Similia Similibus Curantur

[Asema Uttamveer]

The sound of black hooves clicking against the rock streets along the castle boundaries ticked the way the arms of a clock would; hypnotizing and steady they sounded a steady pace in which the black horse trot. Black boots kicked the sides of the giant beast, making the animal quicken, allowing passage into the castle walls, into the town that buzzed with high noon life.

The blue umbrella sky smiled down upon everyone warmly. It was a warm day.

The man aboard the horse breathed deep through his nose, inhaling the scents of town; manure and fruit and sweat and hay. People instinctively moved to the side, allowing him passage without so much as a side-glance to inspect his shaggy locks of black hair and the golden eyes that looked upon the castle with an identical name. An unidentifiable smile creased his thin lips. His eyes were eagerly set on the towers of GoldenMyst, wondering of their contents, or if the woman he searched for lay inside.

He kicked the horse again, bringing the animal to a steady, quick trot. With haste, he moved past the dusty town full of dirty people. With the incline came green grass, lush and beautiful, and trees and flowers identifying the higher class of the castle. The horse automatically slowed as his thick-fingered hands tugged on the dark reins lightly. They were approaching the gates of the building, and he looked up at the towering walls oddly…longingly.

A man moved toward them. The horse slowed steadily to a stop. Looking down at the dull-faced guard, the man smiled a bit and bowed his head slightly.

“Good day. I come in search of a woman I heard receded beyond these walls.”

The guard, looking over the horse and man, lifted his eyebrows, obviously skeptical. “Who is it you search for?”

“Her name is Asema Uttamveer. She’s a fiery haired woman of about twenty.”

Again, the guard scrutinized the other on horseback. After a moment of thought he nodded. “Very well.” The large doors swooped open, exposing the interior to the castle. “Magic is not permitted inside the castle.”

Nodding as he rode by, he bowed his head one last time and entered.

[r a i n e]

Up in the Northeast Tower, the day was just beginning. Asema was still sleeping peacefully in a guest room, Cherise was nowhere to be found, and Raine was milling about, preparing things for her kids.

Lai, once again, had disappeared with her father. The other children were just beginning to wake, shedding their covers and stretching.

Raine had been up for a considerable while. Sleep never came easy to her anymore. The Duchess had already dressed in another of her gothic, lacey gowns; already pinned up her hair; already cleaned like some kind of machine; and already gone downstairs to fetch a cup of tea.

Now she stood with her hip leaning against the back of one of the couches, sipping idly from her decorative teacup, watching through the doorway as her beloved children began to wake.

[Asema Uttamveer]

The man had dismounted his hefty steed once entering the gates of the enormous castle. The bubble of life did not halt from outside. Voices and noise could be heard from all about this place, and with one glance of it, he knew…the woman he sought was inside. His eyes shut and he took a long breath, feeling the flaming aura of her and how she still slept and dreamt of nothing.

“Sir?”

Bright yellow eyes turned to the side, catching eye of another guard that stood erect and cautious. The man smiled, tired of this constant badgering, and taking hold of the reins held them out.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” he asked, scanning the guard over, who, without a sign of dissatisfaction in his face, took the reins of the horse and nodded. The man, once again, bowed his head with respect, but had more in mind than just having his horse led away. “I am in search of a woman. Perhaps you know her name. Asema Uttamveer?”

The guard, after a moments pause, nodded. “Aye, she rests in the Northeast Tower with the Duchess Raine.” An arm extended, pointing to the way to the tower. The man let his eyes follow in that direction, and nodding, thanked the guard. He went on his way, then, folding his arms behind his back and taking in the view of the castle. This place was one he had never been to before, and had only heard of. Curious, he thought, that his dear sister would end up here. It was so out of her taste…

[r a i n e]

Hazen was the first to emerge from the room, rubbing his eyes as he made his way into the living room and over to his mother. Raine leaned over the couch to set her tea down on the end table and opened her arms to her son. The poor six-year-old boy was still trapped in a body nearly twice his age.

Avalon followed shortly thereafter, the midnight haired little doll scurrying to join her two favorite people as she hugged her mothers' leg.

"Good morning, my babies." Raine smiled, letting go of Hazen for only a moment to lift Avalon onto her right hip.

Little Archelo had already woken up with the dawn, occupied much of Raine's morning, and now lay for a nap.

[Asema Uttamveer]

There was no rush, as he saw it, walking around with his hands comfortably laced behind his back. It was a refreshing place, the kingdom, especially the area in which he wandered now. Birds fluttered around, happily, it seemed, and he admired something in it.

The gold eyes of his flickered away from the sky, glancing over the people who passed him by, oddly staring at the newcomer, but saying nothing as a greeting or a question to why he was there. Instead, they passed, never bumping shoulders or coming within two or three feet of him. He was dark, as they saw it, with dark hair and dark clothing, quite the contrary to the illuminated castle, and his general sense of power.

After wandering around a bit, gathering a sense of the castle, his eyes locked on the tower he was directed to at the beginning. Inwardly, he nodded, then smiled, and continued on the intended path.

[r a i n e]

Hazen, noticing that someone was missing, pulled away from his mother and little sister and wandered to Asema's bedroom to wake his sleeping nanny.

"Sema?" He knocked on the door, poking his head in since it was slightly ajar.

Raine, meanwhile, bounced her quiet daughter on her hip, dancing around the couch to sit on it instead of lean.

[Asema Uttamveer]

The woman stirred, the voice a calming consolation that would wake her from such a imageless slumber. She groaned, her hand flopping instantaneously on her forehead and she moved, slightly, from her side to her back. A drool splotch went cold on her cheek as she rolled, and groaning again, she wiped her hand across it, not yet awake enough to be disgusted by it.

Eventually, she came around. Those beautiful amber eyes rolled open, glazed by a layer of fog that soon she rubbed and blinked away. Soon, once the white fog was gone, she took a moment and examined the cause of her immediate wake, only to smile.

“Hello, Hazen.”

Sluggishly, she propped herself up on her elbows, leaning against the headboard and extending her arms to him. “Come see me.”