A Hero's Journey: How to Meet Your Heroes

     As she turned a corner to return a misplaced picture book, she noticed someone seated on a table by himself, reading a novel entitled, The Falchion of Time – which had yet to be catalogued in the library, if memory served. Lisha had to pause and squint through her glasses; she could recognize that White Blumaroo anywhere, but it was still quite surprising to see him in a library of all places.

     “Is that the new book by Klaudet? The author who wrote The Lord of the Things?” she asked.

     The Blumaroo looked up and nodded. “Yeah, but I like this more than The Lord of the Things. It’s been keeping me on the edge of my seat.”

     A smile played on Lisha’s lips. “It’s an action-adventure thriller, right? Heh, no wonder you like it, Rohane. Even if no written story can beat what you’ve been through.”

     “It does come close, though,” he replied with a soft laugh.

     “Klaudet is a very gifted writer, I heard he goes the extra mile to make his stories realistic. Oh!” Lisha snapped her fingers. “That reminds me. I heard some guards mention seeing a Disco Kacheek wandering around the castle. He said he was researching on Meridell Castle. Isn’t Klaudet…”

     “A Disco Kacheek, yeah, but a very low-profile one. He’s not seen often in public especially when he’s working on a new novel.” Rohane slowly lowered the book, frowning in thought. “Do you think…”

     “The Falchion of Time just came out a few weeks ago. But if he’s inspired enough…”

     “Then he could already be making a sequel.” The White Blumaroo gave her a small smile. “Which means I should really finish this book.”

     Lisha tilted her head toward him expectantly. “And when you’re finished…may I borrow it?”

     * * *

     “Thanks so much, Rohane! I’ll take good care of it!” said Lisha, hugging the book to her chest before turning to run down the corridor leading to the library. He went the opposite direction, wondering what else he could do besides lend out his copy of The Falchion of Time; it had been very quiet lately, which gave him ample time to finish the novel. Maybe he could pick out a new book from the library to read, but…

     Even the day’s training was over. Jeran had given the knights the rest of the day off if they promised to show up for their morning regimen on time tomorrow.

     Rohane rounded a corner in time to see a Disco Kacheek leaning out of a window overlooking the castle moat, feet no longer touching the floor.

     “H-Hey! What are you doing?”

     Immediately he sprinted toward the Kacheek, who just tried to wave at him while dangling over the ledge.

     “Not to worry, not to worry, just a bit of research!” He shifted around – and realized that he had shifted just a bit too far. Rohane reached out and grabbed the Kacheek, but gravity took over instantly, pitching them out of the window and toward the water below. They both screamed, but Rohane was used to quickly tucking away the part of him that wanted to scream into a little box in the back of his mind, just so he could do something more productive than screaming as they fell.

     In midair, the knight lunged toward the Kacheek and wrapped both arms around his middle, curling himself over him protectively.

     “Hold your breath!” he yelled before doing exactly what he had just said, and the two of them plunged into the moat. While the Kacheek clung to him, Rohane freed one arm to swim up to the surface, and they managed to rise for air, gasping and grimacing at the feel of the scummy water.

     “What were you thinking?” the White Blumaroo spluttered, treading water to keep both himself and the Kacheek afloat. “Are you insane?”

     “Ah!” Despite their circumstances, the Kacheek gave him a grin while still holding on to his shoulders, glasses askew. “I know you – you’re Sir Rohane, one of Meridell’s greatest champions! It’s a pleasure to meet you – oh, I was just doing a bit of research about the castle and its moat, no big deal, except that uh, I can’t swim, so…this means you saved my life!”

     “You could have asked around, or looked in the library!”

     The Disco Kacheek chuckled sheepishly as Rohane pulled him toward the bank of the moat. “I like to see things firsthand before I write about them, you know? I was researching for my next novel. Oh, whoops, that just got out.”

     “Wait…are you…Klaudet?” Rohane asked, his eyes slowly widening as he also clambered out of the moat, wringing out his shirt and tunic. “The novelist from Roo Island?” He got an incredulous gape in response.

     “You know me?”

     “I…er, I just…finished reading The Falchion of Time.”

     At first, Klaudet just stared at him while seated on the grass and drying out his clothes in the sun. Then he jumped up, clapping his hands to his face in delight. “Sir Rohane reads my work! This is…ohhh, I kinda want to ask, but at the same time, no, no, I’ll ask! What did you think of Falchion?”

     The White Blumaroo glanced away briefly, mildly embarrassed, and ran a hand through his dripping ears. “I read through it quickly as I really wanted to know what happened next at every turn. And the way you described the scenery…it’s almost as if you were there, yourself.”

     Klaudet clapped him on the back. “That’s because I was there, in Brightvale, and in Darigan Citadel! I visited those two lands extensively just for my work! I learned to work the forges in the Citadel for a day, and requested a little ocular of Brightvale Castle…when King Hagan found out I was a writer, he was very accommodating. Anyway, the sequel to Falchion will be set in Meridell. Thank you so much for saving me back there! I really should learn to swim one of these days…”

     “Again, you could have asked someone instead of going that far,” said Rohane, sighing and folding his arms across his chest. “But…I’m just glad you’re okay. If you want to get cleaned up, I could easily arrange that.”

     * * *

     “The baths of Meridell Castle…the kindness of the guards who lent me some clothes and even got me a spare notepad…” Klaudet scribbled in the notepad as he walked down the hallway. Then he gasped, skidding to a halt before he could run smack into a column. “I know I’ve asked you for a lot now, but please, Sir Rohane, I need one more favour. I don’t know how to repay you, but by Fyora, I will!”

     “As long as it doesn’t involve falling out of the castle again,” said Rohane dryly.

     “No, no! I’m done with that.” The Kacheek flapped a hand as though he had planned the fall into the moat the entire time. “I did get the feeling of falling, which will come in handy for my next novel. But I still need your help,” said Klaudet. “Your entire life could be a novel on its own, so…tell me, what part of your journey was the most unexpected? I want to make my sequel even more thrilling, and I don’t know how to do that.”

     “But I thought you did a good job making The Falchion of Time thrilling enough, as it is,” Rohane remarked. “You led up to the twist in the story about the Spear Squad in such a way that I was not expecting it at all.”

     “Yes, yes, but I need more!” Klaudet twirled his pen and leaned against the wall. “Remember the two members of the Spear Squad who were arrested at the end and thrown into the dungeon? I’ve got a whole new adventure in store for them! So, I need to know…what was the most unexpected part of your travels?”

     Rohane wasted no time answering. “Definitely finding out that I was in a prophecy foretelling the rise and fall of Terask.” He shook his head. “I really didn’t like everyone whispering that prophecy over and over.”

     “Ah, the Wingshadow Prophecy! You know, prophecies are a very common fiction trope…”

     “You asked for the most unexpected thing I encountered!”

     Klaudet cleared his throat. “I’m so sorry, right, but can you think of another?”

     “Uh…honestly, a lot of it was unexpected.” Rohane sighed, gazing briefly up at the ceiling. “Hearing about the Snowager going missing, having to put together an ancient artefact in the Lost Desert after searching for all its parts, the sun shining in the Haunted Woods, infiltrating a masquerade party…”

     “I remember that masquerade making the Neopian Times headlines!” the Disco Kacheek interrupted, pushing his glasses up onto his nose before making another note. “Though, I don’t think I have any room for a masquerade in my novel…still, it could be something else…” He flapped his hand. “Which of your unexpected adventures do you think could be turned into a new twist for my sequel, hm? Speaking as someone who’s lived through them…”

     “Mr. Klaudet – “

     “No, no, ‘Klaudet’ is fine! I think you’ve earned the right to call me by my first name.” Never mind, of course, that Klaudet had never mentioned even having a second name or a last name.

     Rohane frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t think I’m the one you should be asking about that.”

     “But you’re one of my readers!” Klaudet emitted a small gasp. “Maybe getting into the mind of one of my readers will be helpful!”

     “Like how you got into the moat to research for it?”

     The writer laughed awkwardly. “At least this is much safer!”

     “I’m just one reader,” said Rohane, shrugging. “I can think of someone else who has read your work, but many Neopians read your books across the world. I get wanting to know what we think, but isn’t what you want to do with your story more important?”

     “Yes, but that’s the problem. I don’t know what to do next. I just know I want to come up with something even better than The Falchion of Time, or The Lord of the Things, or even…A Compendium of Miserable Moments. A new, thrilling story, about the two members of the Spear Squad, set to face trial for their crimes, who find a secret passageway that leads them into the Meridell Castle baths, they flee after a guardsman wrapped in a towel finds them and they jump into the moat…and then…they must disguise themselves…” Klaudet’s voice trailed off, his jaw hanging open, then he immediately ran toward a bench outside a locked banquet hall, sat down, and furiously began writing down in his notepad. “Secret passage…Meridell Castle baths…guard in a towel…moat jump…”

     Rohane didn’t say anything, but his face conveyed perfectly how he felt about the fall into the castle moat being referenced in Klaudet’s notes.

     The Disco Kacheek’s face was radiant as he looked up. “Ah, I think I’ve got it! The beginning of my sequel! Sir Rohane, thank you! Thank you so much!”

     “Wait, I didn’t do anything – “

     “Talking to you helped me organize all these ideas in my head!” Klaudet tapped the side of his head and winked. “I’ve got a starting point! You’ve been such a huge help to me today, from saving my life to letting me ramble and get my ideas together! How can I repay you? I mean, I said I would…”

     * * *

     Lisha’s jaw dropped to the floor, and she just barely managed to not drop Rohane’s copy of The Falchion of Time. She breathed in deeply before blurting out, “You’re…Klaudet, from Roo Island! Oh my Fyora, it’s really you!”

     “Yup, it’s me,” said Klaudet sheepishly as he extended a hand. “And I owe Sir Rohane quite considerably, so may I borrow his book and sign it?”

     “What happened?” Lisha asked curiously as she offered the book to the Kacheek. “How did you meet each other?”

     Rohane shook his head, his mouth curling into a mildly exasperated grin.

     “It’s, shall we say, a long story.”

     The End.