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Chapter 16 - The Return

"Princess Damia, please wake up. Speak to me, can you hear me?"

Damia opened her eyes slowly to find that Prince Elric had her cradled in his arms as they sat on the bench. She instinctively moved to get into a proper sitting position, but found she was still woozy and without full control of her body. Reluctantly, she had to settle back in his arms and wait for her senses to stabilize.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake. No one comes by this side of the maze without my explicit instructions to do so, and I feared leaving you alone to seek assistance in case you awoke to find me no longer with you."

"I apologize for becoming a burden to you Prince Elric. I don't know what happened, but I suddenly did not feel well."

Elric smoothed her hair out of her face as he replied, "That may be in part my doing. I was careless and did not warn you about the effects of poppies. Their fragrance induces sleep when inhaled in high amounts."

"I was not aware. But you seem to be unaffected."

"That would be due to these roses. Their fragrance overpowers the fragrance of the poppies so no one sitting on the bench would be affected."

Damia laughed, more at herself than a real laugh. "I suppose I should have been more obedient when you asked me to sit."

Hearing her self-deprecation, Elric smiled kindly at Damia, "You're too hard on yourself. This place was designed to be captivating. You were merely reacting with emotions intended by the designer. You should be feeling better now that you've rested. I imagine it was a good rest too, but perhaps we should head back to the castle now before we're missed."

"Yes, I believe you're right."

Damia rose from the bench slowly, with Elric helping her up and offering his arm to her. As she took it, she looked back to the corner where she had dreamt the other passage.

"Is something wrong, Princess."

"No, no, nothing. But, wasn't there a passage there earlier that led to a lake?"

"A lake? There are no lakes this close to the castle, and there are no other passages to this room other than the one we took to get here."

"Oh, it must have just been part of the dream then."

Elric considered this for a moment, but said nothing to Damia. She accepted his explanation and they both retraced their step back out of the maze.

Outside the maze entrance, they were met with Adi who gave the prince a look of contempt, but Elric pretended not to notice and addressed Damia. "How fortunate. It looks like you and Adi can still go through the maze together. I should leave you to your companion now, Princess."

"Thank you for walking with me earlier, Prince."

Elric smiled at both and headed off alone as Adi joined Damia's side.

Adi was still disgruntled as he asked, "Did he not give you my message that I would be along in a few minutes? You couldn't wait?"

Damia was surprised as Elric had indeed left that part out of the message. "I'm sorry, Adi. I was under the impression that you would be gone for the remainder of the day, and the Prince wanted to show me a room he designed in the maze. He made it as a memorial for my mother."

"That's odd, don't you think? I didn't realize he had been so close to her. Well how about we go on and see the rest of the maze that you didn't get to see with him then?"

This brought a bright smile to Damia's face and she let him lead the way.

---

Elric left Adi and Damia at the maze, heading straight to his room. Once he arrived, he headed straight for the bookshelf, reaching for a book he kept tucked away on the top shelf, behind other books.

"Where is it? Where is it?"

He started to become frantic as he could not find the book he sought but just as he was about to give up, his hand landed on the leafy pages of a leather bound book.

"Here it is!"

He flipped through some of the pages until he came to a specific entry and read it.

"It was a lovely day going through the garden today. The warmth of the sun melted away the frosty chill of the season. The flowers aren't in bloom, but the serenity of the scenery was what I needed. So many years have passed, and I still haven't been able to return to the lake that I was sure lay behind the castle. I still haven't taken her there. I hope her father won't be too disappointed, or think I'm trying to keep her away. But I won't give up looking. I'm sure the wall will open for me again soon."

He had read every passage in this journal, memorized every word, but he was never able to understand this entry. It spoke of a lake that could not exist. Though he asked all the groundskeepers if they had seen anything that might hint to the existence of a lake within the vicinity of the castle, he was always met with the same response; there is no lake. He considered the possibility that the lake was metaphorical, but Damia's words today now made him doubt this conclusion. This journal was the only time he had ever even heard of a lake in the area and no one knew that it existed. No one even knew that he was in possession of this journal. Damia would have no way of knowing to ask about a lake anywhere, yet she did ask. She even asked about a hidden passage.

When putting that room together, Elric had checked the surrounding area of the maze and he knew it only led to an open, grassy field. He wanted the room to be secure so he did not make more than one way in to it.

So many questions raced through his mind. The Queen's journal made no other mentions of the lake before this passage, or again after this passage so there were no more clues as to what she could have meant, or what significance it would have for her, but he wasn't going to give up.

Perhaps Damia had dreamt of the lake while in the room. This theory made sense to him, and perhaps the late Queen enjoyed staying in that part of the garden because it had been the same place where she had dreamt of the lake.

The Queen wanted to take "her" there, which Elric assumed referred to Damia. He had no reason to think this, but he thought it all the same, he thought that this place could be the key to unlocking Damia's full powers, and being unable to go to the lake was the reason Damia was so weak. If that was the case, he had to find the lake himself so she could unlock her full potential.