╚╩╩╩╝ Jaime ╚╩╩╩╝

I laid in my bed in my room, staring at the ceiling. Noon had long since passed, but I had to stay here. A few days ago, I’d felt suddenly ill as a terrible chill filled my body. Nothing had alleviated the cold; not even being buried under a mound of blankets as I am right now. I’d never felt sick before, so I didn’t know what it was supposed to feel like, but I definitely didn’t like it. I didn’t feel nauseous or have a stomachache, the only thing wrong was the biting cold that had taken over my entire body.

Breathing deeply, I managed to stop shivering and relax for a moment. I wanted to go out in the gardens, to play with Veria and Ham. Gritting my teeth, I sat up and looked out the window. The horizon was a mix of orange and purple.

With some effort, I climbed out of bed and wrapped myself in one of the fuzzier blankets. Softly, I padded down the halls. Licilia had given me some warm drink before that had helped me sleep and I wanted to ask if she could make more.

A maid told me that Licilia and Pert were in the study, so I turned and started towards the room. I reached out to knock, but stopped when I heard a voice from the other side. The voice was Damian’s.

“-ing about the room in the reports. There were also signs of people being held there, though they have been heavily cleaned.” Damian was speaking.

The next one to speak was Pert. “Could you find any traces of where they were taken?”

“No, whoever is doing all of this has gone to great lengths to hide their tracks.”

“What about the building? Who owned the building?”

I then heard Astrid speak. “According to city records, nobody. The building has been abandoned for more than a decade.”

“And this building just happened to be around the same area where Ham and Lady Renae were attacked?“ Pert pondered. “Keep investigating this, but make sure to remain anonymous. Nobody can know that we are investigating this, or everything will disappear.”

“Understood.” Damian and Astrid both replied.

“Before that.” I heard Licilia speak up. “I am getting worried about Jaime. Her condition seems to be getting worse, and I can’t figure out why.” She groaned. “I’m supposed to be able to cure things like this, but she’s stuck in her room all day. I want her to go out sometime soon. You two got her a Freelancer’s badge, right? Maybe you can take her on one of the junior missions.”

“Are you sure? What if she gets worse?” Pert worried.

“If anything happens, the two of them will bring her back immediately.” Licilia answered. “When I was little, some time in the sun helped me fight a cold or two.”

Sighing, Pert spoke. “Are you two up for this?”

“Absolutely!” Astrid responded. “It’ll give me time to check up on her education. Though I heard that her tutors have been surprised with her.”

“She’s a prodigy, but she often gets distracted.” Licilia spoke with pride in her voice. It was true that my mind often wandered during lessons, but hearing her say it made me frown slightly. “But that’s common with children.”

“So we’ll take her out first thing in the morning?” Astrid asked.

“Yes, and if anything happens-”

“We’ll bring her back as soon as possible.” Damian finished Licilia’s sentence.

“If that’s it for your report, then we’ll meet again in a week.” Pert stated.

Hearing everyone standing up, I panicked and stumbled back from the door.

“I’ll bring Jaime some tea, then we’ll finish up our business.” Licilia stated, her voice growing nearer.

Panicked, I turned and rushed away as quietly as possible and dove under my covers as soon as I came into my room. Shortly after, Licilia came into the room carrying a small tray with a steaming cup.

“Here, drink this.” Licilia sat down on the side of the bed, holding out the cup. I tried to grasp the cup, but my hands were shaking, so she placed the cup to my lips and slowly tipped it back, allowing the warm liquid to flow into my mouth. Almost immediately as I finished the drink did my eyelids grow heavy. “Good night, Jaime.” She whispered before kissing me on the forehead.

I curled up under the covers as Licilia left the room. The tea warmed me from the inside. Feeling the cold pass, I reached into my shirt and grabbed my mother’s necklace. Holding the glass heart tightly in my hand, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

In my dreams, just as I’d seen in every dream in the nights I was able to sleep with this cold, I saw my mother. We were sitting together under a great tree with pale, white leaves. She was gently stroking my head and whispering words that I couldn’t understand. She looked sad, and I knew that it was because dad was gone. I don’t know when he left, but he wasn’t here anymore. A part of me was bitter about him leaving, but any time that these feeling arose, mom would grab my attention and shake her head. I couldn’t understand what she was saying, but I figured out that she didn’t want me to think badly of dad. The two of us sat together until I woke up.

The sun had risen in the sky and was shining through my window. Like a slow creep, the cold gradually replaced any warmth that I had in my center and spread out, filling my entire body. In spite of the cold, I pulled myself out of bed and got dressed as best as I could before Licilia knocked on the door, announcing herself.

She came in the room and, seeing my rough appearance, smiled warmly. She helped me dress completely and sat down with me on the bed, brushing my hair.

“Pert and I were thinking that it would be good for you to go out.” She explained, asking. “Do you feel well enough to go into town?”

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“Yes, I’m feeling a little better than before.” I lied. If anything, the cold had gotten worse, but I desperately wanted to leave home, even if it was just to go into the gardens.

“That’s great to hear.” Licilia spoke warmly. “Astrid and Damian will be here in about an hour. They’ll make sure that you stay safe and can bring you back if you start to feel any worse.”

I stayed silent for a time as she finished brushing my hair and put it in a simple braid.

“Do you have more of that drink?” I asked softly. “The stuff you give me before bed.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie. I can only give you that before bed.” She apologized. “The herbs I put in it are very special, and drinking too much of it can hurt you.” Hearing this, I frowned. Seeing my expression, Licilia quickly spoke. “I can’t give you the tea, but I can make you some hot chocolate with your breakfast.”

“Hot chocolate?” I asked, confused. I knew what chocolate was, but hot chocolate was something I’d not heard of.

“I just purchased some from a new merchant in town.” She explained. “They said that it was invented by someone from Farrol and that someone found the recipe and brought it to him. I’ll bring some in, just wait here.”

Licilia left and came back after a short moment. She carried a tray in her arms that held a bowl of steaming soup as well as a cup of dark liquid. She took great care in helping me eat the soup and eventually left the spoon aside and reached for the cup. Placing the cup to my lips, she helped me drink like she had done the night before, but while the medicine that she had given me was flavorless and bland, this ‘hot chocolate’ was like a stream of sweet, hot nectar. It was like someone had taken a chocolate pastry and turned it into a drink. Though, unlike the medicine, the warmth that the drink had brought to my chest didn’t last long.

Finishing the soup, I was surprised to find that the tense numbness that filled my body from the cold had lessened somewhat. I could move without too much struggling, though I would have the occasional chill flash through my body.

Kissing my forehead, Licilia took the tray and left with it.

I stood from the edge of my bed and breathed in deeply. My legs were still a little weak, so I didn’t move to quickly. I walked over to the window and looked down over the gardens. Crouched down near his own area, Ham and Charlotte were talking animatedly. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the girl. She was very rude when we had first met, but recently started being much nicer to the entire family. She’d even invited Veria and I to one of her picnics, though I had just come down with this cold, so I couldn’t attend. Veria had gone and said that it was a great experience. Many other noble children had also attended and had paid a great deal of attention to her. She expressed how surprised she was that so many of the children treated her nicely so suddenly.

The two of them then stood up and walked just out of sight.

It must be nice to have a friend like that.

Just then, a knock came from the door. It was one of the servants explaining that Astrid and Damian had arrived and were waiting for me in the parlor.

So say that I was excited would be an understatement. I was about to finally leave my room for the first time in more than a week. I was ecstatic.

Checking to see that I had not forgotten anything, I left my room and started for the parlor.

Pushing the door open, I was greeted by the two Freelancers. They both looked quite happy to see me up and walking. They were both dressed in the uniform that Pert had gotten them, straight fitting, black pants, a white, buttoned shirt and a dark jacket. The jacket and pants both had streams of yellow and blue laced through it in straight lines up the sleeves and legs.

“How are you feeling?” Damian asked.

“A lot better.” I replied. I had lied earlier, but something had helped me feel a little better, though I wasn’t sure what.

Stepping over to me, Damian ruffled my hair and spoke with a smile. “I’m glad. I wouldn’t want my favorite student to stay sick.”

“Ready to go?” Astrid asked, standing on opposite of Damian to my side.

I nodded firmly.

Astrid nodded back and stepped through the door. “Let’s go, then. We have a great day planned.”

We left the manor and came to the carriage sitting just outside the front gate. Damian opened the door and stepped aside for Astrid me to climb inside. He had taken a couple of lessons from the usual driver and could now do it himself.

Our first stop was at the Freelancer’s Guild. The building was just as noisy as it has been every time I’ve come here, though the room to the side was silent. I’d asked about it before, but neither of the Freelancers knew how it worked. I’d thought it had to do with the carvings on the door, but Astrid said that the carvings were for a spell that locked the door in case of emergencies.

Located on the far side of the quiet room was a board with a dozen listings on it. These were for the junior Freelancers. Each listing was for a one-time job request for things like locating lost pets or objects or other simple requests. Astrid strode over to the board and pulled off one of the notices and brought it to the counter. Damian and I followed close behind and listened as the clerk explained the job. A child had lost their dog and couldn’t find it anywhere, so they had listed a request to find it and bring it home.

“Perfect for a day out like this. Lost animals usually end up near the city center because of all the food sold there.” Damian explained. “Let’s get going.”

We immediately left for our destination and Astrid had handed me the notice to look over. The dog was a little thing, only a few months old, and the owners were worried that it couldn’t survive on its own.

The sun on my skin felt nice, though the warmth was only on the surface. We’d spent over an hour looking in the area, but had no luck. We’d found other strays, but none of them matched the description on the request. Taking a break, we stopped inside one of the stores and got a snack. This store just happened to have the hot chocolate that Licilia had given me, though it wasn’t as good as hers.

Sitting together at a table in the restaurant, we all went over the areas that we had searched and tried to find places that we hadn’t searched over. I wasn’t much help in the situation, though, as I had no real idea where any of the places in the city were. It was all a giant maze of buildings and people.

Taking a sip of my hot chocolate, I looked over the request again and had an idea. I activated my aura and stared down at the request, taking in all the information and then told the spirits to bring me to the animal. After a moment, the little lights appeared and started moving towards the door.

Standing from my seat, I followed spirits out the door and down the street.

“Wait, Jaime!” I heard someone shout behind me, though their voice had become warbled.

All my attention centered on following the spirits. They guided me through the large crowds and then down one alley. Eventually, they led me to a building deep in the city. Just outside the building, behind an open fence, was a dog that perfectly matched the description on the request. It had a rope tied around that was staked into the ground.

The dog yapped when it saw me and started wagging its tail. It ran towards me, but stopped once the rope around it came taught. Stepping through the fence, I hurried toward the dog and petted it as I tried to undo the rope.

Then the fence slammed shut behind me.

I whipped around to see a large, rough looking man standing in front of the fence. A smile slowly spread on the man’s face as he stepped toward me. I wanted to scream out for help, but I couldn’t find my voice.

Panicking more and more, I quickly blacked out.

Immediately as I blacked out, I woke up to find myself standing in the same alley that I had followed the spirits down. My heart was racing, but something warm and wet slapping my face caught my attention. The dog was in my arms, licking my face. I giggled as the tongue tickled my cheek. I must have imagined that scene.

Shaking my head, I found that the cold feeling that had plagued me was gone.

Just then, Astrid and Damian came screeching past the alley before rushing back and running toward me. They were both afraid, but looked more than relieved when they saw that I was okay.

Holding out the dog, I exclaimed. “I found the puppy!”