Unlike I expected, the kingdom of the Acorn Valley was divided into different smaller villages. It was amazingly beautiful — even more than I'd noticed it from above when I was on Roy.
Soon, led by my uncle, we arrived before our apartment. It was nothing like I'd ever imagine. Something like those ancient Chinese compounds in some movies. It had beautiful carvings here and there on the walls of both man and beast.
The compound housed several spare rooms that could house ten guests, each. In no time, I was shown the room that I'd be sleeping in. It wasn't luxurious, but was comfortable and pleasing to the eyes, nevertheless. There were empty shelves in the room, a big bed (much bigger than mine back home), and a toilet — gracefully — with a large bathtub.
I had pleaded that Roy stayed with me in the same room, of which my uncle concorded with, after much, deep contemplations. I feared that something bad might happen to my Roy; this place was just too eccentric for one to carry out any risks.
After my clothes and luggages had been transferred into the shelves, I finally heaved a sign of relief. It was only then I heard a roar in my stomach that ordered me to make do my duties; for my stomach was an empress and hated incompetent fools like me messing around. If she said sit, it meant sit. She knew well I should have served her some food, yet I stubbornly delayed. So the bellow came roaring at me, over and over again. It was one thing to have a wicked master outside, but inside...?
I ignored the roars and bellows of my stomach then went into the bathroom for my "beauty bath", as I'd like to call it.
All in all, from the time I entered my room till the time I came out from the bathroom and dressed up made up to an hour and thirty minutes.
Meanwhile, Roy had actually dozed off in sleep. I shook my head at him in pity. He had seen — and gone — through a lot, for the past two days. It was little wonder why he'd be this exhausted.
In truth, no matter how much I calmed myself that everything I have been witnessing is "normal", I still couldn't help but stare at the huge bird in disbelief. Walking towards him, I caressed his head and wings before stepping out to get what to eat.
I went to the sitting area of the house, but it was void of anyone, so I opened Dorothy's door, slightly, to get a glimpse of her if she were sleeping, despite it being just about after four towards evening.
What I saw was quite confusing and baffling.
As I opened the door, there was no screeching sound unlike I'd expected. I was welcomed by a gushing wind of extraordinary aura from the centre of the room where Dorothy sat legs-crossed — wings outstretched behind her — and her eyes shut.
Still baffled by the sight, I slipped in. The aura kept on spinning around her, making her seemingly barricaded from the rest of the world. I quickly cast my eyes around her room and filled them with warmness. Looking back at her, my eyes then caught sight of a big book with the word, "Butterflies", and a smaller book that said, "Fairies".
Something inside me wanted me to rush right down to it and grab it, still, all I could do was keep watching from where I stood.
Suddenly, I noticed Dorothy stretching both her hands — eyes still shut — and roll them in a circular motion. From in-between both hands came a weak, blue light forming a tiny ball which grew larger very slowly, so slow that one might not even notice the increasing size. Then her lips curved up in a smile. As if impressed with the recent developments of the "light balls", she opened her eyes to peek at it.
But on opening her eyes and seeing someone (of which I refer to myself), Dorothy got startled and unknowingly materialised the ball, making it fall to the ground and shatter, as would a mug.
I was surprised, and felt bad that I'd startled her.
"What in tarnation!" she bellowed.
"I'm sorry I'd startled you, Dorothy, I really didn't mean that!" I pleaded, advancing towards her.
"My first ever Mystique Ball has been shattered! It took me several hours in the past to sustain one this big, but to no avail, and yet you just found a way to ruin the first one capable of materialising!"
Her voice sounded terribly hurt as tears welled up in her eyes. She cupped her face and subbed, hysterically. Although none of the things she'd just said made any sense to me, I was actually stung by guilt, and was pained by having to be the cause of my cousin's dismay. Most undeliberate, tears sprang up my eyes as well. I wasn't used to watching others cry, for I was very sensitive in nature. I tried advancing towards her, but I only made matters worse.
"Don't come any closer. Just go!"
"But—"
"Go out, I wanna be alone!" with a shaking finger pointed behind me at the entrance.
My eyes fell to those books, but I quickly averted them away and walked out, wiping my cheeks. I wanted to return to my room again, but her empress reminded me that we had an unfinished business. And so, I nodded, as if coming to a realisation, then searched for the kitchen.
It wasn't really hard to find the kitchen, due to the nature of the house. Despite the fact that everywhere was dead silent, there seemed to be two people in the kitchen. They were both dressed in gowns that were as long as mine, and had white aprons fastened around them.
At the moment, one was turning a pot of porridge on fire with a spatula, while the other was washing the dishes in such a way it was impossible to even hear any sound from it; like the clattering of plates and all.
Since their backs were against me, I had to crack my voice, preparing a warm smile on my face.
Both ladies turned around to look at me, both impulsively and simultaneously. And then on seeing them, the smile on my face and the confidence I upheld trembled.
"Ahhhhhhh!" I made a deafening scream, my whole body shaking terribly.
Both ladies were identical twins, each possessing a single eye on their forehead, making their nose run down right at the middle, under it, above their mouths.
To worsen it all, they seemed to have screamed back in fear as well; the lady by the pot almost turned her food, while the one by the washbasin basin almost broke some plates. Still, none of these happened, for they seemed to have a complete control of what they were doing.
I fainted immediately, engulfed by total blackout.
"My, my, we startled her!"
"Indeed!"
Those were the last words I heard before losing consciousness.