Greetings, from Celadon!

[Celadon's Penultimate]

(Continued from here)

"T-t-this is--you mean this is--?"

"Yes, yes, it's your room." the Penultimate rolled his eyes, as Savior felt the need to look at, touch and try everything, "Your closet is over there, your TV, your games, your various game systems, your video chat screen, your computer, blah, blah, blah. Nikolai will be up later to show you around the rest of the palace. Dinner's at eight. I told them not to serve your plate until you arrive, so if you're late, you don't get one until tomorrow."

Savior blinked, and twisted her face, confused, "Hey, I thought you didn't know I was coming. How did you prepare this stuff so quick? Did you really expect me to come--"

"Course not, ya goof. You really think I would have fallen for Dite's little ambush if I had seen her coming? Still...I am the Penultimate. Ya know...reality-bending entity capable of making the unreal real, and the real unreal in the blink of an eye?"

Savior rolled her eyes, and went off to admire some more of her clothes, and all the books she had in her shelf. Surely THOSE would keep her out of the Penultimate's things. And if not, there was always introducing her to the Kitty of Doom.

So, off the Penultimate went to feed Wise and Sapient. And after, to read a little and write a little.

[ParallelanPrincess]

Savior jumped up and down on the plush bed. This was almost as good as Aphrodite's temple in  Parallela. Almost. And the Penultimate was really generous.

"Whose room is awesome? Mine is! That's right! Oh yeah!" Savior did a dance worthy of a football player who just scored the winning goal in a championship.

Savior's joy was cut short by the sound of snickering.

"My, aren't we energetic?" said Brutus.

Something about him made Savior unsettled. Her clover charm bracelet seemed to be growing warm. Odd. It rarely did that when she wasn't running for her life.

"A little perky, I guess." Savior shrugged.

Brutus smiled in a way that seemed like more than just normal smiling, "Excellent. You and the Master will get along perfectly."

"Really?"

"Absolutely."

"Ms. Savior dinner is- What are you doing here, Brutus?" asked Nikolai.

"Just getting acquainted with the new girl."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Well, stop it. Ms. Savior has things to do. Dinner's done, and after I'll have to show her around the palace. Come along, Ms. Savior."

Savior jumped off the bed, stuck the landing, and hurried up behind Nikolai. As Nikolai walked past Brutus, the two eyed one another menacingly, but wouldn't let it come to blows. There would be a time for that.

"Kiss-up." Brutus muttered under his breath.

"Philistine." Nikolai retorted.

When Nikolai returned with Savior in tow, she sat down, and Dyris brought in her plate. Savior gawked a bit, and the Penultimate rolled his eyes again, calling down to the other end of the table, "What's wrong? Have you never had steak and shrimp scampi before?"

"Well...um, no." She frowned, "In fact, it looks...almost too good to eat."

"Well, you BETTER eat it, ya nasty", the Penultimate grumbled, and resumed eating, "My cooks don't work for nothin'..."

After dinner was done, he went off to his study (to do anything but study), and Nikolai would resume his walk with Savior.

"This..." he pointed to one side, as they walked down the hall, "Is the master's observatory. He loves looking at the stars and different planets. And that is the greenhouse, where we have among the rarest plants in Celadon. Even a few from Graffrica and Parallela and Gongolania. And this is where we get to rest when there's nothing that needs doing around here, which, as you might guess, isn't often. Staff only."

They would pass some bedrooms, some bathrooms, a ballroom, a weight room, a training room, a couple more bedrooms and bathrooms, when Savior at last stopped short.

"Wait! You didn't tell me what THAT room is."

Nikolai grew nervous, "Um, oh, that? That's just the master's library. Nothing to see THERE! Moving along--"

"I wanna see!"

"I wouldn't!"

"C'mon!"

"Let's not!"

"Please!"

"You'll regret it!"

But there was no stopping her. She barged in, and stopped short.



"Ma--ma-magic...MAGIC BOOKS!"

"Oh, dear." Nikolai put his face in his palm.

"Scrolls! Tomes! Wands! Charms! Potions! Spells! Ooooh, and is that a SORTING HAT?"

"Good God, the Penultimate is going to have me killed..."

[ParallelanPrincess]

Savior made a bee line for a book titled 'Lucky Charms'

"Ooh! Staff of Chance. Robe of Good Fortune! The Rings of Fate! Wait..."Savior stopped and titled her her head like a confused kitten.

"What, Ms. Savior?" asked Nikolai, praying the Master wouldn't catch them.

"There's a page torn. It says 'The ring of Tyche' and the rest is ripped."

"How nice-WHAT?" Nikolai grabbed the book from Savior. The page was torn clean. Someone had defiled one of the Penultimate's favorite books of magical items.

Curious. Who could be so audacious?

"I'm guessing this is a problem?" said Savior.

"Yes, it is. A grave one at that."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Nikolai began to panic, hyperventilate and look for the missing piece (he's a great multitasker), when he began to notice other pieces of magic missing. A bit of clipped scroll here, a piece of missing parchment there. This was certainly not good. And what's worse, Savior was already busying herself trying to reach the top shelf, where the Penultimate had sat the Book of Celadon, while he went off to write.

Nikolai hastened over to the shelf, and pulled on Savior's shoes, until she lost her footing and fell from the shelf...right on his stomach.

As he got his wind back, he gently nudged Savior off of him and pleaded, "NO! Don't touch the Book of Celadon! Its knowledge, and more importantly, its magic, can never be held by anyone but the Penultimate. Who KNOWS what could happen if anyone were to get their hands on it!"

"Ah, yes...who knows?" Came a familiar voice.

Brutus.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Nikolai and Savior blinked absently. Surely Brutus wasn't up to what they THOUGHT he was up to.

"Um...what are YOU doing here?" Savior chuckled nervously, "You wanted to look at the magical stuff, too? Here's a Sorting Ha-"

"Save it..." Brutus scoffed, "What are YOU two doing in the Penultimate's Magic Library?"

Savior looked around, feigning surprise, "OH! THAT'S what this is! A MAGIC library! See, I thought this was the NORMAL library! That musta been what Nikolai was trying to tell me...mmkay, movin' along--"

Brutus stepped in front of Nikolai and Savior, blocking the door with his large frame. He was easily 6'4 and all muscle.

"I think you should stay here. The Penultimate would LOVE to know you've taken an interest to your studies. I'll be sure to tell him."

He turned to leave with an insidious smile.

"WAIT!" Nikolai put forth both hands, and Brutus turned back, "You...you don't need to do that. Everyone knows that kids can be mischievous..."

"I am NOT A--"

"Quiet!" Nikolai snapped under his breath, "You want to get in trouble?"

Brutus eyed the lean, lithe-framed Nikolai. The brown-haired bookworm was always up to something, just like Brutus was. But what, he couldn't decipher. And so, he would let it go for now. He had more important things to do, anyhow. And so as the two left, he entered the Magic Library himself, to straighten up what Savior had messed up.

As for Savior, she had an appointment with the PUBLIC access library. The one she WOULDN'T be thrown to the lions for entering.

Meanwhile, the Penultimate himself grew bored with writing, and summoned the Book of Celadon to his hands. He opened it to a random page, and began to read up on matters of fate, and fortune, and destiny and the butterfly effect. Among the reading, something about the Ring of Tyche. The article had been torn from another of his books, but this one showed the information clear as day. The illustration, in particular, was especially attention-grabbing.

Where had he seen that--?

Savior barged into his area of the library to nose out the comics, manga and anime, her charm bracelet glinting in the light of the room...

[ParallelanPrincess]

Fruit Bowl! Death of Souls 3! Our Hearts Divine! Savior had died and gone to anime heaven. She was so focused on the manga collection, she didn't notice the Penultimate approaching her.

"Savior," he said in a low voice.

"Hmm?" she said, oblivious to his increasing dread.

"Show me your wrist." She did as she was told and held up her bracelet to him.

Their eyes briefly met. What was that glimmer in her eyes? It reminded him of- No. Not her. It simply wasn't possible.

"Where did you get this charm bracelet from?" he asked.

Savior frowned. Where did she get it? Ah! Yes she had found three years ago in a field of clovers.

[ParallelanPrincess]

Savior's earliest memory was not a pleasant one. Typically any memory that involves running for your life is unpleasant, but when you know the thing chasing you wants to completely wipe you from existence, that makes it even worse.

Since you value your existence, you run. You run. You run. You keep running until you think you're safe, and then you run even more. You only stop when you pass out from exhaustion.

Savior only vaguely remembered waking in a field of clovers. She remembered feeling safe and content. She did not remember anything that happened before the evil monster...presence...thing came. She knew two things: Her name was Savior Miracle NineOhEight and she was safe now.

Savior walked to a nearby lake. Savior saw something glittering just beneath the surface. She reached for it. She fell into a lake. She met a goddess.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"Do you know what this is?" The Penultimate eyed the girl, not sure of whether to jump for joy or blast the heck out of her for having such a rare artifact in her possession. Surely SHE couldn't be the one--

"Well, no..." She replied, "But it does make a cool charm bracelet, no?"

"No!" The Penultimate snapped, "Not the bracelet! The ring ON the bracelet! It is the Ring of Tyche, one of MANY precious treasures belonging to the ranks of the Elements."

Savior cocked her head to the side without a word.

"The Elements! The spirit beings with domains over the various elements of nature? Zeus? Hera? APHRODITE? C'mon, WORK WITH ME!" He stopped himself when he realized he was physically shaking her, "Good Lord, how in the WORLD could such a precious artifact fall into the hands of a...of a...of a chiiiiild....?"

"I'm not a--!" Savior stopped as soon as she started, on hearing a low growl, perhaps leonine, perhaps lupine, escape the Penultimate's throat.

The Penultimate let go of Savior's wrist, though, and decided that now was not the time to worry. Nor to complain. If anything, it would be perfect to test the theory. He started off, but then whirled around again, and pointed to the girl.

 "You! With the face! Come with me. I want you to MEET somebody..."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The Penultimate walked with Savior at first, but his great stride shortly put him a good twenty feet ahead of her without trying. And he didn't intend on slowing down. Savior had something to prove, and she would prove it, or disprove it, NOW.

"Dyris! Linaea! Terryffinda!"

"Yes, Penultimate?" The three replied in unison.

"Bring the others. Tell Wise and Sapient they'll get their afternoon entertainment..."

The three hurried off. When the Penultimate was this intent, it always turned out good. Or, at least entertaining. And in no time, the whole backyard court was abuzz.

Brutus and Terryffinda bickered about nothing.

Dyris and Linaea busied themselves with tidying up.

Techne was making last minute improvements to her latest self-solving Rubik's cube prototype.

And Nikolai stood at the head of them all, a cartoony-looking knee-high cat and dog standing at either side of him: Wise and Sapient, respectively.

All them, the rest of the staff and a few visitors made themselves comfortable in the courtyard, when the Penultimate arrived with Savior. They arose, and he bade them be seated again. Not taking his glare off of Savior, he motioned to Techne to pull the lever which she stood next to. Techne did as she was told, and the entire back patio shifted on a mechanical platform. A few panicked, but the veteran butlers and maids were still.

The platform lowered for a good minute, until they were a good hundred feet underground. They stepped out, and walked down the long dark corridor. At the end, there came the faint, steadily increasing sound of cheering...

When Savior made it out into the other side, she realized where all the cheering came from.

Stupid Penultimate, she panicked.

She had been transported to a Coliseum.

From the topmost stands, the Penultimate, his staff and his guests watched intently. The doormen at either side each took an arm, and hoisted her out into the center.

A booming voice came from an undisclosed location, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE SAFARIAN COLISEUM! CELADON'S ARENA OF CHAMPIONS!"

The crowd responded in thunderous uproar, and it continued, "TODAY, WE HAVE A MORTAL! AN EARTHLING! SHE IMAGINES SHE HAS A PLACE OF WORTH IN THE PENULTIMATE'S KINGDOM AS HIS STUDENT!"

The crowd was in another uproar...of laughter, "AND SO...TO PROVE HER WORTH, SAVIOR SHALL FACE THE MIGHT OF...THE KITTY OF DOOM."

The crowd was beside themselves, cheering, applauding, jumping up and down eagerly in their seats. This crowd watched the demise of all SORTS of beings. Criminals, potential usurpers to the thrones--impostors to the kingdom were no different. And so, with no hope of calming the crowd's excitement, the doormen approached the door with the utmost caution.

Savior looked over in the direction of the gateway as a few doormen entered on tiptoe, and the snarling voice of some unknown fiend erupted from within. A few of the doormen were even snatched in and tossed back out, mauled worse than by a lion or a bear.

"Oh, snap! Somebody let me outta here--!" Savior took off for the door, only to find that the door had already been sealed, and the doormen were now teleported beside the Penultimate as well, fully recovered. Savior turned nervously back to her fate.

Out from the depths of doom and depravity, of destruction and demise, of all damnation, stepped a most fearsome beast. A gruesome monster. A wicked hellcat, the likes of which the world had never witnessed, and would likely never witness again.

"Aw...so cute. It's a kitty!" Savior gushed at the sight of it.

But appearances would be horrifically deceiving. The pale-pink kitten mewed, and cleaned itself, even purring a bit, no larger than a toy chihuahua. Upon catching sight of HER, however, it growled...and snarled...and then shifted its form to twice the size of an adult bull elephant. Its claws became fierce talons. Its tail twice thrashed about like a thick-braided whip. Its canines were nearly like those of a saber-toothed tiger. And its eyes wild, frenzied with bloodlust.

"Oh..." Savior yelped, "So THAT'S why they call it the Kitty of Doom..."

[ParallelanPrincess]

Savior was so screwed. So THIS was how it would end. No glory. No honor. Just her, a monstorous cat, and 5 million viewers. Argh! That pekas Penultimate! Vanisito! The cat roared. Savior felt her hair stick up much higher than usual. Okay, Parallelan profanity later. Plan now. Focus. Ignore the pekas crowd and that jerkwad, the Penultimate.  

Cats. What did she know about cats? They liked milk, hated dogs and hated water. That's useful, kinda. What did she know about this cat? Besides the fact it was slowly circling her as she thought. Alright, if she stood still, it maybe wouldn't attack. That was advantage number one. Three more and she might make it out alive. Dogs. This kitty could probably go toe-to-toe with Cerberus no problem. So that was out.

"Fight, Earthling!"

"Coward!"

"You aren't worthy to face Mr. Fluffums!" The crowd jeered. They wanted blood! Now! In the Penultimate's private box there was silence. The Penultimate leaned forward. The girl was either helplessly paralyzed with fear, or intelligent enough to know that the slightest false move might end her. Hopefully the latter; the former was getting rather boring.

Milk? Savior contemplated. Unless Celadon had a breed of flying cows, that wouldn't happen.

Mr. Fluffums narrowed his eyes. Why wouldn't his meal run? He did so enjoy a good chase. Eating a motionless target...where was the fun in that?

Water. Savior focused on the feel of the air. It was dry. The only liquid was probably in the concession stand. Ugh! She was doomed. How fitting. She balled her fists. And felt something form inside them. She looked down into her palm. She was holding a fistful of clovers.

Fluffy lunged. Savior ran, gripping onto the clovers tightly. She ran as fast as she could. She could feel her palms sweating. Wait, that wasn't sweat. Savior stopped in her tracks and smiled. This was all too perfect. Probability of success was 75%.

"Here, Kitty-boo! Come to Mama Savior!" Savior held her hands high above her head.

Fluffy bit down on them and promptly spit them out. Any plant expert could say why. Pure clover oil was toxic to cats.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The Penultimate recoiled...he was dumbstruck. Not quite horrified...his Mr. Fluffums could be revived, and would in no time. It was the implication of his defeat. The QUICKNESS behind it.

It could only be her...

He walked out of the box where he and his guests sat, and Savior whirled around, startled to see him right behind her.

She recoiled at the look on the Penultimate's face, but his expression slowly softened.It wasn't quite angry, but not nearly affectionate. More...perplexed. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Well, then...I GUESS you're not an impostor after all..."

Savior brightened, "Good enough not to be called a child anymore?"

"Huh...let's not push it."

The Penultimate turned from her, and put up a hand for Savior to follow.

"What...what are you gonna do now?" Savior inquired over his shoulder, "Not gonna feed me to anymore of your creatures, are you?"

The Penultimate chuckled, "Hehe...we'll just see about that."

[ParallelanPrincess]

The crowd was silent. Savior grinned.

"Yeah, that's right! I did it! I see y'all choking on that haterade! But it's cool. Just remember one thing. Savior is the busi-"

"Will you stop showboating and hurry up?" The Penultimate called to her. He could almost forgive her boasting. Until now only he, Brutus and a couple other servants had been able to subdue Mr. Fluffums.

Speaking of which. Brutus was looking extremely displeased. Bested by a child with no training. Nikolai would never let him hear the end of this. That little suck-up had been a thorn in his side for far too long. But, he would stomp the worm later. His real task was to uproot some clovers.  

[Celadon's Penultimate]

As the others celebrated, congratulating Savior on her victory over the Kitty of Doom, Brutus stealthily made his way through the crowd. He purposely checked Nikolai, and made his way next to the Penultimate.

Just as he was about to mumble something disparaging over the Penultimate's shoulder about that silly girl Savior and her perhaps attempting to upstage the Penultimate, or to win his favor for some ulterior motives...

There came a knock to the door.

The parlor fell silent, the Penultimate excused himself, and the celebration resumed. Otherwise, Nikolai or Brutus or Terryffinda would have answered, but something urged the Penultimate to get it himself.

"Um, hell...oh..."

There stood a beautiful brunette. She was tall, and shapely, with straight, dark-brown hair, and deep green eyes. Her drisei (traditional maiden gown) was silvery blue, translucent with white trim, nearly trailing to her ankles, and her shoes were white. And a pleasant smile was across her face. She was obviously a peasant.

Remembering herself, she dropped her head, fell to her knees and raised the gift that she had held behind her back.

"My name is Bridgette, Master Penultimate. I come from a town in Gandrei to serve the Ruler of Celadon. My family sends me and this humble trinket, in return for some salary to spare their livelihood."

She was nearly in tears, and the Penultimate rolled his eyes, stooped beside her, and pulled her up to her feet; she stumbled a bit, and fell into his unintentional embrace, but quickly got her bearings, and straightened her drisei again.

"You said your name was Bridgette, huh?" The Penultimate looked upward at nothing, "So, how are you with windows? Or dusting? Or, for that matter, caring for plants and animals? Ya know, I have plenty--!"

"Anything you want done around the palace, I can do!" She exclaimed.

"Well...sounds good to me. And I'm sure the other maids can always use some more people to gossip with. Ah, heck, why not? C'mon in, it's gonna rain soon. I'll have Nikolai send word to your family in the morning." He led the girl in to an empty room she could take for her own, and when she sat down her things to be unpacked by the other maids, she returned among the group, and they introduced themselves to the newcomer.

"Name's Techne!" The tech elf barely looked up from her levitating laptop.

"I'm Nikolai." Nikolai looked up from Finnegan's Wake, and waved pleasantly, "Salutations."

"I'm Terryffinda." She barely cared to look away from filing her nails, "And here's Lucia, Naiana, Linaea, Dyris, Angel, Dyndron, and the others."

They introduced themselves by name, and Bridgette returned the greetings. But one of the crowd caught her attention especially.

"And...who is this?"

Savior looked up from her Nintendo DSi, "Huh-wha? Who, me?"

Bridgette nodded once, "Your name?"

"Um...Savior. Nice to meet you!"

Bridgette just looked a second at her fellow newcomer, before exhaling deeply, and looking around at the rest of her surroundings.

"I think I'm going to like it here. Would someone mind giving me a tour of the place?"

Nikolai burst through the crowd and tossed his book aside, "Why, I would love to."

Savior rolled her eyes, and walked up to his side, "Great. I didn't get to finish MY tour of the palace, either."

[ParallelanPrincess]

Savior awoke in a strange room. Where? Oh yeah...Yesterday. She sat upright in her bed and leaned against a plush pillow. Amazing how one day you're washing a goddess' pillow cases and the next your the student of the most powerful being on a planet you never heard of....

Alice had nothing on her. The fact that Nikolai hadn't fetched her yet meant breakfast wasn't ready. Pity, she wanted pancakes..

Part of her wanting to explore the mansion and the other parts were telling that was a very bad idea. Savior had finally won the Penultimate over and she didn't want to mess that up.

Argh! Sitting in bed was not her style. And it was too early for gaming. Game consoles were meant to played at night in pitch darkness, not the wee hours  of the morning. As Savior was musing on her incoming boredom, there was a  knock on her door.

"Come in! And bring pancakes!" said Savior.

"I'm afraid you'll have to get your own," came Brutus's sarcastic reply.

Savior groaned. Did this guy ever  quit?

"Brutie-boo, It's too early for this."

Brutus' eye twitched as did the rest of his muscles.

"Listen here you ungrateful, no rank, foolish, immature-"

Savior zoned him out. She'd been called every variation of useless for the past 48 hours. Might as well ignore the foolishness and keep on trucking. It had got her this far, hadn't it
? Moving wherever fate led her. Always waiting to spin the wheel of fortune one more time.

She got out of bed and walked to the window. She saw a roof tile sitting on a lounge chair and smiled. Her life may have been a bit empty, but at least it was exciting.

"-irresponsible-"

Savior sighed. Brutus was harshing her moment of inner peace.  
 

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Nikolai entered the room after Brutus,  "Don't you have some big prehistoric mammal to hunt, Brutus? Some poor cavegirl to bash over the head for a wife?"

Brutus whirled around, menacing the familiar voice, "Ah, Nikolai...my least favorite bibliophile. And I DO despise bibliophiles. I guess you think YOU'RE the only one who can greet the guests?"

Nikolai looked past Brutus, to Savior with a smile, "No, of course not. I just figured Savior could do without having to wake up to morning breath first thing. She'd got far better things to do. Like learning. Come along, Ms. Savior. Pancakes, eggs and sausage, and then your literature studies."

[ParallelanPrincess]

"Pancakes!" said Savior with mock glee.
Nikolai didn't notice, he was far too busy glaring at Brutus.

"While I'd love to see you two slowly rip each other apart,I have to get dressed so...GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Savior yelled throwing a pillow at the males.

They filed out, bickering the whole while.  

`````````````
After a quick shower and attempt to tame her cowlick Savior dressed. The Penultimate had reality bended her clothes into two sets. Various shades of green and various shades of gold.

Savior didn't even complain. Free clothes are free clothes. Besides these new threads would go greatly with her bracelet.

"Might I suggest the green ruffled blouse on the left and the third golden skirt to the right. Bottom shelf." said Bridgette.

Savior jumped. Apparently, Gandrei was full of ninjas. Regaining what was left of her composure, Savior strengthened. Bridgette merely smiled. So young! So energetic!

"Thanks, Ms. Bridgette, but I'm more a jeans and tee shirt kinda girl." Now if only she could find either.

"Excuse me. What are jeans and tee shirts?" asked Bridgette. Girls and women in Celadon traditionally wore drisei and occasionally pants. Bridgette had no idea what kind of garment jeans were.

"Jeans are pants, but made of different material. And  tee shirts are shirts that are made to look big.  I guess y'all don't where that kinds thing here."

"I;m afraid not."
"Pekas." Savior grumbled.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Bridgette chuckled, "Lagaoskos himna huariskein...ja pekas."

Savior's double-take nearly gave her whiplash, "Wha--say wha???"

"Oh, yes, did I forget to mention I've got some relatives that moved to Parallela some years back?"

Savior picked her jaw up off the floor, and her smile was kind of pleasantly surprised. But Bridgette didn't make it her business to brag her credentials. She had only to deliver Savior to her lessons. And perhaps, if there was nothing else to be done around the place, after feeding the carnivorous plants, and cleaning up after Wise and Sapient's fencing match, and organizing some new manga Dewey Decimal style, she might even sit in herself and pick up a few things.

Literature, history, philosophy. It was all fascinating. Especially mythology. So much to learn, so little time. And so, without further ado, the two hurried down to the library, where Nikolai was just about to wait for them by resuming Finnegan's Wake.

Upon catching a glance of them, he put it back down, and greeted the two pleasantly with verse.

"Twas brillig and the slithy toves//
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe//
All mimsy were the borogoves//
And the mome raths outgrabe//"

Nikolai awaited her response. Upon receiving only a bewildered silence from his pupil, he continued.

"It's the first and last stanza of 'The Jabberwocky'...a poem by Lewis Carroll. Did you know that he was the second human to ever visit Wonderland...aside from the legendary Alice herself? He was in love with what he saw, and felt he had to write it down. But Wonderland isn't the only place with slithy toves gyring and gimbling in wabes, or mimsy borogoves, or mome raths outgribing, or frumious bandersnatches or jub-jub birds or snarks. There's plenty of species here that you Earthlings would call imaginary, mythical or plain absurd. I'll be teaching you about all of them, as well as the lore and literature with which they're associated. Today, your first lesson shall be about sprites..."

[ParallelanPrincess]

"Sprites!" Savior shouted with glee. Sprites were so cool.

"You've heard of them?" Nikolai asked. She'd heard about them in a fairytale.              

"Are you kidding? I could write the book on lis spritoles-I mean sprites! They're about nine inches tall. Winged with pointed ears. They special in specific magicks such as seasonal enchantments or runes. They require you to make a wish and send it down Kijo's Well in Hario City in Parallela. They are not immortal but can live for up to 700 years." Savior paused to catch her breath.

Bridgette applauded. Nikolai stared at her with eyes wide. She had just recited a passage from 'Creatures of Fortune'. Verbatim. He was thoroughly impressed.

"I see someone's been studying." He said smiling proudly  at his pupil.

"huh?"

"You did read 'Creatures of Fortune', did you not?"

"No..." Savior made a mental note to read that book when she got the chance.

"Then how do you know that?" asked Nikolai in bewilderment. He stared into her eyes and saw a flash of green.

" I just do. I guess it's because sprites are a big deal back home. That sort of stuff's common knowledge, I guess."

[Celadon's Penultimate]

The lesson from there was a breeze. Gargoyles, Fairies, Leprechauns, Goblins...all of them seemed fairly easy for Savior to pick up on. The lesson would end in less than an hour.

Nikolai closed his book with a smile at last.

"All right. I think that's enough for today. You're free to go."

Savior pumped a hand, "Woot!" and was off to see what else she could get into.

She and Bridgette made their way down the hall, ready to find the library again. She had heard Nikolai mention yesterday that the Penultimate had literally EVERY anime on DVD, and nearly EVERY manga on shelf. Oh, the fun to be had!

And yet, somewhere, in all her excitement, she and Bridgette eyed the hall. It...it didn't look familiar at all. Were they in the East Wing, or the West? Which Quadrant? What Sector?

"Aiyah!" Bridgette groaned, "Das libraraiyein! Vaiyeru esk'n et'n???"

"Speak English!" Savior looked at her, "Or at least Parallelan!"

"The library! Where is it?" Bridgette corrected, "Don't you remember? Oh, don't tell me we're lost..."

Savior looked around, trying to make sense of all the landmarks. But all the artworks and fancy-schmancy architecture did nothing to jog either of their memories. And so, they would have to find it the hard way...by opening random doors.

"Nope!" Bridgette exclaimed, dodging the tendrils that extended hungrily from one door, before slamming it behind her, "That's not it!"

"This one either!" A giant lion's snout poked through a second room, attempting to snap Savior up, before the door closed in its face.

"HEEEEEELLLLLP!!!!" Bridgette cried out, as she was nearly sucked into the dimensional vortex contained in another room.

"WOO!" Savior ducked and dodged a flurry of swords and daggers that flew out at her from yet another door, "Not there, either!" And the door slammed shut, just in time to catch a well-aimed dagger.

The two finally got their bearings together from the various other monstrosities which lie behind closed doors, from skeletons in closets, to bats in the belfry and bees in bonnets.

At last, the two approached a harmless-looking door. Hopefully it wasn't another zombie room. And if lasers came out, they would surely cry. But voices in the room sounded promising. Perhaps some action movie going on.

Bridgette turned the knob, and slowly pressed her way in..."Hello?"

There stood Wise the cartoon cat, atop a pile of stones and other wreckage of battle. Beside him, his female cousin, Sage.

"GIVE UP, you dopey dog! Say I win, and I'll return your precious bone!" The feline brandished a long silver rapier with pompous flair, like in the Musketeer times. Sage thumbed her nose at Sapient.

Sapient, the cartoon dog, stood at the base of the pile, waving about a similar rapier; at either side of him, Id the cartoon woodpecker, and Ego the cartoon robin; the dog riposted sarcastically, "Oh, of course! I'd love to surrender! And would you like me to play with a ball of yarn and sniff some catnip, too? GET REAL, you foul-smelling feline!"

Savior stifled a giggle.

Bridgette simply watched the back and forth, waiting to see what would happen next.