Word Count: 42,003
Summary of Events:
Freezing cold, Thérèse spent the night in the dining room — the only room she recalled having a fireplace. Le Démon, his hind paw aching terribly, found Thérèse was missing, but decided to go to breakfast before looking for her, which, thankfully, her presence in the dining room negated need. Thérèse tried to get Le Démon to let her look at his injured paw, and managed to remove a piece of glass embedded in the paw. Le Démon, having tolerated her bandaging it, resented the fact that she seemed to be treating him like a dog. Thérèse managed to get him to let her stroke him and discovered his coat was almost eight inches thick. Le Démon continued to think resentfully until he realised that he didn't remember his name, which pained him greatly. Thérèse heard his agonised howls . . .
Excerpt of the Day:
"These howls seemed to have all of the ache of a terrible heartbreak, some sort of agony, a pain so deep that surely no wolf had ever known. Besides, wolves used their howls as a summons to move in for the kill, these howls sounded much more emotional.
Thérèse felt like crying and pitying the poor creature that was making the air ring with its heartbroken, lonesome cry. She had no idea what sort of creature it would be, if it wasn't a wolf.
After awhile the howling stopped, and within a few minutes of that Le Démon returned, his head hanging, none of the alertness and emergency of his actions before he left the room anywhere at all.
He dropped down heavily onto the carpet, crossed his forelegs in front of himself, and dropped his head onto them with almost a mournfulness.
Thérèse wondered, being as he was rather doglike, if those howls hadn't come from his throat, not that she was sure why he would be tormented by anything. He seemed more determined to be the tormentor.
She settled back into her reading, listening to hear if the howls sounded again, but they didn't. Instead she heard a very doglike whine very close by.
Setting her book down, she looked at Le Démon. He wasn't looking at her. He appeared to be staring at the book he'd taken off of the shelf and, it seemed, almost tried to read.
An idea in mind, Thérèse rose and went over to him. There was suspicion in his eyes as he glanced at her. She picked up the book and looked at the title. It was a guide to the castles and their residents in Rocaille-Alpages.
She sat down by his head. He still looked at her suspiciously. Opening the book she went to the beginning and began to read aloud the introduction.
He remained silent, his pointed ears attentively listening despite the fact that he wasn't looking at her.
Castles of Capucine was the first chapter, and foremost listed therein was the Château Tombée, the royal home of King Guillaume and Queen Éloïse-Léonne.
At the mention of their names there was a whine and she looked over at him to see the skin above his eyes, which on dogs functioned like eyebrows, gathered somewhat worried and sadly, a pain and sadness in his eyes like she'd never seen in an animal before.
He looked almost as if he were going to start crying big dog tears — not that she'd ever known a dog to shed tears — and all that pain and sadness on his face threatened to make her start crying, but she continued on, reading the list of children."
Pronunciations:
Capucine: cahpoohseen
Tombée: tohmbay
Guillaume: gieowm
Éloïse-Léonne: ehloheez lehohn
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