HOMEPLOT I: the city of elua, early morning

[loveasthouwilt]

I awoke with a soft sound of enjoyment, stretching my toes out to the edge of the bed and tracing a hand down Joscelin's side. It was cool, a cooler morning than I'd awoken to in quite some time, and were it not for the sun falling on my face I would think it was still night. My eyes opened and for a moment I did not notice anything amiss, focusing

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[incassielsname]

I roll over sleepily as I hear Phedre's voice, rousing me from sleep. It is the first thing that I find odd, as I am near always awake before she, out in the trees and half-done with my forms before she arises. Perhaps it is just my body telling me I need to sleep more and brood less, however.

As I come to waking, I feel the bed shift as she leaves, and I slowly sit up, pressing the heels of my hands to my eyes, forcing myself awake and alert.

It does not take long to realise that there is more odd than just Phedre waking first, and I realise it the second my feet hit the floor -- it is not the rough wood and bamboo that it should be. Pushing sleep from my eyes, I slowly survey my surroundings, eyes wide with shock. Unless the island has seen fit to deliver our entire home overnight... then it means I have gone home.

"Phedre--" I say, rising from bed, heedless of my less-than-attired state. "Is it-- is this true?"

[loveasthouwilt]

"I cannot believe it," I said, turning and going to him with a smile full of wonder. "Can you? It's real, Joscelin, it must be-- go outside and see for yourself." He got up and went out to the balcony, and I followed him out, standing next to him and lacing our fingers together. "If this is a dream then I do not want to wake up," I sighed, leaning my head on his shoulder.

[incassielsname]

I pull Phedre close to me, then impulsively grab her about the waist, spinning her in a circle. "We're home, Phedre, home!" I kiss her on the cheeks, on the nose, on the forehead, anywhere I can reach in this embrace.

"Do you think," I say suddenly upon setting her back on her feet, "that if we are home -- together, here, not returned to our respective points in time -- that... that others are here, too?"

[loveasthouwilt]

When he picked me up I could not stop a wild laugh from leaving my throat, and I found it hard to stop once he put me down again. I loved seeing the happiness in his eyes, and wished to see more of it. "I do not know," I said, his question provoking a thoughtful expression to fall over my face. "I suppose we might find out."

Ringing the bell, I called in my chambermaid and asked her to bring breakfast. "Will you be dining on the terrace with Master Alcuin as well," she asked, "or here in the bedroom?" I smiled, though I found myself suddenly close to tears, my throat full of bittersweet joy that Alcuin was being given another taste of Terre d'Ange. "On the terrace will be lovely," I said. When she had gone, I squeezed Joscelin's hand again. "Time to get dressed."

[travelingprince]

It was not the chatter of birds or monkeys or the oppression of island heat that woke me, but an insistent knocking that would not go away. I awoke with a start and was out of the bed and halfway to the door before I realised I was not on the island anymore, nor yet back on the other island, but at home, in the City.

I scarcely had time to think on how it had happened - or what it might mean - for the knocking at the door was a messenger, bearing a letter from Phedre. It was cryptic and vague, but I knew her well enough to know what she meant, and she had no idea what had happened either. I thanked the messenger, dressed hastily, and was at Phedre's within a half-hour. It was a house I had not seen before, but with her directions I found it easily enough. "Phedre?" I called, entering the house. "Joscelin? What's happened?"

[incassielsname]

It is all we can do, to wait anxiously to see if our idea holds true, if Phedre and I are not the sole ones returned to Terra d'Ange from our island home. So, after waking and dressing and reacquainting myself with home, I find myself stalking the foyer, waiting to see if it is true.

And yes, it is, because I turn a corner and there is Hyacinthe, free, here. "Phedre! Phedre, come down here!" I call, turning to shout down the hallway at her, then turn to Hyacinthe with a grin. "We're all home, Tsingano. We're home!"

[travelingprince]

"It seems to be so," I replied, but not with Joscelin's exuberance; I was still too surprised and confused for elation. "But I don't understand how." It felt real, more real than I expected, and yet I could not help but wonder if it was some of the island trickery that they had told me of on my arrival.

[incassielsname]

"Hyacinthe, you found yourself on an island where you arrived with no reason. It only makes sense that we leave with no reason." I shrug. I do not care how I left, only that I have, and that I am home now.

"Phedre!" I call again. "Hyacinthe is here!" Perhaps that will make her run faster.

[queenysandre]

"My lady?"

The sound of the familiar yet not recently heard voice roused Ysandre from her sleep, and before she opened her eyes she knew she was no longer on the island. Her eyelids fluttered open slowly, and she sat up, schooling the expression on her face to prevent the exposure of the torrent of emotion she was feeling. "Yes, what is it?" she said to her lady-in-waiting, managing to keep her tone even.

The woman curtsied, and Ysandre knew she was truly home. "My lady, you asked me to wake you at this hour so that you might be fully prepared for the Cruarch's arrival in the city this afternoon."

Drustan. Ysandre's heart leapt at the news that she would be seeing her beloved husband that very day, and she nearly gasped aloud, covering with a demure cough. "Yes, of course, thank you," she said to her lady-in-waiting. As she curtsied and made to leave the room, the thought suddenly occurred to Ysandre: if she had returned home, was it possible that the others had as well

[loveasthouwilt]

When the message from Ysandre arrived, we began moving at once. I needed to don a different gown more fitting to my place at court, and my maid hastened to help me as Joscelin called for my coach to be readied. A mere half an hour later (short time by my standards, though I supposed the island had accustomed me to low maintenance) I descended the stairs to find the three young men waiting for me. Joscelin and Hyacinthe turned toward me, and that same bittersweet pang struck my heart again as I looked at them; one dark, the other fair, both equally dear to me in ways that were vastly different yet at the same time exactly alike. I took their hands and squeezed, smiling, and tipped up to kiss Alcuin's cheek. "The Queen awaits us," I said, "so let us not keep her waiting."