Aveyond: Rhen's Quest

Chapter 20: The Truth

"Green Rock Temple lies north-west of here," Lars was studying the road sign located at the crossroad. "Let's save the druid."

Dameon noticed Rhen stumped in front of the sign even though they started to move on. He approached and put his hands on her shoulders.

"What's wrong, Rhen?" he asked in his soothing voice, but she didn't respond. He followed her gaze and looked at the road sign.

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|

| Green Rock Temple - North-West  |

|          Clearwater         - North-East   |

|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|

"I know how it feels when you're parted from your family." he comforted, "Do you want me to bring you home, and take a break before we move on?" Rhen nodded and wiped her cheek with her back of her hand.

Dameon turned to the others and called, "I'll have a walk with Rhen. You guys go ahead without me. We'll meet here in an hour."

~~~

Lars touched the frozen druid with his soul, the statue cracked and burst into a thousand pieces. Before them stood Armaiti with a leaf-green robe that matched his emerald eyes.

"You've come! I was so worried," said the druid. "For your brave deed, please accept this merchant card," he waved his hand and a red treasure chest appeared in front of him. He laid his hand on the lock and it snapped open. He took out a tiny card and handed it over to Lars.

"Peninnsula?" Lars furrowed his eyebrows.

"It's west of here," answered Armaiti. "Hurry! We must get to the Sun Temple in Aveyond. I'll fill you with the details along the way."

~~~

Rhen was backed to the familiar place. Nothing has changed. The only difference that she noticed was the decorations were removed after the Spring Festival, and for the first time, the place looked deserted.

They walked to the town bakery, where she always went there with her Ma when she was little. The bakery owner, Liana always gave her a free bun to them whenever they visited. As they edged closer to the bakery, Liana was cleaning the front lawn. She almost dropped her broom when she saw the familiar face.

"Rhen! You've come home!" Lina rushed over and hugged her. "Where have you been?"

"It's a long story," she gave her a weak. "Oh by the way, this is Dameon."

 "Nice to meet you," Dameon kissed Liana's hand that made her blushed.

"Come in and have a tea," the sound of the ringing bell reminded Rhen the moment when she and Ma visited her every week. The sweet scent of the breads and buns made her felt hungry. It's been a while since they had a meal. The baker prepared peanut butter and jelly sandwich - which was Rhen's favourite - and jasmine tea for her guests.

"We're so worry about you. What happened?" Liana placed her hand onto Rhen's.

Rhen briefly explained what happened during the festival. In between, Liana only nodded but didn't interrupt. When she finished, Rhen noticed someone's missing.

"Is Danny around?" Danny was the baker's son. He always played with Rhen when they were little.

"You mean he isn't with you?" asked Liana, shocked. Rhen shook her head.

"Oh dear," she pinched the bridge of her nose. "He went looking for you after you disappeared and said he wouldn't come home until you were brought back safe.