When things went still again, I was shocked I did not hit the ground at all, though I was touching it, and so I peeked my eyes open to see a ceiling. Turning my head, I saw I was in a cell, near two people. Rather, one person and another creature, staring at me. The person was on the other side of the bars, but the animal was not. I was leaning against the bars of the cell, backed into a corner. I could make out the person's face, but whoever he or she was, that person seemed to recognize me as he, I guess, moved closer to me.
And Zoroaster was still in my hands, covered and hidden from sight.
I could not move far without getting dizzy from moving too fast, but I did manage to scoot away from the person as that person advanced towards me. He may be on the other side of the cell, but I was not taking any chances. Voices could be heard approaching the cell and I only hoped the people that they belonged to arrived soon.
Pretty soon, I was unable to go much further, the animal in my way. As I hit the animal, his tail caught fire and startled me. There was something familiar about, the fiery tail that jogged a memory.
"Russel," I murmured, picking up and placing the animal on my lap protectively. I looked up to see my father standing just outside of the cell. "Why am I in here?" My voice was soft, spotting Moeirs hovering beside him.
Kneeling, my father searched my eyes for something before nodding. He rose and motioned to someone. The door to the cell opened and when I looked around the cell, the person that was with me originally, he was nowhere in sight. Maybe I hallucinated the person. "You're safe to come out now," my father whispered gently to me.
I never noticed I was shaking until I finally stood up and exited the cell, Russel and Zoroaster still in my hands.
"Powerful, yet so young and reckless," Moeirs said from the shadows behind my father.
She came into sight again a few moments later, her face full of...absolutely nothing. No emotions were betraying her, not even a little admiration or hatred.
I open my mouth as if to reply, but my father beat me to it. "We shall teach her," he told her gently, which was probably better than what I would have told her. My father then turned to me again, his eyes dark and expectant as he spoke to me. "Do you know someone called Kryshk?"
Confusion must have crossed me have crossed my face before I could reply because he waved the statement away, as well as his concerned tone. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. What did you see," he asks, quickly changing the subject before I could question his question.
"It was just a forgotten memory." I shrug, not explaining until he looked at me as if he had to know more than that. "It was when I was just a bit younger, I got to see my mother for the first time in many sunrises, so we spent the day together. She brought me Russel that day, too."
My father nodded as I spoke, staying quiet until I went quiet. "Interesting," he said. "This little beast next to you must be Russel, then?"
Watching him look at my small, red pet, he seemed to want him to do something. "Yes," I reply easily. "He's been a pet of mine for years, apparently."
My father looked up at me after that statement. "Apparently?"
"Yeah, I couldn't remember him before. I think it happened before, when I recalled something about beginning to use magic and who I am, as Naomi told me for the first time." I shrug it off, not of any importance. "I forget things all the time," I add a moment later.
"Hm." He looked deep in thought just moments later and and Moeirs took this opportunity to step up to speak next.
"Well, while you figure this out, my lord, we need to get Adèle on some form of a schedule or some type of plan, at least for her training sessions," she says, touching his shoulder with a scaly hand, her voice gentle.
He nodded distantly. "Yes, yes, of course. How else could she prepare to be a princess of the realms? Moeirs, take charge of setting up everything for her, a place for her and her lovely animals, her training, and anything else you feel she'll need to do or know. No outside adventures. Not yet." On that note, he turned and left the darkly lit hall outside the cell.
"Princess?" I look at Moeirs questioningly, confused by my father's sudden foreignness.
"Shh," she demanded, "and follow me." She started moving off and hissed over her shoulder. "Quietly!" Someone didn't like me, I thought.
I looked down at my hands and saw blue stars glowing slightly upon my wrist, in clear sight, yet no one noticed or said anything of it. Zoroaster. I guess that would be how we would interact for a while.
Sighing, I walk off, following Moeirs through the twisting hallways.
