Queen Fauna stood before Cara, looking larger than life. Cara tried to stop fidgeting and mustered the courage to look up, but not quite at the Queen directly. A deafening silence filled the room. Cara had no idea what to say or how to act in front of an actual queen. The awkward silence continued for what felt like an eternity when, finally, Queen Fauna turned her head away.
“I hope you are feeling well,” she said. “Saeng...Sofia should be waking up now, so I imagine she’ll want to see you.” Queen Fauna turned toward the entryway she came from and began walking. When Cara did not immediately follow, the Queen stopped, raised her hand, and snapped her fingers at Cara’s sitting figure. She was not used to people not listening or following her directions. “Come.”
Cara jumped from her seat and rushed over to the Queen, who had continued through the door. Cara replayed the earlier conversation she heard, trying to piece together the little she knew and make sense of what was possibly happening. The grips of her onesie squeaked on the stone floors as they walked into the room. Cara tried to tip-toe to dampen the sound, but the more she tried to stay quiet, the louder the squeaking grew.
“Who’s there?” Sofia’s voice floated in the air from atop the giant bed. “Cara? Is that you?” Her voice came from somewhere near the center of the bed.
“Sofia,” Cara whispered, and she dashed up the rest of the stairs. Sofia scooted towards the edge of the bed just in time to see Cara jump onto the bed and tackle her friend with a giant hug. “Sofe! I’m so glad you’re ok!”
“I’m so glad you’re here, Care Bear. No one would tell me where you were, and I haven’t seen Chai, Song, or Lek since I fainted. It felt like a million strangers were fussing over me, and it was so embarrassing. I kept trying to speak Mehk with them, but my brain only thinks in English! I just needed to see a familiar face. I don’t have any idea what’s going on or what’s going to happen next. I just want to go home!” Sofia’s words were jumbled with sobs as she hugged her friend.
Caught up in their reunion, it took a moment for Sofia to notice the woman standing at the platform’s edge.
“I can only imagine what a frightening ordeal you both have been through. Rest assured that you are safe here in the palace, and only my most trusted people have been informed of your arrival, Saengfaa,” Fauna said, reaching out for Sofia. But the girl only pulled back from the gesture with mistrust. Seeing her reaction, Queen Fauna retreated, taking a step back.
There’s that name again. Why do people keep calling me Saengfaa? Sofia stared at the Queen, uncertain of her intentions.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Cara blurted out. “We really don’t need you to go to any trouble. We’re just two lost kids wanting to get back home. Is there a way we can call our parents and let them know we’re okay?”
“Of course. My teams are working on this as we speak. In the meantime, I am certain you have plenty of questions, and I will gladly answer what I can," Fauna offered and smiled kindly.
Sofia and Cara smiled back and looked at each other. Cara nudged her best friend to encourage her to talk to the Queen. They both had a million questions about Tropos.
“Well, I guess I’m just wondering how we got here and how any of this is possible. I mean, how is an entire world hidden in the sky?” Sofia asked, feeling a little embarrassed.
“Great questions. You see, a veil exists between our worlds, separating the realms. Our people were once able to move between the realms with ease and frequency, but that travel ceased once the war began,” Fauna explained.
“What war?” Cara interjected.
Queen Fauna sighed. “We have been fighting a rebel group called the Night Army for over a decade now. The Night Army uses violence to get what it wants, and that clashes with our peaceful ideals. The Veil was put in place to shield your land—which we call Lok Klang—from being harmed by their hunger for power.”
“Why would this Night Army bring us here?” Sofia asked.
“We’re not sure, but the Night Army wants nothing more than to destroy the Royal Family and bring the fight to land dwellers if it could.”
“Why do you keep saying ‘Lok Klang’ and ‘land dwellers’?” Sofia asked, not fully understanding the Queen’s explanation.
“Because there are three realms on Earth,” Fauna stated as a matter of fact. “Us Mehks live in the air, others on land, and those beneath the sea.”
“What?” Sofia and Cara shouted in unison.
“People live under the sea? Are you saying that mermaids are real?” Cara asked excitedly. “How is that even possible?”
Laughing heartily, Fauna replied, “Yes, Cara. They are real, but we know them as ngeuk, and they look much like you and me, but without the wings, of course. Wings don’t do well underwater.”
“Wait a minute,” Sofia added. “If Mehks could pass through the realms before, does that mean some live in the middle world? Everyone we’ve met so far has wings, and I don’t see how I would miss seeing something like that back home.”
“Every individual who decided to remain on land had to make the ultimate sacrifice,” the Queen tried to explain.
“The ultimate sacrifice? You mean, they had to give up their wings?” Cara asked quietly.
Queen Fauna nodded. “To know the feeling of flight and then to choose to live without it is an extremely difficult decision. One not to be taken lightly, and I know that those who decided to make that sacrifice did so after much contemplation.” Her words had gotten softer. “Whenever you are forced to give up something so precious, so sacred, you eventually lose a part of yourself. You never feel whole again.”
Sofia looked up from the bed and saw the Queen staring blankly into space with a faraway look in her eyes. She glanced over at Cara, who simply shrugged her shoulders in response.
“Your Majesty? Are you alright?” Sofia bravely asked as she slowly reached out for Fauna’s hand. Sofia felt guilty at the thought of possibly making the Queen cry.
The touch of Sofia’s hand shook Fauna out of her thoughts, and she returned the gesture and held on tight to her daughter’s hand. She held back her tears as she realized how much her daughter had grown. Twelve years trickled by slowly for Fauna, although the pain of losing Sofia had eased a little with the birth of her son, Saengdaed.
“I’m fine, Saengfaa,” Fauna sighed.
“It’s Sofia, Your Majesty.”
“Right,” Fauna looked into Sofia’s eyes. “I was just remembering something from a long, long time ago. It’s been a very tiring day so far, but there’s still more to do.”
“Your Majesty, we have them on the line now,” Daaw Sawaan interrupted as he re-entered the room. An oversized laptop floated next to him as he walked up the stairs. “Here you go.”
He nudged the screen in Queen Fauna’s direction and then turned around to head back down the stairs. Queen Fauna grabbed the device and stared at the terrified faces on the screen. Without further delay, she asked, “What happened, Mai?”
“We don’t know, Your Majesty, but perhaps we were too close to the Veil, and it must have interfered with the jao ying’s sak yant. She didn’t tell us of any signs of irritation during the flight or when we arrived at our new home. Everything seemed—”
“Mom?” Sofia whispered, crawling closer to the Queen and the floating screen. She froze midway when the familiar face stared back at her. “Is that really you?”
“Oh, Sofia, I am so sorry,” Mrs. Luana cried. “We heard the khlui, but you were gone by the time we made it up the stairs.”
“What’s happening?” Sofia asked, scrambling closer to the screen. Cara followed close behind. “Mom, how do you know about any of this?”
“Sofia, I need you to listen to me, alright?” Mrs. Luana took a deep breath before answering both girls. Her husband took her hand and gave her a supportive side hug. “I know a lot is happening, and I don’t have much time to explain, but I need you to trust me, okay?”
Sofia nodded but couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that her mom, Mrs. Anti-Imagination, knew who Queen Fauna was. What other secrets has she been keeping? Mrs. Luana’s following words were spoken with a sense of urgency.
“You are in danger, and there are only a few people you should trust there. The woman standing next to you is Queen Fauna. She is your birth mother, and you are the Crown Princess of Tropos—Jao Ying Saengfaa. Your father Art and I volunteered to bring you to Lok Klang to protect you from the Night Army. Things won’t make much sense now, but I’ve always told you that being different is a privilege. This is why. I needed you to learn to become strong against all the pain and hurt people throw at you. It seemed—”
The screen became pixelated.
“Mom? Mom! You’re breaking up.” Sofia reached out and hit the side of the screen. What is she talking about? The Queen is my birth mother!? And Mom even called me Jao Ying Saengfaa like everyone else here! “Mom? What princess of Tropos? Mom!”
“I love you so much and—” The connection faded in and out, cutting out much of Mrs. Luana’s conversation. “Just stay s—”
The image of Mrs. Luana fizzled out and faded to black before blinking red and blue. With each pulsing flash, the shadowy image of a woman became clearer on the screen. The air in the room chilled, and it became harder to breathe. Sofia tried to move back, but she sat frozen on the bed. What’s happening now? If what Mom said is true, then am I this crown princess Saengfaa? I can’t imagine being the daughter of the Queen! The lights began to flicker, and a haunting melody of a lone khlui entered the room, its reedy tone filled with anger, sorrow, and longing. The screen continued blinking red and blue, red and blue. With every changing color, the woman appeared closer and closer. Cara hung tightly to Sofia’s arm while Queen Fauna nervously surveyed the room.
When the image settled, the woman was seated on an enormous throne with a sinister smile, twirling her fingers in her raven hair. She waited for her audience to respond. But when no one spoke, she glanced around the room as if she could see directly into their souls and planned to jump through the screen to grab them. Sofia stiffened, and the woman laughed, blowing a kiss that covered the screen with smoke before the entire laptop sparked and exploded like a giant firework in the night sky.
“Gotcha, Jao Ying.”