((OOC: Fanfiction challenge 006))
Libraries are wonderful things. The most wonderful sorts of libraries are the ones where visitors come often and books are always being taken off the shelves. Those sorts of libraries are the least-dusty because the books do not have enough time to accumulate dust unless they are encyclopedias or books on local law, which no one ever wants to read, no matter how spectacular a library they belong to.
Budehuc's library needed much love and care to restore it to its former glory, or at least a more pleasant atmosphere. Eike would spend hours pacing through the rows of books. He imagined how the library had been in the past, how each book had found a place in a reader's heart, and how the chairs were always filled with someone whose mind was miles away from their physical body while they read. But Budehuc's library hadn't seen that kind of use in years, and according to local gossip (unfortunately the most reliable source of information Eike had to resort to, as he was still a new arrival and unfamiliar with the local residents) said that the castle was currently without a master. Whomever the former master was, literature did not appear to be strongly promoted, judging by the thick layer of dust caking the shelves.
At first Eike was appalled by the lack of love the library received. The castle was not a bustling place of commerce, that much was true, but there were still a number of families and children. Subconsciously he wondered if perhaps his appearance was keeping visitors at bay. Only the adolescent boy sleeping in front of the dojo had bothered to say anything to Eike regarding his appearance, and it was a rude remark about Budehuc housing zombies. In his darkest moments of despair, he wondered if it would be best if he put forth his heart and energy into restoring the library and then left it; without him there to frighten away visitors, it would be loved once again as a library deserved.
There was one visitor who did not seem deterred in the least, and visited the library frequently. She couldn't be more than ten, Eike reasoned, but her petite build suggested younger. Everyday shortly after lunch she would enter the library and spend hours looking out the same window. Of course, during these visits, Eike loomed in the shadow of a bookcase far from where she stood, and while he silently reshelved books he would steal an occasional glance, wondering what she was doing.
One day the curiosity grew to be too much for Eike. Hour after hour passed by, and she did not budge-was she waiting for something to happen? Stepping out of the shadow, he raised a cautious hand. "I beg your pardon...might I ask what you are doing?"
She spun around in surprise. Inwardly he cringed. This was where she would scream, point at his ghastly face, and run from the library, alerting everyone of Budehuc's resident zombie. There would be a mob, and they'd drive him away before he could finish restoring the library-
"Oh, hello!" she bowed, her fair but childishly messy hair falling into her face. "I did not see you there!!!"
This was unexpected. But he refused to get his hopes up. There was something familiar about her, but there were a number of children around the castle, and Eike had not yet been able to distinguish them all apart. "I'm...sorry....I was...shelving books..."
"Really? You must be very brave then!!"
"Brave? It...does not take much bravery...to put books...on shelves..."
She nodded, and for a fleeting moment Eike wondered if the look in her eyes was that of admiration. He quickly dismissed the thought. Why would anyone admire him? "Of course you are brave!! When you first said something, I thought you were here to keep an eye out for the zombie too!"
It felt as though his heart and been dropped into an icy pond. "...Zombie...?"
"Juan told me there was a zombie hiding in the library!!! And with my father away in Caleria on business," she paused and gestured to the window, "I will be able to see him from here when he is returning home, and at the same time I can protect the library from the zombie in his absence!!"
What took only a few moments to piece together the string of remarks made by the girl seemed like hours to him, but one thing became strikingly clear: she was not afraid of him. She was talking with him as if he were a normal person, one of her peers, a respected adult, or possibly a friendly acquaintance, but that was too much to hope for. "Your father...so you must be Brown's daughter..."
"My name is Cecile!" a proud blush of color spread across her face. "Cecile Brown," she added and extended a hand. "But you may call me 'Cecile' because it does not have as many syllables."
Eike looked down at Cecile's hand, then back at her face, but before he could internally sort through the jumble of emotions, she had already grasped his hand in a surprisingly firm handshake for such a small child. "Now we are friends," she stated, as if some unspoken pact had been formed. "And friends protect friends from zombies in the library. If you see one, don't be afraid to let me know!! I will come up to visit every afternoon once my grammar lessons with Juan are finished, unless Martha gives us extra reading assignments."
"Yes, of course..." I suppose, he thought, one visitor is worth fixing a library. I can stay a little longer...
Characters: Cecile, Eike, Juan (mentioned), Martha (mentioned).
Word Count: 942