The dawn came swifter than she had thought. After Argo had left and Maryse had gone on lecturing, she had gone on to sleep. The first peep of light fell on her face, having barged in through the window to her right. The warmth of that beam of rays had driven what drowsiness she had left.

Felicia yawned as she got off the bed. If it were up to her she wouldn't get up until it was high noon, but she had things to do now. Convincing her father into taking action was no small task.  But the light around gave her hope, as mornings always did. Changing into an outdoor dress, she strode out of her bedchambers, down the corridors that were surrounded by escutcheon-laded walls, and out of the citadel via a doorway that led directly into the gardens.

Her path led her through garths that bloomed with flowers of myriad colors -- some jasmine, some rose, and at the far end, in the pond, some water-lilies. As she walked, she kept repeating the words she had prepared once she had woken. Even though her desire to put forth her views was strong, she still felt nervous. Her father, Airasanda Greentree, was a strict person with codes and values, with the belief that the elder people were always right and the young would do good not to meddle. But she had always questioned that belief. How would the young learn if they did not make mistakes? Experience would teach them, she would counter.

She hoped that her meddling in the affairs of The Shadow would not earn her his ire. The matter of the dark ones was not something to be trifled with. But she did not care. The news she had heard yesternight terrified her. The rise of The Shadow spelled nothing but impending doom. Galacor would be the first to fall if The Brothers Dark were allowed to set foot inside the cursed lands again. Straightening her bent posture, she quickened her pace, head held high, face fresh, and dressed in dark velvet, towards the wooden gate at the near end of the gardens, careful to evade the thorns that protruded out of the stalks of the rose shrubs.

The gate creaked as it swung wide open. A gardener nearby looked at her for a moment and then returned back to watering the plants. She climbed down three stony steps and after, her feet stepped on the red soiled path that led to the river behind the citadel. She knew her father would be there, engaging the calm of the gushing water. It was his custom every morning to be beside the cold foaming waters, its force sprinkling tiny droplets onto his face as it smote on the dark rocks, closing his eyes and meditating. Paying obeisance to the sun, he had told her once.

She never begrudged him his desire to be alone. After all, despite being a great bowmaster, he was also a human. But today she had urgent business that would not wait. The desire to apprise him of the coming of The Shadow was strong within her.

Birds flew in circles above, chirping merrily as they did. Some sat on the trees that grew on either side of the path. She looked at them and smiled. Nature was such a beauty, she told herself. And birds -- she desired to pet them. However, she had not been able to decide which. Her father had given her his blessings as long as the bird was not a raven or its lesser relative -- the crow, or a vulture. She had laughed then and assured him that she had no desire to tame either. But as for the rest, it was a tough decision to make, even in the calm of the morning when a cool breeze gusted about her.

She had expected a fog in the early morning, but for some reason, it had dissipated. She loved walking in the fog. It reminded her of her childhood when her mother would seek her out. She would remember her fatuous laughter as she ran helter-skelter, away from her mother. The thought itself would bring a smile to her adolescent self. She was about to be eighteen now and she wasn't ready leave her childhood behind. Those seemed like golden days, the future only looking bleak and gloomy, more so if the news about The Shadow turned out to be true.

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Her ears pricked up at the gushing noise the river made. Heaving a sigh of relief and wishing the thoughts of her childhood away, she paced briskly towards the river, the smile on her face withering.

***

Her father had the open faces of his palms facing each other, looking east to the rising sun. Stones on the river beds crackled as she stepped on them, slowly making her way to the tall man, his long, black hair already on the cusp of turning gray. As she came within two paces of her father, she stopped and bowed. 'Father!' she said.

He turned towards her, his eyes boring into her, mildly annoyed. 'Any reason to interrupt, Felicia?' he asked, his voice gruff. 'You know as well as the others that this is the time I reserve for myself and I do not meet anybody, not even my own daughters. I did not think that you of all people would forget that.'

'If it was not important, Father, I would not have...'

He waved his hands. Wrapping a white towel over his bare chest, he said, 'You have come. That's all that matters now.'

'I bear tidings, Father, and not all well.'

He gave a slight nod. 'As well. The world is on the brink of change. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that any news which may come henceforth would be grim. Tell me, Felicia, what tidings do you bear?'

'The cursed lands, Father.'

'What about them?' he asked, his voice stern.

'The curse, Father. It is weakening.'

'And what makes you so sure?'

'A reliable source told me this.'

He gave an irritated laugh. 'And what made you investigate the cursed lands in the first place?'

'Not my intention, Father, but I had sent my informants eastward, to gather what tidings they can, and one returned bearing news that I shuddered hearing. If the curse breaks, Father, The Shadow would have an open path to reclaiming those lands from which it was once banished.'

'Stay away from these matters, Felicia. None of this going to benefit you or anybody else. Such information, or misinformation, can cause unnecessary panic. Do you understand?'

'But Father...,' she started.

'I would not have any more of this talk, Felicia. Do not concern yourself with matters that do not involve you. Let them be the domain of your elders. This is why there is a Council. Only it shall decide what to do should The Brothers Dark make their move. And let me tell you this one thing: The Brothers Dark are two separate people, each one having a purpose of his own. While one loves discipline and order, the other loves chaos. Yet they are the sides of the same coin, and if they are to enter the cursed lands, if they even have amassed such power as you seem to think they have, they have to merge their souls in order to retake their homeland. And that they will not do, under any circumstance. Now you know why I am not too worried.'

Felicia made to argue but saw that her father would listen to her no more. She saw him turn his back on her and return to his posture. She sighed. What if you are wrong, Father? What then?

***