A New Dawn (18 Dec 2001) Alice and Agatha witness a Dawn in the lands of October. NOTE: Tom, don't read this log!

Alice and Agatha made it to dinner that evening, which was a sumptuous, many-coursed affair laden with a wild assortment of different dishes. The two girls sat at a place of honor beside Lord October, at his high table before a hall filled by what seemed to be all his people -- hundreds, if not thousands of them. It was hard for Agatha to enjoy the meal or even concentrate at first, in front of so many people. Servants in all shapes and sizes fluttered around them, refilling glasses and replenishing empty dishes with silent and unobtrusive efficiency.

The conversation meandered in the noisy hall, only touching on serious topics. October, noting that Alice seemed half-asleep at the table, wisely suggested that they save detailed discussion for the morning -- and a more private setting. Thus, the guests called it a night relatively early.

The night seemed unusually black as servants led Agatha and Alice back to their suites. One of the servants commented, shuttering the windows, that it might be a true Night, but Agatha was too busy trying to fend off a pair of servants so she could undress herself to ask the woman what she meant.

Autumn Suite
The rooms of House October are a good deal more normal than Nymuae's curious Spire. This suite has a dressing room -- a closet so big Agatha's attic would fit inside it -- a front room that must be a sort of parlor, with couches and chairs, and a bedroom. Everything is spacious and well-maintained, with fires blazing merrily in every hearth. The colors are reds and browns, with golden accents, and the overall effect is warm and comforting, especially after the harsh winter outside.

An urgent knocking came at the door, but before Agatha could rouse herself to answer it, it was opened by a servant woman whose hair was streaked by red, yellow, and brown. "Begging your lady's pardon," she says, excitedly, "But I know it's your first Daybreak in Mirari, and I shouldn't think you'd want to miss it. It's a beautiful Dawn, miss!" A blinking, but awake, Alice stands behind the servant, who hurries into the bedroom to throw open the east-facing window. A pleasant golden light spills into the room, and the servant leans against the sill, looking out with a beatific smile on her face.

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Agatha gets up and goes over to Alice at the window. "You'd think daybreak didn't come very often," she whispers to the younger girl.

Alice steps forward along side the servant woman, holding her hand while her free hand rubs an eye sleepily. "I'm very sure it will be so pretty, Agatha, I want-t-t-" She lowers a hand from her eye to cover her mouth as she yawns. " ... to see it."

Once she's looking out the window, Agatha realizes that, maybe, a daybreak like this doesn't happen very often. Outside, the sun rises over the snow-and-ice covered forest to the East. It is a Dawn like none Alice and Agatha have ever seen before -- previous mornings, even in Mirari, seem but a pale echo of it. The sky glows, painted in hues of golds and reds near the horizon, transforming to blue overhead. Sunlight glitters past bare branches whose black lengths are coated by snow turned pearlescent by the illumination. Long, graceful shadows stretch over the unbroken snow surrounding the House of October. It is a Dawn full of promises, a sunrise that offers hope for new adventures and a future full of wonders.

Agatha's jaw drops as she stares open-mouthed. "Wow," is her only comment.

"Oooooo," is the little blonde girl's own noise. Her eyes wide, and for a moment the hand that had hovered before her mouth hangs forgotten where she left it half way before it settled back to her side.

"'Tis magnificent, is it not?" the servant asserts, folding her arms against the long windowsill and pressing her nose to the glass. "With this long winter upon us, 'tis been so long since we saw a true Dawn. But 'tis a new Day now. May it bring great things to us all!"

Agatha considers this, and asks, "How many regular days do you normally get between true Dawns like this?"

"As it was said Renewal pushes the shadows to hide away," echoes Alice, as if recalling some event previous. She nods a little to the idea, then steps forward to stand on her tippy-toes and lean to peer out at the rising Dawn. "It's so nice Agatha, so ever more than I imagined. 'Tis true, as she said it would be!"

The older girl just blinks at Alice, wondering what she's talking about, but not willing to ask in front of the servant. "It certainly is magnificent. Thank you both for waking me in time to see it."

"My Lady is most welcome," the servant says, coming out of her enchantment with the Dawn. "As for the length of time between Days -- well it varies greatly. Fewer during the summer months, mayhaps na more than ten or twelve," she says. "During the winter, it gets much longer 'twixt true Dawns. Last winter, when I was a little girl na older than yourself, I recall it felt an eternity, though t'was only twenty or so cycles 'tween Days then. This winter, though...." The servant woman grows solemn, her expression sad. "Last Dawn was nigh on thirty days ago. Some said ... well, ne'er mind what they said. 'Tis Daybreak now!" She gazes towards the rising sun again, and its glow bathes her face, cheering her expression.

Alice sits back from the window long enough to give her friend a curtsey. "Nay, was the good servant whom you should thank Agatha. I was fast asleep, to be sure!" she explains cheerily.

Agatha smiles to Alice, and ponders the timing of things. First the reality ripple, then the dark night, and finally a true Dawn. "I wonder why they come further apart in winter?" she asks out loud, without really directing the question to anyone. "Maybe because it's summer back home, and in our summer the days are longer."

"The seers say 'tis because the nights grow long in the winter, and so 'tis longer until the Dawn. But I am no seer, to understand the ways of the seasons or the planets," the serving woman remarks with a laugh. "Would the ladies care to break their fast now? I am sure you have many plans for the day!"

"Yes please," Agatha says to the woman. "We need to meet with Lord October this morning."

The blonde girl seems engrossed in the Dawn and the sun against her face, so much so she seems content to close her eyes and bask in the warm light without any further suggestion of it. And indeed distracted as she is she does not answer Agatha -- though it's the sort of question Alice generally wouldn't know the answer on anyway. The talk of food does seem to stir her out of her sunny reverie, and she blinks, turning her head to the side and looking back. The golden sun makes her hair shimmer like new gold, and face glow. "Oh! Indeed, if you would have it ma'am and Agatha, t'would be most welcome!"

Breakfast is a considerably simpler affair than last night's dinner, and featuring less complex foods -- hard boiled eggs, fresh baked bread, cheeses, creamy butter, and jarred fruit in syrup. Fruit juice and hot cocoa wash down the meal, consumed in the parlor of Agatha's suite. Once they finish their meal, the two girls wash up and change for their morning meeting with Lord October.

Deciding to dress simply, Agatha chooses a golden swordswoman's shirt, a leather jerkin and matching trousers, both green. A pair of thigh-high round toe boots completes her outfit, and she can't help but grin at her reflection. She'd always wanted to try on boots like this.

Young Alice has chosen for herself a gown that echoes the recent memory of the astonishing true dawn. Warm summer colors of soft golden yellows like wheat rich and full and clear blues reminiscent of streams and her eyes are in majority, while a myriad sprinkle of other colors from rose reds to grass greens trace and wind and accent. The gown is long yet not exceedingly cumbersome in either puff or width, though it lacks not for ribbon and lace. Her hair too does not lack for her golden locks have been braided back and tied through and about with the colors of summer -- a few free strands let to fall in styled freedom about her face. The complete look makes her look colorful, warm, and alive like a portrait with summer and that flourishes within the season. It's a stark contrast to the winter outside, but the little girl is exceedingly pleased with it.

Once the girls are prepared, servants escort them through the labyrinthine House to their destination.

The Parlor of October
Though that's what the servants called it, "parlor" doesn't seem the right word for this chamber. It feels open and yet intimate, as if a glen from a forest in Autumn had been transplanted into the center of a house. Vibrant-leafed trees ring the room, growing overhead to form the ceiling, while a fire blazes on a hearth at the center, its smoke whisked through a gap in the trees overhead. Cunningly crafted chairs look reminiscent of carved boulders, though they're as comfortable to sit in as favorite recliner. On one rocky wall, a real waterfall burbles down, its water wending through a channel cut in the floor -- which is otherwise carpeted in plush, moss-like greenery -- and out through a hole in the far side.

Lord October sits on the largest of the chairs, which strikes the children as being almost throne-like, though he seems quite comfortable on it. He rises to greet them, as does the other person in the room, an antlered woman who curtsies to the pair while October inclines his head graciously. "My thanks to you for coming," he says. He sounds sincere, as if he really were flattered that a couple of kids had accepted his invitation to stay at an incredible mansion. "Lady Alice, Lady Agatha, this is one of my handmaidens, Lady Yseult."

Agatha bows to the Lord and Lady in turn. "It is an honor to meet you, Lady Yseult," she says.

The little blonde girl dips low in curtsey, a gesture of special respect. "And my thanks yours, m'lord," she chimes in to the lord. She rises only partly, then curtsies again, and offers, "'Tis a most splendid honor to meet you, to be sure, m'lady."

Lady Yseult rises from her curtsey to incline her head as well. "On the contrary -- it is I who am honored." She has light brown skin and dark brown hair, tied in a long braid that hangs down her back, similar to the way Captain Morrigan wore hers. Yseult has similar features to those of the swordswoman, but she wears a simple dress of deep maroon, and has a more genteel bearing and manner. "My lord tells me you share our interests in many matters, and has asked me to come that I may answer your questions, as best I can based upon my research."

"Please, be seated," Lord October tells the two girls, gesturing to the curious boulder-looking chairs, "and we may begin."

Taking a seat, Agatha tries not to feel overwhelmed by the room. Though she wouldn't mind having one just like it at home.

With introductions and initial courtesy finished Alice rises entirely from her curtsey and makes her way over to one of the smaller chairs available. She fusses a bit with her gown, this time taking much less time to see about it than she did at the Lady Sorceress's spire, and then after she places a bag down beside the chair is seated. She leans over just a bit and plucks a red maned unicorn doll from the bag and settles him in her lap before settling her hands atop him folded neatly.

Once the guests are comfortably seated, the antlered man and his handmaiden reseat themselves. "I am sure that you both have many questions of me -- as, I'll admit, do I of you. But it would please me to be able to address your interests first. Where would you like to begin?" Lord October asks.

"O lord, t'would be most kind should you answer our query of the missing Lord Mel- ... " The blonde picks up the doll, turns him around to nose him, then turns him around again to hold him out for all to see. "Lord Mel-chizedek, Lord Protector of the Realm, 'tis to be said we are most concerned of his well-being. Yes- very much so!"

Lord October nods, antlers sweeping, and gestures to his handmaiden to begin. Lady Yseult clears her throat. "Indeed, we are all most concerned regarding the Protector's whereabouts. 'Tis not the first time the realm has known a prolonged absence by the Lord Protector, but it is rare indeed for him to be gone during such troubled times as these. Rumors still filter across the realm as to where he might be -- some reports hold him to be in the distant south, and others contend he has passed to the east. However, I believe the most likely evidence suggests the last true sightings were in the West." She pauses for breath before continuing.

Alice looks over towards Agatha for a moment as if indicating her to speak her confirmation of the handmaiden's evidence, then looks back and says, "T'was magic that inclined us, most frighteningly to be sure, that West too be where our errant Guardian hath lost himself." The doll in her hands is rested back on her lap, turned again so that it faces her. She tilts her head and smiles down at it. "Truly, 'tis an unusual thing to wish to guard a Guardian ... "

Agatha nods. "Our evidence does indicate he is in the West still."

"Mayhaps I can narrow the field, to a degree. First, one of the bandits that has plagued the Golden Woods for the past Year was captured some forty Days ago by a patrol beside the river. He was in terrible shape when they apprehended him, ragged and worn as if from a long and fearful run, and he attested that Lord Melchizedek himself had set upon him and his fellows whilst they lay in ambush for a merchant. Normally, a bandit would be no source to rely upon. However, the bandit further confessed to his deeds and answered truthfully all the questions that were put to him, so far as the patrol might discern. He said he had been driven to thievery by a strange madness that had fallen upon him on seeing the woman he called 'The Bandit Queen' -- and the touch of the unicorn's horn had cured him of it. Since then, he has been doing honest work amongst the people of March," Lady Yseult says.

Agatha goes pale at the mention of the Bandit Queen.

Yseult continues, "Another report, still more recent, was from a merchant trading good with the Wildlanders near the mountains. He said that several Wildlanders asked talismans of him to protect them from 'unicorn demons.' When he asked them to specify why they feared, they attested to seeing a red-maned unicorn with a hide as black as night."

The blonde girl listens attentively, and some time at aboutthe middle of Yseult's detail she drew the unicorn up in to her arms and held him in a loose. hug. "Nay, one should not fear the brave Lord Defender that one might ... might ward..." She shakes her head and frowns, nose wrinkled and brow creased looking quite appalled at the notion. "... our noble protector. But, 'er it be true, 'tis West he lay. To ... to darkness I dare say!" The little girl blinks at the very idea, and again turns to her friend for confirmation to notice her paling. She asks, "Do you fear as I do, Agatha? Thou look pale."

Pulling herself together, Agatha says, "Oh, just ... confirmation that what we do in Ainigton affects events here in Mirari." To Lady Yseult, she asks, "Has there been any contact with the Lord Protector's wife?"

The antlered woman opens a scroll case and slides out a document, which she unrolls to reveal a map. She starts to spread it upon the flat rock that serves as a kind of table at the center of the room, but pauses, blinking at Agatha. "The Lord Protector's wife, my lady?" she asks.

Agatha glances to Alice, then says, "We had some letters from Lord Bram, from the second year. He mentioned in a letter to Lady Angelique that Lord Mel sent his love to his wife, and would Angelique pass that on to her."

"Lord Melchizedek was married, once, Yseult," Lord October says, thoughtful. "But his wife passed away nigh on fifty Years ago. By legend, she was slain by the Destroyer, in a manner so dreadful that not even the Lady Angelique could restore her. Your letters must date back prior to even that event, Lady Agatha."

"I see," Agatha says, soberly, and looks over to the map.

Alice leans forward somewhat so that she can see the map now that it has been unfurled in length. Her eyes leave the parchment when Agatha and the antlered woman speak of the Lord Protector's wife, and she turns her gaze to them. "Most certainly! Oh, ever so much so, they speak of Lord Bram and Lady Angeli- ... " Her words trail off as Lord October speaks the fate of the Lord Protector's wife and she draws silent, moving her gaze back to her beloved doll.

The handmaiden's tan cheeks flush with embarrassment. "Of course, my lord; I forgot." As Agatha turns her attention to the map, Yseult goes on. "The Wildlanders said their 'unicorn demon' was traveling south and west. These, and other rumors, have led me to conclude that Lord Melchizedek traveled west, along the southern edge of the Golden Woods. Past the Woods and into the Wildlands, he then turned south along the mountain range. That would place his last known whereabouts somewhere around here," she says, circling her finger over a small section of the map, near mountains marked with Warning, Here Be Dragons.

"Are there any settlements or buildings in those parts that you'd know of?" Agatha asks, studying the map.

As the others talk Alice dips her head so that her forehead touches the unicorn's, bending his horn just a bit, and she frowns sadly down at him until she tightens her grip and draws him in to a tight hug, closing her eyes and whispering an inaudible word of comfort.

"Only the Wildlanders are known to live in that part of the world, and they have a nomadic existence, seldom settling long in place. With winter this long, however, the same tribe is likely sheltering where the merchant found them ... about here," the antlered woman says, indicating a spot in the foothills. "Few travelers go to this isolated corner. When Lord Explorer Thomas was young, he went to this land -- he made the maps from which this is based. But the only significant landmark noted on that journey was Icejaw Pit." She points to the chasm marked on the map. It's in the mountains to the southwest of where she said the Wildlander camp was. "By old rumor, an ancient civilization of wee folk who loved gold and silver had withdrawn to there when the Fae came to Mirari. The wee folk reportedly lived underground to escape us thereafter."

"The mines," Agatha murmurs, and looks to Alice. "Remember Monitor's tunnels? The Jruuh were thick there."

Alice nods a little, her head stirring her golden locks and moving the doll's head slightly with her motion. She turns her head to look over, still hugging the doll, and says, "T'was the dragon Monitor, 'tis as it was then ... as it is now, again ..?" Her nose wrinkles, and she sits up a bit more, adding, "Lord Monitor gave on to us the letters, and where he dwelt Jruuh did stir."

"And it is certainly dark underground," Agatha notes. "I wish we knew if that was where Thomas chased the Jack of Hearts before."

Lord October leans forward in his chair, listening to the girls. "Yseult -- did the Lord Explorer map out this cavern, or meet these wee folk?"

"No, m'lord," the handmaiden answers. "He was chased off from there ... " She hesitates. "... by bugbears, my lord -- and ... the old Chronicles of the Golden Hawks said -- by jruuh."

Agatha grins. "I'll bet that's where Mel went then, and where he still is!"

"Verily, if 'tis true ... " The little girl sits up and resumes a more proper, less doll snuggling, seat and looks first to Lord October and then to Agatha. "If 'tis true, then Agatha, did not Lord Bram and Lady Angelique venture forth to yonder ..." She gestures at the map with a hand untwined from the doll. "... dragon cave to meet the oh so terribly frightening one, ... and be trapped? Or ... or have ... " She lets the thought trail off unfinished.

Lady Yseult only looks more concerned as she reflects. "I do not know if the founders of April and October were lost in the West. But, as the Chronicles of the Golden Hawks tell it -- when the Lord Explorer encouraged his companions to return to the Pit despite the hazards, the Lady Sorceress Nymuae herself appeared before him, warned him not to go further. For 'beyond the crevasse lies a great peril, and if you face it, it shall surely prove your undoing.'"

"We don't know what happened to those that went there," Agatha says, looking up to Lady Yseult, "save that they ended up in another world, in other lives."

Lord October glances from his handmaiden to the girls, then asks them, "You have reason to believe that Lord Bram and Lady Angelique had gone to this place and vanished?"

"Did you bring the mirror, Alice?" Agatha asks the blond girl.

"Most ... most unpleasant," says Alice to no one in particular, or perhaps to the doll. Her voice sounds unsteady and tinged with fear. The doll is clutched again as she continues, "Nay. T'was best to leave Lady Angelique's mirror to the Lady Sorceress's keeping ere magic dwell within and go unnoticed."

Agatha nods, and tells the Lord and Lady, "We found Lady Angelique's hand mirror, with the letters she received from Lord Bram hidden inside. It was underground, in the old mountain mines in our world."

The antlered man nods. "So I was told. But ... " he frowns in concentration. "It seems Rachel said that Lord Bram's final letters indicated they were leaving for the North. Yseult?"

Lady Yseult nods as well. "Legends concurred with the letters in that -- there is an old story of Lady Angelique and Lord Bram going to fight a dragon in the north. In some versions, they slay it and return to their Houses -- in others, one or both of them are destroyed as well. The legends of those two are so many and tangled it is often difficult to sort what may be true from what is surely false. I would dearly love to see those letters," she ends, longing in her voice.

"I'm sure we can arrange that, once the threat is dealt with," Agatha says. "In the letters, when Lord Bram was ... captured ... by the Year's End, it was Lord Mel's horn that freed him. Hopefully, the horn on Alice's doll will work as well on the Lord Mel himself."

"T'would not be a difficult to form copies or to look upon the letters as they were found. But, 'tis truly so, North is what the letters speak of. Surely it is so! But ... nay, 'tis different here to be sure. But are not dragons big of fear, and wing, and ... flight?" says Alice, the fear in her voice easing as the conversation moves forward.

She's going native already, Agatha thinks, listening to Alice.

Lord October's dark eyes blink at Agatha's suggestion, and he glances at the doll in Alice's hands. "An interesting conjecture," he remarks. "As for dragons, none have been seen for over ten Years, at the least, since Lady Knight Redmane slew the dragon Nukpana."

Agatha blinks. "What? When was the Knight last seen?"

Lady Yseult corrects, "Fifteen Years ago, my Lord. Lady Knight Redmane emerged victorious from that encounter, it is known, though she was last seen some thirteen Years ago.... ah ... " She glances at Agatha for a moment, then falls silent.

October follows Yseult's gaze, but he makes no comment yet.

"And she vanished?" Agatha asks, looking pale again. "Or was she slain?"

Alice settles a bit now, resting her doll again in her lap and refolding her hands atop it. She looks between the others now, quiet and attentive with nothing to say at the moment.

"She is not known to have been slain, or to have died," Lady Yseult answers Agatha. "It is said that, some months after Lord Melchizedek returned without the Lord Explorer, Lady Redmane rode by herself in search of him. Like Lord Thomas before him, she never returned, though...." She pauses.

Agatha leans back in her chair. "Well ... I think Alice wanted to know more about the royal line. Clearly I'll have to learn more about Redmane later."

Yseult nods, flipping her braid back over her shoulder, from where it had fallen forward after she bent over the map. "As you say. What would my lady wish to learn of our rulers?" she inquires, looking to Alice.

"'Tis it then, Agatha's story, as Tommy's is that of Lord Explorer ... " Alice turns to look at her friend, smiles comfortingly, then looks back and inclines her head. The little blonde asks, "If ye shall speak of it, 'tis helpful that we might know of the reigning King, Queen, and of their children." Alice's hands fidget around her doll, and she casts a nervous glance more than once in Agatha's direction as she asks her question.

Sinking back into her boulder, Agatha tries to listen and not brood.

"That," Lord October says, nodding to Yseult, who seems curiously hesitant to tell the story, "is a sad tale, though perhaps it shall have a happier ending yet. Several Years ago, the present dynasty of Umbrecht began when the last King of Panelea's line had no child, and named Umbrecht of August his heir. In the winter of last Year, our present King, then Prince Marc of Umbrecht, wed Lady Seraph of House April. Not long thereafter, she bore him a son, Prince Richard of Umbrecht."

"I know," says Alice softly in anticipation of the sad portion of the tale she knows is to come.

Agatha arches an eyebrow at the naming of Prince Richard, but remains quiet.

"At the end of May of this Year, Prince Richard, squired to Lord January, attended a tourney and for the first time, permitted to joust. His third match was against a 'black knight' -- that is, an unknown knight attending the tourney to prove prowess before potential Lords. Inexplicably, the unknown knight's lance point pierced the Prince's armor, rather than simply splintering or unhorsing him. He perished of the wound." Lord October's eyes darken as he speaks, and there is something about the way he tells the story that hints that he is doing his best to be unbiased about it. Nonetheless, a certain anger creeps into his tone.

"Was the identity of the black knight later learned?" Agatha asks.

October nods to Agatha. "Yes. The black knight revealed herself to be a young blond woman from ... Western lands, was it not, Yseult?" The handmaiden blinks, then nods to her Lord in agreement. "She appeared truly shaken by the accident. The black knight was known not to have brought her own lances, and used those handed to her by a squire. Investigation suggested that the fault lay in a flaw in Prince Richard's armor which the black knight just happened to hit and pierce with her lance. Jousting, is sadly, a dangerous sport. At the time, we mourned, but almost all were satisfied that there was nothing sinister afoot."

Alice's expression fades from a polite smile to obvious sadness; she raises her doll, watching it instead of those around her. "Alas," exhales the girl in a uncharacteristically unhappy tone, "'tis not as I had hoped. A bro- ... " Her nose wrinkles as she ceases the sentence suddenly, then looks up and asks in its place, "Certainly, there is more, m'lord?"

"There is," the antlered man says, his eyes on Alice. "The Queen, already expecting and unable to attend the tragic joust because of her condition, delivered her second child several Days later. The girl, Angel of Umbrecht, perished less than a Day later. Reports from the time said she was a weak infant ... but I have spoken with the midwife who delivered her, and she insists that the babe was healthy and sound."

"Did she notice any identifying marks?" Agatha asks.

Lord October shakes his head to Agatha's query, continuing. "Several Days afterwards, King Marc, concluding he would have no further children, named as his heir the brother of his wife: the Lord of April. In so doing, he violated an ancient agreement between April and October, dating to the time of Lord Bram and Lady Angelique. In the days of yore, those two siblings swore that neither should e'er rule over the other, unto the fiftieth generation."

Her eyes watch the lord that watches her, searching and shrouded in a touch of sadness that remains on the girl's face since word of Prince Richard's true demise. "Why m'lord? Why ever would his Highness think to do such a awful thing? Nay, 'tis mean," she says, and as she speaks her tone touches on pleading.

"So the King cannot be from October or April, only the Queen?" Agatha asks.

At Alice's words, October offers her a sad smile, mixed with a certain -- gratitude? "I do not believe he did it from cruelty, but thoughtlessness. It is an old rule, one of many old rules, and sometimes we forget that rules which stand for so long were made for a purpose." Looking to Agatha, he answers, "The ruler may not be of April or October. The current Queen does not rule Mirari -- her husband, the King, does. If either of their children lived, they would be legitimate rulers, for they would be of the royal line of Umbrecht, not April. If you understand the distinction?"

Agatha nods. "I see."

If Alice looked sad, she looks even more unhappy at Lord October's answer. She looks away now, laying her head on her doll's own, and staring off at a tree.

Solemn once more, the Lord of October bows his head and continues. "Foolishly, I did not make my objections known at the time, not wishing to further burden my King's unhappy life." The antlered man shakes his head. "Now, I would that I had protested immediately; perhaps things might be otherwise today. As it stands, in November the Queen and her brother became estranged. I made my concerns about April as heir known, and I believe King Marc himself felt the justice of my dispute. The Houses of Spring, Summer, and Winter, however, have all accused me of spite and envy. There is no precedent for disinheriting a Royal Heir, once chosen -- even with grounds such as my own."

"If I may ask," Agatha says, "what does the succession actually involve?"

"'Tis unfair," says Alice suddenly. She sits up, turns around back to the Lord and holds out Lord Mel for him to see again. "My mother says Daddy gave me Lord Mel, my daddy says Mommy gave me Lord Mel. Gabriel says Daddy gave me Lord Mel. Tommy ... Lord Thomas thinks Lord Mel is strange, but ... but ... " She gives a sigh, then shoots a pleading look at Agatha.

October starts to answer Agatha's question, but pauses, looking at Alice instead as the younger girl speaks.

"What are you talking about, Alice?" Agatha has to ask. "Does your father say he didn't give you Lord Mel?"

Alice nods a little, answering, "I asked Daddy. He doesn't remember, nay, but Mommy showed me the letter that came with it. 'Tis true, it said, 'From Your Father -- A Faithful Protector, Always,' on fancy paper and fancy letters."

October listens for a moment, then says quietly, "Aye. I believe your father did give you Lord Melchizedek for your Protector, your highness."

Agatha blinks at that. "The King you mean, Lord October?" she asks, confused.

"Yes. The King." Lord October rises, then walks deliberately to stand before Alice, before he drops to one knee before her, bowing his head. "Your Highness, Princess Angel. The King and Queen must have sent you to Ainigton to protect you, out of fear that the same fate Prince Richard suffered would befall you. Your highness -- you have come home at last."

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This site serves as a chronicle of sessions in an online roleplaying campaign moderated by Conrad "Lynx" Wong and May "Rowan" Wasserman. The contents of this site are (c) 2001, 2002 by Conrad Wong and May Wasserman except where stated otherwise. Despite the "children's fantasy" theme of this campaign, this site is not intended for young readership, due to mild language and violence.