Helena huffed gravelly as she turned another corner, another corner without the library that she was so desperately looking for. It felt like the stairs shifted beneath her feet; they played tricks and chuckled at her confusion. As the days shifted onwards, Helena found herself still at a loss with the corridors that brought her nowhere and the doors that led to the other side of the castle.

The elden hallways mirrored each other throughout the castle. The black hinges nailed into the oak doors seemed to hold the same wear of age no matter where she walked. Helena could not grasp a single detail that might allow her to find her way to the library.

Zooming past another wall, Helena all but stumbled into the enchantress’ black shadow. “Sorry!” She chirped, stepping back from Ursula and fixing her dress. Her sharp slavic cheekbones seemed to be carved by the shadows of the castle.

“Are you okay?”

She stole a sigh of relief, “Could you direct me to the library, I cannot seem to locate it. But If you need to be somewhere else I am sure I can locate it myself.”

“Of course I can aide you, it is of no issue.” Ursula nodded starkly before beginning on her way. She was not a woman of many words except the most important ones.

They begin sauntering down arched cobblestone hallways with dark wood accents that reminded Helena of the ancient churches that dotted themselves across the Goodlands.

Walking without much conversation but the idle kind; the exchanging of pleasantries and with gentle heel clicks as Helena glanced around the castle hallways. Trying to trace her journey to the library and add it to the mental map she was trying to sketch and unfold inside her mind.

“Here you are, the infamous library.” Ursula pushes the heavy oak door creaks open and reveals the rows upon rows of the sweet view of books. Helena’s eyes hungrily rake over them, she had already devoured the few she had brought with her to Taranqar.

“Thank you for your help, it seems your abode it much more confusing than I previously thought.”

“Soon, without a doubt, you will have no trouble finding your way through my hallowed hallways.” Ursula stated in such a matter of fact way that Helena frowned.

Prior to before, Helena had not noticed the painting of a dark beach. Heavy navy waters stretched out alongside golden sand. Colours separated so cleanly it is as though they have never touched. The waters are rough, rising black waters under greying skies. “Is this Taranqar?” Ursula nods once, “I would not have thought that there would be a beach in Taranqar, much less in Vakar.”

“We always aim to surprise foreigners.”

“Do not mock me!” She laughed like the winds invaded her lungs. Hungry and smile-cracking, “Geography has never been my strong suit.” Though Helena had always loved learning and understand those not of the Goodlands, she had always found it difficult to hold her attention when it came to the specifics of geography. Even learning where Vakar, the town in which she resided now had been a mess to memorize its location.

“There are plenty of books within here about it.” Ursula points out with a voice like silk and snow.

Helena’s head tilts to the side, watching Ursula momentarily as she circles the room. Fingers drifting over the spines, beholding their age and knowledge as if it is a painting; a marvelous creature books were to her. “Or perhaps I will simply ask you?”

“Very well.” Ursula nodded, keeping her eyes on the words printed on the thick, golden paper.

Helena’s drifting fingers stop in the middle of a navy spine. The golden lettering first catching her attention and interest. “What does this say?”

A moment later, Ursula’s onyx hair shifts as she rises from the settee, places her book face down and finds a spot next to Helena. “One Beating Heart. It is a popular Taranqar book. My favourite in fact.”

“Your favourite?” Helena whispers before plucking the book from its space, the other one one’s collapse together, filling the newfound empty space with their fabric and engravings. “It is in Taranqian?”

Helena had briefly researched the language before leaving yet in the Goodlands there were less resources than she hoped.

“My mother tongue. My favourite language to speak.” Ursula admits, her eyes set faraway and out of the castle window. It seems that the shadows caress her, darkening the bottom half of her face.

“You speak many?”

“A few, languages have always fascinated me with their rules and how it affects their worldviews. It is always surprising to me that in a world so teeming with people, we still find a new way to communicate.”

Helena’s eyes drag from Ursula’s and onto the interesting characters of Taranqian. The lines that circle over each other in a downward and vertical motion. “Would you teach me?”

Ursula does not answer with a word or the softening of her sharp features like usual. Instead, she extends her hand upwards, her knife-like and unpigmented nails acting like an arrow. “There is an easier book in our language above you, but you need the ladder to reach it.”

Reaching beside her, Helena pulled the creaking ladder towards her. The metal ball rolling loudly as it moved along the top and bottom of the bookshelves.

With her eyes set on the book, Helena begins to climb. The balls of her feet pressed into the wood while her alabaster heels hang over the edge. She cannot reach it. The ladder was obviously not made for the short statures of women like Helena.

As she tries to stand tall and reach with the tips of her fingers to grab the book. The ladder wobbles side to side, rocking like the bow of a ship. An electrifying hold seizes her suddenly; gentle and burning.

Her cold palms press through the silk fiber of her dress. Sending shivers beneath her skin like a palpitating wind through her. They’re gone a moment later as Helena releases her clutch to the ladder wood.

“Th-thank you.” She croaked, coming down each groaning ladder step with a newfound stiffness. Gripping the book like the whorls and circles imprinted on her fingertips might detach when she placed it down.

Mousy steps filled the heavy library silence as Helena sat across from Ursula; whom was leaned back with long, crossed legs covered with the drapery of her dress. “Ready, Ms. Helena?”