When I finally clawed to the surface of the nightmares, I found that I was crying. Dark, tear-blurred shapes shifted around in the corner of my vision. Straight ahead-- and possibly up-- I had no sense of direction-- the wall or ceiling was grey stone and smudged with soot. Not my room. There was the sticky bad taste of too-long sleep in my mouth and a hollow feeling in my stomach. Maybe I was hungry. Maybe I was still sick. I choked on a sob and felt immediately after the single movement of all the blurry figures in my direction.
Someone screamed she's awake, and someone else grabbed me into a hug, forcing me upright from the bed until another figure pulled them away, and someone was calling me Morie and someone else repeated Morane, Morane--
"Lady Thief--" I heard whispered with a tug on my hand, which I pulled away unthinkingly, rubbing the heels of my hands into my eyes, flinching away from fingers smoothing my hair and touching my shoulder and trying to wipe the tears from my face.
"Stop," I muttered into my hands, not knowing who it was directed at. Maybe at myself. The tears kept coming. "Stop," I repeated desperately to someone's touch on my cheek, a poke in my arm, a tug at my blanket. I pressed my back against the wall, twisting the blankets hopelessly around my legs like a trap net. Sam was leaning towards me, concern on his face, Cara half on the bed radiating relief, Nick clutching at my hand as I tried to pull away from everyone.
"Are you okay?"
"What's wrong?"
"What happened?"
"Drink this."
And then in the middle of the too-loud confusion of people and unfamiliar healer apprentices Jaden emerged, shutting the door behind him with a soft click that silenced everyone. Voice polite as always, he inquired, "Is this the proper way to behave in a sickroom?"
Sam was too flustered to answer, by the coolness of his voice or simply his complete unaccountability, and Nick stared at him with an open mouth.
"You--" He jerked his head at the apprentice who had been shoving a cup of something thick and green in my face. "Thank you. You may leave."
"B-but--"
Jaden paid no attention to his stuttered objection. "Guardsman, if you could find some water?"
Nick had to look twice around the room to make sure he was in fact the one being addressed but left looking only slightly bemused. It took more than a stranger in a black cloak giving orders to shake him. With him, I noticed, went Kemp, like a miniature shadow, slipping out of the room after casting one wide-eyed look at Jaden. He didn't seem to notice.
"Good. Now, what's wrong?"
I could only shrug helplessly in response, dragging a hand over my wet face.
He frowned, then moved Sam out of his way with a gentle hand on his shoulder. "My lord, if you could step aside..."
Sam jumped slightly, surprised less by the title and more by the lack of sarcasm or contempt in it. How, I wondered, had a man from the lower city recognized the king's son in a guard's uniform? He wore no jewelry or royal mark, and none of his features were his father's. He must have, we had always assumed, looked only like his mother.
Jaden drew up the chair beside the bed and sat, setting a small leather bag by his feet. A bag of tools, I realized, just like my own. I didn't bother to ask how he had gotten into the castle.
"Have you spoken to the Sage?" He asked, voice low.
"I just woke up." I sniffed, and wiped my eyes again ferociously.
"Then I am only just in time." He flicked his eyes at Sam. "Exuse me, if we could have a few minutes alone?"
Sam eyed him like he might sprout fangs at any moment. "I don't think--"
"I know him, Sam, it's okay."
"You know him? How?"
"He's my..." I tried to think of a proper name for it.
"Instructor in the fine art of stealing," Jaden offered with a trace of humor in his voice.
"Oh, right, in that case I'm totally going to just leave you alone when she's just woken up from--"
"Go away."
Cara pulled him out by his sleeve before he could object, but I didn't doubt he would he would not move from the door once it had closed. I sighed and drew up my legs and lay my head on my knees.
"You're okay?" Jaden asked again, eyes worried.
"Yes. I don't know. I woke up like this."
A grim shadow settled across his face. "What did you see?"
"I don't understand."
"When you slept. Perhaps-- when you dreamed. What were they about? What happened?"
I didn't want to think about it. I wanted to leave those dreams, those nightmares, wallowing in the depths of my mind. But because he asked, and because it was Jaden, and because that shadow spoke of an urgency he would never let show on his face, I closed my eyes and submerged myself in the pool of darkness gathering on my mind's eye.
When I first collapsed, there was nothing. A faint darkness that spread like ink, in blues and violets. The strangest sense that I wasn't really there, I didn't really exist. It got darker and darker. The worst thing about not existing was not being able to scream for help.
"It got completely black. For a long time, that was it." Hours, it had been. I could feel every second passing. Then the darkness had split, brighter than a lightning strike. "Then there was a star... three stars, and they fell, one after the other."
"From the sky?"
"I don't know... they were just falling." I told him everything I had seen, the disconnected images that had danced unchecked around my mind for the hours. Speaking about them was easier than thinking about them, and I found, slowly, as I gushed everything out, that those disconcerting, disconnected images weren't scary at all, and with that, I stopped crying. "And I think before I woke up, there were mountains growing out of the ground-- like trees or something. But they were just fever dreams."
"Doubtful," he said grimly. "Listen. The Sage will come, as soon as he hears you are awake. When he asks what you saw, you must tell him..." he stood up suddenly and began to pace, chin tucked down as he thought. "The beginning, I suppose. Let him try and explain that, if he can. Yes, tell him the beginning. What was next? Right, then you saw a woman putting a powder you thought was poison in a goblet of wine--."
"And then a man took it from her and drank it. I didn't understand that."
"No. And it's better not to chance that he will. Tell him you saw someone putting something in a goblet-- say you don't know what, and you didn't see the genders of either."
"I don't understand--"
"I know, Morane, I know. But I don't know how much time we have, and we must finish this. What happened next?"
"A man walked in-- it was dining room, there was a table set for three-- he took the poisoned cup and the two that hadn't been touched and he switched them around."
"That you will not say. Then the scene ended, yes? And then you were walking through the halls of the castle--"
"And there were lots of people. Nobles. But they all had two-colored faces. Split right down the middle."
"I suppose there is nothing wrong with that. Nobles are two-faced, everyone knows, even Tobias. Then you went up to a tower, and looked out the window, and there was an army."
"Three armies," I corrected. "There were three, all wearing different colors. All facing the castle, but none of them were attacking."
"The colors they were wearing?" He asked sharply.
I strained to remember. "Scarlet for the first one, green for the second, and-- dark blue-- or maybe black for the third."
He clasped his hands tightly, anxiety in his face. "Leave the armies out. All of them. Say that everything was peaceful-- no, don't even mention going up the tower. Skip to the doors. What happened there, exactly?"
"There were two arches in a thick wall and people were marching in-- two-by-two-- into the first, and then people were coming out the second single-file in chains. But the people going in the first arch weren't the people coming out the second."
"Skip that too. And next?"
"The night sky with the constellations, very, very bright. And the Master and the Apprentice were outlined."
He smiled broadly. "Make sure he hears that."
I stifled a laugh. "Yes, master."
"But that wasn't all--"
"The sky became the Wheel of Guardians, like the embroidered ones on tapestries. Except it spun really fast. I had two knives and I threw them and that made the wheel stop spinning."
"And the knives had landed on..."
"The crown and the lion. The Guardian figures had been replaced with the symbols of the cities."
"That is not necessary for him to know. Say the wheel spun and then stopped on its own. Because what happened next was that the lion started glowing, right? And then?"
"Scene change. There was a dark horse-- black-- running away from the capital, very fast, and it passed Maenar, and then there were mountains growing out of the ground."
"The horse would not be important-- no, never mind. A black horse. I am an idiot. Of course, you can't say that. But mountains, that has no importance. Tell him that. Can you remember everything I said?"
"Yes. If you tell me why."
"I can't. Not now."
"Then I can't remember."
"Don't be difficult now, Morane. This is the most important thing I have ever asked of you."
"If it's so important, then shouldn't I know why? Nobody answers me anymore. All people do are give me more questions. Why doesn't Aiden like you? What's 'the other one'? Why shouldn't I talk to the ambassador? Why is he interested in me anyway?"
"What do you mean, the ambassador is interested in you? You don't mean the one from Englescroft?"
"Yeah, he has some fascination with Guardians--"
Jaden cursed so loud I was shocked. Jaden, my teacher? He never even came close to anything that could be considered remotely rude.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't think it was important."
"It's Englescroft getting involved with Guardians, of course it's important. Listen, don't talk to him anymore until I've had a chance to--"
"Oh, not you too, what is with everyone and Iso--" I was cut off by the door opening, reminding me of an even better question: what was with everyone and Jaden?
Jason stood very still, one hand clenched on his sword. Jaden stood very still as well, out of mere habit, his hands loose and at his sides.
"Well, are you going to stand there like a statue or get over here?"
It took him a moment to let go of the sword and tear his glare away from Jaden but he pulled the door closed behind him and came to the bed, where I was sitting with my legs dangling over the side.
"Are you okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"You fainted--"
"I was unconscious."
"Yes, because you fainted, right in front of me--"
"I did not faint, I became unconscious."
"Well, if you're feeling well enough to argue, I'm assuming you are okay."
"Of course. It's not like I fainted or something."
Jaden coughed, badly covering up a laugh, or perhaps just reminding us he was still in the room. Jason chose to ignore him.
"There were all kinds of rumors about why you fa-- became unconscious."
"Like what?"
Jaden interrupted Jason's answer, reaching for the door. "I believe I hear my cue to leave, so if I do not see you again before I go--"
The door swung open, and once again the new occupant froze upon seeing Jaden.
"Tobias, I was just going to find you."
"Eyro-- what are you doing here?" He demanded.
"Oh, just passing through. But I will not keep you from your business. I suppose it is time for me to leave, anyway."
"Hardly." Tobias eyed him frostily. "You may wait outside. Since you just happened to be passing through, I'm sure you have time to talk a bit."
"Not too long," Jaden said blithely, "But I'm sure I can make some time for you. Don't hurt the young man's face, Morane. He only has the one." With that comment, sounding rather cryptic to the 'young man' and the Sage, he swept out. But to me, the message was clear-- remember the two-faced nobles of my dream, remember what I was supposed to say and what to keep to myself.
"My lord, if you could excuse us?" Tobias asked politely.
"Of course. I'll see you-- later?"
Later, at the match house. I nodded, and Tobias locked the door behind him.
"You're early," he told me, sitting down. "Nemia's still asleep."
"Why's Nemia asleep?"
He started, stared at me, and then shook his head. "Right. I didn't say. That, Morane, was the Guardian Sleep. You both got it, obviously."
"The... what?"
"The Guardian Sleep. A sort of... warning, that comes around this age for Guardians when things are about to change."
"So you knew this was going to happen?" I demanded.
"Of course."
"And you didn't say anything to us?"
"I had other things on my mind," he answered coldly.
Right, like deciding whether or not to meddle with my life. I hadn't forgotten his overheard conversation with Joshua on a possible Lady Morane of Laycreek.
"Now, when you slept, and you dreamed, did you-- see anything?"
"Yeah... it started all black and then three stars fell down... and then there was a person... I couldn't really see..."