Chapter Four

The Calm in the Storm

"I've never trusted calm; there has always been the hint of a gathering storm just around the corner."

~ Sleight; Jennifer Sommersby

Dustfinger opened his eyes slightly as the sound of a soft moan reached his ears. He looked down just in time to see Rosanna stretch her small arms over her head before curling up closer against his stomach. He felt the corners of his mouth turn up at the sight of his baby - a face he hadn't seen in so, so long. Even though he hadn't slept at all the night before, he'd been terrified that she would just disappear from his grasp as if she had never even been there. He knew he wouldn't have been able to handle such sorrow as that would have brought.

Rosanna didn't move for a long moment, so long that he'd almost begun to believe that she'd drifted back into her world of dreams, but eventually, she shifted just enough to prove him otherwise. It was obvious that she didn't want to wake up quite so soon. Finally, though, she stirred once more, slowly blinking open her eyes to meet Dustfinger's gaze. The bright smile that emerged on her lips as she looked up at him sent a rush of happiness through him that he would never have thought possible, especially in the Castle of Night, of all places.

"Hi Daddy," she mumbled, voice heavy with the sleep that still threatened to tug her away once more.

"Good morning little one," Dustfinger replied softly, brushing a stray curl away from her eyes with a smile. "Did you sleep good?"

"Mm-hmm." Her small hands moved to rub the sleep from her eyes before slowly sinking back into her lap. "Very good. Did you sleep good?"

Dustfinger only nodded in response because in reality, he hadn't slept much at all. He'd spent most of the remainder of the night on guard, wary that Basta would make good on his promise much sooner than expected. He'd really only just begun to doze off right before Rosanna had woken up, and he couldn't very well let her be alone while he slept.

Thankfully Rosanna didn't seem to question his reply at all, automatically assuming that he had slept just as well as she had. She stretched once more with a small yawn before sitting up to lean against his chest. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and hugged her close, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he did so.

"I love you, Daddy," Rosanna said quietly, giving him a bright smile as she wrapped her arms around him as much as she could.

He took a deep breath, still unused to hearing those words from such a sweet little voice. "I love you too, Rosie."

The little girl's smile only seemed to widen as she looked up at him, obviously enjoying the nickname he'd almost always called her. It quickly vanished, however, as the sound of light footsteps echoed through the drafty hall. Whipping her head around so quickly that her curls fell in her face, she pressed herself closer to Dustfinger, a soft whimper escaping as her hands wrapped around his fingers.

Dustfinger pulled Rosanna closer to him as his eyes watched the newcomer's shadow grow shorter and darker as they approached. When the owner of the echoing footsteps came into view, he raised his gaze to meet that of the young handmaiden who'd escorted him to the castle under the Queen's orders.

A small frown turned down the corners of his mouth as he inspected her, only vaguely noticing the pitcher and cup in her hands before realizing that she was not the only one who now stood in front of the cell's barred door. He didn't recognize the guards as any of the ones he'd seen since being in the castle, but even if they had been, their faces weren't worthy of committing to memory.

The handmaiden waited silently as the door was unlocked, head bowed slightly as if she were guilty to be standing in front of him, free. Though perhaps she just hated the dungeons or even the guards that had escorted her down the stairs. As the door swung open, she slowly stepped toward the cell, glancing nervously at Dustfinger for a moment before entering the cell completely. Perhaps stories of what he could do still traveled through the kingdoms even now.

Just as the young woman opened her mouth the speak, the guards slammed the cell door shut, the bars rattling with so much force as to make even Dustfinger flinch involuntarily. She waited a moment as if to gather her thoughts back from where the sudden noise had scattered them before taking another hesitant step towards Dustfinger and Rosanna.

"My name is Katerina," she said the words so softly that Dustfinger had to strain to hear her. "I brought you something."

Dustfinger waited for her to say more, but her gaze had dropped to Rosanna, lingering there with a momentary distant look in her expression that seemed to say she was no longer in the same time as they were. Only seconds had passed, however, before she noticed the way Rosanna's eyes kept flickering to the cell door as if expecting someone else to arrive at any moment - someone much worse than a lowly handmaiden.

"Don't worry, sweet girl," she whispered, carefully lowering herself to her knees to better meet the young child's eyes. "It's just me. No one else."

She waited for Rosanna's eyes to move back to her without checking the door every few seconds before looking back at Dustfinger, a solemn darkness that hadn't been there a moment ago filling her gaze.

"I brought you some water," she continued, only looking away long enough to fill the cup with the water the pitcher contained.

Dustfinger nodded, taking the cup as she held it out. Why hadn't she just said she was bringing water to begin with? It had been obvious from the moment that she'd stopped outside of their cell.

He didn't care enough to think past that small question though. Not when he had the first bit of sustenance that he'd seen since entering the cell now in his hand. He bent over Rosanna a bit, holding the cup to her lips with a small smile of encouragement. The way that she drank the water, very nearly choking on it in her hurry to drink as much of the cool drink as she could, small hands wrapped tightly around the cup as if fearful it would be snatched from her before she finished, made him actually pause to think about how long it must have been since she'd gotten anywhere near the food or drink that she actually needed.

Though his gaze stayed fixed on Rosanna as she drank, he wasn't pulled back into the present until he felt the touch of Katerina's hand on his arm, drawing his attention to her. As soon as he looked at her, Katerina pulled her hand back, glancing over her shoulder anxiously at the guards' backs. When she seemed sure they wouldn't turn around, she quietly slid a hand into the pocket of her apron.

His eyebrows raised in surprise as she pulled a small chunk of bread out of her pocket. It was obvious she was only supposed to bring them water, not such a luxury as food to ease the sharp pains of hunger in their stomachs. She gave him no time to react, hurriedly pushing the piece of bread into his hand and closing his fingers around it with a quick smile at Rosanna, that faraway look returning to her eyes for just an instant before she stood and walked back to the cell door.

"I'm finished," she said softly, casually as if nothing had happened except the task she'd been told to handle. Without another word, she stepped out of the cell, waited for the guards to lock it once more, and walked between the two of them back towards the stairs without a single glance backward.

Dustfinger waited to make sure the guards were as far away as they could be before he took his hand from where it had been tucked between himself and Rosanna, the chunk of bread still safely encased by his fingers. He tore a small piece away, hopefully, enough to ease Rosanna's growling stomach, but not so much that she would get sick after not eating for who knew how long. Besides, they needed to save as much as possible in case they weren't brought any more food in the near future.

I'll trade you," he said lightly, one hand holding out the piece of bread while the other reached for the cup of water in the young child's hands.

Rosanna's eyes widened as her attention fell to the food in her father's hand. Her small hands pushed the cup into his free hand before snatching the bread away so quickly that it nearly broke Dustfinger's heart.

"Okay Daddy," she said before shoving a large bite of the bread into her mouth. A quiet moan escaped the small girl, though the bread couldn't have been anywhere near as good as what Roxanne would have given her at home. It was obvious how little she cared though, how happy she was just to have something in her belly once again.

Dustfinger gave Rosanna a gentle smile as he watched her eat, taking a small sip of the remaining water in attempt to ignore the beginning pangs of hunger in his own stomach. He didn't want to take away any of the food from Rosanna; she was so tiny, she certainly needed it more than he did right now.

In only a few moments, the bread Rosanna had had in her hands had vanished from sight. Her lower lip trembled slightly as she looked down at her empty hands, a look of complete disappointment on her face as she realized that her meal was now gone. She seemed to forget her disappointment when she looked up at Dustfinger though. Instead, a look of deep concern appeared, much like the look Roxane used to give him every time he would leave for yet another trip with the Strolling Players, and even the look she'd given him when he'd left with Katerina.

"You didn't eat," she said, doubt creeping into her voice as if questioning whether she'd been meant to eat all of what she'd been given.

Another small smile appeared on Dustfinger's lips as he tucked a small curl behind her ear.

"I'm not very hungry right now, little one," he said. "I'll eat in a bit."

"Oh," she said, her concern immediately fading. "Okay."

Now that she was sure that he was okay, she twisted in his lap until she was laying down, hanging her head upside down slightly so that her black curls fell away from her face and brushed the cold stone of the floor beneath them. Dustfinger was surprised to realize that he had to bite back the threat of laughter that all of a sudden bubbled up in his chest as he watched her examine the now upside down room with a curious expression on her face. He hadn't had to fight to hide his emotions like this in a very long time, not since before Silvertongue had read him out of the book that terrible night.

He realized he must not have succeeded in concealing his amusement much when Rosanna began giggling as their gazes met. Wanting to keep the laughter going for as long as possible, he tilted his head to the side so that it almost matched the angle of Rosanna's before reaching out to tap her lightly on the nose with his forefinger.

"What's so funny, little one?"

"The ceiling is the floor now," she responded, sending a grin brighter than the sun shining up at him. Another giggle flew from her lips as she moved her hands to touch the floor over her head. "I can touch the ceiling now!"

"Oh?" he raised his eyebrows unbelievingly, a grin growing on his face. "And when did you grow so big that you can touch the ceiling now?"

"You can touch the ceiling too." Another sentence spoken through fits of laughter. "So you're really big too. We're both really big now!"

"Oh no," Dustfinger chuckled softly as he gently gathered her into his arms, hugging her close as he lowered his face so that they were nearly nose to nose. "You're not allowed to be as big as me just yet."

With the sound of so much laughter echoing through the small cell, he could almost forget where he was as he looked into the eyes of his youngest daughter; eyes so much like her mother's.

"Okay," she threw her hands out to the side to accompany her matter of fact words. "I am smaller big, but you're bigger big! So we can both touch the ceiling, but you are bigger still."

A full, true laugh finally escaped Dustfinger's lips, though he was quick to cut it short at the thought of what the guards would do if they heard the happiness and joy echoing through such a dismal place. In its place, he allowed himself to let a wide grin trail across his face.

"You just stay smaller big for as long as you can, Rosie," He took her small hands in his, wrapping his fingers around hers as he squeezed her hands lightly.

Rosanna smiled at him, dark eyes sparkling with the joy and love that was evident in her expression as she looked up at him.

"Okay Daddy," she promised, pulling herself to stand on his lap so she could press a quick kiss to his nose.

He blinked in surprise as she pulled away, not at all expecting her to show him so much affection after he'd been gone for so long, even before she'd been taken from this world. Even before he'd been dragged into Silvertongue's world, he hadn't been home nearly enough as he should have been - a fact that was always painfully clear with every detail around him. But no; Rosanna didn't seem to care about any of that, just as she had in the past. She was too young to understand why it took him so long to come home some trips. As long as he eventually came home, she was happy. He leaned forward slightly to touch his nose to hers before gently kissing her forehead.

"Thank you," he said softly as he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight against him.

She wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. "You're welcome."

After a moment, he settled her back into his lap, using both hands to gently brush back all of the stray curls hanging in front of her face after her upside down escapade. She grinned up at him as she did, all signs of fear of the guards or the place entirely nonexistent now. She tucked her feet underneath her, small hands tugging the hem of her nightgown down as far as it would go in an obvious attempt to get warm as she looked around the cell.

"Is it nighttime or daytime?" she asked, looking up at the ceiling, genuine curiosity in her voice.

His gaze perused the cell around them, the cold stone walls, solid from floor to ceiling, the sturdy door that allowed no light except what little could creep in through the bars from the low light of the few torches in the hall, and realized that he had no way of telling what time of day it was. He'd been up all night, so he couldn't attempt a guess by how long he'd slept. And he wouldn't have put it past Orpheus or even Basta to order the handmaiden - Katerina - to bring them water in the middle of the night just to confuse them.

"I'm not sure little one," he admitted, tucking a lone curl behind her ear as he looked back down at her.

"Me neither. It's very dark here all the time. I miss the sun."

He frowned as he realized that he hadn't stopped to think about just how long his daughter been stuck in this cold, dark place by herself. It would have taken at least a week for Katerina and her escort to make it to the farm and back with him in tow. Anger bubbled up in his chest as he imagined her all alone, Basta and the guards the only ones to ever enter the dungeon of their own free will.

"Sometimes I imagine things," her soft voice interrupted his thoughts. Her small finger reached up to trace a small sun shape in the air above her. "Sometimes it helps. It's very boring in here too. Well, until you came. You make it better."

He forced a small smile to his lips as he stroked his thumb lightly over her cheek. "You make being here a lot better too, little one." Though it would have been so much better if neither of them was there at all.

Her smile seemed to break through her momentary solemnity at his words. "That makes me happy."

He couldn't help the short, soft laugh that slipped past his lips. How someone could be so cheerful in the dungeon of the Castle of Night, he had no earthly idea, but this child managed it astonishingly well for someone who'd been there for days all alone.

"What?" she asked through the giggles that bubbled up for the sole fact that he was laughing too. She tilted her head slightly to the side as she looked up at him, a bright smile still on her face.

"I just missed you, my little one," he whispered before kissing her forehead.

As he pulled away, Rosanna lifted her small hand to stroke his cheek, just as she had as a baby, so small she almost fit in just his hands alone. "I missed you too. Very, very much."

In that moment, all he could do was close his eyes, a small smile lifting the corners of his lips. Even back in the other world, when he'd had no idea that Rosanna had been taken from everyone far too soon, this was one of the things he had missed most about home. Memories flooded back to the front of his mind; waking up the morning after he'd returned from a trip to cheerful smiles and giggles, hands running across his face in an attempt to wake him up. And now, by some amazing stroke of luck, he actually had it back again; something he never even imagined could be possible.

Finally, he opened his eyes to look into the sweet face of his little one, putting a hand on each side of her chubby face. He stroked his thumbs along her cheeks before kissing her nose as she had done to him earlier. When she wrapped her arms around his neck once more, hugging him as tightly as she could, he could only sigh and lean his head against hers, soaking in the feeling of being nearly back to the way things were before he'd left. Once they got out of this place, which he knew they somehow would, no matter what it took, all they would need was Roxane and Brianna with the added addition of Jehan and everything would be as perfect as he could have ever imagined it.