Notes: Yes, yes- I know..this isn't "Whispering Shadows"- this is an interlude. AKA- Cy didn't know how to write Golbez's reactions/thoughts at this point, so she's copping out and doing this from Palom's PoV. =P It's my fic, I'll do what I want. Includin' keep ya in the dark on some things. ^_^

Ever since the Big Whale had been laid to rest once more off the gulf of Mysidia, I'd asked Cecil alot about his brother and uncle. At least when Porom wasn't around. She hadn't thought it a good subject, but I could never keep myself from asking. Both had been mages of amazing power- why wouldn't I be curious? Getting Cecil to give a straight answer on them though was like pulling teeth from a bear- difficult, and leaving you in constant fear of losing a limb or two. I had finally given up when I started getting old enough that I realized hurting me wouldn't be such a difficult thing for a highstrung monarch to indulge in if I kept making myself an easy mark.

And I mean Rosa by that, not Cecil. Cecil wouldn't hurt a fly, but Rosa has gotten protective of him..well, even more than she had been before their marriage. Maybe she'd known something we didn't back then? Cecil's health has been a bit..shaky for awhile after all...I'm not sure how long.

Anyway..now, I've gotten to see first hand just what Cecil's brother- the "man of darkness" himself- can do. I hadn't even known spells like that existed. And I don't think he could be more different from his brother if he tried.

Way taller than Cecil, Golbez wears his hair long and loose, though it's kinda the same whitish-silver as Cecil's sorta is. His eyes are violet though, not blue- and I can never really tell what he's thinking. Cecil- oh I can tell you what HE'S thinking in a heartbeat. He never did bother to hide it. With Golbez? You might as well try to read a snowbank's expression- you'll come to a conclusion sooner! The only expressions he ever bothers to give are either that knowing smirk I'd try to slap off his face if I didn't value my life, or a thoughtful one that doesn't tell you anything more than that. He's thinking. About what is ANYONE'S guess.

Since I'm the one who brought him to Baron -according to Rosa- I've had to help take care of him after his collapse in Cecil's room. I don't think he's ever been sick before- or looked after. It's kinda funny to watch the mages who run the infirmary be both scared to death of him and exasperated as hell- though I guess I can sympathise. I know I don't want to be the one to tell the man who had once held Baron in an iron grip that yes he HAS to eat the crackers and broth, no he can't have anything else right now, and no he's not allowed to leave the infirmary yet.

On the other hand- I'm the one always running his errands too. On the upside- this means I've gotten to go back to Mysidia- and Porom's recovered fully. The Elder told me it was just a mild backlash- and told me in pretty much these same words that I'd over-reacted (again) and really need to start paying attention to my studies- which is about the point I'd wandered off to the library to fetch some books Golbez wanted. Cecil had told everyone in the castle to help him figure out the dreams as best they could...naturally excluding 95% of the castle from being able to do a single useful thing.

Some things just don't change.

When the mages aren't fussing at Golbez to please be a proper patient and stop threatening to change the staff into pigs, toads or other bizzare little things if they don't stop waking him up, they're usually helping him and me go over the books and scrolls I'm bringing back from Mysidia. The Elder had actually offered some texts that usually don't leave the Mysidian library, but Golbez had refused them point blank. His reason: they centered on the crystals and he felt this had very little to do with the crystals.

"If they have anything to do with this at all, it's as a tool. How, I don't know- but I'll not waste my time on smaller details."

Why he's so dead set on that I don't know. And all the texts he has me bring have to do with ancient legends of monsters, villians, and those who defeated them...Something I can't see as having any affect on THIS. And he never reads them all the way through. And Powers forbid WE get caught reading them all the way. He wants just FOUR things from all of this...

"Look for anything referring to a balance of elements, any elements beyond the general four, how they can be unbalanced, and what happens if the balance isn't restored."

I'd almost rather be back in Mysidia, studying under the Elder. At least he understood not everyone could think at his speed or just understand something. Try asking Golbez a question he knew the answer to and he'd look at you as if you just asked him the dumbest, most obvious thing on the blue planet. And that didn't guarentee an answer unless he felt you really did need to know it.

Over the days- maybe weeks, I'm not sure...Golbez rarely let his 'staff' rest for more than an hour or two unless HE needed to sleep. And even then he seemed to still be working...I think he only went to sleep just to have those dreams. Something that made the mages angry beyond belief because it seemed to slow his healing. Still, unlike Cecil, he WAS getting better...

What I wasn't ready for was the day when Golbez actually asked for me specifically by name and gave me a message to take to Cecil- after informing me what would happen if he found out I read it. I should have known it was a set up of some kind- Cecil and Golbez didn't seem to need to be in the same room to talk to each other- I'd more than once entered the room to hear Golbez proclaiming Cecil a self important idiot who couldn't see beyond his precious crystals, though to everyone's knowledge, neither brother had been visiting each other.

So what did I do with that letter I was supposed to not read?

I read it of course. Or tried to. The moment I opened it up, everything went black.....

(NOW continued in: Whispering Shadows)