The flickering light against the enveloping darkness put me in a meditative mood, but my tired mind resisted thinking too deeply. No harm in putting things off for just a little longer then. I sipped at the cup of tea in my hand. No rest for the wicked and all that.

***

It was a wonder that I hadn't drifted off on the carriage ride into the academy, but my chances of making it through the day were getting worse as the day progressed. The normal painful brightness of my classmates' clothes was faded somewhat and my eyes felt like glass. The dress worn by Elizabeth seemed like it should have been the color of warm sunlight, but it looked more and more like urine as I blinked back the tears of drowsiness. She was talking to a mass of dark reds with spots of white which I assumed to be Phillip. Yes, there was supposed to be an event today. Something about setting up a meeting between factions.

It took a perfectly manicured fist slamming into the table right in from of me to raise me from my stupor.

"Are you listening to me?"

The answer should've been self-evident, but apparently Jezbeth wanted others to know too. That would make things fun. The kaleidoscope of colors spun into focus and I saw everything and much more. I suddenly remembered exactly the reason why Elizabeth had been talking with Phillip. No, it seemed she still was. She would be laying the groundwork for joining with the his faction and drumming up support for a war. If you can't be throwing the lives of your people into the meat-grinder with the best of them, how can you be trusted to rule over those same people? If that was the case, then this was most likely the dialogue that put Jezbeth on the path of diametrically opposing the heroine as the villainess. Some rant about the lives of the people and the duty of those in power thinly disguised as a conversation with Darren.

"I'm well aware of the duties we have been entrusted with. You sound like my tutors, so I dozed off a bit is all." I played it off with a smile and hoped things hadn't been derailed too much. I may have changed things a bit already, but so long as the heroine's actions stayed within the known ranges, I would still have an upper hand.

"So you ignore me just like you do your tutors, eh?"

The colors spun again and this time clicked into place. This time I looked at the splint on the other hand and then at the sky blue eyes now drilling into me. It probably shouldn't have been a surprise that the person talking to me was the one sitting next to me rather than the one not but a row away from the heroine and her prince. Moreover, it seemed unlikely that Jezbeth would bring attention to my failings so publicly if only because it would reflect badly on the old names as a whole. My tiredness was also reasserting itself, but I opened up my palms in surrender and started listening.

"We have everything we need," Mary whispered, "so long as you testify, then we'll have him."

The satisfaction of things going as planned was a sweet nectar, but not a particularly filling one. I was barely able to nod in confirmation before I returned to my state of not quite sleep and not quite rest.

When the time came, I was roughly dragged along to martial training by my self-appointed keeper. Even with one arm out of commission, Mary was stronger than she looked. It was a little strange that the assassin succeeded in the game, but then, the human body is surprisingly fragile at times. Once we had made it out of the classroom building and through to the courtyard, I was met with the pungent odor of oil and sweat. Some older students looked to be struggling to put on suits of armor which must have been just as heavy as they were. Another group was arrayed in a circle to watch two girls with fencing steels slowly circle each other. We seemed to be headed toward the unruly crowd of youths just milling about and chatting. I spotted some familiar faces deeper in the crowd, but I stayed to the edge where I could be kept on my feet by my ever so lovely new guardian. Today would be the day that our abilities would be tested so we could be sorted into classes divided by skill level.

Somewhere deep inside me I could feel the last vestiges of the old Darren starting to stir at the sound of metal clashing. Mary was saying something to me, but I couldn't hear it over the serene blankness that was starting to wash it all away. I was spinning again. I had hated the spinning back then. The doctors said that the dizziness wasn't bad enough to put me on any more medications, but that just meant that it never went away. This time though, the spinning didn't come with any dizziness. It felt like my vision was a camera coming into focus and then reseting itself. A large man who held himself like a warrior was approaching us and he was holding two swords. Every time my vision focused again, it was a little sharper. The man held up the two swords. They were made out of wood, but it would probably still be pretty painful to be hit with. The smallest details were becoming clear enough to make out. The man's ragged hair and unkempt beard was made up of so many hairs. I stumbled forward when things blurred again. The man tossed the second sword at me.

***

The white light was back. And with it, the ever-present hum of electrical appliances. The hospital gown felt soft against my skin compared to the rough fabrics that I had been wearing. The gaps in the gown let in the slightly chilly air and the light hospital blanket did little in the way of keeping heat in. I ever so slowly leaned over to the stand next to me and tried to turn on my phone, but it was out of battery. It would be an unpleasant trip to the power outlet not being used by the various monitoring devices, but I started levering myself out of the bed. There would be hell to pay from one of the nurses if they found me out of my bed without notifying someone first, but I didn't really want to bother one of the few on shift this early in the morning with something as trivial as plugging in a phone. The floor was cold against my bare feet, but like everything else here, it was only mildly so. It would be bad if some patient got surprised by something and fell, especially if they were well into their years. Everything around me had rounded corners and pads. Though the latter were specifically because I had developed a penchant for losing my balance and falling as things had progressed. My body felt weak in a way that it hadn't in almost a week, but it didn't quite feel like it was in the throes of death anymore either. It would've been difficult to decide whether this was the dream or my time in Hearts of Glass and Steel if not for the way that the intricate details of the medical equipment seemed to push my focus away from them. If my mind was trying to trick me into believing in this one, it would need to try a little bit harder next time.

I turned away from the heart-rate monitor and found that the room had changed slightly. What was originally a private room for a long-term patient had morphed into a European-style bay of beds separated by curtains. I drew back the curtains only to see a family of five sobbing while they held the hand of a dead boy. The dead boy was only at most fifteen years old judging by the facial hair that was starting to grow in, but he could've passed for thirteen easily. The family was made up of a mother and father of about forty years, two sons both older than the dead boy, and a little girl youngest of them all. She was still trying to shake the boy awake while the mother clutched at her son's hand. The older of the brothers consoled the mother and the younger living brother rocked on his heels, dirty blonde hair bouncing in time with an unseen metronome. The father was putting on a brave face, but he gripped at a pouch, the metallic contents scraping together with a wail.

You don't live in a hospital for months and not see this kind of thing. The dead bodies are one thing, but the grieving families never stop rocking in the back of your head. You get enough of them, you could play a song with the beat. I walked on past them to the next curtain, their voices disappearing as they left my vision, but not the new beat. This time the curtain was spattered in blood and half-torn already. I reached to pull it back too and saw that my hand wasn't mine anymore. The arm beneath had a layer of hair and then a layer of well-worked muscle. Not my arm. I pulled back, repulsed, but it came with me. It was mine after all. I could feel its goosebumps from the slightly chilly air. Every hair stood at attention as an autonomic response made by my brain. But it couldn't be my brain. Not if it was working well enough for me to think all this up. The metronomes ticked in the back of his head and they joined together as one great harmony. They screamed.

It hurt like the old days. Something scraping at the back of my brain, eating away at it. I was me again. The curtain came away and this time there was no one grieving. There were four beds this time. Each occupant had several puncture wounds visible despite the drapes covering the bodies. There was no next curtain, just a door as white as the walls, but through the cracks some glimpse of darkness was just visible. I pulled open the door and stepped through the threshold.

***

My head ached like an old friend that had never left. The last traces of sunlight filtered in through the windows, lighting up the infirmary that I was in. This time, there was no phone at my bedside. Instead, I found a folded note from a familiar source. The contents were written in a trained hand but apparently without much care.

You will be expected to present to the council of lords in time for the opening of tomorrow's session. Bring additional evidence if you have it.
-Marilynne Wellsworth

It was no longer a mystery as to who had gotten me to the infirmary after the incident at martial training then. With the audience coming up, I would need to finish preparations this evening.

***

The restaurant this time was simply the ground floor of an inn that served well-paying customers. The soup was simply delightful and the tea was more than worth the full silver crown that I had paid for it. When Hector Wissel came in and made for my table he looked about ready to bolt. His manners didn't quite fail him so much as he failed them when he tried to pick up the menu laid out at his place. As the paper slipped through his fingers and he checked around him for something out of place, I merely sipped at my tea. The fragrance was downright addictive.

"We're in the middle of some matters of great import," Hector said with a bit of a quaver to his voice. "Why did you call me out here now of all times?"

"Why, you ask? I think it's time that you started downsizing and I was hoping that I might give you a bit of direction on that. We can't all go down with the ship now can we?" I passed him the notes that I had prepared. "These are some of the connections most likely to be compromised. I'm sure that you can handle it from here."

I got up and dropped an extra silver crown as a tip on the table. Hector was busy with the list that I had compiled, so I left him to his work. None of the other customers even gave me a second glance and I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. It was not every day that I got to make such a dramatic exit and it felt wasted on these people. Even so, the slight breeze that carried the warm night air over me was reward enough. The few lights still on marked the handful of establishments still serving food or drinks at this hour and even those were waning in number. I climbed into the carriage that would take me to the council chambers and set off.

***

Even compared to the scratchy abominations I was wearing on a daily basis, formal attire took the cake for causing discomfort. It's as if they were designed to test the wearer to see if they can perform even in the most dire of conditions. And thus I was standing in front of the fully assembled body of nineteen of the most powerful lords in the land. Chief among them was Mellok Wellsworth, the duke assigned not to a duchy, but rather to this single building in the capital. And he was all the more powerful for it. Following Mary's assassination in the game, it had been his immense influence that had almost brought the crown prince's faction to its knees while he investigated the circumstances behind his daughter's untimely demise. Players had joked that he was the real king of Argonia since the King himself didn't appear until the end of the prince's route when Elizabeth and Phillip were to be wed. All this and the look that Duke Wellsworth was giving me was one of gratitude and satisfaction.

Duke Wellsworth said, "With the power vested in me by his Royal Majesty, I hereby call the 511th session of this council to order."

The sound of paper rustling followed by a frantic scribbling off to the side where a small team of scribes worked cut through the silence. The atmosphere seemed particularly heavy, even for a place of as much importance as this.

"Our first and only order of business is the indictment of the King's Baron, Lord Herbert Masler, serving Governor of the Masler Barony. Due to the flight risk posed by the accused, he has been detained by the Royal Inquisition and will be available for questioning after other evidence has been presented. Baron Masler stands accused on charges of illegal distribution of weapons and banned substances as well as attempted assassination of a high noble. His proposed sentence on being found guilty is to be execution by the noose."

The assembled lords had already been starting to clamor when it was mentioned that Baron Masler had been detained, but it became an uproar when they heard the proposed sentence.

"This is outrageous!"

"Detainment prior to trial!?"

"Unheard of!"

The gavel crashed down and Duke Wellsworth boomed, "Silence!"

At the same time, Mary stood up from the general seating and walked down toward the dais where the council sat, heels clicking out a steady rhythm against the ground. Whether it was the father or the daughter who had shut the bickering lords up, it wasn't clear, but all that could be heard was a steady click, click. It had finally dawned on them who had been the target of this ill-considered attempt.

"Our first exhibit is to be the testimony of the victim of this assassination attempt. Miss Marilynne Wellsworth, please first enlighten the council as to the details of this incident," Duke Wellsworth said in a tone so even that the anger behind his calm demeanor was obvious.

"As you wish, my Lord Duke," Mary intoned. "On this First Day I was attacked by an assassin in the Royal Academy's bathroom following the conclusion of classes some time after second bell in the afternoon. My assailant carried a poisoned blade and tried to rush me with it while I was unaware. The accused's son, Darren Masler, intervened by pushing me out of the way and killing the assassin thereby saving my life. I was knocked unconscious when I fell and hit my head against the wall, but I was then brought to my room in the Academy dorms by the aforementioned Darren Masler. When I awoke, he explained what had happened and that it had been arranged by Baron Masler. Unable to stop his father directly, he decided to intervene and save my life and then set this investigation in motion."

"Thank you, Miss Wellsworth. We will now move on to some other substantive evidence before we question witnesses."

It seemed unlikely that any of the lords would try to question the daughter of Duke Wellsworth after he had just forcefully detained a Baron, so there were no complaints.

"Upon searching the body of the assassin, found dead in the Royal Academy's women's bathroom with stab wounds from the front, the following was found linking him to Baron Masler."

One of the guards brought a small pouch up to the front to be examined.

"Inside is the illegal substance known as kiff. With the cooperation of Darren Masler, sites producing the same substance run by the Masler house were uncovered and the same pouches were found being used for individual sale of the substance. We suspect it was the form of payment given to the assassin for the deed.

Our next exhibit is the testimony of Darren Masler, son of King's Baron, Lord Herbert Masler, serving Governor of the Masler Barony, and current heir to the Masler house. Please relate what you know of the misdeeds of your father."

"It would be my pleasure, my Lord Duke," I said with great relish.

***

As the lords on the council shuffled out and the former Baron Masler was dragged away again in chains, Duke Wellsworth came up to where I sat in the front row with the other witnesses.

The Duke said, "I must offer my condolences that you were forced to do this to your own father, but I also must thank you for your services to both the kingdom at large and to me personally. If there is anything that you need in the future, consider it done."

He then continued on down the line to his daughter and wrapped her in a hug. Ever the doting father. Maybe that was why he apologized for what happened to mine?

MrAntonym

Thanks for reading everyone! Also, to those of you who rated, I'm glad you're liking it!