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gikmo9

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I finish explaining and for awhile there is only the sound of silence. Nina looks to Gadvar with questioning eyes as if expecting him to fix everything. When he doesn’t say anything she crawls over to him for comfort. She falls asleep crying as she leans on Gadvar.

“What are we going to do Niko? How do we fix this? There has to be some way. Who knows what they will do with Nina, her parents, and even Lia when they are no longer useful? I can’t let them hurt Nina. She’s become like a daughter to me in the time that we’ve been here.”

“I don’t know Gadvar. I just need some time to think. I’ll come up with something.” I turn away slightly and lean against the wall to think. For awhile I watch Gadvar as he strokes Nina’s hair gently but then he falls asleep still holding her. With nothing else to do I sit trying to think of a way to fix everything.

The next morning I am called out of the cell again but this time Nina is “invited” as well. We are escorted to Lia’s room again. This time Andy, the guard, allows us to walk at our own pace. Every so often he tells us which way to turn but otherwise he says nothing. He knocks and the door opens without hesitation and we are ushered in.

I am surprised to see Lia’s bed covered with different kinds and colors of cloth. Lia and an elderly woman stand in the middle of the room waiting for us. Lia introduces the elderly lady only as Natalie.

The woman has pieces of gray hair framing her face that have fallen out of a bun at the back of her head. Her clothing looks almost as old as she is. The blue dress she is wearing has faded so much it can hardly be called blue anymore. She has no shoes on at all. With a sad little smile she motions us to two stools that I hadn’t noticed before. I sit down quickly and then pull down Nina who is still staring in awe at the cloth on the bed.

“Natalie is here to make you some clothes. As soon as they have been made and you are washed you will meet Seth. We can’t have you meet him looking like you do now. I‘ve convinced him to give you a small room for the night. Its bigger than you’re cell.”

“Ok. Hold on. Who is Seth and that’s nice for us but what about Gadvar? He has to be able to come with us.” I try to look intimidating and it must have worked because Lia’s smile falters and she lowers her head. In a quieter voice than before she answers me uncertainly.

“Well, I don’t think Seth will object to you letting Gadvar stay with you. We will just have to put another bed in the room we have prepared. Seth is the man who arranged all this. He’s the one who caught my parents and made me get you. You can’t make him mad.” Her voice slowly became pleading. “If you make him made he will take it out on my parents.” I already hate the man I thought to myself and I haven’t even met him yet.

“Natalie could you do me a favor?” Apparently finished talking to me Lia turns to Natalie. “Since you have to fit Nina for her dress anyways would you mind keeping an eye on her while I talk to Niko in the other room?” With a knowing smile Natalie agrees and turns with Nina towards the cloth on the bed. As they chose a color Lia leads me out the door. Waving off Andy she goes across the hall to another room.

This room is the usual sitting room. There are two large tan colored couches facing a small table that is set in the middle of the room. There is a large window just behind it with a love seat beneath it. Ignoring Lia I walk over and sit in the window seat. Looking out I see a beautiful view of the golden field we had walked through and beyond it I can jus barely make out the swamp. As I sit Lia comes up and sits on the other end of the seat with her knees drawn up to her chest.

“Niko you have to know I don’t want to do this. I have no choice because Seth has my parents. He said if I can’t get you to cooperate then he will kill them. He can’t kill you because for some reason your important to him. When I asked him why all he said is that you have a power that he wants. He wouldn’t tell me what the power is though no matter how I asked him.”

“I… I guess I understand.” I feel I have no choice but to forgive her. After all if I were in her position I would think about my parents first and a way to get everyone out later. “I forgive you but you have to be willing to go along with anything I come up with to get us out of here. Ok? If you are willing to help me I’m sure I can come up with some way to get everyone out. Me, you, Nina, Gadvar, and your parents.”

“Ok. I’ll do whatever you say. I know you can fix this somehow.”

“Oh yeah. Nina gave me your gift.” She blushes and I lean forward. “Now its time for me to return it.” Leaning forward I lift her chin and kiss her. She pulls back and looks at me with surprise. I reach up and pull her back to me. Minutes later I have pulled her over to sit in my lap and we are still kissing when the door opens.

We spring apart and look up to see Andy grinning sheepishly at us. We walk past him with bowed heads to go back to the other room. Just before we open the door we look at each other we look at each other and start giggling. As we walk in Natalie looks at us with raised eyebrows. We can’t help but laugh harder.

Nina is standing on one of the stools. Off to the side Natalie is cutting a beautiful pale blue fabric. With a last snip she finishes and proceeds to pin the fabric onto Nina. From where she’s standing Nina gives us a confused look as she tries to figure out why we’re laughing. When she is satisfied that the fabric fits as well as its going to Natalie moves on to me.

Several hours later we are finally allowed to leave. Andy leads us down different hallways than before while chatting with Nina in a hushed voice. Finally we reach a small room and Andy locks us in with an apologetic look on his face. The room is just big enough to fit three small beds. The walls are bare of any color or hangings. Off to one side is a small room which leads to a bathroom.

Sitting on one of the beds is Gadvar. He looks happy to see us. We’ve barely walked through the door and Nina is already telling him in detail about our whole day. He smiles and listens as if it’s the best story ever. I walk past him to the bathroom and find a tub that I hadn’t been able to see before. I fill it and take a bath to wash the worst of the grime off myself.

When I’m finished I rinse the tub and refill it for Nina. While she washes I dress in the nightclothes that Lia had given us. I hand hers in to her and she comes out looking even happier. Rather than sleeping in her own bed she curls up next to Gadvar on his and they both fall asleep. Remembering Lia’s kisses with a smile I fall asleep not long after them.