Serendipity: Jovana And The Duke

Six hours later, Jovana lay down in the lab with a towel full of ice packed on her forehead in an attempt to alleviate a splitting headache. 'I can't even think of moving. I'm exhausted. Ugh, I wonder if severing my head off would alleviate this pain.' Jovana thought to herself, while in the background she could hear Keith's voice muttering about the events that reduced her to that wrecked state.

"Something happened today, conflicting news, and problems." Keith said, and Jovana could only hear words and pieces of the sentences.

"I know, Keith. I was there." Jovana said, uninterested.

"And that's why leaving you among the wolves was the best solution," Keith said, and Jovana jumped up, ignoring the thunderbolt of agony that went straight through her head.

"What did you do?" Jovana said, looking at Keith with focus now.

"Oh, so you weren't listening after all."

"I'm not kidding, Keith. I need to know what the hell happened after the–" Jovana trailed off when Keith interrupted her.

"Alright, alright. Tell me what you remember, and I will fill up the missing pieces." Keith said, and Jovana closed her eyes as she breathed in, collecting her thoughts and letting the memories take the stage.

Six hours earlier, the young noble person who had screamed earlier fell down and the vial of serendipity she was holding rolled on the ground with a clinking of glass. As Jovana heard the scream, the rush of adrenaline instantly sobered her up, and the silence that followed the scream was broken into a thousand different whispers.

"She drank the vial and fell on the ground." Someone commented in the crowd.

"She was drinking Serendipity." Another person added.

"Is Serendipity dangerous?" Another person chimed in with horror laced in his voice.

Falcon, who was right beside Jovana, didn't waste any more time and rushed towards the girl. As Jovana looked at the immobile woman on the ground, her heart sank into darkness and regret and something Keith once told her came to her mind.

Keith had said, "The potion is a fun game for the nobility and an extremely dangerous experiment for you."

'We got it completely wrong. This is not fun, and it's dangerous for anyone involved. I thought serendipity was safe, but apparently it has side effects.' As Jovana's thoughts were running wild, she couldn't take her eyes off the girl on the ground, and the extent of her actions hit her in the face.

'I endangered hundreds of people just to save my brother. She could be dead, and it's all my fault. I'm a monster.' Jovana thought to herself, as all possible courses of action ran through her head from destroying all the vials, and wanting to surrender to the Duke.

But her reasoning finally took the upper hand and everything came to a stop. 'Enough. I can't lose control right now. I can't look guilty. I can't look involved.'

Jovana breathed in, breathed out, and did her best to look scared and unaware.

Falcon was still checking the girl as Jovana's thoughts raced, 'The least I can do before failing myself is to make sure I'm not jumping to the wrong conclusions.' She straightened her clothes, put on a concerned face and went straight to Falcon.

Jovana got closer to them, and inspected the scene. The vial looks about right, it was one of hers. But it was from an old batch.

Falcon was trying different things to wake her up, but so far she was still unconscious, and people were closing around the scene. "Please, don't come too close. Leave her space to breathe." Falcon said, while Jovana's eyes searched around the crowd for the Duke. And she found him watching from a distance.

He was not looking at the girl, he was looking at the people and their reactions.

Falcon took care of the girl. He looked at her unresponsive eyes, then he picked up the girl's wrist and checked her pulse. 'She's still with us, but I can barely feel her heart.' Falcon mused, as he carefully opened the girl's mouth, inspecting the teeth and her tongue.

The tongue appeared slightly darker. Falcon picked up the empty vial of serendipity and sniffed what was left in it, and his thoughts raced, 'This is definitely Serendipity. But the scent is weak, I can barely smell it. Something doesn't add up here. I took hundreds of vials during my tests and, despite all the different effects, each one of them increased blood pressure and heart rate.'

He kept checking her pulse, and shaking his head as he thought, 'If it weren't for that vial, I wouldn't have thought of Serendipity… Maybe something else.' Falcon's expression changed swiftly as a dark idea made its way into his brain.

'That… That's impossible. I need to test this immediately or she–' Falcon let his thoughts trail off, and as he looked at the girl, a very tangible concern started to appear on his face. 'But I can't test my theory in front of all these damned people.' Falcon hissed in his mind.

"Someone should get some water. A bucket of water is all she needs." A noble person suddenly yelled in the crowd, followed by a few words from other people.

"Can't someone fan that poor thing? Does anyone have a fan?"

"I think some ice would be ideal."

Falcon snorted in frustration, and addressed the crowd. "Ladies and lords, please, if you could just step back and keep things quiet, it would be much easier to solve this–" he paused when someone interrupted him.

"Oh, don't be so patronizing, Lord Ridley. We are all here to help," Barbara commented.

"Lady Barbara is right. I don't think you have any field experience, do you, Lord Ridley?" Someone commented.

Xena arrived on the scene, looking very upset and displeased by the interruption on her birthday, and she turned to Jovana as she said, "Months of planning for this event, and now it's all gone to the drain because of a faint. Please do something."

Jovana, feeling sorry for her friend, decided to step in, and then asked Xena, "Xena, is the cake ready?"

"Yes, they have just finished setting up the dining hall." Xena answered, as she looked at the girl on the ground, and said, "I really hope she will be okay."

Jovana snatched a glass from a tray and clinked on it with a silver spoon, as her voice boomed across the crowds. "My lords and ladies, don't let this setback spoil this beautiful day."

"But we need to solve this matter before we–" Someone in the crowd said, but Jovana cut him off.

"Lord Ridley is already solving the problem. She is in very capable hands. Now, if you please, the cake will be served in the dining hall of the house." The crowd of noisy lords and ladies left the garden and Falcon was finally able to work in peace on a solution.

"Thank you." Falcon said, looking appreciatively at Jovana.

Jovana waved him off and turned to Xena, "Xena, go celebrate the cutting of the cake. I will take care of things here."

"Thank you, Jovana. Just be careful." Xena said, and left them alone with the girl. As people left, Jovana noticed one of Keith's shadows disguised as a servant in the crowd.

'Keith won't be happy about this. Attempting to take the life of a noble calls for a death sentence.' Jovana mused sadly, as her eyes went back to the girl, who looked pale like marble and her skin was shiny with sweat.