Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is owned by Sherwood Smith. Yay Sherwood Smith!
"Oh, your majesty! Wake up! You have a meeting with the silver merchants in half a bell!"
Mel, properly known as Melanie Adamson, groggily stretched and opened her eyes. Looking around, she couldn't help but think that this dream was particularly detailed. Her room was richly decorated with tapestries depicting idyllic country scenes and furnished with a beautiful red colored wooden bed and desk. The window to her right looked out over a small lake town on a beautiful day. She did not notice that her bed was quite large and that the sheets to her left looked rumpled as if someone else had slept there as well.
There was a severe yet nice looking woman standing in front of her, with an anxious look on her face. This woman spoke again, "Your majesty, I beg of you to make haste. The king had said you slept badly last night and were not to be woken until late today. He has gone to meet with one group of merchants and has left you to talk to the silver merchants. They are anxiously waiting to meet you."
As Melanie obeyed, she thought, "So I'm a Queen with servants. This dream is getting better and better. I'm like a Disney princess!" she smiled to herself and readily put on the dark green gown the servant held out for her. After a quick wash of her face and teeth Melanie followed a courier who waited outside for her outside the room.
"I wonder if I am going to a ball" Melanie thought, not having paid attention to what Mora had told her earlier, "or to sit with the King while he makes important decisions. Oh I hope it is a ball! Or a grand brunch or something. Something queenly!"
As she followed the servant walking briskly in front of her, it occurred to her she really had no idea what those Disney princesses did during the day once they found their prince and got married. Deciding her subconscious controlling her dreaming would be creative enough to fill in those gaps, she was led into a large room filled with cushions.
"Hah! Are we going to do some medieval style yoga? That should be fun! Maybe I'll be able to get that downward dog pose now that I'm a Queen." Melanie suppressed a giggle as she kneeled on the cushion she was directed to.
"Your majesty," a short man announced at the doorway, catching her attention, "I present to you the silver merchants of Mnend." With that about twenty or so serious and important looking men walked into the room, bowed to Melanie, and sat on cushions of their own, all facing her.
"Oh my." Melanie thought, "This doesn't look very fun."
"Your majesty," one of the men began, "it is an honor for us to speak with you today."
"You can just call me Mel," Melanie said, smiling.
The man looked surprised, and then continued. "We have brought a few grievances with us today, as we represent not only our guild in Mnend but also all the silver merchants in Remalna.
"Remalna, that's a pretty name," Mel thought absentmindedly. She looked around the room and said in her most queenly voice, "Let's get started then! What's the problem"
Another man gave her a strange look, then said, "Silver mining is a dangerous enterprise but a much needed commodity. However, the taxes levied by the separate provinces and the state as a whole put us at an economic disadvantage because of the nature of our business…"
"Oh crap, he's talking about taxes? Insurance? I hate economics! I almost failed Econ 101 freshman year," Mel thought anxiously, "Why would I put this in my dream? Hmmm, there must be something better coming up. I'll remember something brilliant subconsciously once all these old guys stop talking. Why are they all so serious? Silver mining? Really? Aren't there gnomes in this country to do that kind of thing?"
Mel noticed the men had started to look at her, some concerned, some amused. A few in the back of the room looked at each other as if to say, "We knew it. We knew this queen couldn't be all she was hyped up to be. She is nothing without her husband."
"Just nod and smile," she coached herself, "nod and smile."
"Ah yes well, Sir-err-uh…" Melanie stammered.
"Mimsy, your highness"
"Yes, Sir Mimsy. I'm afraid there is nothing the crown, can uh, really do in this case. I mean your claims are valid of course!" Melanie supplied as the faces in the crowd grew more tense and angry. "Really, and you are all very nice men, its just that, well, uh…I was going to say that…I mean….you understand that…oh shit! I don't know what I'm talking about! Why the hell are you asking me about this? I'm the Queen! I'm supposed to go to balls! What kind of freaking dream is this anyways?"
The men in the room looked totally taken aback and somewhat afraid at Melanie's outburst. "Has she gone mad?" some whispered to the others.
"What?!" she demanded, "Why are you all looking at me like that? Where is that servant lady? I need to go back to bed. I can't be having dreams like this tonight! Olivia is coming to pick me up to go to work tomorrow and she is always so damn early."
The merchants stood back, aghast, as Melanie walked out of the room, muttering about nightmares and how she shouldn't drink coffee before she went to bed even if it was supposed to stave off a hangover.
A runner stationed at the door promptly led Melanie to her room, where she got in bed and closed her eyes to fall back asleep.
"Of course I can't fall asleep now!"
She tried to a few positions, but could not find a comfortable spot on the bed.
"Damn old time mattress," she thought frustrated. She sat up as Mora walked into the room.
"Ms. Servant Lady!" she called. Mora stopped and stared openly at her mistress. "I need something to get me back asleep. ASAP."
"But your highness, you cannot go to sleep. You have a full schedule all day. The king is expecting you for lunch. And then you are to go riding with the Count of Mnend, and then more merchant guilds are coming, and your daughter wants to get a new dress…"
Now it was Melanie's turn to stare. "My daughter?"
"Yes, young Oria. She is with her tutors now."
"No.freaking.way," Mel thought. If totally embarrassing herself in front of those merchants wasn't enough, she had a kid?! This wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare!
"Look, I just need some sleep. Could you bring me some...warm milk please?"
"Warm milk is supposed to be one of those old fashioned sleep aids, right?" Mel tried to assure herself, "No Tylenol PM around here."
Mora nodded and left for the kitchens, very worried for her mistress.
A few minutes later, a tall, handsome man walked purposely into the room.
"Oh I hope he's the King," Melanie couldn't help but think, "Having kids wouldn't be so bad."
"Mel, what has gotten into you?" the man asked, angrily. "We talked about how important these meetings were going to be. I was in the middle of a long discussion with the scribe guild when the leader of the silver merchants burst into the room demanding to know if I believed his profession to be a joke! A joke, Mel? How did you treat those people? He said you were talking nonsense about dreaming and didn't listen to them at all! This is our reputation on the
line here, Mel; we've worked too hard for this! We can't afford to mess this up." He finished with a flurry with his hands.
His rant done, Vidanric sat on the edge of the bed and took Melanie's hands. "Meliara, I know you didn't sleep well last night, are you ill?"
Melanie ripped her hands out of his hold. "Um, excuse me. But my name is not Meliara, its Melanie. And I would appreciate it if you were to stop pacing the room and leave as I have to go to sleep and end this horrible nightmare."
"Oh Meliara," Vidanric said, "Just because that meeting went badly doesn't mean it was a nightmare! We can fix it."
"No, you don't understand," Melanie replied slowly, "my name is Mel-anie. I am from Houston, Texas. In the United States. In North America. On Earth. Right now I am dreaming, and I need you to leave so I can go to sleep and wake up in my own bed. In my own room. In my own apartment."
"Mel…Meliara," Vidanric asked, looking into her eyes, "what are you talking about. What is Houston? Or North America? Did you eat something bad last night?"
"No, though I admit I probably had one too many margaritas!" Mel told him frankly.
"Marga…what is going on?" Vidanric asked, more to himself than the strange woman in front of him. "Do you know who I am? Your husband, Vidanric?" he asked.
"Yeah never seen you before in my life," Melanie told him.
Vidanric got up and started to pace the room again. Suddenly he stopped and told Melanie to stand up. She did, albeit reluctantly, and looked around the room as Vidanric studied her. His eyes slowly grew wide and his mouth opened in disbelief. "You aren't Meliara," he said in amazement, "you're slightly taller and not as small.
"Hey!" Melanie protested, "I don't go to the gym but c'mon man!"
"And your hair is much shorter," Vidanric continued, circling her, "and your eyes, they look the same but they are different, somehow. And you have a slight accent."
"Good!" Mel said, getting back into bed, "now that we are all on the same page, could you leave so I can go back to sleep and wake up in the real world?"
"But Meli…Melanie," Vidanric said. "This isn't a dream. I don't know how you got here or where my wife is, but you are now in Remalna. A very real place."
"Oh right, and so is Hogwarts, but unfortunately an owl didn't bring me a letter to go to wizard school. I guess they just got the wrong address, is that it?" Melanie asked him, now slightly annoyed. She had never had such annoying characters in her dreams before.
"Hogwarts? Is that some kind of disease from your world?" Vidanric asked, then shook his head and got back on topic, "Remalna is a real place. It is on the Sartor continent. Our royal colors are green and gold. Look!" he said suddenly, taking her by the hand and pulling her out the room and down the hallway. They stopped in front of a large tapestry, that, when pulled aside, revealed a huge room filled with books.
"The library at Mnend," Vidanric declared, "almost rivals that of ours at Athanarel. It contains the storied history of our realm. It includes its most recent story; that of the uprising led by Lady Meliara, the Countess of Astiar. My wife." he said, choosing a scroll from the shelf and giving it to Melanie. As she glanced through it, she could tell it was about this girl named Meliara and her brother who, in conjunction with a man called Shevareth, overthrew the evil king Galdran. These storied heroes, etc etc, were eventually married in a great alliance and now had one daughter, Oria, etc etc.
"Oh my God," Melanie said, looking up at Vidanric. You're this Vidanric Shevareth guy. And I'm supposed to be this girl….my subconscious just ain't that good. I can't make this kind of stuff up! I'm not dreaming."
"No, you're not. Though you certainly are not my Mel, and I don't know how you got here."
"Yeah, well you got me there," Melanie joked half-heartedly, feeling slightly sick.
"I'm going to send a message to your brother and get Russav to meet us in our…my rooms. We need to figure this out, and soon!" Vidanric decided, pulling Melanie along with him.
A/N: First of all, thanks to everyone who reviewed so far. I hope this chapter isn't too similar to the last one! I found both these chapters kind of difficult because I figured it would be hard to convince someone they had woken up in another world they had never heard of. Please review and let me know what you think! I think there is still going to be some explanation coming up but stay with me! It should be fun...