An Awakening. The Seneschal

Awake! Open your eyes!

A voice called again, deeply - AWAKE! Unfamiliar.

He was chilled to bone. Only a flicker of warmth lay deep within. Through his eyelids, he could tell that light was here, and his face felt warm like sunlight. He opened his eyes in a merry, sun-bathed room, with the scent of fresh flowers streaming in through the window.

The elders were there, and also the speaker - a golden-cloaked woman with long grey hair and grey sparkling eyes.

You were tested. You survived.

The traveler grimaced. His mouth was full of the taste of blood and ashes. " Let me out of this God-forsaken place. And let me have my wand."

The Drussard smiled, a wan and horrible effort, as though had mouthed a spoonful of sugared vomit, and was trying to seem appreciative. "Well, you've sure been through a thing or two!"

The gold-cloaked woman stared at him, and his sickly face melted like tallow. The Drussard stepped back, and slowly crept towards the door, like a man trying to flee a burning building nonchalantly.

"I am the Senechal. I know you have suffered much."

"Lovely, madam, just. There seems to be a plethora of titles, for some sort of roles held by the idiots and liars who live in this lunatic home. Please come tell me again how gentle you people are to the Quillens. How patient you are. "

"I am deeply, grievously sorry for the suffering you have endured. It is....regrettable. Things are happening, and your suffering was not from your doing; or from ours."

"Well, once again, spiffy. It seems that I'm laid up here like a log in a bin, all respect to - what are you, mate? the Master Pourlebois? Perhaps you might stop glowering and fetch my wand now?

The Master had indeed been staring, with an odd air that he did not regret in the least the suffering of hte traveler. He, too, stepped to the door, and left.

"The Master does not trust you, that is true. But he may have, in fact, come up with the idea which saved your life."

"Jolly good, friends like him, et cetera. You may notice that my life didn't particularly need saving until I came to this rotten borough!?"

"It was the Master's idea to take testimony from your wand. Your wand, in fact, saved your life. Through his wisdom, in this and other ways, you were brought back. You were indeed warned, traveler, that this land was not safe. Lore has it plenty that it is perilous to seek us out, no?"