• Watching a blue moon rise into a night's sky, a pale, sickly-looking woman stands on a balcony over looking a vast kingdom. She turns to the sound of a second woman walking out into the night to join her at the railing;the other woman's face is grave. "I cannot give him that amount again for some time,Venora.It will damage his vital organs, and even i won't be able to fix that", the second woman reports,glancing at her queen,and then looks back out over the kingdom.
    The light fom the moon always made her queens' fire-red hair glow,and as always, it made her wonder if she was truely seeing her queens' true form at all. "is this really worth it, to risk it all, to possibly lose what you already have?", She asks no one, pulling a vial from her robe pocket.
    the Queen's lavender eyes turn to her,but she says nothing, taking the vial.
    Her advisor sighs, knowing full well that her question was as unanswered as the first time she asked it, so she turns to leave. But just as she reaches the balcony doors; her queens' voice answers her. " i must have it all, Carmen, and i cannot let myself fail again. Because if I do, i will still have nothing." Carmen looks into Venora's room, to the now sleeping male in her bed, and then turns back to her. "i always hoped that your goal could be reached without all this,but if you still feel that way about him, then i can do nothing, if tat most to Mancra and Tarkana, to stop you."
    And without waiting for Venora's reply, she turns and exits the balcony and bedchamber. The sweep of the drapes and the empty vial in the queen's hand the only signs of Carmen's arrival and departure. Venora looks back to her stolen treasure for a moment longer. The lights and faint sounds far below her, comforts her,and whispers unheard promises that she isn't alone. As she retruns to her bed, her lover, and herself, she smiles.