It could not have been Edurne. Edurne could not have been this warm, and if by chance I was under that woolly blanket, the bed could not have been this soft. Edurne's bed was sculpted out of block of ice.
Rose pattern greeted me and told me that I was back in Coronale in my rosy bedroom. I slowly sat up to the rosiness, moving and twisting my limping body.
"Princess you're awake!"
Sharon came into the room with a tray of ceramic rose basin. She put it down on my dresser and dashed over. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine." I answered. "What about you Sharon? Why are you here? How's your son?"
A smile wrinkled her happy face, "Why do you ask about me Princess? Thanks to you he's heal! And I'm glad you wake up too. I'll call Shaph at once!"
Sharon must have kept it brief, because it was not just Shaph that came, Uncle Derek, royal doctors, Jes, and even Kay came bustling into the room crowding against my bed.
"Why are you here Kay?" I asked surprisingly.
"Please stay still Princess." said the doctor who was inspecting my eyes.
It took a long while before all the doctors retired from my bunk. They reported my condition softly to Uncle Derek and Shaph with a happy face. I must be fine like I feel then.
"I'll prepare some light meal!" Sharon squeaked gaily and stormed out.
"I'll get back to my work." said Jes blandly and left too.
I giggled to the same old accustom of the castle's people and looked at Kay who was standing alone quietly gazing at me with his sea-green eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be in Edurne? How about Kimhan?"
"He's still in Edurne. He said it's too hot here." Kay smiled for the first time I had ever seen and answered my question!
Shaph dived at my bedside crying his eyes out. "I'm so worried! You fell into Edurne and disappeared for weeks! And when we found you, you were almost killed by Queen Neera! I'm so want to be dead!!!"
"Well, you can't now, can you?" I said jokingly. "I'm still alive and robust. Whatever happen to me Shaph, you can't die on my behalf. You must live for me."
Shaph squeezed almost all the water in his body out through his eyes as Uncle Derek clasped his shoulder. "Alright, alright, enough of crying, our guest here wouldn't know where to go next."
He meant Kay and Shaph quickly galloped over to the man of the snow Kingdom. "I thank you for rescuing our Princess Sir Kay! I don't know how to repay such benevolent act!"
Kay backed away awkwardly, "It is also my fault leading her Highness to the ice of Queen Neera. I shouldn't—"
"The past is the past," said Uncle Derek signaling Shaph to carry a chair over to the bedside. "you must not blame yourself, Sir Kay, Knight of Edurne, you did your best."
"Knight?" I asked astonishingly among the squawking chair noise. Shaph seemed to be too happy to pay much attention to the way he was dragging the chair. He was the one most sensitive to noises after all.
"Kay is the last knight of Queen Neera." Uncle Derek said lowering himself onto the chair, "now, we need to talk, could you leave us for a while Knight Kay?"
The ice knight bobbed and left the room. Shaph shut the door lightly after him taking a position behind Uncle Derek as the ex-steward began, "It's lucky of you to be safe. I am sorry that I was not there to help."
"No problem at all uncle." I said softening my voice to show respect, "I am fine, but...how did I end up here? What about Queen Neera?"
"She's gone." Uncle Derek said so normally that I thought she went somewhere far away, but I had to catch my breath at what came next, "Dead. That's what happens when a person with that much power lost it."
"I'm sorry to hear that." I said.
Uncle arched his tufty brows to give his tired eyes a hint of liveliness, "I guess you had the right to know after what you had to go through. Well how to start this? I must say all the blame must go to King Carl."
Shaph whispered a gasp.
"He was a charming young prince from Prane, a small country at Coronale's border—it merged with this country after the King and the Queen's marriage. He came to this Kingdom intended to marry the next Queen of Coronale, and everyone at the time thought without a doubt that the position would go to Princess Neera."
"I have nothing to say against her." Uncle Derek leaned against the rose cushion. "She's good at everything. Prince Carl went after her, got her heart, easy just like that. But when we found that she had even greater power, my sister, the Great Queen Nareeya, asked her to go to Edurne."
Shaph must be stiff. He started to the tea tray and prepared ginger tea (no, I hate ginger!) to change his mood as Uncle Derek went on.
"Do you remember about Magic's property?" the old man suddenly asked.
I nodded and repeated the knowledge of this world that was cramming in my head, "Magic fuses with sunlight in Bila creating the healing Light of Bila; with animals in Aeca and gave birth to Beastskin; with trees in those Ancient Forest; with—er, air in Mithril for Magic dust. And yes, the gems, it fuses with stone and soil in Witrin. Have I missed anything ka?"
"No, and the last one, Edurne," Shaph gave us each a cup here, "Water pulls Magic in trapping it in there and turns into ice, and the Magic-controlling power that is useful to other parts of this world helps it. For centuries, there has been problems about depletion of water, and only very few Kings or Queens in the past possessed the power to release Magic. Princess Neera was one of them, so the Great Queen sent her there."
He sipped and shrugged, "She didn't protest. I didn't know she had that promise with Prince Carl. But as you can see, the Queen of Coronale later went to Princess Nara and Prince Carl changed his plan."
So drama, I thought and winced at the spiciness of ginger.
Uncle Derek must have thought I felt sorry about the story, he gave me a wistful smile. "Neera didn't know about their marriage until Carla was four. She was so upset by the time and took revenge by stop releasing Magic from water. It was a big disaster back then." Shaph nodded as if he lived through that himself, "That was why Queen Nara sent little Princess to the Dry World and went with King Carl to Edurne. To settle things with her sister."
"The plan was almost going well. With Queen Nara's power, they slowly force Magic into droplets of water around Neera. Before that poor child was imprisoned in ice, she managed to attack both of them."
Alright, they died, the end.
"I'd never expected something like this would happen." Uncle Derek emptied his cup as if it was beer and could dull his pain. "Kay, the last of the Knights, has been looking after the ice and the palace for decades and not a single sign said that she was alive in that ice. I must say I was glad she's alive, but—"
Shaph changed the mood again by brewing another set of chrysanthemum tea. The sweet waft of the flower among the bitterness tea scent dissolved some of the sadness floating in the room.
"But I should have been here to help you," Uncle Derek propped his head on his bulky frail hand, "I'm terribly sorry. You see, after Queen Nara and King Carl's death, I reckoned the only way to bring the little Princess back is for Jed who has some talent to work Magic to open the gate. No one else out of our circle should know about the gate. I left the castle to Shaph's care and we travelled so far to find a good teacher for him. After that it took us these many years to practice. It was also my fault," the old man looked at Shaph, "that I did not tell anything about this to Shaph and that he had to go about trying hard to open the gate. Even ask for that Keon Prince for assistance."
That seemed to remind Shaph about his error. "I am so sorry Master Derek!"
"It is alright little bunny." He said to Shaph in a soft tone. "There's nothing much we can do at this stage but to wait until Princess Carla returns and—" Uncle Derek balled both hands together between his knees, "to keep you safe."
"Me?" I skid my eyes over to him feeling grateful for the distraction from the ginger tea. Shaph would not refill it with chrysanthemum tea unless I doused all the liquid in my throat.
"Yes. I cannot let you endanger anymore of our politics. I apologize for leaving suddenly at the time without settling things down first. I went to King Leonard to ask him to call back Prince Leonhard. He rejected me and while I was on my way back to Coronale, I heard you were lost in the Ancient Forest from your coachman I accidentally met in a small Azmera's village. He also told me you were sent over to Witrin for the Magic crystal—it was lucky that the Princess' power leakage is somehow still effective—and that you were caught by Queen Silvia during the war, and your act at Queen Roseheart's court. I was really scared when I heard you were in Aeca later on so I followed you there. I met King Leonard who told me you fell into Edurne! From all of this, you could have died many times already."
That, seemed to Shaph, was all his errors too. He cried again, "I am so sorry Master Derek!"
"This just proved I have an exceptional strong luck then." I said optimistically but Uncle Derek did not follow.
"It is alright Shaph, and this is not a fun adventure girl," his expression became stern, "do you know how old are you now?"
Twenty-nine, I thought quietly in my head.
"You look like sixteen or seventeen!" the old Master raced on, "the longer you stay, your age reduces! And what about those Princes that trying to get to you thinking you're Princess Carla! I cannot allow you to be incorporated in this troublesome scheme anymore. From now on, until Jed opens the gate, you don't have to leave the Castle, you don't have to do any royal work, and you don't have to communicate with any princes."
Shaph sagged on his knees and howled, "I am so sorry Master Derek!"
"Shaph," the old Master looked pretty annoy by now, "I said it is alright."
The bunny steward looked up at his mentor with teary eyes, "But—but—they were so worried and they told me to—to—erm—I—I'd just sent a message to King Fayn and Prince Leonhard that Princess is awake."
"WHAT!"