He was dressed in a light colored and very rumpled night shirt with baggy hose. His hair was pushed to one side and a crazy mess. The queen on the other hand was stunning. Her long hair framed her face and hardly looked like she had laid down. The long night gown she wore couldn't claim the same. It too was wrinkled like it had been left on the floor too long.

Jonathon took in the sight of the injured women and knelt beside her before Daine or the hostler could protest. He noted her hair with mild interest. That paled in comparison to her eyes, which as he looked from Daine to this young woman he realized their eyes were almost exactly alike. Though the stranger's eyes seemed to glow in the semi darkness unlike Daine's. The wounded messenger seemed to be sizing him up as well. Since he had never seen her, he was sure she wasn't a courier and the way she studied him told him she wasn't certain of what the king looked like, so not one of George's either. Whatever the young woman was looking for she seemed to find because she stretched out her hand to him. The look in her eyes was warning, pleading, and a dare wrapped up in one. Before anyone could tell him not to; he clasped her hand.

Arie couldn't help but wonder if the king was fool or just mad, but it didn't matter, she needed him to listen. Her Gift gathered in their palms before throwing both of them into Arie's memories. At first it was confusing and disorienting, but then her mind settled. She showed him what she had found. A man was tearing into his fellow. They were both guards who had worked together for years. Friends. Now they clawed at each other's throats trying desperately to rend and tear. Pain flashed through her and the king as she pounced on the combatants dragging them apart and had gotten punched for it. Looking through her Gift she saw the black gunk. It hadn't been there a month earlier. The vision shifted showing water with black gunk. Only seen through Gift. It appeared later in blood she found dried on the road and again in a Gift that was distorted. Slowly she studied it and its effects. A disease and a poison that was starting to spread from the coast.

Arie's mind was briefly overwhelmed by a seething rage that was enough to choke the king. It was gone as soon as it came, and a silhouetted shape filled their combined vision.

A man, mage, and evil. She wanted to lunge from her position and rip him to pieces for what he had brought to her people. Their ghosts demanded his blood and they would have it once she knew all there was to know. She would not risk someone else having the knowledge and letting it lose on innocent people for their own benefits.

Arie heard someone address him as Apostate. She waited, wanting to know more. He mentioned a woman's name. Josiane. He said her name with reverence that made Arie shuddered. The king however stiffened. Then the man went on a rant, some revolving around revenge on the king, his champion in particular. Another part was about Roger, the king's cousin; that he would show him. Last part was about the Dominion Jewel and how it would work for him of none at all. Exhaustion and blood loss finally destroyed Arie's strength the connection between them snapped, but not before both people traded memories.

Arie saw the Black City. Its expansive black stone buildings that were unnaturally clean and perfect. The whole place gave her the creeps like no other place she had ever visited before had. She watched the defeat of the Ysandir. The death of Roger at the hands of his friend Alanna started after the death of the god like creatures of the black city. Graves rose up next. The former king and queen. Greif was sharp and bitter for that memory. Next was a wedding. The king's. She could feel his pride his joy at the sight of his wife. She was breath taking as no mortal had a right to be. All of his friends were their cheering their joy with him. Then she witnessed the birth of each of his children, and felt his pride then too. It was only when she saw the decision he made about the now knight Keladry; also known as the Protector of the Small, that she was angry and stopped the flow of memories. She would rant about his choice to make her go through probation another time.

The king witnessed some of Arie's memories. He saw a woman who was the spitting image of Arie. She walked through a rundown village and addressed everyone she knew by name. He watched as she worked to heal. He felt Arie's pride in her mother's work, and her mother taught her to do the same. He saw the lessons her mother taught her; things no common born woman would know. Then the memories jumped ahead, and he could feel Arie's anger and fear. She was leaving a large estate that king recognized. It belonged to the family who held the fief just below Pirate Swoop. Arie was ranting about how they wouldn't lift a hand for their people why was she surprised that they wouldn't help their daughter. He didn't know who they were but he swore he would find out. The scene changed again, Arie's grief was a sucker punch to his gut. Her mother lay next the grave she had just finished digging. People were gathered around weeping. Two men hoisted the body gently into the grave and buried it once Arie was out of the way. Time passed and everyone went away. Only SandStorm was there. Suddenly a black cloaked figure was beside her. The king recognized the Dark God. Arie sniffed and rubbed her eyes staring at the grave.

"She loved you." She told the god, who made no response other than to put a hand on her shoulder. "Just take care of her please?" Tears choked her and the hooded god nodded, then he was gone.

The memories snapped away and the king staggered back. He would have fallen on his butt if Thayet hadn't been there to catch him. Arie, it seemed, was asleep. Her body curled up around one of SandStorm's legs. To Daine he said,

"Put them up in a room, they need to be guarded and healed. When she wakes tell me and send word to Raoul, Myles, Alanna, George, and Sir Wyldon. We are going to want our best home for what is coming."

Daine nodded and went to work gathering Arie up. SandStorm followed her through the palace. The king looked to his queen and said,

"If it's not one thing it's another."

The queen smiled a ghost smile and nodded in agreement.