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VOILET
What could be happening back home? I bet Esmeralda was causing trouble because she didn’t want me to leave. She was such a nuisance. I hadn’t thought much about home since I left, but this strange Rabbit had me worried. Especially since the fox, and the Canine had told me to trust the creatures in the line. There was a lobster at the last post. I took that as a sure sign, being a creature from home and all. It bit Iris, which amused me. She would never survive where I was from. Though, I had to admit, I was beginning to become fond of her, despite her ways.
Bear, on the other hand, was becoming more solemn by the day and it was showing. While at first, his sickness seemed to come and go, at this point we needed to find him a cure and we needed to find it fast or else, his demise would be on our hands. Mine and Iris’s. Me, since I offered to help him in the first place, and hers, because she said she would find a cure and get us to the Isle of fairies before it was too late.
The journey so far hadn’t been as taxing on my body as I thought it would have been. Sure, when I first had my legs removed, I was in the most excruciating pain that I had ever experienced, though as time went on, I began to realise that it was worth it. One, because I could never get this kind of experience back home and would have lots to brag about to my sisters and future children, and two, because I didn’t really want to face what was going on back home despite how much I missed those pearly gates.
When we were children, Esmeralda and I would talk about the future, about who would be the better ruler between us when the time came.
“Obviously it will be me,” she said in a matter of fact tone, sweeping her flawless red hair across her shoulder, landing it on her back. The way it settled, always had me jealous. Though, I didn’t think wasting time spending hours on end brushing my hair was worth it to achieve the desired result... not when there was so much exploring to do. “ha,” I replied, mockingly, “how could you be the ruler that our kingdom needs when you just spend all day brushing your hair? what kind of skill would that bring to our kingdom? what our kingdom needs is someone to actually rule” I said, waving a cone shell in her direction.
“Is that right? Well, I don’t think you could do that, since you're never here!” She dragged out the last two words. “How could you be there for your peoples every request, when you’re always away exploring?” I fell onto the soft sand, a chuckle erupting from within me. “Perhaps neither of us are fit to be queen.”
“Maybe one of your sisters will take the throne” she suggested. Causing us to both break out in a fit of laughter. “yeah right”. I lay my back down on the soft sand beneath me, gazing up at the rippling water above. “I guess when the time comes, one of us will be chosen.”
“I think you're right.” she sighs, joining me on the soft sand, her hair floating around her.
A jolt directed us forward, causing my eyes to fly upward. Above the golden mane was the long line of conspirators ahead of us. This was going to be a long and daunting trip- each creature, more peculiar than the one before, spilling untold truths of our futures. I would rather not know to be honest. All it was doing was delaying my return home even more.
Directly in front of us was a woman. She was no ordinarily women, I could tell by the way her skin and clothes were almost see through, as though she were a ghost; again, I had only heard of a ghost from tales back home, and though I didn’t believe many of those stories, the things I had seen since starting my journey across Sugarland had contradicted my original thoughts on many things. She swayed as if being hushed by a lullaby and held a goblet in her hand. A puff of dark smoke smouldered around her figure. Her brown hair was pulled into a slick bun and had a pink flower tucked into its strands. Her look was outdated as if she were not from this century. Her face displayed sadness, emptiness, loneliness. She made me feel sad.
As we crowded around her, waiting for her to speak, though never expecting, as some others before had seemed to have no voice... Iris squeezed my hand, sadness spreading across her delicate features, “She lost her son and husband to illness, she lived years of loneliness before perishing herself, only to be trapped in the spirit world. She wonders around, exuding sadness and loneliness. She can be dangerous and doesn’t usually speak when spoken to. We should move on.”
“How do you know?” I went to speak but Bear took the words from my mouth.
“I can hear her thoughts.” “I can hear all their thoughts.” the words escaped her lips in no more than a whisper, not to arouse suspicion. As we continued on, Bear's cloak brushed against the woman’s garment. She shrieked out like a cougar in the night.
Terrified, I pulled on the horse’s mane to hurry it along, when she spoke. “WAIT.” her voice boomed across Sugarland, causing an uproar in the patrons ahead. Creatures were bowing their heads, while others were screaming out. We recoiled in fear, the horse rising to its back legs. We stilled as a group, not wanting to move a muscle in hopes of not making the situation worse. “Come back to me. Now. What do you want?” Her voice was stern and equally as terrifying.
“Uh... nothing. Sorry to have bothered you.” Bear tensed, his face draining of colour.
“Then why do you bother me?” She roared, her strength gaining by the second.
“Sorry, I-I didn’t mean to touch you.” He looked as though he were about to burst into tears. I felt for him, I did. He kept messing up along the way and it wasn’t making our job any easier. Though I’m sure he knew that and it was making him feel bad.
She looked carefully at him and then to Iris and myself, “Well, now that you have my attention, what do you want?”
Bear looked up at her with hooded eyes and sheepishly answered her, “Do you have any advice for the road?”
She took such a long time to answer that we almost made a run for it, when suddenly, she looked down at us from her elevated height. “Keep your eyes on the road ahead, keep a close eye on each other and never get distracted. If you do, you might just lose one of the members of your party.” We took that advice as a parting gift and quickly moved to our next suiter.