"When Words Get In The Way"
Part Four of the 'Words' Saga
**
Part 7
"Accept me as I am, and only then will we discover each other."
Sarah crossed her arms protectively around her stomach, and wished herself to be warm. Instantly, the warmth trickled down from her hands and spread all over her body. She sighed, savoring the delicious feeling, and then opened her eyes again to watch the stars glitter above her.
*I really ought to get inside* she thought. But what was she going to tell Jareth? That the Wise Man couldn't tell her squat? He probably already knew that, but somehow, saying it out loud would make it seem so much more hopeless. Besides, he'd probably be waiting for her in the throne room again, and unless she was very mistaken, their guests would be with him. If she went in, as Queen she would be obligated to sit with her guests and entertain them. And put up with that...that...Ryo character. No, she'd wait it out a little longer. It was a nice night, after all.
So she put it off, just a few more minutes, gliding around through the gardens aimlessly. She paused at the fountain in the center, and stood up on the edge of the pool to look out over the tall flower bushes and hedges. In the distance rose the dark mountains to the south, complete with cascading waterfall. The falls looked like a huge silver ribbon left dangling carelessly over the edge of the foreboding cliffs. If she concentrated, she could almost hear the water falling-
-a dark object loomed up into her face, blocking out everything else in her vision. She yelped, falling back, off the fountain ledge onto the ground. She landed hard on her rump, knocking the wind from her body.
*What? Attack! My baby! NO!* She shrieked mentally, unable to do so aloud.
Incoherent thoughts and fears raced through her brain, and then....then....
Then she realized that the black shape was gone - she was sitting sprawled out on the cold stone floor of the garden walkway, staring instead at a funny looking girl. The girl (child really, she looked about twelve) was crouching on her heels, watching Sarah with a contrite expression on her face. "Is the Queen hurt?" she asked softly, in a quiet voice.
"Huh? N...No, I'm okay." Sarah mentally checked herself...nope, everything was fine. Save for a bruised sense of dignity and a slightly less sore rear end. She pulled herself to her feet and hesitantly took a step closer to the stranger. The child rose to her feet too, looking up at Sarah with wide, black eyes. Her hair, waist long, wispy white, hung down around her body loosely, and several strands fell into her eyes. Her skin was almost as pale as her hair, almost glowing in the rising moonlight. Her clothes were a costume of glittering rags that hung off her small body like the tattered reminders of finery. Her feet were bare, and she seemed to have nothing but the clothes she wore and a small black hoop earring in her right ear.
*She looks like one of the flower fairies* Sarah realized with a start. *Only bigger* She opened her mouth to ask if the girl was, indeed, one of the biting creatures, but the child, who had been studying the Queen just as intently, whirled and disappeared into the flower bushes.
"Wait!" Sarah called, running after her. "Wait! I won't hurt you! Who are you?"
She paused, panting slightly, at a turn in the path, and just as suddenly as she had gone, the child was back, standing a few feet away.
"I am myself, only that. No one is only herself."
Sarah straightened. "Huh?" And then, thinking this was hardly the kind of question a queen would ask a potential subject, straightened up and repeated, with more dignity, "What do you mean?"
The girl laughed and darted back into the shadows. Sarah took a hesitant step forward, trying to see into the gloom. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the voice came again directly behind her. "I meant only to answer your question."
Sarah whirled to find herself inches away from the glittering black eyes. She blinked in surprise, and suddenly the girl was perched on a nearby rock, watching her with that perpetually amused expression. *Calm down* Sarah ordered herself. *Remember what Hoggle said. You have to ask the right questions.* "Okay then," she said aloud. "What is your name?"
"Ah," the girl raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't the queen remember? No one has told her."
"So then why don't *you* tell me?"
This time the girl merely threw her head back and laughed, and Sarah revised her earlier opinion that the stranger was a larger version of the flower fairies. The little biters didn't laugh like that, deep and hearty, from the gut. They laughed (when they laughed at all - usually when tormenting some larger creature) with delicate tinny sounds. Who, then, was this stranger? Sarah let loose a frustrated sigh. "I guess I still don't know the right questions."
"Or perhaps the queen does not know the right answers?" The stranger cocked her head to the side. "No one knows the answers, though."
"I'm beginning to think no one does." Sarah agreed, flopping to the ground and leaning back against the wall. "Jareth isn't going to be happy when I go in tonight. The Wise Man can't tell me anything useful. Well, maybe that's no surprise. But it's distressing that no one can tell me what's going on. Even Jareth doesn't know what that strange warning meant." She closed her eyes tiredly, missing the slightly exasperated expression that crossed the stranger's face briefly.
"How long have you been in the Labyrinth, by the way? I've been here a good few months and I've never seen you before." Sarah cracked an eye open. "You aren't related to the flower fairies, by any chance? You look like them."
The stranger drew her legs up to her chest and grinned impishly. "I do not bite." Sarah laughed appreciatively. The girl rested her chin on her knee. "No one has been here awhile, but I stay away from the castle."
"Well, you've definitely been here for awhile. You already sound like a Labyrinth inhabitant, always talking in riddles and nonsense." Sarah opened both eyes and glared around at the hedge walls in annoyance. "No one can answer a straight question!"
"Exactly."
Sarah turned her head sharply back to the girl. "What?"
Again, that playful laughter. "The Queen still does not recognize the answers? She has not been here too long herself. Or mayhap the Queen is in her castle too often. No one has faith in the Queen, though. She will learn."
"Tell me, have you ever met the Wise Man? Old guy, walks really slow, has a big bird on his head, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever? You ought to, I think you'd get along well." Sarah told her acerbically. "Actually, I think maybe you're a little more confusing than he is."
"No one thanks you for that complement, Queen."
"Good for them," she said shortly. "And please, call me Sarah. I get that 'Queen' thing way too often of late." She paused for a moment, then decided to take one more shot at it. "Please, what can I call you?"
Suddenly, the stranger was gone. Sarah sat up straight, startled, and stifled a scream as a dark form loomed up out of the gloom. A bright light flashed in her face, blinding her.
"Lady Sarah?"
She wanted to cry with relief. "Danielle."
"I apologize for frightening you." The Fae woman leaned down, offering a hand. "Are you alright?"
"Yes. Yes, I'm fine." Sarah let her pull her to her feet. "Were you looking for me?"
"No, just wandering the gardens. I'm so glad you restored them. I always did love them the best. Jareth's mother worked so hard in them once, back and back. They were the only thing she really loved about this kingdom- besides its power."
"It's hard to imagine someone who murdered her own family as loving anything. Especially not flowers and gardens."
Danielle shot her a hooded glance. "So you know the story?"
Sarah nodded. She'd heard the old story about Jareth's mother a few months ago, during one of her frequent hours in the massive castle library. Jareth's mother had been an exceptionally rotten person, killing her own brother and father in a failed attempt to take over the kingdom. She had apparently been very vengeful and bloodthirsty, and had used every weapon available in the fight - including her infant son, Jareth. Sarah had never met her, but from her reading, she didn't think to highly of her.
Danielle seemed almost to sigh, and then said quietly, "People are surprisingly complicated, Lady Sarah. If I've learned anything from my long centuries of existence, I've learned that you can never judge things based on their appearance. Particularly if you have never seen them."
Sarah nodded.
"Tell me, Lady Sarah, who were you speaking to when I came up just a moment ago?"
"Hmm? Oh...er....no one, I guess." Sarah paused, and then slapped her hand to her forehead. "No one! Oh, geez! NOW I get it."
"Lady Sarah?" Danielle furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Nothing, never mind." Sarah waved a hand.
"Perhaps we had better return to the castle? You must of course be especially careful until Jareth has caught that beast. And you might take a chill out here, my dear," she added.
"You go ahead. I'll be along in a moment."
Danielle nodded, and then turned to make her way back to the castle. Sarah watched her go, frowning slightly. Something that Danielle had said didn't seem quite right...
A hand brushed her face, and Sarah gasped. Then her eyes adjusted to the dark again, and she let out another whoosh of air in relief. "You again. I wish you wouldn't sneak up like that. It's almost like you just appear in front of me."
"Sorry. No one is simply a quick mover." The girl shrugged apologetically.
"And why didn't you tell me that No one is your NAME?" Sarah accused. "Oh wait..." she trailed off as the girl grinned triumphantly. "I guess you did, huh? I just didn't get it...'didn't understand the answer' ...oh, now I feel like a moron."
This time, No one practically howled with mirth, holding her sides and rocking back and forth on her heels.
"Very funny," Sarah growled, but she couldn't help cracking a grin, too. The girl's laughter was very infectious.
"No one knew the queen would figure it out...eventually."
"It would have been a lot easier if you didn't speak in third person."
"No one enjoys it."
"Exactly," Sarah grumbled.
No one leaned back against a hedge wall, crossing her arms in mimicry of Sarah's own stance. "Why is the Queen sitting outside talking to No one?"
"The Queen is having a phenomenally bad day. In fact, the Queen in seriously considering hiring a royal therapist."
No one cocked an eyebrow in confusion, and now it was Sarah's turn to laugh. "Don't worry about it. They don't exist here anyway."
"The Queen will tell No one about her fin-nomy-nally bad day?"
"Call me Sarah, No one. And if you really want to know -well, to sum it up: I'm married - to a Fae Goblin King no less - and my family only just found out about it...um...today. My husband's family just arrived to meet and greet the new arrival, and one of them has already made it very clear exactly what he thinks about a mortal messing up the bloodlines..." she grimaced as she remembered the blatantly disdainful look on Ryo's face. "...AND a prophet has recently told me a riddle about a beast using my life to summon a creature, or maybe it was a creature to summon...something, anyway. It's all very vague. Oh, and to top it all off, I'm pregnant, and thus subject to horrendous hormonal imbalances..." She shook her head.
No one stepped closer and put her arms around Sarah suddenly, in a brief gentle hug. Sarah stiffened with surprise for a moment, then relaxed, oddly touched by the unexpected display of affection.
"No one understands," the girl whispered as she drew away. "No one will help Sarah."
"You know, that doesn't sound as depressing as it ought to," Sarah told her lightly.
No one frowned deeply, all traces of laughter gone from her face now. She leaned forward, balancing precariously on her rocky perch, until her nose was almost touching Sarah's, and locked Sarah's dark eyes with her own. "The Queen is in danger," No one whispered intently. "The beast...the beast is not the danger. Not...really. The King will grieve and the Labyrinth with him, until they, too, die from a broken heart. And No one will be sad. No one likes the Labyrinth, and it's Queen. No one would help stop the beast, without killing the Queen. But no one can do it alone. No one cannot."
"Wait, say that last part again," Sarah broke out from the spell No one's eyes cast and bit her lip in puzzlement. "You've lost me, now. Oh, will everyone please stop talking in riddles? Just once?"
"No one speaks in riddles because No one can speak no other way. No one is sorry, Sarah."
"Okay, hang on, let's try to solve this logically, alright? The beast is on the loose, right?"
No one nodded.
"Great. Now, what IS the beast? It isn't one of Jareth's creatures, is it? Something from the Labyrinth?"
"No. Not the King's. The King's father's."
"The King's father's...Obadiah!"
No one nodded again.
"NOW we're getting somewhere. Okay, so Obadiah had some beast, and now that's he's dead...let me guess, the thing is after me."
Another nod.
"I knew it. It's always me. Oh damn!" Sarah threw up her hands. "It's not-" she stopped and heaved a sigh. "No. It isn't. It's never fair. I of all people should know that by now. But why DOES it always happen to me?"
"Magic calls to magic," No one intoned solemnly. "Power attracts power, and that attracts more power. The King and Queen are powerful people. They live in a powerful place, surrounded by powerful people and creatures. The baby inside the Queen has the beginnings of power. So they attract powerful friends. And enemies."
"Wonderful. Just what I needed to hear."
"No one apologizes, but No one speaks the truth, nonetheless."
"I know, and I thank you for it. So tell me, No one. What is this beast?"
No one froze, and then a shudder raked through her body. "No one?" Sarah asked, reaching out a hand.
The girl looked up again, and said very softly, "The Queen should be afraid of the beast." She paused and swallowed, as if forcing herself to speak more. "The beast...and its Friend."
Sarah leaned forward and laid a hand carefully on No one's thin shoulder. "Are you alright?" She wished silently for a handkerchief, and instantly it appeared in her hand. She held it out to the girl.
"No one is okay. No one is afraid of..." She shivered and sniffed suddenly, scratching at her nose. "No one doesn't want Sarah to be hurt." She looked downright miserable, rubbing her nose hard and sniffing. But she pushed the handkerchief away, gingerly, as if it were a bomb. "No one must go, now. Good night, Queen Sarah."
"Good night - "
But she was speaking to empty air.
**
Part Four of the 'Words' Saga
**
Part 7
"Accept me as I am, and only then will we discover each other."
Sarah crossed her arms protectively around her stomach, and wished herself to be warm. Instantly, the warmth trickled down from her hands and spread all over her body. She sighed, savoring the delicious feeling, and then opened her eyes again to watch the stars glitter above her.
*I really ought to get inside* she thought. But what was she going to tell Jareth? That the Wise Man couldn't tell her squat? He probably already knew that, but somehow, saying it out loud would make it seem so much more hopeless. Besides, he'd probably be waiting for her in the throne room again, and unless she was very mistaken, their guests would be with him. If she went in, as Queen she would be obligated to sit with her guests and entertain them. And put up with that...that...Ryo character. No, she'd wait it out a little longer. It was a nice night, after all.
So she put it off, just a few more minutes, gliding around through the gardens aimlessly. She paused at the fountain in the center, and stood up on the edge of the pool to look out over the tall flower bushes and hedges. In the distance rose the dark mountains to the south, complete with cascading waterfall. The falls looked like a huge silver ribbon left dangling carelessly over the edge of the foreboding cliffs. If she concentrated, she could almost hear the water falling-
-a dark object loomed up into her face, blocking out everything else in her vision. She yelped, falling back, off the fountain ledge onto the ground. She landed hard on her rump, knocking the wind from her body.
*What? Attack! My baby! NO!* She shrieked mentally, unable to do so aloud.
Incoherent thoughts and fears raced through her brain, and then....then....
Then she realized that the black shape was gone - she was sitting sprawled out on the cold stone floor of the garden walkway, staring instead at a funny looking girl. The girl (child really, she looked about twelve) was crouching on her heels, watching Sarah with a contrite expression on her face. "Is the Queen hurt?" she asked softly, in a quiet voice.
"Huh? N...No, I'm okay." Sarah mentally checked herself...nope, everything was fine. Save for a bruised sense of dignity and a slightly less sore rear end. She pulled herself to her feet and hesitantly took a step closer to the stranger. The child rose to her feet too, looking up at Sarah with wide, black eyes. Her hair, waist long, wispy white, hung down around her body loosely, and several strands fell into her eyes. Her skin was almost as pale as her hair, almost glowing in the rising moonlight. Her clothes were a costume of glittering rags that hung off her small body like the tattered reminders of finery. Her feet were bare, and she seemed to have nothing but the clothes she wore and a small black hoop earring in her right ear.
*She looks like one of the flower fairies* Sarah realized with a start. *Only bigger* She opened her mouth to ask if the girl was, indeed, one of the biting creatures, but the child, who had been studying the Queen just as intently, whirled and disappeared into the flower bushes.
"Wait!" Sarah called, running after her. "Wait! I won't hurt you! Who are you?"
She paused, panting slightly, at a turn in the path, and just as suddenly as she had gone, the child was back, standing a few feet away.
"I am myself, only that. No one is only herself."
Sarah straightened. "Huh?" And then, thinking this was hardly the kind of question a queen would ask a potential subject, straightened up and repeated, with more dignity, "What do you mean?"
The girl laughed and darted back into the shadows. Sarah took a hesitant step forward, trying to see into the gloom. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the voice came again directly behind her. "I meant only to answer your question."
Sarah whirled to find herself inches away from the glittering black eyes. She blinked in surprise, and suddenly the girl was perched on a nearby rock, watching her with that perpetually amused expression. *Calm down* Sarah ordered herself. *Remember what Hoggle said. You have to ask the right questions.* "Okay then," she said aloud. "What is your name?"
"Ah," the girl raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't the queen remember? No one has told her."
"So then why don't *you* tell me?"
This time the girl merely threw her head back and laughed, and Sarah revised her earlier opinion that the stranger was a larger version of the flower fairies. The little biters didn't laugh like that, deep and hearty, from the gut. They laughed (when they laughed at all - usually when tormenting some larger creature) with delicate tinny sounds. Who, then, was this stranger? Sarah let loose a frustrated sigh. "I guess I still don't know the right questions."
"Or perhaps the queen does not know the right answers?" The stranger cocked her head to the side. "No one knows the answers, though."
"I'm beginning to think no one does." Sarah agreed, flopping to the ground and leaning back against the wall. "Jareth isn't going to be happy when I go in tonight. The Wise Man can't tell me anything useful. Well, maybe that's no surprise. But it's distressing that no one can tell me what's going on. Even Jareth doesn't know what that strange warning meant." She closed her eyes tiredly, missing the slightly exasperated expression that crossed the stranger's face briefly.
"How long have you been in the Labyrinth, by the way? I've been here a good few months and I've never seen you before." Sarah cracked an eye open. "You aren't related to the flower fairies, by any chance? You look like them."
The stranger drew her legs up to her chest and grinned impishly. "I do not bite." Sarah laughed appreciatively. The girl rested her chin on her knee. "No one has been here awhile, but I stay away from the castle."
"Well, you've definitely been here for awhile. You already sound like a Labyrinth inhabitant, always talking in riddles and nonsense." Sarah opened both eyes and glared around at the hedge walls in annoyance. "No one can answer a straight question!"
"Exactly."
Sarah turned her head sharply back to the girl. "What?"
Again, that playful laughter. "The Queen still does not recognize the answers? She has not been here too long herself. Or mayhap the Queen is in her castle too often. No one has faith in the Queen, though. She will learn."
"Tell me, have you ever met the Wise Man? Old guy, walks really slow, has a big bird on his head, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever? You ought to, I think you'd get along well." Sarah told her acerbically. "Actually, I think maybe you're a little more confusing than he is."
"No one thanks you for that complement, Queen."
"Good for them," she said shortly. "And please, call me Sarah. I get that 'Queen' thing way too often of late." She paused for a moment, then decided to take one more shot at it. "Please, what can I call you?"
Suddenly, the stranger was gone. Sarah sat up straight, startled, and stifled a scream as a dark form loomed up out of the gloom. A bright light flashed in her face, blinding her.
"Lady Sarah?"
She wanted to cry with relief. "Danielle."
"I apologize for frightening you." The Fae woman leaned down, offering a hand. "Are you alright?"
"Yes. Yes, I'm fine." Sarah let her pull her to her feet. "Were you looking for me?"
"No, just wandering the gardens. I'm so glad you restored them. I always did love them the best. Jareth's mother worked so hard in them once, back and back. They were the only thing she really loved about this kingdom- besides its power."
"It's hard to imagine someone who murdered her own family as loving anything. Especially not flowers and gardens."
Danielle shot her a hooded glance. "So you know the story?"
Sarah nodded. She'd heard the old story about Jareth's mother a few months ago, during one of her frequent hours in the massive castle library. Jareth's mother had been an exceptionally rotten person, killing her own brother and father in a failed attempt to take over the kingdom. She had apparently been very vengeful and bloodthirsty, and had used every weapon available in the fight - including her infant son, Jareth. Sarah had never met her, but from her reading, she didn't think to highly of her.
Danielle seemed almost to sigh, and then said quietly, "People are surprisingly complicated, Lady Sarah. If I've learned anything from my long centuries of existence, I've learned that you can never judge things based on their appearance. Particularly if you have never seen them."
Sarah nodded.
"Tell me, Lady Sarah, who were you speaking to when I came up just a moment ago?"
"Hmm? Oh...er....no one, I guess." Sarah paused, and then slapped her hand to her forehead. "No one! Oh, geez! NOW I get it."
"Lady Sarah?" Danielle furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Nothing, never mind." Sarah waved a hand.
"Perhaps we had better return to the castle? You must of course be especially careful until Jareth has caught that beast. And you might take a chill out here, my dear," she added.
"You go ahead. I'll be along in a moment."
Danielle nodded, and then turned to make her way back to the castle. Sarah watched her go, frowning slightly. Something that Danielle had said didn't seem quite right...
A hand brushed her face, and Sarah gasped. Then her eyes adjusted to the dark again, and she let out another whoosh of air in relief. "You again. I wish you wouldn't sneak up like that. It's almost like you just appear in front of me."
"Sorry. No one is simply a quick mover." The girl shrugged apologetically.
"And why didn't you tell me that No one is your NAME?" Sarah accused. "Oh wait..." she trailed off as the girl grinned triumphantly. "I guess you did, huh? I just didn't get it...'didn't understand the answer' ...oh, now I feel like a moron."
This time, No one practically howled with mirth, holding her sides and rocking back and forth on her heels.
"Very funny," Sarah growled, but she couldn't help cracking a grin, too. The girl's laughter was very infectious.
"No one knew the queen would figure it out...eventually."
"It would have been a lot easier if you didn't speak in third person."
"No one enjoys it."
"Exactly," Sarah grumbled.
No one leaned back against a hedge wall, crossing her arms in mimicry of Sarah's own stance. "Why is the Queen sitting outside talking to No one?"
"The Queen is having a phenomenally bad day. In fact, the Queen in seriously considering hiring a royal therapist."
No one cocked an eyebrow in confusion, and now it was Sarah's turn to laugh. "Don't worry about it. They don't exist here anyway."
"The Queen will tell No one about her fin-nomy-nally bad day?"
"Call me Sarah, No one. And if you really want to know -well, to sum it up: I'm married - to a Fae Goblin King no less - and my family only just found out about it...um...today. My husband's family just arrived to meet and greet the new arrival, and one of them has already made it very clear exactly what he thinks about a mortal messing up the bloodlines..." she grimaced as she remembered the blatantly disdainful look on Ryo's face. "...AND a prophet has recently told me a riddle about a beast using my life to summon a creature, or maybe it was a creature to summon...something, anyway. It's all very vague. Oh, and to top it all off, I'm pregnant, and thus subject to horrendous hormonal imbalances..." She shook her head.
No one stepped closer and put her arms around Sarah suddenly, in a brief gentle hug. Sarah stiffened with surprise for a moment, then relaxed, oddly touched by the unexpected display of affection.
"No one understands," the girl whispered as she drew away. "No one will help Sarah."
"You know, that doesn't sound as depressing as it ought to," Sarah told her lightly.
No one frowned deeply, all traces of laughter gone from her face now. She leaned forward, balancing precariously on her rocky perch, until her nose was almost touching Sarah's, and locked Sarah's dark eyes with her own. "The Queen is in danger," No one whispered intently. "The beast...the beast is not the danger. Not...really. The King will grieve and the Labyrinth with him, until they, too, die from a broken heart. And No one will be sad. No one likes the Labyrinth, and it's Queen. No one would help stop the beast, without killing the Queen. But no one can do it alone. No one cannot."
"Wait, say that last part again," Sarah broke out from the spell No one's eyes cast and bit her lip in puzzlement. "You've lost me, now. Oh, will everyone please stop talking in riddles? Just once?"
"No one speaks in riddles because No one can speak no other way. No one is sorry, Sarah."
"Okay, hang on, let's try to solve this logically, alright? The beast is on the loose, right?"
No one nodded.
"Great. Now, what IS the beast? It isn't one of Jareth's creatures, is it? Something from the Labyrinth?"
"No. Not the King's. The King's father's."
"The King's father's...Obadiah!"
No one nodded again.
"NOW we're getting somewhere. Okay, so Obadiah had some beast, and now that's he's dead...let me guess, the thing is after me."
Another nod.
"I knew it. It's always me. Oh damn!" Sarah threw up her hands. "It's not-" she stopped and heaved a sigh. "No. It isn't. It's never fair. I of all people should know that by now. But why DOES it always happen to me?"
"Magic calls to magic," No one intoned solemnly. "Power attracts power, and that attracts more power. The King and Queen are powerful people. They live in a powerful place, surrounded by powerful people and creatures. The baby inside the Queen has the beginnings of power. So they attract powerful friends. And enemies."
"Wonderful. Just what I needed to hear."
"No one apologizes, but No one speaks the truth, nonetheless."
"I know, and I thank you for it. So tell me, No one. What is this beast?"
No one froze, and then a shudder raked through her body. "No one?" Sarah asked, reaching out a hand.
The girl looked up again, and said very softly, "The Queen should be afraid of the beast." She paused and swallowed, as if forcing herself to speak more. "The beast...and its Friend."
Sarah leaned forward and laid a hand carefully on No one's thin shoulder. "Are you alright?" She wished silently for a handkerchief, and instantly it appeared in her hand. She held it out to the girl.
"No one is okay. No one is afraid of..." She shivered and sniffed suddenly, scratching at her nose. "No one doesn't want Sarah to be hurt." She looked downright miserable, rubbing her nose hard and sniffing. But she pushed the handkerchief away, gingerly, as if it were a bomb. "No one must go, now. Good night, Queen Sarah."
"Good night - "
But she was speaking to empty air.
**
