Room 218, Early Friday Morning

[glacial_queen]

After discovering that Mooner was indeed dead and yet had still come back to visit somehow, Karla had stumbled back to her room, mind awhirl. Was that why she'd been dreaming of her parents all week? Was that what that voice had meant when it whispered, "if you dream them, they will come"? Could they, perhaps, even be waiting in her room right then, waiting for her?

She practically dashed to her room, flinging open the door, face wreathed with smiles of welcome--

--to find it as empty as she'd left.

She'd stayed up, waiting, almost all night. No one. Nothing. Radio mentioned other people having visitors, but no one arrived for Karla.

Aching and crying bitter tears, Karla had finally fallen into a fitful sleep, just before dawn.

Several hours later, however, two figures showed up outside her dorm room door. One of them tried the knob; it turned easily at his touch, and the door swung open.

[Meant to be posted much earlier, but I am made of fail.]

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[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Oh," Her voice hitched in her throat, and she grabbed for her husband's arm. "Look at her. My little girl, all grown up."

Karla was sprawled out on her bed, limbs akimbo, hair tangled and spread over her face. Her sleep was not restful and there were shadows under her eyes. But the woman's gaze did not linger overlong on those, or even the remains of tear tracks on Karla's cheeks. She was far too busy marveling at her daughter, far removed from the little girl she had left behind.

"She's lovely."

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Of course you would say that," the man with her teased. "You're her mother."

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Do you disagree?" the woman demanded, though with a gentle smile.

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Of course not," he replied. "Then again, I'm her father."

He frowned down at the knob in his hand. "And, as her father, I'm a bit concerned why this door in unlocked and unguarded. Why is she alone?"

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Now is not the time for questions, Audric," she chided, moving into the room, graceful as willow. Bending over Karla, she could see now the marks of Karla's restless, sleepless night. "Oh, my poor darling," she murmured. "HOw she must have waited. Audric, we never should have tarried."

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"We're here now, love," Audric said, closing the door quietly and joining his wife by their daughter's bedside. "She won't begrudge us a few hours' grace." Still, he sounded regretful as he tenderly brushed an errant curl from her cheek.

[glacial_queen]

Karla murmured something, shifting in her sleep. A small, fuzzy white stuffed cat peeked out from under her arm.

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"She still has that old thing," her father said, smiling a bit. "Do you still think it keeps the nightmares away?"

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"I doubt it," her mother answered, her smile sad. "She's a Black Widow. Dreams will find her, no matter what."

She stroked Karla's brow, trying to smooth the creases there. "It's all right now, darling. We're here."

[glacial_queen]

For a moment, Karla thought she was in another dream. So many nights, she would wake up to see her parents, usually dressed in formal clothes, leaning down to kiss her good night. It was a good feeling, knowing they were there, watching out for her, taking a moment from their busy lives to remind her that they were there and she was loved.

"Mama?" she asked sleepily. "Papa?"

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Nope," Audric said, sitting down on the bed. It creaked and shifted under his weight. "We're the dream sprites, coming to bring happy dreams to sweet girls who've been good today."

[glacial_queen]

Which was exactly what her father used to say, those nights when she would wake and find them with her. But these didn't feel like dreams, even true ones. From the way the back of her neck itched from having her hair tangled there, to the puffy soreness of her eyes, to the faint fragrance of her mother's skin, this all felt disturbingly like...reality.

She sat up abuptly, calling in witchlights because she was too disoriented to reach for the switch. "I--you--here--is it really you?" she whispered, voice trembling. "Really and truly you?"

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

Rather than answer, her mother just leaned over and pulled Karla into her arms. "Darling, I have missed you so much. So very, very much."

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

Audric engulfed the both of them, holding his wife and his daughter together. His voice was thick. "I never thought I'd be able to do this again. To hold you both. I don't think I can bear to ever let you go."

[glacial_queen]

And because she hadn't been doing this anywhere near enough recently, Karla broke down into tears. "How?" she asked, sobbing into her mother's shoulder. "How can this be? How are you here?"

If she hadn't met Mooner, she would have thought them a gift from Saetan, honestly.

She felt her father's comforting hand on the back of her head, smoothing her tangled hair and just cried harder.

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

Ilyse wiped away her own tears and concentrating on rocking Karla back and forth. "I don't know, darling. It's a gift from the Darkness, that's all I can say. We can't stay long, but we have a few days together. A few days to make up for all the time we've missed."

[glacial_queen]

"It's not enough!" Karla whimpered. "It will never be enough. You have no idea...what happened once you were gone. Glacia's so...different now. So awful. It's why I'm here. I had to be sent away."

Underneath that all was the unconscious accusation You left me! You left me all alone and unprotected! Always together, leaving me behind!

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

Unconscious or not, her parents heard it. They exchanged a sorrowful glance above her head, Ilyse's eyebrows forming a question that had Audric shaking his head. "What's happened to Glacia, pet?" he asked instead. "Why are you here? Sleeping with your door unlocked?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla's entire face was red and blotchy, so it was hard to tell if she flushed at her father's pointed question. "I was waiting for you," she mumbled. "I found out what was happening...and I'd been dreaming about you so much...but you never came."

It was almost an accusation. Almost.

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry, Karla," her mother said, resting her cheek on the top of Karla's head. "But we're here now."

[glacial_queen]

It wasn't an answer. But it would serve. How could she stay angry at them when they'd left the Darkness to come back and see her? It was what she had wished for, had prayed for. Did a few hours really matter much?

"I'm sixteen now," she said, for lack of anything better to say. "My friend Dinah threw me a surprise party. On the beach. Lots of people showed up. It was fun."

She couldn't turn to talk of Glacia yet. Not just yet.

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Sixteen. Already," Ilyse murmured. "I'm pleased you finally found a knack for making friends."

And then she winced. That hadn't been the most politic way to put it.

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"What your mother meant," Audric said, coming to the rescue, "you were always such a solitary child. Other than tormenting your cousin, you only other friend was the odd little girl who would sometimes show up. Janna?"

[glacial-court.livejournal.com]

"Jenna," Ilyse supplied.

[glacial_queen]

"Jaenelle," Karla corrected. "Her name is Jaenelle."

It hurt, some, that they couldn't remember her best friend's name, but there was very little about this encounter that didn't hurt. Her elation at having them was tempered by her grief and anger and, yes, even a little resentment.

Karla supposed herself to be a horribly ungrateful daughter.