Eue-Lysae squats down and picks up the unconscious Gekaryna and drapes the queen over her shoulder like a sack of flour. She looks to the three... hmm... no, now two members of Gekaryna's court, barely catching Franheska's leg as it disappears back into the hall. "Lead me to her chambers," Eue-Lysae states to Konst?nze and Myna.

  Enlynn's lips curl into a smirk at the scene, "Follow me," and heads back to the hall.

  "High Priestess," Ede says, "we can get Dyder if you would like help carrying Gekaryna." She knows Gekaryna is not heavy by any means, but she imagines it would be awkward to carry a person over one's shoulder like that.

  "No, this is fine," Eue-Lysae responds; she looks over her shoulder to make sure her girls are behind her.

  The group of seven walks back into the warm hall. There is no longer light coming from the kitchen—Ladech has since turned in for the night—and now just the orange glow of the hearth provides light to the long room, casting shadows of the vacant chairs along the tall walls.

  "And I thought the College was creepy at night," Faey whispers as she watches the flickering shadows dance across the portraits and tapestries.

  "Herst Castle *is* haunted," Enlynn says as the group exits the hall, "Rumour has it that if you walk the hall of memories on a full moon the painting will talk to you."

  Floryana rejoins the group as they exit the hall. "That is—"

  Faey startles, letting out an 'eep' at Franheska's sudden return.

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  Floryana ignores the girl and continues, "a psychiatric phenomenon consistent with a stress-induced psychotic episode. [1]"

  "What about the scream coming from the skull of the Forlorn Queen?"

  "Foxes. [2]"

  "Where did you run off to?" Eue-Lysae asks, glancing up to Franheska. "I feared you had forgotten that we needed you to transcribe her dream."

  Floryana shakes a now comfortably shod foot in between steps. "I do not like the feeling of texture beneath my feet."

  "Ahh," is all Eue-Lysae can manage in response; Franheska has always been a strange person with strange habits. She looks to Konst?nze. "Are there rooms for my priestesses and I to stay in?"

  "Yes, Gekaryna had rooms 28 through 31 on the seventh floor of the women's dormitories prepared. I can take you there after we get Gekaryna in bed."

  The group makes their way through the hallways and up the stairs of the west wing, then across the bridge to the center tower, and up its winding stairs with Eue-Lysae at the lead.

  Having heard the bell, Dyder sets his loupe, brushes, and metal miniature down on the table next to his chair and stands, peering down the stairwell; the figures of High Priestess Seliani, with Gekaryna over her shoulder and the others slowly round the corner. He opens the door to the Queen's Chambers. "Would you like a hand?" he asks High Priestess Seliani.

  Eue-Lysae shakes her head, "Light weight," mutters. She steps through the open door and stops by the bed.

  "All right." Dyder watches as the group enters the room, and he closes the door behind them.

  Enlynn brushes aside the bed hangings and pulls back the sheets. Eue-Lysae sets ?nnywella down in the bed, facing her towards the edge.

  Footnotes

  [1] This is partially true; most of the paintings of genetic Hersts have very small amounts of the subject's blood mixed in with the paints used to add depth and darken the recesses of their auburn hair. There is also occasional use of astronomical glyphs written in blood on the back of the canvas, making it possible for those of Herst blood to 'commune' with the dead through the remembrance of blood memories.

  [2] This is also partially true; the screams are actually just foxes, but the skull is not that of Beatryse ?nnylyse Herst IV (b. 10/04/0490 EotG, d. 26/09/0515 EotG).

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