"Topaz? Topaz, what's going on?" Calls Matt, getting up from our crouched position on the floor.
"One of King Seth's men," he answers, still driving the lone unicorn as fast as possible across the wide wooden pathways. No sooner does he say that, the wagon stops infront of a large building and Matt and I are escorted into the palace by two younger looking fairy men wearing camo. Through all the rushing, I don't get a good glimpse of what the palace looks like, but I guess I'll see it soon enough. Maybe. Hopefully
Anyways, I do see that we enter through a set of wooden double doors, up a staircase and into a small-ish waiting room clad with soft sofas and gleaming lights.
Knock, knock. The taller of the two similar looking fairy men raps on the door standing before us and almost instantly it is opened by a tall figure clothed in a flowing pink gown.
"Mathilda!" She exclaims, "Come in, come in. I've been expecting you for days now! Here, sit," she insists.
We enter the room and sit on the comfy chairs infront of us.
"Jasper, Jaicinth, that'll be all, now. Thank you for your help," and with that, the two fairy men bow and exit to leave us with some privacy.
"I'm Queen Pearl, by the way," says the lady, facing me. "But you and Mathilda call me just Pearl. None of that 'Your Majesty' stuff. Queen's orders," she states firmly.
❇ Queen Pearl❇
"Pearl. Let's get down to business here. King Seth - is or is he not trying to take over Amador and the Amadi folk?" Questions Matt, hands on her knees and sitting on the edge of her seat.
Pearl sighs, looks out the crescent shaped window, then back at Mathilda.
"Unfortunately, yes. I see you already got a few clues of that. Topaz has informed me about the little incident on the way here. For the past week, all the Amadi folk have been advised to stay in their homes as much as possible, for we know that Seth's men are on the move." She takes a deep breath, then continues, sometimes looking at me, other times Mathilda.
"Seth has tried a few sly actions in the last month, but none have quite succeeded," a sudden shadow of distain crosses her pure face. "But he has succeeded in removing the Starfleur from it's place, as well as crushing it. It truly is a miracle that you two even made it here!"
"Eh hem...uh,what is the Starfleur may I ask?" I question, waiting for either Pearl or Mathilda to respond.
"The Starfleur is a rare species of flower that grows only in the North Mountains of Amador. It is essentially what keeps the Door in the Tree working properly. With the Starfleur gone, the Door is unpredictable; it could close at any time and not reopen. If you are traveling through the Tree at that time, you could get...stuck," explains Pearl.
"But it does more than just that. As long as the Starfleur is on it's pedestal, our army maintains their strength, but if it is absent, as it is now, they are almost powerless." The dismal sound in her voice almost makes my heart break, even though I barely understand what she's evening speaking about.
Wait, back up a bit....did Pearl say that, gulp, we could be stuck here? Breathe in, breathe out, in, out. No hyperventilating here. No, not here.
"This is why you brought me here, isn't it?" I question, aiming it at my friend. Matt nods guiltily. Unfortunately, I'm a sucker for making people feel bad, so I quickly try to mend it by spatting out, " Well, then, we don't have all day! What's to be done?"
Oh gosh, me and my fat mouth. Look what I just said!
With a smile apon her face, Pearl states, "Follow me."
❇❇❇
The library. Library sounds so simple, but this is not. Long dark shelves line three of the four walls, overflowing with thick books, skinny magazines, heavy looking manuals and envelopes of papers. Centered in the room stands a long desk dotted with medieval style feather plume pens and black ink jars. Seated behind the desk is a pale, red haired woman wearing a blue wrap dress.
"Hey there, lady's!" She chirps, "I'm Ruby! The resident librarian of the Amador Palace Library! Got a question about a book? I got the answer! Got a question about-"
"Ruby. I think that that's enough!" Laughs Pearl, though I know the winged woman can sense the authority resounding through it.
"Oops, sorry Queen Pearl."
"Ah, never mind. Now, since you know so much about this library, would!d you care to bring up the Starfleur pedestal for these two ladies?" Asks Pearl, surprisingly light hearted compared to the circumstances.
"Uh, of coarse, ma'am, but - there's nothing there." She whispers the last part.
"I know, I know," responds Pearl gravely. So without further ado, a square chunk of the shimmering floor rises and grows to about a three foot high column. On top sits a glass plate holding a gold vase of water.
"Look at this," Pearl promts, pointing at the floor beneath us and the whole library. I hadn't noticed it before, but the library floor is one big map! By the left side of the pillar reads 'Amador' in simply cursive. I look toward where Pearl is pointing and spot a long, canyon like crack through the Amador region of the map.
"When the Starfleur is in it's correct place - in the vase with spring water, on the column - Amador's area on the map is one piece and brightly coloured, but when it is absent, as it is now, a crack inhabits the map and it darkens."
I nod. This is all seeming really confusing.
"So, our mission, then, is to find the Starfleur and bring it back here before King Seth's men do too much more damage." Confirms Matt, as confident as ever.
"Yes, Mathilda. That is why I needed you to come here as soon as possible. Seeing as it is almost dark, you girls can start off tomorrow." Answers Pearl, beginning to stride out of the library. "Thank you, Ruby, for the help."
❇❇❇
"So how are you? I mean I know this was a shock for you," says Mathilda. We are reclining in the little cottage graciously provided by Pearl. It is small, but quaint and just right for the two of us.
"Oh, you know," I reply. " Fine. Seeing as I was just taken through a tree that switches dimensions, had a wild ride in a wagon drawn by a unicorn, met a fairy Queen and librarian and had the news broken to me that we are in for a dangerous sounding quest, I'm doing perfectly - FREAKED OUT!"
We'll, so much for trying to be discrete about it.
"You know, you can back out of you want," Matt informs me.
"Nah, I don't really feel like adding 'got stuck going though a Dimension Tree' to my list."
"Ah, right,"
"Well, I guess we'd better hit the hay, seeing as I guess tomorrow will be an early morning!"
With that, I close the wooden shutters on the windows, lock the door and flop onto the soft bed for a nice long sleep.
❇❇❇
Morning Comes...
❇❇❇
"Good morning girls! I see you are both ready and awake!" Chimes Pearl, bubly as ever even at this 5:30 hour.
"Mhhmm," we mumble groggily. No, we are not awake. At all. Oh well.
Suddenly, something hits me. We'll not literally....like, as in I remember something.
"Ohmygosh!" I blurt, stating to panic. "My Mom, she must be...going crazy! I-I was at Matt's place...and then...I spent the night here and she must be....Oh dear, Ineedtogobackhome!" I grab at my back pocket for my phone, expecting to see at least 10 texts and 10 missed calls from my mom, but there are none.
Suddenly, I feel a gentle hand on my shoulder, the hand of Mathilda.
" 'Lise, calm down! Really, I wouldn't purposely freak your mom out and make her think I abducted you! Pearl, I'll let you explain,"
"Thank you Mathilda. Don't worry Elise, your mom won't worry a thing about you while your gone. You see, Amador time and the World's time is different. When a minute goes by back where you live, a day goes by here! So really, you could stay as long as you desire and no one would realize you are gone!"
Ooooooohhhhh, that's a relief! Although I don't know of that is comforting or not....
"We'll, first things first, back to the library!" Calls Pearl, and together Matt and I follow her through the familiar hallways and corridors to the library. And as yesterday, Ruby is seated in her chair, but this time she is reading a novel and popping pink bubble gum.
"Oh, hey guys!" She greets happily, although behind her happy features I can see the despair in her eyes.
We'll, I think, I hope Matt and I can help. I don't like seeing the sadness in everyone's faces.
Pearl opens a dust covered book, and shows Matt and I a picture.
"This is the Starfleur. I'll send this book along with you so that you know what you are looking for. It contains maps, pictures and a few other things that may be helpful." Explains Pearl.
We silently study the image. The flower has many tiny petals stacked and overlapped to shape a star. The petals look shiny, a bit iridescent, so it is hard to tell what colour it is although it apprears to be silver with flecks of colour.
Thumbing though the book, Matt stops at a map. I look over her shoulder, which is easy seeing as I'm 2 inches taller than her 5 foot 3 inches. Across the top of the map reads 'Amador' with a relief map below it. With the help of the labels Palace, Tree and Northern Mountains, I see that we are currently far south in Amador, but will be traveling North/East.
My eyes widen - according to the scale at the bottom of the page, the rough area where our flower grows is 450 miles away!
"Oh goodness," I grumble, massaging the back of my neck with my hand.
"Oh girls, perk up! Just for me?" Pearl pleads.
"We need some positivity here. Hm, it'll take you roughly 4 days to get there if you travel approximately 115 miles per day. That means you'd only be gone at most..." She did the !ath qiodkly in her head, "...at most 11-12 days!"
Matt and I roll our eyes.
"But, you girls will still go....won't you?" Pearl questions, sounding meek but hopeful.
I glance at Mathilda, see her eyes sparkle through that doubtful frown, then we both reply, "We will."
*/ And BOOM! that's chapter 6! Who likes it? Let me know! Got question? Let me know! Got - oh dear, I'm starting to sound a bit like Ruby, aren't I?!
Anyhow, thanks for reading a stay blessed and cool today!
(Yeah, cause in Belize today it is around 92F!!!!!🔥
- Paige /*
*/ Also, what do you think about Onyx's name change to Topaz?? Yay or Nay? Topaz was going to be his original name anyway, but when I typed it.....I must have had a big brain fart, cause Onyx was gonna be the name of a Pixie....but yeah....comment and let me know how u like the name, or if you have some name suggestions!/*