Valka
My neck cranes back, eyes trailing the length of the tall door. It is smooth and a deep brown and familiar. The study. The woman whose name was Brenda had brought me here and left to draw me a bath and prepare my bedroom.
Fingers curling and uncurling, I hesitate before finally reaching for the knob and twisting. The world before me opens to a vast room, wide and open to the world outside as the walls on either sides of it is made of glass that over looks the cliffs of Anser and the stretch of the world beyond.
The stone wall beside me is lined with a shelf that runs down the length, with so many books, farther than my eyes can see. A memory tickles the back of my mind…
Toes wobbling on the ladder, I reach for the top section of the shelf to take the book of bawdy tales. Just as my hands finally reach its spine, the ladder tips sideways and I fall with a yelp. Right into thick, waiting arms.
