With her father's memory failing and her mother gone, Soraya Thenayu enrolls in distant Darkwood Academy and immediately becomes enemies with the richest kid at school. Between hiding her father's gift of illegally harvested magic, befriending socia...
Through another set of large oaken doors was the nave, the largest room in the church, where the congregation would sit on giant multicolored pillows and listen to Priests interpret passages of The Path. Although worship services were held on Solis Diem, the first day of the week, everyone was allowed to enter and pray to the Gods or have private confession and absolution at anytime. Since everyone in Rivinsdeep respected the Church, no one ever stolen or vandalized anything inside despite it remaining open to the public.
"Which way do we go?" Tishva whispered, his question echoing off the walls.
"This way," his daughter pointed at a plaque above a closed white door that read, Library.
They tiptoed over, gently pushing their way inside another spacious room, but this one had tall, full bookshelves lining all of the blue stone walls. To their right was a large dark brown desk with a black cash register on top. Behind that, pacing in circles while reading, was the librarian, Ms. Veda.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Hello!" Soraya whispered excitedly, waving at the older woman.
The librarian stopped what she was doing and looked up at them. She had dark skin, long blond curly hair tied in a bun, and bright blue eyes that shined brightly behind her large glasses. She was dressed in traditional Azakuin church attire since she was working inside a holy place.
"Well, hello there, little bookworm," she nodded curtly at the girl. "And hello, Mr. Thenayu. I've been expecting you both."
Tishva bowed. "Yes ma'am. Did you find all the school books?"
"I did, and I have them all prepared here for you," she bent down behind her desk and came back up with a large stack of novels. "Our library only owned one of the six school books that were needed, so I pulled three from my personal shelves at home and received the other two from a neighbor in town."
"Thank you so much, Ms. Veda," Soraya grinned. "Did you go to Darkwood Academy?"
"Yes, many moons ago," laughed the librarian, her bright blue eyes sparkling. "It's a wonderful and beautiful place. I think you'll love it."
The positivity about the school from both Mrs. Bunion and Ms. Veda helped ease the girl's mind about leaving. Excitement welled up inside as she thought about seeing and experiencing living in Matumi for herself.
"How much for all of the books?" Tishva asked while digging around in his pocket for his Dragulji credit card.
"It's ten for each book, so sixty Lari, please," Ms. Veda replied. "I'll make sure to give our neighbor twenty for contributing two of his books."
Soraya's father was about to hand her his card, but hesitated for a moment. "You know what? Go ahead and tack on an extra two hundred Lari," he thought aloud. "Yes, please make it two hundred and fifty Lari for the total. It's been too long since I've last donated money to the community."
