Three days. Three days that were a blur. Meeting so many people that she couldn't keep them straight in her mind. Always trotting after the old woman. Answering questions for hours on end. Never having a chance to ask her own questions. Returning to their rooms long after dark and so exhausted she fell instantly asleep, only to be woken before dawn for another round of blurred impressions. As the doubts and questions multiplied inside her head, Lisell soon realized that she was working harder here in the palace than she had ever worked in her life. True, it wasn't the mind numbing and physical work of gutting fish, but the emotional drain was worse than anything she had ever experienced. A break came on the morning of the 4th day. It began with an uneasy feeling scratching at the back of her mind as she awoke from sleep and quickly donned her clothes. Upon walking out of her sleeping niche, she found Majjerit standing in the middle of the room with her head tilted to one side as if she was listening to sounds that were miles away. Giving a slight shrug of her shoulders the old woman gave a glance at her charge and without a word motioned her to follow. As usual Lisell reached the dinning room some seconds after the older woman and had to scurry through the line to fill her tray with breakfast. Joining Majjerit at one of the long tables that was unoccupied by any of the other dinners she began to enjoy the meal. Of a sudden she notice that all sounds in the hall had ceased and everyone was looking towards the door. Swallowing her mouthful of scrambled eggs she turned and saw that the doorway was framing a soldier of the King's Own Guard. His glance swept across the room, finally settling upon Majjerit. With several quick strides he approached the table and after a slight bow, leaned to the Sister and softly whispered something to her. Without showing any emotion Majjerit nodded once and said "5 minutes". The trooper returned her nod and strode from the room. Pushing her plate aside Majjerit looked the young girl in the eye and said, "Well my dear, it seems that you will have a day to yourself." Smiling at the questioning look on Lisells face, "I fear that my 'other' duties will keep me occupied for awhile, so I have to you leave you to your own devices for a while." The woman's eyes locked upon Lisell. "I give you leave to explore this pile of rubble for the rest of the day. Mind you, and mind you well, stay out of the way from them that are working." The razor sharp eyes softened more than a little as she continued, "I know it's been a rough stretch for you my darling, but that is about to end." "I think you are ready for a day of some little freedom, use it and use it well. You have seen the bowels of this heap, now go and see what lies above." Lisell could hardly believe her own ears. This was a miracle. She hadn't seen the sky since she had been in the palace and longed to sit under the warm sun and smell the air with all of it's myriad scents. She looked with wonder and gratitude at Majjerit. With a mock scowl and shaking her finger under the girls nose, Majjerit told her to not go above the ground level, and that she would be given a quiz upon all she had discovered in the evening. With this Majjerit rose and strode purposefully from the room with all eyes upon her. It was now a little after the noon hour and Lisell was tired and hungry. Walking down a deserted corridor on the ground level, she reflected that she must have covered several miles of passages in her wanderings. Without the slightest idea of where she was, she felt a strong determination to memorize every turn and step of her journey. She had seen much and been enthralled by all of it. Since achieving the ground level she had peeked in on a ball-room, two grand dinning rooms, and although she hadn't dared to approach it, she felt sure she had found the throne room. Now, with her stomach growling in irritation, and her feet aching all she wanted was to see the sky. Turning a corner she was excited to see that the wall on the left consisted of a row of great glass doors that seemed to be glowing with the heat of the sun. Moving towards them as fast as she could she was rewarded by looking out into a courtyard that although it was enclosed by the multi-storied palace held a vast and luxuriant lawn that was beautifully landscaped with trees and bushes, and joy of joy's had a magnificent fountain in the center. Hunger and weariness forgotten, she opened the first of the great doors and with awe washing across her face entered this little parkland. Taking off her slippers she walked across the grass, giving into the pure sensuous feeling of the blades as they caressed the soles of her feet. She knew that this was the pinnacle of her life. Tiny songbirds were flitting from bush to tree and telling the universe of their journey. The mighty fountain sang to her in tinkling notes of crystal pure exuberance. Small insects of many hues flitted here and there on errands of mystery. Unable to stop herself, she began to hop and skip and dance though this garden of joy. A song burst from her soul as she leapt and twirled across the grass. In the middle of an enthusiastic but inexpert pirouette, she realized that a voice was humming along with her in song. With an involuntary gasp she stumbled and crashed to the ground, looking around franticly to see who was there. A deep voice came from her rear. "Ahh, sorry lass, didna mean to startle you." Spinning around she saw an older man sitting upon a bench that had been concealed between two small trees. "Sir, I, aaa, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I mean, I thought, I thought I was alone." With face turning crimson, she began to turn and make a retreat from her shame at being caught singing and dancing. The rich voice stopped her in her tracks. "Stay girl" "First time I've seen such pure joy in such a long time." Turning to face the voice, she was able to take in a deep breath and compose herself. The man was a large person, she could see that he was somewhat heavyset, dressed simply in dark colors. His head was large, dominating his being. A beard that covered only his chin in whiskers of grey and brown. His mouth was of average size and shape, and she could see the wrinkles caused by both mirth and sorrow that surrounded it. The eyes, oh those eyes. Deepset and large of the darkest brown she had ever seen. Full of merriment and, somehow, sadness at the same time. They looked at her from under lids that seemed to hover as if they were about shut the eyes off from the rest of the world. The skin at the edge of the eyes crinkled and the brown eyes seemed to glow with twinkles of humor as they looked at her. "What's your name little dancer?" "Lisell, sir." "Lisell huh? " "Now that's a very pretty name." "Thank you sir." The brown eyes crinkled even more in humor. "And may I ask, Lisell, why you are so filled with joy today?" "Well sir," She began, and suddenly found herself telling this stranger all of her recent adventures as well as of where she had come from. She had been questioned many times over the past few days, but those had been specific questions that needed a specific answer. Not once had anyone really just let her talk. Now the words came out in a torrent that surprised her, and seemed to somehow please the older man. After a few moments of listening to her, and without interrupting the flow of her story, he motioned for her to sit on the bench beside him. This was better, with hands resting upon the edge of the bench and her legs kicking back and forth she kept up her monologue. She told him how handsome and brave the trooper La'oid was, how Sister Majjerit was both loving and really really scary. She went rapturous over the food, why she had been given two eggs this morning, and she had milk whenever she wanted it. "And, and look at this beautiful dress." She stood up and twirled on the tips of her toes to show off the fine white garment. With look of awe, and some guilty pleasure she said she even had two more just like it. She told him how she had such an odd feeling of foreboding this morning, but Majjerit had been called away "By one of those great big men that guard the King!" So that she had been the day to explore this wonderful place and had now found the most beautiful garden in the world. As she was winding down, she had a sudden and terrible thought. This caused her to stop speaking and put her hand over her mouth. "What's wrong Lisell, why the sudden alarm?" Turning her huge eyes to her new friend. "Oh, what if I'm not supposed to be here?" "Majjerit dint say nothing about going into gardens." "What if she forgot to tell me, I could be in trouble!" "Well, they let me in here, so I don't see why you can't come in also." This was said in all seriousness, and just a trace of humor from the eyes. "Really, do you think that it might be ok?" Before the man could answer, one of the great glass doors on the far side of the garden opened and a very important looking man (she could tell he was important, because he had a cape and even some feathers on his hat.) entered the area and after a brief glance around strode purposefully towards them with a stern look upon his face. Lisell knew she was in real trouble now. Without thinking she reached out and put her trembling hand on the hand of the older man. He smiled down at her and grasped her hand gently in his. When the Important man got to about five feet in front of them he stopped and bowed low. With his eyes giving the barest of flickers at her he said "The council is ready Your Majesty." Lisell felt herself turn to stone, she knew she couldn't speak, why she could barely breath! The KING! She was sitting with THE KING! Giving a deep and regret filled sigh, the king released her hand and stood up. "A time for everything and anything comes." This was said so quietly that Lisell barely heard it, and she didn't think the other man had. Turning to face the shocked girl, King Duncan placed his hand on the top of her head and tossled her hair. "Egnev, this is Lisell." The man bowed his head slightly at her but remained silent. "Lisell is to be granted access to all the gardens of the palace at any she wants." "No, let me amend that, Lisell is to spend one hour a day in any garden she chooses, have one of my aides fetch her tomorrow and give her a complete tour of the palace so she will know all there is to know about it." "Oh, and it seems I must meet with Sister Majjerit this evening, see to it." Egnev's face was one that seemed carved out of granite, but his eyes's had shown a brief flicker of surprise at these orders. Lisell's mind, tho numbed by shock after shock, took that fact in. Giving her a smile of such radiance that it filled the world, King Duncan looked into her eyes, and with one more tousle of her hair strode away. As the two men walked across the grass to the doors the King was speaking ernestly to Egnev. The only words that Lisell could make out were La'oid, and the witch. It took Lisell another 15 minutes of sitting to get up enough strength to stand and leave the Kings garden.