Felit?a.


    Felit?a.


    Felit?a, you must listen to me.


    For now, the Staff was leaning in the corner of her room in Lord Padara’s home, while she sat in his study. The distance was far enough that she was reasonably certain it couldn’t reach her here. There was only the voice of the Room.


    You will soon forget this, but you must remember.


    That was something the Staff had never said, though the Room’s voice said it from time to time. Was it the occasional different word that made it more comforting? Probably not. It wasn’t like she had remembered whatever it was she was supposed to remember. It was something that had frustrated her even before the Staff.


    The voice in the Room also called out the names of the people in the line, and she had consider the possibility that was a clue to what she needed to remember.


    Zandrue.


    Rudiger.


    Borisin.


    Meleng.


    Corvinian.


    Jorvanultumn.


    Quilla.


    Kindanog.


    Every time she saw Kindanog here, she couldn’t help think of Maneshka. She’d promised Maneshka the next time they saw each other, she would learn Maneshka’s language. But would they see each other again? She had to see Kindanog at some point, so hopefully that would bring her back to Maneshka, but there was no guarantee. Maneshka and Kindanog spent much of their lives apart.


    Nin-Akna.


    After that, the overlap of voices made it impossible to distinguish specific names. The next person in line remained a blur. Maybe an inch or two under six feet in height and thin in stature. She couldn’t be sure of anything else, no matter how hard she tried to focus the image. There were more beyond that one, how many she still couldn’t be sure. Every time she tried to look farther down the line, something shunted her vision back to Nin-Akna. She wasn’t even sure how many more there were beyond the first blurred figure. Two? Three? Fifty?


    Felit?a, you must listen to me. You will soon forget this, but you must remember.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    With a thought, she dismissed the voices and line-up. Instead, she focused on the distant grey walls—another mystery she still needed to figure out.


    Felit?a stood up and made her way around the crates and piles of books to greet them just inside the door. She hugged Nin-Akna. “I was so worried.”


    Only the three of them were there at the moment. Lord Padara was attending to matters of state and had taken his wife with him. Harrick, ironically, had returned to his ship to check on Nin-Akna.


    Felit?a lowered her head. “Sorry about that. After you were poisoned, I called out for help. The person who answered turned out to be Lord Padara’s grandson, Harrick. He’s my...I’m not sure the correct terminology. Step-cousin? He’s Cerus’s cousin, though the relationship is through Cerus’s mother, not mine. Anyway, he took you to his ship where his physician looked after you. Lord Padara invited me here. I delayed coming until I knew you were stable, but I didn’t want to cause offence at my absence. Turns out he’s pretty easy-going as far as I can tell, and wouldn’t have taken offence, but I didn’t know that at the time. Sorry again.”


    Nin-Akna shrugged. “It’s okay.” She turned away again and continued looking around the room. Annoyance was still flowing from her. “So what’s the plan? When do we get moving?”


    “You could.”


    “Or not. Your choice. But I would like it if you came to dinner with me and Corvinian tonight.”


    Nin-Akna stared a her, then looked away. “I don’t...that is, I wouldn’t be much help. I’ve never worn a dress. Youth Guards don’t wear dresses. Even if we did, they wouldn’t be Arnorin dresses.”


    Felit?a offered Nin-Akna her arm. “Shall we see what we can find?”