Whispers of the Castle Morning

Galadmir woke up as usual, his beloved still sleeping peacefully beside him. Without disturbing her, he slipped out of bed and headed to the bathroom to complete his morning routine. When he returned, she hadn’t stirred. Smiling softly, he decided to let her rest and stepped out into the hallway.

He had no particular destination in mind. As this place was vast, he often strolled casually without thinking about the destination. As he entered the lift, a memory of vast library flashed in his mind. He pressed the button for the ground floor, and the lift slid downwards silently. The castle’s library was a cathedral of quiet wonder, its vaulted ceilings arched like dragon wings, and sunlight filtered through stained-glass windows depicting ancient legends.

Being in the library always brought him peace of mind. Few things gave him more joy than sitting with a good book and earnest feeling to read it. He will immerse himself completely and time dissolved in those moments. Galadmir spent so many days at library in this way. At one time, he was so immersed in reading his book, one whole night went by without him noticing it. 

As he stepped out of the lift, he was greeted by a house elf, "Good Morning, master". 

"Morning, Stan" said Galadmir. 

"I wish you a very pleasant day, Master" said Stan bowing. 

"Thank You Stan, I wish you the same. What's for breakfast? Now I'm feeling hungry"

"Oh...I'm so sorry, Master. I didn't step into the kitchen today", said the house elf bowing again. 

Galadmir wondered, "I thought you were in kitchen duty this week. And stop bowing everytime. There's no master slave relationship in this castle. Everyone here is equal." 

Stan smiled, his eyes twinkling, "You’ve always been gracious to us house elves, sire. Beaky took over kitchen duty this week. He wanted a change, so Master Ringo reassigned me to this floor."

"Oh....That's good, well, I'll be off. See you later Stan"

"Bye sir", said Stan smiling.

Sometimes Galadmir feels uncomfortable with the behaviour of house elves and even downright annoyed at being called "Master" or "Sir". He advises the elves to stop doing that whenever he can. Alas, it doesn't change. Guess house elves are like that to begin with. Although he seemed to see changes recently as he just now observed. House elves in this castle solely work on one single task all their lifetime. They usually don't switch jobs. But now, Beaky wanted a change of job. 

"Now that's an improvement", thought Galadmir. 

He entered the dining hall and found so many people having breakfast already. Smiling, he greeted them all and sat down at the end of the table. 

A house elf served him, breakfast of cereals and egg omelette. He ate vigorously and ordered 2 egg dosa. One of his favorite egg dishes.

Some people left the hall after breakfast, while others lingered, chatting animatedly across the table. Seated at the far end, Galadmir found conversation too scattered and distant to join in. He simply ate in quiet contentment, preferring solitude over the effort of strained exchanges.

After finishing breakfast, he stepped towards the library and met Wingo on the way. He seemed to be in a hurry and almost didn't notice him. 

"Good Morning, Wingo, my pal. What's the rush? What happened?" asked Galadmir. 

"So sorry, I didn't notice you at all. I'm in a hurry. You see, Striketooth invited me for a family dinner and I'm running late." said Wingo flustered. Striketooth is one of the dragon friends of Wingo. 

"Oh...that's alright. Ok, you hurry up then. See you later" said Galadmir. Wingo dashed off, disappearing within moments. Grinning, Galadmir went toward the library. 

When he arrived at the library, there's already someone slumbering peacefully there. Galadmir panicked at the sight and went to wake Árnytűz the dragon. As dragon goes, his dragon is not pretty. He is on the ugly side of all the resident dragons staying in the castle. but he was unmatched in strength and loyalty. 

"Hey, get up Arn. Why are you sleeping in the library? Get up now", shouted Galadmir. 

Arn opened his eyes blearily and looked at Galadmir who is red in face now. 

"What are you doing in library of all places? So many places to sleep and you are sleeping here. What would have happened to all the books, you could have burned all those...", said Galadmir 

"Calm down, I was just studying and dozed off sometime afterwards. Relax, mate, I came here an hour ago. Nothing happened, isn't it? What's the fuss?" saif Arn.

"Nothing happened, Thank Goodness for that. Why were you in library so early in the morning?" 

"Ha, about that. I was searching for a book about a medicine for a very rare type of dragon diease. Thought I may find it here. One my friends is affected by it" 

"Hmmm....I see. Did you find the cure?"

"Yeah, I did. Once I found it, some other topic in the book interested me. It's about the cleaning of bowels once every few years for us. You see, it keeps us healthy. Have to try it out sometimes", said Arn thoughtfully. 

"That's good to hear. Now be off then, your friend awaits you for medicine. Go on then"

"Yeah, I'll be off then" said Arn. He lifted himself lazily and stretched his cat-like body very carefully with surprising delicacy, careful not to disturb the books or furniture in library. He slithered out through the wide doors. 

Galadmir let out a sigh of relief after inspecting the book section where Arn was sleeping. His dragon is not usually like this, "He must be very tired" thought Galadmir. All the resident dragons pour over the books in library often. But doesn't stay long here as even a slight finger of fire could destroy centuries of knowledge. 

He felt bad shouting at Arn and thought of asking forgiveness. Sensing this Arn responded immediately through the dragon pendant. Arn dismissed his thoughts, sending waves of affection and reassurance. Their bond was mutual, and the pendant worn by Galadmir allowed them to share emotions across distance. 

Cheered, Galadmir picked up a book that caught his eye: Dragon Circle, a romance novel by one of Dragonia’s most beloved authors. This books is a romance novel between two young dragons. Galadmir sat down on a comfortable couch and started reading. After a few pages, He dozed off, just like Arn had earlier. 

Far above, flying toward the sun, Arn chuckled softly, feeling Galadmir’s slumber through the pendant and sent him a silent blessing.