***
After what seemed like hours of strenuous training, Jasmine stumbled her way back to her room with the assistance of Helen and Sir Darius. As soon as that got to the room, she had Helen strip her of her new gear and got Sir Darius to fetch dinner from the kitchens. Helen took all the dirty clothes to somewhere Jasmine was too tired to bother knowing and then came back to physically peel Jasmine from lying on the bed and drag her to the bathroom to bathe. While she was in a comatose state inside the bath, Helen brought the dinner into her room. Just the smell of it made her stomach growl like a wolf.
After she finished her bath, she dressed in a simple gown and went to where the platter of food was served, as well as a letter emblazoned with her father and mother's seals. The meal was similar to last night's; chicken served with boiled root vegetables and a side of brown rice. There was also a small bowl of raspberry frozen yogurt as dessert. She dug into the meal and simultaneously opened the letter from her parents.
Jas,
Tomorrow we will be hosting the delegation parties from Lorencio and Nynniaw. There will be a banquet, and you will be expected to try at least and be friendly. So do whatever you want in the morning, but you must be ready by the time they arrive, which will be sometime in the late afternoon if the information we've gotten is somewhat accurate. Rest well tonight.
Love,
-Your favourite dad
She fiddled with the thick piece of paper in her hands and then read the letter a second time. Some might think that rereading a letter as simple as that one twice would be foolish, but Jasmine loved the tradition that she and her father devised. One day, when Jasmine was a little girl, her father went to visit the different villages and towns in Tzitanu. Every time he stopped at a new place, he would make sure to send her a letter. These letters were nothing much, just menial details of his travels and little bits of information about things he saw. Jasmine still had these letters saved up, collecting dust in her closet. She often brought them out and reread them when she missed him during the war.
Jasmine finished up her dinner and then brought the new letter to her closet to add to the collection. Unfortunately, the stack of papers was buried underneath some old boots at the back corner of her walk-in closet. The letters were bound with a single string of brown leather tied in a bow. After sliding the letter onto the top of the pile, Jasmine tied the bundle back up and returned the package to its spot underneath the boots.
Instead of going to the table where her meal was, Jasmine went to her bedroom and picked up the book that Matt had brought her, Sea of Stars. Helen would be back at some point to clean up her meal and make sure that Jasmine would be fine so she didn't need to worry about falling asleep. She had almost finished the book when she heard Helen enter her room and clean up her dishes. A couple of minutes later, Helen peaked her head into Jasmine's bedroom and asked, "Do you need me for anything else, my lady?"
Jasmine, too tired to form words, settled with an "mhmm."
She heard the door lightly click shut as Helen left her room. She was lying on her stomach, face down on her pillows, and could feel the book she was reading pressing faintly into the side of her body. She scooched her body sideways like a caterpillar trying and failing to move the book but only making it dig further into her side. Finally, getting frustrated, she rolled over and pulled the sheets taught, knocking the book onto the floor. Mission success. Now on her back, she nestled into her bed once more, ensconcing herself within a nest of pillows and blankets.
Her dream tonight was something different from what she usually had. It started in a barren plain of ice and snow with no buildings and structures insight, except for some small shrubs and vegetation native to tundra climates. She was gliding across the ice, not seeming to have any weight to her body, when she came across what appeared to be a bottomless pit sloping down at a steep angle. Not bothering to proceed with caution, she slid down the make-shift slide made of ice and after about half a minute, she slammed feet first into a barrier of what felt like snow. The pit cut off almost all light from the surface; she couldn't even see her hand when she held it in front of her face.
She stumbled forward, blindly shuffling her feet along the ground instead of stepping. She was shuffling along, moving with her hands out in front of her when she first heard it. At first, she almost thought that she imagined it until it happened again. It was a sort of high-pitched squeaking noise like someone was whistling. Moving towards the source of the noises was difficult because they happened at sporadic intervals, and Jasmine couldn't see where she was going. Still, eventually, her roaming hands bumped into a wall.
She slid her hands up and down and across side to side, still moving closer towards the source of the sounds. After some more searching, she found a small latch. It was freezing to her touch. She did the only logical thing anyone would think of. She yanked it as hard as she could to no avail. Wait, never mind. She opened it the first try(it definitely wasn't a push instead of a pull). After opening the door on the first try, she walked through the entrance. A slight faint glow came from the ceiling, but she couldn't see any light source. Slightly raised on a pedestal in the middle of the room was a Block of pale blue translucent ice and inside that ice was a...
"My lady! Wake up!" Jasmine's shoulders were being jerked from side to side, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Helen leaning over her face staring at her.
"What do you want?" is what Jasmine tried to say, but it probably sounded more like "whaddayouwant?"
Helen took a step backwards and sighed through her nose. "You were groaning and rolling around like someone was torturing you. I don't know what was happening, but you missed breakfast, and if you still want to train with your brother, you'll need to hurry down to the training grounds before the delegation gets here."
Right, her training. She needed to learn how to use her dagger. She nearly jumped out of bed and ran to her closet to find some clothes to wear. But, instead, she grabbed the closest thing she could, ran back to her room to grab her protective gear and dagger, and then ran out her door right past Helen, ushering her to slow down. Today was going to be a great day.
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