They had been going back and forth all day, carrying books and scrolls.

Sage was sat on her bed, head turned to look down at the window, her own book lying open on her lap as her grey eyes studied the comings and goings of the people below.

Most of the people doing the fetching were apprentices of the school, she knew from their insignia’s, and she recognised Robyn with his fly away hair. Apprentices only fetched for teachers and masters.

Getting up from her bed, she knocked on the door to her chambers.

The guard who was watching her that day opened it and looked at her.

“I need some exercise. Can we walk the grounds?”

He nodded once, and shut the door, taking the chain off, before letting her out. She swung her cloak over her shoulders and then slowly walked out of the building, the guard following a couple of paces behind her.

She was slow in her paces, getting down to the courtyard and then watching as the apprentices jostled around a certain door. Angling herself, she walked, and looked as she walked down the corridor.

Inside the room were chalkboards, with many untidy scribblings and hanging scrolls dangling from them. One quick glance over with her eyes told her everything that she needed to know about what they were doing.

She didn’t realised that she stopped, as she looked at them, her mind racing ahead as she solved the problem that they were working on. Her penetrating gaze didn’t go unnoticed, as some people turned to glance at her, and her guard nudged her in the back.

She looked at him, and then the blackboards, and then started walking again, with a more reasonable pace. The contents of the blackboard were burned into her memory. She only hoped that they solved their little problem before they attempted to use the artefact again. Sage imagined several people would be displeased if the princess and her new husband lost theirs head when they tried to put the crowns they had retrieved from the labyrinth on.