Fakir woke up early. He felt a kink in his neck but he ignored it. He walked over to the bed to see if Ahiru was still asleep. She was cuddled up in the blankets, still sleeping in a mess of red hair. He leaned on the doorway and sighed. How come Drosselmeyer had made Duck the one who had to sacrifice it all...why did he pick her out of anyone, or anything else? He wondered. Maybe it was time he visited the library. He got changed and left a note for Ahiru.
Ahiru woke up and stretched. She'd forgotten how good a bed felt after the two years in the forrest. She jumped out of bed and went into the other room expecting to see Fakir on the floor when she only saw a sleeping bag and the embers of a dead fire. She wondered why he would have left so early this morning? She looked around before she spotted a note taped on the door in his writing.
Went to the Library to look for more about the feather and Drosselmeyer's abilities as a ghost writer. Meet me there if you'd like. ~ Fakir
Ahiru now understood why he'd left so early. The library was always empty in the morning. He'd be able to look for clues without being questioned. She put on a yellow skirt and a crop white teeshirt and socks and prepared to find him there. If Ahiru was human, Ahiru could help.
Fakir had looked at the books on Drosselmyer. Nothing about them said anything about a sequel or another unfinished story? Was it something only he had known about? Or was it even a story? He then turned to the feather. Long and black. What bird was had this long of plumage? Raven's feather's weren't even so long and slender.
"What's that you have? It doesn't look like a book?"
Fakir turned to see Autor standing behind him.
"A feather I found on my doorstep. I wondered what bird it was from."
"I'm no expert on birds but I question why your hoping to find the answer in Drosselmyer books?"
"Just an interest." Fakir held back his true incentive. Autor also failed to remember much of the war against the Raven, let alone his blood line to Drosselmyer. "Did he ever not finish a book before he died?"
"It was rumored that he did. A story about a Prince and Princess..."
"And a duck." Fakir finished.
"I'm not certain there was a duck in it." Autor said, confused by the random add to the character list.
"Trust me there was." Fakir said. "Any other stories?"
"No but in his later years he showed interest in ballets, and the ballets of popular folklore stories that were found in his room."
"Ballets..." Fakir repeated. He knew that there was a reason why they'd been placed in a town with a Ballet Academy...but what did that have to do with the new story? "Any other secrets?"
"Why do you want to know so much?" Autor pushed up his glasses and gave him a suspicious stare.
"I read one of the books. The unfinished one. I was curious what other mysteries surrounded him." Fakir answered. Autor didn't need a part in this story this time...at least not in his opinion.
"Well there was a rumor that he had a notebook...a notebook which he wrote his most primary ideas down, but nobody knows where it went. It disappeared after his death." Autor said. "I've been searching for it for years but I haven't had any leads."
Fakir wondered why Autor hadn't told him this before in the previous story...unless this was Autor's role in this...story...or whatever thing Drosselmeyer had prepared, to tell him now about this book so he could look for it...or so Drosselmeyer could laugh at him trying.
"Fakir!" Ahiru called over walking over.
Autor cringed. "Don't you know this is a library, and you aren't supposed to yell in the-" Autor turned around and saw Ahiru and stopped mid-sentence.
"Hello Autor." Ahiru said instinctively.
"Do I ...know you?" Autor said looking at her with wide eyes. Who was this red-haired girl who look like she came out of a fairy tale?
Fakir noticed Autor. "I believe I may have mentioned you before Autor. She's Ahiru, and she's staying with me at my house for a bit."
"I just got accepted back into the school!" Ahiru said.
Autor noticed the way Fakir had mentioned that she was staying at his house as if to end his wonder. "Wait...back into at the school?"
"She's new here, but you get what she ment." Fakir said matter of fact-like.
"Do you have a partner for the new term? We got a message from the new Director to get one before the start of classes so we can practice our pas-de-deux." Autor said pushing up his glasses.
"Well I-" Ahiru started, about to explain that she'd kind of already been paired with Fakir.
"She's got a partner already." Fakir said.
"You do know I can speak for myself." Ahiru said looking at Fakir. "But I'm sorry, Fakir and I are partners."
"It's quite alright. I see what's going on here." Aruto said as he pushed up his glasses. He walked over closer to Fakir. "You know the new girl is going to attract attention from the rest of us, especially if she's a good dance partner...but I'll find another one elsewhere. You should learn not to make your feelings so obvious though...I can read you like a book."
Aruto smirked and walked off.
Fakir was taken off guard by Aruto's perceptive skills. Was Ahiru that alluring now that she was the new girl? He wondered if that'd change after class.
"So did you find anything?"
"Nothing on the feather yet. Aruto says Drosselmeyer had a notebook he used to write his original sketches and plans for his stories in. Maybe thats the book we're looking for." Fakir said and looked at Ahiru.
"Well how can we find it?" Ahiru asked.
"Not sure. I'm hoping Autor might know more." Fakir answered. "Otherwise we're just going to have to keep looking until we figure it out ourselves."
"Fakir...I was wondering...do you think your powers might be able to let me become Tutu again?" Ahiru sat down beside him.
"Why? Do you need to become Princess Tutu?" Fakir asked.
"Well if something happens I don't want to be useless." Ahiru said sadly.
"It's not that I don't want to Ahiru, but last time your ability came from Mytho's heart shard...if I even wrote a single sentence we might involve breaking Mytho's heart or causing another heart-shard to break...I'm not sure without a heart shard how you could become it. I'm not even sure my powers work...and I learned from last time it's best to have the facts straight." He looked at her. "It took a piece of someone's heart to turn you into her...Mytho's hope. I'd hate for him to give that up now that he's happy. Until we know more about what's going on..."
Ahiru sighed. He was right. What if they made things worse by interfering? She didn't want to be sad about it but she felt kind of useless otherwise.
"I know it's been hard Ahiru. I'm not sure how this is going to work out either. Tomorrow you start dancing at the school again, so maybe things will go back to normal for a bit." He leaned back in his chair and looked hard at the books on the table.
Ahiru looked at her hands. Fakir looked over and caught on. "Ahiru, lets just let this work out. Don't worry about this stuff so much. Mytho and Rue have their own story now...lets just make sure whatever is happening in this story...in this town doesn't cause any more terror...even if we're just our normal selves...or humans. You were strong before, plus we haven't even really been introduced to why He's letting magic back into the town. Let's just take this one step at a time." He smiled at her warmly and squeezed her hand.
"Thank you Fakir! I'll do my best to help you figure out what's going on here!" She said as she smiled back. "Maybe I'll take over the job of figuring out the bird feather then!"
He nodded in agreement, maybe this way it would be easier for him to figure out where Drosselmeyer's notebook was.
"Uhm Fakir?" Ahiru said quietly.
"Yea?" He said absentmindedly wondering where he could look next.
"Can I...uhm...Can I have my hand back?" She said meekly.
"Oh! Sorry." Fakir looked away with a bit of a blush. Why'd he leave his hand on hers? Its not like he meant to hold it...it was just reassurance.
"I'm going to look up bird books! I'll figure this out!" Ahiru went on obliviously.
Fakir sighed. Now that Ahiru was back it was harder for him. Why did he want her so badly back as a human? Was it because - no...no...he needed to focus! He stuck his nose back in a book about Drosselmeyer as Ahiru went up and down the isles of books, confident in having some part in helping the new mysterious feather.