Aleena woke at 7:30 AM. She lay there, thinking about the dilemma that had cost her so much sleep the previous night. All of a sudden, she heard a strange sound, like a muffled cry. She got out of bed and slipped into her favorite dress. Then she ran a brush through her hair and thrust her crown on before running down the hall. The sounds seemed to be coming from Sonia's room.
She knocked lightly on her daughter's door, and when she didn't get an answer, she looked around carefully to make sure no one was coming before quietly entering Sonia's room. Closing the door behind her, she looked for the source of the sound. She realized the sound was coming from her daughter, who was crying in her sleep. Queen Aleena glided over, as if she were floating on air, to Sonia's bed and sat gently on the edge. "Sonia? Sonia? Wake up, sweetheart," she urged her sleeping daughter. She laid her hand on her daughter's arm to aid the waking process.
Sonia awoke with a start and another cry. She saw her mother sitting next to her and quickly sat up, her green eyes filling up with tears again. "Oh, Mother," she sobbed, leaning into her mother like a young child and wrapping her arm around her at the same time.
"There, there, my child, it's all right. Shhhhh," Aleena said in an attempt to soothe her daughter's emotions. She gently, but tightly, embraced Sonia, holding her close, as if to protect her from harm.
"I had a dream that you got really sick and collapsed after I went to bed, and that you died. I was so afraid that it was true!" Sonia confided to her mother.
"Don't be afraid, Sonia, my dear. It was just a dream." Aleena then smiled, her eyes shining with a secret. "But you had better stop crying, dry your eyes, and get up. You have a last minute appointment with someone who will be here in an hour to see you." Sonia sat silent for a minute, puzzled. Then suddenly her face lit up.
"Knuckles?" she asked her mother excitedly. Aleena nodded, her eyes twinkling.
"Now get up and go put on your new dress. Like I said, your boyfriend will be here in an hour." She laughed her delicate, queenly laugh as she watched Sonia's cheeks turn pink. Sonia leapt out of bed and gave her mother one final quick embrace, warmly returned by her mother, before rushing into her private bathroom to take a bath and get ready for Knuckles' arrival.
Queen Aleena sighed in contentment. She was so much happier now that she had her children. It was at that moment she realized that her children were her subjects- her most loyal subjects- and that in this fact, the solution to her dilemma from the previous night laid.
