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It took Karan a moment to realize that Demare was actually more scared than he was, and a moment more to decide that he had to protect him from... whatever it was. Even though the weird kid wasn't bad, he was scaring his friend, and that was bad. He had to take matters into his own hands.

For the time being, he settled for taking the rim of the box into his hands, using it as leverage. Once he was standing, he pointed a finger at the offending child. "Stop."

But... Xue didn't mean to scare anyone! He's just confused, and the kids woke him up, and...

DES! crying

Several rooms down, DS falls out of bed with a loud "thud" that could be heard by anyone who happened to be awake.

DS burst through the door to the room, splintering the frame a little. "What the heck happened in here?"

Xue was asleep but Kar and his friend woke him up and he was just saying hi but they got scared and Xue doesn't know why he was being nice and then they got mad and and... crying

Sigh. She should've known better than to mix young children with empaths... especially if one was a young child AND an empath.

"Xue, it's... well, early. Go see if you can sleep in Melete's room for a while, okay?"

Xue can sleep with Mel? surprised

Not needing to be told twice, he hopped off the bead and scurried out of the room- but not before waving once more.

During this, Karan had taken the time to check on his friend. He looked a little better now, but just in case... "Dmah kay?"

"Wecum," Karan replied cheerily. It looked like everything was good again. And good was good. That was all he had to think about now. Everything was good.

"As for you two... why aren't you asleep yet?"

Maybe not so good after all.

DS hardly expected an answer, or even a reaction, but felt the need to give a mini-lecture anyway. Wouldn't hurt, after all.

"It's going to be MORNING soon. If you don't get some rest, don't expect another playdate anytime soon."

Leaving it at that, she adjusted the pillow on the floor and left.

Looking at it again, Karan shrugged and shook his head. The Des lady'd never done that before, so he didn't know why she did it this time.

"Seep now?" His voice was reluctant; the night was still fresh and it called him. To do what he wasn't sure, but if he slept, he'd never know.

Well, if he was tired, then Karan wouldn't get in the way. He would try to sleep. But he wouldn't be surprised if he stayed awake all night long.

Sighing softly to himself, he snuggled deeper into the mass of pillows. "Nigh~"

It took a surprisingly short time for Karan to fall asleep, yet it seemed much longer to the infant as he stared wide-eyed out the window. At least things out there changed. The wind blew the trees around, the sky got darker, the clouds covered the moon as everything faded to black... the room started to glow...

Karan started and tried to rub his eyes, but found that he couldn't move his body. In fact, he couldn't even see it, or feel it. It was as if the only thing that still worked was his vision, and even that was messed up. The room he was looking at certainly wasn't his own. The walls were much lighter in color, a pale gray, and further away from him. And there, a short distance away from him, was a familiar person.

"I just don't know, my darling." A tall woman draped in white silk pulled a strand of silvery hair away from her face, bending closer to the globe she was studying. It reminded Karan a little of the ball he had, only this one was much larger, and perfectly clear. Not even air bubbles or cracks appeared in the shining surface.

"I know it's cloudy," she continued in her soft voice, unaware of Karan's presence, "but I should at least see something. Tonight is my night, after all. Unless..."

"Unless a certain someone is interfering." Another figure emerged from a behind a glimmering curtain, dressed in robes made of much the same material. Her skin was as pale as the other woman's, and just as perfect, even though she was shorter and seemingly younger. Her hair was cut just above her shoulders and jet black, except around the edges and her long bangs, which were also the same silvery color as the woman she approached, one hand outstretched. "It wouldn't be the first time, mother."

The older woman sighed and sank into a chair, putting one hand to her eyes. "I know, my dear. But I can't lose this chance. If I do, he might hurt him again..."

"And what better way to get him on our side? If he believes that Hell would hurt him, wouldn't he trust you more?" The girl took a seat at the opposite side of the globe, laying her outstetched hand on the surface of the globe delicately.

"You know I don't approve of that nickname, my dear," the woman frowned, clenching her hand into a fist and biting it in a most unladylike fashion.

"I'm sorry mother." Looking down into her lap, the girl heaved a sigh. "But you know, he's not the kind who would-"

"That's quite enough. What kind of man he is happens to be irrelevant." Calming tones had started to give way for a sharper, colder voice. "It is who he is, and what he plans to do, that concerns me. If he tries a stunt like that last one again, he might as well kill the boy."

A faint smile danced around the girl's lips as she looked up. "Everything will work out, mother. I can see that it will, and I will make sure it happens for you."

The woman closed her eyes briefly in thought and nodded. "Of course it will," she crooned, cupping the girl's cheek in one hand, her chin in the other. "Of course it will, my daughter."

It disturbed Karan to no end that no matter how hard he tried during this exchange, he could neither move towards the women, nor make any noise to announce his presence. A small bit of him felt bad for intruding, however he had managed to do it, but mostly he was curious. And of course, anything that involved the nice shiny lady had to be good, right?

The girl had been smiling and allowing herself to be held by the woman she called mother, but a scowl soon worked her way onto her face as she was dropped abruptly. "Mother, what is it?"

"Someone is here."

"That's impossible. This is your sanctuary; no one can enter without your blessing."

"All the same, someone is here. But who?" A bit of paranoia had turned out to be her salvation as she rose from her seat, scouring the room for intruders.

"Mother, perhaps you should rest. If there's a rat in hiding, I will remove them."

"I think I will. Take care of things then, my dear." Yawning slightly, the woman retreated behind another curtain, yet her easy demeanor had been corrupted during the alert, and it was with some stiffness that she pulled the curtain back to seal her entry point.

Was he the intruder? But he wasn't really there, was he? After all, he couldn't move, couldn't talk... but he could see, so that had to mean something.

"Go."

The girl turned slowly, facing away from the globe finally, and looked directly ahead of her- directly at the spot where Karan's eyes would be, if he could figure out where his body was. Instead, her own eyes dominated his vision. While the girl seemed to have many things in common, the one feature that differed vastly was her eyes, which pulsed darkly. She had no pupils, no color. Only black, a black that seemed to absorb all light around them. Flecks of silver were visible, but only barely, and they had no glow to them at all. More than anything yet, except perhaps the bright man, Karan feared this girl.

"GO!"

Karan blinked and found himself staring at the plain blue walls of his own room. The only person visible was Demare who appeared to be fast asleep. The room itself was silent, and faint sunlight was starting to appear at the bottom of the windowsill.

Was it a dream? Or was it more than that? And who were those people?

Mind filled with questions, Karan turned over and immediately lapsed into a dreamless sleep.

Karan was curled around the lighter dragon plushie, fast asleep. His body seemed tense even during his slumber, but what of his face was visible was relaxed in comparison.

DS pushed the door open carefully, trying not to disturb anyone who happened to be sleeping. The visitor looked awake, she observed as she tiptoed in, but her own Legend was asleep as usual. Really, she would have do do something about that.

"Good morning, gentlemen," she exclaimed loudly, "for it is a good morning indeed!"

That was enough, though just barely, to distrupt Karan's rest, and he opened his left eye sleepily. Morning? Already?

It took DS all of two seconds to melt into a puddle of ooze from the utter cuteness of what she was seeing. Much as she'd hated being called adorable and precious when she was younger, she couldn't help wanting to take the boy and give him a great big hug.

Restraint didn't come easy, but it came. "Hello yourself, little one," she grinned. "And hello to you, my little night owl."

Was she talking to him? He wasn't a bird... he didn't even have wings. But he nodded all the same, stretching on arm up into the air and the other into the side of the box.

"I don't know when you have to go home, Demare-kun, but I think we should get you some food beforeleaving."