#earthrunes

"Ritual is not enough" earl says as the young boy runs through the halls "You have to bunk fast sometime, on the fly and off the cuff and you can' always slow down. Your cantrips won't work as surely rushed... but the forces of evil won't wait around for your conveyance. "

The Squire speeds up, and casts, creating multiple portal passages here and there, weaving through the 8 rooms being used for this test

"Three objects hidden, only so much time to find an assemble them" Earl says, his voice heard, "Or the bad guys win. Think how to best set up the search, what keeps you from having to double back?"

"I thought patterns were for Varich" The boy huffs and puffs with exertion as he has climbs a book shelf in one of the rooms

"Varich are GOOD at patterns, they didn't invent them. Why my trueheart knows patterns no Varich ever thought of. You can't surrender effort just because someone else might be better than you. Everyone gets hung up on Second place being a loser still so why try. Everyone makes stupid sayings about if you're not lead dog the view is terrible. It's a trick. Each of us is in our own race. We may have the same goals, want the same resources, but even there we're different people. A bird can out race a mouse, but a mouse has a bettter chance of getting into a house. Hold onto your honor, treat others decently, but be careful of letting anyone else limit you to their ways and means alone. And it's okay if you aren't best at something. Two sprinters will both outrace a an angry redcap. Does it matter which one got gold then? Or will that second sprinter be glad he got at least THAT good?"

The squire works as the knight gives his lesson "Got it! " And snactches a prize "And got one!"

"Two more to go, squire.. time's a wasting!"

"YES!" The squire finds the clue with that prize, smiles, then sees that tiny window and rather than portal passages goes through it. He falls into he other room, "And the second!"

"boast when the deed is done... 25 seconds!" Earl checks his watch

And the squire wonders where, then grins as under a table he finds the last piece. Out he goes, quicksilvering... and makesi t towards earl in a blur, his tiny hands clicking the pieces together

"And.. done!" earl says "Very good."

The little boy huffs for breath but admits "That was fun!"

Earl smiles "You may not think so when I keep reducing the time as we progress."

"I might not," the squire admits, thinking it over, "But now, it's fun. "

"you hungry, squire?" Earl asks

The boy looks up "YES, i mean, yes sir."

"Come on, we'll get you some food" Earl leads him on "We'll get sandwiches"

(end Scene)

Heavy footsteps in the library, and nnot Earl or Oswalds

Clem looks in and searches

"I swear, like a piskie this one"

Bronte chirps up "Fie Fiee Fo Fum?"

"Hello, Bronte" Clem says "Where's the book?"

“If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.” an innocent flutter of scaled eyelid

"You took it from the farm, now that book isn't for just anyone, not even Miss Zara" She saysand holds a hand out "Now hand it over, or I elder form you from a bookwyrm to a sportsballasaurus"

An affronted gasp "Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength.'
Eric Hoffer"

"yes yes, you can quote all sorts of folks. I'll count to five.. four..."

"Clementine, what are you doing?"

"Getting property back" Clem says "Three.."

Bronte pulls out a slim volume that Zara has never seen

and hands it over with a hurumph

Head tilt. "What's that?"

"Now Zara, I was hoping you wouldn't be here to avoid exactly this. You're gonna gget curious, and I'm going to not answer, and you'll get riled." Clem says not unkindly

"This is... a secret book?" Head tilt.

"I suppose it is" She puts the book in her vest.

Brow raised.

"Why is it secret?"

Bronte pouts “Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.”
― Bruce Coville"

"Bronte, don't you start, you and Zara have plenty of secrets you don't share" She points out, then looks to Zara "Because there are private things in it"

"Must it simply not be opened in a noble hold? May I see it at the Farm?"

"Now Zara, you know good and well that if it was somethingg you could see at the farm you'd already have read it, or at least skimmed" Clem says "Heck, you increased our number of books. Just so happens Bronte snagged one of the few that's on the no no list"

"Why is it forbidden?"

Clem looks at her friend "Zara, don't make me the bad guy. This is about to get circular"

"Do I not deserve an honest reason?"

"Because it is!' is not a reason. I am not a childling."

"I already told you it was private" A blush

Eyes narrow. "Do you keep a diary?"

"Could we not talk about this in a room full of spiders and who knows who else?" BLUSHING Brighter

"Spiders, and Bronte... and..." She listens...

Nelson is in the hallway , not IN the library but close