Over the course of several days, Ponderosa was able to complete Sir Hamnet’s face. She noticed that for every new detail she added to her face, she would end up falling asleep. Each time she fell asleep, she had been unable to set her writing kit aside. Thankfully, Mȧthair stayed close by to move it when she started to drift off. As the days continued to pass, she was able to define his cheek bones, fill out his eyebrows, draw his thick, full lips, before shading in the eyes that continued to haunt a good majority of her dreams; eyes that continued to look so familiar and yet foreign in the face looking up at her.
Ponderosa frowned. She was feeling tired again, but didn’t want to go back to sleep. She wanted to know why his eyes bothered her so much! What was it about those eyes that made her afraid enough to view him as dangerous, when he had been nothing but annoying, since they left the castle over a week ago? She stared at the face, getting more and more frustrated as she wracked her brain for the memory of his face without relief.
Sighing in exasperation, Ponderosa set her quill down. She put the cork in the mouth of her ink bottle and let Mȧthair use her magic to set it aside. She was just about to lay down to join Nathaniel in sleep when a soft knock sounded on the door.
‘Come in, Beloved,’ Mȧthair said.
Prince Kelton poked his head into the room before he came in all the way. Sir Hamnet turned his head and glanced in before Prince Kelton closed the door. Ponderosa continued to stare at the door as Prince Kelton crossed the room. Sir Hamnet was still clean shaven, but the way the shadows had crossed his cheek made her wonder if adding facial hair would help her remember why she felt the way she did.
“Is something wrong, Ponderosa?” Prince Kelton asked.
She blinked several times before shaking her head. She started to reach for her writing kit, when she felt her body fall forward. Mȧthair’s magic caught her and supported her until she was lying on the bed. Ponderosa whimpered and tears slipped out of her eyes.
‘Sorry,’ she mentally whispered.
‘No sorry,’ Mȧthair replied. ‘You’re okay. Just rest for now. You will remember to add facial hair when you wake.’
Ponderosa nodded then allowed her eyes to close in sleep.
‘How have things been this last week, Beloved?’ she heard Mȧthair ask when she woke up next.
“Touch and go. Gailan confirmed that we are short a horse and servant,” Prince Kelton said softly. “There are no extra, nor too few, messenger birds. However, he didn’t dare try to dig too much deeper in case his digging led to the raising of unnecessary flags. Knowing my mother, she would have sent a replacement to avoid arousing my suspicions, but this storm seems to have barred their arrival.”
‘And the stair incident? Were you able to find out who was behind it?’
“Yes, and they now serve as a reminder to anyone else who dares to harm one of my people.”
Ponderosa swayed a little as she slowly pushed herself into a seated position. Nathaniel stirred and whimpered. She was about to reach for him when Prince Kelton beat her to it.
“Allow me to get him changed for you,” he said.
‘Thank you, Your Majesty.’
Prince Kelton changed the soiled clothes, and bundled him up again to keep him warm, before he brought him back to Ponderosa so he could eat. He then took Mȧthair to the side and asked.
“Have you seen anything, My Love?”
‘...Nothing about our situation here has come to me as freely as the other visions have. Even when I try to focus on Queen Leona, I get the image of her pacing in the throne room, but nothing else.’
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“How much longer will the storm last?”
‘The storm stopped a few days ago. The wind is merely whipping the snow around now.’
“Which means the messenger birds might be flying as we speak,” Prince Kelson sighed.
‘They will refuse to fly far,’ Mȧthair replied.
“Do you have a way to prevent them from leaving?”
Mȧthair chuckled. ‘Of course, I do, but I will not interfere.’
“Why not?”
‘The birds are not dumb enough to leave, no matter how insistent their trainers are.’
“But once the winds die down…”
‘What ‘die down’? There are more storms to follow.’
“...Can you control the weather?”
Mȧthair chuckled. ‘I doubt it, but I am more aware of Mother Nature’s mood swings, so I will happily let her do her thing without any interference from me.’
“But….”
He grunted and a soft moan escaped his lips. “That was mean, Princess.”
‘I promise to make it up to you, My Prince,’ she trilled. ‘In the meantime, there are more immediate concerns to address.’
“Such as?”
‘Sir Gruph is picking a fight with Dawson over the rationing.’
Prince Kelton sighed irritably. “It would be him.” He kissed Mȧthair’s nose before she licked his cheek. “Don’t think we are done with this conversation.”
‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’
Prince Kelton smiled and shook his head before stomping out of the room.
‘How are you feeling, Ponderosa?’ Mȧthair asked.
‘Not as sore today,’ Ponderosa replied.
‘Good. I will let you draw a little while I mix up the meal.’
Ponderosa nodded.
She accepted the writing kit from Mȧthair then started to add facial hair to her drawing of Sir Hamnet’s face. She varied the amount of hair she added, from the speckling of a five o’clock shadow to a thick mustache and fluffy beard. She put the cork in the ink bottle before setting the kit on the bed. She drank the glass of ground wheat and herbs that Mȧthair had put together for her. She made a mental note that her anxiety had increased some the longer she drew, but she didn’t know if it was because she was looking at Sir Hamnet’s face for a certain amount of time, like before, or if it had increased as she drew the hairs at longer and longer lengths.
She finished the glass Mȧthair had given her then turned back to her drawing. Ponderosa held her hands at varying angles above Sir Hamnet’s face so she could get a better feel of how the facial hair looked with Sir Hamnet’s eyes. The amount of anxiety she felt didn’t change as she looked at the first several lengths, but she definitely felt her heart rate kick up as she stared at Sir Hamnet’s eyes with the longest length of facial hair she had drawn. Her hands started to shake. She pulled the cork out of the ink jar once more then worked in short, quick, bursts as she purposefully lengthened the rest of the facial hair to match.
By the time she finished, it took everything she had to not shove her writing it off her lap. A soft whimper escaped her lips before Mȧthair’s magic removed the kit from her lap and carried it across the room. That face. It was that bush covered face that was dangerous. But why was it dangerous? Had she watched him kill someone or something? Where would she even have seen him with facial hair that long? How long ago was it? Why couldn’t she remember?!
Ponderosa slid her fingers into her hair and gripped the strands. She pulled her knees up and rested her forehead on them. Her breath shook as her thoughts continued to spin, but went nowhere. She shook her head and tried to deepen her breath until Nathaniel started to cry. Ponderosa turned to him. She slowly relaxed her fingers and removed them from her hair. She picked him up and got him to latch onto her breast so he could nurse.
‘Drink this,’ Mȧthair said, bringing her a cup of tea.
Taking the cup from Mȧthair, she sipped the warm Peppermint tea. She drew in a deep breath, allowing the scent to fill her lungs. She let the steam bathe her face a little before she took another sip.
‘Thank you, Mȧthair,’ Ponderosa sighed.
‘You are welcome, Ponderosa,’ she replied.
She finished the cup just as Nathaniel let go of her breast. She tried to see if he wanted to feed more, but he seemed content to just be held. Her mouth started to tingle again and she turned to Mȧthair.
‘I’ve been meaning to ask you,’ she started.
‘About your tongue?’ Mȧthair replied.
Ponderosa nodded.
‘It has been gradually growing back since I breathed healing into your mouth in Reash Town. You will need it in the days to come. It’s time to find joy in speaking again.’
Ponderosa rested her head against Mȧthair’s. ‘Thank you,’ she cried.
‘You are most welcome, Ponderosa. Would you like to get out of bed for a little while?’
‘I’d like that very much,’ she replied.