by Maia Starr
After we were done speaking, Ephane came back to the table.
“Amelia, I can walk you around the village now. Are you ready to do so or would you like to go back to your home and rest a bit?” he asked.
“No, I am well rested. I am ready for the grand tour,” I said with a smile as I stood up from the table and thanked the women for their time. I made sure that I would visit them again in the future. I followed Ephane out of the communal kitchens onto the dense, thick paths. Then I saw something that I was not expecting to see.
“Ephane! What are you doing with this human female? Don't you have your rounds to do today?” Ravinn asked as he came onto the path in front of us. I rolled my eyes at him.
“Ravinn, it is good of you to point that out. Though you have never questioned me when I have accompanied a human female before,” Ephane said smugly.
“Well, this one has been a pain in my ass. I assume that she is now a pain in yours,” Ravinn said with a grin.
I narrowed my eyes at his comment. He was still rude. He was still irritating. He was still as startling attractive as when I first saw him, dammit.
“Actually, she is very pleasant. We are having a good time together. Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to show Amelia around the village.”
“You? I think I could probably show her the more exciting things. You're just going to show her systems and structures. That is not exciting stuff for a human female,” Ravinn said.
“Oh, you think you can do better?” Ephane said to him in a teasing way.
“No!” I blurted out without even thinking about it. They both looked at me.
“I would prefer not to spend any time with this thing,” I said looking at Ravinn up-and-down.
Ephane laughed. Ravinn narrowed his eyes at me, his beautiful eyes.
“You heard it straight from the human female’s mouth. Now if you will excuse us,” Ephane said as he put his hand on the small of my back. He pushed me forward down the path and I could hear a slight grown come out of Ravinn's mouth. It pleased me that I made him feel irrelevant and uncomfortable. A slight smile came across my face. That was totally worth the awkward encounter.
Ephane showed me around the village and into the jungle behind it. Everything was absolutely beautiful, and though it wasn't that exciting, just as Ravinn had predicted, I found the fact that it was an alien world extremely exciting. But Ephane’s company was a bit monotone and tame. But even though the day was full of new things, nothing could have prepared me for what waited for me at my new home in the trees.
Ephane had led me to the staircase inside the tree and then left me to my own devices to return home; I had insisted on it.
The next day I was in the kitchen trying to figure out how to clean the fish that were coming in. There was a very nice female Draqua that was teaching me. I spent the entire morning working on it. Then I walked to the ocean and washed the fish smell off of me. I took a long swim. When I walked up onto the beach, there was someone waiting for me. It was my new friend, Ephane.
As I walked up to him, I realized that I was soaking wet. He looked at me up-and-down and smiled.
“Have a nice swim, Amelia?” He asked.
“Yes, I did. I needed a little exercise,” I said to him.
“Well, I was just walking by on my way to the long jungle path. Have you seen it yet? The plants and flowers are so tall, they tower over us. They have blooms that are the size of your entire body,” he said.
“That is fascinating! I did not know that. I cannot see it from my home,” I said to him.
“Come. You want to exercise, so you can accompany me into the jungle. I will show you these flowers. You are going to love them. Then when I teach you the path you can go on your own anytime. You just have to know which turns to take to get to the vast flower pass,” he said.
“All right. I would love to see these flowers. I will come with you,” I said to him. I followed him from the beach and past the village. We made small talk. I asked too many questions about the weather here on this alien planet. I really wanted to know if it was always so sunny and beautiful with rain here and there. His answer was yes, and the rain seemed to be the harshest weather they endured. There were no hurricanes or tornadoes. I thought what a peaceful planet this one was.
“You see this path here? We are on the edge of the village, as you can see. To your left, that will take you to the spaceport. To the right, that will take you to the tree houses that you live in. We are going straight ahead. This is the long path straight into the jungle. Got it? Or do you need me to repeat it?” he said gently.
I looked at the directions that he had given me. I was memorizing them. Then I said, “I got it. We can continue on.” I was grateful that he was taking the time to teach me things. I wanted all the knowledge I could learn.
“Good. Stop me if you have questions. Just follow me this way,” he said as he walked ahead of me. I felt safe with him walking ahead of me. The fact that he was not walking behind me made me feel like he did not have any sort of ulterior motive behind our time together.
“Stop,” he said. “This is where it can get tricky. Pay attention,” he said as we came to a fork in the path.
“Understood,” I said.
“To the right is the direction to the flowers. That is where we are going. If you go to the left that will take you in a circle back to the beach where you were swimming, but it is a very long way around. It takes almost an entire day to walk the entire path all the way back to the beach. I don't recommend going in that direction unless you have taken water with you and other necessities, and only if you have told someone you were going there,” he said.
“That is good to know,” I said.
“If we are going to stay on this long path that goes straight in front of us, we will go to the very edge of the island to the other side. You will hit the ocean eventually, but not the ocean of the village; it is the opposite side of the island. It is very beautiful there, but you should not go alone,” he said.
“I understand,” I said to him.
“Now we are going to the right. Follow me,” he said. I followed him to the right. Then all of a sudden the air grew cooler.
“Oh my God. I cannot believe it,” I said as I looked up. On top of us were giant flowers. There were red ones, pink ones, and blue ones. The petals were the size of my entire body. The green stocks were the size of small trees.
“I knew you would like it,” he said.
“Like it? I love it,” I said as I walked down the path. The flowers were on both sides of us, and the petals were so heavy that they drooped down, creating an arbor over the pass. It was absolutely stunning. Massive butterflies flew from one flower to another. It was so beautiful that I thought I was going to cry. I was very excited that he had shown me this place. Now I could share it with Stephanie and Brenda, and later with Michelle, when she returned.
“Can you smell the fragrance?” he asked with a smile.
I took a very deep breath. Suddenly, it hit me. It smelled like bubblegum. It smelled like Jasmine and lavender. It smelled like cherry. All of these combined to create a fragrance that made me feel so happy.
“I can smell it! Wow! What a beautiful smell!” I said as I stood underneath looking up at them. I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland. It was that fantastical.
“Just call me Alice,” I said to myself.
“What?” he asked.
“Oh nothing; it is just a reference from Earth. A girl gets lost and ends up in a magical world where the flowers are beautiful,” I said to him.
“It sounds very magical. I would like to know more about this reference sometime,” he said.
“It is a story for children, but I would be happy to tell you one day,” I said.
Then there was a rustling in the trees. Ephane stood at attention and his smile faded. I got scared. His reaction made me feel like we were suddenly in danger.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“Oh, I s
ee what it is. It is my friend. He is in the trees. He must've just flown up there. I am going to say hello quickly. Stay here, Amelia. Do not wander off; you will get lost,” he said as he shifted. Then before I could respond, he flew straight up into the trees that towered over us.
I watched as he landed on a very thick branch. Then I saw the other Draqua that he was talking to. I have never seen him before, but then again, there were thousands of Draqua on the island. I definitely had not met even one hundred of them. Especially because most of them lived in the training grounds in the barracks. They were a warrior tribe, after all.
I watched as Ephane talked to him for almost ten to fifteen minutes. It seemed like Ephane was getting angry with him. His gestures were grand with his hands. But I could not hear what they were talking about. I did not want to hear. It was none of my business. I focused on the flowers, once more touching the long green stalk of one of them and enjoying the fragrance.
“Sorry about that. I was not expecting to see him out here,” Ephane said as he landed next to me.
“No problem. I was entertaining myself with the flowers,” I said.
“I am so glad that you like it. I am sorry to cut our journey and lesson short. I was going to tell you the names of all of these flowers, but I do not have the time now. I have to get back suddenly,” he said.
“Oh, I think I can find my way back if you need to fly,” I said to him.
“No, absolutely not. I will not be responsible for you getting lost out here,” he laughed. Then he shifted out of dragon form.
“I am glad for your company, but why don't you let me lead the way so that I can prove to you that I know the way back to the village,” I said, wanting to test my knowledge.
“That sounds fine to me. I am anxious to see if you remember,” he said. He put his hand out for me to lead the way.
I stepped in confidence turning back in the direction we came from. Then we came to the fork in the path. But I was not expecting to be rudely interrupted.
“Amelia?” Ravinn said.
“Ravinn? Are you following me? Why do I always run into you? I do not want to,” I said to him as I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes.
“No, I was not following you. I like to walk through here every now and then,” he said.
“If you say so,” I said.
“Ephane! What are you doing out here?” Ravinn asked.
“Nothing!” Ephane suddenly shouted in anger. It caught me off guard. I turned to look at him. Then he smiled and said, “I mean, can I not simply take a walk in the jungle to enjoy the many beautiful things it has for us?”
“If you say so,” Ravinn said, repeating what I said to him. I looked at him and rolled my eyes.
“Now if you'll excuse us, Ravinn, I was just teaching Amelia about the jungle pathways. Amelia?” he asked me with his eyebrows raised.
I looked at the fork in the path in front of me. Ravinn crossed his arms arrogantly, expecting me to fail this test. I remembered exactly the way to the village.
“It is this way, to the left on this path,” I said walking to the left towards the village.
“Very good, Amelia,” Ephane said clapping his hands.
“This is dumb. Excuse me,” Ravinn said as he walked in the direction of the flower path. It actually astonished me that he was going to go visit the flowers.
“Why are you going in that direction, Ravinn?” Ephane asked uncharacteristically.
“What is it to you? I am just going to the flower path,” he said without even turning around. He just continued on. I continued walking towards the village. I did not want to get in the middle of this little argument that they were having. But it felt to me like Ephane did not want Ravinn to see the friend that he was talking to only minutes before. He seemed nervous about it, and because of that, it made me nervous. I walked faster.
“Sorry to cut our lesson short. I have to go off in this direction toward the spaceport. That way is the village, as you can see it already,” Ephane said as we got closer.
“Yes, I can see it. I am going to go get something to eat from the kitchens. Thank you for showing me the beautiful flowers. I cannot wait to go back there soon and take my friends to see it,” I said to him.
Ephane smiled and then gave me a bit of a bow. I smiled back and then he walked away. He was moving very fast for the spaceport. I realized that whatever his friend had told him was related to his new errand to go to the spaceport. It was all very suspicious, but I knew nothing about this Draqua. I did not want to get involved.
I made my way out of the jungle path and back to the kitchen. I had the fortune to dig into some of the bounty that I helped with in the kitchen earlier. It was delicious. Stephanie and Brenda were also there, and I told them the story about the flowers.
“You must take us tomorrow! I almost don't believe you,” Brenda said as she put a large piece of fish in her mouth.
“It is most certainly real. I am happy to take you tomorrow,” I said to her.
“Yes, it sounds fake. But then again, we are on an alien planet. If anyone had told me I would be on an alien planet a couple of months ago, I would not have believed them. Anything is possible now,” Stephanie said.
I laughed at her because she was completely right. The flowers did astonish me, but honestly, they should not have. I was on an alien planet, and every day I started to forget it little by little. This alien planet was becoming my reality, and I was starting to become fine with that, accept it.
The very next day, I took them to see the flowers and they enjoyed it just as much as I did.
When we got home, there was a warrior waiting for us.
“Amelia, Stephanie, and Brenda, you and these two women have been summoned,” he said.
“Summoned for what?” I asked.
“You shall see. Now, come with me and I will take you where you need to go,” he said. I was very confused as to what was going on and a bit panicked. I followed him and Stephanie and Brenda across the bridge and down the spiral staircase. But I was not prepared for what happened; it was too fast.
CHAPTER FOUR
RAVIINN KEED
I don't know why it bothered me so much to see Ephane with Amelia. Why were they on the jungle path together like that? They looked like they had been friends for a long time. Where did he get off spending so much time with her? I wanted to believe that it bothered me because I did not trust Ephane. There was something about him that I could not figure out. It was as if he was constantly hiding something. He always asked lots of questions, as though gathering information. I used to joke that he was a spy, but I thought of him as too weak to be a spy.
But I knew that this was not why it bothered me to see him with Amelia. It was bothering me because I was jealous. That shook me. Why would I be jealous? I did not want Amelia. Maybe I had some lust for her; she was attractive after all. But I did not want her in that way. I only wanted my own lover, Talia. She was the one I wanted.
But that night as I went to sleep, I still could not get the image of Amelia with Ephane out of my mind. It was hard to sleep that night.
The next day, I was on my way to meet Talia on the beach in a nice secluded cove where we liked to meet. While I was making my way through the jungle path to her, I thought again about my run-in with Ephane and Amelia. I couldn't help myself; I immediately started to berate him. I did not know why it bothered me so much that he was with Amelia. I should not be thinking of it at all. He was barely a warrior, more of a governing Draqua. I was twice the Draqua he was, and a fierce dragon. I was so occupied thinking about this over and over again that when I finally arrived at my destination, I just continued to walk right through it. I didn’t stop until I heard Talia’s sweet voice.
“There you are,” I heard Talia say as she snapped me out of my thoughts of Amelia and Ephane. I was in a pure jealous rage at that moment. I had to force myself to smile.
“Yes, here I am,” I said smiling a big grin at her. I did not need her ask
ing me what was wrong.
“What took you so long? I feel like I am always waiting for you, if it has to do with Ravinn, then I am waiting,” she said with a pout.
I told her to me. I placed a deep kiss on her mouth. I have been looking forward to ravaging her all day.
“I am here now,” I said between kisses.
"What did your father have to say to you yesterday?” she asked.
"The same he always says to me,” I said kissing her neck trying to change the subject.
“Did you tell him? Did you tell him that we wish to be married?”