I stared with my mouth open. I knew it wasn't proper to do at that moment, but it sure felt right. What I saw was a village, a small village that was probably the size of the town square in Frell. It was magnificent.

I hadn't seen any other human being in years, so that added to the excitement. It was full of creatures. It contained every animal and creature I had ever seen.

The thing that really surprised me was that all of them were getting along quite good. The ogres and gnomes talked on park benches. Humans and giants discussed poetry and politics in bookstores. Birds, horses, and elves sang tunes in every language possible under a tree in a park. It was a city for all creatures. It was a perfect spot to explore.

I started to walk and could not help but goggle at the child-aged gnomes as they raced past playing a game of hide and seek with some giants. I would have bet who would win, but they seemed to be having fun, even though the gnomes were winning tremendously. The giants apparently were very good lookers because they spotted the gnomes within seconds of hiding. This slightly evened out the scores, though the gnomes still gained points back to take the lead.

Being a stranger to this city, creatures stared at me like I was from a different planet and I indeed felt that way. I boldly looked for a place to ask where I was. I spotted the bookstore where I had seen a human earlier and walked in.

Soft music was playing inside that sounded so beautiful. I listened more carefully and realized that it was Kyrrian. I had been gone from my home so long that I forgot how wonderful the towns were.

I still did not regret leaving, though. I was happy being away from the palace on a mission to find my parents, though at that moment it wasn't important. What was important was where I was. I was happy to see living, breathing, eating, drinking, moving, smelling, touching creature again, even if I was standing right next to an ogre at that time.

I walked over to a person sitting in a chair by the fireplace. He seemed to just be sitting next to it, deep in thought, and memorized by the flames. I walked over a stood next to the chair. He slowly lifted his head. I thought I recognized his face, but by that time I was not worried about who I was talking to because everyone was so happy and joyful together.

I smiled down politely and said, "Good morning sir. I'm not from around here and I was wondering if you could tell me what this town's name is."

He smiled back at me and replied, "Not many people are from around here, miss. This town is called Ryoniya. It's located in Fairy Forest. How did you get here?"

"I was looking for someone in the forest and found myself wandering into this town," I said to the man.

He smiled even larger and said, "Are you lost?"

"I am certainly not lost. I have nowhere to be lost in. This whole place is new to me. I have never been outside of Kyrria. My guardians never let me."

His smile suddenly vanished and shock took over his face, "Did you say you were from Kyrria? The country of Kyrria?"

I was confused about his reaction and responded, "Yes, from the city of Frell. Have you heard of it? It's a wonderful place."

His face became more shocked, "I definitely have heard of Frell and all of Kyrria. That was my hometown before I got lost here, miss. I never would forget the place."

This brightened my expression greatly. I finally found someone from my hometown and it was only the first person I talked to who lived there, but for some reason it didn't sound right. Why had he said, "lost here"? I decided to ignore it and started up a new conversation.

"I guess you knew who the King and Queen were, right? About how they went missing about five and a half years ago?" I asked, hoping this person would give me some clues on where they were.

He laughed, "Yes. Of course I know about that. I mean, who wouldn't? They were quite the good leaders. Too bad they left, though."

His voice did not make me happy. It made me sadder then ever. He knew nothing on where they were. I was lost now. I had no clue where I would start next. I was so upset that I started to cry. It wasn't a loud cry, just a tear or two down my cheek.

He noticed it and tried to comfort me, "Why are you crying, Lady? You are lost, aren't you? Many people are lost here. What is the matter?"

I looked back at his kind face and wished I would be happy again. He seemed to be dealing with whatever problems he was facing, so why couldn't I? Suddenly I felt slightly better.

I got up off the chair I had been sitting in and said to the man, "Thank you so much for your kindness, but I must be going now. Maybe one day I will come back here and see you again."

As I turned to the door, the man from the chair grabbed the backpack I had been holding. I started to pull away from the man, but then I noticed what he was looking at.

He stared at the print of the seal of the royal family of Kyrria. He stood there gazing, open mouthed, at the beautiful design of the print on the side of the backpack.

He stuttered with saying, "Is this your backpack? Or have you taken it from someone?"

I replied, "It is mine and I would like to leave now, so may I have it?"

He looked into my face, "No, you can not leave this town. Not now. Not every. Come with me."

I became frightened because his face became so serious and he sounded loud in the quiet bookstore. He took my hand and dragged me into the street and down the road. I screamed and yelled for him to let me go, but he did not budge. I was afraid of how just seconds ago he was taking sympathy when tears rolled down my face, but now as I screamed in fear and cried for him to let me go, he was meaner than ever.

He pulled me down the road as creatures stopped to stare at us. He said not one word to me as he marched through the town, dragging me behind him. He just kept walking.

He stopped at the end of a near by street that I had not noticed. This one led to a huge castle that towered over the trees and city. It looked as big as the palace in Frell. He brought me to the front gate where two guards stood and let him through. He must have known someone in the castle.

He brought me through the front doors of the place and as soon as we stepped in, two maids and a butler walked over to us. The castle was even larger on the inside. It was beautiful.

The butler asked, "Should I ring for His Highness, Sir Jonathan?"

Sir Jonathan responded fast, "Yes and tell him it is a huge emergency and to come quickly."

The butler bowed in a hurry and ran down the stairs and into a back room. Five minutes later a different man returned to the stairs. The other man looked at me with a confused look.

"Who is this, Sir Jonathan? Why are you trying to reach the King?" said the man.

Sir Jonathan looked at the man and said, "I have reason to be believe we have found a new member from the town of Frell in Kyrria, Sir Stephen." He picked up the backpack to show the seal to Sir Stephen. Sir Stephen smiled at the print and then looked at me.

"What is your name, Lady?" he asked me.

"I wouldn't tell you if you were the last person on earth. Let me go or suffer dearly," I said harshly as I tired to grab the sword from underneath my jaket. It was given to me just before mother and father left. They gave it to me as a goodbye present. I couldn't reach it though, but they did not notice me trying to get it.

"Oh yes," he said to Jonathan, "This one is definitely a relative. For sure she is. How did she get here?"

I was really getting annoyed now, "Hello! I'm standing right here! You don't have to act like I'm not human. I may be only fourteen, but I am a living, breathing thing! Asking him wouldn't do any good. He just met me in a bookshop. The books probably know more about me than he does. I don't think he paid attention to half the things I said!"

Just then, a woman and a boy a couple years older than me walked in. The boy had green eyes and brown hair. His eyes seemed to sparkle as I looked at them. The woman was wearing a yellow dress and the men called her Areida as they explained the situation. She smiled at me and asked, "What is your name, dear child?"

"Why should my name be a concern to you? Let my go home. It's torture back there, but it seems to be a better place than this. People don't grab you from stores and drag you down the street like this horrible man," I said to her as my anger level grew.

"We need to know you name, dear. It's the only way we can help you." I laughed, "I don't need help. Let me go and that'll help me. Get this mad man off me."

Sir Jonathan snarled and tightened his grip on my arms, "Is that any way to talk to your elders? We're trying to help you, kid. We didn't want you to leave before we got some answers."

Just then I grabbed my sword from the holder underneath my jacket and pushed away from Sir Jonathan's hands. I used all my strength to do it and he looked surprised by how strong I was. I showed everyone the sword I had in my hand.

I moved away from the group of people and stood there saying, "Get back. Get away from or I will stab you. Don't come and closer. Move away from the door, so I can get out."

Sir Jonathan suddenly took out his own sword. He came forward and we started to duel.

He was shouting during it, "We are trying to help you, miss. Stop this at once. You must stop."

We dueled for sometime in the middle of the hall of the castle. No one dared to step in and help Sir Jonathan. I had never fought in a real duel, but it seemed like I was winning. I had not one drop of sweat on my face and Sir Jonathan looked like he was about the pass out.

"Ready to give up, miss?" said Sir Jonathan as he panted loudly.

"I'm just getting started," I said as I hit my sword against his.

It seemed like this was a very extreme thing to do. He should have just let me go instead of trying to fight me. This was a great chance to practice fighting, though. I usually just had to fight by myself in the woods, which isn't very affective. I swirled around and after a while I started having fun.

Then, it started getting boring. I was barely even trying and already he was half way fainted. He breathed hard as I hit against his sword again. I finally just wanted to knock him out because it was wasting time when I could have been on the rode.

I jumped onto the banister railing at the bottom of the stairs where we were. He was in front of the banister, so I kicked and hit him square in the nose. He fell over, unconscious.

I got off the banister and checked to see if he was really unconscious and I heard a voice from the other side of the room say, "Wonderful job, Hailey. You managed to knock out one of my best knights here. Looks like you had some practice over the years."

I turned around and saw something that shocked me even more than when I found this village. It was my father. He looked me up and down and said, "It's wonderful to see you again. You've grown so much."