Here's the next chapter, finally! Sorry for the wait; I had a lot of stuff going on this weekend, then my internet wouldn't work and I have some major tests tommorrow... not really an excuse, I know, but here it is anyway. Hope you like it. Please remember to review!

Disclaimer: I do not own On Fortune's Wheel.

Flashback to Second Chapter:

"What was his name?"

"You mean I haven't told you…? No, I suppose I didn't. His name…" Birle didn't think Lyss would recognize it as the name of the Earl- when it came to Orien, people just didn't think of him as Orien, or even Lord Orien. He was just the Earl; he had no name, as far as they were concerned. At least, none that made any difference, or that there was any point to remembering. "His name was Orien."

"Orien…" repeated Lyss, savoring the name. A very nice name, really…

End Flashback

The sound of loud voices, seemingly from very far away, cut sharply through the haze of Lyss's mind. She frowned; she felt very strange. Part of her body was uncomfortably warm, while another felt somehow... wet. Where was she? What was going on? Lyss still hadn't opened her eyes, but she did so now, her bellflower eyes becoming visible as they fluttered open.

To her surprise, a strange man was leaning over her as she did do, looking concerned. Who was he? That was when she realized that this man wasn't the only one looking at her. She was surrounded by about a dozen men, all openly staring at her. Frightened, Lyss sat up and attempted to jerk away from them, but, unfortunately for her, this didn't really work. First of all, she was still too weak to really jerk away from anything, and secondly, yet another unknown person happened to be standing directly behind her. The rather sad results of her actions were merely Lyss doing a sort of strained flop and bumping her head on the someone's knees. Not a very graceful way to came back to reality.

"Whoa, there, calm down. No one here is going to hurt you, I swear. You're safe." It was the man she had noticed leaning over when she first came to. Lyss eyed him suspiciously. He gave her a soft smile, and said, "Trust me." A moment passed where they just looked into each other's eyes, each trying to see into the other's heart. Then, for reasons unfathomable even to her, Lyss nodded. She didn't know why, but she somehow trusted this man.

Orien glanced up at the men crowding around the poor girl. It was clear they were freaking her out, and he didn't appreciate that. "Come on, guys, clear out. Give her room to breathe, would you?"

Embarrassed, the men shuffled away with various murmurs of, "Of course, my Lord," and "My apologies, my Lord." Orien waited until they had thinned out a bit and didn't seem to be listening too obviously, and then he turned back to the girl. It occurred to him that he should really ask what her name was; he couldn't very well just think of her as 'the girl' forever now could he? But that would have to wait at least a few minutes; for now, there were other things that needed attention.

"How do you feel?" he asked her gently. She looked up at him. Despite the fact that she no longer seemed seriously scared, as she had at first, she was now looking at him with decided nervousness. But she did answer him.

"I feel all right, I guess. Sort of hot on one side..." she trailed off as she finally noticed the source of this discomfort. There was a good sized campfire just a foot or two to the right of her. And she had been covered in some kind of fine fleece blanket for however long she had lying there. The man looked at her rather sheepishly.

"I'm sorry. I should have realized that that was too close to the fire; I guess I wasn't really thinking about that. I was hoping the fire would help to dry you off, actually. Feel free to move away from it." Lyss quickly did so, finding the relative coolness a few feet away to be very nice indeed. "Better?" she nodded.

Now that she had gotten over her initial fright, Lyss allowed herself to look around more freely. She saw several tents, the campfire, a few weapons they were presumably using for hunting, some horses, a few other things. It might all seem very normal at first sight, but Lyss felt a slight shiver run down her spine as she looked at it all. All around her were signs; signs, that these were no ordinary men she found herself in the midst of. The man who had spoken her was clean-shaven, and his shirt was made of some kind of very light, smooth material that Lyss had never seen before. Someone had told her about it once though, a trader passing through the Inn. This looked like what he had described... what had he said it was called? Something with an 's,' maybe? Salt? Silt? ...sss.. silk? Yes, that was what it was called, she remembered now; silk. The tents looked as though the might be made out of this 'silk' as well. The weapons were extremely well-made, highly polished, and appeared to have been carved out of some dark wood she did not recognize. The horses were the finest she had ever seen, and it even seemed that some of the men there might be servants. Lyss didn't know what to think; she didn't belong here. But what were a bunch of Lords doing out in the middle of nowhere like this?

"Uh... where am I?" asked Lyss, wondering how to ask her question. "And how did I get here?" There was a pause. "My Lord," she added hurriedly, remembering late that one was meant to show respect to these people. To this man in particular, it seemed, as even the other Lords were calling him 'my Lord,' and obeying him when he asked them to leave.

Orien hesitated. "Well, to answer your first question, you're in a forest several miles west of the capital. We're all here on a hunting trip." Well, that answered her unspoken question. The Lord seemed to hesitate again before he continued. "So, you... are you saying you don't remember what happened earlier, when you ask how you got here?" Lyss stared at him.

Something had happened earlier? Apparently something she ought to remember, by the way he was looking at her. Trying to think back, she desperately tried to recall anything momentous that might have happened in the last few hours. She leaned back slightly, and felt her dress squish.

Orien could tell the moment she remembered what had happened; how she had nearly drowned. Her eyes grew wide, and she let out a small "Oh," looking rather distant. He was silent, not saying a word. She deserved a few moments to take it in.

Lyss was in shock for a second; she could remember how she had fallen into the strange lake, how her dress had weighed her down, how she hadn't been able to get out. It had been awful... she had been completely alone; she'd thought she was going to die. But why hadn't she? The last thing she remembered was the pain in her chest, how the world had seemed to go dark while she slipped under...

Coming back to earth, Lyss looked back up at the Lord. "How... how am I still alive? As far as I can remember, I should be dead by now." she waited for his answer, completely forgetting the whole 'my Lord,' thing this time.

Orien was surprised at these words. For some reason, perhaps it was how loudly she had been yelling just a minute beforehand, he had been sure she was awake at least long enough to realize she was being rescued when he pulled her out of the water.

"I was tracking something in the forest, not far from the Valley Lake, and I heard someone yelling. I thought I was crazy at first, since the chance of meeting another human being in these woods other than the people you see around you now is about nothing. But then I heard the shouts again, and decided to investigate them. I'm glad I did. What I found was you, stuck in the Valley Lake, thrashing about. You very clearly couldn't swim, so I jumped in and pulled you out. Then I carried you here." He paused. "You know, you're lucky to be alive."

Lyss was silent for a moment after hearing the man's story. He was right; she was lucky to be alive. Almost timidly, she spoke again. "Well... I guess I sort of owe you my life then, don't I?" He said nothing, just looked away. Then, "Thank you," said Lyss softly.

"It doesn't matter. I'm sure you would have done the same thing... are you feeling all right now?"

"Yes... I think so." Lyss wasn't quite sure what to say; it was almost unnerving to suddenly discover that you would be dead but for some complete stranger.

"Are you sure? Do you need anything?" A thought occurred to him. "Are you hungry?" he asked, gesturing to the meat that had by now finished roasting.

At the mention of food, Lyss remembered why she had gotten stuck in that stupid lake. And, of course, her stomach chose that time to growl very loudly, much to Lyss's embarrassment. "Umm... food would be nice, I guess..." she mumbled, not looking at the Lord, very red.

Orien smiled. "Of course. I'll get you something..."

While Orien was piling up some food for the mysterious girl he seemed to have pulled out of thin air, Gladaegal finally had an opening in which he could study her without being too obvious. She was very young looking, and yet not quite a child. She had pale chestnut hair that fell lightly well past her shoulders, a delicate looking figure, and was wearing a very simple dress that looked as though it might have been clean before she had fallen into the lake, as his brother claimed. At that moment, she turned her head towards him, still not looking directly at him, and Gladaegal was surprised to see the color of her eyes. They were like small bellflowers... he'd only ever seen one other person with eyes like that before. His brother. She seemed the right age, too...

Wait. What was he doing? He wasn't seriously thinking about that, was he? Gladaegal hadn't thought about that in years. And there was absolutely no way this girl could possibly... have anything to do with it. With that, Gladaegal pushed the matter firmly out of his mind and did not think of it again. Instead, he too decided he was hungry and went over by his brother to have some food.

"Hey, Orien, move over will ya. I'd like some food too if you don't mind, my lord," he added teasingly while several others looked at him, aghast at his attitude around the Earl. Orien, grinning, shifted over a bit so he could get through.

Lyss, too, stared at the pair of them after overhearing this short exchange, though not for the same reasons as the others. Did he just... no... he couldn't have... He just called him Orien. Wasn't that...

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