“So that Whitestone guy is your type?” Fialla chided Sheilah in the Redstone tongue as they walked back to their apartments alongside Andrea.

“What are you talking about?” Sheilah shot back, “He’s tall and strong. I saw him and I was like, “He could survive the Redstone.” and then it was like pow! in my head. I had to have him.”

Fialla adopted a thoughtful expression. “I hadn’t thought of that. I’m sorry I teased you.”

“I hope you’re not planning to embarrass yourself and the royal family again.” Andrea spoke up drily.

Sheilah shot her a startled look, but Andrea only gave her a small smile. “I don’t know what you’re saying, but I did hear you say ‘Whitestone’.” She explained. “He’s a married man, and his loyalty to his wife is matched only to his loyalty to Stormheim. You’ll never snatch him away.”

Sheilah gave Andrea a sour look. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Good to know.” Andrea replied comfortably. “What do you think of Sten?” She asked.

Sheilah shook her head. “He isn’t bad to look at, but that’s all there is. He drinks to excess, he likes the sound of his own voice, and his hands are too soft.” Sheilah replied. “Besides, he has a woman.”

Andrea raised an eyebrow. “Sten is unmarried, you know.”

“I don’t know what it’s like here in Stormheim, but in the Redstone, that sort of thing is reserved for ...” She paused, “Those who are wed, or plan to be wed.”

Andrea chuckled. “He does like his indulgences, but he’s not promised to anyone.” she explained, “and it does fly in the face of Stormheim tradition for him to behave in that fashion. Some women like that, however. Defying tradition.”

Sheilah shook her head. “Then his value drops further.” she replied as if it should be self-evident.

Fialla nodded at that. “Tradition is important. How can you know how to go forward, if you don’t know the stories of those that came before?” She asked.

Sheilah nodded. “My ancestors-” She started, but cut herself off. “In any case, Sten is out.”

Andrea nodded at that, but said nothing. She didn’t fully know what Magdalene had planned for Sheilah, but it was likely that the queen planned for Sheilah to marry Sten in the future. Well, assuming Sten didn’t do something catastrophically stupid within the next two years.

As they approached Sheilah’s apartments, Sheilah suddenly fell silent.

“Something feels off.” Sheilah announced. Fialla nodded, and drew her knife.

“What?” Andrea asked, reaching for her own knife, strapped to her thigh and accessible through a cunning slit in her dress.

“I don’t know. Something.” Sheilah replied, slowing down and adjusting her feet.

“Should I call the guards, or is this something you think you can handle yourself?” Andrea asked, half-joking.

“It’s just a feeling. I need to think, so not yet.” Sheilah replied in a distracted tone. She could see the doors to her apartments and the two guards stationed there. She moved slowly, placing her feet carefully.

Fialla nodded after they drew closer. “I feel it too, now.” she agreed, and then pointed with her knife. “The guards are asleep.”

Sheilah nodded, but Andrea frowned. They were standing upright, how could they be asleep?

“Magic.” She whispered, and drew her own blade, a puny thing in the face of magic, but it was better than nothing.

Sheilah stepped into her apartments, and stood in the entryway.

“Whoever was here...” She began, shook her head. “They’re gone, now.” Sheilah and Fialla stalked from room to room, occasionally touching a bookcase, running a hand along the back of a couch, shifting a chair, slowly working their way through each room, until they reached Sheilah’s bedroom.

Andrea watched as Sheilah and Fialla did this, a puzzled look on her face, but alert, trying to look in every direction at once.

After they investigated each room, they returned to the central hall.

“Whoever did this is already gone.” Sheilah complained to Fialla, who nodded.

“Did what, Milady?” Andrea asked.

Sheilah held out her hands, revealing a number of tiny black crystals, each no bigger than a pea.

“I don’t know what these are, but they weren’t here when we left these apartments. Someone came while we were away and did this.” Sheilah complained. Fialla dropped three more into Sheilah’s hands.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“You didn’t go into the servants areas.” Fialla added.

“Why would I go there?” Sheilah asked, confused.

“These could be magical.” Andrea replied. “I’d like to wake the guards- and call more. Maybe we should summon a mage to handle these... things.”

“Are the weapons all right?” Fialla asked. Sheilah nodded. “They weren’t touched.”

Fialla let out an obvious breath of relief.

Sheilah plucked one from her hand and peered into its glittering depths. It tingled on her fingertips. As she did so, the dragon within surged up, hot and defiant. She glared at it with eyes of flame. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her body trembled.

“I see you.” She whispered to it, and the tingling immediately ceased. Suddenly the feeling of the Dragon vanished, was gone, as if it had evaporated. With it came a staggering sense of absence, of loss, and Sheilah tottered on her feet. She transferred the tiny crystals to one hand, pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve, and then poured the tiny crystals into the center of it. She balled it up and handed it to Andrea, “You take care of it.”

Andrea nodded.

“Before you do...” Sheilah mumbled, suddenly feeling weak, “Can you help me to bed?” She asked. “I feel faint.”

Darkness swallowed her.

Sheilah stood on some cliff she couldn’t see, some elevated position above the Terrace of the Dragon, even above the Cliffs of the Thunderbird. All the lands of the Redstone Valley, every bit of the canyons and valleys and spires and buttes and mesas stretched out before her, as far as she could see.

It was nighttime, and the warm firelight glows of the tents lit up the Terrace. She could hear a great rush of whispers- children’s boasts, promises of love between lovers, complaints of aching bones, the stories of the ancestors reaching all the way up to wherever it was that she found herself. Whispers of the Redstone, of life itself, they blended into each other and rose as a silvery, vaporous fog that glowed warmly like a blanket over the Clans.

“Sheilah, dearest sister, wherever it is that you are, I hope the ancestors are watching over you.”

Who was that voice? Was it Kellia? Or Sellia? They sounded so alike.

“I hope they’re watching over you, too.” She whispered back.

It was a good dream.

She opened her eyes, and discovered she was laying in her bed, Fialla next to her. She felt weak and tired and immeasurably hungry.

“Milady, it’s time to wake.” Andrea called from beyond the door, and opened the door to the bedroom.

“I’m so hungry.” Sheilah mumbled.

“Well, the sooner you dress, the sooner you eat.” Andrea replied drily.

“I could sleep for a little longer.” Fialla mumbled.

“Time for breakfast.” Sheilah replied, and pushed back the covers and eased herself out of bed. Fialla crawled out for bed, and followed after the taller girl as they moved into the dressing room.

Andrea followed them into the dressing room, but was surprised when they immediately shucked their nightclothes and went into the bathroom.

“Milady, if you’re going to take a bath-” Andrea began as she came into the room. She was brought up short as Fialla pulled on a lever that sent water cascading down into the bathtub, one of the more recent inventions that had been installed. It was a complicated device, where water was collected in cisterns below the castle, boiled and filtered, and then pumped up to smaller cisterns on every level where bathing facilities were used.

The half-elf had somehow already gotten the furnace beneath the tub burning.

Sheilah and Fialla looked up at Andrea. “Would you care to join us?” Sheilah asked curiously.

Andrea gave Sheilah a disappointed look. “I’d thought I’d explained the hierarchy here-” She began, but Sheilah interrupted her by holding up her hand.

“You’re my steward, yes.” Sheilah agreed. “But Magdalene also explained that you’re the daughter of a viscount. I think that entitles you to ... the dignity of being clean every morning?” She ended on a question mark.

Andrea sighed. “I bathed last night.” She replied.

Sheilah shook her head. “Strip down and wash up.” She decided. Fialla nodded.

Andrea sighed, and complied with her mistress’ order.

Sheilah and FIalla were surprised at the weight of Andrea’s dress- at the sound it made when it hit the floor. More, they were surprised by the concealed weapons she had strapped to her body. There were a couple of throwing knives as well as the long knife that was tied to her thigh.

Sheilah and Fialla wiped each other down with the warm water from the bath, and Andrea was given her own cloth with which to wipe herself down.

“It’s not quite a bath, but it’s enough to get the night sweats off so that you can face the day clean.” Fialla explained.

“You do this every morning?” Andrea asked as she wiped herself dry with a towel.

Sheilah and Fialla nodded. “You’re welcome to join us.” Sheilah suggested.

“I might. Thank you, Milady.” Andrea replied. “Today, you should wear a casual dress, since you’ll be practicing penmanship until the lunch hour.”

“And after lunch?” Fialla asked.

Andrea sighed. “Fencing.” She replied. “His Majesty the King has allowed it, since the elves have left.”

“Their boat should have been set ablaze.” Fialla complained.

Andrea nodded. “There’s nobody in Stormheim that wants them here.”

Sheilah watched Andrea secure her weapons, and then dress.

“You weren’t taught ‘fencing’, were you?” Sheilah asked curiously.

“No, I wasn’t.” Andrea replied. “I was taught something different.”

Sheilah nodded, and didn’t pursue the subject.

At breakfast, Sheilah contemplated fencing classes. Sheilah liked the sound of that; she’d wanted to learn in order to be worthy of the blade Davian had crafted for her.

“But first, food.” Sheilah declared before selecting her food and eating.

“Don’t forget your studies. I haven’t yet seen anything from you that reflects even moderately good penmanship.” Andrea replied.

Sheilah grimaced.

“Also, those were delivered to the Mage Tower last night.” Andrea reported.

“Any idea what they are?” Sheilah asked curiously.

Andrea shook her head. “The examination will likely take some time.”