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Sleeping Kingdom (Collector x Autumn Queen)

"Well... it... it just makes sense," said Nethys, her ears drooping and lowering her head, her voice growing quieter with each word she spoke. "I mean, a unicorn's just a horse with a sharp stick on its head, and a horse is basically helpless if it can't use its legs. The horn isn't much threat if it can't run around, either, because the dangerous part is the tip. And... and you already have the nets... so..."

Nethys pulled her legs up to her chest and buried her face in her knees. Normally, in this situation, she'd try to think of some excuse to leave, hoping that whatever she thought of was reasonable enough to spare her a beating, but she honestly couldn't think of anything. So what if she was being tricky? Being tricky was what they needed to bring the unicorn in.

She didn't mean to ignore the Prince's question about how she could talk, but again, she didn't know how to answer. She'd always been able to talk, always been able to understand everything that had been happening around her, but she'd never been allowed to say much. She was able to read a little as well, though not write, simply from watching the words on the pages Torvold read to the Queen each morning as he spoke. She'd been able to figure out what sounds each letter made, though she still didn't have any understanding of punctuation or silent letters and often got Cs and Ks, Gs and Js and Ss and Zs mixed up.
 
"Hey," the prince said, calming them with a raised hand. "There is no reason to start arguing. We're a team with a single purpose." He looked at the snoozing hunter and then to his two trackers. "Now the idea was that the unicorn would be attracted to our pet here, right?" He nodded and then grinned at them as one yawned.

"You're not going to sleep too, are you?" As the prince asked the question, though, one of the trackers slid to his bottom and dozed off. The prince glanced at the others with a worried, nearly panicked look on his face. One by one the men were nodding off, and if he would have cared to look he'd find that the horses had fallen asleep as well. That wasn't the worst of it, though. The worst part was that as they fell into a deep, deep sleep they slowly began to turn to stone.
 
Nethys looked up from her knees just in time to see the hunters start to slowly turn to stone. She let out a terrified shriek and scooted away from the petrifying bodies as quickly as she could until she found herself tumbling down the bank of the river. She landed in the water with a splash and began thrashing in the water. She might have known how to talk and read, but she didn't know how to swim, so even the shallow part of the river was terrifying to her.

"I don't want to go to sleep!" she screamed as she thrashed, desperately trying to claw her way to land. "I don't want to turn to stone!" The water that soaked her body also splashed across her face, concealing the fact that tears of terror were streaming from her eyes.
 
Prince Caspian stood up on shaky legs as he watched the men around him fall asleep and eventually turn hard and grey. Even their clothing changed with them. He was vaguely aware of his mother's pet scrambling away, shrieking in fear and running blindly towards the ravine. Seeing her sprint away was enough to force him to move as well.

He took off after the Queen's little creature as quickly as he could. If he lost his mother's prize pet she'd never forgive him. Well, she'd eventually forgive him, maybe after an hour or so, but the time in between would see her look at him with disapproval and no love. It was existing without her love that he could not face, so he jumped into the stream after the Elven girl. "You're okay!" He shouted at the girl, grabbing at her shoulders and forcing her to look at him. "I'll take you home. I'll take you home." He tried to speak more calmly than he felt. "We...we're going back to the castle okay? I won't let you turn to stone."
 
"But... but they went to sleep!" said Nethys, still hyperventilating, though her struggles began to cease. "I can't not go to sleep! No one can not go to sleep! If I sleep, I'm going to be stone! I don't want to be stone!"

Nethys was quickly dissolving into sobs. She didn't want to go back to the castle, though she couldn't possibly tell the Prince that, because she knew that the Queen would somehow blame the whole thing on her. The elf knew that the Queen meant well, but she sometimes blamed Nethys for things she didn't do and only punished her more if she tried to explain what had actually happened. She supposed that it wasn't too bad: she was taking the punishment for something someone else did, sparing them pain, but she sometimes wished that a vast majority of the servants' mistakes weren't blamed on her. Especially when the servants blamed their mistakes on her.

And this was a big mistake: someone did something that was turning anyone who fell asleep to stone. This wasn't a broken plate or a piece of lost silverware: people were dying. She somehow doubted that the Queen would stop at just a beating for this.
 
"No, no you won't die. I'll protect you." He didn't know where the words came from; it wasn't his desire to protect anyone but himself, but she was the queen's plaything; her little Elf pet. He had to protect his mother's favorite past time. He had to save her.

She was crying and he didn't know what to do. What did people do? The prince remembered seeing the cook comfort one of the castle bastards by wrapping his arms around him. Stiffly the prince did the same. He put his arms around the tiny creature and pulled her against his body. It was similar to the way men and women laid when they took pleasures from each other but it was also a world apart.

The magic flowed around them, the curse, really, and left them untouched. The prince had just vowed to protect the blood of the Elf, the daughter of the Elven King. He'd be spared.

But the Prince knew non of this, and so as he gently urged the Queen's pet to leave the stream and begin the walk back to the castle he was left with only the hope that the royal mages and the seers could solve the mystery of the stoned hunters.
 
Nethys had never been hugged; at least, not that she could remember. The most affection she'd ever gotten from the Queen was when she'd been too young to walk and the Queen had occasionally deigned to pick her up personally. Once she was capable of independent thought, the Queen had turned all of her spite on Nethys. She'd always wanted a hug, though, or any display of affection, really: some form of comfort. She'd hoped she'd get it from the Queen, that she'd finally do something right and that the Queen would reward her for it, but when Caspian wrapped his arms around her, something shifted, or perhaps snapped, inside of Nethys and the elf came to a realization. Everything in the past eighteen years suddenly snapped into focus for her in the moment that Caspian wrapped his arms around her, and it only made her cry harder.

"I don't want to go back!" she sobbed. "I tried everything I could to be good, but it was never enough! Even when I did exactly what she told me without making a single mistake, she'd still hit me and call me stupid and worthless. I didn't talk because she didn't like the sound of my voice, I hid away because she didn't want to look at me, but she'd always come looking for me whenever she wanted to hit me. I just... I just wanted to make her proud, just wanted to do something right for her, but she'd always make it so that I failed. Even when I did it perfectly, she'd break something or trip me just so that she could hit me again! She'd even hit me for bleeding while she was hitting me! I can't go back to that: she'll blame this on me and... and... and I don't know what she'll do to me!"

Nethys was paralyzed with fear now. She didn't want to go back to the castle, but knew that it was inevitable. The Prince wanted to check on his dear mother and he would inevitably return her to the Queen, where Nethys would suffer some unspeakable punishment for the deaths of the hunters. Nethys had never had a high opinion of herself, but she did not have any sort of death wish either; she very much enjoyed being alive and wanted to continue living. Her ears hung low and her large eyes were wide with fear, pleading Caspian not to take her back to the castle.
 
Nethys' emotional confession drew a shocked look from the prince, who stared at her as if he had grown a tail, wings, and curved horns on the top of her head. He forgot all etiquette and allowed his jaw to slacken in shock when the creature accused his perfect, womanly, gentle mother of beating her and treating her cruelly. How could anyone even think such horrid things? And least of all this sub-human creature!

Prince Caspian raised his hand as if to strike her but then stopped himself. Frustrated, he rolled his hand into a fist and brought it down slowly. Royalty did not strike women, even Elven women. "How dare you speak such of the Queen? She is the epitome of womanliness! She is as gentle as a dove! As loving as the breezes of Summer and as forgiving as a mother to her nursing babe! She took you in off the gutter and fed you, gave you a warm place to sleep, allowed you in her perfect presence!"

He turned away from the sniveling creature and made an angry, frustrated sound that almost sounded like a growl. He whirled back angrily and pointed a finger at the creature who had insulted his dear, sweet mother.

"If Mother didn't love you so much I'd leave you out here to die!" He stalked forward to try to grab her by the wrist. "I won't tell her what you said about her; it would break her heart. She would die of sadness! But if I ever hear you say a disparaging thing about Queen Lorena again I will not hesitate to let her know how you feel. Your life of privilege will be done! Do you understand?"
 
Nethys' crying ceased the moment that Caspian balled his hand into a fist. It was reflexive, really: whenever she was beaten, crying would only make the punishment worse. Furthermore, Caspian's words disillusioned Nethys that his promise to protect her had been a lie. She honestly shouldn't have been surprised: she was an elf among humans and no one would care what happened to her. The hug was not a sign of affection or even that he cared about her, but rather a more gentle attempt to get her to stop irritating him. The Prince would not protect her, nor would he care about whatever horrid punishment the Queen visited on her.

As Caspian yelled at her, Nethys' eyes drifted in the direction of the forest. She'd seen it from the distance plenty of times before from various windows in the castle and she'd always wanted to see what was behind the treeline, but now that she was this close, the sensation was entirely different. She felt like she was being called home and she was quickly running out of reasons not to answer the call. Despite that, however, she also felt a very strong compulsion to stay. It had been trained into her for her entire life that she should never resist her betters, and running away would certainly be resisting. She wanted nothing more than to dart off into the forest and never have to worry about being punished again, but her body would not comply with her desires. She had long since ceased listening to Caspian and wasn't even looking at him anymore, her eyes fixed on the treeline. As Caspian reached out to grab her wrist, Nethys turned slowly away from Caspian and was about to take her first step before the Prince's hand seized hers and he began to drag her away.

In that moment, Nethys had never despised herself more. If she hadn't been so slow, if she'd simply ran and vanished into the trees, Caspian never would have been able to catch her. She didn't know why she was so certain about this, especially when Caspian was more fit and better fed than she was, but she had no doubt in her mind that she'd lost all hope of ever getting away from the Queen. The elf did not cry, nor did she struggle: to do so would have been pointless. She simply let herself be pulled along by the Prince.
 
The prince felt how tiny her bones were when he folded his hand over her wrist. He tugged her towards himself like he would a puppy, waiting for her to react to the pull before walking back towards their makeshift camp. "Whatever malady befell the men did not affect us. Possibly because of my superior royal blood and your..." he looked over at Nethys and frowned, "your unhuman condition. Though that would not explain our sleeping mounts." This correlation tickled at the back of his brain but he dismissed it.

"You didn't finish your food." When they reached the clearing he picked up a satchel and took out another sandwich wrapped in waxed paper. He had dropped his food as well when the sleeping occurred, and he had no intention of eating food that had touched the ground. "Here," again he handed her part of the sandwich. "Eat as we walk." He slung a water skin over his shoulder and handed her one as well, figuring she could pack out her own water as he did. Once he had those items he made sure to take his expensive bow and quiver of arrows with them, and then took her by the hand to walk the five miles or so back to the castle.

Walking back was not as pleasant as their ride out. The sun began to get hot, and soon a dry breeze began to wick any moisture remaining on them away without providing cooling relief. The prince looked down at the little Elf as they neared an isolated grove of trees. "Are you tired?"
 
Nethys gave Caspian a strange look as he handed her another sandwich. He'd just snapped at her and now he was rewarding her? Still, he seemed to be a bit cross with her, so she took the waterskin and the sandwich and began walking slightly behind Caspian. She found it odd that the Prince didn't seem to be doing as well as she was during the walk back: he was at a fairly consistent pace the whole walk, as was she, but after a few hours of walking, she found herself in front of him. She'd been eating her sandwich slowly, so as not to upset her stomach, and had finished off the last of it just as he asked if she was tired. She paused for a moment, unsure of how to answer the question.

She was fine; her feet weren't at all sore, even though she was walking barefoot on the hard ground, and the heat hadn't caused her to break a sweat, but it seemed to be having an adverse response on the Prince. She didn't need to rest, but she wasn't sure if she should be truthful and continue walking or if she should lie so that the Prince could get the rest he needed. After a pause that lasted a little bit too long, she nodded slowly, though her eyes were unsure. She didn't know if she'd answered correctly.
 
Prince Caspian smirked at her. What a strange creature she was. So much like a puppy, yet so complex and then - surprisingly, so intelligent. It was no wonder that Mother Dearest adored her so. He began to undo the clasp of his vest and allow it to hang open, thus freeing the air to cool him more, as he began to head for the trees. The vineyards that stretched for the next mile were technically the King's, but a small cottage was off to the corner for the family who tended the King's fields. On the other side was a wheat field, and beyond that other small farms that added to the kingdom's wealth.

They could see a few people walking down the isles and pausing occasionally to groom the vines and check for readiness. These grapes in particular were going to become dark red wines that would be stocked in the vast underground cellars of the castle.

"See there?" The Prince pointed to workers as he looked at Nethys. He took a drink of water from his water skin and grimaced at the warm liquid. "They are content; they know where they fit in this world." He wiped some sweat off of his brow and let the shade of the trees cool him for a few moments. "We're only ten or twenty minutes from home," he told her, unsure of why he felt compelled to fill the quiet with words. "Once the mages revive the hunting party we'll go out again. Tomorrow perhaps. And then," he grimaced around another mouthful of tepid water, "we'll get that unicorn for Mother."
 
Nethys said nothing once more, instead sitting with her legs curled up to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. The Prince seemed insistent that his mother was doing her a kindness, as had Nethys up until an hour ago. She watched the people tending the vines enviously; she wished that she could do something like they did. Something that would make her useful rather than simply being a punching bag. She wondered why it had taken her so long to understand where she stood with the Queen. It was so obvious in retrospect! Every time she'd set the table perfectly, only to be punished for a smudge on the silverware, even though she wasn't the one who had cleaned it. Every time she'd made the slightest sound, only to be beaten mercilessly for it. Even dogs didn't have it as bad as Nethys did; at least dogs were fed regularly and allowed outside from time to time. And even when a dog did make a mistake, they were simply scolded, rather than thrashed so hard that they couldn't stand up for a while afterwards.

At first, Nethys glowered at the workers in the vineyard: her brows knit and her ears flat back against her skull, but the glare quickly faded and her ears drooped once more. She was trapped. She'd been brought up in a cage and it was only now that she realized it. She'd have far preferred to have slept outside than in the cramped little cupboard she'd been given. She couldn't help but let out a small, sad sound that wasn't quite a sob, a sigh or a whine when Caspian talked about going out hunting again. She didn't think that she'd be in any condition to be of use to anyone when the Queen was through with her.

"I wish I'd been born a dog," she said, her tone melancholy. "Everyone loves dogs. A dog learns the trick and that's the end of it; they perform the trick and then they get a treat or a scratch behind their ears. I always try my hardest, but no one ever seems to think it's good enough. I could pick grapes just as well as they do," she gestured at the workers, "but someone would find a fault in it and I'd be punished for it. And if I got hurt during the punishment and couldn't go straight back to work, I'd be punished again for being injured. I want to be useful, but no one ever lets me. You saw it back at the camp: I had a good idea for catching the unicorn. I had the only plan for catching the unicorn, but everyone got mad at me for speaking up. I can be good. I can be useful, but what's the point if no one lets me?"
 
The Prince couldn't fathom not being constantly praised. Every time he attempted anything, no matter how horribly he might do so, he was lavished with praise and encouragement. "Surely you exaggerate," he said with a slightly haughty tone. "The Queen is the most supportive, encouraging soul in the kingdom. As a matter of fact I've never seen you with a bruise on you," he said, thinking back to how rarely, actually, he ever saw the Queen's pet Elf.

He went over to her and sat next to her, his knees bent to mirror hers. "The Queen adores you beyond any of her other pets; she keeps you in her room, for goodness sake! And you're absolutely adorable and bright as a bonfire. How can you be so unhappy?" He reached over and laid his hand over hers, lacing his thick, strong fingers through her tiny ones. He'd never considered how different an Elf was than a human aside from the obvious. "You had a fine idea for hunting unicorns and we're going to use it tomorrow. I don't care what the hunters say; I am the prince after all. And when we bring the beast back to Mother I will tell her that her clever Elf was the one who came up with the idea. She'll reward you well, I'm certain."
 
Nethys starred silently up at the Prince for what felt like an eternity. Her gaze was intense, but it was impossible to fathom what sort of emotion she could be feeling. Then, suddenly, slowly and deliberately, she stood up, turned her back the the Prince and removed her dress. She was naked beneath it, but with her back turned to the Prince, her unclothed state was the least shocking thing about her. Her back was a mess of bruises and scars: some recent and others older. Furthermore, the removal of her clothing only further emphasized her state of malnutrition: she didn't simply have skinny limbs, she hardly had any fat on her body. Even through the swollen bruises, it was a simple matter to count her individual ribs simply by looking at her. There were several places where it seemed like someone had simply gouged into her skin with their bare fingernails.

"The Queen loves you," said Nethys, her voice carrying the same intensity as her gaze as she looked at the Prince over his shoulder. "If she could, she would spend her every waking hour in your presence. Your voice is the sweetest music she could ever hear and you are the most beautiful being she has ever seen. I am an eyesore. Simply being seen when she doesn't wish to see me is enough to earn me a beating. Making any noise, even if it doesn't come from my mouth, when she doesn't care to hear me, which is almost always, is enough to earn a punishment as well. I am not a pleasant creature to her. I am not something she enjoys being around. For the longest time, I thought she was the most patient person in the world, that I simply couldn't do anything right and that I deserved everything she did to me. But... but then you hugged me, and I hadn't done anything to deserve it." Her gaze turned sad once more and her ears drooped again. "That's all I ever wanted from her. A hug, a pat on the head, even just some gentle touch that didn't hurt. I spent my whole life working myself to the bone to try and satisfy her, hoping for the slightest bit of praise to validate everything I'd done in her service, but it never came and now... now I don't think it ever will come. I didn't want to replace you in her life, I didn't even want to be your equal: I just wanted her to loo at me with something other than loathing."

There was a noticeable sob in the elf's voice, but tears didn't flow from her eyes. Crying was forbidden, after all, and she was still ashamed at herself for having cried back in the stream.
 
He didn't understand what she was doing at first, but then the sunlight hit her back and he could see the scars and bruises, the recent injuries and blue yellow raging flesh struggling to heal. Beyond that he could see that she looked like a starving street dog, all angles and bones jutting out in ungraceful angles and only three steps from starving to death.

He felt a cold wash over him as the blood drained from his face. Slowly Cas brought his hand to his mouth to hold back the horror that welled up within his being, but as the Elf explained what her life had been like he could not hold back the sickness he felt. In a very unprince-like, sickened move he ducked behind the tree to spill his lunch on the dirt. His vision blurred and his cheeks grew wet as he weakly knelt on the ground on his hands and knees.

Weakly, feebly, he finally leaned against the tree and covered his bowed face. He remembered the Elf creature as a child. She had been plump and perfect, though covered oftentimes with grime. Those wounds, the scars...they had all been dealt while she was in the care of the Queen.

No no no...not Mother. Not Queen Lorena. She was the fairest in the land, the most gentlest of doves, the shining jewel of the kingdom! She could never hurt anyone! It had to be a mistake.

But as he finally caught his breath he knew that even if the queen had not dealt the injurious blows she had to know about them. She had to have sanctioned the beatings.

He felt a strange warmth in his heart; perhaps it was pity, the kind you might have if you saw someone kicking a puppy in the alley, or a kitten being thrown in the river. He spat the remnants of the sourness from his mouth and came around the tree to look at Nethys. "I'll ask Mother to give you to me," he said, the tears still wet in his eyes. "She'll deny me nothing. She loves me." He felt guilt at that last statement, though it was an emotion he did not recognize. "You'll be my pet Elf and you won't be beat again."
 
Nethys blinked several times in surprise. She honestly hadn't known what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. She folded her arms across her breasts, a little uncomfortable now with being naked. She was quite frankly surprised that the Prince had vomited: she'd always thought of him as strong and confident. Those were just two of the attributes that his mother praised, after all. She very much liked the idea of not being beaten, though. She honestly didn't care that she'd still be a pet: anything was better than enduring the Queen's tortures again. A slow smile spread across her face as her ears lifted again, high and happy, at the thought of changing ownership. She didn't want to seem ungrateful to the Queen, but it was hard now that she understood she really didn't have that much to be grateful for.

She shifted uncomfortably in place, unsure of what to do now. She was very much grateful to the Prince, but she didn't know how he wanted her to show it. The Queen had drilled it into her head that she was never to touch anyone without permission, but she wasn't sure if that was just another thing the Queen had done to be cruel to her or if it was actually something she wasn't supposed to do. Finally, she cast her eyes down at her dress on the ground, and then back up at the Prince. "Should... should I get dressed now, Your Highness?" she asked, hoping that she'd chosen the right title. After all, she wasn't his yet, so he wasn't really her Master, though she was looking forward to calling him that.
 
It wasn't until she mentioned begin dressed again that he remembered her nakedness. He flushed and glanced away, nodding. By the time she had pulled her shift on he had wiped his eyes dry and was pulled together again. He had to know how to compose himself for public audiences and meetings, despite how he might feel, and this was simply another audience to attend to.

But this time he was going to face his Mother, the lovely Queen Lorena who, until a few minutes ago, he thought could do no harm to anyone.

He walked back to the castle in silence. It was surprising to have no one meet them at the gate. He peered up at the catwalk over the entry in concern, then walked up to the iron gate. No guards greeted them. No one hailed them or challenged them at all. He pushed the gate open and walked into the entry courtyard, his eyes scanning for signs of anything that would explain the eerie quiet of the castle.
 
Nethys was happy to be dressed and moving again. She was far more energetic than she had been for the first part of the walk back and felt much more comfortable in the Prince's presence. She still remembered the call of the forest, but she no longer despised herself for not heeding it. After all, if the Prince was to be her new Master, she didn't mind staying in the castle again. She'd gladly have slept in a cupboard in the Prince's room if it meant not being beaten again. And, if she did well for him, she might be able to earn more praise, like the kind he'd given her about her idea for capturing the unicorn. She was still a little nervous about going to sleep, though: it might be that the curse had still affected the two of them, but it wouldn't work until they went to bed that night. She didn't voice that concern to the Prince, though, since he seemed concerned about the gate.

Nethys hadn't ever left the castle before, so she didn't know what things were supposed to be like when they got back. For all she knew, no one meeting them at the gate was normal, though from the Prince's reaction, she was starting to suspect that it might not be. As she followed him into the castle and began to look about the courtyard, she couldn't help but notice that there were a good number of dog statues about. She hadn't seen them before, though she also hadn't set foot outside before, but it seemed strange that there would be so many sleeping dog statues about: especially since they looked a lot like the king's hunting hounds.

"It seems odd that there would be so many dog statues about," she said, pointing at one of the petrified dogs. "And in such a strange place, too. Don't people ever trip over them?"
 
The Prince was so intent on looking for people that he failed to see the dogs. When Nethys pointed them out he stilled and his eyes widened in near-panic. He scanned the catwalk from the interior of the courtyard and saw signs of sleeping guards. Petrified sleeping guards. "No...no no no!" He sprinted into the castle, jumping over sleeping servants turned to stone in their sleep, until he reached his mother's wing of the castle.

There, in the well-lit sunroom where she took her afternoon tea, the Queen sat slumped in her chair, her eyes closed.

Her body turned to stone.

Prince Caspian cried out in despair. His mother had been his entire world; his father was a distant figurehead, a man who cared more for taxes, wars, and politics then his small family. That was why he was content to have only one child with his wife, and so long as Prince Caspian was well the king felt his duties had been tended to.

With a sad, lonely groan of helplessness the prince sank to the ground and wept.
 
Nethys let out a cry as the Prince sprinted off and did her best to keep up with him. She followed the sound his boots made on the stone floor, since he'd gotten a good head start, but quickly lost sight of him. Fortunately, by the time his footsteps stopped, she recognized where in the castle they were and was able to easily find her way back to her Master. When she saw what had befallen the Queen, the little elf's eyes widened in surprise as well. Despite how cruel the Queen had been to her, Nethys had never held any ill will towards anyone. After all, resisting was forbidden, so there was no point in wishing anyone harm. She'd have much rather the Queen praised her, maybe even apologized for how horrible she'd been to her, than to have her turn to stone like this.

Nethys stood in the doorway a while, unsure of what to do with herself. Several times, she started to take a step into the room before retracting her leg again, unsure if any of her ideas would work. Finally, she remembered how good it had felt when the Prince hugged her and decided that that was probably her best option. She padded silently towards Caspian, knelt down behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She didn't say anything, since she couldn't think of anything to make the situation better, so she simply continued hugging him from behind and pressing her cheek against his back, hoping that this would somehow help him feel better. He'd been so kind to her and she felt useless for not being able to make the situation better. If she could, she'd have turned everyone back from stone just to see the Prince smile again, but she didn't know how, so all she could do was hug him.
 
He felt like his world had died. There was nothing else for him now; the queen was no longer able to smile at him or praise him for his achievements. Without her his life was empty. Who did he have to bring joy to any more? What was his purpose in life?

Prince Caspian turned towards Nethys and hugged her back, taking comfort in her physical presence as he poured out his sorrow and fear. "What am I going to do? Who's going to make sure that everything is taken care of? How can I go on without Mother?" The little Elf's heart beat was reassuring to him; at least he was not completely alone. He had his mother's pet, and that would connect him to the queen eternally.

He gently pulled away and swiped at his eyes. Sensing how silly he might look he scoffed at himself. "Some hero, huh? Crying over my mother?" He wiped the back of his arm across his cheek and sat back on the floor, looking up at the statue of Queen Lorena. "Do you think it hurt to be turned like that?"

A few moments later he smiled weakly at Nethys. "Come, let's see if everyone is like this. Surely the mages are even now working on a solution to this...affliction."
 
Nethys thought for a moment when Caspian asked her if she thought that it hurt to be turned to stone. "I don't think so," she said. "If something hurts, it usually wakes you up, and the stoning seems to happen after everyone goes to sleep, so if it hurt and woke them up, I don't think they'd be stone." She nodded when he said that they should go and see the magi. From what she'd heard, they were very smart men, so they'd probably already figured out what was going on. With any luck they'd fix everything up before dinner time and everyone could be happy again. Nethys stayed close to Caspian in case her Master needed more comfort. He'd been so kind to her, so she wanted to be right there to comfort him again if anything else upset him.
 
They snaked through the castle, spotting only statues of the castle staff and nobility in various states of sleep. When they reached the Wizard's Lounge they found the same situation. Everyone, every living creature in the castle or associated with the castle, had fallen asleep and turned to stone. Prince Caspian leaned against the window sill and looked out across the vast kingdom before them. The hills stretched far, covered with farms and forests, and at the base of the Castle a road stretched a short distance to the city that served the royal family. He put a hand out to the Elf and drew her near. Her closeness was comforting to him, like cuddling a stuffed toy or favorite blanket.

He saw a flash of white in the nearby forest edge. Peering through narrowed eyes the prince could see what looked at first like a horse. He cursed softly. "Is that the unicorn?" He asked Nethys, leaning forwards to get a better look.
 
Nethys, glad that she could be of service and receive affection at the same time, wrapped her arms around the Prince and curled up onto his lap, nuzzling her forehead against his neck as she rested her cheek against his shoulder. She was sad that everyone was stone, but at the moment, she was finding it hard to care as she lost herself in the warm embrace of her Master. She closed her eyes, a smile on her face and her ears high and happy and let out a contented sigh, hoping that some of her happiness would seep into her Master. She stirred when he asked if she saw the unicorn, turning while still curled up against him to get a better look. Sure enough, there was a beautiful white horse on the edge of the forest, though the branches obscured its head so Nethys couldn't see if there was a horn or not. From the unearthly grace with which it carried itself, though, she supposed that it must be.

"It might be," she said, just as a thought occurred to her. "Master, whatever our next move might be, would it be a good idea to find some coins? I know that Master Torvold kept saying that coins solved all problems, so if we find some coins and give the to the right person, do you think we could fix this?"
 
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