Gerald stepped away from Astrid once again as a shadow fell on them both. Astrid looked up into azure eyes, glinting with the green, red, and blue light from her staff. Astrid tried to speak up, but was quickly hushed by the woman.
“My name is Magdala” she spoke softly, her eyes transfixed on Astrid's own, searching them for something.
“Astrid.”
Magdala gave off an air of immense age and experience. Her eyes were stern, but filled with compassion and concern. Astrid felt as though she was being cared for by her own grandmother, like that one time when she crashed her bike while visiting…
Astrid realized that a memory from her life had come back, if only for a moment. She tried to remember her grandmother's face, but the harder she tried the more she just made things blurry.
“You poor thing,” Magdala whispered.
She became silent again as she let go of her staff. Despite the staff being angled, it did not fall. Her hands grasped Astrid's head, roughly turning it from side to side and checking for unseen wounds. She pushed her thumbs down on Astrid's cheek to open her eyes, then looked into her nose and both ears.
Magdala's hands then gently wrapped around Astrid's wounded leg and took off her shoe before snapping her finger at Gerald repeatedly, gesturing to him to give her something.
Gerald did not know what she wanted, and at first began filling his hands with the green light of his healing magic. Magdala sighed, waved her hand at him, then gestured for him to come closer.
Gerald was hesitant to come closer to Magdala, though he did as he was silently ordered.
Magdala waved for him to come even closer. He took two more steps forward.
When Magdala hurriedly gestured a final time, Gerald had no more space to step forward, and so he leaned in towards the crouched woman.
Magdala tore a length of cloth from Gerald's sleeve, wrapping it around Astrid's ankle.
Magdala's staff of many colors settled into a dark shade of green as she picked it back up again in her right hand.
Astrid was afraid of what Gerald had told her about magic ‘being used wrong’. She also wasn't sure if maybe that was a lie to keep her from healing fully and running away again, but she felt that she needed to point this out. “Gerald told me that muscles need to heal on their own.”
Magdala paused what she was doing and looked up from Astrid's ankle. “That is true, muscles do need to heal on their own. But”, she continued, "there is more I can do that he cannot.”
Magdala's staff lit up once again into a forest green light. Astrid’s pain was dulled, and the cloth wrapped around her ankle hardened, tightened, and restricted the movement of her ankle. When Magdala put Astrid's shoe back on, Astrid noticed that Magdala knew exactly how to tie her shoelaces.
“What's happening to you is not fair, and I am sorry for that,” Magdala told her. Astrid had a lot of questions, but chose to let the silence hang. Magdala continued after a few moments, “when I heard that someone anticipated to bond with nature magic was going to be coming through the veil, I celebrated for weeks. I took great joy in preparing your room, scheduling your training, and clearing a path through the labyrinth for your handlers to follow.”
Magdala's eyes filled with tears.
“I have a lot of questions” Astrid quietly spoke, feeling as though Magdala's grief had become a part of her own experience.
“As do I, young human. I believe we will know one another's thoughts better if you answer one of mine first. What magic have you bonded with?” Magdala's countenance became… unreadable.
“I…” Astrid tried to tell her. She tried to tell her she was an administrator, but the words wouldn't come. “I… can't tell you? Like, I physically can't tell you… apparently.”
Magdala took a deep breath in, and then slowly released it.
“Whatever it is, it is obvious that you are a shadow of who you were supposed to be.” Magdala forced a smile, though her eyes were filled with pitty. “You are damaged goods.”
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Astrid was offended by the implications of Magdala's words, though she gathered that there must have been some sort of prophecy of her attaining immense power. Rather than show her offense, Astrid tried to probe further.
“What was I supposed…- what did you mean by a magic bond?”
“You will see soon enough. Four of you came through the portal, the other three should wake up within a day or two, at which time the royal court will gather for a ceremony. You may attend the ceremony, though not as a participant.”
The hallway became silent for a time as Magdala seemed to be trying to decide something. Her brows furrowed, and she was debating the choice before her.
Astrid did not interrupt her thinking.
“You cannot go to the suite prepared for you. It would be best if it was only a rumor that four came through the veil this time. The official story will be that three came through, and you will simply be a servant girl who just arrived at the castle.” Magdala turned towards Gerald, seeming to ignore Grant entirely. “Take her to my tower, find an empty servant's quarters.” She turned back to Astrid “I will not abandon you. We will worry about your future after the ceremony, but I can offer you shelter and security.”
Astrid tried to ask Magdala more questions, but Magdala ignored her as she moved back from where she came. Astrid even got away from Gerald and Grant to try and follow Magdala, but turned a corner and found it to be a dead end.
“Better than being bound for the dungeon, we can tell you that much” Gerald tried to soothe her.
“You can say that again, Gerald. I'm amazed the court wizard left three ‘ole loose ends, ‘specially considering ‘er reputation.”
Astrid didn't respond, though she did try to pry more information from Gerald and Grant. They avoided some of her questions, particularly about Magdala, though she was able to get a better grasp of the political situation in the castle.
She learned that this castle was known as Estuary Castle, named after the royal family that had built it. Estuary castle was built around the veil between worlds, on an island a little over 200,000 square kilometers also named after the founders and current rulers of this castle. One thing about Magdala that she did learn was that Magdala's name is actually Estuary Magdala, with family names being listed first in this country.
While Gerald and Grant remained cagey about Magdala's power, authority, and personality, they did comfort Astrid over and over again that Magdala did treat her servants quite well, and she could expect to be cared for.
The problem is, Astrid had no intention of being a servant. She was annoyed at being looked down upon, and the words ‘damaged goods’ made her silently seethe as she imagined yelling at Magdala.
As they continued walking, the halls slowly started to make more sense. Fewer hallways ended nowhere and fewer turns seemed to wind impossibly around on themselves. The torches were lit, and they began intermittently passing servants and soldiers who glanced over, some of whom asked a question or two before carrying on with their own tasks.
Astrid's heart pounded in her chest. She felt as though she was becoming more and more stuck in this place. She was surrounded.
A reptilian woman took charge of Astrid at the bottom of a metal winding staircase at the base of what she assumed was the tower. She sent Gerald and Grant away. The reptilian woman spoke gentle words of empty platitudes, trying to make Astrid feel better. It didn’t work.
The stairs were cramped and loud, with every step reverberating through the staircase and into Astrid's body through her feet. It felt unsteady and unsafe. The spots of rust on the staircase did not inspire feelings of safety. The reverberations made her ankle ache, though she was thankful for the cloth splint that Magdala had put on earlier.
Halfway up the winding stairs they came to a door. The door was directly next to the staircase, with no landing. A slight gap of a few inches separated the door and the stairs. It was not enough to be a fall risk, though one would have to be careful not to drop anything through the gap.
Astrid said goodbye to the reptilian woman, whose name was impossible for Astrid to pronounce, full of hisses and complex vowels.
“Just call me Sass,” the reptile finally said, patting Astrid on the shoulder with her green-scaled tail.
She had explained a bit about Astrid's room, which still needed a few necessities, none of which were considered an emergency at this hour of the night. Astrid would need to go without blankets or a pillow for one night, laying on the rickety straw mattress stabbing her skin.
Astrid sobbed herself to sleep, feeling trapped and alone.
She woke up towards the end of the night, the light from the moon shining directly through the arrow slit that served as her window as well as her ventilation.
Her room was about the same size as what she vaguely recalled a hospital room would look like. She had a small bed, a sorry excuse for a window, and a door to her privy. She got up to use the toilet, but before she put her hand on the door she realized she recognized this door. It was the dusty green door from the labyrinth.
She tried to open it again, but got the same error message as the last time.
*Great, so not only do I not have access to a room quite literally called a suite, it is actively blocking me from using the toilet.*
Astrid did not need to use the toilet badly enough to go downstairs to find one, so she went back to bed, determined to look in the morning.
She laid back down, her back to the door and the door to her room in the corner of her eyes.
She heard the creak of an opening door, which jolted her awake. Her room door was still closed.
Footsteps approached her from behind.