Post Seven
By: Marley
Karanya had been sleeping peacefully when she felt the effects of an all-too-familiar spell. Tiny pins stabbed into her skin all over her body, and she jumped up in shock, barely managing to stay on her feet. She looked at the tiny figure before her in the dark and tried to think of someone it could be other than the person it so obviously was. Please, not her, Karanya thought. The figure leapt at her and tackled her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. The next thing she knew, a bright light was shining over her head, blinding her, and she was being held down by a tiny foot.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my room and why have you come?" the figure asked, in a voice Karanya had hoped to never hear again.
What she already knew was confirmed a moment later. "Karanya? Is that you?"
Karanya winced and sighed. "Yeah," she muttered. "It's me."
~~~~~
The first time Karanya had met Tacita, she had been almost finished copying a lengthy manuscript when a million tiny points poked into her. She jumped, shrieking, spilling an inkpot on the expensive parchment of the copy, and tossing her quill high into the air. It clattered to the floor in front of the desk at the same moment a small giggle was heard behind her. Karanya whipped her head around and peered suspiciously into the stacks, her eyes narrowed. What was going on here?
She clicked her tongue against her teeth, calling the enuriels, but they didn't come. In fact, she thought she heard the sound of their purring coming from the same direction as the giggle had come from. She sighed in exasperation. "Whoever you are, this section of the library is not open to visitors, and there are vicious animals guarding it from intruders. It'd be in your best interests if you left now."
The giggle came again. Definitely from the stacks, Karanya thought.
"Vicious? They seem to like me.." said the voice Karanya would come to associate with pain, annoyance, anger, and embarrassment.
"They do that," she bluffed. "They pretend to be fond of you, then they bite off your fingers."
She heard a few small rustles, which would have been undetectable if she hadn't been listening so closely, and grinned in satisfaction. "Better back away slowly," she continued. "Don't startle them." She heard more soft rustling and a creak from the door.
"Whew," she breathed, leaning back in her chair. She clicked her tongue again and tapped her desk. "That was close." She pushed the ruined parchment to the side and started to get up to grab her quill when the pins hit her again and an indignant sniff sounded from the stacks again.
"That'll teach you for lying to me!"
Thus started many months of torture and pranks endured by Karanya Almar at the hands of Mei'Nyx Tacita Lena'Rai d'Shrow.
~~~~~
Karanya sighed. Of all the occupied rooms in the inn, she had to end up in this one?
"What are you doing here?" they asked simultaneously.
Tacita gestured at Karanya. "You first."
Karanya shrugged. "Not much to it. Levin had some scrolls that I would have trouble trusting my own sister with, let alone a power-hungry, mediocre scribe, so I stole them. He was, understandably, less than happy, so I made a quick escape, brought the enuriels-" she patted the floor beside her and the scurried to her, having ignored most of the earlier commotion "-and attempted to disappear quietly into the forest. No such luck, though, because I was eluding someone when I crawled through your window. By the way, you really might want to consider locking that."
She grinned at Tacita. "Your turn. What are you doing so far from home?"
