I choked. I gasped. I felt as if I had been locked in a cage of stale air, and was just now being released. "She's coming to!" a voice above me cried. A voice I knew, and loved. That alone encouraged me to swim through the inky blackness in my mind to meet that voice, and the person it belonged to.

My head swam, but the more I blinked, the cleared the blurs- faces- above me became. At last, I recognized my father, my mother, Mandy, and Berthe. There was one face I did not recognize, but I was too tired to try to figure out who the person was.

"Nyssa? Nyssa, can you hear me?" My mother. A great sense of calm swept over me, and I almost burst with relief. My mother was here. Everything would be put to rights.

"Nyssa? Nyssa?" Her voice contained a note of panic. Oh yeah. She had asked a question. I began to nod, quickly, to reassure her, but stopped rapidly, for it made my head pound. I clutched at it. Oh, well. Better try the old vocal cords. I tried to say,'I'm fine, I can hear you,' but such a noise came out, it must have sounded like I was dying.

My mother rushed at me, but I weakly held up a hand to stop her, while I coughed and hacked. Finally, I took a deep breath. "Yes," I choked out. I heard such sighs of relief then that it seemed as if everyone had been holding their breath for the past five minutes. I would have laughed wildly, but I knew it would only make me cough more, and my throat already felt raw, and scraped.

"Water," I croaked out, and a water skin was lifted to my lips. I drank in deep, slow sips, and my thirst was quenched.

The hands that held the water skin dropped, and I realized who their owner was, a fraction before they spoke. "Nyssa, remember me?" Of course I did. Who could forget such a loyal and good friend as-

"Berthe."

"Nyssa, drink this. It will help return your strength."

"Mandy." I said each of their names in turn.

"Berthe, Mandy, Mother, Father, and-" I squinted. Who was this man?

"Excuse me sir," I said in my best manner. "I don't believe we've met."

"Allow me to introduce myself," he smiled. "I am Nicholas Galetree, formerly known as Sir Nicholas Galetree." He bowed gallantly, still smiling. A former knight!

"It was Sit Galetree that has been caring for you," explained Mandy, blushing slightly.

I smiled at him, and sipped at the liquid in my bowl. A spicy carrot taste came to my mouth, Mandy's trademark, and it seemed to warm me all the way down to the tips of my toes. I sipped eagerly, not even noticing the unicorn hairs that floated in the broth.

The soup cleared my mind, and my head stopped pounding like a drum. And the quiet in the room was so intense, that I began to do some thinking. For instance: Why was I here? What was wrong with me? Was I sick, or even... dying? I quickly pushed the thought out of my mind, but it was enough. Everything came flooding back to me.

Will, running. Mia, lying still. Whispers of an unknown disease that swept across the region, bringing death in its path. I screamed, and covered my ears. I did not want to remember. But the memories kept coming, even as I rocked back and forth in despair, desperate to keep my mind blank.

My mother, floating out of a window, going where I could not. Moans as many lay dying. A despairing scream. Then nothing more.

The White Death.

Arms shook me. "Nyssa, wake up, you're dreaming."

"What's wrong with her?"

"Someone call a doctor, quick!"

"There's one already here!"

"Oh, right, sorry. Can you help her?"

I was frightening them, I knew, but I could not stop sobbing. All the memories, all the pain. It was just too much. I could not bear it.

But at last, my sobs ceased, and the arms dropped me, shaking no longer, and the shouts died away. Only when I opened my eyes did I realize that I had had them squeezed tightly shut. I wrenched them open, and light came flooding in. I had to ask, I had to! But I did not want to know.

"Do I have the White Death?" There. I had said it.

Five somber faces stared down at me, and a tear fell onto the coverlet. That was when I panicked.

"Am I dying?" I screamed. "Am I as good as dead already? Have I entered my final four days?"

My mother swooped down, and pulled the sheets up further to cover me. "No, dear," she soothed, "It's not the White Death, and you're not dying." My body went limp with relief. I would live! Then... what really happened?

"Mandy." I directed my question at her, for she was the last person I remembered seeing, before now. "What happened? Why am I here?"

"Well," she started, her hands twitching nervously, "you were in your room, just staring at the wall when I came in, because I though I had heard screaming. You didn't respond to anything I said. So, right when I was going to get help, you started screaming and shouting things, like 'Don't leave me!'" Ella took a step backwards, with a shocked expression on her face, and Char too wore an odd look.

Mandy cleared her throat and continued, not noticing. "We brought you here, and you've been asleep for two sunsets."

I took all that in. it made sense. I smiled, and nodded, and a great weariness came over me. My head sank into my pillows, and I went back to sleep. That night, I dreamed of chanting gnomes, and a hauntingly familiar tune that I couldn't quite remember.

(A/N- This is still Nyssa's point of view, but she does not know what is happening in these next few paragraphs.)

After they left Nyssa's room on tiptoe, Ella drew Mandy off to the side in an unused room. After peering out into the hall, she shut the door with a sharp click. A bewildered Mandy stared on as Ella paced across the floor, and then turned abruptly to fix Mandy with a piercing stare. "You said Nyssa shouted something before she fell." Sharp, and to the point.

Mandy felt flustered, not quite sure how to respond. "Yes, Lady, she did in fact yell, rather odd things too. 'Don't go, I need you. You can't die.' Something like that, I can't quite remember. I was too busy running for help than to ponder her words." She gestured helplessly.

Ella nodded curtly, and resumed pacing. After a few minutes of this, Mandy ventured to ask, "Lady, what is it? Is something wrong?"

Ella started, and turned, as if she had forgotten Mandy was in the room. Mandy was surprised to see tears shining in Ella's eyes, but she was also smiling when she caught Mandy's hands excitedly. She gave a small skip like a little girl playing in the market, and Mandy's breath caught when Ella whispered, "I'm fairly sure, I mean... I do believe that Nyssa has the Gift."