A/N: To clear anything up, I was very busy over the few past weeks. I am sorry I did not update during that time, but I had some trouble with this chapter at first due to it being a transistion chapter. I will not probably be updating for a long time, due to me being out of state for a while and my busy busy bumblebee schedule next week. Okay so I hope you all like this and please be on the look out for several references to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Or perhaps just one.

Ch.11 "Interlude and Message"

Eva rolled over in her bed, just as the sun rose over the karst landscape. She opened her sleepy eyes, and examined the room. Her new clothes were placed on a rack, though her old clothes had not been put away. She did not remember much of last night, she had been quite sleepy after all that exercise through the palace and the day before. However, she thought it was odd and out of place.

Rolling out of her bed, she found a new set of clothes, these consisting of a dress of a deep red color that reached mid thigh, with several Nourasian swirls on the torso part, with a wide sash of a deeper red. A pair of sandals lay on the floor beneath it. Instead of the usual arm sleeves, she had armlets to wear, with the familiar bronze decorations that held them up. She put these on and rushed out the doorway.

As she entered the hallway, she noticed something odd. It was a deal more silent than usual, which made Eva tense. There were few maids out and about. Instead of the usual chatting in Nourasian she had heard before, there was silence. She looked around to see some guards at the windows looking out nervously at the landscape. One of the guards spoke to his partner who wore her hair in a tight bun and then took a short look at Eva. He didn't seem angry, but she felt something, like a horror creeping across his face. Too bad she didn't get much acquainted with the guards, like she now wished she had.

Trying to ignore the stares, Eva went down the hallway towards the area she felt was the dining room, or rather the pavilion.

However, she was stopped on her tracks by the appearance of a familiar face.

"Miss Thuy?" said a startled Eva.

"Lady Molly," said Thuy, "I thought you had been told earlier… Please, we must go now."

"What?" Eva was taken by Thuy's hand but she grabbed the teacher's wrist, causing the Nourasian to turn to her. "What's going on?"

"You haven't been told?" Thuy slapped her forehead in seeming disgust. "You have to go back to your chamber immediately, my lady. It is not safe for you to be out here at the moment."

"What are you talking about?"

"There has been a rider who has come to our palace from the outside. He was bearing a message, but for now, please trust me. It would not do any of us any good if you linger out here with the rider in the palace at the moment. I have reason to believe this has something to do with the Humans, not you but the other humans out there."

"What?"

"I'll get one of the guards to escort you back. Please, for our sake, for the sake of the Prince, stay in your room until I send one of our pages to meet you."

"How-?"

"You will know. Now go with Shou."

At that moment a young male Nourasian signaled for Eva to come with him. She fallowed him down the same route. As soon as she was placed in her room she thought she could hear two people coming down the hallway, talking to each other. Regarding what the Knight had told her, Eva went back to her bed and tried to hide herself under the covers.

She felt like a complete moron under the covers, hiding from the likes someone she was sure wasn't going to kill her on sight. At least, that was what she had hoped that of the people of this planet. Aikka had always touted his people's pacifist nature, although as far as Eva had seen yesterday, they were also capable of some serious attacks, which made her wonder the true nature of the entire alliance of the Crogs and Nourasians… Which brought her back to a class back on Earth.

0000

"The exact nature of the Nourasian-Crog Alliance is much of a mystery," explained a tall middle-aged man with very short brown hair.

It was late autumn, around the time that frost started to show up on the dead leaves and the wind had a bitter tinge to it. Eva was sitting next to a window, though the cold sky did not interest her, merely what the teacher was saying peaked her interest. This was extremely rare.

"It's been confirmed that there was and still is an on-going alliance between these two peoples," he continued, as a new slide came up. Three words came up: power, safety, and resources.

"Now we can be quite assured that the alliance is forged on power," he continued, "as well as safety due to the fact that the planet of Nourasia has no true standing army. They do have what is called the Nourasian Knights, who are by definition not so much as knights or even samurai in the sense that we are used to but rather protectors of the planet. Not much is known about them… Yes, Miss Wei?"

Eva felt a bunch of eyes on her. Normally she never raised her hand in class, but today was special. How many times did she hear about Nourasia, and besides, someone who had known and met and befriended a Nourasian should be allowed to speak her mind about Nourasians, right?

"They – I know, from a friend of mine," she said, for she couldn't tell him it was Prince Aikka; no one would believe her if she told them she had a friend in an alien prince, "he said that Nourasian Knights, that they have large beetles, and they ride them. They also talk to their beetles."

There was some giggling and snickers from behind her.

"Now Miss Wei," said the teacher, his face in a sour disposition, "I know how much you are into Nourasian culture right now, but mixing them up with the Dragonriders is out of your jurisdiction."

"But-!"

"Seriously," he said, "there is no evidence for such an absurd notion!"

He went back to explaining the lesson: "Power comes in handy such as in the case of invasions and attacks made by Crogs have also used Nourasian spies and knights in their campaigns."

That can't be true, she thought to herself, making sure the jerk of a teacher wouldn't notice her somewhat shocked look.

"The Nourasians have always been a peaceful people" went through her head, as what Aikka had said. They lived by honor, but would they ever stoop so low…?

"The Crogs have also provided a good amount of protection for the Nourasian people, due to the fact that during the colonization periods when the ECSA launched the first in a line of colonization expeditions to other worlds, Nourasia was considered as a possible habitable planet. However, there were several conflicts between the colonists and the natives of the planet, which has led many to believe that this is the cause of the Nourasians eventual distrust of Humans soon after. It is also believed by many that there was a disturbance in the Holy City of Nourasia that also brought about the distrust and hatred. Apparently, the Nourasians felt that a great taboo had been broken and owing to their superstitious attitudes regarding outsiders, they came to the point where no outsider, especially a Human outsider is allowed into the sanctuary of Dol."

Although she was a little nerved by the fact that her teacher had called the Nourasians "superstitious" when she realized she had never met a Nourasian who wasn't too distrustful of her, yet, maybe his Fencing Master, but all went through in the end, she was more interested in the conflict that made Dol inaccessible to all but the people of Nourasia. What was so sacred about Dol?

"The last thing we will cover today is the dependency of the Crogs on the resources of the worlds they conquer and eventually enslave. The Crogs home planet as it has been documented is rather inhospitable by our terms, though the Crogs appear to move across its surface every now and then to set up camps and to enter the Crog Gatherings. There are no records of actual agricultural work, but it has been long speculated that most if not all of Crogs' agricultural work is done by other planets and are later shipped out. Although it would seem easy if these planets would shut off the supply of food and other resources to the Crogs, they would eventually defeat the Crogs; the actual case is sadly unsuitable in many cases. This is due in because of the Crogs being able to invade and eradicate an entire planet if they do so or worst. Essentially any planet caught in this situation is in a loose-loose situation all the way. Thus concludes our lesson…"

0000

Eva sat there on the bed, wondering what the messenger was doing here. A little grumble from her stomach told her she had missed breakfast, which made her a little annoyed at the moment. She rubbed her stomach absentmindedly.

Prince Aikka came into the throne room, a little tried and a tad annoyed at having to be woken up early in the morning. However, what he did not expect was a messenger bowing before his parents before standing up and being lead away to the other guest hall. He was surprised but did not make any sign of it. King Lao looked at him and signaled to him to come over. Prince Aikka nodded and came over before falling into a bow.

"Father," he said. "Who was that?"

"A messenger from afar," said King Lao, "which is the reason why I have asked for you to come here. Up, Aikka, you are not a stranger."

Aikka stood up.

"My son," King Lao said, "there has been a small request from my friend in Zhao..."

"King Azul?"

"Yes," said Lao, "the King of Zhao has been informed of the appearance of the… Girl."

Aikka froze.

"Who told him?"

"Lord Riiku, who travels by air, has informed the King of Zhao of the Human who has been transported to this world and wishes to see her for himself."

"What for?"

"Now Aikka, he is not thinking of anything foolish. It is just that there is a certain interest that King Azul has in visiting those who have visited the Kingdom of Dol. His sorcerer, Lord Riiku is interested much in your friend and would find it better to study her in his citadel."

"What? Molly is not a toy, she is a living being! Couldn't he just come over?"

"Do not question him. Soon he will be your ally and your in law…"

Aikka paled.

"What… What did you say?"

"Your in law. Have you forgotten about the marriage?"

"But…"

"As a cautionary, I will be sending Lady Terru with you, so she may better work with Lord Riiku on the matter of the young woman. And my son…"

"Yes, father." Aikka had been ready to leave. The thought of the marriage whirled through his mind a little. It was inevitable, but something was poking at his mind.

"I expect you to be on your best behavior, King Azul's trade agreements with the Crogs have sparred us much trouble, but your behavior during the Great Race of Oban nearly cost us our freedom and our lives. Once and once this girl returns to Human's World, you must forget her."

His heart dropped in his chest. It hurt inside, or at least something hurt him horribly, like he had been shot in the chest by one of his own arrows. Aikka nodded weakly and turned around. When he was out of his father's sight and hearing, Aikka stopped to look over a balcony to see a figure moving on the stairs around the side of the palace. Something fell from his cheek onto the rail, making him start a little. It was then that he realized that he was crying.

0000

Eva went to the balcony to get some air. Birds fluttered away from her as she went over to the wooden staircase that went around the outer wall.

If she couldn't go through the palace, then surely she could go around the outside. However, she was having some trouble knowing where to go. Then she heard it.

"Eva… Eva…"

Eva looked down to see something unexpected in the sash of her dress. The mirror she had nearly forgotten about was stuck in the sash poking out at her. She pulled it out and looked at it.

"Eva… You must save… Come…Come…"

"Come where?" asked Eva.

"Come… Come with the Prince… Come and save us…"

"Save you?"

"Save us… Save everyone… Stop… Stop him…"

"Stop?" she asked. "Stop who?"

"Find… Find me…"

"Eva what is happening?"

Eva started and nearly fell backwards… In the arms of someone she knew.

"Prince!" she cried when she saw Aikka's visage in her vision.

"Well princess," he asked he righted her up. "What are you doing out here?"

"You're asking!" Eva dusted herself off, placing the mirror in her sash again. "I've had to stay in my room all day."

"The day has not gone," said Prince Aikka looking at the blue sky.

"Well, technically wasn't allowed outside due to some messenger in the palace!"

"Oh! That."

He gave Eva his hand. She took it as they went down the stairs back to her room.

"We had a visitor today," said Aikka, "he was bringing news and there is something I need to tell you."

Eva suddenly blushed. If she knew what he was going to say, she was going to be the happiest person in the universe…

"Yes?"

"I need to go to the kingdom of Zhao," he said, "because there is a need for me there as well as you. You are to accompany me to Zhao to see the King there; his sorcerer may have some special powers to bring you back to your home. And one more thing."

Eva heard something mad, angry in his voice. It was troubling something in his eyes made her wonder if he had been crying.

"Yeah?"

"In a matter of days, if we are unable to bring you back to your planet, then I must hide you somehow from the Crogs."

"But I'll be safe here, I mean, no outsider can go into the City of Dol…"

"With some exceptions… The Crogs have demanded their presence at a ceremony regarding my ascension to the throne of Nourasia. You… I…"

"It's alright," she said, holding the prince.

Aikka tensed. There was a time when she had done this, not once either. Each time he had her around her, something made him feel… Like he had never felt before. But he couldn't be…

"Yeah," he said absentmindedly.

He didn't even notice that Eva had leaned onto him in a hug. All he could do was look at her and hug back. It felt good, really good to be with her.

0000

"Do you think he… likes her?" asked Canaan to the tall sorceress next to him.

Both the Fencing Master and the female mage were standing on a portico watching the Nourasian prince and the young woman upon the staircase below them. Lady Terru only turned to him and leaned in closer when she heard him.

"That I think we can only guess for now," she said.

"Hmp!" Canaan turned away and made a pout-like face. "You speak in riddles, nothing clear, always confusing. Perhaps we should call it into attention."

"His Radiance will be very displeased if he hears of this," said Terru. "However, it can not be denied for long."

"He will soon find out," said Canaan, "if he hasn't already."

"I fear he already has," she said, turning away from the balcony.

Canaan looked at the woman for a moment before looking down at the prince and the human. Now they had separated and were talking to each other although Canaan could not decipher what they were saying.

To be continued...

Terms You might want to know...

ECSA: The Earth Coalition Space Agency. Just something I made up.

Crog Gathering: I didn't make this up. It was in the 24th episode of OSR. Go look it up.