Vidanric was very tired by the time he reached his rooms. He had spent most of the day trying to work out the confusion to the problems at hand. Even outside court many people were pestering him for his attention, wanting to get their problems and desires known. Drained and to his frustration, slightly stumbling, he made his way to his bedchambers. On his table he found a note and a very beautiful and unique flower.
'Mel. You aren't supposed to be giving me flowers; I'm supposed to do that for you.' Just the same he sniffed the flower and picked up the letter. "Hmm... that's odd." Vidanric suddenly felt himself more energized and slightly refreshed. 'What kind of flower is this?' Inspecting it more closely he noticed that he had never seen this kind of flower before. Not that he was an expert on flowers. Girls like Nee and Tamara knew much more than he.
Feeling a great warmth in his chest he started to read the letter, once again slightly amazed by all the feelings Meliara caused him to feel. After the letter he felt incredibly lifted in spirits and was almost tempted to go visit Mel. Deciding to wait till tomorrow he prepared himself for bed already looking forward to the next day.
"Mel's not mad at me; she's coming to court; she apologized. Actually she really didn't need to do that, but at least she's not mad." And to himself so no one could possibly hear. 'And she's wearing the blue court dress.' With a smile on his lips these were his last thoughts as he fell asleep.
Tamara shot up. Breathing heavily with a hand to her neck she looked around the room. It was just a dream, but even she knew it was more then that. She had read quite a bit about dreams. A lot of them are simply about all the thoughts going through your subconscious. Sometimes they're just jumbled thoughts and images that don't make sense. But sometimes, your dreams can put it all together and make sense of questions that have plagued you for hours while you were awake. Admittedly she didn't have any questions truly answered, but she knew now more then before that something was wrong. Things the past few days were not going right.
The arrival of the magicians had alerted everyone a little, but there was another presence that was so secretive and deadly that she feared more then anyone. The reason she fears this threat so much is because it's very hard to detect, and Tamara was quite afraid that she would have to deal with this threat herself.
Subtle hints that people barely picked up were alarming her more then ever now. People seemed slightly happier now even though the kingdom was going through a slight crisis of disorder. People were turning in to bed earlier it seemed. Attention was brought to frivolous matters like fashion and luxury problems than actual serious matters. Everyone's complaints were about foolish things like not enough sweets, or the workers were not working as hard which provided few nice things.
No one seemed to talk about the strange happenings and disappearances in towns or villages. Maybe a lot of people didn't even know which was even worse. A few crazy events had lead to a few revolts in some of the far northern lands, not enough to cause a problem, but enough that it should be looked into more then it is.
'It seems like people's heads are numb, their minds are too much in euphoria or simple matters and aren't interested or can't think of more serious things.' Looking at her desk she spotted one of the flowers that she and Mel had picked earlier this evening. Remembering her research on that flower she rushed towards it. Taking a deep whiff she felt her head clear up just a little, not even realizing that it had been somewhat hazy before until now.
'Just as I thought! Someone is using some sort of herb, flower, or even drug to distract everyone else from something big that's going to happen.' Pulling out books for back up or reference Tamara set herself to reading what she could about what could be causing this reaction in people. At least she knew the antidote, the rare flower she and Mel had been gazing at all day.
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'At least Mel should be safe, and if she sent one of those flowers to Vidanric like she said she would then he should be ok as well.' For the rest of that night Tamara poured over her books to see what she could do and connect things.
Mel had been circling around her room. She was surprised with how late she stayed up tonight. She had been going to sleep by 9 or even 8 the past few days, but tonight she stayed up till 11. Even after she had gone to sleep she had one of those scary dreams that woke her up again. She was debating over whether she should go back to sleep or get something warm to drink and pool over thoughts and unanswered questions.
She had a weird feeling. Of what, she was not sure, but a strange feeling none the less. "I suppose I'll get some tea. Leaving her room she snuck along the halls heading towards one of the smaller kitchens. 'Hmmm... it seems to be really dark down this hallway.' Mel thought as the further she went the darker it got. Glancing behind her back she was surprised to see it equally as dark in the direction she had come. She felt herself cold and damp as though a mist were surrounding her.
"What? What's going on around here?" Out of nowhere a hand came out of the darkness and clamped around her mouth, an arm grabbed her arms and pressed her against a body. She heard a few mumbled words and then felt a light sensation in her head. A moment later she passed out.
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