Disclaimer (Which I forgot to do for the first chapter): I do not own any characters, places etc. from either "The Enchanted Forest Chronicles" or "The Two Princesses of Bamarre".
Note: This takes place before the Meryl gets the Grey Death and after the forth Enchanted Forest book.
Chapter 2 – In which there is some confusion and introductions
"Bamarre?" Shiara asked in a voice of forced calm, while searching her head for any information of the place. Finding none, she asked the lady who was still looking her as if she were crazy, another question. "What country is Bamarre in?"
"Bamarre is a country, miss." Said the puzzled woman. "Where did you say you where from?"
There certainly were no countries in called Bamarre. Kazul had taught Shiara all the countries names, but not the towns. Shiara petted NightWitch while puzzling this new information. "The Enchanted Forest." She answered.
The lady at the door watched her think in silence for a few moments, and then said, "Would you like an audience with the Princesses? I'm afraid the king is too busy with more important matter, no offense, so he lets his daughters deal with some matters."
"Yes." Shiara said quietly, still thinking, then "Yes, that would be wonderful, thank you." She added a little more confidently.
The lady nodded and gestured her inside. Shiara stepped in and was amazed. She had previously thought there was no entrance hall bigger than the Enchanted Forest's castle, but now she realized she was wrong. This entrance hall's ceiling was as tall as the castle back home and half as tall again.
Shiara did not have much time to observe her surrounding however; as she was quickly lead into a room that had chairs lining the room. The lady who had lead Shiara there, beckoned as a seat and hurried off, after assuring her that she could go in when the bell sounded. Shiara nodded, though she did not like the idea of being summoned by a bell (it was certainly more "proper" wherever she was), and sat.
She petted NightWitch while she waited and listened intently when the cat spoke. Shiara did not want to miss a word of anything a cat said. Mostly, NightWitch talked (Or meowed, Shiara wasn't sure what to call it when a cat spoke) about the kingdoms she had heard of and where this "Bamarre" might be.
After about ten minutes, a bell sounded and Shiara stood. She strode over to the door; NightWitch perched on her shoulder, ready to whisper (or meow) advice if needed.
The room Shiara enter was basically a fancy living room, with a few couches, chairs and fire place that had fire burning merrily inside.
Two girls sat inside the room, one sitting on an arm chair, working on a piece of embroidery and the other sat on one side of a couch, a wooden sword sitting beside her. The one with the sword had fair complexion, while the embroidering girl had a darker complexion.
The door shut behind Shiara with a bang, causing the two princesses to look up. The embroidering princess had a look of curiosity, hesitation, and possibly a bit of fear upon Shiara, whereas the other grinned broadly and motioned her over, while she stood up.
"I am the Princess Meryl, though you may call me Meryl." She announced and gave a short, ungraceful curtsy; the other stood and preformed a slightly more practiced one. Shiara attempted one, but started to stumble and quickly stood. Meryl appeared not to notice or care if she had, and continued her introduction. "And this is the other Princess and my younger sister, Princess Adalina, though she prefers Addy."
"I am Shiara." She said and the two girls sat. Shiara picked a wooden chair next to the fire and sat also. The princesses looked at Shiara expectantly and waited, Shiara guessed, for an explanation since no doubt the lady had already filled them in with what had been said so far.
Shiara started to open her mouth to speak, but then closed it again. What could she say? "Where on the map is Bamarre?" Shiara asked, confusedly.
Addy stood and walked to a bookshelf and took a map from it. She brought it to the table and laid it flat against the table. "Here is Bamarre." She said quietly, pointing at a large country at the middle, which would be the first thing anyone saw on the map.
Perhaps it's only a close up view of part of the world, Shiara thought. "Do you have a world map?" She said, aloud this time.
"This is a world map." Addy said and looked at Shiara as though she believed Shiara was crazy.
"Really?" Shiara asked and Addy nodded.
"Where do you live?" Meryl asked, looking eager. "Point it out on the map." She said excitedly.
Shiara studied the map intently for ten minutes before announcing The Enchanted Forest was no where on the map, nor any country she knew of. Stupid Pond, Shiara thought angrily, didn't just transport me to somewhere in the Enchanted Forest, it transported me into a whole other world!
"Your hair!" Exclaimed Meryl. Shiara looked up from the map.
"What?" Shiara asked.
"A moment ago." Meryl started to explain while Addy just watched her with wide eyes. "It started to flame! But it just stopped. Are you a wizard? I don't know if wizards can do that." She stopped talking, looking puzzled and still extremely curious.
"How dare you call me a wizard!" Shiara screamed, her hair turned to flames again, though brighter than before. She stood, not sure if she storm out or lecture them on the many differences between wizards and fire witches.
Meryl who had watched her with wide eyes, stood now. "What's wrong?" She asked, careful to stay far enough away from the flame hair.
"You called me a wizard." She said angrily. "I am most defiantly not." Meryl's face and Addy's looked so confused, that Shiara guessed they did not know wizards were bad. So, she promptly told them they were.
"No they aren't" Addy said, "not on this world anyway."
Shiara's hair turned normal once again. "Really?" She asked, her anger replaced with curiosity.
The three girls chatted for the next hour and a half, discussing the difference between worlds. They also became friends in that time. Shiara knew Meryl as the brave one and Addy as the creative one.
Eventually, Shiara decided to leave to go exploring the town. Addy and Meryl told her the sun was setting and she should wait until the next day and that she could spend her time visiting in Bamarre in the castle when she wasn't exploring, since because it was a castle, it had many extra rooms.
Shiara agreed thankfully, since she had not thought about that yet and agreed to wait until tomorrow.
A maid appeared to lead Shiara to her room, so Shiara stood and started to leave. Behind her, the two princesses had started discussing recent events.
After she left the room, as she walked away she heard a few words: Volice the dragon, Bamarre desert, something about a farmer and something about an omelet.
Thought she puzzled about the last two, the first had helped her decide what to do tomorrow. She would visit a dragon, so that she could find out if they were like Kazul.
Authors Note: Please Read and Review