“Lady, Lady,” came the urgent pounding on the door. Vivianne clutched Varatt’s shoulders to hold him in place as she lifted her head to listen. “Lady, are you in there? There is an emergency.” The Lady in question sighed and Varatt slid to her side, covering himself with the sumptuous coverlet. Vivianne dressed quickly in her scarlet robe and cracked the door.<br/><br/>“What is it Maud?” she asked softly around the edge of the door.<br/><br/>The young girl’s eyes went wide as she took in the Lady’s disheveled hair and bee stung lips. She stammered,<br/><br/>“A pigeon, one of the charmed birds from the paladin. Brought this,” she handed over a small rolled up parchment. The guardian said it was an emergency and that the reflecting pool had confirmed it.”<br/><br/>Vivianne slipped one bare arm through the crack in the door and shut it softly in the girl’s face.<br/><br/>“Bad news?” Lord Varatt asked, as he dressed.<br/><br/>Vivianne read the missive, pacing the floor.<br/><br/>“Nimue left to come to the Tor around dark. She safely crossed the lake. Has she arrived yet?” Vivianne made a face and crumpled the paper.<br/><br/>“The little idiot. I have instructed her several times to only come and go on the back of that dragon. Whatever possessed her to leave on foot at dark when there is an entire house of guests.”<br/><br/>“How do you not know she is not sleeping in a chamber near by?” Varatt asked as he stood behind the tall high priestess and nuzzled her neck.<br/><br/>“Because, the guardian has seen in the reflecting pool.” She said, disentangling herself and crossing to look out the window. “The guardian is blind and so her senses do not interfere with what the spirits tell her. Nimue is in trouble. She never made it as far as the Tor and something is extremely amiss. I’m going to send Layla looking for her.”<br/>``````````````````````````````<br/>Less than a quarter of an hour later, the golden dragon was skimming through the night sky, looking for, scenting for Nimue. She swooped and scanned but only saw one small campfire in the woods not far from the Tor. She couldn’t tell if Nimue was there or not.  With a wild roar, she soared into the cloudy sky and came down in the paddock outside Maric’s house. The ground shook and Maric came out. She didn’t know how to talk to Maric and she only hoped he would understand. Layla bowed and waited for him to climb on her back.