The Princess of Eden

Chapter 11

The next day, Sia cleaned off the campsite and stuffed back the items and made sure nothing was left behind. After that, she let Carter hold onto her for support as he was still a bit weak. Together they made their way back to the spot where they were supposed to wait for James and Lynna.

Sia helped Carter sit on one of the logs and she sat beside him, waiting for the other two. To pass time, she took out an English classic novel she had brought along to read in spare time called- A tale of two cities. She unconsciously rested her head on Carter's shoulder to which he didn't seem to mind.

"What are you reading?" he asked her out of curiosity.

"A book from the mortal world called- A tale of two cities," she replied.

"What is it about?"

"A girl returns with her long lost father and meets a man wrongly accused and falls in love. He is freed as he had a lookalike which caused confusion whether he had done wrong or not. Years later he returns back to Paris, his hometown where he gets once again wrongly imprisoned and is sentenced to death but is saved by his lookalike who also is in love with his wife, and sacrifices himself for both of them."

"Now that's a story. I bet the writers in the mortal world are super creative" Carter said.

But before Sia could answer, they heard a sound of rustling of leaves. She slowly got up and took out her dagger which grew into a word. She signalled for Carter to stay seated as he was still too weak to fight. She moved towards the noise, but out of the bush came two human figures- Lynna and James.

"Lynna! I missed you. Don't scare us like that. You too, James. Come sit. I need to fill you in," she spoke to both of them.

"Sorry, sorry," Lynna said as she took a seat along with James.

Once they were seated, Sia told them everything. Lynna said there was nothing to worry and using diluted ephermal water to clean off the wound was a smart move from her side.

"You won't believe what we had to do. Once we got inside Velsmar, we went straight to my father. He agreed and made us the locket in just an hour and we left. But as we were returning, some pixies cunningly stole the locket and we had to chase them till we reached their leader. She got us to solve a super hard riddle and then we finally got the locket but almost died while returning as we met a mountain troll in the way," Lynna told us.

"That sure was a lot harder than ours. At least no one died till now," Carter said to which the rest of them nodded.

"So, should we now return to the entrance of Forlight to continue the quest or should we go tomorrow?" James questioned.

"Best to go today. Better complete it as fast as possible," Carter said.

"But you are still not well!" Sia complained.

"I am good enough to continue travelling. You are worrying unnecessarily," he replied.

Lynna was grinning mischievously seeing them arguing. At last, it was decided that they would continue the journey today itself.

The 4 of them reached the entrance to Forlight and handed the two items to Rom and went inside. Forlight was truly very beautiful. There were many tall trees, big mountains and a very big and beautiful waterfall.

They were walking on a yellow brick road which seemed to lead to the capital.

"So, does anyone know the way to the temple of Laira?" James asked.

All of them shook their head in response. They decided to ask someone for the way. A person told them to stay on the road and when it splits near the castle, to take the path on their right.

"So, how are we gonna find the kidnapped Laira?" Sia asked.

Lynna looked like she was thinking something. She had a dreamy expression on her face. Sia approached her and asked if she was okay.

"Well, I always wanted to visit Forlight. It is majorly populated by water benders, giving me more scope. But now I am here, my dreams seem a bit, I dunno, unreal," Lynna replied.

Sia just looked at her. She understood the feeling of feeling normal, no one special. She knew how it felt. When she herself was small, she wanted to come to Eden so bad. But now that she was here, she just wanted to return home. It was enchanting, but it felt dangerous and incomplete. This feeling connected her to Lynna more.

They reached near the castle and took the right road. After a while, she could make out the huge temple of Laira in the distance. But at that moment, a voice from behind her spoke.

"Jim, looks like we have some new people trying to solve a mystery," the feminine sounding voice spoke.

"Your right, my lady," another voice replied.

Sia quickly took out her dagger slyly and hid it in the folds of her clothes. When she turned, she saw two hooded figures in green, both holding a wooden staff with a crystal on top.

"Who are you? Reveal yourself!" Sia shouted.

She took a sideways glance to look at her partners. They all had their weapons drawn and could attack in a moment's notice.

As one of the hooded figures began to raise their staff in a attacking position, the other motioned for her to stop.

"Do not attack. There are young maidens there. I do not care about the boys but we shall not attack to harm our fellow sisters" she spoke.

"Rude," Carter shouted. Sia would have laughed right now if they were not facing potential enemies.

"Come with us. We shall talk. We can figure out a solution in peace," the leader said.

Saying this, she snapped her fingers and for a moment Sia saw some golden dust scatter before they were teleported away. When she checked her surroundings, they were overwhelmed by even more ladies with green hoods.

Great. Just great, she thought to herself.