AN: I rated T because I'm not sure where I'm going with this and need to be safe.

Jessica Walsh lay down on her bed and cursed college. All of her classes were boring, hard, or both. This was the first day of college and Jessica found herself wishing for Kindergarten, full of nap timey goodness, coloring inside the lines, and sharing.

Pausing only to change into the first night apparel she could find, Jessica pulled the covers over her head and went to sleep. She slept that night as she did all of her nights, dead asleep, one would have more luck to wake a rock. But when she had gotten enough sleep (or so her body believed) the tiniest noise of the quietly shutting door woke her.

The sun was absurdly bright from behind her eyelids. The nightgown didn't even feel like hers. Then her brain woke up. I don't wear nightgowns. This made Jessica sit up and take stock of where she was.

The walls were whitewashed, the floor was made wood and sanded to prevent splinters, the window showed a view that was not the same one her window had shown yesterday morning.

Mind and curiosity abuzz, Jessica stepped into the hall. She doubted she had spent the night in her room. Is this even my hall? "Where am I?"

She ventured outside and stopped in her tracks. Where on the campus was this? A huge rolling green field in the distance, stone buildings, and a palace?!? "The campus didn't have that this spring, or yesterday," she whispered, her brain hadn't taken in the whole thing yet.

She wandered around looking for the Towers, especially Carey, where her dorm was. She looked for Alex Harrison, a good friend who also went to Central Michigan. Jessica began looking in vain for anyone she recognized.

After walking around like a lost puppy, Jessica found someone who might be able to help her. A young man in a deep blue tunic, breeches, and hat had rounded the corner. From his shined blue boots to the neatly styled blonde curls he threw off competence in waves.

Jessica thought he might be a Dungeons and Dragons geek or something so she flashed the Star Trek hand sign and said "Live long and prosper," as she approached. "Ok your probably aren't a Trekie but can you help me out? Your get up at least tells me that you are brave enough to wander campus like a dweeb. Where are the Towers, Carey in particular?"

The young man's face crinkled in confusion but he smiled politely. "I am Guardsman Jerin. I do not know any tower by the name of Carey. I did not know the towers had names at all."

"What where am I? Everyone knows the Towers!" Jessica said exasperated. "If this is some hazing thing I'm not amused. If I wanted to join a sorority and be hazed I would!"

"Mistress it is not hazy today. The weather is rather nice. And you should know where you are. You are in Haven," the guardsman said as if it were common knowledge.

Jessica had been annoyed by the "guardsman" pretending not to know about hazing. She was just about to utter a scathing retort when she caught the word Haven. "Heaven? I'm dead! I can't be dead!"

"Not Heaven, Haven, mistress. The capital of Valdemar," the guardsman said. The polite smile never wavered but the look in his eyes said he believed that she was barmy.

"I'm not crazy!" Jessica yelled when she recognized the look. "Stop messing with my mind. You can't expect me to believe that I am in one of the worlds from my books. I'm not dumb either."

"Mistress maybe you should come with me to the Healers, they can help you far better than I," the guardsman said.

"No I will not go with you to the "Healers" that is some kind of code for psyche ward. And the extent to which you take this farce amazes me!" Jessica's yelling had brought an older woman from a building near by. Jessica was glad to see an adult, until she saw the same uniform in an even deeper shade.

Guardsman Jerin quickly told his superior about the raving girl. "Mistress you should sit and we will talk," the older woman said soothing the girl, or attempting to.

"This is it! I've had it with this circus. I want to go home right now. I will not stay for one more minute at this mockery of a college. Show me where the parking lot is so I can leave. Now," Jessica said feeling confused, hurt, angry, and somewhat scared.

The guards acquiesced, far too quickly when Jessica thought about it later, and led her away. They took her into a building before Jessica even discovered its hospital feel.

"I am not crazy!" she yelled again. The guards and a few braver doctors wrestled her into a room with a bed. They fought and won the battle to have her restrained. None got away completely unscathed.

When a senior doctor came to talk to her Jessica calmly talked. "I want you to stop looking at me like I am crazy. You think I'm a simpleton because I refuse to believe that I am in Valdemar." Then the condescending look he gave her set her off, again. She yelled and cussed for the better part of ten minutes before the doctor interrupted.

"I must go, miss. But if you need anything I am Healer Karvi. I am needed else where for some important work," he said smiling calmly before turning to go.

Jessica stopped yelling and decided for a little fun. "One of the signs of an approaching nervous break down is the belief that one's work is terribly important," she said with a smile to the "Healer".

Outside the door the Healer slumped against the wall. The girl might be crazy but was thinking clearly. And the look on her face was not of madness, or anger, but a look the promised no end to the trouble she could wreak.