Surprises

[Chris Strongheart]

Christine nodded, took a deep centering breath, and walked through, all the while hoping that she wouldn't be violently ill upon getting back. Travel spells always made her ill. She had gotten sick the first time she used one to get to Boston - and she was only just now able to get just a headache while she used the spell. Using one to go elsewhere... well.. that was just a no.

[Sky]

With a deep breath, Demetrius followed Christine into the portal. He hadn't used one of these for quite a while, but from what he remembered, there was always a loud whoosh, the feeling that you were falling and falling and falling, a bright light, and then you were at your destination. Easy as cake. Now, if only he could convince his stomach of that.

OOC: Shall I start a thread with Demetrius and Christine at Red Fountain?

[Chris Strongheart]

OOC: please

[Sky]

With an exhausted sigh of relief, Sky reached the palace steps and then slipped through the ornate front doors. As he slowly made his way toward the staircase off the great hall, he was aware of the feel of many eyes surreptitiously watching him. No doubt, the servants were curious about what exactly had happened to him and that could only end in one thing: gossip. He didn't even want to think about what they had already imagined about the recent events surrounding him; all he knew was that it was probably better for him to not know.

Reaching the third floor, Sky opened the door to the room he always occupied when he was home from school. Shutting the door behind him with a firm click, he immediately made his way over to his inviting bed and flopped down. Perhaps if he just went to sleep all of this would just go away . . .

[Sky]

Standing at her chamber window, Riannon idly played with the emerald necklace that dangled from her neck. So Sky had returned. Or at least that was what she had been told by the trustworthy head butler. He had told her that her son looked to be in perfect health, although a bit tired. She had contemplated going to talk to him, but decided against it when she found out that he had retired to his room to sleep. She would just have to wait a few hours and then . . . and then they could talk about what had happened to him in the night. And perhaps she would learn that it hadn't been as terrible as her imagination had made it out to be. Perhaps this turn of events wasn't the end of life as they knew it. She could only hope.

With a sigh, Riannon rested the side of her face against the cool glass as she looked out across at the vast palace grounds. At her life. It had turned out so differently than she had imagined it would when she was Sky's age; she could only wonder if her son would meet that same fate. With a faint smile, Riannon tried to imagine Sky twenty years from the present. Would he be a good king? Would he be just? Kind? Would he have the life he wanted - would he be happy? Or would he wish for something else?

Or would he even live long enough to find out?

Riannon wasn't a fool; she knew that if the public found out about Sky's newly developed condition, he would be condemned. Publicly humiliated and then ostracized. Or worse: killed.

The people wanted security - and how could they have that when their future king was a potentially dangerous beast?

[Sky]

As he leaned against the pillows on his bed, Sky tried to tried to fall asleep, but his mind wouldn't seem to cooperate. Every time he closed his eyes it would fill up with worries about what his future held for him. Was this curse going to be permanent? Was he ever going escape the madness that his life had become in the past seven months? Would he ever know what normal felt like again?

With a gloomy expression dawning on his face, Sky rose to his feet and went to stand by his window. Looking out, he saw the woods and his heart twisted painfully. That was going to be his home every night . . . indefinitely. At least, until he could get permission from Saladin to return to school, which he knew would prove easier said than done. As much as Saladin liked him, Sky knew that he now posed a threat to the other students. Something Saladin wouldn't stand for. So until some special arrangement could be worked out . . . no more school. And that meant, no more Christine.

A smile touching his lips as he thought of her, Sky rested his head against the glass. She had been so good to him the previous night before he had gone out to the woods. She had been supportive and she had wanted to help him . . . already, he missed her. He had wanted to see her, but the butler had told him that she had left some hours earlier. But perhaps it was better that way. As deeply as he felt about Christine, right now his life was falling to shambles. It would be better to focus on making his life normal again before he tried to pursue anything further with her.