Guardian :01
To sleep, perchance to dream...
"At last," sighed Kel. "I can finally get some rest." The Scanran reports had all been filed, each rider assigned his post, a map of the entire city from Needle's-eye view compiled, and the glaive been practiced until her fingers had been replaced with digit-sized blisters. Now, in the privacy of her chamber, she allowed herself to fall ungracefully into bed, the thunk of her head against the pillow hopefully marking the beginning of a long night's undisturbed rest.
Knock. Knock.
Unseen from its sanctuary buried in the goose-down, Kel's brow furrowed. Surely that wasn't her door. Nobody on earth could be tactless enough to knock on her door so late at night. Maybe she could just pretend she was asleep until her visitor left.
Knock knock knock.
What if it was an emergency? Sir Raoul with a new development at the Scanran front, Sir Myles with an urgent report from one of his spies, Dom come to confess his undying passion? No, the first two were entirely unlikely. Kel turned her head and squinted in the direction of her door. *Go away,* she commanded. *I order myself to get some sleep.*
Knock-knock-knock-knock.
With a sigh, Kel pushed herself out of bed, stumbled to the door and swung it open. There was Nealan, looking entirely too chipper for what the bell-towers claimed to be 2 am. "Hey, Kel!" he exclaimed. "I've finally finished my thesis project on hydrosteroidmonodynamicthermoplexis! Want to hear?!" She stared at him. He smiled widely at her.
Slam.
Kel considered herself a morning person, not an ungodly-hour-in-the-morning person. Blindly she found her way back to her bed and slipped inside, relishing the warmth of blankets and the silence provided by sticking one's head under the pillow.
Knock knock knock : )
*How do knocks come with a smiley face?* wondered Kel. She ignored it.
Knock. Knock-knock ^^
*No. Nonono. Go awaaaaay.*
Knock, knock, knockity-knock. Knockknock! Knock knock! Knock-knock-knockity-knock-knock-kno--
"WHAT?!" Kel swung the door open, grabbed the visitor by the throat and shoved him against the doorframe.
Owen was unfazed. "Hullo, Kel! I was in the neighborhood and I was wonderin' if you'd like to go out an' play frisbee with me and the doggy!" He gestured to the adorable golden retriever who was actively involved in chewing at Kel's ankle. She looked down at it, feeling a snarl rise to her lips. "Blimey! He likes you!" exclaimed Owen.
Slam!
"Jolly, then!" called Owen's voice from the other side of the door. "See you tomorrow, then, shall I?"
This was becoming vexing. Pulling open her night-stand drawer, Kel ripped out two wads of cotton and stuffed them in her ears, grabbed a winter hat from her dresser and pulled it on over her head, pulled herself into bed and covered head with first the pillow, both sheets, both blankets, three quilts and the duvet. No one would interrupt her now. She closed her eyes and began to enter a deep, blissfully dreamless sleep...
What were those vibrations? Could that be knocking?
Nah.
But it wasn't stopping. Maybe this was something important? No. If it were that important the person would knock down the door or something.
They were getting stronger. *Not coming, not coming,* chanted Kel. *Not until you send psychic messages in my sleep will I even acknowledge you, my nocturnal pest.*
OPEN THE DOOR.
What? She was imagining that. *Just kidding, not even then,* she thought.
I SAID OPEN THE DOOR!
Kel covered her head with the arms. *Nuh-uh. Nothing doing.*
N N OO W W W !
N N N O O W W W
N N OO W W
"Look, you!" she began, pulling herself out of bed for the umpteenth time and starting towards the door. "I'm tired. Whatever you have to say can wait--" She swung open the door.
What was he doing here?
"Took you long enough," he remarked, leaning against the doorway with a smirk. He obviously expected some reaction.
*I ought to react. He is supposed to be dead.* Instead she returned his smirk and said, "Sorry, I can't hear you." It was true. She couldn't even hear herself say it.
Joren looked annoyed. "I said, 'Took you long enough,'" he repeated crossly. "What's the matter, got cotton stuffed in your--" he stopped, realizing that that was precisely the case. "You crazy slut," he snapped, pushing Kel back into her room. With a snap of his fingers the candle at her desk was lit; he tore Kel's hat off and flung it across the room, followed by the two wads of cotton. "That's better," he muttered to himself, taking Kel by the shoulders and leaning close to her ears.
"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW, LUMP?!"
Yes, but Kel ignored him anyway. *I guess this is part of a dream,* she decided. Dream-Joren apparently didn't like her decision, because his wings ruffled angrily.
"Answer me, you idiot girl! I'm not here for my health!" *Wings? Definitely a dream, then. Maybe I ought to humor him.*
"Hello Joren," she said pleasantly. "How have you been these past few years?" He stared at her incredulously.
"I've been dead. How do you think?!"
"That's nice. If you don't mind, I'm too tired for dreams right now, and I'd rather like to get some sleep. It's hard work being alive, you know. So ta-ta, okay?"
"You think I'm a dream?" Joren shook his head. "I'll give you this, Mindelan: what you lack in brains you make up for in stupidity." With that, he reached over, took her arm and gave her a vicious pinch.
"OWW!" Kel wasn't usually given to exclamations of pain, but she truly hadn't expected it to hurt. She looked up--actually down--at the boy in shock. "You aren't a dream?!" she gasped. Joren shook his head and smirked. "Then you're a ghost?"
"No," growled the boy. "You think these wings and gold-thingy are just for decoration?"
"You mean..." Kel trailed off, staring at the ethereal creature before her. Even in life, Joren with his corn silk locks and blue-glass eyes had looked like an angel. Now, with the soft ruffled wings folded behind his back and the shimmering gold halo floating gently over his windswept hair, there was only one thing she could say.
"I'm taller than you."
"DAMNIT, Mindelan! Is that the only thing you can say on having an angel come
down from the heavens to pay you a visit?!"
"Umm, how about: I thought you'd have horns and a pointy tail and be burning somewhere in a sulfurous pit?"
"Very funny." He didn't look amused. "For your information, I'm stuck here with you for your benefit, so if you're going to get cute I'll just leave you to rot! Have some respect for your elders, for Mithros' sake!" *And how many times did Paxy tell me that?* he wondered to himself. Joren noticed Kel giving him a strange look. "What?"
"You died when you were eighteen."
*What is wrong with this idiot?* "Yes, and?"
"I'm eighteen now. That means we're the same age." Joren was beginning to remember why in life he had despised her so much.
"Look, you ugly--" he paused, staring at the window. Was that the silhouette of a cat perched on the outside sill? This room was three stories up...He blinked again and the creature was gone.
"What are you staring at?" Kel glanced at the window, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.
"Nothing. Listen, we have to get down to business. Believe it or not, the gods need you to do some momentous task for them or something, and I've been assigned to help you with it to make up for my punishment. Rotten deal if you ask me, but that's religion for you."
"Hold on a second!" Kel put a hand up in the air to stop him. "The gods need me for something? What about the lioness? And you can't go giving me all of this, I don't even know if I believe you're here yet!"
"Why wouldn't you believe I'm here?"
"Let's see," she started to tick the reasons of her fingers. "You're supposed to be dead, dead people don't walk around, even if you were here you wouldn't be an angel, there's no way the gods would ever trust you with anything, and besides, I've been under a lot of stress lately."
"What's stress got to do with anything?"
"Stress causes hallucinations. How am I to know you aren't a figment?"
"A figment?!" For the first time she'd known him, Joren looked well and truly offended. "I'm certainly not a figment! Look, just so we can get on with this stupid mission, how can I prove I'm not a--a hallucination?"
"Hmm..." That was a tough one. Idly, Kel reached out a hand to poke Joren in the arm, but instead her finger went right through. She couldn't even see it out the other end.
"Do you mind?" Joren snapped. "That tickles."
"Is that so?" She took her finger out and back in again. It was strange to see your own hand disappear into nothingness. "I guess you're real, then."
"What?!"
"If you were fake, you'd pop or something when I touch you."
Joren stared at her. "You are just too weird," he said slowly. "So you accept the mission from the gods."
"Do they have any idea how busy I am? And you didn't answer my question: why me? Why not the Lioness, or the king, or the prince, or one of the heroes? And how is it you can touch me but I can't touch you?"
"Believe me, Mindelan, you don't want to know how they chose you." He sighed and took a seat on the bed. "As for the other question, you think of me as dead, as do all mortals here, so to them I am impossible to touch, being only a specter. However, I only remember being alive, so I can touch anything I like because I remember being able to touch it. Also, since I'm your guardian angel, you are the only mortal who is able to see me, other than those who would be able to see me anyway."
"Who would that be."
Joren scowled. "Don't you know anything about the dead? Children, animals, some priests, other immortals and those born on All Hallow's Eve." He yawned. "Let's continue this chat in the morning, shall we? I'm tired, and it's nearly 3 in the morning." He pulled the covers over himself and soon Kel found she had an angel sleeping in her bed.
Her bed.
"Where am I supposed to sleep?!"
***
to be continued...
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to review!
Also, for those who like it, you might consider reading 'Fairy Tale,' which is also mine. It's rated R, but it's more like PG-15. But it's slash, so if slash doesn't scare you, consider checking it out!
Keep checking back! This one I'll update as quickly as I can...*bye!*