Caroline sat in stunned silence after she heard the headmaster's announcement. What he said got stuck in her head, each word cutting at her self control as they echoed through her thoughts. [i]Eleshir attacked. The palace has fallen. All slaughtered.[/i] Caroline felt her control start to break, and abruptly stood. Tears in her eyes, she ran from the hall, wind already picking up around her. She needed to find someplace safe, someplace private with nobody around. Just as she was passing one of the towers, she felt herself being pulled off the ground. Just as she was about to scream, she heard a familiar voice. "There, there Carol, what could have my little genius all worked up?" Caroline looked up at the [url=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121021162160/narutofanon/images/c/c6/Blue_hair_anime_girl.png]woman[/url] who was holding her, blinking through the blur of tears. "M-mother?" she asked tentatively, afraid that she was wrong and not understanding how she could be right.

Elizabeth McArthur held her daughter for a while, stroking her hair and humming softly, and once she had calmed down asked "Now tell me what could make my daughter, a girl who didn't shed a single tear after breaking her arm as a child, cry like that." As Caroline repeated what the headmaster had said, Elizabeth's expression went from concern to astonishment, through despair and into rage. Quickly suppressing the anger for now, Elizabeth stood up and started walking toward the assembly hall. Pushing the doors open in front of her, she strode into the hall with Caroline on her heel, trying to get her mother to calm down. Cutting directly across the room toward the headmaster, she stopped directly in front of him and glared at him, a look that had caused many proud men to think twice about challenging her. "Where did you obtain this news? I was in the palace just yesterday, and there was no sign of any invasion. Surely the queen would have..." she trailed off, realization suddenly dawning on her. "Is that it?" she mumbled to herself, falling into the nearest chair. "I knew the queen wasn't acting like herself. Why would she keep such a secret from me?" She looked around the room, as if someone there might be able to give her an answer.