OMGosh LOOK AT THIS PLACE!!!!

[Guest]

The girl looks around the library with bright eyes, "Mistress! LOOK AT ALL THE BOOKS!" she was amazed, and she seemed extremely excited. There were probably writing books for English, and some books that actually had Ruinic in it, she was so excited and happy. She was practically jumping with how excited she was to see all the books and stuff in the library. It was very rare for the child to have even gotten a hold of a book, not to mention to be able to see a whole bunch in one place, and they looked so safe and new...

[Everly]

The first impression that the library gives is of its sheer vastness. The top of the second story can only be seen if you crane your neck back. Most of the books look ancient, their bindings cracked and worn. The entirety of the rounded walls were lined with them, the scent of their crinkled pages filling the air.

Everly walked around the room until she came to a section of medical journals. The Lancet was there, taking up most of the shelves. The issues ranged from the first edition in 1823 to 1990. Even though they didn't have the most recent editions, there were still hundreds of journals to go through.

"Oh dear," Everly said. "We're going to have to do a bit of searching." She looked down at the girl to see if she was as overwhelmed as the headmistress felt. "Well, all we have to do is get started." She opened her palm and a pile of the books flew from the shelves and landed in a neat pile on one of the long, dark tables meant for studying.

[Guest]

The child looked around amazed. She looked up at the mistress, totally amazed. "I've never tried reading before... 'cept in Runic... someone always reads for me..." she said climbing up into one of the chairs looking at all the books. Her fingers were careful as they ran over some of the books. She was very gentle with them, and she was very careful - there was much respect that she had for the books and it showed in the way she handled them.

"Will you help me read mistress? as we research?"

[Everly]

"Um.. sure." Everly wanted to help the girl, but wasn't sure how to go about it. She had thought that the library would help, but there was now an overwhelming amount of books to go through to find the answer, and the headmistress wondered if she had gotten herself in too deep. She hesitated, her fingers resting on the back of Andraste's chair. Part of her wanted to tell the girl to find someone else, but she had already promised and couldn't back away now.

She heaved a sigh, forced a smile and bent at her waist over the girl and the books. She chose one at random and opened to the index. There were stories on infectious disease and something about the pope.. but nothing that seemed useful. Figuring that she might as well try to help anyway, Everly pointed to the 'd' in disease.

"Alright dear, do you know what letter this is?"

[Guest]

"Its a b. it makes the 'buh' sound right?" she asked, her happy eyes looked up at Everly, but seeing her forcing a smile, and hearing the sigh, the brightness slowly faded from her eyes, and a frown started to form on the poor girl's lips. "You don't have to do this mistress." she whispered softly, "I'll be fine..."

She gave a soft sigh, looking at the woman, she seemed upset, but she didn't want to get the woman more upset than she already was, "Maybe I'll just ask mommy to teach me to be better." she whispered.

[Everly]

Everly's features dropped. She pulled out the chair next to Andraste and quickly slid down into the seat. She placed both of her own hands on top of the girl's and tried to look her in the eye. "Oh no," she said. "I do want to help you. I'm just afraid that I don't know how." She smiled warmly. The girl was young, and she might not understand Everly's concerns that she would actually somehow make the girl worse. "But, I promised I would try, and that's what I intend to do."

Hoping that her emotions got through to the girl, Everly removed her top hand and pointed to the "d" again. "This is not a 'b' though. This is a 'd'. The 'duh' sound. Here this," she said, moving her finger to point to a 'b'. "This is a 'b'. Do you see the difference?"

[Guest]

She nodded slowly, happy to have the help, she still felt sorry for the woman that had to help her with this. She gave a nod of understanding to Everly explaining the letters to her.

"I'm still sorry..." she said softly, "It's really hard being from so long ago."

She pulled out a small book from her corset and opened to a page, showing Everly, "This was a picture done of me..." she said slowly, "Read the date," Andraste said softly. The date read "312B.C." "My daddy painted it of me... I think..." she continued.

She looked down, "I though that literature would help teach me to read right."

[Everly]

Everly looked carefully at the picture that the young girl showed her. She had to blink a few times and make sure that she had read the date correctly. "312 B.C.?" she asked in a high, shocked voice. "How is this possible?" She looked back and forth between the painting and the real live girl in front of her. If it wasn't the same then it was surely a very close relative. "Are you sure this is you?" she asked. She was just checking to make sure that she had understood the student correctly. Everly thought of the possibilities. Perhaps she shouldn't be so shocked. She herself had gone dormant for over 100 years. Was it possible that this girl had done similar but for longer?

She didn't address the girl's second statement quite yet. She was waiting to hear the story of how a girl from 312 B.C. had gotten to the present with intent curiosity.

[Guest]

The dress was the exact same dress in the picture as the one she had wore when she had first gotten to the castle. The child gave a nod, really thinking about her father but failing at remembering his face. She gave a soft sigh, it was impossible, she could hardly ever actually remember anything anymore. She looked up at Everly, "We were doing a spell at Stonehenge, and then there was a burst of light, and then a whole bunch of clocks, and then I was sitting on Stonehenge exactly where I had been before, and... and..." she started to cry, "And now I'm here and things are different, and it's never dark enough to even see the stars." (she had fallen asleep before night fall the few nights she had been on the island) "And there are a lot of lights and bad smells and... and.... I just wish I could go back, but I can't cause I can't even get close to Stonehenge, and mommy is all worried about something, and I just wish everything was better." she whined, and then wiped her eyes on her sleeves, "You must think I'm a baby." she whispered.

[Everly]

"Of course I don't think you're a baby," Everly said, patting the girl's hand delicately. "But don't worry we can keep you safe here until we figure it out." Everly hadn't heard of time travel before. She had heard of people having moments of long rest, but never jumping through time like this girl claims happened to her. There was still a hint of doubt in Everly's mind. She thought that perhaps the girl just had some memory problems. But she didn't let this doubt show. The last thing she wanted to do was make the girl feel worse.

She thought this was a good time to address the girl's earlier question, since it would change the topic slightly. "And as for literature," she continued, flipping absently through some pages in the journal. "I didn't expect to get children as young as you in the class. We are reading some difficult books. But, if you need any extra help, you can always come ask me. How old are you anyway?"

[Guest]

The girl looked up at Everly, she wanted ask if she even believed her, but she kept quiet. Nobody believed her anyway, why should Everly? She gave a sigh and drew her knees up watching the Mistress. She tried to keep herself quiet and really didn't want to start something. Andraste was truly afraid of almost everyone in the new world. They typically didn't listen to her, and she frequently felt like she was alone when she told people the truth about her. She simply watched Everly, and gave a nod as she continued on to tell Andraste about what she was expected to be learning.

"I'm seven winders old," she said not understanding what a "year" really was, or the concept of "B.C" or anything, she was just knew that there was a lot of numbers between the year the painting was said to be painted in. She just knew that nobody believed her, and this world was totally different from what she had once known. So "advanced". She let her legs down and swung her feet back and forth.

The girl shifted a little bit watching everything around her, a little distracted now, "I don't want to be a bother to you mistress..." she whispered looking at the book that she had taken off the huge table... she had gone through all those tasks.... and gotten this book, and now she might not even be able to do the class...

[Everly]

Everly nodded at the girl's age. She had guessed as much. There was something though, about that girl's demeanor that made the headmistress feel sad. Everly wanted the girl to feel welcomed and comfortable, but she still wasn't sure how. The girl's last words hit like a wall.

"A bother? Not at all!" She placed her hand on the book in front of the girl. "We can read it together, if you'd like." She curved the tip of her fingers around the hard cover of the book and lifted it open. She flipped through the first few pages and stopped at the beginning of chapter one. On the left page was an inked print of the young Alice looking up at the Cheshire cat who was sitting in a high branch of a tree.

Everly pointed to the girl in the sketch. "This is the main character, Alice. She's a lot like you, actually."

[Guest]

The girl stared up at Everly for a moment, and then at the book, she had to sit up on her knees to be able to read it. The girl actually liked the smell the book had once it was opened, she seemed to relax a bit, her fingers slowly went over the page, slowly and carefully, she would take care of books well. Andraste's very movements around the book seemed to be filled with respect for the paper worlds.

She didn't respond as she looked deep into the picture, really studying the illustration. She took a moment before she opened her mouth to respond, "Alice doesn't look like she likes the kitty... or maybe she's just surprised to see him... the kitty doesn't look very nice at all... is it a bad kitty kitty?" Andraste asked, now looking up at Everly, her fingers still pointing at the Cheshire cat's familiar grin.

[Everly]

((We can just put this on hold til I get back if that's okay with you. ^^))

[Guest]

(sure thing)

[Everly]

The headmistress squinted her eyes and looked at the picture again. She wasn't sure how to answer the question. Was he a bad cat?

"I don't think he's really bad," she said. "He just likes to cause trouble. You know, jokes and riddles. But Alice," she continued, trying to draw the girl's attention back to the main character. "She falls into the rabbit hole and enters a whole strange new world where everything is different from what she knows. Just like you, right?"

Everly raised her eyebrows. From what Everly had gathered, the girl was starting to lose her memories about the past, and the headmistress wanted to know more about the girl's story before the information was lost, to try to fill in the blanks and maybe help her get home.

[Guest]

Andraste nodded and looked over the picture again, her fingers gently traced Alice's form. "She's so pretty mistress." The girl said. Her eyes had a bit of an airy look to them, "I had a tree like that when I was little, and my kitty was the one that was usually on the ground, and I was the one up in the tree."

She gave a little giggle and looked a bit distant. She seen a figure move in front of her, Stonehenge was there again, prowling. "GO AWAY!" she yelled seeing it. It was slowly advancing forward, and a cool dark voice emanated from the spirit, "But I am hungry." it said coolly as it advanced.

[Everly]

Everly smiled at the girl as she admired the drawing. This was good, she remembered her cat, she remembered climbing trees, she...

Then something happened. The headmistress wasn't sure what the change was, but it was obviously connected to her memories. The girl started screaming and Everly responded by placing her hands firmly on Andraste's shoulders. She looked into the girl's eyes and was frightened by the faraway look inside them, as if she didn't even see what was around her.

"Andraste can you hear me?... ANDRASTE?!" Everly started to panic and gave the girl a good shake, trying to bring her back to reality.


((I'm assuming that Everly couldn't see Stonehenge. ^^;))

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