"Oh," I faltered, looking at each of them and hoping that perhaps any one of them knows how to do that.
Toivo shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I don't know, for information."
"Well, then...I guess we are stuck here," Galena sighed.
My jaw went ajar, "You too?"
"Yeah!" she confirmed, giving a fake smile and flopping down on a vacant wooden chair that stood in the middle of the room.
I scoffed, "Seriously, guys? So, we are gonna just stay here-all stuck and stuff-like some useless piece of-"
"Please!" Toivo whined, pressing his head with his hand.
Galena sighed, "Fine!"
"What?" Toivo and I exclaimed in unison as we stared at her in astonishment.
"I can...try," She muttered regretfully, "Only if you all don't make fun of me, later!" She warned.
"Yea-yeah!" I agreed, a small hopeful smile growing on Toivo's and mine's faces.
Galena got up and took the tiny egg from Toivo's hand.
"Careful!" Toivo anxiously squeaked.
Galena cleared her throat and closed her eyes. Her burrows furrowed, remembering the lost words.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and opened her mouth finally,
And there came out trembling and stuttering words,
"H-hush now, little...flower, d-don't...you cry.
Though the storm rages on...and the winds are high,"
Her brows loosened, her hands stopped trembling and then came out the melodious and clearer words.
"You stand strong and tall, rooted among the grounds.
Your beauty shines through, even when the thunder sounds."
Toivo's shoulders dropped as he stared at her, forgetting to even blink as a strange weird vibration from the shell, it felt strangely good as if we were somewhere- somewhere better than the places I imagined before bed when I was four, better than anything in this world.
"The rain may beat down, and the lightning may strike,
But you keep standing, a true beacon of light.
You sway with the gusts, but you never fall,
Your resilience is inspiring, your strength standing tall."
"Crack"
Lines cracked up on the walls of the egg. Our sight shifted toward the walls of the shell.
Galena paused before continuing again.
"So close your petals, and rest your weary head,
Dream of sunny days and the warmth ahead.
For the storm will pass, and the clouds will clear,
And you'll keep standing, a symbol of hope through the year."
We breathlessly watched a sparkling emerald beak peck out of the walls of the shell.
"Sleep now, little flower, and don't you fear,
For you are loved, and your beauty is dear.
And when you wake, the sun will shine,
And you'll keep standing strong, for all time."
Slowly, the eggshell collapsed into grains of sand and there came out the emerald green feather bird with indigo sparkles on its feathers, like a blessing chanted from the lullaby.
But it was the eyes that caught our admiring attention, as deep and blue as the farthest realms of the ocean.
The tiny bird was curled up like a ball in the hands of Galena, hiding its head beneath its feathers as it wailed timidly.
"Hey there, bud!" Galena whispered softly, tapping it playfully on its head.
The shy bird giggled softly as Galena tickled her. It stood on its two little pink feet before flying up out of her hands with the same sand grains revolving around it.
We stepped back as it slowly grew larger and larger, creating a violent tsunami of sand in the room.
\We were barely able to keep our eyes open, it seemed as if it would flood the room with sand anytime soon.
And then, when our backs were completely against the cold wall and our noses seemed to slowly fill with sand grains, a blue feather could be barely seen flapping its wings, the hustling stopped and the sand grain dropped on the ground.
We rubbed our eyes and there stood the same bird though, its emerald green feathers had turned into the colours of deep ocean blue, and its head touched the room ceiling. It had grown more marvellous and magnificent than before.
She blew with her wings onto the door but instead of strong gusts of wind, a thick frequency sound was emitted. The door blew open and gently fell onto the green carpets without even making a sound.
We sprinted and looked out the gate where the door had fallen off, glimpsing at each other shocked before turning and glancing upon the sapphire blue bird, to find that once again, it had turned into the tiny egg it was before.
"Well-" Toivo uttered while carefully putting the egg back in the tiny wooden box "-at least the gate is open now"
"More like blown down," Galena said, holding up the door with one hand, which now seemed to be lighter than paper.
"We should probably get out of here as fast as possible or else god-knows when Cepheus will find, catch and serve us as the dinner for Gregory," I advised.
"Could you please stop addressing Cepheus like that? I understand that he has been acting strange now and then and even her highness agreed on not trusting him," Toivo faltered, "But-but still we don't have any solid proof to not trust him, we are just making this decision our instincts." he blurted out in a rather emotional way.
"Haven't you noticed what just happened? He locked us in this cellar! Probably because he didn't want us to escape." I hissed.
"Or probably for our better safety?" Toivo continued.
I groaned in annoyance, "See, I understand he's your brother and you don't like the truth but so do we, ok? There are obvious reasons your amazing and charming shouldn't be trusted. Toivo, please try to see things the way they obviously are rather than looking at them the way you think they must be." I sighed, looking at the hopeless boy as he trembled from anger, clenching his wrist, "Don't fantasize what isn't real. Your brother-"
"My brother isn't a traitor!" Toivo yelled out of frustration, his eyes glistened, "And you all will learn that soon!" He stormed off in the other direction in the dark hallway with Flubber following behind him.
Galena called out to him, anxiously following him but he didn't listen.
I let out a shaky sigh, realizing what I'd done before guiltily following him.
"Toivo!" Galena called out as he turned into another corridor. We turned and followed him to find him standing as still as a log in the middle of the way.
"Toivo?" Galena's voice faltered as our eyes traced towards the strange ajar door with strange dreamy blue light escaping through it, which Toivo was looking at.
He slowly edged towards the open door with us following behind him before stopping and peeking through the corner and having our jaws hung open.
The room was dark, lightened up by a few candles around. There was a huge water basin in the centre of the room on which stood a water figure of a man, whom he stared at attentively as if talking to him.
"But my lord, how are we supposed to find her among the thousand other slaves that Mikellarian nobles hold?" Cepheus spoked.
"Just follow the young girl." The figure spoke in a dry and stern voice, "She is destined for solving the clues she-must be the one to find her and when the time is right-"
"I know what I am supposed to do." Cepheus finished.
The man sighed, "Don't let your emotions for the witless people drag you down. I know you have been brainwashed that they saved your life, but don't you want to know what is the real truth behind your unusual scar?" The bitter voice spoke, "Toivo, you are special. You don't belong to live among those nuisance-creating people. You deserve to be around better, much higher people, so follow us, thrive among us and do what is right, what is better for this world and especially for you."
"Yes, my king." Cepheus nodded, trying his best to stand tough and cold he was, but his head lowered, the sorrows and guilts perfectly lined on his face.
"Now complete your task before it's too late, or else you know the consequences." the stern-cold voice warned.
Cepheus once again nodded, and the figure melted and dissolved back in the water basin.