After a couple days, Alanna wanted to leave, but I begged her to stay, and said, "It'll get better eventually. This will help us. I just know it will." She agreed to stay and we might not have caught up on our work, but we were happy since we had some friends here at Court. Eventually, Duke Gareth assigned me to wait on her Majesty, Queen Lianne, his sister, and she quickly became like a second mother to me and I told her about my mother's death, and she tried to look out for me and keep me out of trouble.
After a few weeks, I was allowed to go to town with Alan and Gary came with us. Then we all met George Cooper, who was the leader, or the King of the Court of the Rogue, otherwise known as the Rogue or the King of Thieves. Then George got three horses—Alan and Jon got the first two—Alan's was copper-colored with a white mane and tail, Jon's was solid black—and I got the last one—she was solid black with a white star on her forehead. Alan named her horse Moonlight, Jon named his Darkness, and I named my horse, Starlight.
The Sweating Sickness came to Corus and several people, including Queen Lianne, Gary, Alex, Francis, who died, Jon, who nearly died, and myself—I didn't die since I'd been smart and attempted a long-distance tapping—I'd chosen my sister, Nessa, as my source for magic, since our magics were so close, all got sick. I'd gotten myself sick since I was so worried about the queen and she was like a second mother to me.