"Sooooo.… Who was that girl you were fooling around with yesterday sis? She a... friend of yours?" Eodred teased, nudging her and winking suggestively.

Medea nearly choked on her mouthful of scrambled eggs, washing them down quickly with her drink to avoid doing so. Once she had stopped coughing, she looked at her brother.

"Don't be ridiculous." She said coldly. "That girl is a housecarl. And a girl."

Her brother chuckled.

"Gee, you're getting awfully defensive sis. You sure?"

Medea stared at him. Was he being serious? Did he really think that she was... That she was...

"Of course I'm sure." She said flatly. "She is a girl."

He shrugged, noticing the hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Alright, alright. Just wondering." He said, backing off. He could tell that he was really irritating his sister, and that if he wasn't careful she would end up exploding on him like she did with Sharley all the time. "So where is she anyway? Thought you'd be sitting with her today."

Medea almost frowned, but then stopped in horror as she felt real emotions about to surface within her. That was unacceptable. Those who formed attachments were weak. She knew that. She would not allow herself to sink to that level, even if she was beginning to possibly maybe kind of feel a rather small amount of friendship towards Alyssa. Maybe.

"I don't know. Nor do I care. Why should I? I hardly even know her." She said, her voice like ice. Eodred flinched. That was more like the Medea that he knew.

"Right..." He muttered. "Whatever you say."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Despite herself, Medea soon found that her feet had taken her to the section of the castle that the housecarls stayed. What with each housecarl having their own room, it took her quiet a while to find Alyssa's room, but find it she did. She didn't bother knocking, opening the door and clearing her throat to announce her presence. Alyssa didn't answer, and for a split second, Medea allowed herself to feel a twinge of worry. Then she extinguished it again.

It was then that she spotted her, lying in bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. She seemed to be asleep, but the entire room had a strange, slow feeling about it. Medea noticed that the housecarl's face was abnormally pale but for her cheeks, which were an unhealthy flushed color. Medea took a step closer, recognizing the signs of fever that she had dealt with during her limited time working in the infirmary. She bent over so that she was level with the girl's face, pressing the back of her hand to Alyssa's forehead to check her temperature. It was exactly as she had first guessed- The girl was burning up.

Medea frowned. How long had the housecarl been like this? And why had no one done anything? Certainly there had to be some rule or regulation against this? She decided that she would look into it later, but for now she had to make sure Alyssa wasn't in any significant danger from the sickness.

Then she stopped. What on earth was she doing? Kindness... She wasn't supposed to be kind. And this emotion she was feeling- she couldn't compare it to anything she had ever felt before, but she didn't like it. The fact that it was an emotion was bad enough. The fact that it was warming her cold heart was even worse. She shook her head. This was ridiculous. She, feeling emotion? It was impossible. She pushed all of her feelings back down, and an air of professional detachment enveloped her. Brushing her long black hair back out of her face with her hands, Medea looked at the sickly housecarl.

Alright, now what's first? Temperature. Right, I need her temperature. She reached out with her mind, letting her magic cover the other girl, until she had a close estimate of Alyssa's temperature. 109 degrees? That can't be right, that's ridiculous. A 109 degree fever? She should be dead... Only then did it occur to her that she hadn't yet checked if the girl was even breathing, or if she had a pulse. She made a few minor adjustments to the magical field surrounding her and breathed out a sigh of relief as she heard the girl's heart beating. So she's alive. That's good. No use treating a dead patient, now is there? Anyway, what now? She had to stop and think for a moment. She hadn't done something like this for years- she didn't want to mess up. Ah, yes. That's right. She increased the room's temperature, knowing that despite her ridiculously high temperature, Alyssa would still be feeling as if she was at the hub of the world. Now that the proper conditions had been met, she could start her work.

She began to mutter in some ancient language, closing her eyes. First a cooling charm to lessen the fever, then a purge spell to destroy the virus infecting the girl's system. This continued for hours, deep into the hours of the night. At last, she watched as a healthy pinkish tinge returned to the girl's cheeks at last.

"Medea..."

The sorceress stiffened. Was she awake? It wasn't safe for her to be awake at this early stage- she could catch the germ all over again from something in the room... And the stimulants placed in her system to speed up her healing could very easily have a reverse effect if the virus reentered her bloodstream, could cause the virus to progress at a much greater speed... she could die. No! Not after all that work, there's no way I'm loosing her after that much work! Medea thought to herself, her second thought being, I can't let her breathe this air! What am I going to do, oh god what am I going to do?

She covered the girl's mouth with one hand, pinching her nose shut with the other and using her magic to cause fresh oxygen to continuously manifest in her lungs. But the girl continued to breathe, and Medea could feel her breath slipping through the tiny cracks in her fingers. It wasn't her nose that was the problem- it was her mouth. Crap! What now, what now?

There was only one sure-fire way of blocking air through the mouth that she knew of, but to say it was undesirable would be a grave understatement. She had no desire to put her lips anywhere near Alyssa's, never mind like this. If the girl wasn't unconscious and possibly dying, then maybe- What am I thinking? Damn these hormones! She did not want to kiss Alyssa, period. And that was that. Nothing more, nothing less.

But she had to! If she didn't the girl would die.

Medea mentally slapped herself.

Snap out of it you idiot. Use your magic, not your mouth!

And so she did.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

For one of the first times in her life, Medea was actually willing to and trying to sleep. And as luck would have it, she found that she could not. She was trying, but she couldn't get the events of tonight out of her mind. They were causing emotions to rise to the surface that were too strong and real for her to cope with, and she didn't like it one bit. Why had she been so hesitant? She knew that there wouldn't have been any hesitation if it had been a member of her family on that cot, in danger of breathing in a deadly virus... But it had been a female housecarl, and she had hesitated because her mind had kicked into overdrive, instantly turning the situation into something that it was not.

She gave up on sleeping, walking over to her window and sitting down at her desk. She looked up at the sky. The view here wasn't nearly as good as the view from her tower, but it was still beautiful. She loved nights like this, when she would open the window and her mind and just let the crisp winter air fill her room. The harsh gusts of wind didn't bother her in the slightest- in fact, she actually enjoyed the feeling of fresh air on her face. It was as if the wind could wash away all of her problems; let her start over fresh. But she knew that it would do no such thing tonight. There were far to many problems troubling her tonight to be whisked away by the wind.

She was so confused. She simply couldn't make any sense of what had happened earlier that night. Why had she instinctively turned it into something that it was not? Was it possible that some remote corner of her mind had realized what she wanted before even she had, and acted on it? The idea seemed ridiculous, but she knew all too well that it could be possible. And if that was true, what should she do about it? Was this normal? She doubted it. She shut her eyes tightly, frustrated beyond imagination. Why did everything have to be so damn complicated? If she hadn't gone and gotten herself grounded, she wouldn't be in this mess!

Medea opened her eyes, looking at the sky once again. She decided without thinking that she needed to ease her mind, and almost effortlessly she pulled some light down from the stars. She let the light dance over her desk for a few precious moments, illuminating her face with a soft blue light. Concentrating hard, she carefully molded each scale to fit perfectly onto the lithe body forming before her eyes. At last she sat back in her chair to admire her creation, watching as the shining blue snake reared it's head, it's scales reflecting the glow of the moon and sending tiny points of light raining down all over her room as it moved- her own personal sky. In each of the snake's midnight blue scales she could see the light of a thousand stars. It's eyes were like the moon, it's fangs the deadly silver of a million constellations condensed into thin, lethal blades sparkling with venom.

She watched it for a long time, then reached out her hand and let her creature slither up her arm and settle on her shoulders. It was a tiny snake, no longer than her forearm and no thicker than her middle finger. She watched it slide up her arm with an air of great admiration- this was without a doubt one of her most beautiful creations yet. She almost envied it's beauty. Medea decided to keep it, gathering all the dust from the room into one place and molding it into a perfect glass cage. She scooped the snake up into her hands and placed it down gently into the enclosure. She watched it for a while longer before getting up and walking over to her bed with a large yawn. She was exhausted. She lay down, closing her eyes and gratefully accepting the peace and quiet offered to her by a much-needed night of sleep.