34 Chapter 34

I watched Lord Stone's back warily. Something about what had just occurred caused my skin to chill.

Deciding to push it to the back of my mind, I turned and headed to my room.

Brigitte was there waiting with Clara. Once they'd changed me from my elaborate gown to a much more comfortable dress Brigitte asked if I would like my afternoon meal.

I shook my head, "No thank you, but could you find Daphne?"

Brigitte nodded and left to find my lady-in-waiting.

Soon after, she appeared, "Apologies for the wait your majesty, you asked to see me?"

I smiled, "There was no wait, it's fine." I said as she stood and waited, "You can sit." I said, gesturing to the couch.

She smiled and sat across from me.

I was hesitant to speak, and unsure of how to phrase my sentence.

"I met your father today." I started.

Daphne's smiled widened, "Yes."

I nodded, "Yes, he helped me find my way back to my quarters, but…" I paused and licked my lips.

"But?" Daphne asked.

"Well, he seemed peculiar at the end of our conversation and asked a strange question."

"Strange how?"

I shook my head once again remembering Hadok's words, "Never mind, I'm sure it's absolutely nothing and I was just tired." I said with a reassuring smile.

Daphne regarded me doubtfully but didn't question me on it.

The day passed without any new events, I sat on my bed and read one of the many history books I had been instructed to read by Alessia. This one was about the many wars between Mathuba and Cadarama.

I found it quite intriguing, the relationship between the desert country and Cadarama. Despite how interested I was my eyelids began to droop.

Soon I was sleeping in a peaceful bliss.

I found myself walking through a forest that was lit brilliantly with moonlight.

I continued to walk along a narrow path, pushing jungle leaves out of my face and I soon found myself in a clearing, the floor was damp dirt and I looked down to see that my feet were bare, and that my clothes were that of what I used to wear in Crescent.

I touched the small woollen shawl wrapped around my shoulders that my siblings had made for me, "Impossible." I muttered. I had left my precious gift at home.

"Oh, it's very possible Hydrangea." Said a disembodied voice.

I spun in a circle to see if I could spot the speaker.

"Who's there?" I asked. The path that I had come on had disappeared and in it's place was a small, stone shrine. I squinted my eyes in an attempt to make out who it was dedicated to.

The stone statue had two hands held out, one with a carven wooden boat and the other with an hour glass.

I paused for a moment as I thought of what it could mean.

I reached out and touched the crown atop the statue's head, a moon.

"Ratri-kar?" I asked, realizing that it was a shrine to the moon Primal.

"Ah!" The strange voice exclaimed, "So you've figured it out."

"Are you Ratri-kar?" I asked pensively, it was impossible, the Primals weren't real.

"We are very real Hydrangea," He said and his voice sounded closer than before, I turned and jumped back.

"And here I am."

~~~~~~~~

Bastian sat on his bed after the long day of the Queen's greeting and then meeting to sign the permission for the three ships for the girls. He rubbed the spot where she'd slapped him.

In his hand he held his wine goblet, the last few drags of the delicious liquid lingering in the bottom.

With a quick swig they were gone and he laid down and quickly fell asleep.

He opened his eyes and found himself in a bright open expanse. Looking around he found only water for miles. The sky was a bright white but not so bright that it hurt. He took a step forward and saw that the ground beneath him was in fact not earth but water.

His face contorted in confusion as he once again scanned the vast horizon.

His clothes were what he used to wear in his sailing days; simple, dark brown breeches with a loose fitting, white, cotton shirt tucked in at the waist. But instead of the usual leather boots that he would wear his feet were bare on the surface of the water.

"Strange." He muttered as he once again observed his bland surroundings.

He blinked and found himself in a new location.

He was still standing on a flat plane of water but instead of an endless expanse, there was jungle.

He could hear chittering and clicks familiar to the jungle that he lived in but before him was something strange.

A shrine.

Bastian moved to take a step forward, to observe the shrine further but a voice stopped him.

"Do you know what you have done, boy?"

Bastian's head shot up as he sought to identify where it had come from but all he could see were moss covered tree limbs and vines.

'…What you have done boy?' He repeated in his mind confused.

Shaking the thoughts from his head he focused on the shrine before him.

It was a statue but he couldn't discern of who. Again he attempted to take a step forward and this time he was not interrupted.

In one of the statue's hands there was water in the other was a small sprout. He could figure out who the shrine was for easily enough with the first clue: water.

He couldn't believe that he hadn't realized it before.

"Don't think too highly of yourself now." The voice said again, and this time he felt it was closer.

He spun on his heel and before him was a man. He had dark skin and wore brilliant blue robes, his eyes were the deepest blue he had ever seen and he was standing on the strange pool too.

"Samadur?"

The man watched him, his facial features unmoving.

Bastian laughed, "Wow. I must be losing my mind if I'm having a dream about a Primal." He finished as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

The man smiled and not very kindly, "Very well… I shall not give you the warning and you shall be…"

Bastian watched as he paused.

"Surprised."