Council of the Heir

Chapter Ten - meet n greet

Lydia woke up before dawn.

Her eyes opened slowly, focusing on the bunk above her, before she rolled slowly onto her side to look at the window. Still dark, only the barest hints of dawn beginning to stretch across the east sky. She shut her eyes again, intending to go back to sleep.

...hmm. She felt like something was wrong.

Her gut hadn't steered her wrong so far, so she opened her eyes again, quietly glancing around the room. Nothing seemed out of place. But she could feel panic rising up in the pit of her stomach, so she shimmied out of bed, getting to her feet and quietly putting on her boots. Maybe her bunk bed was about to collapse... or something. Or maybe she was just anxious.

Making her way across the creaky floor as quietly as she could, Lydia eased open the door and stepped outside. She took a deep breath of the cool, pre-dawn air, then let it out, feeling her anxiety fade somewhat. Maybe she could find something to eat? Sometimes she felt panicky if her blood sugar was bad. With this in mind, she steered herself towards the mining building. The miners got up pretty early, maybe their breakfast would already be prepared.

The town was almost silent, the only people about being the guards posted here and there, and the only sound coming from the forge building where the fires burned all night. Lydia imagined that it would be fun to poke around town at night like Valor was doing, but she didn't have a handy-dandy teleportation to get herself out of trouble if need be, so she'd stick to her work and research and let him do the dirty work.

The door to the mining building was unlocked, as she'd suspected, and she was able to get inside without issue. As she'd suspected, breakfast was being prepared, and she managed to bum a bowl of grits and pork off of the cook. Her prize in hand, she retreated to one of the long tables to eat.

Unfortunately, despite eating, the feeling of dread and panic only grew stronger. She racked her brains, trying to remember if anything went wrong that day. Nothing was supposed to happen, right? Valor spends a few days recovering, then Lithian interrupts his attempt to spy- that wouldn't happen, since Lithian knows his true identity now, unless it did? Because they would still worry due to his absence. At the very least Lithian wouldn't throw a fit over his eyes. Anyway, nothing happened today. If this was some sort of precognition thing, it was something she'd changed. Something new.

Footsteps approached her from the right, and she looked up to find a pair of armed guards coming toward her.

"Miss Daewolf?" One of them asked. Lydia raised a brow.

"...yes?"

"Our employer would like to speak with you. Come with us, please." The man beckoned her upright. Immediately, her heart rate skyrocketed, but she forced herself to nod and stand.

"Sure." She stepped away from the table, and they flanked her on either side, herding her towards the mines. Their employer. That would be Notch, right? Unless these two worked for Null? Virtually the same thing, since they were working together. Either way, she felt sick with anxiety, more so when they passed by the offshoot that led to Notch's chambers and down towards the mines instead.

"We can't meet above ground?" She muttered.

"He's waiting for you down here." Was the only response she got.

"Don't think I'm supposed to be down here..."

"You are now, quiet." The rebuke was harsher this time, and she fell silent, gripping her forearms so tight that her knuckles went white. So maybe this was the bad feeling she'd had.

The walk seemed to go on forever as they went deeper and deeper, the tunnels growing more and more cramped and claustrophobic the deeper they went. She was almost certain now that she was being brought to Null- but why?? Had she failed so badly at being subtle?? In retrospect, yes, she probably had.