Fever Dreams|Neo'anar, New Anarlina

[Kender Bard]

Twilight moved about the morning sluggishly. He hadn't felt entirely well when he went to bed the night before, but he'd written it off as being tired from his work to prepare things for the Firegemmers to settle more permanently and trying to get in touch with the south.

He rose hours earlier than normal and slipped out of the bed, hot and sweating, moving quietly. His mind was a fog. I need.... The thought eluded his attempts to grasp it. Something... What did I get up for? He wasn't even in the bedroom anymore. He blinked owlishly as he found himself shuffling down the hallway aimlessly. When he stopped, he swayed on his feet. He turned to return to his bedroom but the thought of the trek made his head swim.

Oh, here's my room, he thought dazedly, walking into the first room nearest to him, somehow thinking he'd somehow appeared in front of his room as he had in the hall.

[Darastrix]

His entrance into the sitting room startled a young scullery maid who'd been in a half-drowse before the fireplace she'd just cleaned and lit. "Majesty!" she exclaimed, scrambling to her feet to give a hasty curtsey, smearing ash on the hem of her skirt in the process. "I know I'm supposed to go on to the next fire, I do, but it's just so chilly this morn and the fire was so nice that I couldn't help myself. Um." She paused, taking in his state of dress. "Did you need something, Your Majesty?"

[Kender Bard]

The servant's words sounded like a vague voice calling up from inside a well to him. His eyes blurred slightly and he gave a slow blink as a bead of sweat dropped off his forehead and down the bridge of his nose. "You sound like a mermaid," he mumbled.

[Darastrix]

"I...what?" The maid blinked in confusion and really looked at Twilight. She took in the sweat on his face, the flushed skin, the unfocused eyes.... Efil bless, the man was ill.


"Sire, do you need help back to your bedchamber?" she asked as she moved toward him.

[Kender Bard]

Twilight smiled a little; he liked his new mermaid friend. "Do you sleep in the sea?" he asked her. He could see it now--a castle under the waves. It looked just like his old home. Old Anarlina.

[Darastrix]

"I think you need to sleep," she murmured. She looked around for a moment or two, wrestling with indecision. Should she have him sit in here? Go back to his room? The best thing, she felt, would be to find a healer, but with Twilight acting the way he was, she didn't think leaving him alone would be a good idea.

Finally, she tried to take him by the arm and guide him to the door. If she could get him to bed, then they could summon a healer.

[Kender Bard]

"Where are we going?" he asked, confused. Then he was struck with a marvelous idea! He could show the mermaid his old throne room! He tightened his grip on her wrist and tugged. "Come with me," he said. "You can see my old throne." He began heading in the opposite direction.

[Darastrix]

Old...throne?

She gave the back of Twilight's head a worried, confused look as she was pulled along. Now what was she going to do? She knew enough of healers to know that one would probably just haul the king back to his room. A healer could get away with that, but a healer she was not. And even with him sick, she wasn't sure she was strong enough to literally drag Twilight anywhere. Well, at least he wouldn't be unsupervised....

"Um, isn't your throne back the other way?" she asked hopefully, pointing back toward his room.

[Kender Bard]

"Now now Ginette," he said. The mermaid was named Ginette he was sure of it. "You haven't seen the castle." It was beautiful, really, even though everything was distorted a little. He wandered into kitchen and looked around in confusion. "Where's the throne?" He looked a bit forlorn, having not found it. Then abruptly, he asked, "Do you have a palace?"

[Darastrix]

"Um...yes," the newly-christened Ginette-the-mermaid decided. "Would you like to see it? It's this way." She pulled at his wrist, wanting to get Twilight away from the kitchen and all its hot things and sharp objects and food other people would be eating later. There were a lot of places a sick man had no business being, and she was sure that the kitchen was near the top of the list.

[Kender Bard]

Twilight was easily led away; he wasn't much interested in the kitchen anyway. "All right," he agreed with a smile. As they walked, absurbd questions popped into his head. "Do you ride sharks like horses?"

[Darastrix]

"Of course not, Majesty," she replied as she attempted to lead him to his room. Again. "That'd be like riding a lion. We ride, um...." What would merpeople ride? Wait, why was she bothering to try to make it make sense? "Giant seahorses," she finished.

[Kender Bard]

Twilight seemed to give that some deliberate thought as he allowed himself to be guided along. "That must be... difficult," he decided. He smiled fondly. "We ride horses. Mine's black."

[Darastrix]

"I'm sure he's lovely, Majesty," she told him. Thank goodness, almost back to the royal bedchamber. "Now come along; we're almost there."

[Kender Bard]

Twilight nodded as he walked along, starting to grow more quiet. His footing became more unstable and he leaned heavily upon the maid for a moment. "I don't feel well," he whimpered.