She’d flirted back when he’d been with her in the goat pen yesterday.
He might have flirted a little more, but he’d mostly been concerned with getting out of the goat pen without his shoes landing in goat poop or a goat jumping up on him and smearing him with mud and manure.
Of course, the prettiest girl that he’d ever seen had to be one who was in love with farm animals. She probably got along great with his sister. Liliana had talked his ear off nonstop about the goats during dinner last night.
Maybe the goats would help him have a better relationship with his sister.
And maybe having a better relationship with his sister would make him look better for the goat girl.
Not that he should be calling Sophia the goat girl. But it seemed like an obvious nickname given the way she was in love with her goats. It was clear how much she loved them, and how much they loved her back.
He made his way to the library on the other side of the square and pushed open the heavy wooden door. The library was new since he’d moved to Riyel, and he wasn’t sure what to expect.
The smell of books filled the air, and he was greeted by a smiling librarian, perched on a stool, with a pencil behind her ear and a book on her lap.
“Hello,” she chirped. “I’m Beatrice, how can I help you today?”
“I’m actually here to talk to you,” he said, smiling at her. “I’m Caspian Rendon and I’m here to help with the Fall Festival instead of my mother, Lady Rendon.”
“Oh, Caspian. I didn’t recognize you with that beard.”
He narrowed his eyes at the woman in front of him. She looked familiar. But why?
“You probably don’t remember me,” she added. “You spent most of your time with Percival when you were in town. I should probably call you Lord Caspian now that we’re adults, though.”
He waved his hand at her. “No need, Beatrice.”
The librarian smiled. “I would love to chat with you about the festival. Come back to my office and let me pull out my plan so far. Your mother has already helped me get started, but there’s plenty of work still to do.”
Caspian followed her to her office at the back of the library and she pulled out a large folder with stacks of paper inside from a shelf as she passed it, clasping it to her chest as she approached her desk.
“That seems like a lot,” he said, his eyes opening wide in alarm. “How much work is involved in putting together the festival?”
Beatrice laughed. “Oh, more than you can imagine. Don’t worry—I do most of it. But the townsfolk appreciate having members of the nobility sponsor the event, and of course, we wouldn’t be able to put it on without the generous funding that your family provides.”
“I’m sure,” Caspian murmured, rubbing his thumb across the spine of a neatly bound book sitting on her desk.
“It’s a great experience for the whole town, and it provides fellowship and a boost to our economy as we head into the winter,” Beatrice continued.
“Well, I am glad to hear that you handle most of it,” Caspian said. “Can you let me know what I’m expected to do?” He gave her a lazy grin. “My mother wasn’t super forthcoming about the details of everything she usually does.”
Beatrice opened the folder and began flipping through the pages within. “Of course. It’s mostly little things, like approving plans and budget expenses. But it’s also appreciated if you approach the vendors and the townsfolk about setting up their booths, or providing music, food, or lumber for the bonfire, or anything of that nature. They tend to take it better coming from a member of the nobility than they do from the town librarian when most of them won’t even touch the library.”
She gave a self-deprecating laugh and sighed as she went back to shuffling papers.
“Who started the library?” he asked. He’d missed all of it while he was in Riyel.
Beatrice smiled. “Lord Dunham. He wanted education to be freely accessible to the people in the town and he wanted them to be able to get knowledge of anything. I’m very appreciative of it, because I personally love reading, and getting paid to help the people in the town and the surrounding manors find everything they need to know is a privilege. But since many of the townsfolk don’t utilize the library to the full extent they could, it also frees me up to do things like plan the Fall Festival with your mother. Or you, as the case may be.” She pulled a piece of paper from the stack with a triumphant grin and held it out to him. “I knew this was in there somewhere.”
Caspian took the piece of paper and set it down on the desk to examine it closer. It was a simple sketch of the town square, with booths outlined and jotted notes about who would be placed where.
“This is my proposed map of the festival,” she said proudly. “It takes into account which vendors like and dislike each other, places all the food in one corner, and provides ample room for a bonfire, with sufficient space to keep children away from it, if all goes according to plan.”
Caspian looked at the very thorough map. “And you just need me to approve this?”
“That’s correct,” Beatrice said with a smile. “Then, if you don’t mind, it’s helpful if you can take the map to all the vendors listed, ask if they would like a booth at the festival, and encourage them to do so, including the use of festival funds for whatever is necessary. Did your mother discuss the budget with you at all?”
He shook his head. “She only said that you knew what the budget was, and I had free rein to take more if necessary to have the best festival possible.”
