No Rest for the Wicked or Moral

[Nocte Luna]

“Don’t worry, I’ve got her.” Gley had been the one to catch her, finding himself on the same side that Geneva had fallen to. He carefully picked her up, sliding his arms around her cold body.

“She’s freezing cold, does anyone want to sacrifice some gloves or another cloak?” Captain Blakely had moved from standing in front of her to standing next to Gley.

No one moved, so Captain Blakely pulled off his cloak and tucked it around Geneva. Her clothes were still soaking wet from the snow, but the warm layers would hopefully keep her alive.

“I have some gloves,” Kefan offered, pulling them out of his pocket.

“Do we risk going all the way back to the castle? It took us hours to arrive here, and she already is in a very critical condition. We have to act quickly to make sure she arrives safely." Gley asked, shifting the cold body in his arms.

"Well, how can we safely transport her?" Filgral asked.

"Holding her while riding is the best option we have. From there, we can head west." Blakely responded.

"Where will we go? We cannot make it back to the palace in time." Gley asked, confused.

"I believe we can. She must return home." Captain Blakely said firmly.

"Well, I can take her for a minute while someone mounts." Kefan offered, holding his arms out to take the princess. Gley took him up on his offer and carefully set the princess down in his arms, quickly mounting his horse and trying to figure out how the princess could stay on the horse with him.

Kefan carried the princess over to Gley and his chestnut mount, keeping the princess close to his body until Gley was ready.

Gley took the princess, keeping her close to his body. One arm wrapped around her waist, tipping her body back so she wouldn't flop forward.

The four guards set off west, making fast time back to the castle. Five and a half hours later, they were back at the castle.

Geneva was still breathing, but it was very shallow. Immediately when she arrived, she was brought to the castle and an army of the help surrounded her, gasping when they saw the unconscious princess. She looked peaceful, but in a horrific sort of way. It brought back memories of the prince, who looked so serene in death it seemed almost a dream.

One of the doctors had been waiting for almost an hour, and had prepared a variety of solutions in an attempt to keep the princess alive.

She was getting close to death. It was easy to tell by her very pale, almost blue skin and her breathing that seemed more labored each breath she took.

Captain Blakely had taken the princess from Guard Gley, carrying her upstairs and setting her in bed. He waited outside to keep watch and ensure that only the necessary members of the help and family were allowed in. He also waited for the dreaded news, should such a horrible thing occur.

All the help involved worked quickly and carefully, knowing how critical every second would be. At four AM, after hours of caring for the princess, all but one servant was allowed to leave. Everything that could be done had been completed, and only the princess herself could fight the cold that ripped through her body.

Thomas had been awake all night, and when he received news, he simply sat in silence. His daughter’s life was in her own hands. She was strong, but the hypothermia was strong, too. Doubtful and sleepless, he roamed the castle aimlessly.

Dawn broke early, however, it was many hours before the princess began to show signs of life again. At first, her hands began to shift, just a little, and the maid began to wonder if she had gotten some bad bread at breakfast and was hallucinating. However, when the princess gave a soft sigh and burrowed farther under the covers, the maid let out a sigh of relief.

Sleep had claimed her, and for once, fate was kind and bestowed dreams of comfort and rest, of peaceful waters and warm fireplaces.

Her father visited whenever he had the opportunity, leaving the throne room in between his meeting times and sitting with his daughter. A guard remained at the door all day, awaiting news to send off with a messenger, or denying entry to almost everyone.

Night had claimed the sky when the princess woke from her deep sleep for the first time in almost twenty four hours.

Many servants had sat, waiting for their princess to awaken and bestow on them the gift of leaving and not having to wait anymore, but the moment that she finally awoke was anticlimactic.

The princess slowly rose from her unconscious state, eyes fluttering open and hands gently unclasping. All her unused muscles were tight and tense from trying to keep her warm, so she slowly began to stretch as she realized where she was.

It was home. It was safe and warm. She was comfortable. A sudden cough racked through her body. The maid sitting beside her bed jumped, but leaned forward.

“My lady,” She began, peering at Geneva, “Are you alright?”

Geneva tried to speak, but her voice came out weak and hoarse, so she simply nodded in response, coughing again.

“I’ll call for some warm foods, I think that will help you.” The maid responded, gently patting Geneva’s leg and hurrying out to fetch another member of the help to bring her food.

After the maid left, Geneva examined the room around her. It was her own bedroom and sheets, but many blankets had been added, and her clothes had been replaced with fresh, crisp, and dry garments. A fire warmed the room, bright flames crackling.

The maid soon returned, bringing a cup and a pitcher of water. Geneva slowly sipped at the water. Everything felt dry and awful, so she down the glass of water.

“Careful, princess, don’t overexert yourself. You haven’t eaten in almost a day, let your body adjust. Don’t eat too quickly.” The maid warned as the food arrived.

All that sat on the tray was a bowl of soup. Geneva sighed unhappily, taking the soup.

“Slowly, princess, or I’ll have to feed it to you like a child.” The older woman reminded, perched on the chair.

With that, Geneva ate the warm food. She was surprisingly full, and it made her feel much warmer. She was already exhausted, so she laid back down, tucking herself beneath the sheets and quickly falling back asleep.

The next few days passed the same way. Letters on top of letters littered her bedside table, yet she did not open them. She ate, slept, and occasionally read a page or two in a book, but remained mostly in a state of unconsciousness.

For a week, she healed, growing stronger each day, eating a little more and taking a few more steps. After a week, she finally adjusted back to a normal schedule and would appear every couple days in the dining hall for a meal. Mostly, she remained in the library or her study, a blanket and cloak always wrapped around her. Her cough remained part of everyday life for quite some time before it began to fade away.

She barely interacted with anyone, and though she was constantly urged by her father to spend some time interacting with others, Geneva kept to herself.

She slowly began to open a few of the letters, responding with short letters devoid of meaning or life. All her well-wishers didn’t respond to the letters they received after that, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

The princess had slipped from her royal life into a deep depression. She had no motivation, and completed no work of value for about a month and a half. Nothing felt like it had meaning anymore. Springtime was going to come soon, and the whole country could feel it, but Geneva remained in the cold, dark winter.

Her father was busy, but still found the time to worry about his daughter. She did everything he asked with no energy, completing the tasks just so she had something to do. His concerns didn’t fade, and turned passive-aggressive very quickly. After months of trying to help, he was done trying, and left Geneva alone, still occasionally throwing short-tempered comments at her over dinner.

March was almost upon the castle, and Geneva still struggled, trying to find her place in the ranks of royalty once again. Much of her work was paperwork or lessons with Iles, so she poured what energy she had into completing the work. It wasn’t the same as it was before, but it was a good enough life that she could fake passion for something.

It was after one particularly difficult lesson that Geneva found herself in the gardens again. All the annuals had been removed from the garden to make room for new buds in the spring, so she wandered through the snow covered perennials, finding a spot among some of the taller bushes on a bench. She perched there, cloak wrapped around her.

The princess had hurried out after the end of a very difficult foreign dignitaries practice meeting, almost in tears. Her performance while directing the ‘dignitaries’ had felt surreal and forced, and she was almost certain she would have to repeat the same scenario tomorrow with her patient tutor. He had been the only one to stay with her for so many months, forgoing afternoons with his wife and family for her sake. He was a saint, and Geneva felt almost sick having left almost immediately afterwards.

Crunching gravel and snow alerted her to the presence of two guards, and she turned to see Blakely and Adek, a nervous-looking new guard, winding their way down the path. Once she saw the figures, she looked back down at her folded hands in her lap.

“You go on, I’ll be right behind you in just a minute, I promise.” Blakely’s words were soft, but not soft enough so that Geneva couldn’t hear them.

Crunching feet moved in opposite directions, one set coming closer and one slowly fading away.

“Princess Geneva, I am glad to see you safe and well.”

Geneva kept her eyes trained on the ground, returning only silence.

“I am only here to ask if you are in any state to continue investigating your brother’s murder. I know it has been many months since we have spoken, but I was hoping you would be a better place, both mentally and physically.”

He took a seat beside her, keeping his distance.

“You are one of them who found me that night in the forest.”

“Yes.” He responded, frowning in confusion.

“Thank you.”

More silence permeated the air. Geneva shifted, uncrossing her ankles and looked up again.

“I can continue the investigation once again. Understand that your actions in the forest in no way affected my decision.”

She remained sitting, while he stood and bowed deeply, quickly thanking her before hurrying down the path.

His voice brought back faint, fading memories of the night on the side of the road that made anxiety pool in her stomach. A shiver raced through her body, and she stood up, hurrying back to the castle.

[Nocte Luna]

Dear Reader,

I’m really trying to get things out every day and get them done on time, but it can be a little difficult sometimes. I hope you understand.

For now, I’m just trying to do what I can but also keep up with my real life. I do have things to do outside of writing (unfortunately for me, sometimes) but I do like to try and sit down and tap out a sentence or two at least once a day.

Also, for all my literary folks, Frankenstein is a great novel to look at that gave me some inspiration. I keep finding all these novels and re-reading them and finding lots of ideas I really like from them.

Love from,
Nocte Luna

[Ranger of the North]

I'm baaack!

Wow, that was a wild ride! O.O
What happened to the queen, though? I'm figuring she arrived safely? But then wouldn't she have insisted on returning once word of Geneva's predicament reached her...?
And what happened that night? Where did Blakely come from?
Wow! So many questions! XD

[Nocte Luna]

A few days later, Geneva found herself sitting at a table in the library after her lessons, waiting for Captain Blakely. She was perfectly organized, a fresh notebook sitting out in front of her and a small stack of books nearby.

Captain Blakely arrived, hair ruffled and face flushed from the wind. He hurried in, pulling out the chair across from Geneva and rifling through a messenger’s bag he carried with him. His notebook was far more worn than the princess’, and took a deep breath before opening to a dog-eared page.

“Before we begin, explain your process.” She asked, folding her fingers together and leaning forward so her weight rested against the table.

“Well..it’s sort of hard to explain, but I suppose I can try to tell you a little bit about it.” Captain Blakely was half panicked, but reorganized himself.

“I guess I usually start with a who – who murdered your brother. It can be anyone, really. I’ve got pages and pages of possible murderers. From there, I start to think of the why. No matter who did it and why, the how will always be the same. There are some little details I haven’t figured out yet with the how, but that’s partly why I have you to help me. And with the why portion.” The captain explained, flipping through his notebook.

“I see. I suppose it..sort of makes sense, but is there not anything else than can be done to help the process move more smoothly? This is all based on lots of hypotheticals, which makes me cautious.”

“Well, you can help gather some more information directly from those you interact regularly with, or those who are easy for you to access.” Blakely explained, dropping down into his chair.

Geneva nodded. “I understand now, that makes more sense. That is a concrete plan, so I will accept it. However, I believe we should begin with some of your thoughts and ideas, and as we think of more ideas, we can share them.”

“Share them via letter? Or in person?”

“Whichever one is fastest at the time. Though I may send more letters, considering I am still not allowed to leave the grounds, and I would not ever truly wish to visit the guards’ quarters. I mean no offense, but..” Geneva trailed off, giving a little shrug.

“It is alright, I understand. It can be a bit of a madhouse with all the rambunctious younger guards.” Blakely gave a knowing smile.

“Exactly,” Geneva said with a little half smile, “So, who are your prime suspects at the moment, Captain?” She asked, dipping her quill in ink.

An hour or two passed, Geneva taking plenty of notes and covering her hands in ink. Surprisingly, Captain Blakely’s theories weren’t completely far-fetched, and many of them made sense.

Every name seemed familiar, but after lots of notes, Geneva’s head began to swim with all the information, and she zoned out, letting her hand translate the words from Blakely’s mouth and mindlessly write them down onto another page in the journal.

“Is that everything?” Geneva asked, stretching her hands out and cracking her knuckles.

“I believe so. I did have a lot of ideas.” Captain Blakely said, standing up to stretch.

“Well, I cannot say I was not just writing and not really reading or thinking about what I was writing, so I will look over this again later this evening. Will you be on the grounds later tonight, should I wish to consult with you?”

“No, I do have some old friends to meet with this evening, unfortunately. However, if you send a letter, I will be here to meet with your father tomorrow morning and I can address any concerns you may have before nine thirty AM.” He said, gathering up some of his supplies.

Geneva rose from her chair, taking her time to stretch out her back after hunching over the table for so long.

“If that is all, then I think I will leave. I have a lot to consider, and nighttime is almost upon us anyways.”

“I hope you have an excellent evening and I eagerly await your response to what I have told you. I will see you tomorrow morning, princess.”

“And the same to you, captain.” She nodded briefly, picking up her things while the captain bowed to her. Finally, she turned and walked out of the library, journey tucked under her arm. It was going to be a long night.

Geneva was in her study, analyzing every single detail until almost eleven that evening, which was quite late, considering she usually slept more these days, since she spent so much of it doing what felt like nothing. She only stopped to get a fresh candle so she could continue to read.

It was all rather thrilling, but Geneva loved the sublime feeling of reading about murder. It wasn’t vengeful, per say, but it felt strange, like her actions were full of secret justice.

She found her way to her bed and fell asleep quickly, with no dreams preying on her that night.

[Nocte Luna]

Dear Reader,

I hope you all have/had a good holiday. I just took a little break to reorganize myself and take a little more time for me and my family. From now on, I’ve decided to update as I feel necessary – so you may not hear from me for many days. It’s just too stressful to try and do all this writing, especially if I feel the quality is suffering.

Almost halfway to a full-length novel. I’m really, really happy. It’s been so long since I’ve written something, and the last time I tried to write, it didn’t go nearly as well as this did.

I stopped writing this author’s note at least 2-3 times to go write some more. At least I have muse!

Love from,
Nocte Luna

[Nocte Luna]

It was about nine AM when Geneva woke up, groaning softly as she rolled over, covers twisting around her legs and cocooning her in her sheets. She glanced at the large gold clock on her wall, not registering what time it was until almost 9:10. The princess bolted upright, almost ripping the sheets off the bed in the process. She untangled herself from the sheets before riffling through her closet to find a simple dress with no corset, changing quickly and brushing her curly hair into a ponytail that bounced with every step she took.

Rushing to her study, she grabbed her notebook, which had lots of information she could share with the captain. The ink had dried and now stained the edges of the pages, but it still looked beautiful, unlike the way Geneva felt that morning.

She almost tripped on the stairs four times, catching her balance just in time and finding Captain Blakely on the first floor walkway, hurrying down the hallway to meet him.

“Good morning, captain.” The princess took a moment to compose herself, tipping her chin slightly and trying to control her breathing, so as to give the appearance of complete calm and relaxation.

“Good morning, Princess Geneva. I do hope you did not rush anything this morning for my sake; we could have met later if it had been more convenient.” Captain Blakely’s hands were folded behind his back, glancing down to his right side to see the princess panting very slightly from the exertion.

“No, it is no issue. I do have some very important ideas to share to add to your ideas.” She stated, producing her notebook and flipping until she found her first page where she had marked inconsistencies or important points to add.

“Firstly, I believe that we cannot completely eliminate the rebels from our investigation. I do not think they would be entirely responsible, seeing as their actions in the past have not harmed, yet I believe they had something to do with the death of my brother. We cannot completely discredit them.”

Captain Blakely nodded slowly. “Though they themselves denied it, perhaps a more thorough investigation would be in order. I can try and arrange another visit into the city so we can both see if anything seems suspicious.”

“Perhaps we will consider that possibility. After the last trip we took, I am not anxious to return, however, if necessary, we can and will make that journey.”

“I will make preparations if we wish to investigate. Do you have any other thoughts to add?”

“Yes, but I believe we will have to share these thoughts at a later time, captain.” Geneva glanced up to see her father rounding the corner, and she tucked the notebook under her arm, taking a step away from Captain Blakely and moving towards the dining hall.

“Good morning, my dear. And Captain, convenient timing, I was just about to send someone to find you.” Thomas gave the pair a little smile, nodding to Geneva.

“Geneva, perhaps we could arrange to have a meeting later today at dinner, it has been quite some time since I have seen you so happy and filled with life. I believe there are some important matters at hand to discuss with you.”

“I believe that could be arranged, father. I will meet you for dinner, then.”

“Very good, very good! I will see you later this evening, princess. As for you, captain, we can begin our meeting now. It is informal, so we can meet in my study.”

The pair walked off, and Geneva turned back to the dining hall, walking in and sitting in her chair for a short breakfast. It was empty and silent without anyone else to talk to, so the princess slouched in her chair and picked at her food for twenty minutes before she left and wandered upstairs to the library.

She knew that Iles would return and reprimand her about her performance yesterday as a foreign dignitary, but everything was becoming very irritable lately, and she had learned how to tune out Iles just enough that she could still fake concentration and understanding. Most days, Geneva’s thoughts were occupied with her mother, alone with some maid in a foreign country. How boring must that be? Sitting next to a comatose member of royalty? The library doors in front of her brought her back to real life.

However, when she entered the library, there was no tutor in sight, just the librarian; books finding their way back into their respective spots with careful hands. The princess wandered to a table in the back corner, setting her notebook down and looking through all her carefully penned notes and ideas, stifling a yawn.

She sat for a few minutes, flipping through every filled page, groaning softly when she realized she had no quill or ink to write down any ideas. Slumping over the desk, she laid her head in her arms, closing her eyes for a moment of relaxation in the silent library.

Approaching footsteps made her groan again, but she looked up, finding Peter Iles standing in front of her, carrying all his materials.

“Good morning, princess.”

“Good morning to you, too.” Geneva responded, sitting up and quickly smoothing her black curls.

“To start the morning off, we will review our foreign dignitary practice from yesterday and talk about your upcoming assignments.”

“Yes, I suppose we should do that.” Geneva sighed, slipping her notebook into her lap.

“Firstly, here is part of the transcript of what you said, princess. Notice that here and here,” Iles indicated two spots in the messy, cramped handwriting, “That you began to turn to more common speak, and lost some of the elegant diction that is so key. Next, here, you started to change your position, which should not happen, no matter what the issue is. You made this mistake multiple times and would have confused someone, or caused trouble on your part. Once you have made a judgement, consider that judgement correct, do not change or waver. People could see it as a weakness.”

“I know,” Geneva sighed again, “But part of this is to hear the argument. Is it not better to go in with a clear mind and be swayed by arguments of each side and decide which is stronger?”

“No, you lose sight of true goals, and without knowing other dignitaries’ backgrounds, it is easy to get lost in the arguments and not truly know the intentions. I request that you not make that mistake again.”

“I will try my best.” The princess nodded, looking more closely at the transcript. “Iles,” she paused, “How is your family?”

“Excuse me, princess, I am a little surprised that asking me such things, but they are doing perfectly fine. If I may, why did you ask that?”

“For conversational reasons. Is that not something I did poorly at?”

“You are correct, you jumped right in with barely an introduction. Improvement already, I can see.” Iles gave her a gentle smile, nodding his head in appreciation.

The rest of the day continued with critique of her performance and a list of assignments for Geneva to complete, Iles leaving earlier than usual to give Geneva time to work alone on her assignments. Much of the work was just to occupy her time, which annoyed Geneva to no end as she filled out sheet after sheet of paper.

The afternoon made its way to evening, and the princess could still be found, hunched over the library tables, flipping through books and taking notes. She only looked up occasionally, but when she realized the sun was barely visible over the horizon, she quickly packed up all the materials and hurried to the front desk, placing the books on desk with care before rushing out of the library, notebooks still on the table.

[Nocte Luna]

Dear Reader,

Long time no see.

I've been trying to write, but the last time I tried to sit down and write, I ended up starting to redesign the whole castle, based on some previously unheard of structural integrity issues I just thought of while writing. It was one little moment that I actually started to think about the way the castle was laid out, and then I just got too involved I suppose.

I'm quite busy, unfortunately, so Chapter Twenty Four is coming along slowly but surely. I haven't forgotten, I've just been focused on other things. Like redesigning my highly flawed castle.

Love from,
Nocte Luna

[Ranger of the North]

small bump c:

[Nocte Luna]

small bump c:

ironically enough I was re-reading this last night and hopefully I'll stop being a lazy writer and finish chapter 22 after like 6 months. yikes. (also, hopefully this will encourage me to actually write it instead of just pretending like I don't have the document open). this is my remind. NL, get your rear in gear and write this thing. I will update this soon.

[Ranger of the North]

small bump c:

ironically enough I was re-reading this last night and hopefully I'll stop being a lazy writer and finish chapter 22 after like 6 months. yikes. (also, hopefully this will encourage me to actually write it instead of just pretending like I don't have the document open). this is my remind. NL, get your rear in gear and write this thing. I will update this soon.

Hahaha, that's pretty funny XD Great minds think alike! ;p Yass, yay! c: