Date: Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:34:51 -0700 From: j ritter Subject: Palace Life part 6 As an explanation, it's been four years (!!!) since i added anything to this piece. life has a way of carrying you away from your projects, and then back again. i haven't been writing much, mostly travelling and working so we'll see how this takes up again. pomegranite14@hotmail.com 2006 The next morning the rain is still torrential, and I wake enfolded in a golden woman's arms. Words like "Goddess" are on the forefront of my linguistic thoughts, words I wouldn't be caught dead using normally. But words are hard to come by when a warm body is pressed against yours. Her eyes flicker open, inches away, and stare unabashedly into my own. I suddenly worry about morning breath. But such literal thought is banished when she leans in to kiss me. Like a splash of cold water, I remember the events of last night, all the way back to the Treehouse, and the strange occurences there. "Isaac!" I mutter, and launch myself out of bed, fear clutching my insides. That anything could have happened to my friend... it doesn't bear thinking about. "Sorry, I'll be back in... " I murmer to Joelle's now alert face, throwing on my robe and running out the door "a bit!" God, don't let anything have happened to Isaac, or sexy Adam for that matter. Down the hallway to the men's quarters, past the snicker of the guard at the divider. "Eat me!" I yell over my shoulder at him. My robe isn't the most modest garment, and I can hear him laughing behind me. Arriving out of breath at Isaac's door, nonetheless, I knock this time. Adam answers almost instantly, and in my relief, I hitch to my tiptoes and hug him tight around the neck. Isaac is sitting serenely at the little table, reading the morning paper. "Hi sweetie, did you check this out? For that matter, did you remember to dress today?" "Oh, bugger off, I was worried about you assholes. Did you get out alright? Are you both okay? What happened anyway?" "Woah, slow down sailor, we're alright." "And hey! weren't you worried about me?" A sudden pang of hurt feelings. "Of course stupid, but we talked to the watchmen last night, and they said you two were already in. That wasn't all they had to say about you, either... something about falling in a pond... ? See-through clothing? " I can feel the slow heat of my blush and wish for the first time ever that my hair was long, like the Empress'. "Whatever. So what was that all about last night?" I ask, trying to change the subject. "Oh, some new fundamentalist religious sect... they got wind of what exactly the mask ceremony involves... " "What DID that ceremony involve...? I have to admit to profound dissapointment that we didn't get to see that one through to the end" Adam piped in "Me too darlin', me too." We share a letcherous sidelong glance, and grin. "SO...fundamentalist religious sect...?" I prompt, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Yeah, they're basically anti-everything fun. Drinking, Music, Laughter, Sex, even Love. Sin sin sin... all those evil things. They wanted to shut down the show, but when the troupe refused, they got violent." "No shit. I mean, BOMBS? That's pretty fucking extreme! Was anybody killed?" "Fortunatly no. The bombs were apparently planted too far from the supports of the building to do any structural damage. Nothing fell on anybody. It says here that Kavriona, the owner's daughter, she suffered some pretty bad smoke inhalation. Lots of people with minor contusions... It also seems that the mask makers have skipped town. They're nowhere to be seen." "I don't blame them. Imagine if somebody targeted our troupe in that way? Scary." "Yeah, well, I don't think we have to worry. Most of the perps have been taken into custody, and they'll be questioned until the year is out... " Adam suddenly crows "Hey, imprisonment will be right up their alley! No fun at all to be had in jail!" We pause to have a giggle, let the tension of last night's memories fade a bit. "So what DID happen with the ice queen last night, missy?" Isaac noses in, when the laughter dies. "Whoops! Gotta go." I cry, jumping up and heading for the door. "The Empress probably needs her Imperial gossip by her side..." And I make a run for it. I'm running partly to get out of explaining something I haven't even thought over properly. And partly to get back to that-which-requires-explaining, still nude in my bed.