A/N: Thanks again for the reviews!! I'm having fun working with this on my study breaks (sometimes taking too much of a break)! BUT, can I just take a moment to express my frustration??? I tried to make scene breaks with dots or asterisks or what have you, and even though they showed up in the preview, they didn't show up in the actual story, so I've had to replace this chapter twice, and finally just settled on spelling it out in the story. Hopefully it will work this time!!!

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Chapter 7

"May I ask you a question?"

I had gone for a walk on the far side of the Field and was soon joined by Landon. We continued walking in a comfortable silence for a while before I finally broke it.

:Of course,: he replied.

I'd returned to the library the following day and expressed an interest in learning more about Valdemar during Vanyel's time, and specifically about him, and had been rewarded with a smile from the page and a mountainous stack of chronicles and books in response. I was slowly making my way through them, and while I enjoyed reading and learning, even I needed a break from my studies. Thus, my walk in the Field. And, given Landon's appearance, I figured I might as well broach the subject of Elspeth and Gwena.

"If magic has always been around in Valdemar," I began, pausing in our meandering to lean against a tree, "then why did Elspeth need to have a Groveborn Companion?"

Landon's ears went back against his head. :Groveborn? Gwena?: His mindvoice held a heavy tone of incredulity. :Is that what she told you?:

I suddenly felt as surprised as he. "No, but..." I remembered our conversation on my front lawn. "I alluded to it—in the books, Gwena is Groveborn—and she didn't deny it."

Landon snorted. :That's just Gwena. Sometimes, I think she thinks she is Groveborn. Yes, she does have a stronger ability to manipulate magic than the rest of us do, Rolan excepted, but she's had as much of a past life as the rest of us have had.:

"Then why—" I broke off, confused and annoyed. "She knew that I knew the true nature of Companions! I don't understand."

:As I said,: Landon replied, :that's just Gwena. For all of that, she's a decent creature. She was probably just trying to protect the mystique of Companions. I can tell you, it makes some of us pretty nervous to have you, who know all about us, in our midst—and in the midst of the Heralds.:

I shot him a suspicious look. "Is that why you're being my friend? They want you to keep an eye on me?"

Another snort. :I am no one's babysitter. And we Companions can take care of ourselves. If we truly thought you a threat, we would have dealt with it.:

Well that certainly inspired warm, fuzzy feelings in me.

He nudged me in the shoulder with his nose. :My offer of friendship was sincerely meant, without ulterior motive.:

I relaxed a little, and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Thank you. I can use a friend." I released him and blinked back tears...it was still so hard to be here. "Well, that's one mystery solved at least."

:One?: he queried. :What else are you investigating?:

"Well, in the books, Vanyel dies in a Final Strike, but here, he lives to old age. In the books, he was the last Herald-Mage, and magic was forgotten about until Elspeth, the first Herald-Mage since Vanyel. That's why she got a Groveborn Companion." I sighed. "I didn't find anything in the general chronicles, but I think the source of the discrepancies between our two worlds can be found there....if I can find it, that is. And if there is one, of course."

:And you assume that there is?:

I looked around me at the world into which I had been cast. "What are the odds that someone in my world would write a fictitious story about a fantastical world that turns out to be real?" I asked. "Actually, a more important question might be how such a thing happened. Logically, the assumption would be that the writer somehow had some knowledge of your world. A great deal of knowledge, actually. Given this, either the writer accurately conveyed in the books what she knew, or she lied."

:You're getting pretty deep here,: he commented.

"Bear with me," I replied. "If she told the truth, then something's been changed along the way. If she lied..." I trailed off, shaking my head. "But why would she? No one in my world would know the difference anyway. What purpose would it have served to lie?"

:If she knew Valdemar was real, perhaps she wished to protect it by conveying it differently to the people of your world,: Landon suggested. :Or perhaps she didn't think there was enough adventure and decided to change things.:

"Perhaps," I replied, "but that just doesn't seem to make sense."

:Not everyone operates logically,: he pointed out.

"You've got me there."

:And it matters to you to find the answers to these questions?:

I understood his implication. "I know what you're thinking," I said. "And there may not be any point to my search, but it gives me something to do."

:I know being here's been hard on you,: he replied.

"Besides, I like puzzles. It's fun to try to figure them out." I reached out and brushed his forelock out of his eyes. "So, did you live back in Vanyel's time? Care to shed some light on these mysteries?"

:Thank you,: he replied, and then tilted his head to look me full in the eye. :I wouldn't dream of making your quest for knowledge any easier,: he teased. :Besides, we can't give up all our secrets.: And then, without another word, he nuzzled my cheek and left me to my own thoughts.

Strange, I thought. Was it just my imagination, or had there been a hint of discomfort behind the teasing? I watched his retreating form, tempted to pursue him and discover if my intuition was accurate. But no...he respected me, and I needed to do the same for him. Perhaps later, when we came to know each other better—

"Am I intruding?"

I turned towards the sound of the accented voice that had interrupted my thoughts. I was somewhat surprised to find an older man standing there, one dressed in gray with dark hair and a scarred face. I couldn't be certain, but...

"Alberich, I am called," he said.

Two for two on the intuition side for me today.

"How do you do?" I asked. "My name is Jaelle."

"Well, I am," he replied. "The same of you, I would know."

I smiled at his Yoda-like grammar, and his good-hearted interest. "I am sad," I confessed, "but I trust that feeling will pass with time."

"Easy, it is not, what you have done, and what has been done to you," he said.

"No," I agreed.

"Understand, I do, the difficulty of living in a foreign place," he said. "Talk to me, you may, when it pleases you."

I was touched by his offer. "Thank you. I truly appreciate that."

He looked up into the sky. "Class I have now." He then turned a trained, critical eye on me. "Weapons skill you have not, I suspect?"

I suddenly felt an impending sense of doom hovering over me. "You suspect correctly," I confessed. "In my world, swords, if people own them at all—and most don't—are merely decorative, and most people don't know any self-defense techniques."

He frowned a bit. "Interesting world yours is. Busy now you are?"

"I have no obligations at the moment." The sense of doom was descending, and I could not shake it off.

He seemed pleased with the answer. "To class then," he replied. "Learn you will." He motioned expectantly in front of him, as if he wanted me to precede him on the way.

Refusal, apparently, was not an option. I stepped forward, hoping I wasn't going to regret it.

"Good for Valdemar you have been, and will be," he stated, and then proceeded to lead the way to the salle.

Doom followed me all the way there.

SCENE BREAK

"Bright Lady," Talia gasped as I seated myself for dinner, "what happened to you, Jaelle?"

"Your weaponsmaster happened," I said, wincing in pain as I sat down.

"Alberich?" Selenay asked incredulously. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," I replied, reaching for the goblet in front of me, "that he has taken it upon himself to teach me self defense." I swallowed a liberal amount of the contents of the cup, forcing myself not to betray my revulsion to the open Court. I hated the taste of alcohol, but I was so stiff and sore, I didn't care.

The two women traded curious looks. "Did you ask him for lessons?" Selenay inquired, and I could hear the confusion in her tone.

"No! Angels and ministers of grace, who would deliberately seek something like this out!" I shifted to a more comfortable position, though there was precious little comfort to be found in those wooden chairs. "He came to me, introduced himself, and before I knew it, told me, 'Learn you will,' and hauled me off to one of his classes."

"That doesn't sound like Alberich at all," Talia commented.

Just the smell of cooked food made me feel sick, so I contented myself with picking at a fruit tray in front of me. "He said I had been good for Valdemar and would be again, or something like that," I told them.

A light must have dawned somewhere because Queen and Queen's Own alike stiffened for a moment and just stared at each other.

"Am I missing something?" I asked.

"Do you know anything about Gifts?" Talia asked. "I've heard you've been studying Valdemar's history."

At the mention of Gifts, I felt the light dawn as well and remembered that Alberich had ForeSight. "Yes," I replied, "I thought I would learn as much as I could about your world. I did come across Gifts in some of the chronicles of Heralds."

"Alberich's gift, like mine, is ForeSight," Selenay said. "That means that he can see into the future."

"So you think that he's seen something about me?" I asked. I did not like the sound of that. At all.

"I don't know," Selenay replied. "It might be nothing. I'll ask him."

"I'd rather not know, if it's all the same to you," I said. At least let me get adjusted to living here!

Talia smiled. "It is an awful lot to take in all at once, isn't it?"

"I think I am far too old for adventure like this!" I exclaimed.

Selenay and Talia tried to hide their smiles, but they did such poor jobs of it that I was forced to join in, and soon, we were all trying to hold in our laughter.

SCENE BREAK

I excused myself early from dinner, regardless of etiquette. It wasn't that I minded the company—on the contrary, I was enjoying the discussion of religious differences between my world and Valdemar with the priest there—it was just that I was so tired. I didn't think I could keep my eyes open any longer. Selenay and Talia understood, and so did the priest, and that was really all that mattered.

I must have been more tired than I thought, because I ended up getting lost somewhere between the hall and my suites. A sudden image of a Bugs Bunny cartoon came to my mind, the one in which he popped up from his tunnel, took out a map, and exclaimed, "I should have taken a left turn at Albuquerque!"

Oh, yeah. I was exhausted.

I turned down a corridor, hoping it would lead me back/towards somewhere familiar, but it proved to be as dead an end as everything else I had tried. I turned around, intending to retrace my steps when I heard the most unusual, but familiar, sound.

A child crying.

I followed the sound down an adjacent corridor and turned a corner to see a little girl curled up on a bench outside a door. Her clothes seemed worn and she looked in need of a bath. She couldn't have been more than three years old. My heart went out to her. In one capturing moment, I was taken in.

Ignoring the protest of my stiff muscles, I quickly moved to her side and knelt by the bench. "Are you lost, sweetheart?" I asked.

She jumped at the sound of my voice and lifted her head. Through stringy, matted blond hair, I could see two soft blue eyes looking back at me. I held out my arms and she clambered into them and started to sob.

"Hush now," I soothed, stroking her hair. It felt worse than it looked. "All will be well. Where are your parents?" I swiftly determined that I was going to kick them both to Sorrows for neglecting her like this.

"I d-d-don't h-h-have an-n-y," she sobbed out.

An orphan.

I thought my heart would break right then and there and I held her tightly to me.

"How long have you been here?" I asked, rising. I made my way down the corridor again. Eventually, I would have to come out somewhere, I reasoned.

"N-n-noon," she stammered out.

Noon! Noon?! By herself? I couldn't imagine that anyone, even the servants, would leave the child alone had they known of her being there. As we twisted and turned through the Palace halls, the little girl told me what she could of her story. Her name was Lucia, and she was four years old. From what I gathered, she wasn't local. Her parents were dead, and it seemed that some man had brought her to the Palace, to the very bench she was sitting on, and told her to stay and wait for some Lord who would take care of her.

Obviously, something went wrong, and I determined to set it right. We came to a crossway in the halls, and I looked down the corridor to my right and saw two guards standing watch.

Selenay's chambers.

I resolutely walked up to them and demanded to see the Queen. She must have left orders allowing me to enter, because they didn't even reply. They just opened the doors for me. I strode through and nearly ran into Talia, who was on her way out.

"Jaelle!" she exclaimed in surprise, and then took a good look at my bundle. "What in the name— "

I shot her a look that more than conveyed my disgust and she turned to go with me to see Selenay, who was just as surprised to see me as Talia had been. I explained what I knew and was pleased to hear them as outraged as I was.

"Lucia," Talia said, kneeling beside the chair where the little girl now sat, "I'm going to touch your head and try to see what happened to you. I want you to think about your trip here and about your mama and papa. Can you do that?"

Lucia nodded and took another bite of her dinner, which Selenay had ordered be brought to her immediately from the feast hall. Talia closed her eyes and touched Lucia's head. She remained still for a long moment, and when she came out of her trance, it was with a troubled expression.

"What is it?" I asked.

Talia motioned for Selenay and I to draw away from the child so that she would not overhear us. Once done, both the queen and I looked to Talia for an explanation.

"She's a true orphan," Talia said in hushed tones. "I couldn't tell exactly where she is from, but she is from Lord Ehnley's district. Apparently, after her parents died—and I don't know how—she was given into the care of a family, but it seems that they didn't really want her. They paid a man on his way to Haven to bring her along and leave her at Lord Ehnley's door. Which," she finished, glancing over at Lucia, "it appears that he did. From what I gathered from her mind, this man claimed to have an appointment with Lord Ehnley and was allowed into the Palace. He then brought the girl to his door and told her to stay there until Lord Ehnley came back."

"Lord Ehnley left for his estates this morning and won't return for two months," Selenay said. "Didn't this man even care to determine this?"

"He obviously wasn't paid to stay around," I said, not even trying to hide the sarcastic tone that bathed the words. "That she is merely a child is irrelevant, I suppose."

"Did this family actually think that Lord Ehnley would take her in?" Talia asked.

"Surely not," Selenay said. "They must have assumed that he would just turn her over to one of the poor houses here in Haven and be done with it." Her face darkened as she considered this. "Thus, easily ridding themselves of their 'problem.'" She turned to Talia. "I want these people found. We know they live in Ehnley's district, and they must live in a village that is too small to host its own poor house, and one close enough to Haven or on a direct route to it so as to make it easier or cheaper for them to send her here instead of another town's poor house." I could see she was now deep in thought. "I also want this traveller found, though that may be more difficult to do. I find his actions very disturbing."

"Some people will do anything for coin," Talia commented. "Even more disturbing is how he did this at all without someone here taking notice. Granted, Lord Ehnley's offices are in a part of the Palace where most people don't go, but still..." She trailed off, obviously concerned.

"Once he left, I'm guessing no one would really go to that part of the Palace?" I asked.

Both Talia and Selenay nodded their confirmation. "Even the servants, given that no one would be there, would have duties elsewhere," Selenay said.

"I want her," I said suddenly, surprising myself as much as Talia and Selenay.

"Jaelle— "

"I want her," I repeated, cutting Selenay off. I had told both women of my work with orphans, and I could see understanding in their eyes. I took advantage of that and pressed my case. "No one else will claim her, and if your poor houses are anything like what I've seen in my world, then I refuse to let her go there."

I could tell from their eyes that Haven's poor houses weren't the pride and joy of the city.

"Jaelle, I don't know," Talia said uncertainly.

"If I'm going to be stuck here for the rest of my life, I'm going to have to have a life," I countered. "I'm thirty years old, which is young in my world, but nearing middle age here." I looked at them both. "I want to do this. Surely there must be provisions for adopting children here."

"Yes, but—" Selenay began.

"I can't stay in the Palace forever, either," I said, interrupting her protest. "Some decisions will need to be made soon, and no matter where I end up, I want to do this."

"Why don't you two spend some time together?" Talia suggested. "We're all tired, and tonight is not the night to be deciding anything weighty. We'll discuss it more in the morning."

I wanted to protest, but I knew when to back off. All the same, Lucia had captured my heart, and I wasn't going to give her up without a life-and-death fight. I could tell both Talia and Selenay sensed this, and I was content to leave it at that for now.

I looked over to Lucia, who was just finishing her meal. She was desperately in need of a bath and some clean clothes. I realized, with a great deal of joy, that it would be a long time before I found my bed.