The girl spun around to see a lot of small glowing girls flying to her. They started sprinkling fairy dust over her flying in circles around the girl. The girl looked at the fairies, still not believing that she maybe has finally found her way back to the magical creatures. When she started feeling different, she looked down at her clothes and saw that they are completely dry now. Her dark grey hoodie, her jet black hair, black shorts, black and grey stockings and her boots were all dry now.
The girl smiled and thanked the fairies, they smiled and went on their way, leaving only a twinkling bell sound behind and soon enough it disapeared too.
As the girl made her way down the hallway, she could already hear some commotion on the other side of the big doors. When she opened them, she could smell something delicious. Soon enough she understood that she had entered the dining hall. There were long tables filled with plates and cups. Though not one was filled with food or drinks. When she looked up she saw candles and torches on the walls and chandeliers on the ceilings. Then her gaze landed on another pair of doors, though these were smaller than the previous ones, and from there came the amazing smell of food.
The girl decided to go and peek inside, she saw that a few elves and dwarfs were making food. Her stomach grumbled, then she tried to remember when she last ate. Well if she needed to remember, then probably she hadn't eaten in a long while.
"Oh you're hungry! You poor thing, I'll get you something to eat, wait here." Startled, the girl turned around looking for the owner of the voice. Then her eyes landed on a sweet looking dwarf lady. Her height reached till the girls stomach, and she wore a weird looking hat with a bell at the end of it. The lady looked to be in her 50s, with blond hair that started turning gray bit by bit. the girl couldn't help but notice that she even wore wood shoes with red flowers.
"Thank you." the girl mumbled and smiled at the lady. She smiled back showing she had dimples in her cheeks. She scurried off into the kitchen whilst telling her to sit down at one of the tables.
The girl sat down at one smaller tables end on the side, waiting patiently whilst looking around the room. Then she saw that in a corner of the room was another room filled with cushions and bowls. Then her mind clicked.
"Must be for the lions and tigers.... and the pack.." She mumbled to herself, a bit surprised. Maybe Alpha was here too somewhere. She wanted to find him.
"Yes indeed, that place is for them. They can't exactly sit at a table." The lady joked and surprised the girl again. The lady placed a plate of meat and rice in front of her. It smelled so good, that the girl dug in straight away.
"Oh dear, do they not feed you where you live?" the lady asked as she satin front of the girl. The girl quickly composed herself and ate normally.
"I'm sorry. I'm just a bit hungry. Didn't think a walk in the forest would lead me here." The girl said and continued eating.
"Don't apologize, darling. Plus if you found your way here then it was meant to be. Nobody is supposed to know we live here." The lady said sweetly. "My name is Meniel. I help around here most of the time, sometimes clean up some rooms. What's your name, sweetie?"
The girl looked up from her meal and swallowed down what she had been chewing. She looked around the room trying to avoid eye contact with Meniel. 'How do I even tell her that?' She thought to herself.
"Sweetie, are you okay?" Maniel asked concerned, seeing as the girl was not responding.
"Well.. I don't really have one.." The girl finally said, turning her look back to the half finished meal. A soft gasp could be heard coming from Meniel. That was the normal reaction she got from people when she said that. The girl never really knew why she didn't have a name or why her parents never gave her one. Maybe she forgot her name, how else were the police supposed to be looking for her or how the doctors and therapists called her, or anyone at that.
"How do people call you then?" Meniel asked, a bit of concern and sadness in her voice. 'Why feel that way? It's just a name.'
"I don't know, nobody calls me anything, mostly it's just 'girl' or 'the one with the black hair', but I don't mind, I mean I don't know my own name, so it's nothing special." She said not particularly bothered by the subject. "I mostly live in my own head anyway, there is much more fun than anywhere else I have been. Well except here." The girl said flashing a small smile, finally looking up from her food to Meniel, whos face was pretty shocked. But after a second Meniel smiled a warm smile.
"Darling, it's not just a name, it's a lot more than that. Someone took a part of you away and that's not to be brushed off so easily. I know it bothers you too, that all of us have what you don't, you just hide it deep inside." Meniel said placing a hand on the girls shoulder. The girl smiled at her, but said nothing and ate the rest of her, now a bit colder, meal.
A few minutes later, she finished eating, said her thank you's to Meniel about the food and her company and left.
The girl wandered around the castle, coming across a lot of nice bedrooms, bathrooms, music rooms filled with beautiful instruments she has never seen before, though some were familiar to her, closets with brooms and buckets, plant rooms with vegitables and fruits and a whole bunch of other things growing. She saw more elves and dwarfs, some were cleaning, some were planting, the faries played the music, some instruments were in all corners of the castle, playing a sweet melody on their own. What a place to be.
She even came across a huge library filled with books and tables with ink and scrolls, there were only elves who read and wrote, so she explored the library quickly and left to not disturb anyone.
At some point, the girl found the exit to the second bridge and crossed over. It was already getting late and the sun was setting, but the girl didn't worry about anything and enjoyed the sunset more. The colors all swarmed together with clouds and made the perfect painting in the sky.
When she reached the smaller house on the other side of the bridge, she heard chirping and flapping. And as she went inside, she saw the biggest tree with hundreads of branches and even more birds of all kind. Her eyes widened at the sight. There were griffins, owls, small dragons and pheonixs. On the ground were lying lions and tigers resting and their cubs playing and running around.
The girl wasn't scared, not in the least. She felt as at peace in here as the rest of the castle.
She noticed that lions had a share of the ground, tigers had their share and the last share was empty. She smiled, as she knew whom that belonged to.
The girl then went out to the other side of the house. There was a lake filled with mermaids and fishes, even water dragons. All around the lake were rocks and on the opposite side was waht looked like a cave for dragons. Dragons were all around here, in the sand, flying around, in the cave, in the water, and next to her too. One came and started smelling her, then nuzzeld her arm. 'Were these the creatures that held all the gold and killed men in the stories?' She thought to herself with a smile. "Funny what you can make up without knowing anything about others." The girl said softly and hugged the dragon back.
The dragon was warm to the touch and it felt comforting. He stood tall then spread his wings, as if asking her to fly with him. "You want me to come with you?" The girl asked, frightened a bit by the thought, but excited at the same time. The dragon just lowered himself down to let her sit on his back. When she wrapped her arms around the dragons neck, he shot up into the sky.
The girl let out a shriek and screwed her eyes shut, her grip around the dragons neck tightening. But after a moment, she felt only a breeze and nothing else, so she opened her eyes to see the most breathtaking view.
The clouds were in all shades of pink, yellow, light purple and orange around them, the dragons wings going through clouds making them swirl around in a little dance. The wind was going under the dragons strong wings letting us stay up, to see the sun set just before us in the most magnificent way. How many times has she seen the sun set, but has never been this amazed by the view as now. How many times have people went and gone, but have never bothered to see this beauty? Sad to say that way too many.
By the time the dragon landed, it was almost completely dark, only a few rays of sunlight were still poking from under the horizon. The girl made her way to the house, where most of the birds and lions were already fast asleep, as well as the tigers, and even the wolf pack, but someone was missing.
She gasped softly and turned on her heel to sprint out. Once on the bridge, she saw a familiar silhouette standing on the other end of the bridge, only the eyes could be seen shining slightly.
The girl smiled and felt her eyes burn with tears as she started running to the other end. The silhouette started running too. Finally they met in a hug in the middle of the bridge, the girl hugging his neck while the Alpha nuzzling his head in her neck. The girl was a crying mess and Alpha had a few tears of his own leave his magical eyes. Just then the sky started crying too.
"I missed you, so, so much..." the girl sobbed, but heard a whine from him as agreement. She wanted to see him every day since they left, he was her comfort, he was her safe place. It wasn't any different for The Alpha, he had missed her too way too much, so he kept an eye on her from afar, following her around in the forest making sure she found a way back always. Finally together, they now could be at peace and happy again.
This time when they hugged in the rain, it wasn't a goodbye and it wasn't sad either. Both of them were finally happy to say hello again.