Nigel was busy in his office, with Liam still unable to be found, and Wura not being in a right frame of mind, he had to take over most of Liam's duties, the ones that he could handle, until Liam had returned, or at least until Wura would take over her place as Queen in place of her husband.
"My Queen, Royal Duke's office is here" said Nora as she stopped in front of a door.
"Thank you Nora" said Wura as she looked at Nora.
"You may go now Nora, I would like to speak to Uncle Nigel privately" said Wura.
"Alright my Queen, please take care" said Nora as she nodded her head.
"I will be waiting for you in your room" said Nora as Wura nodded her head and Nora bowed as she walked away.
Wura paused as she turned to look at the door and she knocked on it lightly.
Nigel looked up from his desk as he heard a knock on the door, he wondered who it could have been.
"You may enter" said Nigel as Wura proceeded to open the door as she walked into the room.
"Good Noon Uncle" said Wura as she closed the door behind her and Nigel turned to look at her.
"Ahh Good Noon my dear, please come in, sit down, sit down" said Nigel as he smiled.
"Thank you Uncle" said Wura as she nodded her head and she sat down on the couch as Nigel stood up from his desk and he walked to sit down right beside Wura.
"My dear, you are all dressed up, did you go out?" asked Nigel as he noticed that Wura had changed, and she was not in her nightgown as she had been for a long while now.
"Yes Uncle… I did… I went to go and see Mero…" said Wura.
"Oh, I see" said Nigel as he sighed and he smiled.
"Yes… and he has not found Liam yet" said Wura as Nigel was trying his best to make sure that he was strong, not all of them could be destabilized at this point in time, Wura was not strong yet, and well there was no one else to make sure that things ran in order except him.
"I do not lose hope my dear, we will find him" said Nigel as he smiled and he put his hand over Wura's hand.
"Yes Uncle, I know that we will" said Wura as she nodded her head, she admired Nigel, she wondered how he still got the strength to smile when everything was obviously alright.
She had lost the ability to smile from the moment that Liam risked his life for her, making sure to protect her at all cost, and yet, he was gone now, because of her.
"Uncle… how do you still manage to smile… even though everything is in ruins?" asked Wura as she wanted to know why, over here, her heart was aching, and she knew that Nigel was suffering as well, and yet, he was still smiling.
"My dear… it is better to smile than to frown, even in serious situations, because in the end, you hope that everything will turn out alright" said Nigel as he smiled.
"But is it not hard to do that uncle?" asked Wura.
"Oh my dear, it is, but when you realize that you have to be strong, not just for yourself, but for others as well, you know that you are a pillar of support for others, and the way you feel, will reflect on them as well" said Nigel as Wura knew what he was trying to say, but she just could not do that, not at all.
"Uncle, are you speaking about the kingdom or something else?" asked Wura.
"My dear, I speak for all, and in everything" said Nigel as he smiled and Wura just looked at him, he did not want to worry her about what was currently happening in the kingdom, he was sure that she would not be able to handle it, or at least not for now, she had to get her own bearings first.
"Well my dear, what brings you here?" asked Nigel as he smiled.
"Uncle… when I went to see Mero… I asked about what happened that day…" said Wura.
"Uncle I do not know if you are aware, but on that day… the ground was shaking, it was splitting into two, the sky was dark and the wind blew greatly, Liam told me to stay in the Castle, but I did not listen to him, I was worried, so I went after him, and the ground below my suddenly split open as I thought that I was going to die, but Liam saved me, and then, things happened, the ground opened again as he held on as tightly as he could to the root of a tree as he pulled my up to safety" said Wura as she explained.
"I could not find a way to pull him up since Nolan was startled and he ran away, but Liam kept on insisting that I leave, and he told Mero to take me away, and I struggled and screamed as we left him there, but Mero would not go back, he would not" said Wura as she recalled what happened that day and tears fell from her eyes as she dried them, she was not here to cry right now.
Nigel felt his heart sink as he heard what happened that day, now he understood why Wura was so devastated, she was there when it all happened, Nigel could imagine that the worst feeling in the world, was to see your lover slipping right through your fingers as you could not nothing to help or save them.
"My dear" said Nigel as Wura looked at him.
"Uncle when I finally went outside today, I expected to see destruction, to see many people's homes gone, to see rubble, but I saw nothing at all… it was like nothing happened, everything went back to normal??" asked Wura in confusion, it just made no sense at all.
"Uncle, I want to know why that happened that day… why?" asked Wura as Nigel went quiet, he did not know whether he should tell her the truth or not.
"Uncle, please, I need answers, I want to know why all that happened" said Wura.
"I do not know why that all happened, in the morning of that day, everything was fine, Liam and I went on a picnic together, and just as he was about to tell me something, suddenly a guard came and he said something about a barrier being broken, and as soon as he said that, Liam's countenance changed, and he ordered that we go back to the Castle immediately" said Wura.
She was recalling everything that happened that day, now that she was feeling better, she was sifting through her memories, recounting all that happened that day, from when she woke up till… till the unfortunate thing that happened.
"Uncle, I asked Mero about it, but he refused to tell me anything" said Wura as she looked at Nigel.
"Uncle you know something… if you know something please tell me… I do not want to be left in the dark about anything, this is all so confusing to me" said Wura as Nigel took a deep breath as he sighed, he could see that she was desperate for answers, and he did not blame her at all, he was sure that if he was in her shoes, he would be the same.
"Uncle please tell me" said Wura as she could tell that he knew more than he was saying.
"My dear…" said Nigel as he was cut off.
"I want to know everything Uncle, I want to make sense of what happened" said Wura as she sounded very serious right now.
"Alright my dear… I will tell you all you need to know" said Nigel as he looked at her, he knew that she was determined to know the truth.
"Thank you uncle" said Wura as she looked at him, she was waiting.
"My dear, have you ever heard of the Yonder Realm?" asked Nigel as he looked at Wura as she looked at him.
"The Yonder Realm?" asked Wura in confusion as she shook her head, no, she had not heard of it before.
"No uncle, I have never heard of the Yonder Realm before" said Wura as she shook her head.
"Well my dear, before I can explain to you further… I need to tell you a story" said Nigel as he knew that was the only way to go from here.
"A story?" asked Wura as Nigel nodded his head.
"Yes my dear a story" said Nigel.
"You see, a long time ago, a very long time, before you or I were even born, the foundation of our kingdom was laid…" said Nigel as he began to tell his story.