"I've arrived, my Zinjik." A girl covered from head to toe in golden accessories addresses the blond teenager with bright eyes.
"Excuse me?" Peter responds with a confused expression.
"Oh, forgive me. It is out of line to speak to the High Sir in such a manner." The girl bowed and smiled to the boy whom stood in the middle of the long hallway looking from side to side as if expecting someone to show up soon and explain the situation.
"Have you retrieved the watch yet, Magnificent Aklull?" She questioned with anxious and eager eyes that looked like they'd been tinged to match a burning pyre.
The boy makes note of the fact he'd been called magnificent then proceeds to stutters the syllables he had understood.
"I'm Peter. Who is this Ak...Akle..." The female ahead of him cuts him off suddenly.
"I've arrived too early, my Aklull." She mumbles disappointed in the fact that Peter had no understanding of... yet.
"What are you talking about?" Peter finally gave up trying to make out a single thing the girl spoke of.
"Please do not question me much, my Zinjik, for I am weak to your wishes and will comply to answering…even if it is against your own rules." The girl's eyes grew tender and she stepped closer to the shocked boy until unexpectedly his back touched the wall. The long black locks the girl bared were all orderly repositioned to the left and Peter held his breath as she turned, so closely to him, and showed him a surprising artifact.
"Tell me, Aklull, does it burn red or does it fade?"
Peter couldn't pull his eyes away from the scar on the nape of the girl's neck. It was a pale salmon color but grew lighter with each second. The most interesting detail was the monogram it formed. Although the mark was barely visible from that close distance he could make out the letters "O" and "L".
"It's disappearing." He answered very worried for the stranger as uncanny as the situation might have been.
"I must leave now, forgive me Magnificent." The girl released her thick flowing hair and spun around, facing Peter once more.
"Wait, what watch were you speaking of?" He said grasping onto the girls wrist. She looks down at it with a grin she didn't bother to hide and he awkwardly lets go.
"Do not worry, my Zinjik. The Guhms will guide you to me. Just do not forget to search for my mark."
"What? I—I'm sorry, I don't quite…" The boy started to stammer puzzled by all the terms and commands.
The girl's light hands reached to the boy's golden hair and with feather-like fingers scrolled down his jaw until her thumbs reached his lips.
"Your beard…I miss the sight of it." She smiled affectionately and moved in to place a gentle kiss on his trembling lips.
"Your lips are the same, my Zinjik." Peter couldn't speak for the life of him, utterly surprised by the sudden events but somehow he knew the taste of the girl's pink lips as well. Before he could coherently process the information he could barely understand he noticed the girl in the long black silk gown walking away.
"Wait! At least tell me your name!" Peter felt entirely out of place in the chaos of the happenings but still wanted a least a clue to keep with him after the stunning female had gone.
"My, my Aklull, you forget the name of your queen?" With nothing more she beings to dissolve before Peter's very eyes and soon there was nothing but a strong smell of an unknown flower floating around.
Years later by a certain domino effect Peter was dragged into an exploring caravan of scientists and pirates that were more superstitious than sane at times. The journeys he made were all because of the strange meeting he had with a person he'd never met.
"Captain!" The adult Peter heard a crewmember call out from the other side of the ship and turned towards the man. The same man ran up to the captain and whispered something worriedly which caused the sailors eyes to grow wide and an expression of freight Peter had never seen before came to life. Peter looked from the two to the waters below them to notice strange ripples coming from an anonymous location. Stranger yet was the fact of ripples being spotted in the middle of the sea.
Soon after that strange sighting the whole ship was redirected to one of the many islands nearby. They were traveling along the Canary Islands in hopes of discovering any new species of florae, well at least the botanists were. Peter grew weary of trying to explain to himself why he'd let himself be dragged so distant from the birthplace of his first true adventure, bringing him to simply let himself be lead to any place that earth had sights to offer; he'd discovered that there were quite a few. None however brought along with the scenery the being he so desperately longed for since his adolescent years.
Abruptly the entire vessel shook from side to side causing everyone aboard to grasp onto some sort of stable item. The High King's heart pounded as it had the first time he'd stepped into the snowy scenery of Narnia and there was no mistaking it; Peter felt magic nearby. A certain darting pain in his chest started and he took deep breaths of the salty air as shouts came from his left.
"Monster!"
All the men on deck shook at the sound of the word except for Peter who only wished to be accompanied by Rhindon at such a moment, undoubtedly the sword would have glowed its unmistakable shade of blue and aid the High King in his battle. Nonetheless, the sword was not there and Peter was as vulnerable as all the other men on the ship. Suddenly there were men scattering to the decks below and other pulling out their own useless swords while Peter waited for the so called monster to reveal itself. His blue eyes swept from left to right searching for the thing in the water but something different came. The strong and unforgettable smell of the unidentified flowers the mystical girl had left him with swayed in the midst of the turmoil on deck and before he noticed it Peter was plummeting into the turquoise waters. He dared not open in eyes in the sea that was so terrifying but still something brought him peace and not disarray; the familiar voice of the girl in the black gown.
"Magnificent Aklull, welcome back." The sweet tone sounded as if they were not underwater and with as much fear as he had faith Peter opened his lids and found himself standing in the driest of sands. Ahead of him was the female dripping in golden decorations just as the first time he'd seen her only this time she wasn't in the silk dress Peter had seen so many times in his dreams but instead strips of translucent fabric that worked as a canvas for the silhouette of the girl's bronze body. Peter hesitated and pondered about what to respond before answering with the single piece of information she'd revealed about her.
"My queen." The words came out uncertain and sounded more similar to a hopeful question.
"Thank the Guhms, ruler, for they have retrieved you to me." She smiled so pleasantly that Peter almost forgot how eerie his arrival had actually been. Small creatures scurried around Peters soaking feet, the only sign to remind him that he had indeed been out to sea. They didn't startle the man given his sightings of various Narnian creatures but they were completely different from anything he'd ever laid eyes on before. The beings looked like miniature versions of foxes only they had the anatomy of children. The petite things took something from Peter's hands that not even he realized he was holding. He looked down to notice one of the creatures holding a strange item, the only hint that Peter had that it was a watch were the number on it although it made his brows furrow to notice that the numbers were blinking unlike any other watch he'd ever seen before. The strange watch was a device only to be invented a couple centuries later; the digital watch, functioning with LED display. The Guhm that had gotten the thing from his hand nodded and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Peter straightened himself and cleared his throat.
"I am in your debt." Peter slightly bowed at the things and they all repeated the actions. Peter awaited a polite response as the creatures of Narnia would have most definitely answered him but none came.
"Do they not speak?" The man asked the woman in front of him and she giggled along with the Guhms.
"Your travels have you fatigued, my Zinjik. Come we will return to the palace and after you've rested all your tomes will be brought to our chambers and we will delight in the tales of the old."
"Our…chambers?" Peter's eyes focused on the females face, clutching onto each detail as he waited for an answer.
"Yes, my Zinjik. Do you still not recall the calling of your queen?"
"Ramali." He somehow recollected as naturally and inexplicably as the time he'd reminisced the taste of the kiss they'd first shared. The woman sighed and stretched out her light hand to her king and lover, a relieved sigh made the Guhms ears perk up a bit and she smiled once more.
"It is settling to hear you pronounce my name once again, beloved Aklull."
The two walked along the sands that seemed to circle around a series of tall towers that Peter presumed were part of the palace that had been mentioned.
That evening Peter and Ramali settled into their sheets and read the many books brought to their chambers as the Aklull learned about the land he was in. The land that was neither Narnia nor Earth but still his.