Light in Dawn

Chapter Ten - An Inevitable Challenge

To be truthful, even he wasn't fully certain that Andriana was the one that he was trying to find.

Even though he'd never known Rexia's princess personally, he had the impression that she was selfish and petulant. After all, she was the crown princess.

What kind of heir of a kingdom would vanish the very day she was going to be made Crown Princess?

Someone rash and unworthy, he had concluded. Now he had to think twice. If nothing else, Andriana was responsible, and her behaviour far surpassed the level of maturity of her peers.

And something else was not right. The way she approached him was as if she didn't know - couldn't guess - where he came from, or what his purpose was. She had never deliberately displayed it, but he could see the burning curiosity in her that day, when she was in the kitchen offering him tea. He was usually right.

And yet she made him doubt himself for the first time. One o'clock at their rendezvous, she gave him a no-show. At 1:15, she arrived. She came as close as twenty metres behind him, and then walked away. For the next three hours Andriana Crystal waited in utter silence just fifty metres away from him.

His perception told him that she was aching for answers, and yet she steeled herself, so close to him, and never came forward to demand them.

Had her memory been erased? Altered? If so, who had done it?

It was the reason why he came, wasn't it? Julyan let his gaze rest on the wooden door before him for a moment, and knocked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I hoped that you would come here."

The opened the very second his knuckles touched the door.

Julyan was rarely ever, ever startled. Even as his breath hitched suddenly, his smiled smoothly and bowed slightly to the woman who opened the door. "You've been expecting me?"

"Hoped, as I said," the young woman nodded at him and lead the way to the living room. "You were always bright. I'm glad that I've dropped enough hints this time around to lead you here."

"Miss Madison?"

"Elaine is fine," the teacher answered with a casual wave and sat down on a beige couch with her legs crossed. Suddenly she yawned. "I've been here long enough that I don't care for your etiquettes anymore."

Disorderly was his first impression of the house, yet it was really a simplification of the situation. There seemed to be a distinct line drawn across the area. On one side books were arranged on wooden shelves by colour, CDs stacked in neat columns on racks, and the kitchen counter was spotless. On the other side Maths exercise books spilled on the ground, half-folded clothes strewn the tiles; there was even a collapsed Christmas tree near the doorway.

What kind of character would the mistress of this household be?

Julyan kept his eyes on her, wary. Elaine Madison appeared to be a completely different person to the stern teacher he saw at school last week. Her eyes were constantly closing as if she hasn't slept for days, and she pinched herself to stay alert every five seconds. An area of her inner forearm was reddened and swollen from the excessive pinching. He pretended not to notice. "You said something last Friday."

"Time has been reversed; history is being altered. Do not repeat your mistakes," Elaine recited perfectly.

"You were looking at me when you said it."

"Not just you," she corrected, "you and her. Andriana."

Julyan's lips parted slightly in surprise. "What do you know about Andriana? Do you know who she is?"