Chapter Five
"Alexandra?"
Alex's mind snapped out of its foggy stage and directed its attention to Rigamaron's approaching figure.
She paused, not sure what to say or do—but the other girl did the talking.
"Are you alright? I thought I saw that man go by, but---What's that?" she pointed a slender, olive-colored finger toward the rumpled note.
Alex tried to smooth it out again, and held it upside down so that the other girl could see.
"Mm?" Rigamaron grunted as she read, and her Fae seemed to mimic her expression of concern.
She slipped up beside Alex.
"I think he is a knight," she whispered. "There is no other way to explain his strange behavior. He can't speak—it must be magic!"
Alex felt a cool wave rush over her. Magic…
She stuffed the note into one of her many coat pockets.
Rigamaron gasped as though Alex had commited a form of trespass.
"Is that it?" the other girl asked. "You won't do anything?"
Alex started walking down the hallway.
"I don't know—I don't know where moon hill is, and if I did—"
"You wouldn't go," Rigamaron snapped. "Well, you do have a steady character. But don't you sometimes feel like a coward?"
Alex felt her face grow hot.
"I-I don't even know him! Anything could happen… at night on a hill, alone—" she stuttered.
Rigamaron paused, her Fae twittering around her, as if to emphasize her last statement. When there was nothing spoken for a while, Alexandra continued onward by herself.
The jingling noise grew faint, but then quickly caught up with her.
Rigamaron slipped in front of Alex and began walking backward as she spoke.
"Sorry—" she said, paused, and then suddenly added; "But don't you ever think that things are written in stone, and are meant to be done? Rules broken? Don't you want to help the boy?" (This seemed like a bit of a contradiction.)
Alex was getting upset—and a little infuriated by the girl's words. She tried to swallow her temper.
"I'm going to talk to-to Candock," she said, keeping her pace brisk. "They should have some medicine-or-or something…"
"Medicine?" Rigamaron asked, almost laughing, and again lost pace with Alex, who began to walk more quickly, wishing to end the conversation.
Alex turned the corner, hearing Rigamaron call as she ran after her, and then—
There was an uncomfortable collision as Alexandra realized that Rigamaron had ran to come round the corner, just in time to collide with Ogwatchu, the small dragon, who had been fluttering forward, unnoticed.
Rigamaron gave a short cry, her Fae echoing the surprise in this with a whirr of bell sounds that were most furious (and odd, coming from such placid-seeming creatures as Fae).
Alex, at first, was tempted to laugh—but she soon regained her composure.
"I beg your pardon!" the little dragon was exclaiming. "I-I wasn't expecting you to come—dreadfully sorry, 'twas my fault, I could have veered away…"
Rigamaron scooted back, her Fae following a little dazedly.
There was a very akward pause as the girl brushed herself off (though the impact had been quite harmless), and left the dragon (in a way) waiting for an apology (though he had already claimed the blame).
"You talk some sense into this girl, little dragon," she suddenly said, gesturing behind her back toward Alex. "There is a mystery to solve."
The faint jingling died away in the background.
Ogwatchu turned to Alex.
"Is everything alright?" he asked. She looked down at the ground, noticing he had dropped a few papers, and, as she knelt to help him pick them up, replied;
"I…I was hoping you had some medicine, maybe… for Nihl."
Ogwatchu, profusely thanking her for helping him gather the papers, stopped short and asked;
"What? Did you visit him, ahn?"
"Hmm? Oh—yes, I did—to give him a Fae," she said, looking down rather humbly.
"Medicine…" the little dragon murmured, as though uncertain as to what she meant by the word, and seeming not be really be paying attention to her latter explanation.
There was a moment of quiet as Alex began to walk down the hallway, back toward her room, not feeling very talkative anymore.
But the little dragon followed her.
"You have spoken to Father Ei and Candock?" Ogwatchu asked.
"What?" Alex asked.
"Spoken to Candock and her father," the dragon repeated.
"Oh—" Alex said, then paused, deciding the old man was Candock's father, then added; "About Nihl? Yes."
"So they have told you…?" Ogwatchu hinted further.
Alex stopped walking for a minute, unresolved as to what the dragon meant.
He shook his head.
"The illness is very strange, most uncommon. They have yet to discover a cure—in these parts. I do not know if…" his voice trailed off, but he suddenly resumed with a simple; "I do not know."
"There isn't a cure?" Alex asked, feeling her throat grow a little tight.
The dragon shook his head.
She paused, wondering if she should show him the note from the strange youth. But something inside honestly panged her not to… so she kept her hands decently at her sides and began to walk again.
That night, at the dinner table (which Alex unintentionally stumbled upon, long after losing her way to her bedroom), the same sort of rituals came about, including how the food arrived (although this time it was a steamed sort of dish, sweet and gooey, with meat). Alex wanted to ask how of all things it so appeared, but to the others it seemed all quite so natural that she could not bring herself to disrupt their perfect peace with a silly-seeming question.
Nihl and the strange youth were both absent at the table that evening, which also gave Alex a rather creepy feeling. She almost felt indebted to meet the young man on one side of her—but the other, very frightened side, screamed out with an attempt to stifle any thoughts about the note from her brain. But oh, how she wanted Nihl to be well! She began to harp on this so much that she nearly drowned herself with guilt, and ended up being shaken by Ogwatchu, for the little dragon was worrying for her health, and asking if she was well.
"Yes—" she answered, but almost went immediately back to worrying. She tried desperately to shove the thoughts away, but over and over again they came back, in one way or another.
One of the ways she was led to think of Nihl started with the Fae.
She could not understand how she had never seen the others' Fae before – but now, and quite plainly, she recognized that every one seated at the table had a distinct shoulder pet, hovering beside them like tiny guardians. She wondered if this had to do with magic and proper timing—as though the Fae were "revealed" to her distinctly and at just the right time for her to receive one of her own (which somehow she secretly delighted in, though to its face she was unsure how to act).
Dinner passed uneventfully for a good portion of the time—but as conversation slowed, Alexandra couldn't help suddenly asking;
"Why doesn't Rigamaron eat with all of you?"
There was a rather harsh silence that followed.
Candock's father (the old man, who Ogwatchu had called Father Ei) sat forward, and very kindly replied;
"She is unclean."
The words were very unusual to Alex, who could not understand what exactly they meant—though she had a sort of picture, a train of thoughts, particularly ones leading back to history lessons and tales of people living in Buddhist India, or things like that.
She didn't say anything.
"We have accepted her into our house in hopes that she might… repent," Candock said shyly, and did not meet Alex's gaze.
Alexandra wondered at this for a moment—but she couldn't think of anything to say, still.
There was not much need, however, to say anymore, for the old man stood, bowed his head, and left the table. The others, bowing before they left the room, quietly disassembled in the same manner.
Alex left slowly, and as she passed into the empty hall, noticed a slight vibrating noise—and guessed that this was the dinner table, clearing itself.
That night Alexandra had rather fitful sleep. It was almost dreadful (but not quite that bad) to sleep on a flat mat (for of course her usual bed was thick and high-up and soft, with a large pillow)—but the best she could think to do for it was to roll up her coat and put it beneath her head—as there was really no need for the extra warmth (the room was neither hot, nor cold).
A she lay there, she also realized that she had not had a shower for a while, which made her a bit uncomfortable—and then she started to realize that her coat was very lumpy, so she unrolled the "pillow" and extracted all the things that were hard, which she did not remember well in the dark. She only thrust them into a corner to let be and sleep.
The last thing that disturbed her was the fact that the room had no doorway, which was almost the creepiest part—except that the air was completely silent, and utterly noiseless. She liked quiet—but not that much.
Her thoughts turned, just for a vague while, once again to Nihl.
She pictured him, peacefully resting with his Fae tucked between his chin and shoulder, and then imagined him running in a field of flowers, healthy and happy, his Fae following him and making wonderful Fae noises of happiness. She remembered her own Fae, which was hovering sleepily over her—and wondered why it did not rest on her shoulder that way. But it looked like it was contentedly asleep, and she herself felt as though she were partially dreaming some nonsense about a nice little creature that floats beside you and turns your favorite color.
They ought to have medicine, somewhere in this place, she thought dreamily, and then; If they don't, I can always find some. It shouldn't be that hard. Just a little quest, and maybe Rigamaron or Candock will aid me—though Rigamaron is very rude… no, that isn't kind, she seems alright… … and so forth, until she had nearly resolved to ask someone, anyone to help her find medicine for Nihl, who, she assured herself, would be well soon, anyway.
Somehow, though, she managed to fall asleep… though she did have one horribly gripping dream about dark, mysterious young men assaulting her or taking her to hills below the moon—which, thankfully, soon enough led to dreams about moons and stars—and flying (which she liked very well)—till for a while she slept comfortably.