When Poppy awoke, she reached instinctively for her scarlet stone, wanting to feel its warm glow flowing through her fingers. Her hand scrabbled across bare wood instead. Where was the stone? She slipped from the bed, shivering in her linen night-shift and bare feet. She checked all throughout the room, even sliding under the bed. There was no trace of her stone. She reached to push her hair back, and felt her Seer's Mark pulsing. She went to fling herself upon the bed again, but the Mark hurt so much that she decided not to. She went to see if Jeorge was awake. Her Mark gradually slowed its aching as she opened his door.
"Jeorge?" she called. "Are you awake?"
   She was met with silence. As she walked in, she noticed the sparse quality of the room. When they had first received the rooms, the rooms seemed stark and barren. But once they were in the rooms, there was a sense of warmth and inhabitance about each one. Poppy muttered the basic ita lux et to light the torches in the room. Nobody was there. Jeorge's things were gone, and everything stiff and perfect. A sheet of paper lay on the bed. She leaned down to read it.
Dear Poppy,
If you're reading this, I've already gone. I took your ruby stone, and hope to make my fortune with it. I will may write again if when I have been successful, and then I will have much to say. For now, I wish you good luck in your mission to find your sister without me, although I doubt you'll get far.  I remain,
Jeorge
Poppy scanned it again, then tore it to bits and flung it into the torch. The pieces of letter smouldered satisfyingly as Poppy shook with rancor. She ran into her own room, flung her clothes on (a blue skirt and green blouse), and ran downstairs to the stables. The horse she had been riding, Tarrin, was eating hay in her stall. Poppy rather harshly saddled and bridled Tarrin and then clambered on recklessly. Her Seer's Mark burned in its west portion, and Tarrin faithfully trotted to the left. A northern ache meant straight ahead, an eastern pain meant right, and a southern ache meant to backtrack. Her temper cooled a bit, and she was able to follow her instincts. Tarrin stopped before a vast, massive palace, and Poppy was hailed by an officious-looking woman.
"You there!" the woman cried. "The horse can go in the stable, and you can start work in the scullery."
What? Poppy was confused.