The Elven King's Proposal

"Have you heard? The Elven King is here!"

"I hear he's incredibly handsome."

"Swoonworthy!"

"I can't believe he's decided to pass on magic to the Common People."

Oh, for heaven's sake.

I peered around the shelves at the gaggle of men and women discussing the Elven King's imminent arrival. Contemplating my options for a brief moment, I ended up striding over to them and telling them to shut up in real life. They stared at me, affronted and somewhat confused at my lack of excitement over the stupid Elven King.

"This is a library," I barked. "If you want to babble on about the Elven King and how good he looks in a pair of tight pants, do it outside."

They scattered under my glare, the library silent once more. Sighing, I returned to shelving my trolley of books. A few minutes later, a young acolyte approached me with a stack of ancient looking tomes piled high in his arms. I filled out the library cards from the pockets and tucked them neatly back in after stamping each with the royal seal.

The boy squeaked a thank you and hurried out. I catalogued a few more books and was about to finish my shift for the day, when a Royal messenger arrived.

Great.

They were never good news for a librarian.

He handed me a slip of paper. "The Queen requests that you bring these books to her study immediately. Oh, and any others that you can think of relevant to the topic."

I glanced down and saw that the topic was "human life". Way to be specific.

"Alright, hold on while I get them," I said with yet another sigh. I'd been looking forward to making a cup of tea and reading my favourite book in peace, but a summons from the Queen couldn't be ignored.

I gathered the various tomes by famous academics and authors outlining our way of life, including some on when the magical divergence had begun. It was well taught in schools - the fact that we once too had magical abilities, but they had slowly waned and vanished with time while the Other World had kept theirs. No one knew why, but scholars theorised that it was possible for us to "relearn" those powers. I assumed the Elven King would be interested in this if that was his reason for being here.

I carried the tomes over to the messenger who began to walk briskly away.

Thanks for the offer of help, I thought, staggering out after him into the corridor.

*

Oddly enough, a bout of nervousness overcame me as I stood before the large wooden doors of the Queen's study. When they eventually opened, I hastened to enter and tripped over my own feet. The books flew out of my arms, falling to the ground with loud thuds as I managed to regain my balance. As the last book slid to a stop in front of a pair of well polished leather boots, I looked up and locked eyes with the Elven King.

"That was certainly an entrance," he said with an amused expression.

I felt my face flush with embarrassment and was grateful for the cover provided by my darker skin.

"Apologies, Your Highness. I, er, misjudged..."

He waved my apology away with a slender hand.

"My Queen," I said, before bending down to pick up the books. To my horror, the boots shifted from my vision and the King bent down also, picking up the various volumes with interest.

"What are you doing?" I blurted out in shock.

"Helping you pick up the books?" he replied, rather confused.