Reaibn's Marble

Astra rifled through the pigeon holes, reading the scraps of paper.

"I sent the payment by the Camelyn mails last Thursday."
"I am on a diet."
"I was told that there was not any alcohol in that."
"Not tonight, I have a headache."

All were time-tested excuses, but none seemed to fit her current request, which was "May I leave this land of madmen?" While reaching in for what she hoped would be a plausible excuse, her heart skipped a beat when she felt a tap on the shoulder.

She turned to face Reaibn. "He keeps turning up like a bad penny," Astra thought. Reaibn had a slip of paper in his hands, and handed it to Astra. "I cannot read, but I know that it is the right excuse," Reaibn explained.

Astra read the paper aloud. "I am scheduled to tour the wine cellars now, so I cannot stay."

Astra heard the voice again. "Good one! That always works. The door is open. Do you need me to summon Reaibn?"

"I am here." Reaibn answered. "I will guide her - I can spare an hour while Fred is getting his hair trimmed."

Before descending the staircase, Reaibn asked Astra to light the tip of her baton. Astra took a torch from the wall, and the baton light easily, but it did not smoke or burn. Instead, the baton glowed with a soft white light that was as bright as if she was outdoors, in the twilight. Astra followed Reaibn out the door and down a set of stairs into a vaulted dungeon. Reaibn said little as they descended the stairs into the vault. Five minutes later, Astra and Reabin were walking on a cobblestone floor between two rows of huge oak casks.

"These casks do not hold the best of our wine, Princess, but I did not arrange for you to come down here to look at the Royal Wine Collection, although I hope that you can do that sometime. It really is good; I worked hard on it."

Astra clenched the shining baton. If Reaibn attacked her, she would not go down easily. She then responded, somewhat frostily, "Then why did you arrange for me to be down here? You could have simply asked."

"I need to talk with you without everyone listening. I will not hold you here. If you want I can arrange for post horses to take you back to your homeland. But if that is what you want to do, I will ask you to do one thing for me."

"What is it?"

Reaibn reached into a pocket in the inside of his vest. He pulled out a pouch, and opened it. There was a little ball that looked like it was made of glass, but it was not quite that. Astra could not tell what substance it was. Reaibn held it between his thumb and forefinger, and asked Astra to stare through the ball.

Astra stared. The ball was slightly smoky, and tinted a light shade of brown. She felt silly, but there was a nagging feeling that Reaibn was asking her to do something important.

"Keep looking. I think that you will understand why you are here, and why you must marry Fred."

After staring at the ball for a couple of minutes,

1. Astra becomes irrationally angry. She tries to strike Reaibn with her baton.
2. Astra leans over one of the wine casks, stunned. Reaibn is more rational that she thought.
3. Astra is confused. She does not understand what she saw. She asks Reaibn to explain.
4. Astra is unconvinced. She cannot see anything.

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