Agartha

Chapter eleven

Breakfast was fun. We all gathered at one of the gardens surrounded by grass, flowers, bushes and a little stream. All my cousins were there with us and some other highborn. They played making cute magic tricks, like making flowers sing or birds chase each other playfully.

“Galia” said Etan, “make a trick for us”

Hari answered “you do not want that. Galia is great but when she gets nervous her amazing power gets out of control and someone might explode”

Everybody laughed, it was funny but true. I blinked at her thanking her intervention.

Etan insisted and couldn´t refuse anymore. The stare of Ragnar, coming from somewhere was persistent but tried to ignore it. I lifted my hands, my eyes and nails glowed blue and the princes got scared (only wands are supposed to shine blue, not any part of your body). Their faces were very funny, but they saw my cousins calmed so they relaxed.

The stream began trembling, and little drops of water jumped hitting one another forming bubbles. After the bubbles were big enough, small frogs came from the bushes and jumped inside. I motioned my hands to get the bubbles closer to us. Kiryat touched the one that came closer to her and the water just spread, and the frog left jumping. Everyone imitated her, trying to trap the frogs on their way back to the bushes. When Etan was about to pop his bubble, a calling bubble came from nowhere to me with the king´s voice “Galia, meet me at the library, now”. I lost concentration and Etan´s bubble exploded… and so did the frog… There was water and frog parts all over his shirt. Poor frog!

“I am so sorry!” Everybody laughed, even Etan

“I told you it was dangerous!” Hari said laughing hysterically

“I have to go…” It was too embarrassing

“I will walk you inside, Galia” Etan was such a gentleman. He offered his hand to help me stand from the grass.

“I could clean that up but I´m afraid your shirt might explode too”

He laughed and we walked towards the palace. At the entrance, Ragnar was standing, stunning, like waiting for me. We were at a safe distance, so I thanked Etan, bowed and headed to the entrance.

“We´ve been waiting for you” I had a questioning face. “Your great uncle and I want to talk to you”

“What did you do!?”

“What could I do?”

“Let’s just get this over with…” I rushed to the library, Ragnar behind me.

“Good morning, dear great uncle”

“Good morning my dear child. Thank you for attending my calling, your guardian told me you were spending time with your cousins and some new friends. It makes me happy to see you are adapting well”

“Your highness” I interrupted “don´t want you to get the wrong impression. As soon as I manage to stop making things explode, I´m leaving”

“You break my heart, but I keep my hopes up. I have the feeling that you will stay”

“Uncle…”

“I didn´t call you to talk about this things. You have an invitation from the elf king and his beautiful queen to have lunch with them. The General brought the letter himself”

“And why is that uncle?” I was gritting my teeth and giving Ragnar a menacing look.

“They want to thank you for teaching the little prince to communicate and want to know more about it. By the way, I didn´t know you did that. The king is most grateful, the relationship between our realms got even better. Good job dear. Go get changed and the General will escort you to the tower”

“Yes uncle…” I had no choice, went upstairs, changed my outfit because it was a formal invitation, fixed my hair in an updo with a tiny tiara and went downstairs.

Ragnar was at the main entrance with a triumphant grin I would´ve loved to slap out of his face. On our way to the children´s tower he tried to start a conversation, but I never answer, somehow it felt like this was his doing and anger was boiling in my veins.

At the tower, two soldiers received us and walked us through the stairs to a beautifully decorated room. The king and queen stood and bowed, so did I. The children came running to hug me and the prince started to talk (I was simultaneously translating because the king and queen would probably need it) “Aunt Galia! My parents are here! Momma is very happy because I can sign, I´m happy you came to have lunch with us! Uncle Ragnar said yesterday, you would come for breakfast, but he lied”

“I know sweetie, but he didn´t lie, he just forgot to tell me on time, and I had a different thing to do”

The king seemed puzzled and the queen about to cry, so I tried to make conversation.

“Good afternoon, your highnesses. I would like to thank you for your invitation, I feel honored”

“It is an honor for us, princess. What you have done for our son… I could never pay you… you can count on our deepest gratitude and friendship forever” The king´s words were touching; I was about to cry too. “Please join us”

The queen, gorgeous woman by the way, motioned her hand gracefully to indicate my sit “Dear princess, I've heard a lot about you from the General, he admires you very much” she said with a grin. “I would like for us to get to know each other better, my children love you dearly”

“Because she is our friend” said the princess

“No! She is our aunt” said the prince.

That was the ice breaker and the first explanation we had to give with Ragnar´s amused face next to me. The king found it hilarious.

The food was AMAZING! I hadn´t seen a vegan menu for months! The queen was embarrassed about the lack of animal dishes “Oh dear princess, my apologies, we have no animals here to offer you”

“Please, don´t apologize! Is the best meal I've had in a very long time” Everybody looked at me with funny faces “As you know, I was raised by humans. Well, they didn´t like to eat animals so coming here is being a torture” I smiled amused and so did they, relieved.

I had heard stories about the terrible elf king. He has the reputation of being terrible and an amazingly skilled warrior, pretty much like Ragnar. Here it was different, here he was mostly a dad. I was nervous, expecting a quiet, bitter guy like Holger, but he was such a sweet gentleman.

The conversation was pleasant. They asked hundreds of questions about his son’s abilities and future and I patiently answered and advised them as well as I could. They asked a lot about me and told me amazing stories about them and Ragnar.

They invited me to their land any time I chose, and the children were all excited about it. They will learn to communicate with the prince through one of the nannies. I had gained their favor, but they had gained my heart.

After, we all sat on cushions around a low table to have dessert. The queen asked me to join her at another room, they had a present for me. I followed her to a very tiny room at the back and the others stayed talking. The queen asked me in and signaled to sit in one of the two chairs around a narrow table. There was a present on the table, it was a crystal sphere with a golden sparkling bow but there was nothing inside.

“Open it” said the queen with her sweet voice.

I tried to untie the bow but didn’t work “I don’t know how...” The bow might be untied but what should I do with the crystal sphere? And, there’s nothing inside. I was very confused and embarrassed.

“Elf gifts are open with the touch of an elvish weapon” She smiled kindly, like studying my reaction.

Well, that sounds simple… I lifted my skirt delicately, took my dagger and touched the bow with the tip of the blade. Nothing happened. I tried touching the crystal softly and it cracked, all cracks shone golden and the pieces of glass became dried leaves that spread on the table and the floor. The bow and a necklace landed slowly on the table, like floating in the wind. The necklace had a golden chain with leaves and branches and at the center it had an open lily flower made of crystal, like my dagger.

My reaction was perplexity, because of the magic and the amazing gift. The queen looked puzzled and I got even more confused, this can’t be new for her…

“So, it is true! Ragnar gave you his dagger...” She looked like she couldn’t believe her eyes. “Some soldiers told me you killed the beast that was threatening my children with a dagger that looked just like Ragnar’s, but he was too far away to have handled it to you at that moment”

“Yes. He gave me this dagger and taught me how to use it, he is responsible for my safety” The queen wasn’t buying it…

“That dagger had been with him for about six hundred years. Before that, it belonged to his mother, she is a great warrior. And it was made by his grandfather, the best weapon maker I ever met. Is a family relic”

My surprise didn’t allow me to speak.

“I have known him for a very long time, he is my dearest friend and the one I entrust my children’s lives. He cares about you a lot, he gave you his dagger”

“The dagger saved my live”

“And you saved my children and him”

“Him?”

“Ragnar’s life has been lonely and violent, he doesn’t have a violent nature, but he had no choice. Sadness was taking over his life and I predicted it would end soon, taking care of my children gave him a reason to exist but wasn’t enough, loneliness would eventually beat him. Meeting you gave him hope, I spark in the middle of darkness”

“Then why does he keep me away?”

“Conventionalisms”

“Prejudices” I said in a bitter tone.

“He has a strong sense of duty and I guess he doesn’t want to hurt you”

“His attitude hurts me”

“You know I am the elves’ queen… I have powers others don’t have and see things invisible for most. You are young in the number of years of your existence, but your soul grew up too fast to keep up with the humans, your soul is older. He only sees the physical years and is tormented”

“What else do you see in us, my queen?”

“Love”

Total silence. Couldn’t even blink.

“Galia, take the dagger and use it as if it was your wand, please”

I did as she said. I tried to make a simple light bubble. The blade shone green and the bubble formed. “I didn’t know it could do that! He didn’t tell me. The light I had seen but never performed magic through it”

“The light was green...” She looked at me like expecting I would either see or understand something.

“Elves’ magic isn’t green?”

“Are you an elf?” My eyes widened. “You two have a connection, otherwise it would shine blue because you are a witch”

“I didn’t think he would feel so...”

“Dear, you two are different and belong to different worlds. He will never do something that might hurt you, even if it takes his life. Your life would change and become too hard if you decide to be with him. Your family has duties and they also have plans for you, plans that would benefit everyone except yourself. Is a hard choice because your land needs you. Don’t do anything reckless, think it through”

“My queen, today you have been a true friend. I will take your words and meditate over them. You have opened my eyes to a hard reality, but it was necessary for me to understand all of this before it was too late”

“Please count on my friendship forever. That necklace represents your connection to the elves crown, it’s like being an honorary elf. The necklace has healing energy, if you ever get hurt it will help you stay alive for a little while until you get aid”

“Thank you so much! What a wonderful gift, you shouldn't...”

“Please, princess, I hope you never need it but if you do, a part of me will be there for you. You gave a voice to my son -in a way-, and you have my gratitude”

“Thank you, my queen. Oh! By the way, the prince can actually talk, orally, a few words. He just doesn’t like it, you know… children...”

“I have to see it! Let’s go!”

The queen put the necklace on me, and we left the tiny room.

“What did it take you so long?” The king said smiling at the sight of my necklace. I nodded to him. Ragnar didn’t seem to care about it.

I signaled the prince to look at me, placed my index finger at my chin pointing at my lips and articulated slowly “Prince, say hello to your mother”.

He frowned, rolled his eyes and said with slow oral words and without pronouncing the /h/ “Hello momma. Hello poppa”. “No more!” and he jumped away with his sister to play, not noticing his parents emotions.

“He gets annoyed with oral communication, but we practice a little. It will always be difficult for him, but he will learn a little with time. Sign language is the natural way for him”

The king gave me a sudden hug I understood and returned. Conversation lasted a few more minutes and the king asked Ragnar to walk me home, they had to prepare for their trip back. We all bowed, the queen and I kissed on the cheeks and I was walked out by Ragnar and against the children's wishes.

On our way to the castle he diverted to the gazebo. I followed not saying a word. As soon as we were there he grabbed my necklace, looked at it with a wide smile, pulled me towards him by one arm and gave me a strong hug that lasted forever. The confusion in my head growing and expanding. He whispered to my ear “you are an elf now”.

“No. I am not. Don’t even feel like a witch yet” I pushed him away.

“You are to my people”

“Ragnar, is there a reason you brought me here? Because last time I checked you didn’t even want to talk to me”

“I’m sorry, I’m just trying to do what’s best for you by staying away. Just wanted to enjoy for a moment this gift given to you”

“Without my opinion? No thanks. I will make my own decisions, you hesitate about me? No problem, I’ll make it easy for you and leave”

“Galia...”

He grabbed my arm, but I vanished between his fingers. The gazebo disappeared in the haze and my room began to clear in front of me. This is about to hurt… As soon as the haze vanished and my feet touched the ground, I was thrown away against the wall by the excess of magic. Vanishing is a really difficult ability and not everybody can do it. Unfortunately, my head hit something on the wall, the impact was strong, and I fainted.