Sunshine

It was finally warm and sunny in Brisel. It was Monday, Amelia was still a little tired from the mission in Sulis. She was happy it had paid well, she never liked fighting undead, though satisfied with the days work she had done she held a little bit of guilt for the innocent man she struck whilst they were in a fight with some foulspawn. Atleast it was in the leg and not somewhere more vital, she did apologise several times and she did heal him up so she shouldn't feel too bad about it.

As it was warm and dry Amelia didn't feel like being cooped up in her office with the various things she needed doing. She grabbed a blanket, a few books, some paper, her pen and ink and ventured out in to the garden at the back of the house. It was like many of the gardens in the city, it had a wall around it, two of the walls had climbing plants, the other wall was lined with benches and statues, that wall was also sheltered. In the centre of the garden was a lawn, bordered in several different kinda of flowers, which were separated by small paths which led out on the all the different sides of the garden. She settled for a patch of the lawn that was in the sun and probably would be for most of the day. She laid out the blanket and spread her books and paper about before settling down herself, she opted to lie on her stomach facing the wall opposite the house which was covered in red and white roses, the gardener had thought her the names of the flowers but she couldn't remember them at that moment. She started to read one of the books she had been reading over the past few days, it was a novel on dragons.  She knew that dragons existed, she knew that there were more informative books on the great creatures but she found the fiction built around them more imaginative and enticing, it was a nice break from the real world and what it wanted from such creatures.


She must haven been reading for over an hour when she heard the doors to the house open and close quietly. She glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Temps, instead she saw the gardener Thomas  and a step behind him was one of the house servants carrying a tray. Thomas nodded politely in Amelia's direction as the girl approached her. Amelia sat up and stretched and accepted the tray which contained a glass and a jug of flavored water.
"Thank you Christine. Though would you mind bringing out another glass" She lowered her voice. "It might get a little warmer this afternoon and I might need to offer our hard working gardener a quick refreshment."
"Certainly Miss Amelia." The servant turned and walked back in to the house only to return moments later with another glass. Amelia thanked her again. Feeling a little warm she poured herself a glass of cool liquid. She noticed Thomas has set to work on the flower beds nearer the benches. That bed was filled with a selection of pansies, poppies and other small brightly coloured flowers. Thomas was one of the Lovells' servants that Amelia liked the most, he didn't called her 'Miss' or M'lady' he just called her by her name, he wasn't afraid to joke with her or even question her like the others were even though she had told them all many times before she wasn't their superior.  They had frequently had lengthy conversations with each other as he worked in the garden in the past. Thomas had come from a very good family, but he didn't want to be like his brothers and sisters, he loved nature and he had a passion for making gardens and plants beautiful. She had asked him once why he hadn't devoted himself to Longstor and she adored the answer. He told her that devoting oneself to a god is a calling, not a choice you make just because you like a god, he also explained he couldn't pick one god to devote himself to, it would be like only picking one flower or plant to use in a garden. She had to admit that Thomas was more than just nice to talk to, he was nice to look at, even Temps, her mother, Lady Lovell and most of the female staff agreed.  He was indeed a very handsome young man. He stood over 6 feet tall, he had black hair that just reached the curve where the neck blends in to the shoulder, his eyes were icy blue, he was lean for his height, he was a hard worker because when he didn't work here he was in Vena, Rum in the Lovells' holiday home. Amelia snapped out of her daydream of watching Thomas work and moved to watch the clouds in the sky. She stayed that way for a while until a shadow stood over her, she sat up and saw it was the gardener.
"Thomas, you blocked my light. How dare you." She joked.
"Sorry." He smirked. When he talked to her he used a more Ithronian accent that he was taught to use by his father, when the talked to the other servants he used a more Brissolian accent so he wouldn't make them feel intimidated by his heritage. "I was wondering if I could ask you for a drink, it's starting to actually feel like Budding, it is nice to get some work done atleast." He looked down at her. She poured Thomas and herself a glass of water. She motioned him to sit with her and he did.
" It certainly is nice to see some sunshine finally. It mostly rained at the Games. Luckily when it did rain I was indoors and not needed elsewhere." She grinned and took a sip of water. "I like what you've done with the place"
"Thanks. I am glad the roses survived the bad weather. The other flowers are still in the balance."
"Hmm" She looked over to the roses. "Remind me what are the names of the roses again?" She asked. He didn't answer right away, he took a bit of drink then got to his feet. He dashed over to the roses and picked one red and one white before dashing back to the blanket.
"The red one is called is a Gallica or a Rose of Provins it is usually found in the more southern parts of the empire and is one of the oldest roses we use in gardens. And the white is a Maidens Blush, it is most commonly found here in Ithron and is also one of the oldest roses we use in gardens." He explained to her. He handed her the roses so she could give them a closer inspection. She bought them to her nose to smell. They were sweet and fragrant. She was  a little awe struck by his knowledge of these simple but beautiful flowers. She twirled the white rose between her fingers.
"Why do they call this one maidens blush?"
"Some of the flowers don't just flower white, some flower with a slight pink hue, something akin to the blush that seems to be spreading across this fair maidens cheeks." He joked, with a wry smile on his face. She just looked at him then jokingly narrowed her eyes at him. She placed the roses on a book then looked back to the gardener.
"Don't you have work to do" She smiled. He nodded, finishing his drink, then pouring another glass only to place the cut roses in the glass. He walked back to his work and Amelia went back to her book.


Later that day the roses were in a small glass vase on Amelia's desk. Temps saw them but didn't question her friend as Amelia was fond of picking flowers, she didn't know that they were from Thomas.

Waking from the frost forge.

When Amelia woke she was back in the Frost Forge encased in ice, again she was conscious, just about able to see people walking around and only just about able to hear their words through the ice. She could feel the ice seeping in through her wounds in her shoulder and leg, the ice was sealing then and when she was free the blood would start to spill again. In her mind she knew that if she was freed she'd still have a while to go before she bled to death, but Killian and Lucy had been down alot longer so they would die faster. She prayed silently to the gods that her friends would find them in time as on the other side of the forge was a great glacial structure that she could discern was probably the forge itself,  through the ice she could just about hear the roar of the ice fire, it was a much darker shade of blue then the rest of the are, this is how she knew it was the forge, she could see the blurred images of someone pointing to her and her friends and then to the forge, she hoped that what was going on wasn't that they were to be the next things to be put on the fire.

The images changed. The forge was filled with the images of familiar shapes, she could hear familiar voices. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a mass of bright yellow.
"Andrew! Thank the gods!" She thought, his bright yellow robes were far discernible then the rest of the shapes. She could see opposite her people were gathered around another block of ice, she didn't know if it was Lucy or Killian. She then heard someone yell STOP, that was much clearer than the other murmurs she had heard. The crowd of people moved away as Amelia could hear the fae forgemaster making commands to the other fae that if we were freed, her friends would die.
As more shapes moved around her she saw what looked to be the shape of Kassandra.
"We're not leaving her here" She heard her say. The group then moved towards the forge.

The images changed again. Everything felt colder and darker. Amelia could still sense the others in the forge. She also felt another presence that was not there when she was there the first time. A tall figure came in to her view, it was familiar, shades of green banded in purple filled her vision. This made her feel happy, but this didn't happen the first time around, the first time around he had managed to get out of fae, so why was he here now.
She was suddenly on the outside of the ice standing between where she was still encased in the ice and another ice block that contained the mercenary Killian. She saw Reverence looking down at her in the ice with an unreadable look on his face. He drew the sword on his side that she had only ever seen him pray with, he knelt, stood back up. He brought the blade above his head and plunged it tip first in to the ice.
She heard her friends yell at him NO! as he kept stabbing the same place. Amelia then felt something warm and wet start to seep out from under the chain on her stomach. She looked at herself in the ice and saw blood mingling with the ice around her, she then looked down at her self in horror as she was bleeding. That's when the pain hit her as her body became more aware.

Amelia woke in her bed with a start, she rolled over and groaned in to her pillow. She could still feel the phantom pain and see the dead look in her friends' eyes as he dealt the final blow. She slowly rose from her bed knowing she wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon. Dressed in long black trousers and a purple long sleeve shirt she liked to wear to bed she walked from her room to the kitchen in complete darkness. In the kitchen she found her father and Sir Edward Lovell at the kitchen table. They were dressed in their bed clothes, her father Matthew wore a green house coat and Sir Edward wore a grey housecoat. She took a seat next to her father.
"Father, Sir Edward. Why are you both up?"
"It's almost dawn my dear" Sir Edward informed her, she looked out the window over the city to see the dim glow of sunrise.
"Fair enough" She mumbled she looked lazily around the kitchen, pondering if it was sensible to have a cup of tea yet.  Seeing this her father knew what she was thinking  and got up to make her one.
"I think our question is why are you awake? You don't see dawn much, unless you see it before going to bed." Her father joked.
"Bad dream" Amelia looked at the table, she was 20, the last time she had a bad dream was when Charlie died and even then the last time was when she was a child. She felt foolish, it was a meaningless dream. Her father put the mug in front of her and ran a hand through her hair.
"Do you wish to talk about it?" She nodded as she took a sip of tea. After telling them about her dream she could see the concern written clearly across their faces.
"What happened when you came out of the forge in real life" Her father asked.
"Uh. When we got to camp I heard Skade shouting. Then I remember Archer and Skade getting me out of my robe and armour, trying to get me warm."
"What did Reverence do?"
"From what I can remember he just stood there, I can't remember if he asked me anything." She looked sheepishly between her father and Sir Edward. It had hurt her when he did nothing to help her but she didn't know if he was just giving her room. She was too concerned at the time with getting warm. 
"This Reverence man, he is a friend of yours right?" Sir Edward sounded stern and kind at the same time, he knew what friendship was to Amelia. She just nodded. "Well if he is a good man then he wouldn't do such a thing. If he did he would have not only your families after him but your master and your friends coming for him." He smiled at her, Amelia was like a second daughter to the Grey Knight, he was just as protective of her as he was of his Temperance.  She smiled back at him.
"No doubt Sir Edward. But please excuse me for saying this but I think my father and Archer would beat you to it, though I am grateful that I have your support when it comes to my well being."