Fer bowed low and replied respectfully, “Greetings, Madam Owlet. I’m well, thank you. I would, however, recommend that you have some type of training done for the fire giants. They do get easily distracted.”

“Oh dear, no need to be so proper. Do get up. I’ll make sure it’s the first thing on the meeting next week. Now, who’s the young man with you?”

Fer stood up. “This is Cal. A human storyteller travelling with me to write down my tales of adventure.”

Madam Owlet laughed. “You never were one of much patience. Always rushing into danger. Now, are you here for the usual reason?”

“Yes.”

“You never do give up do you.” She shook her head. “Well, I’ll get them for you. Anyway, nice to meet you, Cal.”

“You too, Madam Owlet.”  I felt completely awkward. I thought we were meant to breaking and entering.

Madam Owlet smiled, before zipping through the shelfs disappearing behind a side door. I turned to Fer and angrily said, “What was that about? I thought we were going to sneak in.”

“We were. Look, Madam Owlet helped me out a long time ago, so I do this as a favour. I never lied to you. I just kept the fact that this was a drill a secret.” Fer turned away, but not before I saw a glimpse of sadness and anger fill her eyes. Travelling as a storyteller has taught me how to read others faces and eyes. And Fer eyes were no exception.

“But you didn’t tell me the truth.”  

“Look, I try to break into the library and give her recommendations on how to improve the security of this place. The reason I didn’t tell you was because I was trying to make it feel as real as possible. If you had known that we weren’t really going to break and enter, would you have acted the same.”

Fer turned to look at me. I thought about what she said. Would I have really acted the same? Fer did have a point, but I was still a bit angry with her. “So, is Madam Owlet an elf?”

Fer looked flabbergasted. “Are you crazy? She’s an angel.”

Now it was my turn to be shocked. “But I thought that angels only have white wings.”

Fer turned away. “Normally, they do. However, if they mess up, their wings turn grey as punishment. If they mess up once more, their wings turn black. Then they fall.”

Fer walked away, towards the direction Madam Owlet had disappeared to, but not before I saw a tear roll down her face.