Shards From Other Stars

11. Strings

Aldith looked for Quillan.

Her eyes roamed the room looking for the light brown curls, same shade as her hair—the only difference would be his had two shades—black from the roots and light brown from two inches after the black.

She moved from bookshelf to the next in search for the lad. As much as she was looking for him it didn't hurt to stop by a book or two that caught her eye, her curiosity would only settle if she held it for a minimum of a minute—so Aldith pursed her lips as she judged the brown covered book.

Don't judge a book by its cover, well, Aldith judged them by their covers all the time and the blurb as well as the first few lines of the first chapter—because how else would she know if it was worth it?

This one in particular didn't fit her standards, placing it back she returned to searching her brother. Her fingers brushed against the books and wood as she walked, some with smooth edges while others felt rough—and of course the wooden of the shelf was firm and smooth, for most of it.

Aldith came to a halt as she had spotted Quillan. He had himself fascinated by a book, which was quite unusual. His right hand rested against the shelf as his left held up the book, looking closely at him Aldith could see him mumbling the words as her read.

He was looking for something!

Aldith smiled at that discovery. True be told, Quillan wasn't much of a reader, he was barely a reader of anything other than maps—and him holding a romance book in hand was a dead giveaway, Haven must have told him something because they had read it together before and she adored it.

Aldith was a fan as well, just not as big as Haven—her reading buddy—or Quillan's girlfriend.

Aldith was still finding it hard to believe, Haven would have him in the library reading a book on romance just a few hours as they—her father and him—returned. She did laugh when their father, the King, had told her he would be in the library.

She had just woken up, a bit late but her bed was too comfortable to leave—she missed breakfast and a chance to welcome them as they had just arrived, but that was the past—she still got to warmly welcome their father with a hug, even if her mother was clinging onto his side throughout their interactions.

He was her husband after all, she completely understood her and him—he wasn't very different. The couples around here weren't at all—Aldith lived a life of torment with so many couples or flings around.

But back to topic, her brother—Crowned Prince Quillan. Not a reader, now suddenly one right after visiting his girlfriend for weeks—what a site to behold indeed.

Aldith was going to tease the shit out of him for this and possibly give Haven a high five for the accomplishment when she came around. She took a few steps forward making them as quiet as she could, a smile on her lips.

Happy to have him back and maybe possibly get her sanity back—as much as she could recover after being around an annoying Wylie and a mother equally as bad.

Wylie was, being Wylie—her usual or should it be unusual self? Whatever it was, that was it. Her mother was just great at making fun of her, and laughing whenever she complained about Wylie—not caring one but about her whining.

"You couldn't even come and greet your sister, what kind of brother are you."

Aldith spoke as she leaned against the shelf—lightly, she didn't want to knock it down.

Standing in this proximity she noticed how he had changed, her father did as well. One, her father grew a beard—how fast that man's beard grew was somewhat a mystery, he went without it three if not four weeks back—now it was a full brown beard, that wouldn't last long as his wife would have him trim or shave it off.