Back in the alternate universe, Gorham was at Alice's coronation. The whole kingdom seemed to have come to witness it. Some where focused on mourning the lost queen while others were there to celebrate the new one. All this was taking place in the arena where the competition Victor had organized was supposed to have taken place. The competition had been cancel almost a month ago for the official burial of Queen Diane. It was a strange ceremony given that there was no body. Also no one was answering any questions about how or where she died. The kingdom echoed a conspiracy but they could not do anything.
Furthermore, after seeing the way Gorham had been devastated they took it that he would certainly not let anyone get away with killing their queen. Now everyone was back to the same arena where the funeral had been held celebrating the new queen. They studied how Gorham was reacting. He wasn't happy about this and when he was asked to take the stand and acknowledge Alice's position it seemed that he was taking longer than necessary for him to decide to get to the podium.
Finally he was there. Everyone held there breathe. There was still time to refuse to accept it. His voice rang around the arena and everyone hang on his every word.
`As the kings before me have done in our past and as I have done to one of our own, I come up to this stage once more. Every kingdom depends on her leaders agreeing with one another, working in harmony for the good of her people.' there was a long pause. `I have heard talk that there is a conspiracy and I know some of you were waiting for me say this the last time but the loss of queen Diane hit me hard. I was not a leader when I was expected to be and know I take this opportunity to tell you the truth,' there was a murmur behind him but he didn't pay any attention to it at all. `The death of Queen Diane came suddenly and unexpectedly but we all knew she was about to step down and had accepted that Alice should take over. That was no secret but Alice's post now as the new queen is not by birthright. She was appointed by the council after much consideration but I am the one who will be working with her and …' he paused as his eyes stopped at a particular face. It was a woman approximately ten years younger than him but it was not for that reason that she caught his attention. It was the way she was looking at him. She smiled encouragingly. He shook his head and went back to finish his speech. Those who notice the slight pause thought that it was a dramatic pause. He continued the last few lines. `I, King Gorham the third, accept Alice as my queen and swears that I will rule with her in harmony regardless of her being the elected queen. I will guide her in the right path to uphold the law and justice. I give my word.' There was a loud applause coming from the crowd below and sighs of relief from behind the podium.
He went to sit down but his eyes remained on the face among the crowd. Eventually it was Alice's turn to speak. She said the usual things but the crowd felt that she did not feel what she said therefore the crowd did not applaud as loudly.
At the end of it there was music and people congratulating Alice for her achievement. Gorham was heading away he went down the steps to the back the below where they had been standing, he went to the entrance to the arena where the guards were. The guard recognized the king but they didn't know if they should restrain him or not. He came and stood there wondering where he was to go next.
Jared had seen him go off from the platform. He followed him until the entrance. He went up to him, `Can I help you your Majesty?' he asked.
Gorham turned to him, `I'm looking for someone...'
But he was interrupted by a woman's voice, `Your Majesty,' she said. He turned and looked at her. She curtsied with her head bowed. Then she slowly stood straight. `I'm terribly sorry for your loss,' she said.
Gorham walked to her though Jared wanted to oppose the move. `What loss is that?' he asked stopping in front of her. He was taller than her so she was looking up at him.
`The death of the queen.' Gorham nodded. She continued, `Of course now you have a new wife...'
`No, she isn't my wife. She is just a queen but not my wife,' he objected.
She smiled slightly, `Forgive me,' she apologized as she looked down then almost immediately looked up at him. Jared from a distance away could see that she was flirting with Gorham. `I'm not from around here.'
`Where are you from?'
`I've been around a lot I seem to forget,' she smiled then pushed back her hair behind her ears. `I'm a merchant. I travel around selling things and buying others.'
`A woman merchant?' he noticed her raise her eyebrow questioningly but he let that pass. Instead he said, `So I take that you are here to do a bit of business?'
`Yes.'
`You know you will require a permit for that?'
`That's what I've been told.' she looked up at him. There was something familiar with her eyes but he couldn't get what it was. `I was also told that I was to see you or someone else in your department to give me the permit!'
`You surely didn't come to conduct business at a coronation?' he was intrigued.
`On the contrary, business can be conducted anywhere but you are right, I did not come up here to conduct business. I came to give you my condolences.'
`Thank you very much,' he said.
`You say she wasn't your wife yet from what I've heard, you were very close to her?'
`You heard correct,' he watched her.
`And she wasn't your wife?' she asked but before he answered she was rumbling on, `I don't mean to ask all these questions but...' she suddenly stopped and bit her lip. This brought Gorham's attention to them. He realized she was indeed a beautiful woman and an intelligent one also. She reminded him of Diane. She suddenly said, `I should go.'
`And I should get back to the celebration up there,' he pointed. She looked up and smiled. She had a beautiful smile. `For the permit, you will come to the castle...' his words hang expectantly.
`Of course,' she curtsied again and then left.
Gorham watched her for awhile then turned and went back up the stairs. He went to congratulate Alice as was expected then they went and had a dinner party. Everybody in the party knew that he did not approve the coronation but he would obviously do his best. For the last month they had been arguing whether they should crown her as queen given that Wendy was out there somewhere. But the argument had been won by the opposing side claiming that they do not know when Wendy will come back if she is even considering it. They argued that they needed a queen and the countries around them needed to see that they had a queen in order not to try and oppress them.
It was two days later that the woman at the arena showed up. He couldn't believe that he had not asked her name but here she was being led into the office by another guard. Jared was in the office as usual. Gorham stood up instinctively as she curtsied, then he put out his hand to her.
`Your Majesty,' she said as she shook his hand.
`I'm sorry,Miss...' he chuckled, `I can't believe I didn't ask you your name at the arena.'
`Completely understandable. If you hadn't said your name at the podium I wouldn't have remembered to ask it later on,' she was smiling so widely.
`So what is your name?' he asked.
`Sidney Storm.'
`Sidney. That's a strange name.'
`I'm a strange woman.' She laughed at that. Her laughter was infectious and so Gorham found himself laughing also. `Anyway, I come from a far away land. I was born and stayed there for about five years of my early life. Then we stated to move again. My parents were merchants and I took over the trade when they died.'
`So what do you trade in?'
`Various things; clothing materials, shoes, and ornaments for common people.'
`What about for the uncommon people?' Gorham asked.
`Well, we have artifacts from the other places very valuable and fashionable. We also have jewelery covered with diamond and rubies, emeralds just to mention a few. They are very valuable and look good too.'
Gorham looked thoughtful for a second then asked, `In this business, you do it alone?'
`I might have lied when I said I'm a merchant,' she confessed clasping her hand together. Gorham narrowed his eyes. `I might have started out as a merchant but I realized that traveling up and down was tiresome and so I open up shops where we can buy things and sell them and if another shop wants goods they just go and collect them from there.'
`So what you want is a permanent permit?'
`Yes.'
`That is a bit more complicated than a temporary one.'
`I know and that's why I took my time to come and see you. I had to walk around and see that I needed to start a business here. I realized that the security here is great courtesy of the late queen,' she paused.
`Yes, Diane,' he said sadly.
But Sidney was here for business. She continued on, `Security is the first thing that I look for and I like it here. Second is the taxing. You have rates that are fairly high but as far as I saw it is fair enough. I wouldn't mind paying the tax and third, I like that your kingdom is connected to others and you do relate well with your neighbors. Those are the three things that I look for before I decided that I want to get a permanent permit and they are here. So I am willing to compromise and do whatever necessary to get.'
`You really have a sweet tongue,' he said. She smiled at this though she had decided to remain serious. `In the course of your talking you commended every part of the leadership in the kingdom without even knowing it. But,' he pause as he looked at her, `the requirements we need you to meet isn't so hard but we will need at least two references of where you have been before so that we know who we are dealing with.'
`Of course,' she said as she adjusted herself in the seat. That was the first time he noticed what was hanging on her neck.
`Where did you get that?' he asked pointing at her neck.
She looked down and lifted the necklace, `This,' she looked back at him, `A friend of mine had given it to me awhile back.'
`Where did he get it?' he asked not taking his eyes off it.
`It was a she and I don't know where she got it from. Why do you ask?' her eyes searched his.
`Diane used to have one just like it...' his voice trailed.
`Oh!' she exclaimed in a soft voice. Then surprising him she reverted back to business.
When they had concluded and she had left Gorham thoughtful. He was thinking about when Diane had got the necklace. He had seen her wear it several times and thought she looked great but like other things he had not asked about it. He eventually looked up at Jared.
`I want you to sent someone trusted to Diane's castle. I want them to check the cataloged list of her possessions and check specifically for all the necklaces that she owned. I want the descriptions of all of them.'
`Why sir?' Jared asked though he had heard everything.
`Because I just want to know if it is still there or who it was given to.'
`Do you think that she stole it?' he asked.
`No. I just want to know its whereabouts.'
After a long time news came back and he was informed that the necklace was missing. He decided to stop thinking about it. It was easy since he was used to blocking out things by now. After the permit had been granted he didn't see her for sometime. Then Alice brought up the topic about her. She wanted to meet her since she had seen some of the jewels on other high class women but she couldn't just pull up in front of her shop. Gorham objected several times but after begging he agreed to send out word for Sidney.
Sidney was picked up by Gorham's carriage. Apparently she had made the tavern her home. She walked out and Gorham got out of the carriage. She walked up to him. `You look great Miss Storm,' he said and he meant it. She wasn't wearing the customary large ball gown that other women used to wear instead her's was simpler and kind of showed off her figure. She had on her well known jeweleries though hers was today much simpler and small. She had her hair up in a bun and her long neck was bare. He couldn't see the shoes but he could tell that she was a few inches taller.
`Thank you, Your Majesty,' she curtsied before she took his hand and he helped her up the carriage. When the carriage started to move she said, `You have been avoiding me, Your Majesty.'
`Why would you say that?' he asked not sounding surprised nor disturbed by the accusation.
`Because ever since I got my permit and I wanted to see you were conveniently busy.'
`Why did you want to see me?'
She was suddenly tongue-tied, `Does it matter why I wanted to see you?' she asked.
`Yes,' he said. The carriage stopped and the door was opened. Gorham stepped out and gave his hand. She climbed down the steps then hanging on to Gorham's arm they were walking in to Alice's castle now. `It matters because I'm a very busy man.'
`You are such a liar,' she whispered between her teeth. `This avoiding me just started when you saw the necklace.' She smiled at the people they were passing.
`I don't see any evidence to prove that I've been avoiding you,' he said simply as they got ball room.
She turned to him shocked. She almost shouted, `What?' then she heard their names being announced. She turned to find the room had turned to them. She smiled an embarrassed smile and as the walked in she whispered, `You are so bad.' He smiled at her. They stopped several times as they greeted the ambassadors to the other kingdoms. Everybody's eyes were on the woman though. They literally stared. They got to their table and Gorham pulled her a chair. He sat next to her with Nathan on his other side and Alice on Sidney's other side.
Introductions went round the table. It was in bright light that he now saw her face clearly. Nothing had changed much except for the pink lips that appeared to be glistening. He found himself staring at her lips but he managed to tear his eyes away from them and turned to Nathan and he found that in spite of his wife being at his side he was ogling Sidney openly. Gorham turned his attention to something else. He concentrated on the band itself then after some time Sidney was standing in front of him. She said something. He didn't understand. `What are you saying?' he asked.
`You aren't going to let me stand here like an idiot all night?' she asked and appeared irritated.
`Why not?' he asked staring at her. He realized that he was enjoying tormenting her.
`I want to dance and I've heard that it is customary to dance with your date first before everyone else and you are my date.' She waited for an answer.
He took his time then said, `On one condition,' he stood up and looking at her eyes he said, `You will tell me about the necklace!' Her eyes became wide and she was dumbfounded. Everyone at the table and some from the other tables watched them intently.
`Okay, you win,' she said defeated.
`I like the sound of that.' He took her arm and led her to the dance floor. They started dancing. Sidney wasn't really into the dance now but as he continued to twirl her, she realized that he was showing her off. She smiled and finally was happily dancing all over the floor. She let him lead and she followed. He was a good dancer. Then the climax approached and they were concentrating. The audience thought that they would fall at one point or the other but they didn't. Finally the tune ended suddenly and she came crashing in to him.
It took her a moment to catch her breathe. All around them applause was taking place. She turned to look at him. He wasn't going to admit it but he had enjoyed it. She was escorted back to her seat and everyone could see her beaming with happiness. But then when Gorham had gone back to sit down, he was lost again in his own thoughts. She had finished with Alice, promising to bring her some of the jewels the following day. Nathan's wife Felicia also requested some.
She tapped on Gorham's shoulder and he turned appearing to be a bit dazed. `You wanted to know about the necklace?'
He looked around the table and noticed Nathan staring at the both of them. He stood up and helped her up. They said goodbye to their companions on the table and they left. Jared as usual was alert and the minute they were out he was going to call the carriage but Gorham waved him no. Back to the old routine, Jared mused as he walked some distance back.
`The diamond comes from far far away. It has its own story or legend. The people who live where it is from say that when someone dies, their spirit is carried away by angels to some beautiful, mystical place. And that when they are transporting you to that place they cry that you have left your previous home and if you were good in your life, the tears drop on the ground and form star-shaped flowers but when you were bad, the tears fall hard on the ground but stick together and thus the diamonds are formed.
The people there believe that the diamonds from that particular valley can be used to trap spirits when they die. In the legend they say that the people used to take them and trap the spirits of those bad who had died in order not to make the angels cry the hard tears.'
`How does one trap spirits in it?' Gorham asked. His heart was beating fast. Could there be a way that Diane was still alive? He asked himself.
Sidney thought, `The rituals used to be performed by powerful people, most likely wizards and they were performed them a day or two before someone died.'
`What happened after they were trapped? The spirits?'
`The old books say that they were just cast into rivers. I don't know for sure,' she paused as she turned to look at him but it was hopeless. It was too dark to read the expression on his face. `You said that Diane had the same necklace, where did she get it from?'
`I have no idea.'
They were quiet for a long time as they continued to walk. Sidney shivered in the cold night. Gorham noticed. He turned back to Jared and signaled something. then he took off his coat and surprised her by putting it on her. She mumbled a thanks. The whole time they kept silent. The carriage came and pulled up next to them. It later stopped in front of the tavern. Gorham walked her in and then up the stairs. They stopped at her door.
`Thank you for the night,' she said as she handed him his coat back.
`You should get a better place to live in.'
`Yes, I know,' then she stood on her toes and kissed his lips then as suddenly as that happened she was in her room with the door closed. Gorham lick his lips. They tasted of grapes. He smiled then turned to leave. He found Jared staring at him.
~~~~~~~~~
The next few days Sidney managed to keep her distance away from him. She had been so embarrassed by the kiss that night. Now, three days later, she had something that she just couldn't keep to herself. She went to Gorham's castle and was taken to the library where he was. News had already been dispatched that she was important.
She burst into the private office saying, `You won't believe what I…' she stopped short when she realized Gorham wasn't in the office alone. Nathan turned to look at her. A guard appeared behind her and started to apologize. He also started to whisk Sidney away but Gorham raised his hand and the guard left.
`Morning Sidney,' he said.
`Morning Your Majesties,' she curtsied. Then the shock wore off, `I'm sorry for interrupting but,' she started to walk toward the table, `I found something interesting that I thought you should know.' She walked to Gorham's side. Nathan was intrigued. He had never seen anyone on the other side of the desk beside Gorham.
She leaned next to him and opened the book that she had been carrying into the office. She had two necklaces at the page that she had opened. She picked both of them up put them in front of Gorham. `Can you tell the difference between the two of them?' she asked.
Gorham studied both and then answered, `This one,' he pointed at the one on the right hand. `Is clearer than the other one.'
`Yes,' she said then putting the one on the right hand behind her neck. The other one she put aside. `At first I thought that mine was just a better quality than the other one. But after going through the books I realized that the clear ones were picked at the valley itself while the unclear ones were picked in the river.' she said.
Gorham had turned his seat and was listening intently to her. `So this was what supported the legend?' he asked.
`Yes,' she smiled. `Tell me I'm a genius!' she was almost jumping up and down because of excitement.
`You are a genius,' he indulged her.
`So you know the way there is a bit of truth in every rumor and a bit of truth in every legend, well let's assume the legend is actually true because well, most things started to become legend when the wizards started dying out.' At this point Nathan became very attentive. `They were the people performing the rites and whatnot. Suddenly they weren't there and the diamonds in the valley have multiplied while the ones in the river have reduced in size. The smoky ones I realized that cost more than what I'm wearing but then they are much less in numbers. Then knowing all that, I search through the books on anything that is described as smoky hazy or some other references like that then I find that the most interesting thing with a reference to smoky. The reference is to the Izanami clan,' She saw Gorham lean forward. `Exactly! Your Queen was from the Izanami clan which is a strong connection to the diamond in the necklace.'
`Where did you get all that?'
`I collect rare books as a hobby,' she shrugged. `Anyway, now we have someone from the Izanami clan and a diamond that is supposed to trap the spirit. What we now need to know is whether she knew she was dying or whether she knew a wizard...' She noticed the look on his face. `She knew both things!' she exclaimed.
Gorham barely nodded. `Did you find out why someone would need to trap her own spirit?'
`I was getting to that. I asked myself; why would they throw the diamonds in to the water after they had trapped the spirits?' She pointed to the book. Even Nathan leaned over to see. It was a picture of drowning people in a river. `Even though trapped, the Spirits, remember they were bad, cause havoc. Being concentrated in the river it was said that they drowned anyone who came in to the river. There are some accounts that some people kept the diamonds claiming that they were family. They found out later that the family was doing all the wrong things that the dead person had been doing.'
There was silence in the room. Finally Gorham asked, `What if it was a good person's spirit being trapped?'
`There is no account of that.'
`Assuming what would happen...' Gorham looked at her questioningly.
`First before I assume, I would ask myself; did she want her spirit to be trapped or if her spirit had been trapped without her knowledge...'
`Assuming she wanted it...'
`Then I would ask myself why? Did she just not want the angels to cry or did she want to pass something to someone else?' Gorham didn't answer. She said, `I am most intrigued by wizards. It is said that when they looked at you they could see your own spirit. So unless I am really wrong then I think that they can see the spirits or even talk to them.' She raised her shoulder then brought it down again. She closed the book and put the smoky diamond in her pocket.
`Sidney,' he got up and surprisingly he hugged her, `You are a real genius.'
She put her arms around him. `But I didn't help you much, did I?'
`Do you think that I would have been able to figure that out by myself?' he pulled back and looked at her.
`Oh my,' she pulled back completely, `I almost forgot.' she fished into her other pocket and pulled out something wrapped in a piece of clothe and put it in his hands. `I need you to keep it for me here tonight.' It is almost priceless and it leaves tomorrow to some duke somewhere. I forget his name.'
`You could keep it in Alice's castle!'
`I don't trust women with things like this. Besides,' she pulled herself up and kissed him on the cheek. `I want you to know why it's almost priceless.' Then she headed to the door.
After she left Gorham opened the clothe and looked at an ill-shaped stone. It had several colors depending on how you held it. Nathan was watching him. When he finally finished looking at it and he wrapped it up, Nathan said, `She is a very strange woman!'
`Why would you say that?' he asked.
`Well, she comes into town and barely two weeks later she is dinning with kings and a queen.'
`She has what people want.'
`I don't buy the reason she is attracted to you.'
`Who said she was attracted to me?'
`She's always touching you and she just kissed you.' Gorham shook his head in disbelief. `And you are attracted to her too. What happened to Diane so fast?'
`She died.'
`But you are still looking for her.'
`I am looking for her daughter.' he opened a book and said, `Let's get to work, please.'
Nathan left it at that. He kept wondering though about this woman. He didn't like her but that may be just because he felt attracted to her. He wondered why Gorham who was older seemed to get the best women but him, he was stuck with his wife. He stared at Gorham and could see how the weight of the whole kingdom lay on his shoulder. He still didn't wish to become him.
The following day Sidney walked into Gorham's business office. She was escorted by two armed men and another unarmed man. Gorham's own guards had come into the office in case something happened. Sidney and the an armed man came forward.
`Afternoon Your Majesty,' she curtsied and the man bowed in respect. Gorham as usual stood up and greeted both of them. `I came for the stone!'
`Yes,' he opened one of the drawers and removed the stone in its wrapping. He handed the stone to Sidney. She in turn took it and put it in a case that the man next to him was carrying. She locked it with a key and handed the key to one of the guards. They bowed and then walked away. Finally it was only Gorham, Sidney and Jared in the room.
`Please have a seat,' he said.
`Thank you,' she sat down and looking at him in a strange way asked, `Did it help?'
`The stone?' he asked rhetorically. `Yes, as a matter of fact. I can see why it is priceless.'
`I didn't say it is priceless. I said it was almost priceless.'
`What's the difference?' he was confused.
`It has one fatal flaw. The way it makes the dream so realistic one can die in his or her sleep.' Gorham raised his eyebrow. `If you are to have a good dream, it will make it even better than it was but if you were to have a bad dream, then the nightmare will be heightened.'
`You couldn't have known that I wasn't going to have a bad dream.'
`But the stone has a mind of it's own. When you are sad, it works only on the good dreams and I knew you were sad, so...'
Gorham almost didn't believe her but then he had never seen something that worked that way before. `Where did you get it?'
`All these questions,' she laughed but they both knew she wasn't going to answer the question.
So he asked instead, `What about the duke? Does he know the dangers?'
`Of course, I have given the stone to him before and he understands how it works. He's only borrowing it for awhile.'
`So it will get back to you?'
Sidney's eyes stared at him lazily. `Yes, but I will not give it to you.'
`Why not?'
`Because like everything else that brings a sense of joy, it is addictive and I don't want you to become addicted to it. Besides, I think that you can handle your sadness and maybe one day you will realize that there is no need to feel that way.'
Gorham didn't say anything and for the moment Sidney thought that she might have angered him. He said, `You are the most intuitive person I know.' She was relived. `But why do you give it to other people then?'
`It's business. They pay handsomely to have the stone for a week or a month I'm yet to receive an order for a year but one day I will get it.'
He thought about it then surprised Sidney by saying, `You don't just have one stone, there are several of them!'
She smiled, `You know, come to think of it, you are the most intuitive man I've met.'
As expected Gorham started spending a lot of time with Sidney.She was always telling him something new about something mainly the jewels but he was always being fascinated by them. Then she showed him her collection of books. He was expecting ten books and was surprised to see hundreds of them. If she were to start a library then it would be a big as the one in Alice's castle.
Then one day Gorham invited her to dinner at his castle. It was just the two of them. She was wearing a pale dress that turned to gray almost to the bottom. Her hair this time was down but it was straight and as usual he couldn't see the shoes. She looked so elegant. She came and sat down. They went through the preliminaries and finally he handed her a wrapped package.
She opened it. It was a large clear stone but it wasn't a diamond. She gasped. `The Ikhnaton Stone.'
`I assume you know the story?'
`Yes,' she said in a low voice, she touched the stone lightly and it turned as pale as her dress. Then she just stared at it as it changed back to colorless. She recited the story sadly, `It is said that a once powerful king gave his young bride the stone for her wedding present. She loved it so much because it was made only for her and that her husband had specified the jeweler to cut it specifically to his taste. The bride wore the stone around her neck until the day she died and that the stone absorbed all her emotions and when the king gave his second wife the same stone it was always changing color. He didn't understand why.' She turned to look at Gorham. `I can't wear this.'
`Why