The Northeast Tower

[r a i n e]

Raine was frantic - and livid - in her tower. Lividly frantic. Frantically livid. Oh, whatever she was she was a nervous wreck and tearing about her tower trying to figure out what to do.

Her sister had been evacuated and she was the last to know, despite her status and despite her relation! The Duchess was scared out of her mind of losing her sister in this crisis she had only just become aware of.

She felt so foolish. Regal Raine the Duchess of GoldenMyst, prancing around the castle pregnant without a care in the world while her sister is evacuating, as are children left and right; all while her children remain unprotected in the tower. It was embarrassing.

Now the fae was faced with the question of what the hell does she do now?! Ryu had been absent from the tower for days upon days upon days upon weeks and there was nothing she could do about that. He did not know about her pregnancy, so it could not have been attributed to that.

Avalon and Hazen were sound asleep in their room, the playroom still cluttered with toys. She thanked God that in her absence of knowledge and their absence of protection that they had remained unharmed! Ryu had taken Lai for training without asking her again...

A paper was slid under the door. Raine darted over to it and tore open the seal upon the parchment - an official notice from her brother. Her eyes went wider and wider as she went on and when she finished, she tossed the parchment over her shoulder and dashed into the childrens room.

Quickly, though, she stopped herself from doing anything eratic. Her babies were asleep, that was good...But what if they were dreaming? That would be bad. Getting an idea, she gently took both of them in arm - quite the feat for a pregnant woman, holding a four-year-old and a six-year-old. Anyhow, she maneuvered toward the door and miraculously managed to get it open.

Now the task was to get these two all the way downstairs to the Healers Hall.

[Anto]

::Raine's six year-old would be muttering the same thing over and over again, as for some reason the child did not wake up just yet. In a few moments the child would, though she heard the ending of an odd song..never sleep again...never sleep again...::

[Nym Zeal]

Poor Raine. If the rider hadn't been in tears last time she'd spent any real time with her friend, she wouldn't have let Raine have her children still there in the castle. She really wouldn't have, but it seemed that as soon as one thing calmed then another thing came up. Even when things calmed a little, the rider hadn't taken well to leaving her one week old infant. Not even when it was someone she trusted as much as she did King Pattrick and Queen Rachel.

Thanks to her husband, Nym had been carried from Harwind back to Goldenmyst. That familiar presense had drawn the mountain lions towards the castle again and Cyra sat in the hall, yellow eyes watching Raine suspiciously.

Okay, Cyra didn't like adults. In fact, she distrusted all of them with only one exception and that exception was not available to her at the moment. But the most petite of the siblings, the only female, had a mothering sense when it came to anything young. She loved children, frequently helping Nym watch Mal and now Xia. It had been Cyra lately that led the children all to the gardens before battles. It was Cyra that helped the little ones when they needed assistance going down the stairs, since Nym issued a 'no stairs' rule to Xiria and Sammy, and it was her that helped Xiria smuggle herself from the Ivory Rose and back to Goldenmyst.

Conniving children, really, and Cyra only seemed to encourage them! Now Cyra's eyes looked to those children, keeping her distance from Raine but darting in closer to her each time one of the young ones seemed to slip a little in Raine's arms. Her cool nose pressed them back up, just a little, making sure they were back in place before she quickly got back out of Raine's reach with a smooth motion and a warned growl. She sounded unpleasant, but the sounds were more because she was scared of Raine than any actual threat from gentle Cyra.

[r a i n e]

Raine was on the verge of tears with all this craziness happening, and now there was a giant mountain lion attempting to eat her babies! ...Ok, so it wasn't trying to eat them, it was helping her with them, but she squealed in fright everytime she was growled at. So much for her First Dragoon warrior side.

She was eying the creature just as suspiciously as the creature was eying her, but eventually the oddball team managed to get Avalon and Hazen down the stairs.

The fae settled her Avalon in one bed and kissed her forehead, then as she went to place Hazen in another, she heard his strange song.

"Never sleep, never sleep."

Those storming blue hues widened in absolute terror. "No!" She cried out in fear for her only son, then clamped her free hand over her mouth, remembering that there were many using these halls for sleep.

Healers rushed to the Duchess, one taking Hazen from her grasp, another fetching her water, and yet another scrambling to get her in a chair. "Are you ill, m'lady? Is there anything we can do, m'lady? What is wrong, m'lady?"

"Wake him! Wake him now!" She was trying to get out of that chair, but the attendants were scared of and for her at the moment. "Do not look at me like that! Wake up my Hazen, he is dreaming!"

Once Hazen had been shaken awake, Raine settled in that seat, holding her head in her hands. Good Lord, what was she to do?

[Queen Solace Rayana Klojhen]

Over in Ivory Rose...

It had been almost a week now, and even though Solie had gone back to GoldenMyst to check on things, it didn't settle her any.

Being on the isle was pleasant for the most part. But it was hard. It wasn't home. It wasn't her bed. It wasn't her castle. And it certainly didn't have her husband. If anything was going to push her toward insanity, it would be that.

Though when she visited home for that short time, the few moments she had with Nicho didn't turn out to be good ones. Oh it started off good, but fell apart from there. Him turning coldly from her and walking away was heartbreaking. The last thing she saw of him, was his back.

Since she's gone back to Ivory Rose, she's been spending every waking hour with Xia. Taking her to the beach, feeding her, playing with her, taking her for walks. She felt so close to the child for some reason. And she had promised Nym that she would care for Xia while she was there. And that is just what she did. Poor Rachel, or anyone else for that matter, hardly gets a chance to see the baby girl, Solace carting her around everywhere with her.

During Xia's nap times, she takes herself down the quiet beaches, sitting in the sand, staring out over the water in the direction of GoldenMyst. The not knowing, the worry, the sadness of not being there, was the hardest thing she's had to cope with yet, being Queen. Not having any idea when she could go home was tearing her up. She missed Nicho. But did he miss her? Or was he relieved that she was out of his hair for the time being. Not there to nag or second guess him. All these crazy thoughts running through her head at times like this when she was alone.

Pushing herself up out of the sand as the sun begins to lower in the west, she walks down the beach a ways, keeping her senses open to Xia for when she wakes, as she tries to push aside her paranoia and silly thoughts of Nicho not wanting her there. Remembering the night she questioned their marriage and him telling her how much he loved her, wanted her and needed her, so she tried to focus on that.

Halfway down the beach, she could hear Xia in her mind. She was waking and the darling girl was hungry. Turning around, she picks up her skirts and runs through the sands back up toward the castle. She wanted to get to Xia before any of the nannies did. That was "her" niece, and by God, she was going to be the one to take care of that child for her best friend, not some strange nanny.

[Nym Zeal]

Dark green eyes slowly lifted from her sleep, the rider shaking off the lingering effects of the sleeping powder. Sleeping powder! Her head turned from side to side, eyes narrowing a little as she sought that mage husband of hers who had forced her to sleep. He didn't seem to be in her immediate reach, however, and so she simply sat up in bed and fummed for what she felt was a reasonable amount of time. Fuming really shouldn't take up too much of your time when you first wake up. Part of a woman's power lay in the fact that she can bury wrongs in her mind and then dredge them right back up when the man messed up again. He would think it was past, the way completely clear and then BAM! Remember when...

Regardless, her eyes brightened a little and she reached under one of the pillows for that ornate little hand mirror of her. It was always in reach when she could manage it, having remembered hiding it under one of the pillows for safe keeping. Looking into the glass, she did not see her own reflection. No, instead she watched Solace and Xia, her heart taking hope and strength simply seeing that her baby was being coddled and carried by her godmother. "Thank you.." she whispered to the image, her fingers lightly hovering over the image. She didn't want to smudge the glass, however, standing and moving her bare feet against the cool stone of the tower floors. The hand mirror was placed back on her vanity as she took a seat in the chair in front of it. Slowly, singing softly to herself, she went to combing her strawberry curls and preparing to greet the new day with a renewed sense of hope. The necklace about her neck tingled, keeping her ensured that her children were safe. That with the image still showing in that hand mirror were enough.

Cyra, meanwhile, had settled in the door of the healer's hall and watched from a distance as the healers scurried about frantically. One of the healer's, having withstood Nym's own outbursts in the healer's hall a few days earlier, moved quickly to kneel at the duchess's feet. Hands that were soft to the touch reached to take Raine's hands from covering her face. The young healer pulled Raine's hands down, keeping them held in her slender hands as gently as Nym had held that hand mirror.

She was new to healing, hesistant at times but with a true healer's spirit to her. Brown hair and eyes with a few freckles across her nose, she was as ordinary a face as anyone would find in the castle. "'Tis well, Duchess Raine. Thy young one has awaken. Ye are in the healer's hall, safest of all places in this fair castle as it lies under the king's own magics. Fear not, your grace, the king thy brother will not lead us astray." She was earnest in her speech, her words frank and steadfast. She had grown up in Mysthaven, assisting in the castle during this time of strife. Always, the goodness of Goldenmyst had prevailed and allowed her a fruitful life. Her king kept her simple home free from attack, he'd kept the rains from ruining the harvest and the grell from taking all their minds. She was healthy and allowed to seek out her path in life. No price was too much to pay if it kept the place she'd grown up just as it was. Her friends and cousins went to war against the fearsome armies, and now it was her time to go to a different war. One to keep those who protected them from falling into despair.

[r a i n e]

The disgruntled Duchess stared into the eyes of of this young healer, not much younger than herself. For a long time those storming blue hues stared deeply into those of the youth at her feet. "You are right. ...You are right. My children are safe here, safe with you and the other healers..."

She looked over the girl's head at Avalon, sleeping soundly like an angel, then at Hazen just drifting back to a well deserved sleep.

"You are right." She said it again; the more she repeated it, the more determined she felt. Slowly she rose to her feet, bringing this healer up with her. "We need more of you. Honestly. Thank you."

Then, despite herself, she hugged her. After that, Raine kissed either of her children's foreheads and exited the hall, headed back up to her tower to contemplate what to do with herself, now.