Halonar II

Queen on Queue (In progress)

Just one week ago, the "King" of Keywark was assassinated. In just one day, just one, an entire regime collapsed. Just one week ago Hadwyn found himself tangled in strings, trying to connect one incident to another.

The news initially shocked him. But he had gotten over it quickly since then, he had bigger things to worry about, such as the Queen of Zyenur.

A pile of letters sat next to him, all from Zyenur. He had not opened a single one.

He sat miserably at a desk. A softwood board sat in front of him. Countless threads tied here and there to different metal pegs. Hadwyn's eyes felt like sacks of sand as he resisted the urge to drift off to sleep.

The door behind him opened, and a very tired Teresa came through. "G'morning, Hadwyn." She swayed as she spoke, as if about to buckle and fall.

"There was no line drawn, Teresa." Hadwyn spoke. This has been the longest he had gone without sleep. It made him wonder, perhaps, if it was not lack of rest, but the blurring of two experiences together, that drove men mad.

"Hadwyn... The Q-"

"Yes, I know of the queen."

Teresa looked at him concerningly. "This..." She motioned to the board. "This can wait, Hadwyn."

Hadwyn buried his face into his palms. He knew that, maybe it was neither the blurred experience or the lack of rest, but both plus this bizarre string of events.

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder. Teresa kneaded. "This has gone for too long... I can't watch you... destroy yourself like this."

The realization dawned on him. "You didn't just work... did you?"

She smiled. Just a small one, but a smile, nonetheless. "I finished about right after you started, Hadwyn." She motioned to the wall. "They've just woken up too. They care about you, Hadwyn."

"Now enough working, go get some shut-eye. Maybe after we visit the Queen, you can show us what you collected." She patted him on the back, then she walked out.

Hadwyn didn't have the heart to tell her that he had gotten nowhere with his research.

She was right. Whatever maddened him could be solved simply by resting. His nocturnal habits would have to cost him the next 9 hours of this day.

So he let his heavy eyelids finally come to a close. And was fast asleep in seconds.

"I fucking hate Reach Jumps." Benson gagged. He had just vomited. "Why couldn't we fast-travel? I'd be fine with walking, or even doing a portal."

"What a crybaby." Marco cackled.

"Portals are way too expensive. And fast-travel on land would stop once we reach the sea. We would then have to go by boat, which would take hours." Teresa replied.

Ben spat on the floor, apparently an attempt to rid his mouth of the vomit that was leftover. "You have no one to blame but Hadwyn. I know you hate Reach jumps as much as I do, so why do you ignore the fact that Hadwyn here wasted hours of time on some stupid investigation we called a while ago, when the queen of Zyenur was waiting the whole time?"

Jack winced. He found it hard to believe that Benson actually cared about the rest of the team like family, but he couldn't deny that the situation was his fault.

"Quit your whining, Ben. We're already here. It's over." Teresa interrupted.

Vikas, their guide, stood near the bridge across a small stream. He wore a robe with the AFHA logo printed on it. He held a cup of coffee, and a waft of steam came up from it.