((*guilt* My internet is back although I am a little suspicious if it is here to stay. The good news is that I should have more stable internet next week.
.:Compact Disk:. wrote:
((OMG LILLIE! ALTHEA AND DEV NEED TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE LOTS AND LOTS OF CHILDREN! THEY'RE TOO GOOD OF A COUPLE!))
Ah, but Dev is not the only one who heard the princess... *shuts up*
By the way, I've caught up on all the reading since my last proper post and I have to say, y'all rock. I'd be more specific, but I need to make up for the lack of postage. I'll write as long a post as I can in half an hour, then I have to go.))
Althea barely heard the queen's question. She was seeing into something else and her whole body was shivering with a cold no one else could feel. Dev observed her for a while longer and quietly said, 'I think I had better bring the Lady up to her room.'
He nodded towards Emra to excuse himself and picked up the shaking girl as gently as he could. She clung to him but did not seem to show any other sign that she was aware of what was happening.
Back in her room, he laid her down on a lush sofa and found some warm rugs to wrap her up in. Ringing for a maid, he asked for some hot water and placed the glass to Althea's lips, helping her sit up.
At last, a little life returned to her face and her hands stopped shaking, although her eyes had a slightly haunted look about them. She propped herself up properly and sat staring into her empty glass, not knowing what to think or say.
Dev spoke first.
'How do you feel, Princess?' he asked carefully.
Not certain how she did feel, nor whether she had just humiliated herself in front of Emra and her guards, Althea asked instead what had happened. Dev replied, 'You fainted, Princess.'
'Oh,' she said weakly. That really was rather embarassing. She probed her memory to try and remember what had happened. Emra had been trying to teach her magic, she knew, and it didn't work. A wave of grief swept over her again and the tears threatened to fall. Control yourself, she thought firmly. Then what had happened? She had fallen into a dark dream...
'How did you know I had fainted?' she asked suddenly. It had occurred to her that Emra would not want anyone to be present, for fear someone found out about the failed attempt to teach magic.
Dev hesitated, not particularly wanting to share his side of the story. Not being able to think of anything other than a lie, he reluctantly said, 'I heard you calling.'
'Calling?'
'Yes,' he muttered, not noticing the way her face had turned pale. His own cheeks were red with embarassment at what sounded ridiculous even to his own ears. 'I heard your voice. You were calling for someone to help you. It was so far away I thought that it came from that room you were in with the Queen.' His previous fears returned to him. 'What did happen before then, Princess?'
Althea shook her head slowly, not knowing what exactly had happened. She had not called and yet he had heard her. In fact, she had only called... But Dev misunderstood her shaking head and thought she did not wish to discuss matters with him. The angry disappointment showed on his face.
'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to,' he snapped. 'It's alright. It's not like you ever do tell anyone anything anyway.'
Althea shook her head again. 'That's not it, Dev,' she said. He turned to face her. 'I didn't call out. That's why it seems so strange to me that you should have heard my voice when I never shouted out.'
'I - I must have imagined it, then,' Dev began, looking askance.
'Except I
did call out - in my head.' Or wherever it was, she thought. 'I was in somewhere dark. It was cold - so cold. I couldn't see or feel or speak or hear anything. I couldn't even remember who I was. Only that doesn't make sense, because I also knew I was suffocating to death. I just couldn't feel anything real - like everything real had been taken away from me. I thought I was going to die. Of course, it's all silly.' She laughed shakily, as though trying to convince both herself and Dev. 'It was just a dream. I'm sorry to have bothered you with that.'
Dev looked at her. 'I don't believe it was at all silly,' he said firmly. 'You weren't just having a dream. You were too cold to be having one.' He shrugged his shoulders defiantly, unable to express himself further but refusing to change his stance on the matter.
The two of them sat in silence for a while, both pursuing their own thoughts. Dev was wondering how to wake her up if ever it should happen again, and whether it
would happen again. Althea was drifting from thought to thought, unable to think clearly or remember any more about her 'nightmare', but sure about one thing:
'We must go to that council meeting as soon as we can,' she said. Writing materials were sent for and she scribbled a hasty note to Emra, apologising for the fainting fit she had had -
I must have been more tired than I realised, she wrote - and begging to make haste for the upcoming council meeting. She sealed the message and sent it along with a pageboy.
Until they left, she would be searching out the libraries for anything that might help Zircon. She sent Dev off to do just that and help her get a head start while she rested a while longer.
---
The Lady's old tutor was trying to maintain control in vain. It was really an impossible task. A general hubbub was filling the entire network of underground caverns. Worried whispers were snaking their way along the passageways from cave to cave, spreading fear and panic. The general consensus was clear -
Everyone had been going about their business when they thought they had heard someone in need of help. Everyone had turned to look around at the same time, searching for this needy person. They had seen each other looking around and had asked, Did you hear that? Did you? Did you? Why, yes I did. As clear as crystal, I did. Someone needs help! Where did it come from? Who was it? A girl, I think. Can't have been very old.
And then the frightened possibility, Wasn't that the Lady's voice?
It can't have been! It sounded like it, but the Lady's up there now. That's what the divers said. Yes, but have you found anyone in need of help? No, no one's found whoever called out yet, but ... I'm telling you, that was the Lady! It sounded exactly like her! It was her! Yes, it was the Lady. Oh, what's happening to the Lady? What happened? How could we all hear it? We all heard her voice and we heard what she said. What did she say?
'Someone save me. Someone. Anyone.'
[Much needed demon post to come. >.>
FM, would you mind organising the trip to Returana? I'll do my utmost to catch up the next time I'm on.]