the library before.

((Which would you prefer?))

"For not noticing this headache before? Sorry brother, but I think I envy you more than anything for that," Elsha joked. Ey smiled and continued rubbing eir temples. "This book has got to be the worst I've ever read though. It's traumatic with how bad it is." Ey winced slightly, realizing that was not likely the best way to phrase the sentiment. After all, they had both experienced cruelty at their father's hand. They had experienced trauma, and this did fail to compare.

.

((I need to wear my glasses when I check my notifications, apparently. Jeez, Gabbu. And I really don't care; anything's fine with me))

Iden ignored Elsha's slightly unfortunate phrasing, knowing it hadn't been intentional. "If it's so awful, why not just stop reading it? In fact, why'd you pick up the book in the first place if you knew what it would be about?" Iden asked. He understood not wanting to give up on a book, but with all the temple-rubbing Elsha seemed to be doing, he wasn't sure if it was worth the struggle.

"Because I wanted something to make fun of because there is not much I can do that to these days," ey answered honestly. Ey smiled sheepishly. There were probably easier books ey could have made fun of, in truth, but that was what ey had chosen. "This seems to be included in the not much piece though. It should be burned on a pyre somewhere." Ey shrugged. "What are you doing here, might I ask? I doubt you were just here to see your older sibling."

Iden shrugged. "I didn't know you were in here, actually. For the most part, I'm here because I'm bored. Of course, there's also the fact that Gilda's in the yard, and I don't want to go about upsetting her," Iden said. It wasn't that hard for him to upset Gilda; usually just his presence was enough to get her angry.

"Oh," ey said, sticking out eir tongue. Ey, Gilda, and Birgit were a set of triplets, and out of the lot, Elsha had always been the odd sibling out. But for all that Elsha and Gilda had not agreed in childhood, ey knew that Iden had it a lot worse with the fact he and his twin had been the siblings their mother had died giving birth to.

"Yeah," Iden replied simply, not knowing what else to say. He already felt awful about what had happened to his mother, and occasionally did blame himself, but having his siblings add salt to the wound wasn't the least bit desirable.

Elsha patted his shoulder gently. "I'm sorry." Ey grimaced and sighed before shutting the book. Ey stood up. "Is there anything I can do to help you? Find a book or something?" Ey knew talking helped a bit, but ey doubted eir own conversation was helpful.

Iden shrugged nonchalantly. "It's fine. I've gotten used to it." It wasn't entirely true, but Iden felt even worse for making his sibling feel pressured to help him. At any rate, there wasn't much Elsha could do that would help. Except to talk. Contrary to what Elsha thought, Iden enjoyed conversations with em, and looked forward to running into eir.

Elsha put eir hand on his. "It's not fine," ey insisted, looking him dead in the eye. Ey tried offering him a smile, but then just gave up and patted his shoulder. "So," ey asked, "what can I do to help you out?" The new smile on eir face had an almost wan look to it.

Iden grabbed the hand wrapped around his shoulder and ducked out of Elsha's hold. "For starters, you could stop smiling. You look like you're in serious pain," Iden teased. "And after you've done that, I think just talking is good enough for right now, if you don't mind."

Elsha frowned in a moment's worth of confusion before nodding. "Fair enough." Ey bit eir lip and averted eir eyes to a shelf. "What do you wish to talk about, dearest brother?" Ey took hold of the book and began to look for where it belonged on the shelf as ey spoke.

Iden shrugged again. "Anything, really. I'm not the picky sort." He took the book from Elsha's hand, having found where it went, and placed it on the shelf where it belonged. He stepped back a bit, making sure it was even with the rest of the tomes. "There."

"Well, I'm not the sort to have a topic of conversation on hand," ey pointed out. Ey frowned in thought. "I probably should make a list of possible topics of conversations one of the days." Ey looked at the rest of the books on the stack and decided that ey was done with the subject for now. The bad book had ruined the topic for em, at least for now.

"If you're uncertain, I've got a few," Iden said. "I've heard that our dear father believes he's apprehended one of The Ten. I'm curious to see how accurate his assumption is." Iden pulled out a chair and sat down. "Either way, there'll be a hanging - whether it will be for the presumed rebel or the misinformed informant is what I'd like to know."

Elsha sighed. "More hangings. How lovely." Sure, when it came to it, ey was on eir father's side, but that did not mean that ey didn't detest the thought of people dying at his hand. Maybe that was why ey was so loyal -- ey didn't want the deaths that came with revolution.

"Speaking of hangings, have you seen Varden lately? He left a little while back, and I'm not sure if he's returned." Varden had been disappearing a lot over the past year or so, but he'd usually made sure to be back before too long. Iden wasn't usually one to worry about his siblings, but Varden happened to be one of the easier-to-deal with ones.

"Is he in some sort of trouble?" Elsha asked. Ey hadn't heard of anything, but news did not always reach eir ears. After all, ey did spend most of eir time shut up in the library or practicing magic without any company. And sibling-wise, Varden was one of the ones ey was less up-to-date with just because of said absences and just his career in their father's military.

Iden shrugged. "With all the time he spends away from home, I wouldn't be surprised. Father's pretty pissed with him as is, him being late probably won't help much." King Eion being angry at you was never something anyone wanted; that Iden could definitely be certain of.

Elsha shuddered and fingered the scar their father's temper had left on eir cheek. "Well, let us all hope that Varden will manage to escape our dear father's temper." Ey grimaced again. Thinking about the king's temper was hard for em. It had been directed at em often enough that it had left em very skiddish, and thinking about it was enough to send shivers down eir spine and make em cringe.

Iden winced sympathetically, having a few scars of his own from a few of his father's worse days. At least his weren't as prominent as the one across Elsha's cheek. "Tis a fate I wouldn't wish upon the worst of my enemies," Iden joked, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Me neither," Elsha agreed. Ey had to suppress a shudder. Ey hated their father's temper. Ey bore more of the brunt of it than most of the siblings. Varden had always been one of the king's favorites, but with this stunt, ey wondered how long that would last. "Varden stands a better chance than the rest of us. I hope he manages whatever it is he is trying to pull."

"What do you suppose he's trying to pull?" Iden wondered. None of the king's children dared to defy their father - more out of fear than respect - and Iden didn't perceive Varden as the type to test their father's virtually nonexistent patience.

Elsha shrugged, having no clue. There were whispers that the prince had been taking part in some huge deception or that he had a lover in the citadel or that he was going to lead a rebellion with his army. Elsha had not believed a single one of them. Now, ey realized one had to be at least partially correct, but ey did not know what it was. After another moment, ey shook eir head.

"Well, like you said: I hope he manages whatever it is. I don't think a royal scandal would sit well with the precarious state the kingdom's in," Iden said. Sensing the conversation was reaching a bit of a lull, Iden decided to take his leave. He and Elsha never managed very long conversations, but Iden enjoyed the ones they had all the same. "It was nice talking with you, Elsha. I think I'll be headed out now, though, so you can continue your reading and whatnot."

"Yeah," Elsha agreed in a near-whisper. Part of em was already ready to give up and figure that Varden was already disowned and eir father in a horrible temper (the last part was almost inevitable true). Elsha only nodded as eir brother made his excuses and left. Only after he turned his back and started to leave did Elsha lift one delicate hand and wave. Ey shut eir eyes and let eir head rest on eir book. Everything in this kingdom was going to hell. What hope did ey have left?

((such a pleasant way to conclude this little piece.))

((Indeed. =) ))