Chapter Eighteen: Questions Go Unanswered

March 16th Two Days before Festival – 7:30am

Sunny woke and found herself in her bed. She yawned and stretched her feet down toward the end of the bed. When her foot nudged a lump that shifted only slightly with it, she sat up and found Bracken rolled up in one of her hooded cotton jackets. She was thirsty and thought she could drink a lake dry!

She swung her feet out from under the sheet and lightweight blanket and stood up. She took two steps when she felt the world shift beneath her:

She was standing on a hilltop looking down into a lush green valley. 

"Where have you come from?" came a voice from behind her.

She swung around and came face to face with an individual she had never in her wildest dreams ever thought to meet even in a dream!

He was tall and majestic – with smooth copper skin. As she studied him, she thought he almost looked like a falcon or hawk. He had fierce golden eyes that blazed from dark lash-rimmed eyes. He had high cheekbones and a straight nose. His hair was shiny black and was pulled back from his face and plaited in multiple thick ropes down his back. His black brows were knitted together as he studied her critically. From his lavish robes, she knew he was not from Nu'Ada. 

"I'm not exactly sure," she told him. "I was just in my bedroom and took a few steps and now I'm here."

"Do you know who I am?" He asked her, when she shook her head, he folded his arms over his chest and smiled. "I am Gaddis. If your elders were to know you were --."

"Gaddis, you can't be!" Sunny declared. "How can you be here and now when – I saw you on the field with Eyru!"

He bowed his head in thought. When he looked back up at her, there was a momentarily odd look on his face. "You are spirit walking," Gaddis explained. "Time and space move differently when you travel the spirit trails."

"Are you the same Gaddis?"

He stepped closer, she felt pinned to the ground and caught beneath his amber glare. "Who are you?"

"I am Siobhan O'Neil." She whispered. "First daughter of the Dannan."

He inclined his head in a curt bow. "I am Gaddis Anu, tenth Emperor of Ne'Media."

He was nothing like the creatures that had attacked Fury at the palace, but he was certainly not like any being she had ever encountered. The only physical reference she could attach to him was he comported himself with the same majesty of an Egyptian Pharaoh! Sunny looked around and sensed something was wrong. "Your people; they are sick."

Gaddis nodded sadly, "It is an illness our healers cannot cure."

"Perhaps the Dannan --,"

"You are the Dannan," Gaddis told her.

She shook her head. "My Aunt Fiona is the Dannan."

Gaddis smiled sadly at her. "You do not understand your powers; do you?"

"No, I haven't been awakened to my powers as Dannan." She told him. "I have somehow come in contact with something that has awakened another kind of power in me. I don't know how it happened."

"You have invaded my dreams," He said and turned away from the valley to look at her. "Yet you do not know how or why."

"I don't know how or why any of this is even possible!" She flung an arm out and pointed down at the valley. "How is this possible?" She wanted to know and followed him as he stepped away from the view of the valley.

Gaddis shook his head. "I do not question my dreams," he told her. "Especially when they seem to be prophetic."

"Then I am here for a reason," Sunny told him. "Tell me what has happened?"

Gaddis sat in a chair. Around them sprang a tent with lavish carpets on the ground and cushions heaped on the floor. Sunny sat on a cushion that seemed to float like a cork on still water.

"There is an illness that has claimed many lives of Ne'Medians," Gaddis said. "There are many more in the cities Nu'Ada. It crosses the Lyon River and takes hold in my fortress. My people grow sick and die. You call it in-flu-enza."

"I call it that?" Sunny repeated.

Gaddis lifted a hand to the scene around them, "This is but one of many possibilities. If you come with a cure; and come in time, you will save my people and those in Nu'Ada." Gaddis told her.

"If I do come, will you let me in?" Sunny felt her cushion begin to drift further from him.

"Yes," He told her. "I may not remember this dream, but I will remember you."

"Will I remember?" she asked.

"I do not know if you will or not," Gaddis murmured. She began to grow smaller and fainter until she was just a bright sparkling mote in the air that he cradled in his hand, "But I think that we shall know one another quite well – in time."

Sunny was in her bedroom standing in the middle of the room. Bracken was awake and standing in the middle of her bed screeching loudly. Suddenly the room was alive with activity. Fiona and Tully burst into the room only to see Sunny disappear! "Where is she!" Fiona cried out, "Where did she go?"

Bracken continued to shriek until Tully tossed the quilt over the Watcher. He began to growl, pulled the quilt off, and scowled up at them. "Baro Dook! Traveling!" Bracken snarled back at them. "Traveling, traveling, traveling!"

Fiona staggered backward and sat down on the chair that was by the door. "I don't know where she is, Tully! I can't sense where she went!"

 Somewhere in the Ballencoo Forest

Sunny opened her eyes, stumbled forward, and fell in the road. She looked around. She was on a wagon road in a forest!

There had been so much confusion in her bedroom, with Bracken wailing and Fiona and Tully shouting in alarm, she wanted Nicodemus! She got to her feet and turned in a slow circle. She was barefoot in the woods in her pajamas and covered in dirt. She started to cry, feeling very sorry for herself.

Fury left his campsite and picked up the trail that was the quickest route to the arch. He preferred the quiet trails to the wagon road. Fury let his mount set a leisurely pace, he was in no great hurry, and neither was Kai. "Nicodemus!"

They saw one another at the same time. Sunny ran toward him and his horse. 

Fury reined in, dropped to the ground, and gathered her in his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you!" Sunny said, tears welling in her eyes. He hugged her closer, she clung to him.

"What happened?" Fury asked. He pulled his coat off and put it around her shoulders.

She brushed her tears away, and shook her head, "I was in my bedroom, Bracken was screeching, Aunt Fiona and Tully were shouting – all I wanted was to find you!"

He smiled. "And here you are." He brushed the tears from her cheek with his thumb and laid his hand against her face. "Fiona is going to be worried,"

Fury helped her into the saddle, then climbed up to sit behind her, his arm encircling her close.

Sunny sighed resignedly. Fiona and Tully would fuss over her when she got home. Nicodemus was pleased she had sought him out, but he was also concerned that she was drawn to him in a way that he did not want to discourage!

"They're going to fuss," Sunny muttered.

"Yes, they might," Nicodemus replied, "Or they may be so relieved you are back and in one piece they will just want to know what happened."

"Aunt Fiona won't like it I sought you out."

"No, she will not," Fury said softly, "But I very much like you found me."

Sunny shivered as he spoke softly against her ear. He urged Kai to pick up his pace. Sunny needed to be inside and in warmer clothes.

It was Bracken who spotted Sunny with Nicodemus. He was looking out the bedroom window when he pointed a spindly finger outside, "Fury brings Spirit Walker!"

Fiona rushed to the window. Nicodemus dropped Sunny down to where Tully waited in the yard. "She found him!"

Bracken grunted at Fiona. "You not keeping them apart, light and dark need each other."

Fiona frowned at the Watcher, "Don't be ridiculous! He's old enough to be her grandfather!"

Tully stepped toward Sunny and took her hands in his, "Where did you go, Sunny?"

"Before I found Nicodemus?" Sunny asked. She watched as Fury dismounted, "I don't remember much. I remember a name."

"Let's get inside," Fury said, "I found Sunny on the back trail in the Ballencoo Forest."

Tully nodded. "Fiona is upstairs waiting for you."

Fury picked her up and carried her to the kitchen porch. Tully followed a concerned frown beetling his brows. Something disturbed him about Sunny and Fury. Nicodemus set Sunny down and she went into the kitchen and hurried upstairs calling for Fiona as she went.

"She traveled to you?" Tully asked. "Have you two settled your differences?"

Fury clapped Tully's shoulder, "I would not say that necessarily, what happened to chase her from Laurel Cottage?"

Tully sighed heavily, "That hunky-punk started shrieking when she began to travel. She disappeared when Fiona and I burst in to try and stop her."

Fury nodded silently.

Fiona hugged Sunny to her, "Oh my dear girl, are you all right?"

Sunny hugged Fiona and stepped back to smile reassuringly at her. "I'm fine, just dirty from falling in the trail."

"You traveled," Fiona said, "Where did you go?"

Sunny frowned, trying to remember where she'd been and what happened. The vision was beginning to fade quickly, but she did remember a name. "Gaddis."

Tully and Nicodemus walked in just as Sunny began explaining what had happened. Fury leaned against the door jam. "You saw him?"

"I did," Sunny said. "I wasn't in Ne'Media, I was in his dream ---," she stopped because they were all looking at her in grave concern. 

"What did you talk about?" Tully asked carefully and slowly.

She tried to remember, but when she tried; her head hurt. It began to throb more painfully the harder she tried to remember. She shook her head. "I – I can't remember now."

Fiona realized she was holding her breath and let it go slowly from her lips. Something was happening to her great-niece, and it wasn't normal, it was something dangerous!

"Gaddis Anu, the tenth emperor of Ne'Media is the equivalent of the Ard Ri – he is the king of the Ne'Medians," Tully told her. 

"King of the daemons?" Sunny said a look of confusion crossing her features. "He didn't look like a daemon."

"Gaddis is not a daemon, he is of ancient blood," Tully replied.

"What does that mean exactly?" Sunny wanted to know. "I've heard that expression many times, but no one's explained it."

"Being of an ancient bloodline, means you are a descendant of the first people," Nicodemus said.

Sunny frowned and looked at each of them, "The Dannan is a descendant of the Ancients. Does that mean we come from the same bloodline as Gaddis?"

Nicodemus glanced over at Fiona. "All of us here except for the Watcher, descend from the first people."

Tully shrugged, "The daemons were brought here by Gaddis Anu the first emperor of Ne'Media. He wielded powerful magick, Da'ark magick, to bring the daemons into the world. Only a powerful Da'ark sorcerer can control the daemons."

"They can never cross into this world – ever," Fiona said.

"And that is because of the geis that Eyru made to bring peace." Sunny replied then she frowned at them, "But they're still fighting and killing one another in Nu'Ada, how is that being peaceful?"

"The geis Eyru made was to keep Arwyn safe, this world safe," Fiona said.

"The Partholan continue to wage war on the Ne'Medians – I seriously doubt that will ever change," Nicodemus replied.

"There are some who are trying to heal the wounds," Tully said and looked directly at Nicodemus.

"And failing miserably," Nicodemus muttered then drew a deep breath and expelled it. "If this ability of yours catches the ear of anyone, we are all going to have questions we will be hard-pressed to answer without compromising our – relationships on the other side." He glared over at Bracken.

"I not say! I not tell!" Bracken snarled back at Nicodemus shivered as if he had suddenly felt a cold icy draft.

"Be certain of that!" Nicodemus said stabbing a finger at the Watcher.

"I do not say," Bracken said but waved an arm toward the window, "but others may."

"I'm hungry," Sunny said suddenly. "And thirsty!"

Fiona had been seemingly frozen in thought got to her feet, "This I can solve without a doubt! Tully, I could use a little help in the kitchen."

Tully followed her out and turned to look back at Nicodemus who continued to stand in Sunny's room. "You comin'?"

"I will be down in a moment," Nicodemus said then looked over at Sunny, "I have a question for our visionary."

Sunny frowned at Nicodemus, she could only see the older version of him. She nodded to Tully that it was okay to leave. The blacksmith turned and went downstairs. Nicodemus came to perch on the end of Sunny's bed, "Tully thinks you may be a catalyst that you can see what has been – if I give you the story do you think you could see what has been?"

Sunny thought for a moment then nodded. "Yes. I believe that's how it works. Or if I am drawing sometimes that triggers visions."

"Then if you are up to it, let me tell you something and see if you can uncover a mystery that has plagued me for a very long time."

"What is this about?" she wanted to know.

"You know Fiona does not trust me," Nicodemus told her. "I suspect Tully is suspicious of me as well. There is a reason why they feel so distrustful of me. I need you to help me make them understand a few things about me and then perhaps they will begin to trust me with you. First I need to understand what happened to my father. Everything begins with him."

She looked into his eyes, that was the only feature that remained constant, those fierce black eyes that she felt so drawn to. "I trust you, isn't that enough?"

Fury smiled at her and made her heart flutter in her chest. "I know you do, but I need their trust too."

She nodded, "Okay, tell me."

He waited until she was sitting comfortably on the bed next to him. She pulled a pillow around and hugged it to her as she sat cross-legged facing him. She was open and receptive. He nodded and collected his thoughts. With a deep breath he began, "It was the year I turned twenty years old. My father, my uncles, and I had come to trade and sell horses. It was the season I was to claim my bride."

That piqued Sunny's attention – she wondered if it had been Fiona. Nicodemus shook his head. "Fiona's heart has always belonged to another. But in those days, she was infatuated with Ronan Affaron, and for a time, he was with her."

"The Ard Ri?" Sunny was surprised by that bit of information.

Fury smiled. "The very same," he replied.

"Go on," Sunny replied.

"Who I had my eye on is not important," Fury told her. "My father did not want me to wed anyone from Ballencoo or of the Dannan tribe. There was something my father carried in his heart that would not allow it. I want to know why. Before he traveled to the place of kings I tried to speak to him, but he would not see me. When he returned, he had changed. He was a man turned cold with bitter knowledge."

Sunny felt herself slipping into that place where the present and the past met. It was easier and less taxing on her this time bolstered by Fury's powers. She looked over at where Nicodemus sat, and she got to her feet and held out her hand to him. "Then let's find out, shall we?"

He hesitated only for the time it took for his heart to beat a few times. He got to his feet and took her hand in his.

With the swiftness of thought, they were both transported between time itself. Then they stood in a place Sunny did not know. Nicodemus on the other hand recognized the time and the place.

"Are my horses ready?"

"Aye milord!" came a call.

Sunny looked around. There was a man not unlike Nicodemus. He was built heavier and was older and frail-looking – like a man who had been ill and never really recovered.

"This is Jacob, my father," Nicodemus said softly.

A man entered the room and came over, "Milord, your son wishes to see you before you depart."

"No," Jacob growled. He turned to the manservant. "Tell him I cannot see him."

The manservant hesitated, and Jacob stepped toward the man, "You heard what I said Declan?"

"Aye!" Declan returned and bowed. He turned away and went out the door, closing it softly behind him.

Sunny looked over at Nicodemus. He had moved from her side and was studying his father with a mixture of hurt and anger. The glamor slid away, and the older version of Fury disappeared from view. She was seeing his true self.

"He would not see me," Nicodemus told her. "I could not understand why he refused. Now perhaps, I will find out why."

Jacob finished dressing. Jacob examined himself in the mirror and then turned to the door Declan had just left through. He suddenly began to shake, and he sat down in a chair, put his head in his hands, and began to weep.

Nicodemus frowned at the scene then looked at Sunny, "What is he thinking?"

Sunny shook her head, "I can't tell."

Another door opened from beside the fireplace, it was a secreted door! Nicodemus and Sunny both looked surprised. A cloaked figure entered silently. "Jacob, you need to gather yourself together!"

Jacob sat bolt upright and stared at the figure. He wiped the smear of tears away with the back of his hand and sniffed mightily. "What do you want with me, you bastard!"

The robed man lifted his hood from his head and Sunny gasped as she recognized him.

Nicodemus had a similar reaction. "You know him?"

"It's Gaddis!" she whispered.

"That is impossible," Nicodemus said coming closer to study the Ne'Median emperor standing in front of his father.

"You are still planning to tell the Ard Ri what you think you know?" Gaddis asked.

Jacob jumped to his feet. "Yes, and the devil take you to hell!"

Gaddis turned away seemingly unfazed by Jacob's outrage. "You would do well to keep silent, Jacob. It will do no good to spread such knowledge, not now."

"But the Ard Ri must know!" Jacob said through gritted teeth. "He must know the danger that lives in his own house!"

Gaddis sighed. "There is no danger," he turned away from Jacob and gazed for a moment out the window. He closed his eyes for a moment, pain was etched on his features. "You will do more harm than good if you speak, Jacob Fury."

"I have to tell what I know!" Jacob growled low, "Others suspect – "

You are a great fool!" Gaddis snarled and turned toward Jacob. "Are you so caught up in your greed and guilt to prevent the happiness of your son?"

Jacob backed away from Gaddis in obvious fear. The Ne'Median king was of the blood – dangerous by any means.

"I cannot see him with that woman!" Jacob raged, "Even if Gabriel or Nicodemus despises me!" Jacob railed at Gaddis. "The Ard Ri must know!"

"You are a hypocrite, Jacob," Gaddis muttered.

Jacob turned away and clutched his chest. "Leave me, I am not well."

"Yes, I believe you are right," Gaddis replied mildly. "Perhaps you have waited too long? This trip could be your end."

Jacob glared over his shoulder, "As if you care whether I live or die!"

"You may not believe me, but I care a great deal, Jacob," Gaddis told him. "Not about what happens to you, but what happens to your children and more particularly, to my children. If you persist in this mission, I will be forced to reveal your truth."

"No!" Jacob groaned as if in physical pain.

Gaddis only smiled and inspected the jeweled rings on his fingers. "Oh yes, your indiscretions; and the results."

Jacob in a fit of rage, lunged suddenly at Gaddis and the Ne'Median easily stepped around the man, who crumpled to the floor beyond Gaddis' feet. "Careful old man," he murmured down at Jacob where he lay panting in obvious discomfort, "You will be dead before you get to your meeting with your Ard Ri."

Jacob struggled to his knees then stumbled to his feet and faced Gaddis. "What – What do you want of me?"

"That should be obvious, Jacob. Your silence!" Gaddis said each word clearly and slowly, stressing the last word with a finger to his lips.

Jacob was sweating heavily from exertion and fear. "I must go, I have to go and make my report."

Gaddis sighed almost wearily, "Yes, I know. Go. Make your report but omit certain details from that reporting."

Jacob frowned in agonized thought. He was torn from telling the truth and from his terrible secrets. Gaddis had him dangling over a precipice.

"What do I tell my family?" Jacob asked of no one in particular. "What would they think of me?"

Gaddis looked at Jacob for a long moment. He felt sorry for the man, but he also saw a liability that could destroy the world they lived in. "You do what you think best for all of us – and not just for your avarice."

Jacob looked at the Ne'Median with hatred and rage, "Get out you --- you bastard!"

Gaddis remained unfazed by the outburst and strode to the secreted door he had come through. "Listen well to me, Jacob Fury – and you think on this journey you undertake – you say anything — anything; and I will not hesitate in turning my daemons loose on you, your household, and this land you hold so dear. I promise you that!"

Jacob turned away and Gaddis drew the hood of his robe over his head but just as he was about to go through the side door he stopped and looked directly at Sunny, "Have you learned anything at all?"

Jacob turned to Gaddis in puzzlement. Then he looked sharply in the direction Gaddis had focused his attention. He saw faint glittering images and cringed back in fear. Just as he opened his mouth to summon his guards, both the apparitions and Gaddis were gone.

 Sunny looked to Nicodemus and the two of them faded from Jacob Fury's room and stood once again in her bedroom. The glamor had settled over Fury and the older version was masking his true self. 

"My father was hiding something from me and my family. I only wish I knew what that truth was."

"It seems to run in the family," Sunny quipped.

When Nicodemus did not respond and moved to the door, she grabbed his sleeve, "When are you going to drop this disguise?"

 Nicodemus only smiled, and he reached out and took her wrist in her fingers. "I know you will continue to see past my glamor, acushla, but for now it is how it must be." 

Sunny felt a bit lightheaded and when Fury released her wrist, she felt less woozy. He opened the door of her bedroom and looked back, "I do not know whether or not it was a truthful accounting, or what we saw has been skewed by time and unknown influences. One thing is certain, my father did have powerful alliances with the Ne'Medians. Whether or not it was coerced or willingly made, he had alliances – some that exist to this day!"

"Good or bad?"

"Unknown," Nicodemus replied.

"Did you see that Gaddis knew we were there?" Sunny asked.

Nicodemus nodded slowly then looked at her with a mixture of uncertainty and admiration in his eyes. "I suggest we keep this particular ability well hidden."

"That's what everyone tells me, including Tully," Sunny replied.

"For once he and I agree," Nicodemus told her. "I would keep this and the fact that you have a connection with Gaddis under wraps."

"But how can that be possible?"

"I do not know," he said softly, "And that frightens me more."

"I'm starving!" Sunny said suddenly, "And I'm so thirsty!"

"Come let us find out what Fiona has prepared." Nicodemus held out his hand to her and she took it and together they went downstairs and into the kitchen. Fury found physical contact with Sunny very pleasurable. Her gift of empathy was intoxicating! He understood why Hugh O'Donnell was so infatuated. He released her hand as they reached the bottom of the stairs and allowed her to go ahead of him.

They found Tully and Fiona just finishing up preparing a light meal. Sunny tucked into her food and quietly ate her fill. Nicodemus was unusually quiet as was Tully. Sunny and Fiona carried on the conversation but after a few minutes, they too fell silent.

Finally, Sunny put her fork down and looked over at each of them, Tully, Fiona, and finally Nicodemus. "Okay, What is happening to me?"

"We do not know," Nicodemus replied. "That alone makes you a particular puzzle with no solution. But there is no doubt in my mind that you are dangerous, very dangerous in fact. You have a connection with Gaddis and that can be deadly to you if it should reach the wrong ears."

"And Gaddis?" Sunny asked. "He seems to be consorting with the enemy – with this connection too," Sunny pointed to herself then waved her hand vaguely around in the room, "I've seen this person a handful of times, and he looks pretty much the same every time I've seen him."

"Being a direct descendent of the old ones, he ages differently," Nicodemus replied. "We all age at a slower rate than -- humans."

"What you're saying is you, Tully and all the tribes that come from the other side are not -- human?" Sunny was confused, they all looked very human to her.

Tully cringed at the word 'human' and shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I guess so."

"We are not from Arwyn," Nicodemus replied carefully indicating himself and Tully. "Some millennia ago, we co-existed together but were not 'human'."

"Some of us," Fiona could make herself say the word, 'human'. It made bitter gall boil in her stomach. "Some of us on this side of the arch also carry bloodlines of the Ancient Ones." Sunny looked at Tully and then at Nicodemus, then she felt suddenly fatigued and wanted nothing more than to sleep. "I'm too tired to think straight."

Nicodemus studied Sunny for a long moment then his gaze fell on the locket that hung around her neck. "That locket does not seem to be doing its job."

Fiona frowned at him and then at the locket in question. "Maybe it is and without it, Sunny would be in even more peril."

Tully shrugged, "Cassie's spell is the strongest she could conjure. I do not think anymore can be done. We should arrange to sit vigil," Tully said, "Should you dream, you could travel, and you would not be able to find your way back."

"I sit!" it was Bracken. The Watcher had come into the kitchen undetected. "I sit, I watch."

"I will take the first watch," Fiona said, "Then the rest of you can sort it out among yourself."

Sunny started to protest but decided against it. She went upstairs, bathed, got into her bed, and stared up at the ceiling then felt herself beginning to drift. When Fiona arrived, Sunny was already asleep. Fiona drew the light cover over Sunny, then made herself comfortable in the chair next to Sunny's bedside. She set a small lamp on the bedside table and settled in to read.

By the time Fiona was feeling sleepy, Tully came in and relieved her, silently giving her a nod and mouthing "Good night."

Fiona went to her room and quickly fell asleep. Tully sat and watched Sunny sleeping. He wondered if she began to travel if he would be able to stop her or if he would be compelled to follow. It was tempting to follow her on whatever trail she found open to her. It was also dangerous! She would not be able to decipher the memories of an enemy from a friend. Still, he wondered if she could pick up the thread of anyone's memories and follow it. As he watched her she stirred and opened her eyes. "You're on watch?"

The blacksmith looked at Sunny with a wry smile on his face. "I have sent Fiona off to rest. You have not been dreaming have you?"

Sunny shook her head and looked around the room, it was still the middle of the night. "Nicodemus planning on spelling you?"

"I haven't seen him," Tully replied. "I think Bracken is a better watchdog than anyone else. He does not have memories and seems to know when you are about to travel."

"But he bellows it to the world," Sunny said wincing at the memory of the watcher's massive screeching fits. "He'd alert all the wrong people."

"I think Nicodemus is right; Cassie's binding spell does not seem to help you," Tully replied. "You are way beyond her brand of protection."

"Tully, I need to know about Gaddis and Eyru."

"I do not know the truth, only what I have been told as a child and what I have read." He told her. "There are written accounts of what was supposed to have happened, but it happened so long ago that it is now legend."

Sunny sat on her bed and found that her energy levels were still depleted. She wasn't thirsty like before, but she was profoundly tired. "I'm going to sleep," she told him. "I don't expect to be going anywhere for a while!"

Tully nodded. "I am going to call up Bracken. He will sit with you until morning."

He went to her bedroom window, pushed up the window, and leaned out. He put his fingers to his lips and blew a strange warbling bird song. Sunny thought it sounded sweet. The trees rustled outside the window and Bracken swung in to sit on the ledge of the window. "Come in laddie," Tully instructed.

Bracken angled a suspicious look at Tully then looked to Sunny. "Dark eyes, but no traveling!"

"Aye," Tully replied. "I want you to sit and make sure she stays put. Call out if you see a change."

Bracken nodded gravely then remembered his bag of candies. He opened the chest at the foot of Sunny's bed and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for. Sunny's eyes were already drooping but she managed to wag a finger in Bracken's direction. "Don't eat too many…. Bellyache!"

Tully turned and left Sunny sleeping soundly. He glanced at the Watcher and nodded at the creature. "Watch close."

"I watch!" Bracken murmured and made himself comfortable on the end of Sunny's bed and began to carefully unwrap his candies and eat them one by one.