The Forgotten Zodiac

((OH IS THIS HAPPENING THAT IS GREAT YOU ARE FANTASTIC OKAY))

Alexander paused in his work, which had been finding the water and finding a cloth to make Morgan apply to his forehead. In an effort to give Morgan's revelation respect, he tossed Morgan the wet rag and sat down in a chair, resting his chin on his hands. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

((WELL HALFWAY, AT LEAST))

"No...not really wrong..." Morgan sighed. "I just...Clarissa...isn't the only one living in the house. She...there's another girl, a...a young girl..." He swallowed hard, looking up at Alexander and frowning. Was he really saying this? What on earth...his vision was swimming, and some part of him firmly believed that if he didn't come clean, then he'd never get better, or something else awful. The rest of him thought this was ridiculous, but he opened his mouth again, and said, "She--"

Doctor Monet slammed the door open. "You're ridiculous. Dagan told me you were running a fever." He stormed inside and dropped a bottle of a sickly looking green liquid into Morgan's hands. "You're to drink all of that before sleeping. All of it. I don't care how disgusting it is. You deserve it, getting up and walking around like this..."

((Is Alexander staying for the nightmare?))

Before Alexander had any chance to respond to this flood of information from Morgan, Monet had stormed into the room. Rather than try to continue the conversation, which was clearly private, the noble stood and pointed to the glass of water he'd place on Morgan's dresser. "Use that to choke it down. Thank you for coming, again, on such short notice, Dr. Monet. As much as I regret needing your services, I appreciate your quick response."

((If he wants to, I suppose.))

"I was around anyway." Monet tutted. "The patriarch of House Vanell is dealing with some severe back pain. As in...he was shot with an arrow by a protesting crowd outside the front doors this afternoon. I'm surprised Morgan didn't clear it up, but given his current condition, I'm glad he didn't."

"Hey, hey, what happened to confidentiality?" Morgan frowned. "I thought you never told anyone about your patients."

"It's common knowledge by now. It'll be in the papers tomorrow morning. I'm telling you nothing you wouldn't have known in the first place." Monet chuckled. "I'm not leaving until you drink all of that, Morgan."

"Fine." Morgan sneered, downing it all in one go. He curled his lip almost immediately after he was done, shaking his head. "Nasty..." He snarled, shoving the bottle back into Monet's hands and snatching up the water. Then he flopped back on the bed and pulled the blankets over himself, sighing. "Doctor, wha...what did you...put in that...?"

"A sedative! As well as a fever reducer and pain minimalizer. It's a complex serum, it had to be in a potiony sort of form. Consider yourself lucky that I gave you a draught mixed with honey!" Monet snapped, then turned to Alexander. "He'll sleep until morning. I suggest you slip these into his evening wine or whatever he drinks, so he'll sleep again tomorrow night." He handed the boy some pills. "Any questions?"

((He won't, then. I just wanted to know if you wanted someone in the room with Morgan.))

Alexander pocketed the pills and shook his head. "None that I can think of. Get him to take the pills at night, with food." He thought his way through the next day and came up with one question. "You want him in bed all day tomorrow? I can probably convince him to stay in. I think."

((Well, he won't exactly be able to interact. xD))

"Yes. If you can get him to stay, do it." Monet tutted, shaking his head. "I'm off, then. Sweet dreams, Morgan." He said as he moved towards the door, knowing that he only got snores as a response from the man.

Good news, Morgan! We're getting married! Today, of all times...

Oh skies above, no. No, no, please, you don't understand...she can't...

Nobleman Alexander Finnigan, you have been declared guilty by the high council of Protestants. Your execution is to be immediate. Taste the steel of justice!

Objection...you can't just...

Morgan, let me devour these fools. They're not worth your time. Honestly, you're far too lenient.

"Stop it!" Morgan sat bolt upright with a panicked gasp. He looked down at his hands, from one to the other, then relaxed and laid back down. "Darn it, Morgan..." He muttered to himself. "Get ahold of yourself."

Morgan awoke to an empty room. His dream had taken longer than he thought, for it was now nearly morning.

On the other side of the castle, Alexander was already awake, dressed, and working. Currently, he was sitting in his council chambers listening to one of his subjects, a noble, describe a haunting in one of the city's wealthier subdivisions. Most ghost accounts could be easily ignored, for such hauntings were quite rare; but Jorash's story seemed fairly legitimate. "Where did you say this was again?" he inquired of his subject.

"Sky street, of all places. A family district. Supposedly none of the kids want to play in the streets anymore, because there's always a ghostly figure watching them from the house." Jorash shrugged. "I don't live anywhere nearby. I was just wondering if you would have any interest in dealing with it. I know you're busy trying to smoke out the protestants and all, and then you've got the issue of your hired hand being out of commision...there are all sorts of rumors going about. Some say he was shot, but not with arrows. Could that be these new guns? Oh, I digress...if you aren't too busy already, you're going to have to deal with this ghost sooner or later."

Alexander, who had closed himself up considerably when Jorash began digging about his current activities, relaxed again when the noble returned to the subject of the ghost. "Yes, certainly. Thank you for informing me." He pulled out his calendar, which he always made a point of doing when someone brought him a concern, and scheduled something in that afternoon. "I'll have someone investigate this today; and, if we find there is a ghost, I'll contact..." he broke off, sighing, as he realized the Vatican was no longer a resource. Normally, a local priest would handle such a thing. "I'll find someone to fix it, alright?"

"You know, I still have a contact within the Vatican. It might be seen as treasonous, but a certain someone owes me a favor. If it really is a ghost, just let me know. I'll let him know and have him bless the place for you. It's certainly better than digging up an entire house to try and put the souls there to rest," Jorash chortled. "Have fun with your issues. I wish I could help further, but I have an audience with the Führer of Batten-Wüttenburgh in a week, and you know how that is. Preparations must be made." He smiled and shook his head, turning away. "Good day, Alexander."

((Batten-Wüttenburgh is basically the 'state' they live in within Germany. Also, the trip from Lanstul to Berlin would be a lot longer than a day's ride by horse. I laughed when I remembered that. So I'm changing their trip to Berlin into a trip to Munich. That's much closer.

And for the record, Führer is German for leader. I know it's associated with the Nazi party and all that, but that's just stupid. It's a word, this is a time period before the Nazi party, and so I'm going to use that word. -grumbles something about sisters peeking over my shoulder and making stupid assumptions-))

((Makes sense. I wondered when you talked about Berlin, since it is far away and not really in Germany at all. Führer is fine. As much as I'd love to make a joke about all Germans being Nazis, I know that is not true and it might annoy you, so I shall not. Use the word as much as you like.))

"Thanks, thanks. I'll investigate it and let you know if I need you to call that favor." Alexander stood and nodded strictly to Jorash. "Good day, Jorash." Once the noble had left the room, Alexander took some time to gather his papers before he began dealing with this 'ghost'. He first returned to his study to return his papers before heading toward the stable to ask Virellis and Dagan's opinion on the whole ghost matter. With the menargie they had, it made sense that they might have something useful to the situation.

((Berlin is in Germany. It's the capital. xDD I'll only use it when I need to, and I wouldn't get too annoyed. I find humor in nazis as much as the next person, and I'm not a real German myself.))

"Ghosts, huh?" Vi smiled a bit. "Brutis here can't help with that, he's terrified of those," She patted the animal's reptilian head. "Oh, but Val is ready for some scouting missions," She ducked back into the barn and emerged with a hawker's glove and what appeared to be a huge crow with sharp yellow eyes. "This is a Nighthawk. He's just a fledgeling, barely old enough to be away from mom, but he'll be just fine. He's got me, after all. All animals can see ghosts, you know," She smiled, stroking the Nighthawk's head. "He'll let us know if anything is there."

((Okay, so I looked up the wrong city. I remember looking up Berlin to get exact, specific, geographic information. And yet, somehow, I thought it was over by England. -shot- Geography is not my strong point.))

Alexander had had no knowledge whatsoever of an animal's ability to see ghosts. It wasn't something that came up very often. However, he was quite glad to have a way of finding the ghost without taunting it into appearing. That was dangerous and humiliating, for it mostly entailed screaming at an empty house. "In that case, do you think you'd be up to a trip to the city today? As harmless as one ghost may seem, political change has been known to cause dangerous behavioral change in ghosts."

((Noice. xD It's okay. I'll handle most of that technical stuff, considering I've lived there.))

"Sure!" Vi grinned. She gave the bird a soft order, and it took off, circling overhead until Vi had gotten out a small bag of sorts. Val, the nighthawk, flew down and settled himself in the bag. It was a little amusing, as he basically sat inside the bag like it was his nest. But his short and sharp looking beak was enough to keep curious onlookers away. "We're ready. Dagan, sweetie, I'm going out with Xander!" She called towards the barn, smiling.

((TECHNICAL STUFF. That is why I love you. I have the soul of an artist.))

After a muffled call from Dagan acknowledging that Virelis had communicated with him, Alexander set off toward the town. He held the piece of parchment out toward her, reading off the address as he did so. "I don't suppose you have any idea where this is, do you? I mean, I can find it easily enough, but it would be nice if one of us had been to the area."

((And I have the mind of a scientist. xD))

"I've definitely done a lot of exploring. Sky street is this way." Vi took point, almost skipping as she walked (however possible it was to skip with a cast and crutches). They passed the market area and easily made it over the river bridge into the residential areas of town. A left, two blocks down and on the right was the sign stating, 'Sky St.'. Vi turned to Alexander. "You're going to have to hold Val. Here," She tossed the Hawker's glove at him, the thick leather obviously made for a bird to sit on. "He's a real sweetie, you shouldn't have any problems with him. Just let him look around when he wants to, okay?"

Alexander took the glove and slid it onto his arm, noting the gouges and scratches across the surface. Before he had time for concern, he processed that Val's claws were much to small to inflict such injury, yet, so they couldn't have been from him. "Val? Isn't that short for Valerie?" He snorted, wondering how the male bird came by the name of Valerie, but quickly realized Vi wouldn't care. "Did you even check their gender before naming them?"

"Of course we did! Don't be ridiculous. Val is short for Valiant, not Valerie." Vi giggled. "Val is a good little bird, he is. Much more patient than his mommy, yes he is," She patted the bird on the nose before releasing the clasp on the bag. Val alighted on the glove, staring intently at Alexander before looking around at the houses. He was mostly silent, watching as they started walking again. "So, which house is the problem?"

((Are they breaking in through the back or knocking? Also, Morgan can bite Alexander. That will be amusing.))

Alexander met Val's gaze briefly, looking somewhat skeptical. "Right. Valiant. I'm sure that's what you meant to name him." He checked the address again and scanned the houses around him until he found the correct house number. "It's that one, right up ahead. The ghost is supposed to appear on the second floor. Wonder if we'll see it out here."

((Morgan Jr. would definitely bite Alexander if he barged into the house.))

"It is," Vi snorted. "He'll answer to Valiant, but not Valerie. So you tell me what his name is." She headed towards the house, then clicked her tongue at the bird. It tilted its head at the house, then let out a shrill squawk as a shadow moved in front of the window on the second floor.

"Huh. Maybe this place IS haunted." Vi bit her lip. "Do you think a Siren's song affects ghosts?"