Still

Chapter Sixteen

Lydia let out a long whistle. "We are so close to being done!"

I sat next to her on her bed, and laid my head on the redhead's shoulder. There would probably be two or three more chapters, mostly resolution, and then we would be done. This was the first time I had actually finished a project without hating it, and I'm really proud. At the rate we were at, we could finish the whole story by the end of the semester, and be finished editing by the end of third quarter.

"Thank you," Lydia said, "for trusting me with your baby. You know, I bet we could publish this somewhere, and then you could get, like, a professional editor and become famous! Promise me you'll remember poor old Lydia Dane when you become the next J.K. Rowling."

"It's not gonna become big," I said, sitting up. "Let's be honest, someone online is going to find it and write it off as their own and it's gonna be better than ours, and we won't get credit. This guy'll get some bigshot company to buy it out, and then The Soldier and Marian Mells will be gone forever."

"And then you'll get old and tell everyone 'Bah Humbug!'" Lydia said, folding her arms and pretending to look mean. She didn't keep up the act for long; a large grin crept onto her face. "Oh my god, I almost forgot! I still need to get you your Christmas present!"

"Present?" I repeated. "Oh no, I didn't know we'd be doing presents. I didn't get you anything!"

"It's fine, it's fine!" Lydia said. "Also consider it your early birthday present, too."

"But my birthday's in March," I reminded her.

Lydia shrugged. "Fine, it's your really early birthday present."

Lydia set her laptop on me, and pushed herself off of the bed. She crawled underneath it, and pulled out a gift, wrapped in red paper with mini Santas decorated on it. There was a little nametag on top that read: 'To Alice, from Lydia' in a fancy, cursive script. She took her laptop back, exchanging it for the present.

"I still feel really bad," I told her. "How much did it cost? I'll just have to give you a delayed gi-"

"It's fine! Just except the damn gift and thank me for it later."

The gift was just as big as my backpack, and fairly heavy, too. I looked at Lydia again, and she nodded, smiling. Looking back at the present, I carefully peeled the green bow and nametag from the top, sticking them both onto Lydia's forehead. She giggled and pulled them off. Afterwards, I began unwrapping the present, a tiny bit worried that Lydia would get me something awful.

"It's a scrapbook," I realized as all of the wrapping fell off.

"Look inside it."

I opened the cover. In beautiful, loopy letters, the front page said: 'A person with no name walked into a royal chamber. He didn't know who or where he was. All that he knew was that he was somewhere very unfamiliar....' and just below it was the scene. In beautiful watercolor stood The Soldier, just as I had imagined him, standing awkwardly at a doorway as the old king waved him in. The king's study was lit with candles bolted into the walls, creating shadows everywhere on the page.

"Oh my God," I muttered, putting a hand in front of my mouth. Lydia scooted in closer, pointing out all of the details.

"Look, The Soldier's got an Elven broach on his cape right there," she said, lightly touching The Soldier, "and over there the king's got fifteen scrolls. I told you it was a birthday present! Now keep going."

There was a page for every chapter we had written so far. There was one with the little apprentice boy holding out a clay figure to Marian and The Soldier as they stood outside his cottage. Another depicted The Soldier in Aislyn's room as she threw her covers off of her. Each one came with a quote from the chapter, and the pages became more and more beautiful as they continued.