Keeper of Life - NaPoWrMo Entry

Sol crept into the archives and found it didn't require nearly as much sneaking as she previously thought. The golden rimmed building seemed to glisten as if it were new. Sol found herself wondering how much time they spent cleaning it, and whether they were that busy or not.

Her pace slowed when she entered a longer hall. The paintings on the wall disturbed her, she felt watched by their eyes. It was like those horror stories they told during the festival, with paintings that came alive, you only had to watch for their moving eyes. A chill ran up her spine, even more engraved by the feeling that she wasn't supposed to be here. Any other time would have been fine, but during the festival this was off limits. Besides she would be getting into the wing where no one was allowed.

She skirted the wall and watched her back, sure she heard hooves against the marble tile. The hairs on her back shot instantly on end when she made contact with something warm and soft. A robe clad acolyte and her turned and met instantly. They both shrieked a little and back up.

“Hey I'm uh, you, I mean, I, you... you can't be here!” he said.

“I need to find Clover,” she said, knowing he was an acolyte like she would be now.

“Well, I shouldn't because, you... Well, the festival-”

“Out with it!” she ordered.

“Forth door to your left,” he blurted out. “Now I have some rooks, er, chickens to organize, I mean, I, er. I have to go,” he said rushing off.

Okaaay,” she said out loud and continued down the hall. An elder scholar walked out, robes trailing behind him. His image almost made Sol chuckle, then she realized she was hiding. Ironically Sol would never have gotten this far in the wing if it wasn't for the festival. They too, like all the others, had duties to prepare for. It was a special time for The Tree and for them all. 'This is so stupid,' Sol thought as she continued after he had passed. 'What's in here that visitors aren't allowed?' she wondered. Of course she knew the restrictions Clover had, like all the acolyte, it was a notion of discipline that she wasn't allowed out for one year, still, 'It's silly,' she thought.

It had taken a while. The subtle peering through doors, sneaking through the archive library after the forth door to the left was a dud, and trying not to wake those who had worked through the night. Yet she finally found what she was looking for through a humble door at the end of a narrow hall.

“Clover!” she said closing the door behind her. The grey pegasus jumped, too absorbed in the book in front of her to notice the door opening.

“Sol?” she said turning. “What... what are you doing here?” Clover scanned the round room, just in case, then looked out the door making sure. “You're not supposed to be here, I could get in a lot of trouble. Only a week and I'm breaking The Discipline. 'Clover, you're not disciplined enough',” she said in a mock voice. “You want me living in a cardboard box don't you Sol, real good friend you are.”

“Nice to see you too,” Sol answered sarcastically only to find Clover's hooves around her.

“Of course I missed you,” Clover said. “It's so... Ugh here.” She was unable to find the right words. “I mean, I'm honored of course but they have me categorizing and archiving the bibliographies for the historical section. Supposed to help me get comfortable with the archives or something,” she said closing a book. “Because yeah, I can totally just memorize the locations of thousands of books, I'm a mental machine I am.”

“Well I have something I need you to look at, a map,” Sol said pulling the folded roll out of her saddlebag.

“Me, why are you asking me?” Clover asked.

“Because you're crazy smart of course,” Sol replied.

“Well, yeah, I guess I am pretty amazing,” she said and they both laughed like they'd been apart for years. “So what is it?” she asked as Sol pulled it open. “Oh, it's an old battle-map, complete with topography. This is rare, I've never seen a topographical map for outside the city that's this old,” Clover said leaning so far over she had to use her wings to stabilize herself before setting down. “Where... where did you get this?” she asked.

“Some secrete guardian-only section of the library,” she said touting herself.

“You passed?!” Clover asked.

While pushing dust on the ground Sol replied, “Well, no, not really, but I guess no one does, it's sorta a guardian thing, I think, I guess. But that's beside the point, what do all these lines mean?” she asked flipping the conversation.

“This isn't fair, I'm supposed to be the one with access to secret rooms,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh well, better educate my heathen of a guardian friend,” she said trying to make her failure feel better.

“Educate me oh great one,” Sol said bowing and Clover laughed.

“Well that's better.”

“So, what are these lines here?” Sol asked trying to straighten the conversation.

“Well all these show the rise and dips, elevation and depression, and these-”

“I know that, I mean what does it all mean Ms. Super brain.”

“That's what I'm trying to figure out, it's different from the ones I've seen. In those other then the Highlands and Dragon Peaks there's nothing significant. I suppose there's Drake's Range where the Changelings are, but that's pretty much it. This though, look at this,” Clover said pointing to a section. There was a line drawn around a long canal. “These slopes, the movement of the advance, why didn't they cross it?” Sol didn't bother her friend who now practically absorbed the map. Her face was so close Sol didn't know how she focused and gave her more light. “Thanks,” Clover said returning to the map. “See, it's almost as if there was... a river here.” She was elated to have used that word, reading the dictionary like a nerd seemed to pay off.

“What's a river?” Sol asked.

“A long stretch of water,” Clover answered. “I always wondered why we had a word for that...” she said trailing off. “Oh, and this, see this!” Clover wanted to pull another map, the recent ones (that dated back one hundred years), but there was only history texts around her now. “See how this land is different from the rest, how it changes drastically here?”

“So, why is that important?” Sol asked.

“Well it wouldn't be if the battle lines weren't here, you can see how they moved around this formation, right at the edge. What's interesting is how the main battlegroup moved on the flanks here, while very small divisions were sent through the middle. This gives indication that the ground was difficult to traverse,” Clover said, the excitement in her voice a building paramount that Sol worried would explode.

“You're way too damn smart yanno,” Sol said. “So what does that mean?” But Clover only shrugged.

“Not sure, but something was there and it wasn't just sand. It follows the river too...” she said, lost.

When the door snapped open they both nearly collapsed. Panic filled Sol and she cursed.

“What's going on acolyte Clover?” he boomed.

“I'm sorry sir, it was my fault,” Sol butted in. “See my mom... She... well recently she passed and I didn't have anyone to talk to, because Clover was here, and, and,” she said half acting as emotions threatened to return and mix among those she felt now.

She sighed and relaxed. Clover flinched behind her, and Sol hoped she wouldn't break their cover. “I never saw either of you, but when I return in two minutes...” he said pulling the door closed.

When they were alone Clover snapped to Sol. “Why didn't you tell me? Oh Sol, I'm so sorry!” she said.

“It's okay, it's... life,” she said trying not to bring it up, unsure if she could push the tears back down another time. With deep breaths she said, “I should go, Clover, thank you.” She threw herself into her friends arms and squeezed tight.

“Stay safe,” Clover said. “Come visit me again okay, whether I'm allowed or not.”

Sol nodded. “Of course,” she said departing, both of them tearful once again.