Do I have any idea what this is? No, I do not. It just so happened the other day that I woke up and chose to dive back into this fandom/this story specifically. I have a few more chapters ready for this, and I hope you guys like it!
-owl
Outside the room stood the Niloan girl, Abeke, Conor had mentioned. Uraza stood next to her, peering into the room. There were the faintest tear tracks on Abeke's cheeks, and while she looked calm, her eyes betrayed panic.
"Is Conor still here?" Abeke asked.
Garrin nodded and moved aside to let her in. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
The girl didn't answer him, but stroad over to Conor, Uraza behind her and Briggan's gaze following her. "Conor!" she said, shaking him awake.
The blond boy was almost instantly awake, turning to Abeke. "What's the matter?" he asked in a garbled rush.
"Meilin had a nightmare. She thinks she hurt you. She won't calm down."
Conor quickly stood up, shaking his head to clear it. "Is anyone with her?"
Abeke nodded. "Yes, Rollan is trying to comfort her, but I think that she needs to see you to truly pull herself out of the nightmare."
Conor gave his family a quick wave before he and Briggan followed Abeke and Uraza from the room and through the halls. They ran through them, passing the occasional lit candle, but mostly they were in the dark as they moved.
"I'm assuming that you three were up in the tower?" Conor asked as they took a sharp turn and he almost slid into the corner of the wall.
Abeke nodded, not saying anything.
Quickly enough they reached the tower and began the climb. Conor had to admit that, as cool as it was to be at the top of the tower, it wasn't practical in the event of an emergency. When Conor and Abeke reached the top of the stairs, they found Meilin in one of the arm chairs in the common area between the two bedrooms.
Rollan was standing sort of in front of Meilin, next to Jhi, with Essix on his shoulder. His face was one of deep concern. He must have found every blanket at the top of the tower because the only part of Meilin that Conor could see was her face and a hand. Her eyes were vacant, and the fingers on her exposed hand were gently scratching behind Jhi's ears.
"Meilin?"
Her eyes snapped into focus as she saw him. "Conor? Are you alright?" she asked in a hoarse whisper, pushing the blankets off of herself as she launched herself at Conor.
Conor wrapped her arms around her, giving her the comfort she clearly needed from him. Looking closer at her, Conor could see dried tear tracks marking her face. He nodded. "I'm fine, I promise. What happened in your dream?"
He didn't really expect that she would answer that question, because she always kept her thoughts to herself. However, had he bet on it, he would have lost money, and Meilin opened her mouth and told them in a whisper what she had dreamed, starting with what had actually happened.
"After Abeke and Shane escaped from where we had been held, they moved me to a different room. It was grand and though I wasn't allowed to leave, they treated me quite well. In my dream, it was the middle of the night. You guys had come to rescue me. Abeke and Rollan were lookouts and Conor scaled the wall to my room.
"I was awake, when he entered the room, and there was an overwhelming flash of relief, that you guys were going to get me out of there. Then it happened. I could feel myself losing control. Oftentimes, when it happened, I didn't know it was happening, and I don't remember it after. But, in my dream, I could see through my eyes and feel my arms as they moved.
"I watched, a passenger in my own body, as I drew a dagger from somewhere and attacked. You weren't expecting it, and I got a lucky hit pretty quickly. When you fell and bled out, I woke up."
Abeke sighed. "I should have woken you sooner. I could hear you muttering and tossing in your bed."
Meilin shook her head. "It isn't on you. It's on me I should have figured it out sooner, the Bile instead of the Nectar."
Rollan's eyes flashed and he growled as he moved down to his knees to look Meilin in the eyes. "I know you love him, but the only person to blame is your father who had you take the Bile instead."
Conor nodded. "I have to agree with Rollan."
Meilin yawned. "I don't know why he would have done it."
"Do you want to go back to sleep, Meilin?" Abeke asked gently, placing her hand on the other girl's shoulder.
Meilin shook her head, a note of panic seeping into her eyes. "No."
"We could play a game?" Conor suggested.
Abeke looked up at him. "What game?"
Conor shrugged. "I didn't think that far ahead. My brothers and I played a fair amount of games when we were young, we could get them up here and figure something out."
"That sounds like it could be fun," Rollan said slowly, after a moment of what appeared to be deep thought. "Who's going to run downstairs to get them?"
"I can do it," Conor offered, gently trying to push Meilin off himself.
She didn't let him, though and instead looked at Rollan. "You can go down and get them." Her words carried a sense of finality and Rollan stood up to go get Conor's brothers.
"First, how am I supposed to know what room they're in? And, second, doesn't Abeke have a sister? Should we invite her to join us as well?"
Abeke shook her head. "I don't think she would join us anyway. But maybe bring Briggian or Uraza with you to find Conor's brothers."
Hearing his name, Briggian stood up from where he had been laying next to Uraza by one of the bedroom doors. He nudged Rollan towards the staircase.
While Rollan was gone, Abeke, Meilin, and Conor began moving the chairs closer to the edges of the room, leaving more space in the middle of the floor. Essix perched in one of the exposed rafters, her self-proclaimed favorite spot to rest in the common room of the tower. Jhi, after helping the kids to move the chairs, curled up by the wall, next to the chair that Uraza was lounging on.
Meilin, with one of the blankets that had been previously wrapped tightly around her, laid against Jhi's side. Abeke sat on the floor, in front of the chair Uraza was on, fidgeting with one of her braids. Conor sat across from Meilin, against the wall, where he was sure that Briggian would choose to settle when he returned.
Only ten minutes later Rollan came back through the door, looking slightly out of breath, with Wallace and Garrin on his heels. The older boys looked around the tower room, their eyes moving from the fireplace to the two doors at opposite sides of the room.
Then Briggian bounded up the last of the stairs and crowded the room to curl up behind Conor. When Rollan found a seat next to Meilin, Essix swooped down from her perch and landed on his shoulder. Wallace and Garrin chose to sit next to each other, between Abeke and Rollan.
"So, little brother, what did you think we should play?" Wallace asked, a sneaky grin on his face.