Livia stretched as she sat down on a stone bench. Once she was settled, she hid herself from view as much as possible and reopened her book on Keladry of Mindelan, a new one she had not read before. She wanted to read her book on Queen Thayet, but she had lent it to a young page, whose name was Kaia, she remembered. Besides, she had read it more times than she could count, as if it were the only book in the library. It was about time that she found something new to read!

The bench was cold and the early-morning fog and mist made Livia's hair frizz and dampened the pages, but she didn't mind. She was swept up in the glorious legend that the lady knight had left in her wake. Books just had that magical air that could take her places or make her something other than a servant, searching for her father in the capital city of Tortall.

Her thoughts closed to the rest of the world. Right now, all she cared about was the book. Even if someone had been standing right next to her, she wouldn't have noticed.

Books, books, books.

Hayden strode across the coutyard, brow furrowed thoughtfully. Hayden was so deep in thought that he didn’t even notice the bucket in his path, so he of course tripped on it and barely managed to catch himself. He swore quietly and checked to make sure that no one was around to see it. A young gurl—a servant from the look of her.

He sighed and craned his neck. “good book?” he asked lightly as if he hadn’t nearly broken his leg.

Livia jumped, her thoughts immediately off her book. Somebody had caught her in the act of reading again! Twice in the same morning. Stupid, stupid. At least it had been dark in the library. This man, whoever he was, would be able to tell she was a servant just by looking at her clothes. Livia mentally kicked herself, hard.

"Well, yes, it is a good book, it's about Keladry of Mindelan..." Livia stammered, trying to cover up this little mishap. "And I know it looks odd, me reading when servants aren't supposed to be reading, but..." The man silenced her with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell everyone I meet that I saw a servant reading. It's not the worst thing that could happen, really." He paused. "What's your name?" Livia gave her name. "Hmm, nice," the man muttered.

"May I ask what business you have here? Are you a diplomat from somewhere? I don't think I've seen you before," Livia asked, bold as ever.

((Livia, since you're new to RPing, I'll give you a tip: It's rude to move other people's characters, called powerplaying or god modding. Sort of defeats the purpose of RPing, and it's against the rules. Don't worry about it though.))

Hayden hooked his thumb over his belt buckle and considered her question. A smirk quirked his lips, "In a way, I guess you could say that." He nodded and looked at the book, squinting a bit to check out the author's name.

"Ah, Zane DeMorgdriac," He read. "He's an excellent writer and nice person a bit hard when it comes to drinking though." He smiled a bit trying to alleviate her worries.

Livia nodded. "Well, I best get back to my book," she muttered, still a little embarassed, and stared down at the pages. "Now where was I?" she wondered out loud, completely forgetting where she was, again. Once more she was caught up in the spellbinding tale...

Danielle entered the courtyard. "Hello", she said to Livia. She peered over her shoulder and read a sentence out of the book. "Ooo, The Scanran War. Very interesting. Hey, Livia! My work has been so hard I HAD to come out and tald to you." She hope she had not startled Livia.

"Oh really?" Livia asked. "And what do you need to talk to me about, madam?" Ignoring Hayden, she turned to the novice servant girl, one she had taken quite a liking to. And yes, Danielle, my book is very interesting."

Livia groaned a bit. She knew that Danielle knew that servants weren't supposed to know how to read. Why was she acting so nonchalant? Shifting nervously, the servant closed her book and stood.