~*~*~*~*~*~ "So... what's the story with the guy, Sis?" Lt. Garrad Rainier pulled a chair out from the table across from Caelan and sat himself without waiting for an invitation. "There is no story," Caelan replied dryly, barely glancing towards her older brother as she picked at her lunch. She'd found a small table off to herself in the castle's large dining room. Most people had taken lunch and gone their seperate ways already, but now there were no more then five other people, chatting in small groups across the room. "Nothing at all?" Garrad leaned forwards on the table, crossing his arms and fixed Caelan with his steel blue eyes. He had the same brown hair, and blue eyes as his sister, but where she found herself plain, he was handsome. Broad shoulders, strong arms. He walked with the same deadly grace as any of the elites, and had the confidence of the Lieutenant he was. "Nothing at all," she lifted her eyes from her plate to fix him with a flat gaze. "He won't leave me alone," she added, dropping the sandwich that she'd only taken a couple of bites from. She wiped her hands together over the plate, and then pushed the whole thing away from her as she fell back into her chair. "He likes you," Garrad smiled encouragingly, angling his head. He glanced towards the barely touched lunch and returned his concerned gaze to Caelan. "Well... that's obvious," she was beginning to hear this a lot lately, and it was starting to grate on her nerves. "But I don't see why," she added in a soft grumble as she folded her arms over her chest and turned her gaze towards the open window. The afternoon was bright and warm, and all of the windows had been thrown open to let the air circulate in the castle. The gauzy white curtains fluttered in the warm breeze. "Why not?" Gary was starting to worry about his sister. She simply hadn't been herself ever since their younger brother had passed away. Now, since her kidnapping, things had only seemed to have gone for the worse. She used to be so happy and carefree. She'd never been as obsessed with her appearence as Dora was, but he thought that the way she wore her hair down, and the way she would sometimes wear breeches get dirty could be endearing to someone. She had never been afraid of some things that other ladies were. But now she only came out to fullfill whatever duties the Head Lady in Waiting had before she would hole herself up in her room again. "If you'd get out of this slump I would think you could be quite becoming," he lifted his chin and nodded, jabbing at her. He was trying to get some sort of rise out of her, some sort of hint of the young woman he knew. But all she did was look at him and return to staring out the window. "He really isn't so bad, Cael... And if he'll make you happy, I promise I won't give him a hard time at all." "Gary..." Caelan looked across the table to him, her voice seeming to trail off hopelessly. "I don't know what will make me happy. I don't know what to do." Garrad's proud shoulders fell, and he sighed. "I'm just worried about you, Cael," it was beginning to scare him. She didn't eat, she didn't sleep. She was becoming thin and dark rings circled her eyes. "I'll be fine. Really," as convincing as she tried to be, it didn't seem to relieve any of the stress she could see in her brother's features. "Well... at least finish your lunch, okay?" "I'm not very hungry," she gave him an odd look and glanced at her food. "But I'll try," she finally added after a moment, thinking to give him some sort of peace. ~*~*~*~*~*~ Sarah _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com -- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives & Other DMI Lists: http://islesofmyst.com/lists.php3
