Night Blade woke up late. A small part of him was happy for that small defiance, while overall he knew how petty and pointless it was and that they would not even notice. And he also knew that he would have less time to spend with Page Turner the longer he stayed in the manor.

Still, as much as he wished to run to her, he had duties and obligations to attend here first.

First of which was using the bathroom and once again swearing off having several glasses of mango juice before going to sleep.

Trotting into his private bathroom as flying indoors was not to be done, he began to relieve himself and go over a proper list of what he had to do this day.

As the Blade family was sponsoring this Honour Festival, Mother and Father had informed him that it was his duty to ensure that the public festival was running to the itinerary he was given by the family butler last week as both Sweet Dagger and Lethal Blade were occupied with details of the noble party. He would know of their stances on his week of work tomorrow as they would be retrieving him for the noble party. As it were currently, there were only a few stands left to be constructed, with established venues ready to move in, though he still had to vet a few newcomers.

It was utterly dull and he hated every moment of it, but he knew Page would love it and having her beside him would make the entire affair much more pleasant.

With a smile cracking his lips, he finished his business with the toilet and went to wash up before taking his morning shower, less for properness and more for Page Turner enjoying him smelling nice.

Then again, she had told him she loved his smell after he had been training for a while and had yet to clean up…

Smiling again as he thought of the unicorn, he finished washing himself and began to dry himself off, using the monogramed towel to do so.

He looked at himself in his full length mirror and debated whether or not to brush his coat and mane before he reminded himself that he was going to see Page today and have the gift he’d been planning for a while given to her.

As he brushed his mane into place, he was glad to have stumbled on this Reclaimed magic spell. It would be a wonderful attraction at the festival for lovers and couples, as well as further gaining the notice of the Academy. If these unicorn couples could take this spell back from the changelings, then they would be pressured to Reclaim more spells from their unfavourite Cousins.

He twitched his nose as he thought of the changelings while grooming his coat. While they were responsible for the death of the Twin Goddess Princesses and forever in debt to the rest of the Tribes, he was mostly indifferent to them. Then again, the Blade family never had owned any changelings due to their connection to military matters of the kingdom, meaning it would be a potential risk if those emotional void creatures stole any sensitive information, and so he had little to no true experience with them.

Examining himself and seeing he was all proper, he turned to leave his bathroom and finish his morning preparations. Walking to the other end of his room, he picked up Determined Point and tied it to his side before sliding on his saddlebag that held his license to carry his sword and his monthly allowance of funds along with his signet ring onto his wing.

With that dealt with, he turned to make his bed and making sure his room was tidy as it should be before leaving it.

Closing the door behind him, Night Blade made his way down the private hallway for the living quarters and reached the landing that held the staircase that led to the ground floor with Mother and Father’s offices on the other side.

Walking down the stairs at a brisk pace, the nox pony turned around the hallways as he reached the ground floor to enter the common dining room and leaving the large good dining room untouched as always. It had only been used a few times as far as Night Blade could remember, only for private dinner parties with other High Nobles or his…

He shook his head with a frown plastered across his face as he did his best to forgot about that party to little success. The only good thing that came out of that party was the fact that he had found Page Turner and she had more than made up for it.

As he pulled out his chair at the family dining table, with Lethal Blade, Sweet Dagger, Crooked Blade, Hidden Dagger, Serrated Dagger, Deep Blade’s chairs all pushed in and, for his older brothers and sisters, dusted off, he saw that there was already a meal ready for him.

A couple of poached eggs, three strips of bacon and a glass of mango juice were presented for him and, using the cutlery provided, he began to delicately cut and eat his breakfast as he had been instructed so long ago by Clean Home, the family butler.

It was quite delicious as Generous Spoon was the best cook he knew, next to Page Turner. How she made those little sandwiches so tasty was a real mystery but he didn’t care at all!

Finishing off his meal and cleaning off his mouth with the napkin under his fork and knife, he pushed out of his chair as some servants came by to take the dish and glass away, then went back to the foyer to leave the manor and get on with his day only for Clean to stand in the middle of the room, holding out the list that had all the venues for the festival tomorrow as well as the other items he had to see to.

“Thank you, Home,” he said properly, nodding his head to the unicorn, tucking the list into his saddle bag with the unicorn responding in kind and opening the door for him. “I will be returning late this evening, as to oversee the trial run for the festivities. I will not be returning to the manor for lunch; I believe I will dine elsewhere.”

“Of course, sir,” Home said in a slight twinkle in his eyes, making Night slightly worried again that the old unicorn knew about Page Turner and would inform his parents about her. He wasn’t sure how they’d respond to her being a foundling or the fact he had been seeing her since he was a colt but he knew that he could easily toss anything and everything away for her if they tried to stop him from seeing her.

In any case, he felt he had wasted enough time at the manor and it was time to be productive today.

Walking down the smooth stone pathway out of his family manor, he began to trot his way down the familiar streets to the Grand Library with the white noise of beggars on the street. Unlike the changelings which were actually being truthful for once in their lives, there was no conceivable way for a beggar to operate in the Upper as the Guards worked in tandem with the shelters to provide help for the unfortunate unless they were acting in some kind of scam.

Night Blade believed in helping others when he knew it would actually have a positive impact instead of just lining some greedy soul’s pocket, while Page just gave to any beggar that came across her path, even changelings. She was far too k-

“Excuse me sir,” an oddly accented voice snapped him out of his musing. It was a female ahuizotl, with either a dark blue or purple outer coat, a soft green inner coat and emerald eyes. She was clearly a tourist as she was holding a map in her main hands with just a pack on her back and seemed a tad frustrated. “I’m trying to find the Great Library, do you know where it is?” she asked politely enough, possibly hiding the fact that she had inquired him before and he had unintentionally ignored her.

He felt a bit of a guilt at his own actions, his frown tightening at his impoliteness before gathering his thoughts and turned his head down the street to indicate the location. Speaking in a proper tone, Night Blade informed her, “The Great Library is my destination as well. If you wish, you may follow me.” and began to walk down the road to guide her to the Great Library.

“Thank you, sir,” the ahuizotl said, walking beside him. “You’re the first to actually help me today and this map is no help whatsoever.” She held out the map to him, which seemed odd to him as it had an official seal on it. Rising an eyebrow at this, he held out his wing to examine it, with her pausing a few seconds before passing the offered map over.

Opening it up, he saw the problem right away; it was a map of the Upper East that had been mislabeled as the Upper West somehow as there were notable locations missing, namely the Grand Library itself. Handing the map back to her, Night Blade told her of this, saying, “That is due to you being sold a map of the Upper East labeled the Upper West; whomever sold you this did a disservice to you or a serious misprint has occurred.”

“Oh, thank you,” she flashed a grateful smile at him, which made Night Blade feel a bit better. “I cannot believe I did this.” She continued, looking embarrassed at this uncontrollable action.

He felt it was his duty as a noble and a sometimes follower of the Lady when the family went to the temples of the Virtues to console her with replying, “It is nothing; I have lived in the Upper West all my life and at times I get lost myself.”

“Heh,” she laughed at him, causing him bite back his anger as he spotted a shortcut through a small tunnel. “I mean it, thank you for this. You’re a nice guy.”

Oh, she had not laughed at him which meant he had overreacted again, just like Page Turner told him he did. He brushed it away by telling her, “I was just doing the proper thing, nothing more miss.”

Holding out her tailhand, she said, “I’m Xvital.”

Taking it with his wing and giving it a proper shake, he also introduced himself, “Lord Night Blade,” while keeping his focus forwards as they left the tunnel and were in front of the Grand Library. Leading her up the marble staircase with students of the Academy and researchers in open debate on the steps, Night Blade found himself relaxing ever so slightly.

Stepping into the entrance of the Great Library, Night Blade saw the old griffin that was in charge of the care of this collected knowledge trove smiling at him before he turned to face his traveling companion. “I hope you are good enough to take care of yourself, miss Xvital,” he bowing his head to her. “If you need anything, you can inquire Matron Hush Tone over there for advice,” he tilted his head towards the Free Griffon before turning to ask her, “Excuse me, Matron Tone, but-”

“She is in her section at this time, Night, as you know full well,” she clicked her beak as she cut him off, but he was too delighted to be annoyed. Spreading his leathery wings, he took off into the further aspects of the library, the location he knew as well as his own room.

Landing on top of a bookcase, he crouched low and began to stalk his way forwards towards the corner she had claimed for her own, already hearing her voice and the awe of little foals.

Hopping from shelf to shelf, he laid down and watched Page Turner read a tale of the Virtues to a bunch of excited foals, and smiled to himself at how lucky he was to have a mare like her interested in him. There was no limit to what she would do for others; not many librarians would bother to read books to visitors who were expected to know how to read, let alone do it without a charge to the ponies in question. Some of Page’s fellow librarians disliked her for this, but Matron had approved of her reading time as it brought good light on the Library’s actions in the public’s eye. Also, the foals loved it, and that was always good.

With a soft sigh escaping his lips, he listened to her finish her story, her eyes briefly flicking to his hiding spot before dismissing the foals and using her green aura magic to put away the book.

Flying down to land in front of the light yellow unicorn, Night Blade gave her a friendly nuzzle her muzzle before sneaking a kiss to her cheek. Page Turner giggled at his actions before giving him a peck of her own and flashing him a smile.

“Hello there, silly colt,” she beamed at him, nuzzling against his side. “What brings you here on this fine today?”

“Weeeelll...” Night Blade dragged out, dropping a wing over her as they began to walk towards the doors. “I was thinking to check out this lovely treasure called Page Turner for the day, do you think I could manage this or will others need to lean on this priceless piece of work?”

Slapping a hoof over her mouth to hold back her laughter as this was still a library, she swatted at his side with her tail as she pulled herself together to answer him. “Hmmm,” she tapped her chin with a mock serious look on her face which warmed Night Blade’s heart. “I will need to check with Matron Hush Tone about this, dear sir,” she told him before looking across the counter with the griffon shaking her head at them. She was pinching the bridge of her eyes and doing her best to look stern but there was a smile escaping. “Excuse me, Matron Tone, but-”

“Go you two kids,” she said, waving a wing at them with chuckles escaping her beak. “Enjoy yourselves today and tomorrow,” she then paused to look at Night Blade. “You will be coming by to pick her up for the festival tomorrow, my lord?”

“Of course,” Night Blade replied, dimly aware of the fact that this would be the first time his parents would meet Page Turner. ...And he was fine with it. With the gift he was planning to present her today, the only way he could further prove his love for the unicorn next to him was to propose to her and if they had a problem with that, then there would be serious words with Mother and Father. Holding his wing out to the mare he knew completely and she him, he asked Page Turner, “After you, my lady.”

With another chuckle leaving her lovely lips, she leaned herself in to steal another kiss and said, “Of course, my love.”

Leading his marefriend down the steps, Night Blade knew that the next few days were going to be the best days of his life.