Chapter 28
"Who is to accompany you on your task?" asked the Queen.
Raven hesitated; she hoped the others would understand.
"Robin" she said quickly. She looked at the others. They all nodded to show that they understood why she had chosen him. Robin stepped forward to stand beside Raven.
"Very well. This is Captain Kumal" she motioned to a man standing beside her "He will take you home on his ship, The Tantarza. You will follow him now and he will take you to the ship." Raven and Robin followed Captain Kumal to his ship while the other Titans watched wistfully.
"So" said Beast Boy "What are we allowed to do around here?"
"You are allowed around the palace. You will no be allowed to leave" said the Queen, motioning for Flame to stand forward. "Flame will make sure that you have what you need."
"Come with me. I will take you to your rooms in the palace. Cyborg, you and Beast Boy will share a room, Starfire you have a room to yourself."
"Thanks" said Beast Boy
"Here you go" Flame said pointing out their rooms. "Here are the keys, you are required to stay inside the palace but you are allowed out of your rooms. A bell will be rung at mealtimes, when it rings you return to your rooms and I will come and take you the eating room, that is until you learn your way around. You must always bow when you see either the Queen or the King. You must always be polite and courteous. Failure to do so will result in punishment. There is a lot to do, you can see some of the animals in the menagerie or you can listen to stories. Oh, here are your translators. Put these in your ear and you'll be able to understand any dialect used. There are many different languages used on Azarath."
"Thanks" said the titans as they disappeared into their rooms. Only Beast Boy remained
"Umm.., can you show me the animals around here?"
"Sure" replied Flame
"Thanks"
"No problem, they're just this way" she led Beast Boy down a few corridors and out onto a sunlit garden looking space. Beast Boy gasped as he saw the beauty in the 'garden'. He looked up and saw three suns twinkling at him. They're colours ranged from purple to green.
"I'm not supposed to leave the palace" said Beast Boy "Remember?"
"You haven't left the palace" laughed Flame
"But, but" stammered Beast Boy "The trees, the plants…"
"They're holograms. They're here to make the animals think that they're home"
"What's a hologram?" asked Beast Boy
"It's basically a trick of the light. It's a 3-D projection that gives you the impression of being out in a forest."
"That's awesome" said Beast Boy, impressed "So, where are the animals?"
"Right over here" said Flame leading Beast Boy through the hologram
"This first animal is a Mornac. They live on the east side Aarath in the forests of Almarac." said Flame pointing to an odd looking animal.
"Wow" breathed Beast Boy.
The Mornac was about the size of a fully grown German shepherd. It had big round eyes and a large cubby face. It had a short smooth furless body that looked like it was scaled. It had two legs. They were long and skinny and they had thorn like objects protruding from the surface giving the impression that they looked like rose stalks.
"It's not the flashiest animal we have but its kind of cute" said Flame
"I've never seen anything like it"
