As I came to my senses, I realized that I was not lying on a bed, covered in warm blankets, while somewhere in the room I was in, there was light coming in. I opened my eyes, feeling a throbbing pain in my head as I did so. The light was the sunlight coming from the window, and I couldn’t see a thing at first until gradually, my eyes started adapting and I could see my surroundings. I was lying in my own bed, while outside, the sun was shining brightly, casting a light into the room. However, as I looked, I noticed that I wasn’t alone: in a corner, Marian sat in a stool, sewing. Even though I barely moved, she must have sensed something, as she stopped what she was doing and looked at me.

“W-why am I here, Marian? What happened?” I moaned, still feeling groggy.

“That’s what I would like to know. Tamara found you lying in the hallway this morning. She called me and we managed to bring you here before the guests came for breakfast. ” Slowly, the images started appearing in my head: the noises, the cloaked figure, me standing still in the middle of the hallway, unable to move. “Do you have any idea of what might’ve happened?

“I found someone in the hallway yesterday, but before I could do anything, I fainted.” I told Marian. She looked puzzled with this.

“Are you sure you weren’t asleep? Because I didn’t see anything unusual. I went to the market this morning and the door was locked, and I’m sure if Tamara saw something was off, she would say it, you know how she is.” This made the situation look even weirder because I was sure of what I saw...or was I? Whatever it was, something told me that it was better to leave the matter alone for now. After all, if nobody had found anything weird, what was I supposed to do about it? It was pointless.

“It must’ve been a dream, then.” I tried to get up, but as I did, I started feeling really dizzy again and I sat on the bed. Marian got up quickly.

“You can’t just get up like this after fainting like you did. Here, have some water.” She had put a jar and a glass right next to my bed, and she filed a glass for me.

“Always the mother, aren’t you, Marian?” I said. Marian smiled.

“You give me on other option, do you?” I smiled. As I drank the glass of water, I remembered...

“The Gathering...it’s today!”

“Yes, the Lords and the King must be going to the Palace for their first meeting now. Everybody should be leaving the main square at this hour.” As if on cue, Tamara entered the room as only Tamara could, opening the door in the most dramatic manner.

“Wow, you just missed the most important Gathering! Everybody’s talking about it, and they’re going to talk about it for the next decade!” She said as she sat at the end of my bed.

“What happened?” Marian asked.

“So, it turns out that the King has a new right-hand, but not just any regular, boring middle-aged man with a belly, mind you, it’s a woman! Nobody could take her eyes off her, even during the King’s speech! Nobody has seen her before, word goes that she looked like she came out of the Houssane desert!” Tamara said, giggling.

Now that was something unheard of. In the history of Tharsic, no woman had ever become part of the higher ranks, especially the King’s. All the people in the most important ranks had always been men as far as Tharsic existed, and there were only two ways a woman could become closer to the King: becoming his chambermaid or his lover, since he didn’t even have a wife and there didn’t seem to be any in the plan. However, the oldest people said that at the very beginning of his Kingdom, he had been married, but his wife had disappeared in very mysterious circumstances. The only way she could’ve gotten to where she was had to be a story of the sort – at least, that was how people would think about it. Also, no wonder that people were speculating about her origins. The Houssane desert was the most remote part of Tharsic, past the Lagun River and beyond the Terane mountains. The only way to get there was to cross the mountains – and risk your life doing it – or to go to Sional first and get permission to go there. But Sional was a land surrounded by an impenetrable fortress, and just to get in was a feat in itself, let alone having permission to go to the desert at all. There were all kinds of stories about the desert, passed throughout the ages about ancient nomad tribes and hidden civilizations, but since nobody had been there, those were just good stories to tell when you were with friends.

“Why is everybody saying she’s from the desert, Tamara?” Marian asked.

“She’s not part of any of the noble families from Tharsic, not even from the Green Islands! You should’ve seen her, she was the most beautiful woman ever! She was all covered in the richest silks and jewelry like no one has ever seen in all of Tharsic!”

“We’ll be having something to talk about a lot during this Gathering, then.” said Marian, and she was right. After that remarkable first day, wherever you went, everybody was gossiping about the mysterious woman that came out of nowhere and became one of the King’s new advisors, wondering about who she was and how she had managed to get herself into such a position of power. The descriptions seemed to match Tamara’s, making her look like someone out of a legend. Men seemed to worship her as some goddess –out of their wives sight, obviously –, while women admired her beauty. But then again, there was the other side of the gossips, which were not as pleasant. These were all the things I heard the next few days, while I went to buy food at the market or run occasional errands for the guests. As for me, I was really curious to see her in person, but I would have to wait until the end of the Gathering. Until then, my thoughts were on the hooded figure that showed up during that night. After that episode, I started having weird dreams about hooded figures in the most unexpected places: from jumping right in front of me in the dark corridors of the inn to lurking behind somebody in the market in broad daylight. Sometimes, the figure was chasing me, trying to take me someplace, but at other times, I was the one chasing it, until I managed to block it in an alley. I tried to take the hood off, but I never got to see the face, because I always woke up at that precise moment. I tried going back to the same places, trying to find something that Marian might’ve missed, but in fact, there wasn’t anything odd in the hallways or the corridors – not even in the rooms of the guests. I guess I had to call it a hallucination and let it go, but I couldn’t. I found myself lost in thoughts about that, wondering about what happened. If there was one thing I learned in life, was that events like these always led to bad omens, but you can’t chase anything without a clue. However, it also happens at times, that clues come to you when you least expect it.

It was late at night, and I was standing at the entrance, waiting for the guests to return form one of many luxurious balls held at the Palace of Fenestrane during the Gathering. One by one, they returned, looking more tired and less glamorous than when they came – and also, quite drunk – mostly men, with their arms wrapped around their wives shoulders to support themselves. During those nights, we always took turns during the night to help those drunken guests into their own rooms, especially the upper floors, as most of the times they would struggle with the stairs or even lying down on the bed. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the last guests came in, walking quietly into the hallway – a good sign that they were sober and that I wouldn’t have to take any of them up the stairs. It was Jay and his entourage.

“Sara.” he said, his face dimmed by the light. ” What a wonderful surprise! It has been a while since we saw each other. Marian told me that you’ve fainted recently, I hope you’re feeling better now.”

“Yes, my Lord, I’m much better now, thank you for asking. I’ve returned to work right away.” I said, bowing to the guests in front of me.

“You may return to your room, I’ll follow you suit.” Jay said, and as if on cue – and probably knowing what was going to happen next – all of his crew left for the upper floor, leaving us alone. One by one, we could hear them going into their room, and as the last one locked the door, Jay grabbed me in his arms and kissed me passionately.

“And yet, you haven’t returned to me. I’ve been sleeping all alone in that room for the last few days, waiting for you.” I looked down, thinking of what I could tell him to justify not saying anything ever since I fainted. In fact, I’d forgotten about Jay ever since the episode with the cloaked figure happened. But he came closer, lifted my chin and looked at me, smirking now.

“Don’t look so gloomy, Sara, I forgive you.” Jay said, kissing me. “Let’s go to my room.” He whispered in my ear, and then he lifted me up, carrying me like a bag of potatoes on his back.

“I could go to your room myself, you can let me go!” I said, trying not to laugh so I wouldn’t make much noise and wake the other guests. He ignored my pleas and kept carrying me to his room, walking down the long and dimly lit corridors. I resigned to my fate of being carried, and just as we were almost leaving the hallway, I saw it: the cloaked figure was outside, looking right into the inn. My eyes opened wide as I saw it, and I must’ve made some noise because Jay stopped in his tracks and put me on the floor.

“Is everything alright, Sara? Did I hurt you?” he asked, while my eyes were still on the window. Jay looked at the window, trying to see what I saw, but he didn’t have any luck, since as quickly as it had come, the figure was gone – once again. I couldn’t just give anything away, he would think I was a lunatic.

“It was nothing, my Lord, it was just the excitement.” Jay smiled, picked me up bridal style this time and carried me to his bedroom.

As always, our nights together were wonderful, and for a while, I forgot about everything that had just happened. Yet, I after that, I couldn’t fall asleep, as my mind was fixed in what I saw at the window. Something told me I should go there right then because I would find something, but I didn’t want to wake up Jay. However, luck was on my side: lying beside me on the bed, Jay was snoring – a very good sign that he was fast asleep. I got up quietly, got dressed and picked a candle from the bedside table. I got out of the room and lit it. I went downstairs and when I reached the hallway, I opened the front door. A cold wind blew in, making me shiver in my working dress. I left it open and looked at the window...and there it was, hanging in a bit of wood that had started to come out from the windowpane. It was a light gray fabric and the piece itself was big enough to be noticeably missing from somebody’s cloak. I smiled. I finally had a clue, and all I had to do now was to hope that creature would show up again, and that I could see its face. I put the piece of fabric in my pocket and returned to Jay’s bedroom.