In a moment of complete confusion DG blearily looked around to find who exactly had bashed her in the head and for what reason. After the first four or five blinks of her blue eyes she remembered…she was in lessons with Tutor, and apparently she had fallen asleep…again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath preparing for the tirade from Tutor that was sure to come in five…four…three…two…
"DG!" Tutor exclaimed in consternation.
DG's eyes flew open and she swore she could see steam coming out of his ears. "Sorry! I must have dozed off there for a second, but I'm wide awake now. I knew I shouldn't have skipped my third cup of coffee today, but I figured it would help me sleep if I cut down on the Joe...you know?"
Startled, Tutor asked "Joe? Who's Joe?"
"Oh it's just another term for coffee on the Otherside, not an actual person" DG clarified.
"Regardless of who or what Joe may be, there is no excuse for you falling asleep in the middle of lessons…again." There was so much frustration bottled into that one word that DG actually winced. "I can see that we aren't going to get any more accomplished today" he sighed, "so instead, as your punishment, or your 'homework' as you like to call it, you will read this text on the mythology of the O.Z. and be prepared to be quizzed thoroughly tomorrow afternoon".
DG took the rather voluminous tome from Tutor, which required some serious bicep strength on her part and eyed it skeptically.
"The test is going to cover all of this?"
"Yes your highness, and if I were you, I'd start reading now." With that, Tutor packed up his things and made a hasty exit from the library, or as DG called it, the prison. Dutifully, she turned the cover and saw that not only was the book outrageously long, but the typeface it was written in was almost painfully small to read. Resigned to the fact she wasn't escaping anytime soon, DG turned to the beginning of chapter one.
Wyatt Cain couldn't find the Princess anywhere. He had checked all of her favorite places of Finaqua that had never failed him before on his numerous missions of locating his charge: her sister's quarters (where he had inadvertently located his son and a blushing Azkadelia…he had to remember to ask what that was about), her sitting room that had been converted into her art studio, the lake's dock to find no boats missing, and every single stall in the stable to see that every horse was present and accounted for. Not a single sign of the Princess.
Confounded and slightly panicked (although one would never know from looking at his stony expression), he was a few heartbeats away from alerting the royal guard until he realized he had yet to check one last room, the damn library. He knew that only by the power of Galinda herself would he find her there, as she openly and frequently called it her prison and he couldn't blame her for the nickname.
His time in the suit came back to him at odd times, and the dark cramped aisles of the library usually brought on his slight and erratic attacks of claustrophobia. They weren't all that extreme, he didn't go running for the window or break down in hysterics, he would just start to sweat and couldn't seem to catch his breath as easily. Usually the best remedy was to move himself near an open window and breathe deeply for a few moments after he had concluded any business he may have been handling at the onset of the attack. As small and infrequent as these attacks were, they were still annoying, and potentially embarrassing.
He didn't think anybody had noticed his moments of weakness until a few months ago when escorting DG to her lessons in the library. They had walked the path so many times before that he was becoming familiar with the outbreak of sweat on his forehead and the tightening of his collar (even though he never wore it buttoned) and was thinking of which window he would go to after he deposited DG at her desk. Suddenly DG froze in her tracks and looked up at him from her position at his side. A moment later she had grabbed his hand and literally pulled him across the library to the large secluded window seat as far away as they could get from her desk, and consequently Tutor. Neither of them said a word, she just pulled him next to her on the seat, opened the window and held his hand until he felt calm again.
He felt his body relax and his lungs started to take air at a regular pace. Once satisfied that he was over his attack he turned his head to see her profile as she was looking out the window. Finally he asked "How'd you know?"
"How'd I know about the claustrophobia or how did I know about the window trick?" she replied without turning from the view outside the glass.
"Both"
"Ah…well then you're in luck, because they both have the same answer…" she finally turned towards him and looked straight at him with those wide, impossibly blue eyes "I know because I've felt it too, ever since the Gray Gale" and with that she turned her head back to the view of Finaqua's gardens.
"Hm" was all he could think to say. He forgot sometimes that she had been locked into that tomb, not because it was insignificant, but that it set his blood on fire just thinking about her in there. It had taken him weeks to get her to confess what had happened and he had been so angry he had actually punched a hole in the wall of the room she now used as her studio. It was still there, she had refused to let the palace staff fix it, stating that it made her feel safe. He never did understand her reasoning about that. Two and a half annuals later he could still feel the rage seeth just below the surface.
They sat quietly, he watching her watch the world outside. He felt himself calm, pushing the thought of her trapped and scared into the back of his mind and instead focused on the sunlight pouring through the glass window pronounce the reds and browns of her hair. Finally her gaze swung back to his when he asked "What triggers it for you?"
She shrugged, "Usually that horrible gray-green color that was all over that place, or the sound of metal on metal, but they're a rarity here so I don't have too many attacks, but I've found that the windows always help when it does happen." Taking a deep breath she lowered her eyes from his and looked towards the area where Tutor would be waiting.
Releasing his hand she stood, "Toto's totally gonna flip if I'm late" and just like that, the way she talked about it so offhandedly, that there was no shame, no guilt, no weakness, he felt a weight lift off his shoulders he hadn't realized he'd been carrying. He followed her to her desk wondering just how DG was going to pull off flipping a rather large man when she just mastered spinning her dolls…
Shaking the memory from his head, Wyatt pushed open the library doors and was met with the sound of….he stood still, straining to hear…what was that?...snoring?
As he rounded the corner of the last book stack he found the source of the rhythmic and muffled noise at DG's desk. She was face down in a book lightly snoring and immediately he felt a tiny squeeze in his chest. He knew she hadn't been sleeping well, knew it better than anybody else at Finaqua as his dreams kept him from sleep in his chamber, a small room that adjoined hers. He knew that she paced for a while, then would work her way to her art studio and paint for hours, then collapse into her bed for an hour or two before the suns rose and she was scheduled to start her day.
In that moment, he realized that it was all their fault. They'd all been too selfish about her. Everyone demanded something from her, whether it be in lessons with Tutor, dinner parties with heads of state and neighboring dignitaries, nights with Az when the nightmares had her screaming and wild-eyed, days with him constantly at her side or two steps behind her…the list went on and on. They were all slowly crushing what they loved most about her, her wild and carefree spirit. They were all tearing it away from her one day at a time, and Cain promised himself there and then that he wouldn't let it happen.
So as not to startle her, he walked up to the table silently and slowly and lowered himself onto his haunches so he would be eye level with her when she awoke. He started to nudge her awake with a gentle hand at her shoulder until she finally lifted her face, creased down the side from her "pillow" and smiled at him.
"Hey Cain….I must have dozed of again" she yawned "what time is it?"
"Goin on about 5 o'clock Princess"
"Oh….Glitch is not going to be happy that I missed our dancing lesson" but even Cain could hear the lack of conviction she put into that statement, Glitch would forgive her anything, if he remembered there was anything to forgive that is.
With a dismissive shrug he asked "What are you doing here in the library? Thought I'd always have to drag you in here, not out"
"I fell asleep during lessons….again" blushing, she looked down at a rather incriminating wet spot on the pages of the book in front of her, "I didn't mean to, I-"
"You don't have to apologize darlin'" Cain cut her off, and put a hand on her arm. She looked down at his hand then met his eyes "I know you didn't mean to, but it's what happens when you don't sleep at night." DG blushed and looked away to stare intently at the worn tabletop.
Sighing she looked back at Cain, "Well intentional or not, I've got to pay the price" she waved her hand toward the book.
Closing the cover and reading the title Cain let out a low whistle and said "no wonder you fell asleep darlin', the outside of it alone makes me want to take a nap" which made DG giggle…and DG never giggled, must be from the lack of sleep.
"I've got to finish this and be ready for a test on it tomorrow afternoon" she sighed.
Standing up Cain said "Well you're in luck, because I think I can save you from reading this all by yourself" picking up the book, Cain walked to the chair on the opposite side of where she was and sat down.
"Unless you can speed read and then magically plant the information in my head, I don't really see how you can save me this time Tin Man"
Ignoring this, Cain leafed through the pages and grunted. "How do you feel about this, I know these stories, every kid in the O.Z. is taught this stuff from the time their able to walk and talk…why don't I give you the W.C.A. version and use it on that test tomorrow?"
Raising an eyebrow at this she asked "W.C.A.?"
"Wyatt Cain Approved"
DG almost fell out of her seat laughing. In the three annuals since the eclipse, she had never heard Cain say anything like that before…who knew he had a sense of humor?
Cain waited until her fit of laughter had passed and said "So what's it gonna be Princess? Using the book as a pillow or taking a chance on me?"
"I'll always put my money on you Wyatt, let's get down to business"
Ignoring the effect on his body from her using his first name, and first name only, he opened the book to chapter one, took a few minutes to familiarize himself with the storyline and began "Long long ago…"
The book of love is long and boring, no one can lift the damn thing. It's full of charts and facts and figures and instructions for dancing.
But I love it when you read to me, and you can read me anything.