The Earth's Seismic Faults

Quality Time

     "Let me get this straight," said Jay, at the verge of laughing out loud. "You, Cole Brookstone, kissed the Queen Vania of Shintaro. And her guard walked in on both of you doing that?"

     Cole had suddenly regretted telling his friends about what he and Vania did earlier as they were packing up to leave Shintaro and go back to their hometown, Ninjago city.

     "Stop teasing him, Jay," said Nya, as she walked into the compartment the other Ninjas were in. "Anyway, I'm really glad that you finally showed your true feelings to Vania. Though, I don't think it was wise to do that on the day we'll leave. She looks very gloomy."

      "Maybe you should go ahead and spend some quality time with her, Cole," said Lloyd. "We still have time before we leave for Ninjago."

       "Yeah, we still have, er, four hours before we leave!" said Kai, pushing Cole out the door. "See you in four hours!"

       As Cole left the compartment, he heard the other Ninja telling Kai that four hours was just way too long. But he heard Kai say, "Relax. I think that four hours will just turn into a minute when that couple gets together." 

      The walk from the Bounty towards the castle of Shintaro used to feel like a quick walk, but now, it felt like a long boring walk. A lot of things have changed.

       As Cole opened the giant doors, Vania greeted him happily, flinging her arms around his neck as quick as possible. Cole hugged her back, and he felt something in his heart being filled.

       "What're you doing here? I thought you were helping your friends pack up to go back home?" asked Vania, though Cole hinted that there was a load of happiness in her tone. 

        "My friends told me that I should just come here and spend, what they call, 'quality time' with you," said Cole. "But, of course, I know that you're busy being the queen, so I could just go ahead and help my friends pack."

    Cole almost slipped out of the hug, when Vania took his hand and told him, "No, no, I can always do the work. However, I don't always have your company around here."

     "Well, alright then, but isn't there something else we could do?"

     "Sure, there are a lot. What would you want to do?"

     "How about taking, I don't know, a stroll around the garden or something,"

     Just then, Vania's eyes sparkled, which meant that an idea had just came into her mind. Vania gave a small smile and said, "I know the perfect thing that we both could do. And love." she added after eyeing Cole's face.

     Vania took Cole's left hand and led him towards a room where Cole did recognize before. 

     It was a beautifully painted white room, with streaks of gold and blue on some corners. The room was completely empty, with nothing inside of it. Cole wondered what was so important about this room.

     "Er, no offense or anything, but I don't see what you want us to do in a blank room," said Cole, trying not to offend Vania. "Or is this a joke or something that I don't know?"

     "No, silly," Vania laughed. "This room is a very special room to me, because, even if I'm not allowed to go out or do something that I would want to do, I just imagine that I'm doing those things here. I try imagining it."

     Cole blinked a few times before he completely understood what Vania was trying to tell him. Cole had to try and imagine the things that he would want to do.

      "I'm not really good at imagining, though," said Cole, hoping to get out of this situation. "Maybe we could just go-"

      "Anyone can imagine," said Vania, persuading Cole to stay with her. "Ok, I'll give you a head start on imagining. But first, answer this question: what would you like to see?"

     Thinking, Cole replied, "I don't know. I've seen mostly everything I had always wanted to do when I was a child."

     "Oh, then how about we do what I've been wishing to see since I was still young,"

     "Alright, Go ahead,"

      Cole, who was expecting something unusual to happen, was surprised when Vania suddenly ran towards him. As she finally reached him, she whispered, "Come on, pretend!"

     "What?" Cole whispered back. "What should I pretend?"

     "You don't really have a good imagination, do you?"

     "I tried warning you in the beginning, but you wouldn't listen!"

     "I had to see if you were lying or not, so I guess, you weren't really lying,"

     "I only lie when the circumstances are quite dire,"

     Vania sighed, and just sat down beside Cole, not knowing what they should do next before Cole would leave once again.

      A long lull filled the empty room, as both of the people sitting there did not know how to make the most of the time they had together. Two people from different worlds, one from a well known city, and the other from a fabled legendary kingdom.

     As the minutes droned on, Cole suddenly remembered what Vania had said a few hours ago, and was wondering what it meant.

     "Hey, Princess, I'm just wondering what did you mean earlier when I asked if you'd want me to stay here and you said soon, but not now?" asked Cole, standing up. "But, if you don't want to answer it, I won't force you to. It's just a question of curiosity." 

     "Oh, that," said Vania, also standing up to face Cole. "That was just a figure of speech, you know? Nothing important."

       But Cole could hear that the way she said it, it looked like Vania was expecting something to happen in the future. 

      Cole's eyes widened in shock as he said,  "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

     "Yes?"