Agi ran towards the beautiful black fern and touches her smooth coat in excitement.
"I didn't know you brought fern with you" she said.
Adeon is busy untying the black horse form the tree when he grinned, "I wanted to surprise you, come on"
Adeon suddenly grabbed Agi by the waste and carried her on fern's back and he followed. Agi is nervous yet excited to ride a horse for the very first time. Fern started to walk down the street calmly.
"By the way, why did you want to see me?" Agi asked.
Adeon didn't take his eyes off of the street when he answered, "It's actually my mom who wants to see you"
"But, why?"
"She wants to have someone to talk to. She's actually sick and dad and I are going to the other land to meet this king"
"They might want you to meet a princess"
Adeon looked down at her squinting, "Are you jealous?"
"Don't be too assuming"
Adeon just laughed and continued their journey. When they arrive at the castle, a cohort of soldiers on horses are ready to leave with king primo inside the royal coach. Adeon went down fern and assisted Agi on going down. King primo puts his head out of the coach's window and waves at Agi and adeon.
"Inez, my dear, glad to see you again" king primo said as the two young ones approach him.
Agi curtsied, "Glad to see you too, your highness"
"And I'm really thankful that you'll accompany my wife"
"No problem at all"
"Don't worry, we'll drive this princess crazy so we'd be back early" king primo whispered, but adeon still heard it.
Before going in the carriage, adeon hugged Agi tight.
"I feel like I'm going to be away for so long" adeon said and looked at her precious face, "Please tell me you'll miss me"
Agi laughed and squeezed adeon's face like a little kids, "I'll miss you"
King primo pulled his head back in and Oberon opened the coach door for prince adeon. The cohort soldiers starts to move out along the royal coach and adeon put half of his body out to wave at Agi.
"See you soon!" he said.
Agi waved back also, "Take care!"
Agi hurriedly went in the castle to see queen viola. It took her about three minutes to find the room; she got a little lost. When she finally found the room, she slightly peeked in. there's a big balcony across the door, a square full body mirror, large brown cabinets and a big comfy bed in the middle with a canopy.
Queen viola is lying on the bed, in a ruby red silk robe, looking pale with a runny nose. Even though she is sick and has no makeup, queen viola still looks very beautiful. She saw Agi come in and smiled.
"Oh, Inez, nice to see you again" the queen said with a croaky voice.
Agi sat beside the queen shyly, "How are you feeling, your highness?"
"Oh please, call me aunt viola. You're like family already. Anyways, I'm feeling a bit better now. It's just a cold"
"Don't worry, I'll look after you"
"Do you want to talk about anything?"
The both of them were so quiet until queen viola spoke. Just one look at Agi, anyone would notice that she's somehow bored. Agi looked timid and thought of something they could talk about.
"Uh--- tell me more about adeon"
"What a splendid idea" the queen praised.
Agi helped queen viola lean on the headboard and gets ready for a story telling.
"Adeon is a magnificent boy" the queen said proudly, "As a young kid, he was pretty handsome and talented. He was good at horseback riding, archery, and most of all, pranks. Adeon wouldn't be adeon without the pranks. You see, at the age of eight, other kings and queens wanted an arrange marriage for their daughters and adeon"
"I remember king Limas of Arkton. He has a beautiful six year old daughter, Princess Neila, who he wanted to be married to my little boy. The three of us travelled all the way to arkton to talk about it. We all were having a cup of tea when princess neila screamed. She had dropped her cup with a worm in it! Seriously, adeon was a little devil"
Agi giggled, "What happened then?"
The queen blew her nose for awhile before continuing her story.
"Princess neila declared that she didn't want to be married to someone as mean as adeon. But, adeon wasn't always like that. Everytime my mother would visit; adeon would be busy in the garden picking flowers for her. The two of them are pretty close. My mother was the one who also told adeon to pick a girl he likes. May it be a princess or not, as long as they love each other"
"Now that adeon is twenty one, his father and I lets him pick the girl he likes. His father even helps him with his pranks"
Agi couldn't help but to envy adeon. He have the most wonderful and loving parents. While Agi, she never had one. She only has a grandfather and a brother, she hasn't seen for a long time, who she gives problem.
"How I wish you were my mother" Agi confessed, smiling.
Queen viola also smiled and hugged Agi softly, "Oh dear, I already treat you as my own and who knows, you might someday be a real member of the family"
Agi didn't comment about it and just smiled.
"Oh by the way, an illusionist group is coming to town, called The Stars." The queen said.
"An illusionist group?" Agi reassured.
"Yes, they're very popular. Adeon told me you might be interested and that I should tell you. He also left a note for you and a gift, I think. It's over there"
The queen pointed on the small round table, full of papers and pen, beside the balcony.
Agi got up and walked towards the mahogany table. She saw a paper folded in two with her name written in script with black ink, beneath a small transparent bottle. Agi held the bottle up, eye level, and realized that something is in it; a single violet rose petal. Violet rose is Agi's favorite flower of all and adeon must have remembered from their little tea party before. Agi smiled and unfolded the letter written in a beautiful cursive from adeon.
The Stars has one of the greatest illusionists ever. She said that she came from a land called London, England. I'm very sure it's not anywhere here. She might help you get back to your home.
With Love,Adeon
Queen viola looked at Agi curiously, "Is everything alright?"
Agi is holding tight onto the bottle and leeter, forcing herself not to cry. This might just be their ticket home.
"I-I am so sorry, but I have to go now" Agi said.
"Well, alright. Do you need a ride home?"
"No, I can go on my own"
"Okay, take care then"
Agi dashed off of the castle, the soldiers puzzled as she goes in a hurry. She wants to get to dustfinger's house as soon as possible to tell everyone what she found out. It'll surely make Meggie happy, she thought.
It is already dark when Agi barged in to the well lit house of dustfinger and mo welcomed her excitedly with a flyer in his hand.
"I have a plan!" mo and Agi chorused.
The others, who are in the kitchen minus Roxanne and her kids, looked at them excitedly. Finally, mo might just have the greatest plan. Agi sat between Farid and dustfinger to hear mo's plan, which she obviously knows already. Mo placed the flyer on the table. It has drawings of stars all over and a big text on the middle with blank ink read:
The Stars have aligned and fell from the heavens
To show you, mortals, one of the greatest and most amazing nights you'll ever have!
"I heard people in town talking about an illusionist who came from a weird place called London" mo shared.
Agi nodded, "She might be a silver tongue and she could get us out"
"But, the show will be three days from now" Farid butted in.
"Well, we can just talk to her even before the show. Like tomorrow"
Agi didn't want what mo said last and saw dustfinger, who is just beside her at her right, crushed. If they consult this woman and she agrees to help, it means that they'll be leaving as soon as tomorrow. Agi didn't want to leave yet. She still wants to have more time with adeon and dustfinger.
"Wait, couldn't we just, uh, wait for the real performance?" Agi suggested, quite begging, actually.
Everyone looked at her curiously, even dustfinger.
"Why, don't you want to go home?" Meggie asked.
"I want to, but I don't want to leave all of a sudden. I made friends here"
Mo suddenly remembered his talkative customers; Meggie remembered playing every day with Brianna and Jehan; and Farid remembered going to the market. Of course also dustfinger, who is their friend. They really had a blast in inkworld.
Mo sighed and grinned at Agi, "I suppose we could stay a bit more and watch the performance"
Agi couldn't explain her happiness and just placed her right hand under the table to squeeze dustfinger's hand.
Miles away from Wingsden, adeon is staying in his room's balcony of the other castle. Just as suspected, they wanted adeon to marry the princess. King primo faked a heart attack so they could postpone their discussion about it and adeon is truly grateful. Adeon looked up at the starry sky and smiled. All he could think about is Agi's smiling face. He never loved a girl this much before and he's afraid that it might be hard to let her go.