damned_institute | Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

After the couple glasses of water Leon managed to gulp down during breakfast, the mage felt immensely better. He was still a bit tired, but that was nothing a little lounging on one of the sofas wouldn't cure. Stretching his arms above his head, he couldn't help but wish he'd had the chance to grab one of his new doctor's coats before leaving his room that morning. Maybe they would have let him get away with wearing it. Maybe.

He grabbed an empty sofa, pulling out the journal he tried to keep on him at all times. It was nearly complete now. Just a couple more pages to go. It might not improve his spellcasting that much, but any improvement was better than none. It was getting to where it might be too dangerous for him to use spells at all, if it left him so worn out without even finishing a monster off.

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He watched her thoughtfully for a long moment before asking the question that rested heavy on his mind. "Lady Lia, this may sound like an odd question, but bear with me for a moment. What is the last thing you can remember before waking here?"

Lia winced, gaze slanting down toward her folded hands. "The last thing I remember clearly is the backlash of my power hitting me," she replied after a long moment. "There are hazy bits afterward, but between that and waking here, I...there isn't much."

"Backlash?" Daemon prodded. He had an idea of where and when she meant, but as he'd witnessed almost none of her journey - other than the part she'd been unconscious for - he wanted to make sure before he opened his mouth and told her more than she should know.

Lia's cheeks regained some of their lost color in the form of a slight flush of embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Prince. Of course you don't know - how could you?" It was simple human arrogance, the feeling that the events surrounding oneself were so very all encompassing. She frowned down at her hands, laying into line the order of events and paring off that which seemed unnecessary to tell. In the end, however, the explanation wasn't really all that terribly long. "We were cornered in Ranon's Wood. There were too many to fight; it would have been a slaughter if we tried. I..." She hesitated, gaze clouding. "I had to use the Gray. I didn't expect it to rebound quite so strongly."

"So it's true you found a way to differentiate between the Blood," Daemon said softly, even though he already knew the truth of that statement.

They owed this Queen a life debt the size she could never begin to imagine, and one she couldn't really know about. He wasn't sure how wise informing people of their future fates was. He'd said what little he could to his own father, and he was guessing that Lucivar had done the same with him. How their arrival here in this place might alter what had occurred in their own realm could be devastating.

Lia started at that, faint frown once more deepening. "You knew about the web?" she asked, surprised beyond surprise. She and Thera hadn't even told the males they'd left to organize the defense what the exact intent had been. "How?"

"Word travels fast, Lady," Daemon answered simply. "Especially when certain people are listening and watching."

It was true, if not the whole truth.

"It must," Lia murmured in reply, though she looked ever so slightly disconcerted. "Though it does make me wonder just how long I was unconscious, before I woke here."

Too long, she thought, if word had been given chance to spread. Unless it had been passed on deliberately. That gives her pause, and she utters a quiet hum of thought.

"I'm not entirely certain," Daemon answered evasively. "This place seems to have the ability to manipulate the passage of time as well, somehow. My brother and father - who are also here - have different memories of the last things we remember, but none of us recall any of the other vanishing. We're not sure how they've done it, but the three of us were all taken from different points of time."

At her quiet hum, he tilted his head to the side to eye her with a curious golden gaze. "What is it?"

"You know Jared; I was wondering if he'd relayed what had happened," Lia explained. She raised her gaze, expression thoughtful. "Because you helped us, at the Inn." Though it hadn't been explicitly stated, she inferred as much from their exchange.

How many Warlord Princes could there be who had heard of something so odd as an Invisible Ring, and discerned her own identity from the mention of it?

"Thank you for that, Prince. I should have said so earlier."

"There is no need to thank me, Lady," Daemon offered her a polite smile and an inclination of his head in modest acknowledgment, though his golden eyes were warm with amusement. "It was no trouble. I am relieved you recovered from your injuries well. I have a great deal of respect for your grandmother and your lands, as well as a growing respect for you. You gave your pursuers quite the chase. I don't think anyone else could have done better."

Lia's eyes showed a flash of grief, remembrance of the cost of that pursuit weighing briefly heavy. She marshaled herself and managed a small smile of her own, if one that was slightly washed out. "Still, I'm grateful." There was a flicker of stubbornness in her tone, faint but definite.

"Do you know Gran?" Though the question had not exactly nagged at her before, she was certain it would if she didn't ask.

"Not personally," Daemon answered with a slight shake of his head. "I know of her. She has always stood against Dorothea, and for that alone I would support her."

He didn't miss the flicker of grief, but didn't question it, not just now. "I wish I had better news for you about this place, Lady, or more hopeful encouragement, but in truth, it looks as if you've exchanged one difficult situation for another, as have we all."

Lia smiled, though it was a grim thing, owing more to stubborn refusal to collapse under the weight of the situation than to any real sense of humor. "That's not so foreign as it might once have been. There has to be some way to escape this trap..."

"There has to be," Daemon agreed with a slight nod. "And it will be found sooner or later. As of right now, there are three Warlord Princes here, and... there was a Queen here, for a night, although we're uncertain of her whereabouts since then."

Daemon hated admitting that, hated the worry and the flare of panic he felt for every shift, every hour that passed with no sign of Jaenelle. Could it have been a trick, or an illusion, or not really her at all? He didn't think that could be possible, but then again, much here should have been impossible as well.

"Still, we usually spend each evening searching for more answers or a way out. It's not safe to wander out alone. You're more than welcome to join us, if you wish. If not, I hope you at least seek out a companion. Is there anything else I can answer for you, Lady? I believe our hour here will soon be drawing to a close."

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Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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