We parted ways with the guys, they went to do their own thing and we headed upstairs to our suites.
"I'm thinking, sleepover in your suite and not coming out until tomorrow evening," Emy randomly burst out the second we reached our doors.
"Which translates into, staying up all night talking and eating any junk we can find around here?"
She giggled and nodded, "Precisely, I don't need or want any sleep right now and we've got some catching up to do."
She wiggled her brow and I knew she was referring to Blaike, Nenny must have told her about that as well. I hoped she'd have something helpful to say. I nodded and watched her head off to grab some pyjamas; I noticed through the open door that her room had been put back in order. I wondered if there was more to her not wanting to sleep and made a note to check on how she was doing while we chatted.
We spent most of the night talking about everything that had happened while she had been in her magic coma. We talked about Blaike and what he had been about to say when my parents had barged in. She booed at that like she was watching a play and I laughed hysterically. Her solution was to pull Blaike aside and ask him outright, of course her way was the most blunt but I did consider it.
We talked about the attack and things got serious for a while, we both cried about the fear we felt and the way we suffered afterwards. I learned that Emy had only been partially asleep in the coma. She explained that sometimes she could hear people but her body wouldn't respond and then she'd fade into sleep again.
I hugged her and consoled her while she recalled the details, wishing I could take the memory of it away from her. I promised I would never let that happen again, no matter what it took to stop it. Since we were at our lowest I pulled something out of my bag that I had completely forgotten about until then. The chocolate I had stowed for a bad day, and it didn't get much worse.
I left the hot chocolate powder hidden in case there was a next time and the way things were going for us recently, that was a distinct possibility. We enjoyed the chocolate and it cheered us up enough that we turned our conversation to brighter things. Mostly small talk, about our old lives and our new one.
We stayed awake all night and neither of us felt tired by morning, I called down for us some breakfast once the sun had come up and we ate in my room. I didn't want to leave my room at all that day, in there it was just me and Emy, like it always had been; no boys, no parents, no dark destiny to fulfill that would possibly get us killed and doom the world.
We sprawled out on my bed and stared up at the ceiling, talking and eating more. Most people would have run out of things to talk about by now but our conversation reeled on. I told Emy about my suspicions over Brianne and she admitted she got a bad vibe from the woman. We made it our secret mission to figure that one out because if she was the reason we were attacked, there would be hell to pay.
Our parents came to check on us after we requested lunch to be brought up as well. They looked worried at first but we reassured them we just needed some time out. They must have been able to see the good it was doing because they left smiling. Even though we were grown adults, it was nice to know they still worried about us. Although Emy made a joke about being tangled in her mum's apron strings forever.
It was evening time when we finally emerged from my room, Emy went to grab a fresh pair of pyjamas while I went downstairs in pyjama bottoms and a blouse. We planned to have dinner in the dining room and then return to my room to hang out all night again. As I entered the dining room I was surprised to see the guys were already there and the parents, who were huddled round some papers at the head of the table. Everyone looked around when I walked in and the guys stood up, I rolled my eyes and walked over to sit in one of my usual seats.
"Cassie, maybe you could have dressed for dinner?" My mum asked quietly as everyone returned to their seats.
"I've been wearing pyjama bottoms for the last few days everywhere I went, I don't think it really matters."
I looked down at my woodland pyjama bottoms and chuckled to myself.
"Yes but you had an excuse then, what if someone arrives unexpectedly?"
"Then I hope they like woodland animals," I replied and heard a few muffled snorts from the guys on the other side of the table.
I glanced over to see Kayle, Kaleb and Blaike trying not to laugh at my comment while my mum rolled her eyes. She turned her attention back to whatever they had been discussing, though I knew she would still be frowning over it.
Not long after, Emy came skipping in and she had gone for the same blouse and pyjama bottoms combo I had, however hers were bright pink with white unicorns on. I giggled as I watched both our mum's look up with wide eyes and make a tutting noise as she came to sit next to me. The guys took their seats again and were still trying to hide their laughter, which wasn't working.
"What are they laughing at?"
"I'll explain later, don't worry about it," I smiled brightly at her and she shrugged it off.
The food arriving took the attention off of mine and Emy's outfit choices, and talk turned to our training. The parents had agreed to give us two days off but after that we would be back to our regular schedule. Apparently we still had a lot to learn in every aspect and throwing magic training into the mix would take a lot of time away from the others.
"You are going to have to commit yourselves to your training and relish your time off because it will not happen very often after this." My dad stated in the middle of dessert.
I frowned down at the little cake in front of me, from the way they were talking our near future was going to be more hectic than ever.
I was so glad when Emy and I finally left the dining room and raced each other back upstairs.
"I just want to ignore the world and pretty much everyone else, just for one more day and then we can deal with what's coming." I huffed as we collapsed onto my bed, resting my feet up on the headboard.
Emy laid beside me and rested her feet up too, "Let's do it then but when we do face it, you know it's gonna be tougher than ever, don't you?"
"I know," I sighed and looked sideways at her, "But as long as I've got you and the others, I know I can cope."
Emy smirked, "Good answer, you sound like you edited a soppy book character."
She chuckled loudly and I narrowed my eyes, kicking her feet down from the headboard. She was still chuckling as she turned herself around and rested her legs off the other end of the bed.
"No but seriously, I know what you mean, we can do this as long as we stick together. That Riltresik dude has no chance against us."
But even as she said it I could hear the worry in her voice, it was something I felt every time our fight with Riltresik was brought up. We laid in silence for several moments, the realisation of what we had to do had begun to sink in.
"Do you think he's as ugly and disgusting as his followers?" Emy said out of nowhere and I burst out laughing.
"He's probably worse, like a tar monster with things oozing and limbs missing or extra appendages."
"Eww, I didn't need the visual thank you very much."
"Well you brought it up!"
I laughed harder and from then on our conversation became more lighthearted. Making fun of Riltresik made him feel slightly less intimidating and hopefully, it would be something we'd remember when we eventually faced him.
By the time morning came we had slept a little but we mostly kept talking. Emy was starting to feel better about going back to sleep, I didn't want her to be haunted by what had happened. We ordered breakfast up to my suite and ate in there, our plan was to leave the room and find something fun to do that day.
We got ourselves ready and headed downstairs to find somebody who might be doing something interesting. We passed Kaleb and Blaike on our way but they were headed out somewhere. Emy nudged my side once the front door had closed behind them.
"You should have pulled him aside there and got your answers!"
I frowned and turned away from the door, "He was busy and they rushed off, I need a better time to do it."
Emy narrowed her eyes suspiciously, as though she thought I was the one avoiding talking to him now. I shook my head and pulled her along on our walk through the house. We passed a few servants who we exchanged conversation with but they were supposed to be working so we let them carry on.
We headed for the part of the house we hadn't explored much of. A lot of the doors were locked and the ones that weren't either had nothing in them or they were living room areas. We reached a last cluster of doors and caught my dad coming out of one of them, he looked shocked to see us and closed the door hurriedly behind him.
"Cassandra, Emily, I did not think you would be leaving your rooms again today?"
If I didn't know any better, I would have said he was hiding something.
"We thought we'd get some air and find something to do today, what are you doing?"
I arched a brow, trying to look through the door behind him but he moved slightly, like he could block my view of a door.
"I had some things to attend to, nothing remotely interesting however... what kind of thing were you looking to do today?"
Either Emy missed his strange behaviour or she didn't want to comment on it. "We want something fun to do, we don't feel like reading or making anything, and there's no television to watch so we need something else."
I watched my dad step away from the door, purposely ushering us away with him.
"There are still lots of fun things to do around here, you could go for a walk in the gardens, or go and see the horses," he aimed that one at me. I knew he was trying to stop me from questioning what he was doing in that room. "You could ask one of the escorts to take you on a tour of Dumair?"
"Nah, Kayle and the guys did that ages ago, we want something more fun to do." Emy pursed her lips.
We walked out into the hallway, there was nobody else around and my dad began to edge away.
"Don't you have games here? Things for kids to do?" I knew it sounded odd but if anyone around here knew what fun there was to be had, it would be for children.
"Children here learn from a young age that we all have responsibilities that need to be taken care of first. It has been a long time since I was a child and I never-"
He stopped abruptly and I saw the pain in his eyes, he was about to say he never got the chance to bring a child up here and get to the games and fun.
I reached out and gave him a one armed hug, I hated to see the pain in his eyes.
"It's okay, we'll find something to do ourselves, don't worry."
He nodded, kissed the top of my head then walked off without another word but I could see the hurt still hanging around his shoulders.
"This sucks!" Emy stated quite loudly.
"Which part, our boredom or the fact our parents are still hurting over their choice to save us?"
"Both! I don't know what I hate more, this place for being so different or Riltresik for making us leave and know any other world but this one."
I frowned at the messed up sense she was making. "We just need to get rid of him and then we can try to make things right again, somehow."
"Agreed but for now it looks like we're out of luck for fun things to do."
"I guess we could go for a walk in the gardens?"
Emy didn't get the chance to answer because the front door flew open and Kayle came barging in with a bag under each arm. He looked flustered and walked straight past us without a word, heading up the stairs two at a time like he couldn't get away fast enough. I looked at Emy curiously and was about to go shut the door when Merkell came walking through it. He was smiling softly, he closed the door behind him and blinked in surprise when he found us standing there.
"Hello girls, feeling better today I see." It was more of a statement than a question, he could sense it was true but we nodded anyway.
"What's wrong with Kayle?" Emy asked and she peered up the stairs in the direction Kayle had gone.
I could have sworn I saw Merkell's smile turn mischievous for a split second.
"I do not know, he asked if my trip went well and I told him it had. I even managed to stop in Hawksend for a brief conversation with Sabella, I wanted to make sure she was well equipped for anymore Scavenger attacks. The moment I mentioned Sabella however, he rushed off with my luggage and I was left in his wake."
Emy and I looked at each other and shared a giggle, to which Merkell stared at us questioningly.
I waved it aside, "I'm sure it's just Kayle being his weird self, so are you staying here now?"
I was trying to change the subject in the hopes of saving Kayle from even more embarrassment; despite the fact that I got the feeling Merkell already knew everything.
It seemed to work anyway, because Merkell nodded and led us up the stairs while he talked.
"Yes, I will be staying here until we have managed to do something about Riltresik, whatever that may be. So when we start your magical training it will be rigorous and thorough, what would have normally taken years of gradual study will be done in a very short time. We have what I am hearing is a season or two to train you before the hole in the mountains becomes large enough for the whole of the North's forces to get through."
I swallowed hard at his words and the implications they had, months could fly by and then we would have to face Riltresik one way or another. We reached the third floor and I noted that Merkell sounded weary, not his body but his mind and heart. I got the sense that even though it had been at a standstill for a long time, this battle with the Northern Sector had taken a much bigger toll on him. We walked down the corridor after Merkell and stopped at a door just before our suites.
"I'm sorry we're taking you away from your family again," Emy said suddenly as Merkell was about to open his door.
He turned to her and his expression was stern but not unkind, "Do not apologise for that, none of this is your fault, either of you," he turned to look at me as well. "This is Riltresik's fault and we will make him pay for all of it, all of the sorrows and heartaches he has caused every person in Nentarli."
His voice was firm and determined by the end, I felt myself nodding before the words had even soaked into my brain, Emy too, and he seemed satisfied. He opened the door to reveal a suite similar to ours, his bags were placed on one of the sofas but Kayle was nowhere to be seen. I half smiled to Emy, we waited by the door as Merkell began unpacking things from his bags but he didn't say anything else.
"Erm, we'll leave you to it then," I called in.
"If you happen to see Kayle, will you thank him for his help, please? I will see you both later for dinner," he said with a smile and we nodded in response to his question.
Emy closed his door and we waited until we were back in my suite before we spoke again.
"Do you think he knows about Kayle and Sabella?" I asked Emy before I flopped down on one of the sofas, putting my feet up.
"I don't know, but if he does he's purposely messing with Kayle and I love it," she chuckled heartily and perched on the arm of the opposite sofa.
"That's mean, but back to our own problem. We still have nothing to do today, I almost miss having training, at least it was something to do."
Emy snorted, "I'll remind you of that in a few weeks when you're exhausted and frustrated by training constantly."
I stuck my tongue out at her and we sat in casual conversation. In the end I went down to see the horses and Emy went to check the extent of the damage to the outfits she had made for the big formal dinner. She wouldn't be able to resist fixing them and we both knew we wouldn't enjoy what the other was doing.
The horses were in their stables when I walked around the side of the house, Jessup was there ordering people around. She smiled when she saw me coming, a cold wind suddenly blew up around us and I pulled my cloak closer.
"A bit cold for a ride today," she said as I reached the first lot of stables.
"Yeah I'm feeling that now, I'll just sit with them for a while instead."
I stared at the horses nearest to me and each one looked back in a way that I would usually only use for humans, it was admiration. They snuffled and grunted towards me, Ulric looked excited but I had to tell him there would be no riding today and tried to stroke away the disappointment I could somehow sense in him.
"You have such a way with them, I have never seen a group of horses respond to one individual in such a manner." Jessup said from behind me and I looked over my shoulder at her.
"I've always loved animals, I had pets growing up who I adored but I never thought any animal would react this way to me." I turned back to the horses as I made my way down the line, making a note of all of the horses we had in the stables.
After passing number ten I came across one in particular that I had been looking for; the palomino mare that I had struck up an instant bond with. She was watching me as I drew closer and this time her foal was with her, a male palomino and he was just as beautiful as his mother.
I walked up to her and began stroking her nose and neck, I watched her foal come closer. For reasons I didn't know, I looked to her for permission, which she gave, before I reached over to stroke him. He kept sniffing at my hand to see if there was anything in it and I giggled at the hairs tickling me, I pulled back and stared between the two of them.
"He's beautiful, you should be proud," I don't know why I spoke it out loud but the instant I did, the mare snuffled at my hair like she was thanking me.
"Maybe we should give you a name, we can't be companions if you don't have a name."
I thought about it for a moment, looking her over and then gazing into her eyes, then it came to me. "Valentia... hmm, what do you think?"
The mare waved her head around in what almost looked like nodding and sniffed at my hair, I took it that she liked it.
"Valentia? Interesting name, and she let you pet her foal as well, remarkable!" Jessup spoke from behind me and I turned to see the awe in her eyes.
"Yeah I think I read the name in an old book somewhere, I think it means 'brave'. As for the foal, she said I could stroke him," I shrugged and smiled.
My connection with the horses made me feel content, especially this horse in particular.
"It is fitting, since you both seem to have claimed each other. I will let everyone know she is your horse and is to be saddled when you go on journeys. Her foal will not need her soon and he will be moved in with the others."
I grinned as I turned back to stroke Valentia and she seemed just as happy with that decision as I was.
"Will she lose her fangs when her foal is old enough to leave?"
"It is when she loses them that we know they are ready to be separated," Jessup replied thoughtfully.
"Does that mean you have to check for the fangs once each foal looks old enough?"
I remembered how they'd reacted to trying to feed her but purposely looking for the fangs sounded like a task all by itself, for them anyway.
"Yes, that is correct, we have to annoy her a little and then when she bites the stick, we can check." Jessup sounded a little uneasy and I turned to look at her. She was frowning with distaste, as though she didn't like doing it.
"Well how about when you're ready this time, find me and I will check her over for you?"
Jessup's eyes widened and she nodded furiously, "Yes, that would help immensely and save us so much time, and the horse from the distress."
"I'm sure you'd prefer it too, wouldn't you?"
I didn't know if Valentia could understand me that much but she butted against my head anyway and I chuckled.
"Alright it's settled then, just come for me whenever, even if I'm busy training, I can break off for this."
Jessup was happier than I'd ever seen her. She readily agreed to leave me to spend time with the horses, I groomed and talked to them. I didn't realise the time until Emy came and told me I would miss dinner if I didn't come in. I followed her in once I had put things away and said goodbye to all of the horses. She waited by the house for me and we headed inside. Dinner was a small event, the parents didn't attend and Merkell excused himself early. He said he needed to rest in preparation for what was to come.
Emy and I talked with the guys while we ate, we discussed training and the added magic lessons. By the time Emy and I reached our suites, we were full and sleepy, we planned to sleep in our own rooms tonight but I had barely closed my door when Emy came bustling in. She had grabbed pyjamas and was smiling at me from ear to ear. I didn't object and we both changed clothes before climbing into my bed.
There wasn't much left to say about the training, instead we talked about the guys and the colourful forest. Emy wanted to call it 'Wonderland', because of all the colours, but I told her that name was taken. We agreed to talk about naming it with the guys and decided sleep might be a good idea. We had just remembered how gruelling the physical training could be and we had been out of it for a long time.
It took longer than I expected for me to get to sleep, so many scenarios and problems kept jumping into my head. I could hear Emy's breathing even out which meant she'd fallen asleep already, but I laid staring at the wall for a long while. Trying and failing to turn my brain off.
One thing kept coming into my mind. What if our magic and combined effort weren't enough to save Nentarli? I didn't want to watch anyone I loved, or anyone in Nentarli, die or be tortured. Their lives depended on us and I couldn't even get a decent nights sleep to be on top form for training. I knew I was overthinking it, not that it stopped me.
I tried to concentrate on Valentia and her foal, the way they reacted to me and vice versa. It made me question whether it was just horses, or maybe it could happen with other animals. The thoughts of other animals calmed me and I found myself drifting off into some of the most bizarre dreams I'd had since arriving in Nentarli.