Words

Elsapatience of the Great House

Oh, heaven and earth.
The strangest and most ethereal of nights.

I awoke in the night with a terrible pain in my chest and stomach. It drove me from my bed, from my room, from the servant's quarters.
The pain seemed to lessen and grow in turn, and in the latter moments, I was nearly doubled over in pain. I scrambled blindly up and down the stairs, through the hall, clenching my teeth to keep from sobbing.
Finally, I sat down where I was, clenching my stomach. It was a long time since last I was ill like this. I'd no idea what I could do, I just kept praying and hoping it would cease.
I didn't realize where I was until I heard a creak that made my heart jump.
There in the dim hallway, stood Prince Albir. He leaned a little against the wall as if he were drunk, or sleep walking. He looked half-asleep, I say, but his eyes were clear and awake, as though he hadn't ever slept.
I bit my lip to keep from whimpering. Half my mind was fixed on the horrible hurt in my stomach, and the other half worried about what the prince was going to do, finding me there outside his door, dressed only in a nightgown.
To my utter and complete astonishment, he bent over and slipped his arms beneath me. He picked me up in one sweeping motion, as though he expected I weighed no more than a small cat. My surprise gave way to the terrifying idea that he might, indeed, be sleep walking, and thus as likely as not to drop me at any moment. I could do nothing but remain perfectly still and silent.
As my mind was wholly fixed on this thought, I didn't notice where he was carrying me. But he laid me down on a sofa in a room somewhere down a long hallway. And then he just knelt there, as though he expected something. He had an unearthly look in his eyes, like the kind of look one has when one has suddenly seen a bright light or perhaps a ghost.
And he just knelt there, for hours. He didn't even speak.
Close to morning (for the light that began to stream across the hallway) I realized my chest pain had gone. The poor prince's head had sunk down across his arm, where he remained kneeling by the couch. Terrified of the circumstances I might find myself in if I stayed on, I crept out of the room. Eventually I regained my room and my bed, upon which I promptly collapsed.

And now I must avoid him in order to avoid trouble.

I must confess, shamefacedly, that I have been a complete git.