I get up the next morning and I don't know what happened at the Palace Hollows, but I hope that nothing would be going on that will be well... interfering. I think that Josh's dad found out and I am fearful of what he would have done to Josh as a punishment. I try not to think about it as I get ready for school. Spring is in two weeks and I know that is when most of the weddings happen. Spring break is coming and it would be nice to have some time off from school. It is the first day if the mid-semester exams and I am up early. I am flying to the library when I hear Queen Barran, Ezylryb, Strix Struma and Lady Autumn talking in the classroom as I pass. Then I hear Autumn exclaim "That sounds awful! How could Boron do that?"
I then sit at the window with the curtain covering and I am listening in on what they have to say.
"Someday soon, Boron will learn a lesson that he will never forget. Why in Glaux's name would he do such a thing? That is just extreme." Ezylryb exclaims
"I tried to make him listen to me after we had… well… I don't want to say it actually. …But I don't know how to tell Lydea what happened. It will break her heart." Barran says
"She will understand, Barran. Who is telling her anyway about the events? Also, when she is 18 on Saturday, what will we will tell her is…" I hear Strix Struma say before I sneeze blocking me from hearing the last word as my sneezes are high pitch and fairly loud
Then I hear "Did you hear that?" from Autumn
"It might have been Lydea going to the library and she must have sneezed on her way past. I don't think she would eavesdrop." Ezylryb says (He once said that my sneeze could be louder than Boron when he yells loudly)
"I hope so. I might have to tell her if either of you two won't tell her about Josh." Barran says
"I would, but I don't know what to say." Autumn says
"Barran, I think you should. Anyway, you have dealt with more crying girls than I and I am the Combat Class teacher. Those girls in the lower classes get beat easily and they have some serious issues when it comes to everything." Strix says
"I might as well." Barran says
I then have enough and fly to the library. What happened to Josh? Boron would never kill him… or did he? Oh my Glaux… I am just so nervous of what happened. I see Lady Autumn in a moment returning a book and she comes to see how I am doing.
"Good evening, Lydea." She says
"Good evening, Princess Autumn." I reply (She said that I could call her that as that is her name technically)
"How are you tonight? Are you nervous of exams?" She asks
"I think I will do well in my History exam today." I reply
"Your majesty, we have a situation that needs your presence. Ezylryb and your husband, Lord Allomere, are fighting over who is right again." A messenger says
"I am coming. I am sorry, Lydea. Duty calls when it comes to being the one person that can keep the peace between the two." Autumn then says while walking to the entrance of the library
"It is ok, I hope that you have a good night, Princess Autumn." I reply
She then flies off to deal with another argument between the two owls that always have petty arguments, even if they are old enough to know better. Then I get back to studying over my notes then I hear Queen Barran say my name and I turn around and reply "Yes, Barran."
"Lydea, I have something to tell you about what happened last night. I have to tell you away from eavesdroppers so please come to the classroom." She says
We then go away from the now crowded library full of students doing last minute study for their Senior Year History exam today. Junior 1 & 2 (Snow Class being Junior class 1 and Rain Master Class being Junior Year 2) have Junior Political Studies and Middle 1 & 2 (Star Class is Middle 1 and Fire Master Class is Middle 2) have Intermediate English exams.
The classroom is quiet and Barran is handed the exam work booklets when she comes in and she places them on her desk. They are sorted by alphabetical order and we have to sit as such. Even then, Josh and I sit next to each other. Complicated much?
Barran then says that Josh has been grounded and I think we are over. Josh isn't allowed to leave his hollow for weeks and i think we are forced to come to a close like a storybook. I start to cry and Barran gives me a hug and she says that it Is ok. I know she is lying and that she knows I know. She tells me that I can skip the exams, since she knows how it feels to be of broken heart.
I think this is like a fairy tale and i am dreaming. All i can do is cry when I go back to my hollow. Is this what has become of us? Forced apart like we are off in far way lands and are just distant.
"Life isn't like school plays with a happy ending, Lydea, accept it. You have to realise who you are and Boron thinks you are just trouble for Josh. You heard it from Barran's mouth his exact words she heard." That is what my conscience says to me in my sleep. It is worse than the daymares visions I have. My conscience tortures me and makes this harder.
It comes Saturday and it is my birthday. Barran takes me to Josh's room and we have a talk before I have to go. Barran was only allowed to give me a half hour with Josh and he wished me a happy birthday. Then I go and wait for my mum to come back to celebrate with me. She always comes home on my birthdays since I was 13 and I learnt to care for myself and beforehand I had learnt to fly beautifully for my first fight when I was nine, without crashing into tree branches.
As i wait for my mother to return at the Eastern Gate, the thought crosses my mind again and i cry. I just want to be with Josh so bad, my conscience bothers me, my heart aches and I have a bad feeling in my gizzard. Why do i act like this when i am upset? I have to remember that I am strong and a member of Queen Barran's Moon Master Class of the Senior Year of education and training at the Guardian Training Academy. Yet again, i am a heartbroken girl. Crying is my only option to a situation like this since my emotions give way. I am so wrapped up in the emotional spiral that i am too unaware of Ezylryb landing next to me. I must have been crying louder than ever as I am heartbroken.
"What is wrong, Lydea?" He politely asks "Never thought I would see you cry like this, knowing that you weren't like that when i saved... Never mind" He says, almost giving the secret of her past away
"Take a moment... Now realise he is talking to you. Respond. Lydea respond. I don't know what he just said else, but he asked you a question." Lydea's conscience pended
"...Master Ezylryb. I didn't notice you there. I'm sorry." I respond, listening to my conscience
"It is ok, but a Future Guardian should be aware of everything around them. There could be Pure Ones about, if possible. I'll ask again since you were distracted in thought about never seeing Josh. Why are you crying, young Lydea?" He asks again
"Breathe... It is ok girl. Don't cry. Answer. Don't cry about Josh when answering." Her conscience instructed
"I don't think Josh and i will be seeing each other ever again. The Royal Guard, under his father's orders locked him in his hollow. I found out from Queen Barran after I was to be honest, eavesdropping on convocation between you, Barran, Strix Struma and Princess Autumn. I didn't hear much before disrupting as I sneezed. Sometimes I wish that I wasn't just a common girl. It must be true that i am way out of his league and he is a prince. While I, on the other hand am..." I explain before being stopped.
"A Princess." He finishes the sentence (I think he meant commoner)
"What did you say?" I ask
"I said 'You are a Princess'. You mustn't be listening properly." He repeats
"Wait, This is just confusing? How am I a princess?" I ask
"It is true, Lydea Schana. You are a princess. Not just any princess, but of one that has an important task ahead. Come and follow, there is something that rightfully belongs to you that Queen Barran has been hiding for 18 years." He instructs me.
"I'm confused, but I'll follow." I reply
We fly away. When we get to the Palace Hollows, Ezylryb speaks in code to Barran in Naya'va. She fetches a small chest locked with a key. We take the chest to Ezylryb's hollow and he gets the matching key out of a scroll. He unlocks the chest and inside is a beautiful, silver, ornately designed crown inside. It is dusty and old from years of storage. I cannot believe my eyes that this beautiful thing belongs to me and me only. Barran gets me out of my train of thought by talking.
"Beautiful, isn't it? This was your real mother's. Lydea you have to understand one thing about this when we explain it, but for the crown, Queen Nynia Schana wore this in the night she was killed along with her family long ago." Barran says
"You are the only survivor, from the Schana, living after horrible night of bloodshed and horror. A night that was far worse than the Battle of the Ice Claws. As it was full blown regicide against your family." Ezylryb informs me
"What happened that night? Tell me, please!" I beg
"Ok. Long ago, there was a war. It was Pure Ones against us Guardians and now it is at peace. They attacked the Northern Kingdom once and were going to take the next step and to take over it, since Surtr wanted nothing more than to take revenge for the Northern rulers, the Schana, for all the things done. A night before this, Boron and the Guardians left Ga'Hoole and they were chasing the Pure Ones from the Beaks, all the way to the North, right on their tail." Barran starts
"It was a horrible sight when we got there. The coup had started and Boron and I couldn't believe what was happening. We fought to help your family escape, but whoever we tried, we had failed. The Pure Ones were trying to kill all of them. All hope wasn't lost when i heard your mother's cries for help. She was in the collapsing palace that the Pure Ones had caused an explosion in their forge. It was rocking the palace to its core. When we, Strix, Princess Autumn and I, came to her aid she ended up being crushed in the collapsing nursery. Autumn and Strix were busy dealing with the Pure Ones that followed us in while I had moved you out of the way of the rubble that fell atop of your mother. The Crown is what's left of her, Lydea. We were able to save you, while the others fell. Besides that, the Scrolls of Snow were taken so the Pure Ones don't use them for evil, by Strix Struma after she had followed me to save you. We refrained from telling you or even Boron about this. I did report that you and your mother died when I came to rescue you We took an oath to keep the secret, as it was between, your adoptive mother, Alina, Barran, Strix Struma, Princess/Lady Autumn and I. We didn't know when to tell you all this, but now you know your real identity." Ezylryb clearly explains
I am silent. Thinking about all this. I am blank, no thoughts, no feelings and no voice in my head telling me what i should say or do (which is actually pretty nice, since it gets annoying after a while). They know i am frozen as i am letting this entire speech sink into my mind. Barran tries to see if I am ok, by waving her wing back and forth in front of my face. My mind and body are not cooperating and my mind is still blank and thoughtless and i am frozen in shock and thoughtlessness. I do not need to think so I cannot faint nor do something stupid like that. I finally respond as Barran starts talking, once again.
"Lydea, you have to take your rightful place on that throne. We handed it over to the Pure Ones, since it was to give us peace, which it did and now we can finally win it back. Also you have to read these scrolls as they aren't just ordinary scrolls. These scrolls harbour the location of the Mirror of the Snow Goddess is. That mirror has magic that in the wrong hands hurt many good people. You must not let the answer fall into the talons of any Pure One. You have to realise that you are not just an ordinary girl anymore. You are Princess Lydea Schana, Princess of Snow and true heir to the Northern Kingdom." Barran informs me with her statement.
"Oh my... How... Am I a...?" I say before blacking out.
Did i just die or faint? Either way, I just made an ass out of myself and I lost consciousness somehow and i don't think I'm dead. While I'm like this, i think about what they said. I do hear Barran and Ezylryb yelling at me to see if I am ok. If I am a princess why was it kept from me? If I was born on a horrific night, wouldn't they have reported to Boron that I was alive? Why tell me now as I have become an adult? I am asking so many questions in my unconscious state. There is nothing but darkness around me and I don't know what to do. What will i tell Josh if i ever see him again? Will he understand? Oh my Glaux! My mind has gone haywire!
Meanwhile, at the Palace Hollows. Strix has been told to break Josh out of his room, by Barran, as Lydea is in a state that she needs her boyfriend to be by her side. Autumn and Ezylryb took her home and Alina has still not arrived back in the Great Tree to see her (who would be now known as adopted) daughter. Strix ends up putting on a fake panic face and then goes up to the guards by Josh's window and branch.
"Pure Ones! There are Pure Ones going to attack Ga'Hoole and we need your help! There are too many of them! Get to the Western Gate immediately." Strix fakes to panic as they listen and fly down to the gate on the other side of Ga'Hoole.
She then starts to pull off the boards on the window. Josh wakes up from his daydream and sees his godmother trying to break out.
"Strix? What are you doing?" He asks
"No time for questions, Josh. Lydea needs ya." She says while getting the last board off
"Where is she?" He asks
"In her hollow. She fainted and we don't know if she is ok or not and she might need ya to be by her side if she wakes up." She replies
Josh pushes past her and flies as fast as he can. Strix finds it hard to keep up with him as she yells for him to slow down so she can catch up. He then lands and Lydea is lying in her bed. He panics and is horrified to see her not responding. Lydea's eyes slowly open and he is relieved.
"Oh thank Glaux…" He exclaims
"Josh? Is that you? I thought that you..." Lydea asks
"No. You thought wrong. I would never leave you. Strix broke me out just to see you." He replies
"Yep... It's him. Tell him now, Lydea" Lydea's conscience says to her in the silence as Josh kisses her head and whispers "happy birthday" in her ear hole. She stares at him with loving eyes and then she can't take her conscience anymore and then says:
"Josh... I'm the Princess of Snow!" She yells aloud
"What?" He replies in shock
"It is true. It was a secret bound by an oath for many years. I am the one and only Schana Royal Left in this world. My family was killed years and years ago." She explains
"Why doesn't my dad know about this? Did my mum tell him?" He asks
"No. She couldn't. It was a pact Josh, a pact." I quickly reply.
"What if the Pure Ones find out?" He asks
"'I'll hide out or something... This is too much; I'm going to Tyto Forest to be with Bryony and Shard." I announce
"Lydea, Wait!" he tries to stop me.
The guards barge in and one yells "Seize him". I fly scared out the window and fly as fast as i can to get away. I don't know what they are going to do or what they would do with me. So i fly away. I just won't let myself be locked up like Josh. I want to be free Glaux-damn it!