A/N: Hey guys guess what THE SECOND CHAPTER IT OUT WOOOOOOOOOO! Sorry for the late post . . . again but I did warn you guys. SO! This one was not fluffed by my Fluffer because as of right now band camp has started and she is beat every night she gets home. So this is my crappy edited version for you all so you don't have to wait any longer. Again I am sorry for the wait, please enjoy!
OH! hey if you reviewed my first chapter go back and look at it again because I did reply. I WILL MAKE SURE TO MESSAGE BACK IF YOU REVIEW ON THIS ONE!
Fluttering brown eyes open to a dim golden, glow in a rather large room with small things that are enlarged. The bed is made of a tuft of cotton and the blanket is a leaf from a lams ear plant. "Huh, what a weird way to decorate a room." Her soft laugh brought little pain as she looks around the room filled with things you would find in the forest. "It's almost like someone read my mind when I was a kid and brought my dream room to life." Her smile grew wider and wider with each thing she laid her eyes on. The thin oak leaf curtains over the door way to the balcony. The chairs and table made from bent twigs and smoothed bark. The cabinets holding folded leafs tied with striped grass blades seeming to hold something inside them and carved wooden bowls and boxes with different colored herbs slightly sticking out of them. The walls, floor, and ceiling are made of smoothed gray rock with a few cracks here and there.
"Your Highness we can't risk it!" The muffled but a familiar male voice breaks her thoughts from the room to the leaves leading into the hall.
"What do you mean we can't risk it?" The girl's rough voice makes the human sit up slightly as the fuzzy picture of the girl crying flashes across her eyes. The two arguing bodies stop just outside the doorway as the man argues with urgency and stubbornness.
"She is a stomper, we shouldn't trust her with-"
"What about MK and her father?" There is a short pause and you can almost feel the frustration of the girl seeping through the leaf doors. "So we go up to one of her cameras and say 'Sorry MK but you can't see Nod anymore and Finn you can't study us any more or come in contact with us, bye, bye.'"
Fallin turns her head away from the door and closes her eyes trying to pretend to sleep Ok, slow, light breathing relaxed muscles and . . . wait . . . stomper? What is that supposed-
"No," a sigh calms the tense air as the realization takes hold that the wrong words were spoken, "you know that we can't do that. They have given up so much for us, for the forest."
"And so has she." The soft rustling of a leaf being pushed out of the way catches Fallin's ear and makes her clench her fists under the covers.
"Your Highness how is it that you know that, for sure?" The footsteps growing closer to the seemingly unconscious Fallin has the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. The teenage bud queen sits in the chair beside the bed and the general of the leafmen stands in front of her.
"Ronin, she spends more time in the forest than in her own home. She found her way to Nim Galuu's tree once and sat there for the longest time with her eyes shut like she was in a trance."
"She probably fell asleep." This time the sigh came from the girl, frustrated and a bit tired of the argument. "What?"
"You know, sometimes you can be so dense." Looking up into the warrior's eyes she paused for a few seconds trying to find what is troubling. "When you are overwhelmed with anger, fear, frustration, actually any type of emotion; what is the best way, well, what is the warrior's way to deal with it?"
"Well one way is to train and take your mind off-"
"I didn't say to give me a list Ronin. I want only one answer. The best way to calm yourself is . . . ?" with a slight pause and a intake of breathe Ronin turns his head to look at the floor.
"to be still." Another reluctant sigh. "Focus on everything around you to clear your mind. Then solve your problem after you are calm and can see clearly." The still silence isn't anything to fear. No angry stairs or tense muscles but a mind full of questions. But one in particular keeps running through the jinn girls head.
"Ronin, why are you so worried about her being here?" Ronin lifted his eyes to look at the oak leaves covering the way to the balcony.
"Do you truly think she loves the forest?"
"Yes I do." Ronin's sigh is heavy and so are his next words.
"Then when she wakes, calm her down, knock her out, take her back to where you found her, turn her back, and leave her there." He had practically cut her off with his cold and sharp words. "If you don't you will be jeopardizing your kingdom and the jinn living here."
"Ronin . . ." But the leaves rustled and footsteps faded before she can speak another word, what has you so worried? Her thoughts traveled a dark path before a stirring from the bed makes the queen turn. "You're awake!" Watching the clearing eyes of the stomper, the queen clears her mind of any ill feelings and thoughts before speaking again. "Miss, Miss, can you hear me?" watching the woman's eyes move around the room and her smile creep onto her face.
"What . . . What is this pla- AH!" Jumping nearly a foot off her bed the stopmer scoots back and kicks the lams ear covers onto the queen.
"AH!"
"WHAT THE- AAH!" The queen closes her eyes before the stomper slips and falls of the bed with a thud. Opening her eyes she expected to see no trace of the woman but instead she sees her bare feet sticking straight up in the air. Her light giggle fills the room as she stands.
"Are you alright stomper?" The painful intake of a breath makes the queen bolt around the cotton ball and over to the fallen woman. "Of course you're not." Scolding herself under her breathe she kneels down to the upside down woman. "Here, let me help you." Taking Fallin's feet off the cloud of cotton and gently sitting her up was the easy and not so painful part. But now she has to stand. "You ready?"
"NO! No, just . . . just help me turn and let me sit with my back to the bed for a while." After doing what is asked of her the queen sits on the floor in front of the breathing stomper. Fallin's eyes are shut so tightly that her eyelids are nothing but layers of wrinkles, her mouth is pressed into a thin line and her breathing is slow and deep trying to gain some control over her aching muscles. "Where am I?"
"Moonhaven, the palace of the Easter forest." Fallin's eyes open and they study the white bud teen. The top of her head is a white marigold bud, her skin a light green, and her dress it made of leaves and white flower peddles.
"What are you?" Her words are not said in disgust or fear but pure bewilderment. "I mean you, you can't be human your outfit is too perfect and real and these things are too real and . . . and you are too real . . ." Placing a hand on her head Fallin groans as the cogs in her brain grind on one another so much that she can hear her heartbeat in the back of her head.
"I am a jinn, there are different types jinn here in this kingdom. There are insects, plants, Leafmen and Boggan."
"That still doesn't make any sense." The leaves covering the doorway to the halls open and close with a light rustle.
"Your highness we need to- . . . your highness?"
"We're over here on the floor." Rounding the corner of the bed is two people, one in the shape of a twig and the eyes of a person and the other with the wings of a butterfly and goggles of a pilot. Fallin didn't even hear them speaking she was too distracted by their forms. Shaking her head and squeezing her eyes she speaks just loud enough to be heard.
"Please tell me where I am!" Even though she rubs her temples and the silence fills the room the headache pounds just behind her eyes. Then an arm slips under hers pulling her up. "Ah! Ouch, ouch!"
"Just focus on walking forward." The teen flower girl that the stick and the bug call highness pulls her out onto the balcony. Shielding her eyes from the bright sun shining off the running water she waited for them to stop before rubbing and opening her eyes. The clear sparkling water was what caught her gaze first and then it was the green reflections of the tallest trees she has ever seen. Leaning her head back all the way almost made her fall, but it's worth the view of beautiful dancing leaves playing with the light the shines through them. There is a large open spot over the rock structure she sits in that would give the best view of the stars at night. Then she sees something zip by in a blur along with hearing the laughter of a child. Again, looking up she sees a large bird fly around and around doing flips here and there then diving to the ground pulling up at the last second.
"Wow that is the biggest bird I have ever seen! What kind is it?" Finding that she can sit on the railing and still be comfortable she leans on her arm that doesn't hurt as much. Fallin turns to the flower girl and waits.
"I do believe that is a ruby throat hummingbird. Since hummingbirds are the smallest and fastest flyable bird they are the Leafmen's signature bird." Fallin's laughter was light and playful as she turns to look at the water.
"That is impossible hummingbirds are about as tall as my pinky finger there is no way that bird is-" A gush of air startles both the stomper and jinn when a hummingbird lands on the railing of the balcony.
"Ah looks like the stomper from the woods is finally awake!" Pealing her eyes off the huge bird and onto the guy riding it was not hard. But the fact that she kept looking from the person to the bird ever millisecond was starting to give her another headache.
"Nod, you know you shouldn't be landing your bird here."
"Sorry your highness I saw the girl and thought she wouldn't want her hair blowing everywhere. So instead of hovering I landed. Ummm . . . Are you ok?" Both leafman and jinn look over at a very frustrated and confused Fallin. She finally calms down enough to take a deep breath and lets all her emotions out.
"WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME AND WHERE AM I!?" Her yelling startles the blameless hummingbird and echoes several different times. Even the helpless squeaking of her voice can be heard from where Ronin is training the new recruits on the opposite side of the clear water. Groaning into his hand he climbs on top of his Hummingbird.
"Finish your routine and take care of your birds then you are free to go." Nudging the bird it took off toward the middle of Moonhaven. As he walks down the hall with wide strides and his helmet under his arm he talks under his breath. "Your highness you have to take her back to where she is from, she doesn't have a purpose here like MK had." Huffing out a sigh and pinching the bridge of his nose he hesitates before stepping inside the room. Why is it that I have to prepare myself before talking with the queen? It was never like this with Tara. Brushing a leaf aside he walks in to see Nod the the Queen standing in front of a wide eyed stomper.
"No . . . no . . . no, no, no. Nononononononnononononononononono ho ho ho." The stomper pauses and takes a deep breath. Her voice continues in the high pitched helplessness of someone trying to wrap their mind around a subject, but in the proces of doing so she has snapped their brain in two. "This is not plausible what so ever there is no such thing as people getting shrunk or the magic of Mother Nature," her nervous laugh made Ronin lift a thin eyebrow, he could practically see the sweat dripping form her brow. "I mean this dose make a lot of sense and it explains a few thing that I saw when I was a child but there is no way that I am smaller the a penny and can jump as high as my normal height or see larger animals or people move in slow motion or-" Holding her hand over the frazzled woman's mouth the queen makes her pause and breath a few times considering she only took one breath before she spoke
"What did you see when you were a child?" Carefully taking her hand away she never loses her eyes until the stomper blinks and begins to talk with her hands franticly.
"Well haha when I was 7 or, or was it 9 or whatever when I was little enough to be entertained by running around with a jar and catching lightning bugs I caught one or two in a jar once and when I looked through the glass I swear to this day that I saw a little person! A little tiny person on bigger then two knuckles on my pinky finger it had its four hands pressed up agents the glass and stood on two legs and had a glowing butt and, and it's face was a blur. When I ran over to show my mother she said that there were only two bugs and they were very pretty I was so, so very frustrated with my mother and her seeming ly bad eyesight but when I took back the jar I couldn't judge witch was the little person and witch was the bug. They were flying too fast neither of them would sit still THEN, then there was another time when I was sitting in the yard making flower crowns out of the little white flowers in the clover patched and I had found five of the perfect flowers and decided that I would make a bracelet for mom. I set the newly made crown of flowers on my head and as I looked down to pick my five prized flowers they were gone just gone vanished as if they grew back into the ground or got up and walked away. But this is why this is the place I tried to find for three years as a child before giving up and doing what I could with what I could see my god everything is connected now the fast moving with the blurred fireflies the flowers that seemed to just vanish as if they got up and walked away! . . . Ouch . . ." She began to breathe again but her breath was not steady and slow. Knowing what would happen if she continued Ronin walked in farther making his presence known with the soft thumping of his shoes.
"Calm yourself miss if you don't you will surly faint from hyperventilation." Breathing through her nose now, or at least trying to, she looks at the ground with wide eyes and heat griping her face and chest, not letting go.
"I need to cool down in a bath or a stream, yea a stream somewhere open and out of the way so I can be alone for a bit." Taking a deep breath again trying to remember how to breathe properly without overdosing herself with air, she lets her breath out slowly. "Please I need to . . . not think about anything for a bit . . . I need to numb myself."
"I have the perfect place!" Standing up with a small bounce of her feet and a wiggle of her petal skirt she turns to Ronin. "Ronin will you carry her to my sanctuary?" Knowing this would be easier to just obey he nods his head and walks cautiously to the woman slumped on the railing of the balcony. Taking Fallin's arm and putting it around his neck he slides an arm behind her knees and around her back before lifting her up. Nod and the queen flank Ronin and Fallin as they walk down the halls with the workers giving small bows as they pass by. The walk wasn't long for Fallin because she had retreated into herself so fare her eyes were blank and her breathing was scares. "Ronin, Ronin she looks like she isn't even here. What is wrong with her?"
"She is trying to make sense of all this and wrap her mind around our world. I have to say I liked MK's reaction better than hers."
"What did MK do?"
"She panicked a little bit and then told me to change her back."
"Wow she took that really well if that is all that she did." Nod takes a few hopping steps so to speak to both the queen and Ronin.
"Yea but don't forget that you also put her straight to work afterward since you both had to take the bud to Nim Galuu's." the three walk into the queens sanctuary with a sky of purple flowers.
"Well then we should give her something to do after she has calmed down maybe then she will heal a little faster." The queen claps her hands together trying to think of a few things but Ronin has to speak.
"After she calms down your highness you need to take her ba-"
"Would you stop that Ronin!" Seeing Fallin shrink a little into Ronin's arms she quiets her next words starting with a sigh. "Either you tell me why you do not want her here or you keep quiet while I show her around." Ronin only looks straight ahead.
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Ronin when she opened her eyes they lit up like a child's dose when they get something they have longed for. She is fascinated by our world Ronin I know it and I want to show it to her." The trickling waterfall grows nearer and nearer and seems to draw the distant eyes of the stomper back to its body. "Fallin we are almost there will you need help getting ready for the dip?" Arriving at the pond like pool of water Ronin sets her on her feet.
"N-no . . . no, I will be fine. Thank you." Dipping her toes into the water and then both of her feet she smiles at its pleasantly cool temperature.
"If you need anything just call out some of the Jinn will be in the area working." Watching Fallin nod her head the queen turns around and takes Ronin and Nod by the arms pulling them into the line of large leafs sectioning off the pool of water from the rest of the room. Taking a deep breath Ronin finaly finds the right words to tell the queen of his newly discovered
"Your highness I-"
"Your Highness! We must discus a few things concern-"
"Yes, yes I know concerning the banquet Tim and Flight have tried to today I told them I would come back and do that when I was finished with Fallin. So come one lets go and-"
"Your highness I am here for more important matters concerning . . . her." Stopping in her tracks the queen turns around with her hands over her head in surrender.
"Not you too! Ronin, did you put him up to this? If I hear that that kind woman is not welcome here one more time so help me I-"
"No your highness not the stomper I mean the one who has been giving us the most trouble since Mandrake." A tense pause catches the jinn girl with her mouth open and eyes wide.
"She's back?"
"Yes there have been sightings and . . . and I am afraid has been brought down on one of the underground gamboling tunnels."
"How . . ." clearing her throat and preparing for the number she finally asks, "how many, this time?"
"Four . . . two were partnered bosses and the other two were their second in command."
"What of the civilians there?" she wrong her hands with anticipation and worry.
"Non that we found were dead some injured but nothing too extreme."
"You are for sure that it is her?" Taking a leaf wrapped object from under his arm in Jinn hands it to her queen. Slowly opening the leaf she says a silent prayer that she knows will not be heard. The object was small but very recognizable with the dead gray color of a broken twig and the purple tip of a poisoned arrow head that could be mistaken for one of Mandrake's. Taking the arrow Ronin carefully examines it at a dangerously close proximity. "Ronin?"
"I'm afraid it is. Your highness with your permission I will assemble several teams to begin looking for her." With a small nod and down cast eyes she hands the leaf to Ronin and walks farther under the purple ceiling of flowers. No one says anything as they bow to the back of their queen and leave her to her thoughts.
A/N: Soooooo . . . thoughts? What do you guys think will happen with this new villain? Why dose Ronin hate the fact that Fallen is around? What do you think whill happen next? And tell me what you like/don't like about what I have written so far. Oh, and tell me if I messed up with grammar or spelling please!
Ok so I have looked and looked and LOOKED trying to find if the new queen and the leafman with the red beard has a name. SOMEONE HELP ME FIND IT! Or you could throw in suggestions for either of them. Any input is greatly needed and appreciated.
UNTIL NEXT TIME! ^-^
