“My glasses seem to have been stolen,” Adept Kambel said, patting himself down as if searching for the hidden item on his body. “I took a nap in my chair and put them on my desk, but when I woke up they were gone.”
Stepping into his office, I had to wonder if this is what his office usually looked like. There were telescopes at every available window, star maps, astrological calendars and many other machines, some I’d never even heard of. You could tell that Kambel’s hobby was stargazing, which seemed kind of fitting for him. His rooms still held the rows upon rows of books that you would think a historic nut would need, and his clothes still sported their usual ink stains. Kambel’s fingers were stroking his gray beard in worry.
Spreading out, I looked around his napping couch and got on my hands and knees to look under it. Working out in a circle from the couch I felt along the floor and under every table and desk. It wasn’t until I heard a twittering noise that I looked up and saw movement along a curtain. I was shocked at the sight of a monkey nimbly crawling along the curtain rod.
“Adept Kambel? Do you have a monkey?” I know it seemed really silly, but this is the first I’ve heard of any kind of pet being here at the Citadel.
“Ah yes, that would be Atticus; a gift from Adept Breah. Nasty little bugger, loves playing tricks on me, but I can’t get rid of him because it would offend poor Breah.”
As if he heard his name being said, Atticus swung down from the curtain and crawled up Kambel’s leg to perch on his shoulder. The little monkey grabbed hold of one of his large ears for support and his long brown tail wrapped around Kambel’s neck and face under his nose, giving the impression that Kambel had a bushy mustache.
“Ah…the worst part is…Ah…” he kept starting and stopping and finally sneezed, then said, “is that I’m allergic to him.”
Atticus opened his mouth wide and blew a raspberry with his mouth as Adept Kambel flailed his arms until his jumped off.
“So I take it,” I couldn’t stop laughing, “that your glasses didn’t just walk off. They literally were stolen by a monkey.”
He looked at me in all seriousness. “Why, of course, they were. You really didn't think I could misplace my glasses while I was sleeping did you? That overlarge, good-for-nothing squirrel stole them.” After I was able to get the chuckles out, I pulled out a chair and started to feel along the top of his bookshelves. When I had checked out two of them and had moved on to the third, I noticed a title of a book that caught my attention. “The King’s SwordBrothers.” Picking the book off the shelf, I flipped a couple pages before I asked if I could borrow it for reading.
“Ouch! You can borrow anything you want if you can find my glasses,” he yelled, rubbing his head where he bumped it on the desk. I was lucky as the glasses were left on top of the very last bookshelf in his study. Stepping down from the chair I handed the silver spectacles to him and he donned them to look at the book I was borrowing.
“Ah, an interesting read, if I do say so myself. There is some of the SwordBrother’s oral history, from their old clans.” He looked at me with some interest. “What makes you want to read that?”
“Extra credit, I figure I need all the help I can get with my studies,” I lied.
Walking over to me, he gave me back the book. “Well then, I think the answers you are looking for are in that book. But beware; they may not be the ones you want.” Walking to his chair, Adept Kambel sat down, his eyes twinkling in excitement. “So what other than a book on SwordBrothers brought you to my door this evening?” Sitting down in his chair he studied me as if trying to see inside of my head.
“Yes, I do have a question.” I was so distracted by all of the fuss with the monkey and excited about finding a book about SwordBrothers that I almost forgot the real reason I came. I was too scared to ask any of my teachers during class in case I was made fun of. Licking my lips nervously, I rushed out my question with absolute zero finesse. “Um, yeah, well, have you ever heard of a Guardian?”
At the mention of a Guardian, Adept Kambel’s face blanked in thought. “No, I haven’t heard of a Guardian. But I’m making a trip to the ruins next month.”
“Ruins?”