Karma had been spellbound by the window's sudden reaction to her words and was hardly aware of the deep-seated feeling of loss as something was drawn from the deep well of her being and taken away.
The magnificent transformation was over as quickly as it had begun and, a moment later, she found herself in the presense of what looked to be a very exhausted young boy.
The dingy music room fell into silence, broken only by the faint alto whimpers of his breathing. What did she do...? Part of her immediately wanted to sweep him into her arms and comfort him, but another part of her worried that it might somehow make things worse. Especially if he was in pain.
"Hello...?" she asked tentatively, taking a step toward the boy. "Are you all right?"
The small tanned face shot up suddenly, regarding her with unsettlingly-blue eyes that stood out starkly against his tanned skin. Before she had time to react, he had lunged at her as though he'd known her for years and buried his face against her stomach, clinging to her tightly with quivering arms.
.....well....!!
Karma gingerly put her arms around the boy, soothing him as best as she could. "Shhh....its all right." she whispered, kneeling to hold him better as he nestled his head between the crook of her neck and shoulder. "Are you hurt?"
She felt his head shake in the negative against her shoulder, then hesitate, and nod in the positive.
"Where?"
"All...over." Melidora said in a voice that was tremulous and weak. That was to be expected -- he hadn't spoken in many, many years. "Where are Mother and Father...? Have you seen them?"
It was like someone had twisted her arm suddenly as Karma winced. She could only assume that they were dead if Nox had resorted to coming to HER to free him. She hadn't gotten nor asked for the specifics on the Curse the dark fey woman had spoken of.
"I don't know." she settled on, as it was truthful and the safest answer.
"Oh." Melidora fell silent. "Where's Astra?"
"I don't know." she said again, furrowing her brow. Who was Astra...? Perhaps a pet of his? This was obviously not going to be a very smooth adjustment period for him.
"Oh." he repeated, falling into ponderous silence as he processed this information.
"Melidora...?" Karma asked, trying the name out.
"M'tired." he muttered, collapsing against her bonelessly as she quickly juggled his weight between her arms to better-support him.
"Rest, then." she told him, gingerly lifting him and finding him not as heavy as she thought he might be. "Let's see if there's somewhere for you to lay down..."
Melidora didn't answer, already having fallen into a deeply-exhausted sleep.
