How to Guard a Castle

4. Climbing

And so began a series of events that would eventually culminate in something neither Kun or Gabi anticipated.

The following day, Kun entered the library that had become somewhat of a communal space for the two of them, to see Gabi was already there. It should be explained that the library was enormously tall, extending over both the first and the second floors. Bookshelves lined every single wall from the ceiling to the floor. Even the staircase, which was situated on the opposite side of the room to the single doorway, was covered in shelves. Not every shelf contained books - a few were scattered with ornaments of various shapes and sizes. The staircase led up to the small landing, which looked down over the rest of the library, but allowed you to reach the books on the higher shelves.

When Kun entered the room, there were books scattered literally everywhere - on the floor, on the armchairs, on the staircase, some were even tumbling down from the landing above his head. His startled eye searched the room frantically, before finally coming to rest on the small figure that had climbed about halfway up the shelves above the landing. Gabi was clinging onto the shelves with her right hand, and shoving books out of them with the other. Kun was absolutely speechless for about thirty seconds. The Argentinian simply stood and stared at her in amazement.

"What on earth are you doing now?" He wondered, when he finally found his voice.

Gabi didn't jump - in her position, it was a physical impossibility without falling to her death. However, her head whipped around, startled to hear an unexpected voice. She swore softly, and jumped down from her precarious perch, much to Kun's relief.

"Exploring," she shrugged.

"You were exploring inside a bookshelf?" Kun raised an eyebrow. He wanted to tell her that if she was so keen on digging, there was plenty of dirt in the castle grounds that wouldn't cause a mess inside the library, but he caught himself in time.

He watched, a little mesmerised, as Gabi clambered over the considerable pile of books she had made on the landing, sending Dickens, Austen, and Bronté cascading down to the ground, before stepping down the staircase herself. She patted down her blue jeans, and tightened her silver pony tail, before kicking a few more works of literature out of the way. Kun almost winced on behalf of the poor books. Surely, many spines had been broken already that morning.

"Can I have breakfast?" Gabi asked. "Please?"

"Wow, manners," Kun muttered, not wanting her to hear. "Where do you want to eat, your highness?"

"In here," Gabi replied, heading over to her favourite seat by the window, and settling down.

It was barely 7am, and Kun already felt like he'd been hit by a truck, but he nodded, and dutifully headed out, and up the stairs to the kitchen. Since when did Gabi get up early anyway?

Kun wasn't gone long. When he returned, it was to witness Gabi stacking the books on the floor into neat piles. Kun still didn't understand why she'd been doing what she was doing, but if she was cleaning up, he wasn't about to object. He'd honestly expected that he'd end up doing it himself.

"Breakfast will be thirty minutes or so," he said, sinking down into his chair, and putting his feet up on the coffee table. Gabi eyed him critically.

"Why so long?" She frowned, straightening out the stack she was working on, before moving up the staircase to begin on the others.

"I guess they, like myself, assumed you'd continue the habit of a lifetime, and remain in bed for as long as possible," Kun raised an eyebrow at her in a questioning manner.

Gabi did not indulge him with an explanation, merely shook her head, and continued to focus on her task. Kun shrugged, and turned away, his eye catching a singular book which was laid neatly on the coffee table at the other end. Upon closer inspection, it proved to be a bound journal, and Kun took it up with interest, wondering who had written it. His eyes skimmed over the pages of near-intelligible handwriting, before coming to a series of diagrams. It wasn't long before he realised they were maps of various areas of the castle they were in, and a few others he didn't recognise. One in particular caught his eye, however. He looked up, studying the layout of the room, before realisation hit him.