The sun shines brightly through the open windows. Taras hides their head underneath the covers trying to catch a couple more minutes of sleep.

“You must get up, this is why you need to go to bed earlier, you wouldn’t be as tired now would you?” Sandra’s voice rang through the air. She was right of course. Taras had spent a better part of the night on the hill. Today's activities would be filled. Sparring with the knights and wedding planning. Taras had made sure that he scheduled the sparring afterwards so that he could let out his aggression with the knights. Knowing he will have to cooperate with what his mother wants he sits up in bed and stretches his arms. The castle was cold and the floors were stone, the cold woke Taras and made him want to curl up back into the bed at the same time.

“Thank you Sandra, and you are right naturally.” She curtseys and grins.

“Of course I am. I always am. So what did your sister have to say?” She begins folding the fresh laundry she had brought up with her, speaking casually as she did so.

“She said that she was with trusted people and looking for Ava, apparently she hasn’t answered any letters in a week and she is concerned.” Sandra knows about everything that is going on. She had grown up with the two of them acting as a best friend to Evelyn and a second older sister to Taras. She had been the first to know that Evelyn had fallen in love with Ava. She was the one to talk to in the castle when someone needed something. Always there helping others, even with everything that she has on her plate everyday. As Evelyn's lady-in-waiting she had now become Taras’s. Taras has had many men waiting on him, but he never had one for more than a month, something had come up and they had either been reassigned or left to take care of their elders. The Kingdom has been good, not many problems, taxes were being payed, crime was low, farmers had the support of the people and their King. There was a sickness seeming to sweep the communities affecting only the eldest members of a household. People have been getting sick so often that many people who once worked in the palace had to resign to take care of them and their parents. It was always sad to see them leave, knowing that not much would be able to be done, not even the palace healers knew how to combat this. It was an affliction of the brain, the body may be healthy but the mind was not. Taras had often overheard staff members talking about it to their peers. Sympathy had set in for those who have been afflicted by this, and their heart went out to the families. There were always things that had to be something afflicting the people of a Kingdom, here it was the sickness and in Nayea it was corruption. Sandra broke into his thoughts as she was standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.

“My lord, your mother is expecting you! You must get dressed.” coming back to reality Taras nodded.