The girl had lain there all day before she finally awoke. There were times that Malnai thought she would never wake up, when he thought that her breath would die away and finally cease. Then she would toss and turn and half cry out and the sweat would break over her body once more. He was never really sure if this was a good or a bad thing, but he had no idea what to do with it either way. The young man was not used to sick women, especially not women who's illness was clearly both mental and physical. So he had paced the room and looked out the window, trying to focus his thoughts on the girl, trying to subconsciously convince the world that she would pull through.

Of course the window also gave him a wonderful view of the harbour area of the city. It seemed like there was some fighting going on across the bay in the North Market Ward and a few buildings were burning. The pretty fireworks of the previous night had turned into the roaring flames of property destruction. He had no idea who had started it but it wouldn't be particularly surprising if the League of Bastards had a hand in it. Once or twice he thought about venturing out and talking to a few people, but the risk was too high. It would be a while yet before he could freely walk the streets and he had no intention of being very obvious while the guard were maintaining such a high profile. It was would be much safer up in the room, and anyway, he couldn't leave this girl alone until he knew she was at least a little better.

Eventually his pacing had stopped and the adrenaline had left his body. He knew they were safe in that place and he began to relax. He made himself comfortable on the window sill and took out his Tarot cards. He thought briefly about the last reading he had done for himself but decided not to repeat the activity until he had talked to the girl. There were still too many factors from the last reading that he felt hadn't been resolved. Well, only one card remained, assuming that the Mage wasn't still lurking somewhere. However his life was distinctly lacking in lovers at the moment and he felt sure that he would have no physical contact with the girl on his bed. He suspected that she would not be sleeping with a man for a very, very long time, if ever, but strangely that didn't bother him. It was almost as if she was beyond such things, in a place of her own, a place where very little could reach her. He smiled and hoped she was safe there. He began to sort through the cards once again, feeling them, looking at them, remembering what they meant and the use to which he had put them now and again. A few hours passed in this way and the light was beginning to fade as his thoughts turned to the future. Food would be necessary, but not too hard to find and he suspected that it would be safe to stay here a while longer, but not too long. He had a few ideas in that direction but he decided to worry about them later.

It was at this point that he felt something. For a brief moment he wondered if it was the voice from his nightmares come back, but this presence wasn't speaking to him. It was like a waft of air across his mind. He slowly turned and looked back into the room where he saw the girl awake and staring at him. He returned the gaze and for a moment he believed that he saw a hazing of the air between them. He knew then that she felt safe here with him, but that he would no more end up in her arms than he would in the arms of the deceased King. She noticed him looking and blushed and turned away. The colouring brought a smile to his face as he unfolded his legs and got up from the sill. By the time the girl had turned her face around again Malnai had reached the end of the bed. He briefly smiled again and sat at the end of the bed. The girl curled up at the other end, resting her body against a pillow. He thought for a moment about how to start, but then he settled on the easiest possible gambit.

"Good day to you," he said, immediately adopting the tone he used in the market place. It was a voice designed to put people at their ease and then part them from their money, but he hoped it would work here.

"Hello," she replied. Malnai wasn't sure where her accent came from but it certainly wasn't the city.

The silence which followed these simple greetings was a long one and the girl's lips twitched as she tried not to smile at the silliness of the whole tableau. Malnai nearly smiled himself, but he decided that politeness and silence was getting them nowhere. He returned to his normal mode of speech and broke the silence...

"Ok, I know that you've just woken up, but we don't have forever and I need to know a few things." These words seemed to be the wrong ones as the girl's eyes went hard once again.

Her reply was cold, "I don't wish to answer questions of a stranger." For a moment she appeared as a trapped animal, her eyes darting about, looking for ways out.

"Not a problem. My name is Malnai. I picked you... eh, found you in the castle and as you didn't seem very happy there I brought you here." He bowed his head in greeting and introduction. "And you are?"

The answer was quick and automatic, "Syleth of Lantis."

A knowing look appeared on Malnai's face and his eyes moved involuntarily to the tattoo on her arm that marked her as a slave. "Lantis? Your...?"

Again the answer was quick, but different, "No! He is...", her voice faded as she seemed unwilling to finish the sentence.

"Dead?"

"Yes, that too. I do not wish to speak of it, any of it. I must leave."

Malnai wasn't sure what to do. He knew that he couldn't let her leave, he knew that the streets weren't safe, especially not for one in her condition. "No, you can't leave. Look, the city isn't safe, the guard is everywhere and where they aren't the League of Bastards are. I'll get us some food, you should sleep a little more and maybe tomorrow you can start to sort things out."

The girl nearly got out of the bed but paused, one leg on the ground.

Malnai tried to find something else to convince her to stay. "You are safe here. I'm not going to try and sleep with you, I could have last night and I didn't. Very little has changed since then, so would you please relax?" He sat back and waited for her reaction.

Syleth sat back into the bed, but stayed as far away from the young man as possible. When she spoke her voice was cold and hard, "I still will not answer your questions. And moreover I have some of my own."

He relaxed at this good sign, "Great, go ahead." He looked straight at her again as his hands returned to his cards.

"Why did you take me from the castle?"

"Simple, you didn't look like you were enjoying yourself there. Oh, and I don't believe in slavery. Everyone should be free."

"How did you come upon me?"

Malnai smiled in spite of himself. "Well, your scream was rather loud. It woke me out of my... sleep and I'd reckon most of the City heard it."

Her questions continued, "Where are we now?"

"We're in the Harbour Ward, staying in the rooms of an... old friend of mine. She'll be away for a while, she's a sailor."

"Are you in the employ of the castle?"

This time Malnai did laugh, "No, no, I don't think so, even if I was there in an official capacity"

"Explain."

By this stage Malnai was getting a little tired of the interrogation but he answered the question, "I was arrested and ordered to do a Tarot reading for the King." He made a show of shuffling the cards. "I read the cards to earn a living." He looked up at her and saw the blank look on her face, "You mean you've never heard of them? Ok, look, you have a deck of cards, each with a meaning, it's kind of like the runes, they're each..."

Syleth cut into his speech, "Show me."

"Show you? Well, if you insist, but I would warn you, there are some things that you might not wish me to know, but the cards may well tell me."

The caveat did not change her attitude and her voice was heavy with scepticism, but also laced with trust, "Let your craft answer what I cannot tell you, if it can."

Malnai smiled and cleared an area of the bed, he began to shuffle the cards once again, concentrating totally on them. Then he looked up and met Syleth's stare. He held the stare for a long time and then stopped shuffling. The noise from the street seemed to have died down and the small stretch of bed between the two of them suddenly became hugely important.

9 Reversed Wands - "You are an outsider, fleeing what is inside, there are obstacles all around you, the way is not easy."

2 Reversed Cups - "Those who would nurture you have abandoned you, one whom you depended on used you, raped you, owned you."

5 Reversed Cups - "Bad news has come to you, a loss, a theft, the future is mutable, always, there is a hope, there is always hope."

9 Reversed Swords - "You are trapped within yourself, unable to see what could be done, your ideas are jumbled, your thoughts endlessly spiralling into themselves, seeing darkness in every corner. Indeed, there is darkness, but you should believe in the light."

The Reversed Tower - "You have been dominated, used, mistreated. You have lost that which was most precious to you, lost it through violence. You feel yourself spiralling downwards into the storm. Everything has changed, the disruption will continue, the past has ended the future seems dark. There are always new beginnings, but they will be useless if your fall prevents you from getting up again."

As Malnai finished speaking the last light crept out of the room. He kept his eyes level with hers, not blinking, barely breathing. After an eternity he spoke, "Your father... your child... your life... Name a thing and I will do it for you, m'lady, no one should be made to suffer that much."