{W/R} Bleh, my last chap was really bad (in my opinion anyway) n my songfic was even worse (for sure). I apologize for that, but I'm not going to delete it, because I'm soo lazy. Lol.

*(W/R Sick + Yucky Medicine = Bad Combination in the Writing)*

Thanks for reviewing all the same. I'll try to make more interesting.

FelSong~ *Shrugs* I didn't like the last chapter so much, but I'm glad you did. I never really thought about it (Rhianna's opinion on Lord Damien) that way. Oh well, it actually might help further into the story, maybe. Thanks for the tip and review!!!

Rane292007~ I can always count on you for a kind review. Thanks so much for your support!!!!!

Rhexi~ I can't believe you found my penname, although it was a semester and a half before you did. . I can't believe you fooled me into dropping my guard. Evil Creature, lol. Thanks for the compliment, although I know you didn't even finish my story. Hope you enjoyed CCD and Beauty. I told it was absolutely the best and amazing. :9 :P Oh yea, thanks for adding me to your alert list. :D

Loup Garou42~ Yes, the school thing can really suck. We'll see what happens with Lord Damien. Thanks for the review!!!

Baddums~ Thanks for the multiple reviews!!! Glad to have you aboard my bus of faithful reviewers. *Looks inside bus ~ which is far from partially full* Yes, I'm very happy for more reviewers. *Nods enthusiastically*

Reviewers of my Songfic: First of all thanks for reading the dreadful thing.

Rane2920072~ Thanks for liking it. It's a one-shot, so I'm leaving it like that.

FelSong~ Well, you could never know what goes on in the minds of the readers. Thanks for reviewing!!!!

Emerald-Random~ Glad to keep you interested in my story. Thanks for reading the songfic!!!!

Loup Garou42~ Well thanks for your opinion. You don't like Clay's music? I'm sorry about disappointing you with the songfic. I'll try not to disappoint my reviewers too much with my work.

Baddums~ I never saw the music video, but I'm more interested in the music. Thanks for enjoying it so.

Recap: After breakfast, mother and the others went to Lord Devin's room and I was left with a day to myself. {W/R: Yeah, I know short recap compared to my other ones.}

Joy, I thought to myself sarcastically and utterly bored. A whole day of this fun. I walked aimlessly down an empty hallway. A whole day of nothing… I turned a corner and in the deep midst of my thoughts slammed painfully into someone and fell backwards. I withheld a fetid word, as I fell on my rear.

"Princess Elestra, I didn't see you there. I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"

I looked up to see Lord Damien with surprise. I sure didn't expect to run into him, both literally and metaphorically. He gave me a hand up and I could feel a bruise forming down there.

"Yes, I'm sorry about running into you like that. I must astound you with my gracefulness." I said with a light laugh.

He smiled at me, which caused my knees to melt. This reaction made my mind spurt out thousands of questions.

"And I, you." He replied with the smile still on his face.

My eyes wandered to his deep cerulean ones and he stared intensely to my eyes. Blushing, I turned away.

"Shouldn't you be working or something? I'm sure with Lord Devin in his present state that the work must really be accumulating." I said, breaking the awkward silence fallen upon us.

"That's what assistants are for."

I smiled or smirked more like.

"Slacking off on the job?" I teased.

"Wouldn't think of it!"

"Of course not, why think of it when you can just do so."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shake his head ruefully. I smiled wider. It can be quite fun twisting words.

"What are you planning to do today?"

"No plans today, I was just thinking of wandering around."

"Then, I'll be your guide." He replied, appointing himself with this new position.

I looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Who said I'd like your company?"

"A little bird told me."

His expression was one of the utmost conviction and I giggled.

"Alright, I'll accept you as my guide, but I warn you, I already know my away around."

"All the easier for me, then." He said as he approached my side and we started walking in the direction I had been heading in.

"Another job for you to slack off in." I said, nudging his shoulder, jokingly.

"Ah, milady you wound me terribly with your words."

He placed a hand over his heart, in a feigned pained expression. I laughed and walked ahead of him, leaving him to his games.

"You would leave a wounded person to themselves?" He cried, walking briskly to catch up with my quick pace.

"Are you so wounded that you can't be left alone?"

"But words pierce the heart, don't you know and those wounds are the hardest to heal."

"Oh really," I replied, as he finally came up to my side again. "And just how do you heal these difficult wounds."

He stopped and I did as well, turning to him, waiting for his answer. One, which be very interesting I suspected. I knew that my question had been a bad one, the minute his eyes lit up with mischief. For a head advisor he is quite child-like, I thought, observing him. I'm surprised he hasn't run the land to the ground yet.

"I think the only cure for such a wound is a kiss by a fair lady."

I looked at him, skeptically.

"You have to be kidding. You really should get a healer to check up on you, you're really losing your mind. Bring the person who told you that remedy as well." I told him, turning away from him and walking again.

"Come on," He said, lightly touching my arm. "One innocent kiss won't hurt."

I looked at him and he looked back at me expectantly, reminding me something like a pleading puppy dog. He's flirtatious all right! Like he'll stop at one little kiss. I thought, confirming my first impression of him.

I leaned into him until we were only centimeters apart, slightly tiptoeing. I looked at his tempting lips and I could almost feel his warm breath on my skin. Looking up into his yearning eyes, I whispered to him seductively, as I leaned in slightly, as if I was going to kiss him. My eyes moved slowly from his enticing lips to his gorgeous eyes.

"I knew from the day I met you that you are," I paused and said my last words louder in contrast to earlier. "Just crazy!"

I laughed, shaking my head and walked away from him. I didn't blush, I thought. It is a thought that rang in my head, in a singsong voice. I grinned, looking over my shoulder at Lord Damien. He looked quite surprised and flabbergasted for a second, before looking toward me. Laughing, he caught up with me and our conversation turned to other subjects, ones less entertaining, but interesting all the same.

We wandered together, doing nothing in particular and finally found ourselves inside Lord Devin's room. {W/R: Not Lord Damien's room, just to make sure and they are not doing anything. ~Such dirty minds, what is this world coming to? Rofl, I'm just joking.} Mother was clutching Lord Devin's frail and thin hand. He wasn't the happy and very healthy man I had seen him like before the sickness. He looked so pitiful and like he was dying, although the healers assured everyone that he wasn't even close to it. Then, why does he look like that then? My eyes turned to the figures on the other side of mother. Rhianna smiled, weakly noticing my appearance, but Lady Aislinn was focused on her husband. I saw the lines of worry etched in her face and the slight glint of hope in her eyes. She must be so sad, I remarked to myself. I should really be nicer to her and pay more attention to her than I have been.

"Why don't we take and seat and wait for your mother to come out of the meditation she's in?" Lord Damien whispered in my ear.

The whisper and his close proximity sent shivers down my spine. I smiled, turning to him and nodded in agreement, not trusting that I could find my voice and not wanting to distract the attention to myself. We moved to occupy the empty divan, which were a couple of feet from the bed. Not a sound was heard, except the raspy breathing of Lord Devin and the chirping of the songbirds outside the slightly open window, in the large room. We watched patiently the rise and fall of Lord Devin's chest and doing nothing to disturb the atmosphere fallen upon those in the room. This vigil-like watch tested my patience and I surprised myself by enduring through it. Eventually, I started to nod off to sleep without realizing it. The room was replaced with one of the forest-like setting, where I had been meeting the "stranger" of mine. This is sure becoming routine, I remarked.

"So what do you want this time?" I asked calmly, finding that my ability to look in his direction was kept me.

I sat in the lap of my stranger and he shifted slightly, wrapping his arms closer around me. He moved me slightly, so that I leaned against his body.

"I missed you, Elestra."

"Tell me your name and maybe I can say the same back to you."

"Someday, maybe."

I sighed and pouted. This stranger ignited a calmness in me and an incredible feeling of contentment and stirred an exhilaration in me without doing anything.

"I'm starting to hate mysteries, because of you." I replied, softly.

He chuckled, leaning down and placing his head beside mine. Only an inch or so forward, I would be able to see his face. We sat like this in silence, not the awkward kind, but one of ease and quiet bliss. His body seemed to mold perfectly to mine and his touch sent tingling sensations down my body. I was in complete ecstasy.

"Are you going to visit me like this? We're never going to accomplish anything like this."

"Trust me, it's better this way."

"Shouldn't I know you first, before I can trust you?"

"Elestra, must you always have a riposte with everything I say?"

It was not a question that he wanted me to answer for he leaned in and kissed me, tenderly on the lips, covering my eyes with his hand. He removed his hand from my eyes, as he leaned back.

"It's not fair what you're doing to me."

"Why not," He asked softly.

"It seems like you know so much about me and I have no clue about you. Are you a god or something?" I asked, half-jokingly.

"I have no idea where you get these ideas." He told me with a delicate laugh that sounded in my ears.

I exhaled a deep breath.

"I don't see the point in this. I don't see why you keep bringing me here. I want to know you, but you say I can't. You have all the power in this and I have nothing."

"Don't you know that one word said, one second passed, one opportunity taken, one decision made and everything can happen or cease to exist." He said, seriously and softly, but his words held strength and authority. "You just have to know when to use it and how."

I frowned, absorbing his words. He laughed wryly.

"I'm sorry, I became a bit too serious and I'm not even sure I made sense anyway. Just forget it." His voice seemed to take a bittersweet tone and an odd pressure pressed against my heart. "Goodbye, Elestra."

"Wait," I cried, but it was too late.

The forest melted into a bright white light and my eyes opened to the walls of Lord Devin's room. My heartbeat seemed to seem so loud. I took a second to take in my surroundings and my sense of reality, but not moving from my sleeping position. Mother shifted from her motionless meditation position and my eyes moved to her. She smiled at me, after stretching her muscles and then raised her eyebrow at me, in contained surprise. I frowned and was about to ask why she made that face when I realized that I was sleeping against Lord Damien's chest. I guess that was why I heard such a loud heartbeat, I remarked. I, carefully, got up from the sleeping form that was Lord Damien, blushing and looked toward my mother through my embarrassment.

"Yeah, I-I fell asleep and I didn't realize th-that happened." I explained, slightly stuttering and as I rubbed sleep from my face.

"Uh huh," Mother replied with amusement in her eyes.

Mother shook her head and I looked toward the direction her eyes were aimed at. Rhianna and Lady Aislinn had fallen asleep from the waiting as well. I nearly laughed at the realization that I wasn't the only one who fell asleep waiting and doing nothing.

"Why don't we talk outside," Mother whispered.

I nodded and we left Lord Devin with the sleeping guests, in his room. We closed the door behind us, quietly.

"I didn't realize you came to see Lord Devin." Mother stated.

"Yes, well I just decided to drop by. I didn't want to disturb whatever you were doing, so I snuck in. I think only Rhianna noticed."

Mother nodded with sadness, in her expression.

"You can't cure him, can you?"

"I wouldn't say that, but it's just that I can't pinpoint what is exactly wrong, right now. I will soon though, most probably. I'm getting close, I am sure of it."

"Is that supposed to happen?"

"Well, if it was a natural illness, then he'd be on his feet in no time, but it isn't."

"We all know that by now. What can be done about it, do you think?"

"Well, I guess I have to drive deeper into his body and maybe I can find the core of the problem."

"Is that dangerous?" I asked, tentatively.

She smiled, hugging me to her and placing her head on mine for a second, in comfort and support.

"What isn't?" She replied, calmly. "But, don't you worry. I can't leave your father, you, or your brother and sister anytime soon, even if I absolutely had to. I'll be extra careful."

Her eyes started to get a little teary and I knew she was thinking of grandmother, her own mother who had died before Mother truly knew her. She composed herself, quickly and hugged me close to her again. I smiled at her, as I looked up at her reassured, but a small part of my gut felt like this wasn't a good idea and something bad would happen. It's just worry, I told myself. Nothing bad will happen. Mother knows what she's doing. I hope…Mother released me from the hug, but left her arm around my shoulder.

"Now why don't you get outside and exercise before dinner. It seems all of us missed lunch," Mother said, looking out a window that stood behind me. "I bet you have been inside this castle the whole day and most of it in that room."

"You should do the same. I can't believe you did that two days in a row."

She smiled, wryly at me.

"That was why I was itching to duel this morning."

I giggled and felt thankful that my mother was someone I could really talk to.

"Come on, off you go. I'll get Rhianna to do the same, once she wakes up from sleep." Mother said, as she reentered Lord Devin's room to check on how he was after what she had done.

I nodded, smiling at her and went down a staircase to sit outside and breathe in some fresh air.

It was dusk outside and beautiful. A few stars were glistening already, so early in the evening and the breezes were cool and almost nippy, but it was comfortable and erased the rest of the feelings of sleepiness I had. My whole body buzzed in alertness and I sat down on one of the stone steps at the side entrance that I had come out of.

"You look like you just had a romp," A voice said behind me.

I blushed, as Lord Damien sat down beside me.

"I do not," I replied, in denial. "And I did no such thing."

"Your hair speaks otherwise."

"You are so not funny." I retorted, fixing my ponytail. "You sure wake up fast."

"Yes, well, the extra weight off my chest let me breathe again and I regained consciousness, not soon after."

I punched him lightly on the shoulder for what he said.

"Ouch," He cried, laughing.

"That wasn't funny." I told him, blushing more. "Anyways, I'm sorry about that."

"No need. I didn't even notice. I was nodding off as well."

I smirked, turning my upper body to glance at him.

"I can't believe you're a head advisor by the way you act."

"Well, I don't want to always look constipated and drugged."

I broke out in laughter at the comment and he joined me.

"Child," I muttered to him.

"And proud of it!" He cried to me.

He snickered and I laughed, shaking my head. He is so silly and strange, I mused. He moved casually to sit closer to me and I tried not to seem like I noticed. I looked at his face and he seemed hesitant to make another. If he does anything, I'm going to knock him out. I thought to myself. Luckily, for him, he decided not to and the moment passed.

"Everything is so beautiful tonight," He said, changing the subject.

"Yeah I know." I replied, looking up into the sky as well.

He placed his hand on my cheek and turned me to face him.

"You're so beautiful."

I was frozen, as he leaned in to kiss me. I closed my eyes and did the same without a thought about what I was doing. I felt like I was compelled to do it and the moment our mouths touched, my whole body tingled as if my body had fallen asleep or something. It was a strange feeling, but I enjoyed it. He leaned back first, releasing me from the kiss. I breathed in, in a small gasp of surprise. My reflexes and reactions are so slow, I complained silently and in frustration.

"What…Why…I can't…I'm going to-" I started, when I was finally interrupted.

"Hey there you are!"

We both turned to see Rhianna standing at the entrance that we sat in front of, towering over us more like, since we were sitting. I started blushing and feeling very guilty. I just kissed a person that Rhianna doesn't trust. She warned me against him. I can't believe that I just did that. The possible consequences occurred to my mind with full force. I bit my lower lip and then, plastered a smile on my face trying to compose myself.

"I thought you'd still be asleep for awhile longer." I told her.

"Yes, well, I haven't been sleeping very well these days."

"Probably because of your snoring, Princess Elestra."

I looked at him, narrowing my eyes.

"I do not snore!"

Rhianna laughed, politely and Lord Damien did, as well.

"Well beautiful ladies, I best be going." He said, as he got up from his place on the steps.

I nodded numbly, still not over the fact of what had occurred between us. I felt like knocking him out, like I had planned to if he made a move on me, which he did when I wasn't expecting it. Rhianna stepped aside to keep from blocking his way out and then took his seat beside me.

"Did I interrupt something?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, innocently.

"It was a bit awkward and intense between you two when I interrupted. I felt a bit strange standing there."

"Of course not," I replied and in turn, felt more guilt for lying to my close friend. I could almost feel like I had a huge stamp across my forehead stating that I was a huge liar. "We're just friends."

She nodded at me and turned to look across the empty grounds before us.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah, sure. I'm just thinking about how I could help Father and Mother."

"I'm sure you're doing great by just keeping out of trouble and being your angelic self."

She smiled at me and laid her head in her hands, which were propped up on her elbows.

"How long do you think it will be before the people find out and trouble starts?"

"He'll be up and about in no time. No worries."

"We'll see, I guess." She replied, unconvinced. "You should really watch out for Lord Damien. He just doesn't seem right to me."

For a moment, I had felt a bit better about what I did with the change in subject and then with her last statement, every ounce of guilt came back in a flood-like fashion.

"He doesn't seem too bad," I replied, softly.

She sighed and shrugged.

"Just be careful, okay?"

I nodded. Everyone has to be careful these days, I thought.

{W/R} Sorry, if it got dull. I couldn't help writing the strange dialogue. I hoped you liked it anyway. I probably won't be updating for a couple of weeks (maybe one or two). I really need a break. I made it up with this really long chapter, so please don't be too mad at me. I hope you enjoyed it and be sure to review now before you leave.

Thank you for reading and come back soon!!! (You never know, inspiration might strike and I might update soon!!!!!)

P.S. If you want to read poetry or see what I'm up to or you just want to chat with me, check out my website (it has a chatterbox) or email me anytime. Later Days (From the Weekenders~ Wow, I haven't seen that in awhile)!!!