Marth's sleep was anything but restful; he awoke the next morning weak and worn and worse than the night before. He didn't fully dress in an attempt to save energy, and lumbered into the hallway. Sheeda's bedroom wasn't far.
She threw the door open at the first soft knock and greeted him with a sunny smile. No matter how many times he felt the warmth of her welcome, Marth always relaxed and brightened. Her infectious cheer alone was enough to restore him precious energy. She was a damn fine healer.
"You should really be more careful, Sheeda. I might have been an assassin." The young king scolded his friend playfully.
"Yeah, because assassins like to knock before they come in." The Talisian princess rolled her eyes and locked the door behind him. "Besides, no one knows I'm here!"
"You never know." Marth gave a small shrug. "But more importantly—"
"More important than assassins?"
"—I'd like you to take a look at me; something isn't right." Sheeda started, but became the professional plant user she was notorious for. She led Marth to her bed and laid him back, immediately commencing with a routine vitals check.
Unsatisfied with the results, she moved away to pull some instruments from a bag atop her chest of drawers. "How long?"
"Twelve hours since I first felt the affects." Sheeda hummed acknowledgement and brought a short blade and a few vials to the young king. She made a small incision in the crux of Marth's arm and bled him for samples.
"You didn't come to me twelve hours ago?" She spread the vials over the bed and began running her fingers over them, sending plant cells through each to check his blood for abnormalities.
"I was occupied elsewhere; I am a king, you know." She shot him an impatient glare before returning to her scan. When it came to Marth's health, she didn't tolerate carelessness; he should have known better than to joke with her. "I thought it was exhaustion at first, but this morning…"
"Mm." Sheeda paused over one of the vials. She held her hand poised above the vial. Marth could see his blood slosh against the walls of its container as Sheeda ran more cellular sentinels through it.
"I guess you weren't so far off with assassins…" She murmured softly. "You've been poisoned."
The Altean king raised his brows. He gathered from the heavy lilt in her voice that the toxin perplexed her in a very ominous way. It was something she had never seen before, and it seemed it was something she had hoped to never see.
"Can you make an antidote?"
Sheeda shook her head. "But I can remove it, and that should be enough." Poison removal was dangerous. Only the most skilled and precise plant users could do it. Someone really wanted him dead.
Unfortunately for that someone, Marth's best friend happened to be one of the most skilled and precise plant users in the world. He had watched her remove Roy's poison deliberately and efficiently, fast enough to save the dying boy.
Sheeda sat down beside him and started near the incision in his arm. She drew miniscule amounts from the opening and transferred them into a vial. But, this wasn't the method she had used the previous morning.
"You drew the poison from Roy's mouth yesterday."
"Roy swallowed his poison. Whoever poisoned you didn't bother to spike your food; they just went straight for your blood. And unless someone has recently cut you open, we're talking about an incredibly powerful plant user."
"Better than you?"
Sheeda halted; the task couldn't spare her focus to disquiet.
"I'm serious! A poison of this nature is complex, almost undetectable! It would be extremely difficult to make under normal circumstances! I can't even imagine what kind of power it takes to manifest it inside someone!" Sheeda was bordering shrill, despite, or perhaps because of, Marth's attempt at lightheartedness.
A muted 'Oh' was the extent of the king's surrender. The plant user returned to her task, only slightly ruffled. Marth tried to ease her annoyance with a dispassionate query.
"What is the nature of the poison?" The young king was relieved to see his friend's posture relax into a scholarly bearing.
"It's very delicate; I don't think it would have survived in your stomach. In your blood though, it would spread an infection. I think that in another twelve hours, the poison itself would have dissolved too far along to be removed. It's also slow-acting as an illness; you would have been bedridden for many days, maybe weeks. If you hadn't come to me so soon, I don't think anyone would have ever known that you were poisoned."
Sheeda drew the final remnants of the poison from Marth's bloodstream and corked the vial containing it. She tucked it away into a pouch at her side for later study and turned back to her recovering friend.
"Marth, maybe he wasn't involved in Roy's incident, but this time..."
He nodded. If anything Sheeda had said about the poison was right, only Garnef could have accomplished it. He was one of the world's foremost plant users and as the high priest, had access to the king. More than access, Altea's high priest could lay claim to the crown if the king died without an heir.
Unmarried and the last male in the Lowell line, Marth was the only one standing between Garnef and power over both church and state.
"Something is happening in Altea... I don't know who to trust anymore." The Talisian princess smiled sweetly and took Marth's hand in hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She understood the political game better than most, better than Marth. "I think it would be best if no one knows I'm well; I'll probably need a favor of you, Sheeda."
The plant user leapt up off the bed and gave her friend an exaggerated bow. "Your wish is my command, my liege."
"Announce your arrival in Altea to treat your unwell friend."
Sheeda pouted at the suggestion.
"But then Talis will send someone to collect me!"
Marth rolled his eyes.
"You didn't even tell your father that you're here? I know he doesn't like me, but it's been three years!"
The renegade princess huffed. "Well you said it was urgent! I didn't exactly have time for a send-off!"
"I suppose I did. Thank you for staying." Marth gently smiled. Sheeda unfolded her arms and returned the affectionate gesture.
"How is the fire user doing?"
"He's healthy, a little volatile, very talented." The young king swung his legs over the side of the bed and found that his feet were steady against the floor. He needed to attend to the undoubtedly irritated fire user. Roy was probably anxious to get back to action, but unfortunately, Marth had to put their training on hold in favor of investigation. This sinister assassination attempt could not be taken lightly and the young king suspected its timing was more than a coincidence.
"Volatile, hm? Trustworthy?"
"Trustworthy enough."
Sheeda pursed her lips. That was not the answer she was looking for. As well as medical, the Talisian princess acted as Marth's diplomatic watchdog.
"Will he know you're well?"
"He'll never know I wasn't."
Roy had slept little. Marth had locked him in. Marth hadn't trusted him to stay. Marth had imprisoned him. His frustration and fury inflamed him. He wanted to escape. He wanted to punish his captor. He wanted to burn the castle into oblivion.
But the day had so exhausted him that his rage eventually took him down. Roy had collapsed onto the bed, sweat and grime still coating his skin. He rose a few hours later, before the sun, and had relaxed enough to manage a quick wash and change of clothes. The fire user practiced until the first signs of light shone through the locked window, but soon grew impatient.
His mother could be dying.
Where was that royal prick?
When Roy finally heard the knock, after hours of riling himself against his warden, he could barely contain himself. The boy wanted to strike the king for bothering to knock.
"You can let yourself in."
Marth did just that. Roy glared at the latecomer, ready to lay into him with some choice lines of fire. He could feel a growl rising in his throat.
"Finally ready to release me, sire?"
"I'm sorry, Roy." Roy's anger cooled a bit for the sincerity in those words, but just so. "I was… delayed."
"Whatever. Let's just go." The fire user stalked towards the hallway, but Marth took hold of his arm, yanking the boy to a halt. Roy almost tore his arm from its socket trying to wrench away from the young king. Marth held him firm. "What?!"
Marth gave him an irritatingly patronizing smile. "Your training will take place elsewhere today."
The ice user loosened his grasp and Roy immediately jerked out of it. His curiosity took the edge off his temper and out of his voice. "Where?"
There was that smile again.
They didn't have to go far. Marth led Roy only a few doors down.
"A… bedroom."
"Mine, actually." Roy tensed. Altea's king might be naïve and infuriating, but Roy had never suspected that he was one of those kings. He could feel the muscles in his legs twitching, ready to bolt.
Marth stepped forward, placing himself in front of a blank wall opposite the bed, gesturing for Roy to join him. The fire user hesitated, but followed. It would do him no good to disobey.
Roy watched as the young king produced a crescent blade of ice and made a small slit in the pad of his index finger. He smeared a line of his blood across the wall and instructed that Roy do the same, offering him the blade.
Slightly confused, Roy went along with it.
"What are we doing?"
Marth's answering smile was ambiguous.
"Past this wall lies an impenetrable chamber that the Lowell bloodline has been using since the time of Anri." Roy's eyes went wide as their blood faded into the stone. "Anri, too, was an ice user and he liked to experiment with blood using, an uncommon and… special brand of using. When he built this castle, he used his own blood and ice; these walls will only yield to Lowell blood."
The ice stones retreated into themselves, leaving a man-sized entryway.
"And now, they will yield to you."
Roy cautiously, curiously palmed the open wall. It was a truly amazing feat; he had never seen its like. An ice castle. No wonder it was always so cold.
"You will be safe down below. No others have access to that room."
"Sheeda?"
"Not even Sheeda."
"Navahl?"
Marth visibly suppressed a smirk.
"Not yet."
"Why me?"
Roy saw Marth hesitate.
"Navahl and I are going into the city today. You'll be safe down there until we return."
Roy's anger instantly flared.
"Locking me in again?! Why don't you just put me back in the dungeon!?" He could feel his body heating, burning to explode.
Marth shook his head.
"Imprisoning you was never my intention."
"Well whatever your intention, you brilliantly managed to sidestep it! I won't be idly confined for your convenience, your majesty, while my mother grows weaker by the moment, if she lives at all!" Roy fired a molten sphere at the king, launching himself behind it. When Marth threw up a blockade against the flames, Roy drove a fist through it. The ice user barely managed to escape the shards, but Roy found his mark.
Marth stumbled under the force of the blow, managed to throw his aggressor off. He capitalized on Roy's imbalance, securing an ice cuff around each wrist.
Marth pinned the boy to the wall.
Roy felt the temperature of the room drop several degrees. The blue of Marth's eyes was dangerously sharp. Roy had never seen him lose his cool.
He had never before feared him.
"I will not compromise this mission nor endanger Altea because you cannot control yourself." The edge of Marth's voice was subdued and terrifying. The air in the room was biting. The fire user could hardly withstand it. "And I will not endanger you."
The ice user turned to leave, his rage echoing quietly in his every step.
"You will stay here until we return. Your meals will be brought to you." He paused at the door, turning those hard eyes on his stunned captive. Roy's arms fell limp as the cuffs dissolved.
"You may burn everything in this room."