Royally Rogue

Freakydeeky

"Dear lord, can we get over this?" Melanie groaned, snapping her fingers in the air. The sound echoed around the room.

"If I could kick you out of my house I would." Xander sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and closing his eyes.

"But you can't because I'm your woman's wing woman. Get over that, too." She yapped back, sticking out her tongue and suctioning herself to my arm. "C'mon let's go read some books."

Xander looked peeved as his right eyebrow twitched, the moment was taken away from him by a feisty she-wolf. Nevertheless, he nodded, waved, and turned to walk down a hall. "I'll see you tonight for dinner. I'll be in my office if you need anything."

There was a heavy pang in my chest as I watched him turn and head in another direction. He didn't look back.

"Alright," I sighed, "let's go."

+

The wide expanse of books took me by surprise, as I had no idea this house could hold such a variety.

The library was simple and rustic, wooden planks lining the walls just like the rest of this cabin. As far as I could tell, it was only one story, but it was long and wide. My vision only allowed me to see four large and tall shelves, but I definitely knew it went way back after that.

There was a commotion in the room from a few kids who were beeping and bopping on the computers. Half of them shouted excitedly at the monitor, while the other half were either actually reading the books or making towers to stand on.

"Kids-! Keep your voices down! Get off of those books-and turn down the volume!" An old-man -sounding voice hushed to the group of young children who were running in and out of the aisles. We heard him before we saw him, but once he appeared, the voice completely matched my mental visual.

A perky old man's head popped out from behind a shelf. His round oculars were down on his nose, eyebrows raised and eyes squinting to see me.

"Claudius?"I said hesitantly, knowing if I screwed up the names this would turn indefinitely awkward.

He was neither fat nor skinny, just that elderly spot in between. Behind those thick glasses, his thick white eyebrows raised in surprise. He trudged out from around the bookshelf, wearing a brown cardigan and a yellow button down. His jean pants sagged over his worn out brown loafers, making me nervous on his walking capabilities. His legs looked extremely bowed, a sign of trauma. Maybe he had been a warrior, or possibly a guardian. Either way, it didn't change the fact that he could possibly trip over his own pant legs and break his back. Werewolves were strong, but after a couple hundred years, our bones get brittle, too. "Yes, that is me, miss-?"

"-Arabella." I finished, trying to give my best formal smile and hoping he'd point us in the right direction and waste no time on questions.

"Ah, " He nodded, shuffling over and rubbing his dry hands together in front of him. "Yes, indeed you are."

I couldn't help but furrow my eyes as he didn't stop at the 5-foot mark as he approached me. As in, my bubble of personal space. For some reason, it was one of the only things I remembered in my royal etiquette classes. Maybe that was just a royal thing- or maybe this old librarian really didn't know who I was yet.