Time for Change

He frowns as he watches her. How can he turn this to his advantage? He eyes the human that had backed away from him and his studying of her has her nervous. The king backs off and ends the staring contest. "Please, I won't touch you again without your permission. Come and partake, if you wish I will back up further." The king suits words to actions and moves even further from the couch that Shelby remains behind.

Shelby wishes that she could refuse the food, but it has been too long since she's eaten and she desperately needs something inside her. She nervously walks around the couch, but never takes her eyes off the king. Her actions those of a nervous cat unsure of it's welcome. She reaches the front of the couch and sits back down and takes the bowl of sliced fruit and starts eating.

The king has never had such unrelenting attention, attention yes, but not like this. He's been hated, he's been loved, and just about everything in between, but never had he had someone so terrified of him before. He wonders just what has happened to this human female to act like this.

"More games, Majesty? Why don't you just tell me what you want?" Shelby is tired of this game of his. The king had gone back to studying her like a puzzle that he wants to figure out. She just wants out of this nightmare for good.

She sets down the fruit bowl and turns to the small sandwiches that were there. Her friend had served something similar at her baby shower. She hides the growing fear inside. He is being far too kind for something so simple. The king isn't known for being kind.

A sudden sharp pain brings an unwanted cry of pain from her lips and brings her from her seat on the couch to her knees. Before she can even right herself the king is at her side and lifts her back to her seat on the couch. This time his healing kiss doesn't have the desired effect and she passes out.

The king is stymied, he needs this human to help his people or they are all going to die. The augury stones are never wrong. Yet, it appears that this human has health issues that he can't even help.

He sends his receptionist out to her car and has him find out just who this female is. The receptionist returns a short time later and gives him the information.

While the king is looking at the information before him the female's cellphone starts ringing. The king has forgotten that humans carry those things. But he is impressed that it hasn't stopped working yet. Magic and electronics don't seem to work very well together. The king finds her phone and answers it.

"Shelby, did you ever get those stones back to their owners?" Jan demands before the king can even say anything.

"Shelby is currently unconscious in my lobby, miss. Who am I addressing?" The king informs even as he demands.

"I'm her friend and what the hell did you do to her?" The dislike comes clear over the phone's connection.

"I have no idea why she is unconscious. There is very little that my healing cannot deal with, apparently she has one of those things."

"She needs to get to the hospital then." The king hears a bit of desperation in the friend's voice.

"Why?" The king demands.

"If the attack is severe enough for her to be unconscious then she's going to need medical intervention. Dang this is going to be hard on her kids. Last time she was hospitalized for five days, but she wasn't unconscious then." Jan is trying hard to make the elf understand without giving too much information away.

The king has the receptionist look into Shelby's life. The information the receptionist gives him makes him angry. The more he reads the less he likes what he sees. "It doesn't read nicely does it?"

The king replies, "Your friend has regained consciousness." He hands the phone over to Shelby and returns to his reading without replying to her statement.

Her words bring him back to the present, "I'll be fine. I'm going to leave here soon and will be home within two hours. I'll go straight to bed, yeah, the king gave me some food in thanks for returning the stones back. If you'll keep them there I'll pick them up tomorrow."

"You won't be going back to your home tonight." The king's words stop whatever Shelby is going to say dead. "I'll arrange to have your car returned to your place of living, but you are going to Elvenhome with me tonight." He looks back down at the papers in his hand and so isn't expecting the hand that slaps him a second time that night.

"You can go to hell King." Then she grabs the papers from him that belonged in her car and left.

The illusion of the forest reappears once more and she ignores it. The doors refuse to open. She turns to face the king, "Let me out."

"I can't let you out at this time. There is no way you'd make it home." To prove him wrong she goes to kick the glass of the door making the whole door shake. But his point is proven when she goes to take another kick and she finds her balance gone as she starts falling to the floor, but it's the loss of sight that has her worried. Then the darkness closes in and she doesn't worry anymore.

The king had manages to catch her with his magic and gently lays her down. He finds the phone that had fallen from Shelby's hand and calls her friend back. "Shelby has fallen unconscious once more. I will be taking her for medical treatment. Whatever arrangements have been made will need to be changed appropriately. You have her children I assume?"

"Yes, she was going to collect them tomorrow. But I can take them for as long as is needed." Jan replies and he detects a trace of tears in her voice.

He softens, "I will make sure that she will return for her children when she is better."

"Please, whoever you are, call me back with the information of which hospital you take her to and I'll bring the kids to visit. After last time, I don't think the kids will settle for less."

"Sorry, I should have informed you of my identity earlier, I am King Tyler. I won't be taking her to a human hospital, I'm taking her to Elvenhome." And won't his councilor's have fits about that?

The friend is stunned into silence at his words. Finally she manages to choke out, "You're taking a human into Elvenhome? What has she done to deserve being jailed?" There are definite tears in her voice now.

The king is shocked at her words. "If she were to be jailed I wouldn't be taking her to my home. I'm taking her to get healed."

"So you intend on making her a slave? She'd rather die than be enslaved." Jan didn't think that Shelby would last long as a slave either. She was lucky to have survived her husband, the girl had no survival instincts.

"I have no intentions of making any human a slave and even if I did, I wouldn't bring her to my home. Not even the halflings are allowed there." The king replies coldly to Jan's fears.

"So what are you trying to do, get her killed? Why then bother yourself with healing her? You know she has no means to pay you, why are you doing this to her?"

"There will be no payment required for this," the king looks down at the female at his feet. "I need her and hope this will help her give me the help I need." He doesn't like explaining himself, but doesn't see the need to cause her any undue worry.

The silence on the other end of the phone is deafening. "You need a human to help you? Why don't you ask someone that has some power or resources? Shelby has been through enough, she doesn't need this added to her plate." Jan finally says breaking the silence just as the king was thinking the call had ended.

The king kneels at the side of the female and caresses her hair back from her face, "I am not in the habit of asking for help from anyone, but I find myself in great need. Shelby is the only one that can help. I'll return her to you, once she is better. Tell her children to not worry, she will be treated as an honored guest while she is there." The king hangs up before Jan has a chance to say anything else. He gently gathers the female into his arms and goes back to Elvenhome.