Xlelon woke up slowly, her hearing coming first. There wasn't much to hear, just a bit of murmuring, a clink of bottles and another whimper. Kitten, she thought blearily, what is kitten doing here? She took a deep breath, sighed a turned over.

~^~

A rustling heralded Xlelons first move for six hours. Baird jumped up, as did his son, who had not been able to sleep, what with all of the people coming to their quarters. The dragonette that accompanyed them for much of the time waddled to the girl and whistled loudly. Xlelon sat up.

"Kitten? What are you doing here?" She looked around. "What am I doing here! Where is here?" She lay back down, Duke baird immediately went to her side.

"Do not lay down quite yet, we still have no Idea what happened to you."

Xlelon grimaced.

"I was hoping to forget that."

"Did you?"

She lay down, despite Baird's order. "Alas no. I suppose you want me to tell you?"

Baird shuddered.

"Gods above no! Numair must know, he still doesn't know what it was."

Xlelon sighed again, then glared at Neal, who was gazing at her.

"Shoo Queenscove, I am not a sideshow."

The child scurried away and Xlelon sighed.

"Sorry. Wasn't he at the university?"

Baird smiled.

"It is fine, and he is on break."

"Ah." And she closed her eyes, then opened them again. "Typical."

Baird looked at her oddly. "Whats typical?"

"I'm tired beyond belief, but I'm too scared to sleep. Damn it."

Baird chuckled.

"Judging by Daine's testimony, you have reason to be frightened."

Xlelon shook her head. All she remebered was a white haze that screamed with a child's voice. Of course, the voice now haunted her. She had dreamt of her world, her friends, things that she was used to, her cat, even her neighborhood. It had been life as usual. She shut her eyes again, willing the screams away, but instead, the faces came with it. I wish Neal were here, she thought, then pushed the thought away. It however, had other ideas, and anchored itself until she missed him so despratly that she was crying. She rolled over so that Baird would not see her tears.

~^~

By true morning, Xlelon had recovered enough that Numair could question her. After an hour, he formulated a theory.

"I believe," he said to a small crowd, "That someone took the spirits of the dead and bound them to something in the letter, perhaps the charm you mentioned." Xlelon nodded, none the worse for her experience. Numair continued. "I know not what made them attack her so violently, released spirits generally are only dangerous when trapped in something." He shook his head. "This is not good, it was not finished when we found her. I believe that it was sent to do something specific, though I do not know what."

~^~

Well. The plot thickens, and moves quickly.... remember it's may.