The ladder was rickety indeed; albeit it had been originally been made strongly of a particularly strong variety of yew, the years of use and dessication in the presence of book-mold had made it a somewhat shaky affair. Not as bad as that escape ladder in that drafty old tin mine in Wallachia where the boyars had tried to bury himself and his squad alive, but a bit of an exciting climb nonetheless.
The pink-and-gold light increased in brilliance as he neared the bell jar, but strangely, the light did not hurt his eyes. He distinctly heard the giggling sound now, a sound like a girlish coquette reacting to the advances of an interesting suitor. He reached a hand toward the domed container - then, suddenly, the light crescendoed and in the wake of the blinding glow, a tiny yet womanly-proportioned little fairy hovered on gossamer wings before him, smiling mischievously yet warmly, looking him up and down. "Now, what kind of a spot of interesting are you, Pretty?" she asked.
"I believe I should be zhe vone asking zat question, yes?" Mordavo countered, returning the faery's contagious smile, though with his snout and fangs it was decidedly more fearsome and yet not,in a strange way. "Und shouldt you not be locked vithin yon jar?"
"Old Lumpykins was a dear, but he never said I was a prisoner," she said. "I just never felt like coming out- until now." She settled on Mordavo's right shoulder; she casually asked what year it was, and Mordavo told her. "Thirty years! I've been in that jar for thirty years!" she exclaimed, just as the ladder gave way and fell in pieces to the library floor below. She simply closed one eye and laid a lovely tiny finger alongside her nose, and beat her tiny wings a bit faster, and Mordavo and she floated together, gently, to the floor beside the others.
"you should know better than to expect such an old ladder to hold the likes of you up, What would you have done if I hadn't been here?" she asked coquettishly, snuggling up against the were's neck. "You are verrrrry interesting, do you know that? Oho, and so very soft and cuddly your fur is!" she giggled. "Do, introduce yourself, and me, and to your friends!"
Mordavo did as he was bid. "I am Mordavo Klimt, late a colour sergeant off zhe Carpathian Mercenary Company, now as you can see, a were of the coyote (an American form of petty wolf, or so I am told) variety, und an employee off zhis newly-declared Higgsbury Museum" he intoned. 'Und vhat, dear little Lady, iss your name?"
