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Voravia was sick of looking at scrolls.
Fortunately, she was right about them containing the information she sought. She poured over the crumbling pages for days, having her meals brought down to her, yet hardly eating at all because she was so absorbed with some new discoveries.
She would awake sometimes, her hair tumbled over the ancient pages, and realize she had fallen asleep while reading.
The tales she heard in childhood about magical objects of power were written in these dusty, abandoned scrolls. The scrolls, she discovered as she read on, actually were stories of the lives of the ancient and powerful peoples who controlled the Ahar'n, the fanciful and most important object of magic mentioned.
"Mord. Kesk!" she shouted.
She, long ago, discovered it was always the best way to get the attention of these slovenly beasts she had to deal with every minute. Her creations but too stupid to learn anything.
The two misshapen servants, never daring to venture too far away for fear Voravia might call for them, peered around the archway and quickly shuffled to her and fell on their faces in the dust.
"Get up, you fools! Take these scrolls and carry them to my study," she scowled and pointed her long hand at four or five large scrolls she had chosen to study more carefully.
The creatures scurried about gathering, bumping into one another and raising a terrible dust cloud in their haste to obey, then turned to look at Voravia once more before bolting up the great stairs leading to the floors above.
Why do I find every living thing I've tried to nurture just hangs around me like some stupid creature?
Voravia, with an obvious disdain for these beings, rolled her eyes, then closed them a moment. She shook her head, rose slowly from her chair, looked around the chamber she quietly vowed she would never enter again, turned and began the long slow trek upward.
She reached her landing and crossed the great chamber and headed up another long staircase to her own quarters. She could hear the two servants chattering ahead of her, sometimes raising their voices as they squabbled with each other.
Finally, Voravia reached the top and stiffened at the sound of new voices in her study. She recognized the voices. Two of her guard were yelling and arguing with Mord and Kesk.
Voravia walked deliberately through the entrance to her quarters, slamming the door against the wall, and the four small beings fell silent.
RESTING PLACE