A New Day
I awoke early to the smell of bacon, eggs, toast and coffee. For a split second, I thought I was in my old bed at home, Granny Dan cooking breakfast and I was waking up from a fun dream. I had dreamt that a long-lost relative had come and taken me away. We went shopping, ate fancy, and traveled to a big castle and met my long-lost father.
Other smells assaulted my nose that told me that I was not at home and that was not Granny Dan's cooking. So it wasn't a dream! That was Maria bringing in a tray of breakfast. I opened my eyes and sat up.
"Good morning, My Lady! I trust you slept well!" she set the tray on the bed with a pleasant smile. I smiled back warmly. So it wasn't a dream. I really did meet my father.
"Mmmmmm! Good morning!" I responded with a stretch and a yawn and sat up to eat. I glanced around the room. Yup. Still here. Not a dream.
"Thanks!" I pulled the tray toward me and proceeded to dig in. Thanks to my ravenous appetite, I had those plates polished off in less than five minutes. I sat back against the pillows and sipped at the coffee, waiting for it to kick in. As soon as I finished with it, I relinquished to tray to Maria and got out of bed and headed to the wardrobe looking for something to wear. I figured while Maria was busy with the breakfast things, I could get myself dressed unhindered. I quickly found what I was looking for--jeans, t-shirt and boots and pulled them out. When I got done and came out from behind the dressing screen, there was my ever-attentive Maria.
"Is there anything planned for today? Because otherwise, I was thinking of either seeing what dad is up to, or else start exploring this huge place. I just know that I don't want to necessarily be indoors all day!"
Maria smiled at me in good humor. "Well, if you were to explore the castle, you would be indoors for several days; it's quite extensive," she gave a small chuckle. "However, My Lady, your father left instructions for you to report to him once you were fed and ready for the day."
"That'll work!" I perked up at this and was trying to remember where I had set my hat when a new thought hit me. I suddenly remembered that card we were working with last night. I retrieved it from the desk and held it in my hands and began to concentrate on it just like he had instructed. I was only dimly aware that Maria had vacated the room to give me some privacy.
The card acted as it had the night before. It grew colder and the image on the card began to waver and change until it seemed to come to life in my hand. I smiled at this, giving myself kudos for having accomplished it on my own.
~Morning, Tabitha. Did you sleep well?~ the little image of him asked.
"Good morning!" I replied enthusiastically. "I slept well, thank you! So what's on the agenda for today?"
~Well, I thought you'd might like to meet the king, your Uncle Random. Then, whatever we can come up with I suppose,~ he said with a grin.
"Great! I'm ready! Shall I come on over, or did you want to come over?" I offered my hand to the empty space before me.
~I'll come to you this time. That way, you can have an idea as to how that feels.~
"Okay!" I managed as I could feel my hand suddenly gripped by his and I began to bring him to me. I felt that icy sensation again as if I had plunged it into ice, but this time, I only felt in my hand, arm and shoulder.
He nodded in approval once he was standing before me. "Alright then. Let's go."
"Great!" I chimed. I pocketed the card and retrieved my hat and followed him out the door. I followed him down the hall and kept him in my line of vision as I checked out my surroundings.
"I may regret this," he said with a grin. "But do you have any questions before you meet your uncle, the king?"
Hmm. Well, he asked! I looked back at him with a little wicked grin, took a deep breath, paused for the drama of the moment, gave it a little thought and:
"So do I just refer to him as Highness? or Uncle? or is he on first names? does he have any kids? is he even married? --Flora didn't tell me a whole lot about him except that he's the baby of the bunch. Other than that, no, I don't have any questions. I'll probably think of them either once I get there, or else later in the day out of the blue," was all I said in one breath. I paused again, took another breath and giggled softly. Dad paused and was having a good chuckle.
"Good questions. Well, to start, I think you should address him as 'Your Highness" or 'Your Majesty'. He will probably tell you when you can address him as 'Uncle'," he paused, mentally going through my list of questions. "Yes, he had a son, Martin. Yes, he is married. Quite remarkably, too. They love each other dearly. Her name is Vialle and I'm not sure if you'll get to meet her at the same time."
"That'll work," I replied, satisfied with his answers. I had quickly fallen silent again and followed him again.
Along the way, dad was pointing out certain pieces of art, a tapestry here, a statuary there. As we passed yet another hallway, I was taken aback at the fact that this one in particular was lined from floor to ceiling with portraits. I was a little surprised that he did not point this out, as it was clearly way more interesting than some tapestry. He was acting as if he never saw it there.
"Whoa!" I stopped at the entrance and waited for him to catch on. "Now that's just plain impressive! These all ancestors or something?" I was staring at the closest ones to me. Dad, who had been a few steps ahead of me had stopped to come back to where I was.
"Yeah. That's the Hall of Portraits," he said without emotion.
"O-okay," I replied slowly, getting the idea that he could care less about it. "Some other time, then." I continued past this hall and let it drop. I got the idea that it wasn't something he wanted to deal with, and I certainly did not want another history lesson of of present and past Amberites.
"Is okay. I'd rather be among the live people if you know what I mean," I said, waiting for him to lead the way again. He seemed to be taking a moment to clear his mind and came back with a weak chuckle.
"Yeah. Let's go meet the king," he said and took my arm. I reciprocated with a little squeeze back.
"Yeah, let's go do that," I said, letting him lead the way again. We didn't get very far when he stopped again and paused to open a door. I thought for a split second that we had arrived already, but I was still in for a surprise.
"This is the library. This takes up nearly an entire wing in itself, as it occupies three floors," he explained and let me poke my head in to take a gander. I have never in my entire life ever seen so many books all in one place before. My eyes went big and my jaw hit the floor for a moment. I managed to recover, letting out a low whistle of appreciation as I did.
"Now that's just--" I began, very impressed. I just couldn't seem to find the one word I needed to sum it all up, so the best I could do was--"Wow!"
"Yeah," Dad grinned at my reaction. "You can find just about anything in here if you know how to look." He took my arm again. "Come on. You'll have plenty of time for that later."
I let him pull me away, albeit a bit reluctantly. "That's just huge!" I tried again, trying to wrap my poor noodle around what I had just seen. However, I noticed that I was having difficulty in walking and thinking about this particular thing at the same time, so I had to put that thought aside and pay attention to where I was going.
Thankfully, it wasn't far. We had come to another stop at a door whereupon Dad knocked on the door and announced to me that we had arrived. I was suddenly pins and needles with excitement and anticipation at what I might find on the other side of that door.