Xilanada - Descending Dark Of Past And Future/Part 2

The 26th Day of Resplendent Wood, 766 in the Year of Our Empress.

Ah, what sweet wretchedness waking was. Xilanada at last clawed her way free of the entombing slumber that had chained her in darkness forged of memory and dream. At last she was awake.

Reality was hardly better than the dream world. At least there, despite its power, she had her own. It took no time at all for her body in the real world to reveal its condition to her.

Pain sawed on her head and nowhere she could feel was without that torment. Xilanada knew she'd almost died on the streets and she knew now that she still wasn't far from it. She didn't know if it was part of the process of exchanging lives or because of the Prana or even her illness symptoms. What she did know was that last night's exertions would only have tired the Anathema she'd been.

The bed sheets lay heavy as an ocean of water on her. Pushing them aside felt like moving that ocean, too, but certain needs made the effort necessary. Xilanada was grateful the chamber pot wasn't too far. The trip there and back made her break out sweating again.

She was wearing a long white night-gown, she realized. Someone had clearly tended to her while she lay unconscious. Xilanada blushed at the thought of someone undressing her to do it but couldn't deny her gratitude at being modestly dressed now.

This room wasn't hers, she realized. Darkness shrouded it, lit only by a banked fire in the fireplace and a dim glow beneath the edges of a thick mountain of a curtain that hinted it was day outside. It was still clearly a Professor's room, and far more luxurious than hers. The expensive embroidery on the four-post bed's canopy hinted at that, along with the finished and highly polished dresser and the heavy snow cat rug across the floor.

A small bowl of incense smoldered contentedly next to her, filling the air with a pleasant scent that mixed well with the wood smoke. The room was crowded with things, from chests to tables and other bits of furniture. The relative lack of clutter was telling, suggesting the room's occupant was fairly tidy and perhaps not very sentimental. The color scheme looked like it might be masculine but in this light it was hard to tell.

Xilanada settled into a chair to catch her breath and pressed her lips together, irritated that the need for secrecy prevented the use of her Body Mending Meditation. Or that she seemed to lack most of an Exalt's constitution. There was nothing for it but to resign herself to being sick and in pain a while longer.

A faint knock at the door preempted the arrival of Glee.

The too-perfect-looking Professor flounced in and didn't sit down so much as fell into the chair next to the table. Xilanada almost thought it'd been accidental but for the clever grin and twinkle in the woman's wine-colored eyes. Glee brushed her silvery hair out of her face, doing so as artfully as a dancer might, and leaned her chin on her palms, elbows on the table.

"Hi!"

"Hello again, Glee," Xialanda said, managing a weary smile.

"How are you feeling?" Glee asked, her features instantly the very model of concern. On the impossibly pretty professor, it would have been a very convincing facade if not for the fluidity with which she shifted between expressions. If Glee wished, she could be an excellent actor or liar, if she had the discipline to pick one role and stick with it.

"I'll be fine. How long have I been sleeping?"

"A few days," Glee shrugged.

"Days? I've been sleeping that long?" Xilanada looked about and thought over the last things she remembered, assessing and taking stock. "How did I get here?"

"Sen brought you back. He said you'd been hurt in that mob attack. It's terrible. Even in Nexus, even in the Markets, there's no real safety." Glee looked a little frightened and very much sad. Xilanadia shook her head at the emoting.

"It was kind of him to put me up in his room then," Xilanadia observed. "I'm glad he escaped unscathed from all that."

"Well, he's a Dragon-Blooded of course," Glee said, as if that explained everything. Maybe it would have ordinarily, if Xilanadia hadn't passed out with Solitary Coil so close by. She didn't know what the volatile Lunar would do, had done. It seemed unlikely that Coil would have left yet here she was.

Perhaps the Lunar finally believed that things would never be what they were again.

"What do you remember?" Glee asked politely. She gave a wondrously lovely smile and blinked innocently. Xilanada caught herself snickering and leaned back in her chair.

"I don't know that I remember all that much, honestly." Xilanada rubbed at her forehead, massaging away an ache. Beneath her palm, her skin felt hot and she snatched her hand away. She didn't have a Caste mark. She didn't.

A nagging tugging in her mind drew her attention. Xilanada looked up incredulously at the deliberately innocent Professor. No matter that visage, she knew the truth. The woman was trying to read her mind!

"No," she said firmly and slammed the doors of her thoughts closed, with all the finality of the Library of Denandsor's gates.

"Owww!" Glee grimaced, now rubbing her own head. "Hey, that wasn't very nice."

"Neither was that!" Xilanada retorted hotly. She was angry. She was also frightened that the strange woman had almost seen something she shouldn't. That made her even more angry.

"C'mon, don't be sore," Glee muttered. "I just wanted to know what the crowd looked like. I missed all the excitement, you know!"

"Leave me alone," Xilanada said, glaring. "I don't know what you were really looking for, but you're not going to find it by ransacking my thoughts. I'm surprised Seya tolerates that kind of behavior in her staff!"

"Seya knows I'm no threat to anyone. She trusts me. Shouldn't you?"

Xilanada's glare faltered beneath the earnestness of the Professor's expression, the charming lilt to her voice. Glee seemed so remorseful and honestly sorry. It was hard not to forgive the impulsive woman. Glee began to grin, showing the mischievous prankster she doubtless was.

Yes, the Professor was trustworthy.

Again, a nagging feeling in Xilanada's mind pulled at her thoughts. This wasn't mind-reading though. Something wasn't right.

"What's wrong? Surely I can help you." She seemed so truly concerned Xilanada almost told her that someone was trying to influence her. Someone was trying to influence her!

With a speed that surprised both of them, Xilanada lunged across the table and grasped the Professor's throat. The woman was shocked and her hands reached up to tug at Xilanada's. Again, she almost let her go and again her resolve hardened.

"You're playing with my mind, with my emotions and I won't have it. You've removed all doubt in my mind about what you are. There was always the chance you could be a God-Blooded, I thought you had to be, to be a Sorcerer. But that's not true, is it Glee? Wyld-kissed. Fleshdreamt. You're not Fair Folk but their blood is in you, isn't it?"

"I'm...I'm sorry!" Glee gasped, tears coming to her eyes. "I had to!"

"So they still don't trust me," Xilanada said fiercely. "I don't blame them for being careful. But I will not allow you to push me around. Do you understand me, Glee? If I catch you ever trying to influence me again...I will go to the Headmistress and charge you with criminal use of your powers. And if she won't do anything about, I know there’s no shortage of mercenaries who will. No one wants a changeling running around their city. No, they'll listen to me and catch you. Do you hear me?"

By the end of it, Xilanada's temper had cooled but not her resolve. She met the Fae-Blooded's frightened stare and held it, impressing upon the Professor her seriousness. Once she saw the shift in Glee's eyes, she knew the point had been made and she slowly released the Daughter of Chaos.

"I'm so sorry, Lana!" sobbed Glee. "I won't ever do it again, I promise!" Maybe such a promise might bind her but there was enough mortal blood in her that Xilanada wouldn't trust it. Instead, she fell back into her chair, exhausted. The confrontation had drained her of her strength and all she wanted to do now was sleep.

"Go on, Glee. If you want my trust, if you want me to even like you, than be trustworthy. Until you decide to do that, I don't want to see you again."

The words were harsh but pain wracked Xilanada and she couldn't spare the energy needed to soften them. Slowly, she staggered to her bed. Surprisingly, Glee's hands were suddenly there to support her, to help her back onto the mattress. The Fae-Blooded pulled the blankets up to Xilanada's chin and stared at her with an unreadable look.

"I'll show you I'm trustworthy, Lana," Glee said quietly. "You just wait and watch. I'll show you. I'll show you."

The perfect woman walked out of the room far more subdued than she'd entered. Xilanada couldn't quite care. She was too tired. She closed her eyes, lowering her guard, and sleep instantly overtook her.