Her own gasp awakened her. Lady Arianda found herself twisted up in her sheets. Her skin was cold but damp with perspiration. She angrily fought the sheets to extract herself from her bed then stalked across the cold floor of her chamber. Pulling on a robe hastily, she didn't bother to tie the sash or put on slippers. Next she threw open the doors to her balcony and stomped across to the railing. Taking a white knuckled grip there, Arianda yelled into the skies. "MORPHEUS!!"

Bear was awakened by something, though if asked, he couldn't have told what it was. He sat up on the edge of his bed and rubbed his face. He squinted, even at the pale moonlight falling through his window. It was a warm night. He rose to see if there was more of a breeze to be had. He opened the doors to his small balcony and stepped out into the cooler night air.

Immediately his attention was drawn aside to a flutter of white lace. There stood his mistress some distance away on her own balcony, bathed in moonlight, barely draped in her sheer robe. The light glittered from her copper hair as tendrels drifted in the breeze. His smile slipped away as he saw Arianda descend to her knees. He could still see her through the wrought iron railing. She gripped the top of the rail and her head drooped forward to rest between her hands. Something was wrong. Should he go to her, even though he had not been summoned?

He stepped back to the threshold of his own doorway, mostly out of sight but still with a view of her. He would wait and listen. Perhaps he could tell what to do. She said nothing that he could hear for a bit, then her voice, sounding ragged, drifted to him on the breeze.

"Morpheus..." she said, with resignation and weariness in her voice. "Is there no end to your trickery? Don't torture me with your illusions."

Her temper was cooling down but the ache from the dreams was returning, the ache and pain from both dreams and memory. "Please send your brothers next time." Her voice was calm and quiet at last. "I much prefer their symbols to your starkness."

Arianda turned and sat upon the hard stone in a heap. Her head rested back against the railing. Bear could make little sense of what he could hear from her. Putting together the pieces, he assumed that she'd had bad dreams, but she seemed much more distraught than that. She drew one knee up and rested her elbow on it while her hand draped over to idly fidget with the edge of her lace robe. Eventually the fidgeting stopped. Arianda folded herself back together there and wrapped her arms around her waist. She was still and quiet for a very long time then. At least to Bear, it seemed that she had fallen asleep, in such an unlikely place and position for a lady, for his mistress.

**********

"Dammit," Arianda hissed as the end of her foil tapped the floor then the hilt slipped from her glove and clattered on the stone. She dropped to one knee, curling to look at her sliced leathers, gaping just below her ribs. She quickly covered the place again, but couldn't stop the blood from trickling through her gloved fingers. "William!" She yelled then immediately winced. She meant only to call the lad to her, not to scold, but he had dropped his foil and ran from the Hall even before she spoke.

Bear was coming in from the gardens when the boy ran into him, babbling hysterically. William stared wide-eyed up at Bear then continued running. When Bear heard the Lady's voice, he turned to run after William but Maxwell stepped into the lad's path and secured him. Bear went quickly then to the Hall of Knights to see what the Lady wanted done with the boy.

Arianda held one gloved hand to her side as she knelt. She was watching the blood soak into her leathered fingers and cursing under her breath. She only looked up as Bear yelled "M'Lady!" He immediately crouched at her side.

"Catch him, Bear. He likely thinks he killed me." Arianda's voice grew weaker with each word. "It was just practice." She looked down again and drew a shallow breath as she'd already learned that drawing deeper made the slash burn more. "Go." she said as she looked up to Bear again. She blinked a slow blink at him.

"Maxwell has him. I am sure the boy can be settled later. You should be tended now, M'Lady." He slid his hand to the nape of her neck and she shook her head in protest but relaxed against his firm support anyway.

"My choice to use the steel. I thought he was ready." Arianda closed her eyes and leaned more against Bear's hand and arm until she let him lay her back onto the floor. She sighed as her body relaxed. "Such comfort there is in cool stone." Her words were hardly a whisper.

Bear drew her one foot up beneath her knee to ease the tension on her wounded side. He scanned the Hall and ran to a cabinet to fetch some toweling then knelt back at her side again. She was losing what pale color she had to begin with. His fingers worked quickly to undo the leather strap at her neck then on down the front of the jacket. He pulled aside her hand in the blood soaked glove. She was no longer applying pressure anyway.

Her gloved fingers flexed once with her hard swallow. "Not good, is it, Bear." Her face turned away from him. "Not good." she echoed softly to herself.

Bear carefully peeled the leather away from her skin. He lay one towel across her bare chest to keep her warm then pressed another against the gaping wound. He glanced over his shoulder at the doors. Surely someone would come to investigate. Finally he yelled "MAXWELL!". He didn't know what else to do and he dared not leave her.

Her weak whisper hissed across the stone floor. "Worry not. He'll come. He'll bring help."

Bear looked at her, half-alive on the cold black marble floor. He brushed her cheek and whispered, "Stay with me, Arianda." He knew how desperate her condition was when she did not correct him or even make note of his familiarity. She merely nodded.

Very shortly he heard running in the hallway then Maxwell and Aaron burst through the doors into the Knight's Hall. They stopped short as they saw the Lady lying on the floor. Bear looked up with nothing to say. They could see the white cloth beneath his hand was soaking deeply red.

Aaron dropped into a low crouch above her head. His long fingers cupped her face. He curled over to kiss her forehead and whisper, "M'Lady, we shall need your help in this." A soft hum of acknowledgement was all she had the energy for.

Arianda's mind was floating in a cold fog. All of her body seemed to be floating peacefully as well, except for the burning at her side. In her mind she kept trying to cover it, to soothe it with her cold fingers but she couldn't reach it. Aaron's image briefly visited her misty vision then he slipped away again.

Maxwell knelt, stripped off his dress coat and flung it away to a shadow. He pushed up the sleeves of his shirt and looked to Bear, nodding that he should remove the toweling. Immediately the blood began to trickle down Arianda's side, dripping into her jacket.

"Aaron..." Maxwell said in a hoarse whisper. He didn't need to say more. Aaron began his song, soft and plaintive. He was curled over Arianda's face, his cheek against hers, tears falling to her neck as he closed his eyes and sang a prayer of strength for her.

Bear had no tears but his jaws were clenched impossibly tight. He dropped the bloody towel and slipped his hand around Arianda's soaked glove. She did not respond as he gently removed the glove but when his hand wrapped into hers, he felt the slightest pressure of her fingers curling to him. Yes, my Lady, he thought, hold on.

Maxwell began his own quiet chanting. Bear couldn't hear all the words or recognize them. Maxwell's hands were quickly stained as he gently pressed them to either side of the deep slash. One thumb smoothed along the bottom edge, beginning to stem the flow. Arianda's face twitched but there was no other reaction from her. Maxwell's chanting and Aaron's singing and Arianda's will, which Maxwell could feel beneath his hands, were all working together to at least stop the flow of life from her.

After long minutes, all three men were surprised to hear the Lady's rasping voice. Bear was especially surprised to feel her hand grip his. "This stings horribly. Can you do nothing for the burning?"

Maxwell grinned and swiped across the perspiration on his face with the back of one bloody hand while the other remained over her wound. "We could ask Master Frost to assist, I suppose."

"Hmmm... Yesss. Frost." Arianda had not opened her eyes. She was still in her own land of mist. All the rest was vague imagery and voices from far away, even her own. "Not yet though. Must sleep... weary..." She sounded as though she didn't understand this curiosity as she drifted away again.

Bear gazed down as Arianda's hand went completely slack in his. He then looked up quickly to Maxwell. "Surely something more..." He saw the answer in Maxwell's eyes before he spoke it.

"Nothing more. She will have to mend, replenish what has been lost." Maxwell picked up the towel and stood, wiping his hands thoughtfully. "The boy's aim was unfortunate." Aaron sat back and wiped at his face. His watery gaze looked up from Arianda to Bear. "Stay here with her. We can move her to her chambers in a few hours perhaps. In the meantime, I'll see what else may be done. Too soon for the Spring." He shook his head then reached down to run his fingers along the Lady's copper braid. "The rest is waiting."

Bear nodded and squeezed Arianda's hand. Maxwell patted Bear's shoulder as he left. "I'll inform Terin." Aaron rose and walked toward the doors then paused to look back at Lady Arianda again. When he disappeared into the hallway, his soft singing drifted with him.

**********

Bear stood in the threshhold between her chambers and the balcony. He watched her for another minute. Lady Arianda's face was relaxed. Her head was resting in the iron scroll work. Her arms were wrapped at her waist and lace draped over her folded legs. The moonlight played across one side of her face, along the curve of her neck and across the swells of her breasts revealed between the open lapels of the robe.

Stepping to her ever so quietly, Bear knelt and tried not to disturb her slumber as he lifted her from the stone. She stirred. Her brow furrowed. Her soft lips moved but said nothing that Bear could hear. He let her go quiet again before walking back into her bedchamber.

He stood with her in his arms, held against his chest, while he pondered how best to settle her back in her bed. The bedclothes were ashambles. So, he thought, it had indeed been bad dreams that brought her out into the night.

Finally, Bear sat upon the bed and used his lap to help support her while he attempted to clear away the covers and sheets with one free hand. Apparently he was moving too much. Arianda awoke with a gasp. He looked down at her. There was a flash of several emotions on her face, but surprise and confusion were the most evident.

"What are you---" Arianda scrambled to push the lace away from her side, where she'd been injured in her vivid dream. She relaxed somewhat in Bear's arms again as she grew more awake and realized that it had been only a dream. He just watched as she sat up in his lap then drew herself up to stand on rather wobbly legs.

"Straighten the bed." She commanded flatly then she rubbed at her face and combed her fingers back through her hair. Again the scowl appeared and she had to take one more look at her side which showed no blemish whatsoever, almost to her astonishment.

"Bastard." she muttered. Bear didn't think she addressed him, at least, he continued to make the bed as if he hadn't heard it. When he was finished, he turned down one corner then stood near the end of the bed and watched her pace.

"Perhaps if you tell of it?" He dared make the offer to listen.

"Hm?" Arianda looked up at him as though she'd forgotten he was there. "Oh. Common malady." She sat heavily on the bed and drew one leg up, draping her arm over it to toy with the lace of her robe. The other leg was somewhat parted from it and draped over the edge of the bed. Again, not at all a lady-like pose.

Bear crossed his hands loosely over his crotch, looking relaxed, but trying to cover his reaction to the sight of her. He had not bothered to dress before coming to Arianda's chambers to check on her. She sat so casually and he could look on as he liked, because she was apparently still very distracted from the dreams. Her lace was only window dressing for it still fell away from her, giving him a most marvelous view which his body was certainly enjoying.

"Tell of it," she echoed on delay. Her propped arm pivoted so she could rub at her face again then rest her forehead against her fist. "All the elements of my torture and my salvation. I asked for symbolism and apparently... I was heard, at least partially." She looked up at Bear then and furrowed her brow, concentrating on him. "Aaron, Maxwell.... even..." her voice faltered, "Even William, I understand, but not you."

"These were all in your dreams, M'Lady?" He couldn't make heads or tails of what she was telling him, but found it interesting that perhaps he had played some role in her dreams. She had certainly been a part of his.

"Yes." was all the answer he got, then she yawned. She patted the bed beside her. With very little inflection in her voice, she bid him, "Come. Lay here. Sleep with me. At least you can keep me off the balcony perhaps." She stretched and grimaced at the stiffness in her back, then shed her robe and tossed it to Bear.

He caught the robe, straightened it and lay it over the back of a chair before cautiously climbing into bed with her. Arianda laid down and performed a very cat-like stretch before curling up on her side, facing away from Bear. He stretched out on his side as well and propped his head up on one hand. He covered himself with only the sheet then ran his fingers along the top edge toward her. She was covered, but he made a minor adjustment, just to savor tucking her in. So rarely had she allowed him to stay with her through the night. His eyes followed the curves beneath the sheets that rounded so nicely over her hip. Her hair spilled out across the pillow between them. He let his fingers play in it lightly as he drew his hand back.

"May I ask..." He was still curious about the dreams.

A sleepy purring voice acknowledged him. "Hm?"

"May I ask, who is William?"

She hesitated but finally answered him, in a slightly stronger voice. "A viscount." She drew the sheets up into her hands and against her chest. "A long dead viscount."

There was much more to this than she was telling. Bear was sure of it, but he'd pressed enough for now, he thought. He collapsed his arm under his head and took a deep breath, hoping he could get to sleep again, despite being so close to her but not given permission to hold her as he so very much wanted to.

He whispered, "Sweet dreams, M'Lady."

Only a sleepy purr of acknowledgement answered him.