summoned

[mute_pen]

Etty is awoken not by her transformation, but by her summons, a few minutes after dark. In her sleep, she drifted to shore; she's lying in human form - arm intact - half in and half out of the water when she feels it.

It's very insistent.

She cannot bring herself to move. She tries - she does; intellectually she knows it's the smart thing to do - but - she can't. Cannot get up and go to him.

Comments

[pythbox]

No summons, no summons, no summons.

[mute_pen]

...No Nona?

[growcrooked]

No Nona.

[mute_pen]

Etty eats fruit and processes and makes sure she has her scroll and pen and ink away before sunrise. She goes swimming with the last few hours before light; it's more fun when one doesn't float so automatically. And she wants to confirm that she doesn't have a residual fear of drowning. (She doesn't.)

[growcrooked]

There's more screaming from the castle that day.

[mute_pen]

Etty wonders if screaming helps. Along any dimension.

If she doesn't get out of here soon, she supposes she'll have plenty of chances to test this and other hypotheses about what might help.

[growcrooked]

It seems to help Nona, anyway, or at least there's no obvious competing explanation for why she does so much of it.

[mute_pen]

Or maybe it's just what she does, like freezing and shivering is what Etty does.

[growcrooked]

That could be it, too.

[mute_pen]

Etty arranges to be on dry land at sunset.

[pythbox]

Tonight, there is a summons.

[mute_pen]

Etty drags herself there.

Slowly.

She doesn't quite feel like she can breathe.

[pythbox]

"Come to dinner," says the Baron, and he leads her into the castle.

[mute_pen]

Etty comes to dinner.

She eats.

She folds her hands in her lap and looks at them and pretends not to exist.

[pythbox]

"Come to bed, my swan," says the Baron.

[mute_pen]

Etty is silent and still apart from the shaking.

[pythbox]

The Baron picks her up and brings her to bed.

[mute_pen]

Of course he does.

Etty - does not feel quite so overwhelmingly compelled to flee the castle, although she still wants to be out of this room.

She starts wandering the halls. Opening doors. (She checks rooms for library status before she goes into them.)

[pythbox]

None of the doors that she can open are libraries; none of the doors that she can't open set her on fire when she tries them.

[mute_pen]

Is there anything else interesting? (A book left in a non-library, perhaps? Etty sorely misses reading books.)

[pythbox]

Big, imposing halls. Empty rooms. Rooms full of old furniture with cobwebs all over it. Rooms full of old furniture sans cobwebs.

[mute_pen]

Etty wonders if she can find where the food comes from and take some of it. She's a little tired of fruit, and he doesn't feed her nightly.

[pythbox]

In a word, no. There's a kitchen, but it's haphazardly equipped and doesn't currently contain food.

[mute_pen]

And there aren't any leftovers on the table, either, are there.

[pythbox]

No.