Finding the Wisest

Chapter Twenty Four

Maya had walked all the way to the one place she really knew in the castle after she left her mother's presence. The gardens.
She now walked leisurely through the plants and flowers admiring the nature. She wondered what her mom was telling Nebbia .
She wondered if Nebbia had truly forgiven Lily for what happened. If Nebbia was even giving her mother a chance.

Sure it was all Faye's fault but Nebbia had been upset with Lily for a while now because Faye had made her think that her mother had left her on purpose. Her mother.
Their mother.
They shared a mother now.
Sigh.
It was all just so much to take in.

Maya's mind turned to her friends. She remembered the last time she saw them, right before she and Nebbia had entered the Castle.
She wondered now if they were okay, she hadn't seen them after the battle had ended. She decided to go look for them immediately, after a few more seconds of relaxation. She rested her back onto the wicker chair as she took some deep breaths. Then she stood up, ready to go find them.
She hadn't taken more than two steps when she heard a loud cry.
"MAYAAAAAAAA!"
She never was prepared in protecting herself against Sozee's surprise welcomes.
Sozee jumped on Maya like she was a large comfortable bed on a cold night and Sozee was a tired student who had just failed a paper.
The two of them went crashing to the ground but luckily for them, it was just grass.
The grass broke their fall which was very good because with such a weight on her, Maya could have broken her back.  Yes Sozee was light but not that light

Sozee didn't really care about anything when she was in such high spirits.
"Maya you're okay!!" Sozee screamed while sitting on the poor girl's midriff.
"Sozee, I will no longer be okay if you don't get off my stomach right now!"
Maya grunted as she tried to push the girl off her.

Ash rushed forward and lifted the slight girl off Maya's body as Kieran moved in to help Maya up.
He lifted her up as best as he could and she finally stood on wobbly legs.
Then she leaped on them engulfing them in a big hug, as wide as her hands could go.
"GROUP HUG!"
 Moments after their awkward hug, they all sat on the wicker chairs that Maya had once sat on with Queen Faye herself.
She scrutinized her friends. Kieran was sporting a hefty looking black eye with his usual cheeky grin and he had some red and purple finger marks around his neck that looked like marks of strangulation.
She grimaced.
Sozee had a clump of her hair cut off and a few scratches on her face and arms and legs but otherwise she seemed quite unharmed.
Ash just looked bored, as if he ate battles for breakfast.
"How are you guys?"
Maya breathed out with a big smile.
She was happy all her friends had made it out...not so harmed.
"The battle was not so difficult." Ash muttered, earning him a wide glare from Sozee and Kieran.
"Speak for yourself handsome sir! It was quite tricky, Maya. Trying not to harm people with my unparalleled Archery prowess."
Maya tried not to laugh as Sozee continued bragging about how she had saved Ash and Kieran on multiple occasions. Of how they had begged her not to leave them.
Kieran just rolled his eyes once, trying to hide his smile from Sozee too.

"What's new with you Kieran?"
Maya prompted when Sozee had finished telling her stories and Kieran had chosen to remain silent.
"Oh, Oh!" Sozee started, jumping up and hopping about.
"I saw Kieran's power "
Oh yeah... his blue thing.

Maya turned to him in surprise and shock. 
His eyes had changed from the shiny green to an electrifying blue and something cloudlike and blue snaked up his arm.
With that sneaky smirk on his face, he looked like he could get away with anything.

Maya realized only seconds later that he had made it go away and he was talking to her normally. She had zoned out.
"..... I don't know exactly what it does but it's very powerful so I won't be using it too often. "
He ended with a quick look in Maya's direction.
Nebbia walked into the clearing then and everyone stared at her with interest. Even Ash.
This was the first time they had seen her without her cloak.

She wasn't in all black like Maya had presupposed but she was rather in an outfit that consisted of dark greens and dark blues. Maya looked at Nebbia's face. It didn't give anything away.
As Nebbia made her seat in-between Ash and Sozee, Maya couldn't help but ask "So how did the talk go?"

Nebbia shrugged, her actions looking foreign without the cover of a cloak. "It was alright."

Maya lifted an eyebrow. That's all she was getting? "That's all?"
Nebbia nodded with a small sly smile adorning her lips.
Maya shook her head as if she couldn't believe it.

"Well I'll be."? Maya scoffed in a fake accent
"I do believe I see Nebbia smiling. My my my. The world must be ending. "
She let out a cackle at the end as Nebbia threw a small stone at her.
She dodged
"Kieran! I'm catching your thief skills!"
He shook his head and laughed.
The next stone Nebbia threw landed neatly on Maya's forehead and that shut her up for a moment.

"Hey Sozee, where's Kip? I've missed that big guy."
"Oh he is with my aunt Sahlee. There she comes."  Sozee answered, showing Maya the direction which her aunt was coming from

                                X

As Sahlee moved in the directions of the gardens, a sharp wind blew around her, vanishing almost as quickly as it came.
Another strange occurrence in the long list of strange occurences that she had been experiencing.
She heard the voices of the children somewhere deeper in the garden and she walked towards the sound.
The sun was in her eyes and so she shielded her face so she could see better.

There, standing right before her were five.......
five warriors. Three females and two males.
Middle aged. The tall male on the left had a dark gaze and was holding a spear, next to him was a woman with long black hair and a cloak. Even with the darkness of the cloak, one could see the glint of gold from her hair. She was a royal.. Next to her was another female with curled hair tied up, holding what looked like a gem in her hand.
The man next to her had a perpetual joker's face that took slight attention from the blue mist that was slowly climbing up his arm. He stood next to the smallest member of their group. Her fair hair did nothing to reassure people as her bow and sharp potion- tipped  arrows stayed close to her, she stood next to a huge beast.

And then Sahlee blinked.
And what she saw was Kieran, Nebbia, Ash, Sozee and Maya sitting in wicker chairs and talking.