The Destiny Detour

Daniella

Rosaliy

"Rosaliy," said the panicked voice, "I need your help."

That was a phrase Rosaliy heard more often than she would have expected around this place. Normally she had a sense of pride being in such high demand, but her bedroom was dark and chilly, and Kat's face was all Rosaliy could see before her, lit by an eerie blue, magical light. It was a scene straight out of a nightmare.

"What time is it?" slurred a groggy Rosaliy.

"Not yet dawn. I'm sorry to wake you."

Kat was anxious with purple-rimmed eyes. She was not sorry, and that jarred Rosaliy awake more than anything. Kat never demanded anything.

"What's wrong?" Rosaliy asked, throwing on a robe and jamming her feet into slippers.

"Issabeth and the children were supposed to return yesterday evening, and I can't find them anywhere."

"They have to be in the Glade," countered Rosaliy stupidly.

The anxious blue face shook. Of course Kat had checked the Glade.

"That's impossible," stammered Rosaliy. She was two for two on ridiculous statements. Impossible was the standard around here. She tried again. "Sorceress Issabeth must have found one more test for them—something that took longer than expected and makes the girls hard to locate."

"I was sure, too," whispered Kat, "but I still can't find them."

Kat could easily find Issabeth, the pearl, or her own children anywhere in the Naxturaen Glade. Rosaliy switched her slippers to the correct feet and collected her slowly-waking thoughts. Kat was an Empath, and she functioned best when she was in control of her emotions. Rosaliy would do her part to stay hopeful and calm.

"Something is definitely not right," she acknowledged, because saying Kat was imagining things would be a lie. "But this is Issabeth. Nobody is better equipped to keep those girls safe."

"You're right, Rose." Kat gave her a tremulous smile.

"Now where can I help you look?" asked Rosaliy, wrapping her robe around herself. Somehow the extra layer of warmth did nothing to battle the chills running up her spine.

"I thought I might be having trouble searching with Tansy and Duck so close. I was going to head out from the palace."

"Would you like me to come or do something here?" It was another silly question. There was nothing Rosaliy could do here. "I'll get dressed," she volunteered before Kat bothered responding.

If Rosaliy was an expert on something, it was being ready for anything. She was no stranger to middle-of-the-night adventures. She was just about awake by the time she and Kat were outside in the dark.

"Where's Alexander?" Rosaliy asked, hurrying after the urgent queen.

"It's the middle of the night," answered Kat.

The time it would take to wake him was problematic.

"Sorceress Athena?"

"Already looking for traces of magic in the Glade."

"Can the Naxturae do anything?" Rosaliy hated to suggest their intervention, but this was just the sort of desperate situation the powerful sky ancestors might do some good meddling in.

As expected, Kat was unhappy with the suggestion. "We're between cycles of the moon." She glared skyward as she hurried along. "They can't do anything tonight." Even Kat had considered the Naxturae, an especially bad sign.