A/N: This is a long one, but a good one. I hope you like it!! Just FYI, the main characters in this story are based off real people. Zara is myself, Qwen is my friend who helped come up with the story and who I spent most of the summer with when I wrote this. Andy is my boyfriend (two years!), and Josh is my friend's ex-boyfriend. Random bit of information, heehee. Enjoy the story.

Zara awoke the next morning, bright and early, as she usually did. She stretched as she sat up on the hard ground. The grass all around was sparkling with the newborn sun's tears of dew. She leaned down and smelled the fresh grass scent—something that she had never really taken the time to smell before.
She stood up and started to roll up her sleeping cloth. She yawned and looked over to the east to the rising sun. And there was Andy's silhouette against the rising sun.
Zara smiled and walked up behind him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he jumped. She beamed. "Good morning," she greeted.
"You scared me," he said angrily.
"And you torture me, so we're even," she replied, looking up at the sun, casting golden rays across the earth.
They were silent for a few minutes, just taking in the feeling of the sun waking their souls up, and finally, Andy broke the silence.
"I like you," he said tentatively.
Zara hid a smile to herself before the turned her head to look at him. "And I like you."
Andy was looking up at the sun and not at Zara. "No, I mean I like you like—"
"I know what you mean. I like you like that too," Zara said, smiling.
He looked at her. "Really?" She nodded. He smiled and reached down to take her hand. Together they watched the sun be born anew to the world.
Behind them they heard the sounds of the others waking up. They nervously looked over their shoulders before looking back at each other.
"Hey, you want to go for a walk or something?" Zara offered. Andy nodded and they walked quickly off to the woods, disappearing into the cool shadows of the trees.
Zara immediately felt the absence of the sun on her skin, and her skin screamed over the loss. Indeed, while she had been standing there, her flesh had been soaking up the sun, breathing it in as if it were a life force. Zara hadn't noticed anything because all of her conscious thought was with her hand down there in Andy's hold. And she had noticed the slowing of her breath, but she put it off as just, well, whatever that was. But her breath hadn't slowed; it stopped.
She had been living off the sun's rays.
Now that she was in the forest, she could feel her lungs move within her with every intake of breath. She could see, now, that Andy's chest was moving faster too. Rather, moving at all, for he too had been living off the newborn rays of the sun.
They walked further into the forest, so that they had no chance of being heard or seen. They were both feeling odd, and though they were still holding hands, it wasn't that that caused them to feel so strange.
"Do you—?" Zara began.
"Feel as weird as I do?" Andy finished.
Zara nodded. "You too, huh?" she asked. He nodded. "What do you think it was?" she asked. He shrugged.
Presently they came out into a small—very small—clearing. The sun again reached their skin, and Zara could again feel the penetratingly warm sensation. This time, she noted her breath stopping.
Her eyes grew wide as she reached her other shaky hand up to her nose and mouth to make sure that she wasn't breathing. She looked over at Andy and he had the same expression that Zara knew she must be having.
"Are you breathing?" Zara asked. Her voice came out quiet and subdued—she had meant for it to come out as a whisper, but there wasn't anything breathy about it. It was just smooth, as if it took no breath to say.
He shook his head. "You?" She shook her head.
"What do you think this means?" she asked.
Andy looked up at the sky and the rising sun. "Maybe because we get our powers from the sun, the sun serves as some sort of a life force for us, whenever we can get in its rays."
Zara nodded. "That makes sense. I am certainly not breathing right now. And I also feel so. . .so. . .alive. And so warm. I can feel the sun seeping into me."
Andy stared at her for a few seconds, a smile playing at the edges of his eyes before he shook his head and looked down at the ground. "Yeah, me too," he said quietly.
Zara felt something take hold of her body and she suddenly lightly squeezed Andy's hand. He looked back up at her and they shared a smile. Zara felt her heart beating very, very slowly. Andy reached a hand forward and it finally found its way to her face.
She felt herself melt away completely into that hand. Her eyes closed slightly and her head tilted into it before the feeling of his eyes seeping into her face snapped her out of her little stupor. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into his eyes, moving back and forth across her face.
His eyes scanned her face, back and forth. Zara was no longer aware of anything else—just his hand in hers and on her face. His scan of her face carried his eyes lower until they finally settled on her lips. She could do nothing but stare at his eyes.
His face leaned ever so closer to hers and she took a small step forward. Andy was a good deal taller than her—six inches, at least—and she had to go up on her tiptoes to reach his face.
Her heart was still beating very, very slowly, so slow now that every beat counted out the seconds with a huge, wrenching thud. Her butterflies that were in her stomach had moved up now to her heart.
Their lips inched excruciatingly slowly closer and closer until finally they met.
The kiss was slow, and tender, and in the history of kisses it went down after Princess Buttercup and Westley's.
As soon as their lips met, Zara's heart stopped all together and then jumped so quickly and started beating so fast that it almost startled Zara. But after that, she noticed nothing else.
Andy slid his arms around her waist and her arms found their way around his neck. Her fingers twisted into his hair and they stayed in that way for, well, they really had no knowledge of time. All they knew was that all too soon, the kiss ended and they were staring at one another.
Slowly, a smile spread across both of their lips.
"Zara! Andy! Breakfast!" resounded Brother Gilbert's jolly voice.
Wrenched back into reality, Zara found that the sun playing on the sweet green grass, and the most beautiful flowers she'd ever seen, and the trees of the deepest green ever, and the sun casting so many gorgeous colors across the sky was no longer as beautiful as it had been a moment ago. The moment before their lips had met.
But soon after Andy and Zara had returned, still holding hands and getting odd, bemused looks, and Zara had settled down to eat her breakfast—fish from the previous night, kept cold in a small cloth bag in the river—the grass, flowers, trees, and most of all the sun had regained their sense of beauty and her heart soared, for the second time that day.

Qwen grumpily and quietly ate her fish. She hated fish, but no one seemed to ask her what she thought about the matter. She stared across the fire warming the cool morning air at Andy and Zara, who seemed to be sitting much closer together than last night. So close, in fact, that Qwen could see no trace of the log they were sitting on between them. There was also this knowing glow in both of their eyes.
That irritated her.
Beside her, Josh ate slowly and tiredly. She was sure he felt the same way she did—slow and tired, and not just because they stayed up so long last night. She felt—drained, somehow. She looked up at the rising sun and she was smacked with realization. Of course that was why.
She shut her eyes tight and clenched her teeth and tried to steel herself against the relentless shimmers of sunlight. She found that the more she fought, the more tired she got. She relaxed and unclenched her jaw and opened her eyes. She tried to just get used to it, not resist, and she found that worked ever so much better.
In a few seconds, she was feeling better. She looked over at Josh, who was tense and eating slowly. She lightly elbowed him to get his attention. He looked over at her and cocked an eyebrow, his mouth full of food.
"You feel it, don't you?" she asked. When he didn't even move except to chew she elaborated. "The sun draining your energy." His eyes grew wide momentarily then went back to their normal size. He nodded. "Just relax; don't fight it. You'll get used to it and feel better."
He relaxed, and his eyes lazily closed. In a few seconds he opened his eyes, and he looked much better. He smiled at Qwen and said in a voice that sent shivers down her spine, "Thanks."
Qwen felt her heart swell, but she couldn't bring herself to meet her eyes. She smiled embarrassedly and looked down at the ground.
A few minutes later, they had all packed up their stuff and were heading off to figure a way to cross the river.
The river wasn't very fast moving, and they could easily wade across it, but Zara and Kara didn't like that idea. So, last night, Bowen had searched down the river a little way and found a long log crossing the river. That is what the little group of travelers was crossing the river on now.
In a few minutes they had reached the other side and they marched on. The sun above beat on Qwen's back and she tried to walk in the shade. She noticed that Zara and Andy avoided the shade at every possible chance they got. Luckily for Qwen, Josh also tried to avoid the sun, and the fact that the path they were walking on was pretty much out in the open, with trees framing it, there were only a few places one could go for shade. Often, he ended up right with her.
They talked about anything and everything for that journey, and Qwen found herself becoming quite relaxed around Josh. He was becoming more part of her than anyone had been in her whole life—even Harry, whom she had gotten somewhat close to.
Finally, the trees at the edge of the clearing eventually faded away, and the only trees visible—besides the ones behind them—were the trees they could see quickly approaching them. Indeed, the trip had lasted only a few hours, and now they were getting excited as to what they would find in this wood.
Finally, they reached the borders of the forest. Qwen could feel—something, coming out of the trees, the ground itself. She could see into the forest, and what she saw simply took her breath away.
The light inside was a delicious light green color, because the many leaves stopped the sun. Here and there, bits of dappled sunshine shone on the forest floor in sweet patterns, giving it a wonderful, magical fairy tale feel.
And what Qwen could feel was becoming slowly more distinct. Power. That's the only way she could describe it. It was like a sweet breeze blowing, but it wasn't on her face—it was inside her mind. She smiled to herself and closed her eyes and inhaled, and what she smelled was the most delicious scent of trees, flowers, and fruits that she had ever smelled.
It appeared that Qwen, Josh, Andy, and Zara were the only ones affected by the Forest of Gandor, for they were the only ones who stood staring into the forest. Everyone else was just trying to make sure that was the right forest.
"Qwen, do you think this is the right place?" Bowen asked, turning on her. "Hello?" he asked, waving a hand in front of her face. "Hello! Qwen?"
Qwen shook her head, but the magic of the forest still ebbed at her. "Yeah?" she said dreamily.
"Is this the right place?" Bowen asked slowly.
Qwen nodded. "Oh, yes. "
"How do you know?" Bowen pried. Brother Gilbert came forward and placed a hand on Bowen's shoulder.
"Look at her, Bowen. Her and the rest of the children," he ordered in a small voice. Bowen did and he noticed that they all had the same expression.
"What does it mean?" he asked Gilbert.
"That's how we can know, Bowen. The forest is magic, but only they can feel it."
Bowen looked a few seconds more at Gilbert before looking again at the children. Then he turned and started to walk into the forest. Kara and Gilbert followed.
The Four Chosen stood staring a while longer, until suddenly they snapped out of it. It was almost as if Gandor had shaken them off of his magic power of which they had been drinking and commanded them into the forest.
They all entered the forest together, Zara and Qwen in the middle, Andy and Josh following a half a step behind, Andy by Zara, Josh by Qwen. Once they were inside, they quickly caught up with Bowen, Kara, and Gilbert, and they soon walked ahead of them.
Once they began to walk in front of the other three, that's when Kara noticed something. "Look," she said to Bowen. She pointed to the trees above the Four Chosen. The leaves spread and opened so that the sunlight flowed on Zara and Andy. Above Josh and Qwen, the leaves quickly blotted out the sunlight, casting them in welcome shadow.
They walked for what seemed like hours but was only really an hour or so. The Four Chosen were leading the group, though they really had no idea where they were going. They were just following their feet, which seemed to know where they were going.
Soon, everyone knew where they were.
The came out of the thick forest into a place with a huge, old looking tree in the center of about a six-foot wide circular clearing. But despite the distance between the tree and the forest, it was still shaded over as if there were still trees to shade in the clearing. When Qwen looked up, she could see why.
The branches of the tree in the center of the clearing were huge and twisted, but they spread completely over the six-foot clearing. The trunk of the tree was huge, and had twisted pieces of wood going all the way around it and up the trunk.
"Wow," Kara breathed. By now, the magic of the Forest had gotten to them. The Four Chosen had by now gotten used to the feel of the magic, and they walked forward to the tree and spread out. They got up close to it and examined the old bark.
"Hey, can you see this?" Zara asked.
None of them replied, but they all could see it. Imbedded in the bark of the tree was a very faint "N," "S," "E," and "W." They all moved around the tree until they were standing before the right letter. They stepped up closer to the tree and placed their hands on the letter.
Qwen suddenly felt a rush of power surge through her. Her eyes involuntarily closed and soon she felt her lips moving, and then she felt a name on her lips, but she said it so quietly that she couldn't hear what she said.
Once the name had been said, Qwen's eyes opened and she could stare at the trunk of the tree. Above the "N" the bark was swirling, and it suddenly settled on the shape of a dragon with the same pattern that was on Qwen's shield and her dress.
Once the dragon's shape had settled, a deep purple light shone on the outline of it and suddenly the light shot out of the tree. It startled Qwen so much that she stumbled backward and landed on her butt. She could see that Andy and Josh had done the same.
The light was forming a big dragon. The light grew and spread out to fill in the form and then, sparkles of white light appeared and the light turned into a real dragon.
It was a huge and purple dragon that appeared before her. It had black snaking up its legs, tail, and muzzle, and on its back were white spots that sparkled and shone like jewels. He had huge, glittering purple wings with the same black tendrils winding their way around them. Its eyes were deep, deep purple, and they appeared kind. It had huge claws and his tail had sharp looking spikes on it. It smiled down on Qwen, who surprisingly didn't feel afraid.
"Hello, Qwen," it said in a deep, soothing voice. It was a guy. "My name is Mooncry."
"M-Mooncry?" Qwen said in a tentative voice.
Mooncry laughed, a sweet, magical sound and leaned down to Qwen. He gently picked her up in his mouth and dropped her on his back. She landed squarely between his wings, which were surprisingly soft.
She climbed up onto his neck and called up to his ear. "Nice to meet you," she said.
Mooncry nodded and set her back down on the ground. "Feel better now?" he asked, still rather nice.
Qwen nodded, but now she was curious about the other dragons. Before she got a look at Andy and Josh's, a huge red dragon with patterns of orange fire all over it soared overhead, then circled down and quickly landed in the space between Andy and Qwen.
"Hi!" Zara called down to Qwen when she landed. "Meet Sunfire!" she called.
Sunfire had red, glowing eyes and its wings looked like fire. Its tail, however, wasn't spiked.
"Hi, Qwen!" Sunfire called. Sunfire was a girl.
"This bites!" came Josh's voice. He and Andy had come around the sides of the tree to look at Mooncry and Sunfire. "That's not fair! You guys get the big dragons!" he called again.
"All we get are these little midget dragons," Andy said, gesturing with his head to something behind them. They moved and behind the two Protectors, Qwen could see a small, golden dragon with a faint orange pattern on it. It was only about as big as a terrier, and it had shining orange eyes. Its wings were half the size of its body, and it hovered in the air, looked confusedly from Andy to Zara and Qwen.
Next to the yellow one was a deep blue dragon of about the same size, with purple splaying up from its feet and tail. It had glowing blue eyes and spread far out on its small body were the same sparkling jewels that were on Mooncry, only Mooncry had much, much more. This one sat on the ground, its light purple and blue wings tucked into its back. It stared contentedly at Qwen.
"What—I mean, who are they?" Zara asked softly. Josh and Andy sent her a look at "What."
"These are our 'dragons'," Josh said with a disgusted look on his face.
"If you can call them dragons," Andy added.
"We are very good fighters!" the orange one cried. "Just because we're small doesn't mean a thing."
"Yeah," the purple one piped. They both had somewhat high voices, and they sounded a lot like kindergarteners so it was hard to tell if they were boys or girls. "You'll see. We're good dragons."
"What are your names?" Zara asked.
The orange one landed, then bowed deeply. "Eastflame, Princess Zara."
The purple one bowed its head and replied, "Westwail, Highness."
Qwen still couldn't tell if they were boys or girls. "Um, excuse me?" The two dragons turned and looked inquisitively at Qwen. "Are you boys or girls?" she asked.
Westwail and Eastflame exchanged bemused glances, then faced Qwen again. Eastflame bowed low again. "We are both boys, Princess Qwen."
"I'm not a princess," Qwen started to say when Zara cut her off. It seemed that Zara was beginning to know when Qwen was going to protest something that didn't really matter.
"It's nice to meet you," Zara said. She started to slide of Sunfire, when Sunfire reached up a hand and picked her up and set her down. She smiled up at her dragon. "Thanks, Sunfire." Sunfire smiled warmly down on Zara.
That was when everyone remembered Bowen, Kara, and Brother Gilbert.
They slowly turned to the place they had entered from to see that Bowen, Kara, and Brother Gilbert were staring wide-eyed at—nothing. Their eyes were fixed in space and their mouths hung open a little.
"Bowen?" Andy asked, chuckling softly though he was still obviously mad at his dragon.
No one responded. Eastflame and Westwail flew swiftly over to the three stupefied adults. That was one thing to say about the smallest dragons: they were much faster than Mooncry and Sunfire—or any other dragon for that matter—could hope to be.
They hovered before their faces and seemed to be examining Bowen, Kara, and Gilbert. The small dragons exchanged a look before they spun around and smacked their spike-less tails against the humans' faces.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" the Four Chosen began to call, but the tail slap seemed to have knocked some sense into them, for they shook their heads and seemingly came around.
"That was amazing!" Bowen cried.
After that, everyone got acquainted with the dragons and after that they set up camp somewhere else in the forest—they felt that the tree was too magical a place to set up camp in—and they went and prepared dinner.

Meanwhile, King Oswald and Queen Penelope were furious with anger. They had thought that the rebels Bowen, Kara, Gwen, and a monk named Gilbert had kidnapped their child and were holding her hostage. But now, they discovered from a woman named Linda that claimed to have been traveling with them that their daughter was practicing witchcraft with that rat Gwen.
"Find them!" King Oswald roared.
Sir Eryk was talking with the Linda woman. He grew pale, then turned to face his rulers. He bowed slightly. "Highnesses," he began, "the woman has told me that Princess Zara and the peasant Gwen are claiming to be Zara and Qwen, the mystical princesses who are supposed to bring back the dragons—and an end to your reign."
"I know who they are!" King Oswald fumed. He stopped and looked at his most trusted knight. "You don't really think that they are, do you?" he asked.
Sir Eryk only shrugged. "From what the woman has said about seeing them transform, and the two boys—" here Sir Eryk gritted his teeth, for one of those boys had been his squire—"traveling with them having powers as well, it seems highly likely that they are Zara and Qwen."
King Oswald straightened. "Then they must be destroyed, daughter of mine or no daughter of mine. I will not lose my rightful throne for some dragon hugging magicians!"
Queen Penelope only paled, but she didn't protest at her husband's wishes, for she thought he was right. "Sir Eryk," she said slowly. "Sir Eryk, these princesses are very powerful and they have dragons—how do you plan to fight them?" she asked. Sir Eryk stared blankly for a while. Apparently he hadn't thought of that. "I see. Go to the highest tower in the castle. There is some old magic up there that can give you tremendous power, enough to defeat the princesses, maybe even more."
Sir Eryk smiled to himself. This was right up his alley. He turned to his men. "Let the woman go," he paused and smiled cruelly to himself, "in the woods. Let's hope she's sane enough to find her own food." Then he turned and made his way to the stairs to the tower.