Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sophie had the boy sit in an extravagant chair in the hall as she closed the door to her bedroom. She quickly got changed – she always was the master of quick-changes. Once she was in something a little more comfortable she opened the door and ushered the child in.



Come in. Come in, child. Sit down and we’ll try to figure everything out.

The room was large, larger than most of the apartments in the lower-end of town. The walls were covered in marble-white paper with glorious cherry-wood trim. Half-pillars were in the middle of each wall, and a wedge of a pillar was in each corner, giving the room a Grecian feel. The large king-size bed was set in the middle of the far wall. Four-post frame was topped with a draping canopy. The fabric of the canopy wrapped around each of the posts, lacing each corner down to the floor. The sheets and pillowcases were red silk, and the duvet was black with gold thread woven throughout. Bookcases lined the wall next to the room entrance. A sitting area was set up in the adjacent corner. Against the opposite wall was another sitting area, this time a place for Sophie to eat meals in her room, have her tea, or even play games, such as cards, dominos, checkers, or chess. At further inspection, one would notice the surface of the table had a large checkered box in the middle of it – the exact proportions of a chessboard – made out of alternating opal and onyx.

Sophie escorted the child over to this sitting area and motioned for him to sit down.

Alright, let’s start at the beginning. What EXACTLY do you remember?

Sophie lowered her gaze to her interlaced fingers resting on her lap, and then released a deep breath through her nose. It certainly won’t be easy to keep this kid safe, not with this little bit of information. She always hated having to play detective.

Quickly inhaling through her nose, she raised her head again and looked at the boy.

Alright. That’s a start. However, I feel as if I should call you something. How about Carlo? That’s my favorite male name. Or I could just keep calling you Sweety.

Sophie gave a gentle smile and a soft wink. What will she do with this kid?

Anyway, I need you to try to remember the person who handed you the suitcase. Anything about them that you can remember – sex, age, skin color, height, hair color, eye color, scars, type of clothing – anything could be helpful. I need you to really concentrate on this. Can you remember anything?

Alright. Sophie sighed If that's all you can remember. I guess we'll just have to start with that dock you remember. We'll check it in the morning.

Sophie stood up and walked over to her large bed. She untucked one of the corners and patted the mattress.

Well, I wasn't expecting you, otherwise I'd have a bed prepared. But this mattress suited me and my late-husband, with room to spare, so I suppose it will work fine for tonight.

She walked over to a large dresser against the wall. Out of the second drawer she pulled out a surprisingly plain shirt. It seemed out of place among the rest of her extravagant belongings. It had long sleeves and was a faded purple color. The front had the remains of a simple design, once embroidered in a silver-colored thread, but now unwinding to leave just small pieces of the embellishment. She clutched the shirt to her chest, closed the drawer, and walked back over to the now-named Carlo. After one last quick embrace of the shirt, she passed it over to the child.

Here. You'll need something to sleep in. Just fold your clothes and put them on the table there. She pointed to the table they were just speaking at.

She then walked over to the far side of the bed and untucked that corner. She sat on the bed, the pillow across her lap. Staring at the wall opposite the boy while he changed.

She tucked him in, then herself. She started off the evening facing away from Carlo, but once he fell asleep she spent the rest of the night watching him carefully. Trying to figure out where the boy came from.