Part of Your World

[isadora]

She saw the moment of defiance in his stance when he was undoubtedly trying to think of a good reason not to touch her, before the combination of his instincts and rationality took over. He'd never been able to resist any invitation to touch her in the past, even when he'd thought she was a devil or a spoiled princess. She turned her back to him fully when he briskly started doing up her laces, and she couldn't help but smile when she felt how his fingers slowed down after briefly making contact with her skin, glad he couldn't see her expression. So some things hadn't changed.

She closed her eyes when he let his hand trail up her neck, still smiling and wondering if this brought back any memories for him; he preferred helping her get undressed, but the times when he did help her with her laces were usually pleasant memories. And then it was over. He pushed her away, and caught off guard, she stumbled, catching herself on the edge of the bed, she straightened up, and gave a sigh. So he didn't remember anything...at least he was still Alistair. She nodded to his command, returning to the wardrobe to get out a delicate pair of ankle boots she often wore around the castle. She slipped them on.

She ran her hands through her hair hastily on the way back to the baby's cradle; she doubted he'd have the patience to let her comb it, nor did she want to take the time to tame it. She wrapped the baby's soft blue blanket around her, embroidered with the crest of Gwent in gold, before she scooped her up to take with them. She had no intention of letting her daughter out of her sight as long as there was the possibility of an enemy in the castle who wished to do them harm. She glanced at Alistair briefly, then headed towards the door that led to the rest of the castle.

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[Alistair]

Alistair had pushed her forward but when she stumbled; his hand had come out to help her. He never did touch her; for she caught herself. He wanted for her to put her shoes on before she took the child in her arms. That was when he gave pause; enough to know that her plan was going to get someone killed. He could not even remember if he'd had dreams to warn him! Risking her life was one thing; but the child?

"How close is Vaughn?" He asked, not moving even as she walked toward the door. If Vaughn was close he could ride out to find him; or send for him or whatever the hell rich people did when they needed someone. Vaughn could help guard the child; and Alistair trusted him and his motives. At least where coin was concerned. He could offer the main coin in return for his sword; and he knew Vaughn would kill anyone who tried. Vaughn loved the hunt; and thrill of the kill.

Finally he moved toward the door; not opening it for her but letting her be the one to open it.

[isadora]

She drew up short when he mentioned Vaughn, an automatic scowl coming to her face. She didn't trust that Vaughn wouldn't seize upon the opportunity to get his old partner in crime back and do his best to turn Alistair against her, and without his memory, he wouldn't even know he was screwing with him. Fortunately, she didn't even have to lie; Alistair had forced Vaughn to stay until Sabina's birth, and had allowed (forced might be a better word) him to hold her, but after that, Vaughn had fled the kingdom as quickly as four legs could carry him.

"Not very. He's avoiding you," she answered honestly, turning to look at him so she could explain. "He saved your life, and so you started calling him a brother, and made him godfather of our baby," she rolled her eyes on that last one, clearly she didn't agree with that selection, "and it terrified him so he fled the kingdom." Actually, maybe this was all a good thing. Sure, now Alistair loved and trusted the man even more, but that was exactly the things that had him running scared. At least it meant she didn't have to worry about him climbing in her bedroom window.

Once she had finished explaining, she balanced the baby on her hip carefully, then reached out to pull open the door, before she headed down the hall towards the library, expecting Alistair to follow her.

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[Alistair]

Avoiding him? She went on and on; explaining how Vaughn was running some him and he was calling the man brother. Then while he was trying to take all this in; she just up and walked away! it took him a few moments to follow her down the hall and when he reached where she was walking he stepped before her.

Made sure she stopped walking. "Vaughn's not afraid of anything; why would he run. This is everything he'd want." He seemed to draw some information in her tone about her feelings for the man. "You dislike him." He told her; not even sure why he bothered saying what he knew. He never spoke casually.

Taking a few steps back he watched her; trying to read as much as he could in her face. Would he normally have taken Vaughn's side over her's? Did he really call the man brother? Vaughn had saved his life before, why call him brother now?

[isadora]

She halted when he stopped in front of her, she supposed her hurried explanation really hadn't been good enough. "You're right, he's not afraid of anything...except for his own emotions. When he risked his life for yours, you both seemed to realize that he actually cared about someone besides himself. You thought it was a good thing. He disagreed." She knew that she was glad Vaughn had saved Alistair...it was why she had caved and let him call the man Sabina's godfather. But she didn't think he had changed as much as Alistair seemed to think he had.

"What is there to like about him?" She countered when he pointed out that she didn't like Vaughn. She wasn't going to lie and pretend she and Vaughn were good chums...no, she'd decided honesty would be for the best, and she was sticking to that. "He's vile, indecent, cruel, and sadistic." He couldn't argue with that, especially if he was back in his mindframe from four years ago, when he still knew exactly what Vaughn was, but kept him around for his utility. Now he was just crazy, thinking that someone so truly awful could change so quickly.

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[Alistair]

"And he's never not had my back in a fight." He told her; looking at her trying to decide how Vaughn would think of her and for some reason--some stupid unfathomable reason--he didn't like the idea of Vaughn thinking bout her. He wasn't something he could just explain; but he knew that it could be the ideas she was putting in his head.

Either way the idea of Vaughn thinking of her like he thought of the tavern maids displeased him. the metal on his hand felt heavy; and he was unsure to wearing such things. Yet he had not removed it for it he could tell by the tone of his skin it belonged. Did he dare trust himself to think she belonged? He knew that he would protect her; but he wasn't sure if she was doing this. "Go to these books you seek." He told her; needing to not look at her so closely and not knowing which way to storm off. He would follow her there.

[isadora]

"Which is the only reason I put up with him." Otherwise Vaughn would have been dead a long time ago, because keeping Alistair alive was about the only worthwhile thing she knew of that he had ever done. She would never say it to the man himself, because it would either go to his head or cause him to demand something for his services, but that was something she was grateful for. "But I don't have to like him." And she never would.

Alistair looked somewhat indecisive for a moment as he looked down at her, before he instructed her to go to her books. She paused for a moment, sharing his indecision as she tried to decide if this was really the right thing to do. She didn't even know if there would be anything in the library on this kind of thing, and even if there was, how was she going to fix it? "Alistair....if you need to leave...to find Vaughn, or the druids or whoever...I won't stop you. It's your decision, but I hope if you do...you decide to come back, too."

She wanted him to know that he wasn't a prisoner here; if he wished, he could leave. Find whatever answers he wanted. But she wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say. Looking away, she stepped around him, and continued on her way to the library. He could decide for himself what he wanted to do.

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[Alistair]

She was telling him to leave? Alistair watched her and tried to decide what she was asking him to do. He knew he could solve this faster on his own; or just disappear and made it easier on everyone. Yet he also knew that she'd not let him; not the way he was going; and not with what he was going to go with. Alistair would not be leaving alone when he did go; and going was looking more and more promising by the second. Yet with how she clutched the child he knew she'd not be so willing to watch him walk away with her.

Even still; he wanted to know who was behind this; and his best course of action was pretending this was a job. One he'd been paid to do; and he could do with out getting involved in. With her he knew it would be hard; but he could resist temptation. How hard could it be to ignore her? "Go. To. Your. Books." He repeated; ignoring everything she said. For now; he was staying. He was going to find out who was behind this and then he would deal with them; and then he would leave--with his child.

[isadora]

She didn't dare look back to see if he was following, or if he'd decided to take her up on her offer and just go. Memory or no, she knew that she wanted him to stay, despite what she'd said. But then he barked his command at her to go to her books, and she smiled when she heard his footsteps behind her, following. So whatever he'd decided, it involved staying here, at least for the time being. She was glad. The more time they spent together, the more opportunities she'd have to try and remind him of the things he'd forgotten.

When they arrived at the the library, Isadora greeted the court historian warmly, before she continued on without telling him what she was looking for. It would only raise unwanted questions, and besides, she knew where the volumes on magic were. Since meeting Alistair, she'd found occasion to learn more about the art, especially after she got pregnant. She wanted to understand it better, especially if it would be a part of her daughter's life, so she'd made herself familiar with it. She hadn't looked at many spells seriously, though...she supposed that was about to change.

She balanced the baby on her hip, rocking her back and forth slowly as she searched through the books. Admittedly, this would be easier if she weren't holding the baby, but she got the distinct impression that letting Alistair hold her wasn't a good idea just yet. He seemed to have avoided doing so earlier, and so if it meant he wouldn't carry her off just yet, she'd prolong that reluctance as much as she could. She selected a few tomes that looked promising, and took them to a nearby table to start her search.

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[Alistair]

This was why he wasn't keen on the idea of looking at books; it left his restless. She was picking over the words; and the bound leather; and holding the baby close. He on the other had had nothing to do. Alistair wanted to be out there and find who had done this; reverse it and undo the damn spell for the soul purpose of knowing the truth!

Yet he was here; watching her pour over books as if one of them would have a drawing of a man; with writings saying he was evil; and had done this. He walked to one side of the room slowly; looking over the books and in his mind trying to guess their worth. Without thinking about it; he walked slowly to the other side of the room; where there were more books. If he needed to disappear; and took even a hand full of these he could have enough coin to make it far from here. Moving back to the other side of the room; he had not even realized he was pacing. Slowly; but still with an edge of being caged. He did not like the walls; and he didn't like not being able to see the sky to know things. Even more so he hated how the walls hid things; and let people hide.

Watching her and the babe; he wondered if he should take the child. It would free her other hand; and let him see how realistic his plan was to take the babe--and maybe the mother--and leave. Yet he did not; knowing that he knew nothing of holding anything that small and easily hurt. He did not want to bring harm to the girl.

[isadora]

Isadora did her best to ignore his pacing, even though everytime his back was turned she had to fight against the temptation to steal a glance at him, just to reassure herself that he wasn't about to bolt out the door. Not that he needed to bolt; she'd said he could leave if he wished, and she meant it. It would break her heart into a million tiny pieces, but she wouldn't stop him. So far, she was just really happy he'd stayed.

It was lucky that Sabina was still sleepy, since Isadora wasn't sure she'd be able to ignore her amnesiac husband, find out what had caused his amnesia, and amuse her infant daughter all at once. She pored over the texts, trying to find what she needed before Alistair got tired of waiting or Sabina decided to wake up. She wasn't quite sure how long they'd been there when she finally found something that seemed worthwhile...a spell to steal memories.

"I think I found something...a memory stealing spell." she said, looking up at him. "It says here that they would have needed something of yours...something important to you." She wondered what they would have taken; what was important to him that they could have stolen? "Something related to the memories they took." Alistair didn't place a lot of attachment on material things; she looked down at his hand, eyes searching for the metal band she'd grown used to seeing there. It wasn't out of place.

Alistair's wedding band was simple, but ornate. Silver, engraved with a pattern of interwoven lines that ran endlessly into one another along the outside of the ring in the shape of a knot design he'd shown her, the symbol for marriage. The metal was the same as the ring she wore, only her ring was thinner, and tapered away from a large sapphire, but the symbol carved into it was the same as his. They were symbolic of melding their very different lives together, and they were both right where they belonged. She sighed, her eyes journeying back up to his face as she considered what else he had that would qualify for such a spell.

It occurred to her suddenly, and her eyes went to his throat, only noticing now that it was uncharacteristically bare. "Where's your pendant?" She asked suddenly, her eyes going to his face, before she realized he may need more explanation than that. "There's a chain that you always wear around your neck. Did you take it off?" He wouldn't have taken it off while he still had his memories, so if he removed it, he ought to remember doing so. But if it was that...then who would have had the opportunity to take it?

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[Alistair]

Alistair did not pause in his pacing as she spoke in that voice he was coming to know; or if her story was true--one he already knew. It was cultured and unbending; yet there was something soft in it. Something that made him enjoy the dirtier thoughts of make it sound other ways. Apparently he was missing jewelry. Bloody hell he wore jewelry? All the time?! Or apparently enough for her to wonder why it was missing and think it was related to her memory.

He didn't stop his pacing; but spoke in reply. Alistair didn't need to look to see if he was wearing anything or not. He would know; for he would feel the weight. "How does one break it?" He asked; getting to the point. Did he have to get this item back? That was at least something that would give him something to do; and not leave him standing here waiting for something to happen. At least magic was something he could handle; for it was only as damaging at the person behind it. He would simply find out why this was happening; and seek out the bastard behind it; and kill him.

[isadora]

Isadora wasn't surprised that he didn't bother to look over or even stop pacing as he replied, nor was she surprised by the curtness of his reply. "We'll have to get whatever they took back...and destroy it." Which would mean they'd have to find whoever did this. Well....at least they knew what they had done, and how to undo it. It still left them with figuring out who had done it. Who could get close enough to Alistair to take his pendant without him noticing?

He wasn't someone who was easy to catch off guard, so she didn't imagine that it would be very easy for someone to just take it. She knew she didn't pay enough attention to little details like that to notice when he had stopped wearing it...or did she? "A few nights ago, you came to bed with a bruised jaw." He wouldn't tell her who had given it to him, just said it wasn't important. "Sir Garrett told me you got into a fight with someone in town, a drifter." He hadn't known who it was, either. "Maybe he took it, when you were fighting?" She suggested, if they found the man he'd been fighting with, maybe they could sort this out.

Sabina woke up, mewling softly as she blinked against the light in the library and kicking her little feet. Isadora looked down at her and smiled, rocking her gently as she woke up. "Morning, sleepy." She cooed softly, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead affectionately.

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[Alistair]

"A few nights ago, you came to bed with a bruised jaw." Did he now? Alistair resisted the urge to reach up and see if it was still tender. Yet the idea of her under him in a bed made him forget everything but the urge it inspired. "Sir Garrett told me you got into a fight with someone in town, a drifter." Alistair made a mental note it hit the man later.

He wasn't sure who the hell this over achieving knight was; but he didn't like that the man reported his supportive actions to her; nor that he spoke to her. The former was understandable in his mind; on why he would not like it. He was a bit concerned about his displeasure over the later. "Maybe he took it, when you were fighting?" She asked him; but he didn't remember; so he couldn't answer.

"Where do I find this Garrett?" So he could get an answer from him. It was then the babe made a sound and he looked over toward her. Pausing in his pacing and just stareing for a moment.

[isadora]

Isadora was still looking down at the baby when Alistair asked his question, and she didn't look up while she thought about it, still making faces at Sabina and watching with amusement as the little girl tried to mimic them. "At this hour, he'd be in the training yard with the recruits. Sir Garrett is the Knight-Commander, and the King's Champion." Only the king could choose his champion, so it would likely be Garrett until her father passed away.

Rearranging the baby in her arms, she stood up, gesturing for Alistair to follow her. "I'll show you the way." She offered, she'd have to feed the baby soon, but she could do that while Alistair was interrogating Sir Garrett. She felt bad for siccing the old Alistair on him, but she had little other choice; she hadn't gotten a good description of him from Garrett, as she'd expected Alistair would tell her more.

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[Alistair]

"Sir Garrett is the Knight-Commander, and the King's Champion." So he was an over achieving little bastard who ratted out his every move. Alistair decided then and there that he did not like the man on principal alone. He was a knight, he reported to people about him, and now she was listing off reasons why she was bloody well damned impressed by him.

"I'll show you the way." It annoyed him; and angered him greatly that he could not even find his own way around his 'own' home apparently. There was no air in here! He felt suffocating. How the hell did they even know which way they were going in this place?! "Make it quick. Time is short." Alistair told her; just trying to annoy her now; rather then actually making a point. Time might be short; but even he knew that he was being rude.

"Lead the way; Princess." He used her title as a name rather then using her name. Is that not what nobles did? Took away a name?

[isadora]

Isadora wasn't trying to brag about Sir Garrett's accomplishments, but rather indicate who he was and why he was deserving of Alistair's respect. And she was certain that when he had his memories, Alistair did respect Garrett, because he was good at what he did and what he did was keep the royal family of Gwent safe; his family. And Garrett had never opposed their union, as long as it was what Isadora wanted; he'd even defended them verbally when others would have criticized them.

"You like Sir Garrett, I should add." She tossed in, just for good measure, and partially to annoy him as they started to walk down towards the castle courtyard. "He's a good man, despite what you think about knights." The old Alistair would still hate knights...hell, even with all his memories he wasn't crazy about the majority of them. But he could be civil, especially towards those he liked. And Isadora was convinced that Alistair did like Garrett...whether she was deluding herself or not.

Rather than being annoyed when he called her princess, she smiled, casting a quick glance at him, then she started giggling. Sabina followed her lead, more because she liked mimicking her mother than because she actually found anything amusing, and soon both princesses were giggling away. Same old Alistair as ever, she supposed, feeling more hopeful suddenly.

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