The Epic Change (Editing)

Fools Listen to Slugs (Editing)

Nod quickly flew back to the palace as Bryanna practically held onto Nod for her life. Nod laughed as his bird spiraled and Bryanna's grip grew tighter. They whirled passed trees and quickly landed on the rocks in front of the palace.

Nod was about to get off his bird, but he realized he was bound. "Um, Bryanna?"

"What?"

"Your arms are wrapped pretty tightly around me. I can't get off."

Bryanna took her face off his shoulder. "Oh. Right." She smiled and let go of Nod.

They both began walking into the palace to speak to the queen.

"Hey!" She jumped out between two flowers. "I've been looking for you! I heard you were able to walk again. SO are you ready to go back?" She grinned.

"Actually, I'm not." Bryanna stepped forward. "I was really hoping I could stay here. Whether it's for a while longer or... more."

The young queen tilted her head. She smiled taking Bryanna's hand. "You have a home that is a totally different world from this one. You are a part of something that you were born into. Don't you want to go back?"

"But that's just it. If I go home right now, I wouldn't have anything. My family was killed by a family friend that wanted money. If I go back now, I could be killed for that money or live alone with it."

The queen scratched the petals on the top of her head. She smiled. "Then the obvious answer is for you to stay here. You shouldn't go back to a dangerous place. Sure you won't miss it there though?" A guard began whispering to the queen, but she simply smiled and patted his hands.

Bryanna mentally took a step back. She thought about the past two days carefully, wondering what she really did have to go back to at home. Then, she thought of what kind of life she would lead here. She thought about what would or could happen to her. She recalled how beautiful the forest looked on top of Nod's bird, how everything was suddenly beautiful in this tiny person view. But then she remembered what happened the night before. There were dangers just as equal as her life before. However, here she had reasonable guards, and there, she had no one.

"I won't miss it at all." Bryanna's eyes locked with the young queen's. "There is nothing to go back to, and I have a feeling that I was meant to be here. There's no way I could have been saved by you guys the other day by sheer coincidence."

The young queen nodded. "You're a new leaf of ours then." She smiled. "Let's go find you a real house, so that way you can actually live here."

Bryanna grinned as the young queen took her hand, leading her out of the palace to Ronin. Nod followed, hoping Bryanna would actually be happy in this place. After all, she did mention that it was a lot more difficult to move around than being a stomper.

Bryanna paused and turned to the queen. "Can I speak to Nod for a second?"

The queen turned to Nod. Nod scratched the back of his head as  she smiled and walked away. The queen found Ronin and started explaining that Bryanna was to recieve a new home.

Bryann looked at Nod. "I ran into someone last night."

Nod's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"

"They said they weren't a bad boggin. They cleaned the water."

"What was their name? What did they look like?"

Bryanna paused. "I don't remember his name, but I remember he was wearing a rat cloak. Does that help?"

"Lots of boggins wear dead animals." Nod shrugged. "Do you remember anything else?"

"I could point him out if I saw him." Bryanna shook her head. "When I remember his name, I'll tell you."