Chapter 3 - Part 4

Pienna awoke on silk sheets, in a warm room, with gentle hands wiping soft, wet towels on her face. Her eyes flew open and she saw an elven girl, a beautiful young thing who appeared to be about thirteen human years of age. The girl said something to her in elvish, which Pienna knew snatches of, and then quickly reverted to human language. “Aged Miss, you must relax, you were found in the garden,” the girl insisted.

Pienna sat up, then sighed, letting her head stop spinning. She had been too entwined with the sparrow, all the better to understand what it heard. The feedback to her nervous system had been overwhelming. A quick inward breath and a check of her aura confirmed that she still held nature’s power within her. “Where is my cousin?” she asked the girl. “Where is the Viceroy, Lord Du’Bray?”

“He is receiving Cyran nobility in the banquet hall,” the elf said, dipping her eyes at the mention of nobility. “It is important business. He was here when the guards brought you in, and when the adept pronounced you whole.”

Pienna stood up and checked her personal belongings. Nothing had been disturbed. She saw a pitcher of water and a set of crystal glasses, and helped herself to a drink. The pitcher was surrounded by a thin band of enchanted blue quartz that kept the water fresh-tasting. “I am whole,” she told the girl. “No need to be alarmed.”

“But the Aged Miss did faint,” the girl protested. “Lie back and allow unworthy Fiolla to bring you nourishment.”

“I’m fine, Fiolla,” Pienna told her. “The weather, I am unused to it.” The girl’s face looked puzzled, and Pienna realized that it must be common knowledge that Du’Bray’s cousin hailed from the Eldeen Reaches – which was currently under two feet of snow. “It’s – too dry here,” Pienna said with a smile.

“Ah,” Fiolla said, plainly not understanding. “How may I then served the Aged Miss?”

“Stop calling me ‘aged,’ for one thing,” Pienna said with a smile. “I am Pienna, that is all the title I need and more.” The girl nodded. “Now, where will Du’Bray go after the reception?”