Episode 4
"Star Struck! Wishing for Reality!"
Fillia spent some time making sure everything was ready for this journey, carefully checking the warehouse, the kilns, making sure enough food was on hand for her two assistants, and finally kissing little Val's shell and saying, "You be a good little boy and don't give your uncles any trouble now."
Even though the egg did not speak, it seemed to almost imperceptibly jiggle just the tiniest amount.
Luna looked a little surprised at the egg's motion, but did not say anything about it, "OK," she did ask though, "Are we all set now?"
"Yes," Fillia announced confidently, "We are ready to leave now." and with that, she incanted her teleportation spell and they vanished from the room.
Appearing moments later at the last location Fillia had seen them, the two gazed around at the countryside.
"It sure is beautiful here," Luna observed, gazing out over the coast from the cliff line, "I've never seen the ocean from such a point."
"Oh," Fillia, gazed outwards beside her, "Yes, it is indeed beautiful."
"I could see having a cottage in a place like this." Luna breathed in the clean clear ocean air.
"That..." she paused, "That would be very nice indeed." she involuntarily sighed at the idea of her tending a home as a wife while little dragon children ran screaming by playing tag and giggling, before she snapped back to reality. "But I suppose we had best be searching for Lina so we can find the cure to this plague!"
Sighing aloud, "You're right," Luna agreed, "So..." looking around at the more local geography, "Which way did they go from here?"
Fillia pointed along a narrow path in the grass which led southeast down into a wide but shallow valley leading diagonally inland gradually leaving the seaside behind.
Transmuting into her dragon form, she lowered her neck to let Luna on and leapt into the sky following close to the ground along the trail.
Ep 4, Chapter 2
Theolis Rhystan, royal magistrate of New Xoanna was not a man to be trivialized. For his young age, he was very clever and worldly. To add to this, he had the appearance of being much older, which he cultivated to its fullest extent. This gave him a look of wisdom and trustworthiness he truly did not deserve.
He had worked his way carefully and shrewdly through the ranks and did whatever it took to gain each new level of power on his way to the ultimate goal. Today he paced in his private chambers while waiting an audience with Queen Martina concerning the exact timing of the execution of the nuisance Naga the White Serpent.
"I'm very very near the completion of my plans!" he ranted gleefully to himself, slamming his clenched fist eagerly into his palm, "Soon I shall be king of New Xoanna and from there, the world!"
"First I shall kill off this witness," he pondered, "Then I shall devise a terrible accident to befall the Queen and her stupid husband!"
"I know, I'll-!" he began to have a brilliantly devious idea when the palace page interrupted.
"Sir Magistrate," the page boy knocked, "The Queen will see you now."
"Yes, yes." he acknowledged aloud in a soft, grandfatherly voice he had practiced for some years now, then to himself, "Stupid fool, how dare you interrupt my brilliant plans with your rash interruptions? You're also on my list!" then again aloud, in a strained cheerful tone, "I'm on my way immediately!"
Ep 4, Chapter 3
The pair of them sped along the valley and up onto a plateau which was interspersed grassland and small wooded sections, finally dropping into another valley where a medium sized village could be seen, and where obvious marks of destruction indicated Lina surely was in some form of altercation once again, so Luna called to Fillia over the rushing wind in her face, "I see signs of Lina's handiwork below. We should drop down and ask about her there!"
Not wanting to be seen in between forms, Fillia veered off to one side of the valley where a thick grove of trees grew, and swooped down into it before transforming back into her human shape.
"OK." Luna declared, "We should ask the people what they know about her then!"
"Right!" Fillia replied with determination.
As they moved about the town, they were saddened to get a diversity of answers to their questions.
As the day wore on, they seemed to only get further and further from a solid lead on where the mischievous young sorceress would have gone next from here.
As they met up at the site of the old tavern where people were in the process of rebuilding it, Luna sighed and said, "It seems that everybody in this town has a completely different story of what took place here!"
"I got the same thing!" Fillia replied disheartened. "The more people I asked, the crazier the answers Io got and the less sense it made!"
"Something must definitely be up in this town!" Luna muttered, "Something here is just not right."
"What do you think we should do then?" Fillia asked meekly.
"I think we should find out what is messing with these people's heads and just maybe then we can figure out what really happened here with my sister!" she declared in a very annoyed tone.
Ep 4, Chapter 4
Without an inn to weary travelers had to decide what to do for the night.
"Well," Luna declared, "It would seem that the only inn in the entire town was blasted to bits, and is not near ready to re open, I guess that means we have to find some other place to bed down for the night."
"That definitely appears to be the case," Fillia sadly concurred. "I wonder if there might be a shopkeeper with a guest room we could rent." she mused aloud.
"That would be a great idea," Luna considered, "If these people's strange behavior did not give me the creeps so..."
Sighing again in resignation, Fillia replied, "They are indeed very strange acting," looking around, "Maybe we should return to the grove we landed at and camp there for the night.
"I think you're right." Luna agreed, "At least there we would have a chance to see somebody coming and be prepared for them."
With that, the two girls set off for the grove of trees they set down at earlier in the day.
Laying out their bedrolls and lighting a fire, they ate a meal of dried meats and fruits and drank water from their canteens. Laying in their bedrolls, staring up at the moonlit sky, Luna looked over at Fillia and asked, "Do dragons ever wish on stars?"
Fillia frowned and mulled it over, "I was a priestess, and I lived in a temple all of my life since I was hatched. I have never really thought about stars before..."
"Oh." Luna considered her answer, "I never thought about it like that." Looking back up at the stars and at the moon, lifting her hand as if to reach out and take hold of it, she declared, "I used to wish upon falling stars, even though I knew it was a silly tradition with no real meaning." then turning over and propping herself up on one elbow, she asked Fillia, "What would you wish for, if you had one wish you could be granted?"
Fillia gazed back at the raven haired young woman, with her intense eyes flickering in the firelight, not sure what to say, but willing to give it a very sincere effort, "Well..." and she felt that strange tug in her chest again, making her think about two seemingly related yet impossible wishes to wish for, "All my life I devoted myself to the welfare of my people, and denied my self everything." taking a deep breath, "But now they are all gone, denying me both my duty, and my one hope."
"What would that be?" Luna asked quietly.
"I can't decide which I want more." Fillia said in a far off, almost childlike voice, "Would I chose the welfare of my people, or to find love?"
"Love..." Luna found her heart leapt in her chest at the mere word. "That is something I am never allowed to have." she declared softly with a note of sadness.
"I think we are both cursed." Fillia said with a tear in her eye, "Cursed to live forever alone."
Luna laid back on her bedroll and looked sadly up at the stars once again, then, with a long sigh, "I believe you are probably right." and with that, she rolled over away from the fire and said, "Good night Fillia."
Fillia looked over at the back of Luna, her raven hair glistening in the firelight, feeling the deep tugging sensation in her chest, "Good night Luna," then on an unexplainable impulse, "Sweet dreams... Lady Inverse."