Falling Stars

Calli found that she was a little envious of Julian. She didn't have so much as a photograph of her own mother, and some days she felt panicked when she had trouble recalling her face. Maybe her parents should have taught her how to draw instead of filling her head with poems and songs, but at least she still had those. She'd always been good at remembering them, and used to sing in the kitchen with her mother while they made dinner.

Over the course of the next two weeks she alternated her time between tracking down Julian and striking up conversation and exploring the palace. She listened for news and gossip, learned her way around, and kept her eyes and ears peeled for anything suspicious, in case there was anyone within the palace that had insidious intent.

As far as she could tell, it didn't seem like there was a spy or a traitor within the palace walls, but all she had encountered so far were servants. She had yet to meet any of the council members. She had been in the palace for nearly three weeks when she finally met Chief Advisor David Lorian, who had summoned her there in the first place.

Calli had been making rounds through the palace to memorize every potential entrance a would-be assassin might try to use to sneak in or out of the palace and she was installing tiny sensors that would directly alert her of suspicious activity. She was putting one along the sill of one of the library windows and nearly fell right on top of Advisor Lorian.

"So, you're the one they sent." He smoothed his robes after diving out of the way when she swung down from the window. He was about as tall as King Gerald, but slimmer.

"I'm the one they sent," Calli confirmed. He appraised her for a moment with pale blue eyes that didn't seem like they missed much.

"You're not quite what I expected," he said finally.

"Yeah. I get that a lot. But I am good at my job, Advisor. Don't be fooled by this dumb frilly dress I've been forced into."

His lips twitched ever so slightly. "Yes, I'm familiar with your record, Captain. You're the youngest Captain in nearly two centuries, with impeccable leadership and fighting skills. I'm sure you're up to the task, I just didn't expect them to send a pretty young woman."

Calli's eyebrow arched. "Are you coming onto me, Advisor? Because don't get me wrong, you're not too bad yourself but you're a little too old for me and I don't have daddy issues."

Advisor Lorian's ears turned bright red and he cleared his throat awkwardly, looking half amused and half horrified.

"Ah, no, Captain. I assure you I am not...'coming onto you.' It just caught me off guard. I suppose having someone his age around will be good for Julian, though. How are things going with him?"

"Good, I think. I think he finds me kind of strange, and he definitely didn't buy my coy and flirty noble girl routine. But we seem to be getting along pretty well, and he doesn't seem to harbor any reservations about my being here." Calli shrugged and Advisor Lorian nodded.

"Good. That's good. Have you learned anything?"

"So far, everything seems fine here inside the castle. All anyone is really talking about right now though is how Prince Kaleb apparently hasn't been heard from in a while. There's a lot of whispered rumors about it. You still haven't been able to make contact with him?"

"Unfortunately not," Lorian frowned.

"And you're worried," Calli guessed. He sighed.

"I'm trying not to jump to the worst conclusions, but I can't help but be suspicious that something is wrong."

"In all fairness, he is on his honeymoon," Calli pointed out. "How many guys call home while they're on their honeymoon? Don't you think he may have other things to do? Like his new wife?"

Lorian again got that look on his face like he didn't know whether to laugh or look disapproving. "It is true that he may be...otherwise occupied, but we can't even get a trace on his ship. It's complete silence on his end."

"That is cause for concern." Calli chewed her lip thoughtfully. "If someone did attack Prince Kaleb's ship, and if there is a mole in the castle, they might be keeping an extremely low profile in light of Kaleb's potential disappearance. This might make it harder for me to find them, if they exist. And there was extra, temporary help here for the wedding, right? There could have been a rat among them and now they're long gone." She huffed quietly.

"Do what you can, Captain. Your biggest priority is staying close to Julian and keeping him safe. If you should uncover anything, you can report it straight to me."

"The king doesn't know I'm here, does he?"

Lorian grimaced slightly. "No, he does not. He's not as paranoid as I am, and I think he doesn't want to believe that someone murdered his son. Joshua's death was painful enough."

Calli nodded. "Yeah. Dead family is rough," she said. "If I hear anything I'll let you know, Advisor. And I promise Prince Julian will be safe with me."

Lorian cracked a small smile. Calli gave him a jaunty salute and padded from the room. She had taken to going barefoot on her late night rounds about the palace, finding the audible click of her heels to be obnoxiously loud in the stillness.

Because of the mutation caused by the Moon Fever cure, Calli didn't need as much sleep as a regular person and when she returned to her room in the wee hours of the morning she found that she wasn't very tired. She walked out onto her balcony, tilting her head back to look up at the stars. Sometimes she found herself searching for Evox, but knew it was too far to see from here even on the clearest night. She hadn't seen her home planet in thirteen years.

"Get a grip, Sinclair," she muttered, shaking herself. "Now isn't the time to be getting sentimental. You have a job to do."

She tidied up her room for a while before heading for the kitchens to swipe some breakfast. She climbed up onto a slanted part of the roof from the balcony in the library and sat munching happily on her blueberry pancakes, rolling them up to make them easier to eat without a fork. The food here was a definite perk of this bizarre assignment.

She spotted Julian as he stepped out onto the library balcony below her, sketchbook in hand like usual. Calli scooted forward and slid down the slope of a roof like it was a slide, stopping at the overhang and just watching him for a moment. His head was ducked as he looked at something in his sketchbook and he hadn't noticed her.

"Morning!" she called brightly, swinging gracefully down from the roof and dropping next to him on the balcony. He nearly dropped the sketchbook as he let out a startled yell and stared at her like she was insane.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Having breakfast. Want some?" She gave him a sweet smile and offered him a pancake.