Xena woke up the next morning still processing the events from the past week. It was a lot to take in. Who would've thought her mother would volunteer her to go on such a galvanic journey?
She braided her hair in front of her body-length mirror and put on her locket. They were leaving for the Fifth Realm today, so they wouldn't have a full-on study session like they had been doing the past couple of weeks, they would probably just do a quick recap.
Xena went downstairs and into the Briefing Room. At the same time, Jake and Maria were making their way down as well.
"Hey Xena," said Maria, waving at her.
Xena smiled back. Maria was wearing a red headscarf today and wasn't carrying Ato.
"Hey Xena," said Jake in a mocking tone.
Maria chuckled and Xena rolled her eyes, classic Jake.
They entered the room and Alfie was already sitting there with an intrigued look on his face. He didn't attempt to socialize at all, he was just so serious during class.
Ms. Cornfield called their attention to the front and pulled up a general map of the Fifth Realm. She was Xena's old teacher and had a boring tone. Her voice drowned on as she tried to sit up like Alfie and pay attention. Minutes into the briefing Jake was already dozing off and Maria was staring out the window. Xena was baffled that they were the only hope for keeping the peace between the four realms, so she tried to pay attention as Ms. Cornfield went through the basic vocabulary of Limî.
It had been decided that the four heirs would take the train to the Fifth Realm, do some recon, and come back with information about the Ikha. Since apparently, it would be considered unlawful for their parents, soldiers, or an unknown third party were to enter the Fifth Realm.
She looked around at her team for the mission, they were so ordinary. Xena was surprised that they didn't have any special qualities or training as she did. Jake had his little gadgets, Maria had a winning smile, and Alfie was smart, but they were almost useless in hand to hand combat. In the previous days, they had all failed miserably in the Battle Room against Ms. Rania. What would they do if they were in a fight? It was almost guaranteed that they would run into trouble on their little expedition.
She looked over at Alfie, who was taking notes faster than the teacher was writing them. Her mother had told her to watch out for him specifically, so she needed to keep an eye on him. However, in her, not so humble opinion Alfie didn't look like much of a threat. He was quite smart though, she could give him that.
"And that's all you need to know about the Fifth Realm and the founders of the world. Dismissed."
Xena felt a little guilty for zoning out, but at least she hadn't fallen asleep. She leaned over to give Jake a little jab to wake him up. He jumped up, "Is class over?"
She laughed and followed Alfie to the Battle Room. Rania had told her she had a little surprise planned. Something to bring out their hidden talents. Rania was sure they were underplaying their abilities as well, just like Xena had suspected.
They ate some corn-cream while Rania got the exercise ready.
"This is really good," said Jake, digging into the food. "We should get more of these in Khethinia."
Maria laughed, "In Shlow, too, all we eat is fruit."
Xena couldn't help but feel proud of her realm, "Yeah, this snack is really popular in Everstan."
Alfie shrugged, "It's not that bad." He paused for a second, "don't you think it's weird that all these adults are depending on us to find the Ikha? I mean isn't that their job?"
Jake shrugged, "Well, we're not going to be finding the actual Ikha, genius, we're just doing some recon."
Alfie glared at him and stalked off with his corn-cream.
"I don't think he likes you," Maria said in a sing-song voice.
Xena watched him storm off. She was a little worried, it wouldn't be fun having two people go at it with each other for an entire train ride. "I think you should go and apologize, Jake, he seems pretty offended."
Jake looked up at her a little confused. "You know I was just joking. I didn't even say anything mean."
She made a face, she wasn't too sure about that. She tried to brush it off as Rania called them over for the exercise. It wasn't her job to sort out their petty squabbles, or was it?
"The goal of this exercise is to put together everything we've learned this week," said Rania.
Xena looked at what she had set up. There were four long trails filled with obstacles in the middle of the room. And at the beginning of every trial stood a soldier. They looked a bit intimidating with their dark green uniforms and set faces.
"I'm not gonna hit a girl," said Alfie looking up at the soldiers as Rania spoke.
"They're not girls," said Xena, "They're women, and so is every other soldier in Everstan. This is a female-run society, you know that."
"He probably can't handle it," said Jake, nudging Xena with his elbow.
She laughed, but still didn't understand what Alfie meant. Did he have a traumatic history with Eversonian soldiers, or was he just picky about who he had physical contact with?
"We don't have any male soldiers at our disposal," said Rania. She gave him a look of sympathy and went on with her explanation. "You will pin the soldier to the ground for at least five seconds, then jump over the pile of rocks, sprint across the room, slide under the wooden stanchion, and touch the wall on the other side. Anyone under three minutes will redo the course. Your weapon will be a baton. Best of luck."
Xena took the wooden baton from Rania and crouched down in a ready position. She held the baton tightly, what a weird weapon to give them. She looked to her right, Maria was holding the baton the wrong and on her left Jake and Alfie were just messing around.
"Ready, set, go," said Rania blowing on her whistle.
Xena smacked the soldier's leg with her baton and grabbed her by the throat. "Sorry," she whispered, holding her down for five seconds.
She stepped over her and took off, doing a quick summer salt over the rocks. She peered over her shoulders. Maria was struggling with the rock jump and Jake and Alfie were still trying to take down their soldier.
Xena laughed to herself and slid under the stanchion. This was too easy.
"Good job," Rania called, as Xena touched the wall in victory.
She hunched over, wheezing and watched the others struggle to finish. "You can do it, Maria," she cheered. Maria was so close, all she needed was to slide under the stanchion.
"Time," called Rania. Oof, Maria didn't make it. Rania glared at Alfie, who was looking up at her with innocent eyes.
"He hit me with his stupid stick," shouted Jake, getting up from the floor. Xena snickered as he tackled Alfie to the ground. Maybe their little feud wasn't so one-sided after all.
"Maria, Alfie, and Jake, to the wall," said Rania, pulling them apart, "now."
***
Xena hugged her mother goodbye at the train station, taking in her sweet strawberry scent. "I love you," she whispered. Her mother was wearing a disguise and so were all the other leaders, to keep the whole mission thing under wraps.
Queen Vera held her close and gave her some last-minute advice, "It's good to make friends, but I want you to be wary, your best friend can turn into your worst enemy."
Xena looked up at her mother. She was so beautiful. She had thick black curls and dark brown eyes that turned gold when she looked up at the sun. "Of course," said Xena. She loved hearing her mother's advice. She lived by it.
"Do you have everything?" her mother asked, fussing over her. "A weapon? Your phone? Enough jems for the train?"
"Yes, yes, and yes," said Xena. She pointed towards her little backpack and hugged her mother for the last time. She was going to miss her so much.
"There's no xifi in the Fifth Realm and in some parts of Lagor, but I want you to try your best to keep me updated, okay?"
Her mother kissed her forehead and went back into the car with the other leaders. Xena waved them off and went to join her compadres.
They were all wearing matching black jeans and black shirts to blend in with everyone. They also had one plain black backpack each with essentials. She had a change of clothes, her phone, and 30 blue jems.
Xena had put her hair puffy hair in a tight-knit bun and Maria had on a black headscarf and a simple black dress that went to ankles. Ato was poking his head out of the back of her bag. Alfie had replaced his expensive-looking glasses with basic round ones with light brown rims. And Jake, well he looked the same, but Xena knew that Madam Edith had taken away most of his gadgets that he always carried around. Which was good because she didn't know where Alfie and Jake stood as friends.
"So, let's go..." Xena said.
They all shrugged and followed her to the booth next to the train station. There was a hologram with a world map and all the routes on the sidewall. They stood around for a second not doing anything, so Xena decided to take the lead. "We should take the next train to Lagor, cross the Puny River, and we'll be at the Fifth Realm by tomorrow night."
Jake raised his hand a little, "Can we stop by Khethinia?"
Xena looked at him, wondering if he could see the map. It was clear that if they went to Khethinia, they would have to go through Shlow and Lagor to get to the Fifth Realm. It didn't make sense. "But then it'll take us longer to get to Lagor. It makes sense if we take the fastest and shortest route which is to just go from here to Lagor directly." She pointed at the hologram and traced the line for extra emphasis.
Jake nodded along to what she was saying. "Yeah, but I have a little business to attend to. It won't take that long."
Xena shook her head, "That doesn't make any sense. We're not doing that."
Alfie crossed his arms, "Who made you the boss?" He sounded amused as if he was happy to start a debate.
Xena glared at him, was he being serious?
He started mocking her, "I'm Xena and I think I'm in charge because I was born with power," he got serious, "well, we're not in Everstan anymore."
Jake put a finger up in disagreement. "You know what I mean," said Alfie, crossing his arms. "It was a metaphorical statement, idiot."
Maria clapped, "Yes! Then let's go to Shlow after! Unexpected vacation!"
Xena muttered to herself under her breath. What would her mother do? "Ok, ok, I hear you, girls, traveling around the world. That sounds like a good idea, huh?" She smiled, acknowledging that she heard them. She had taken dozens of leadership classes, and the most important thing was to give the people a voice. She paused a little, "but there are peoples lives at stake you know."
Jake rolled his eyes in a sarcastic manner. "Honestly, I don't think th Ikha is even in the Fifth Realm and it's 3-1 come on Xena, please. You've never been out of Everstan anyway, this will be like a fun little field trip for you." He put on a pouty face got down on his knees.
Xena blushed. She hadn't wanted them to know that she'd never been out of Everstan. What was wrong with that anyway? She liked living in the comfort of her home. She felt safe in Everstan. They all looked at her wide-eyed and vacation-ready. She didn't want to make a bad impression, so she gave in. "I suppose taking a detour wouldn't hurt..."