Chapter 27: The Akira-Ai family

Ming Hua's POV

After we all went to the royal palace my supposed parents were taken to separate cells and interrogated by various members of the White Lotus. Neither of them said anything of note, only that they had wanted to get me back to give me a second chance but came back on that.

"Don't worry, we'll eventually get answers." Femke said with a calm smile as she placed a hand on my shoulder. It just annoyed me.

"Easy for you to say. Yourparents haven't lied to you for your entire life." I snapped.

"I'm aware." Femke said. "Getting yourself worked up isn't going to make them talk."

"You listen to Zaheer too much," I told her as I looked to the side.

"That was actually from Tenzin." Femke said."The other bearded old guy."

"I'm not that old." Zaheer called, a little offended before he wrapped his arm around Femke. I just looked away and saw a couple of White Lotus guards coming out of the interrogation room.

"What did you get out of them?" I asked.

"They have only given their names and birthplace so far." The man said. "Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this."

"I sure hope so." I snapped as I looked to the side.

"We will." A new voice called, which belonged to Tonraq, who looked at me firmly as he stood in the doorway. "If they have any information of the whereabouts of my missing niece we will get it out of them."

"About that..." Femke started as she walked to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Ming found something that might be a clue." Why did you say that? Now this guy whose daughter we nearly killed looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"Is that so?"He asked firmly.

"I found this in a drawer of my supposed parents' house. I thought it might be something useful so I wore it to protect it from being seen." I said as I got the locket from my neck. It felt wrong taking it away. What did that mean?

"This was hers." Tonraq whispered as he looked at the locket with wide eyes. "This was the locket my niece got at her birth."

"So the princess has been at their house." Femke realized while P'li got next to me and wrapped an arm around me.

"Maybe she never left. Why don't you tell them about that dream you once had?" P'li whispered in my ear, which made me move away from her and shake my head fiercely.

"No! And how does a dream make me the princess?" I whispered back to her. "The irony alone would be too painful."

"Everything's possible. I've seen weirder." Femke said as she looked at Tonraq. "Do you have any more pictures of the princess?"

"We have one more but we need to go into her old nursery for it. Which means we have to ask my sister for permission." Tonraq said as he looked to the side sadly. "That place brings out bad memories for her. We should try and see if she's willing to allow us into the nursery to see a photo of my niece."

"Where is she?" Femke asked. "I didn't see her when I was in the palace last time, neither was she there when Unalaq visited the South Pole."

"She lives in a far corner of the palace were she has her own area." Tonraq explained. "She barely comes out of there. Only every now and then to attend official gatherings in the palace."

"Sounds rough." Ghazan said.

"It was her choice." Tonraq answered as the group walked to an unknown part of the palace.

"Why would she do such a thing?" Xai Bau asked as he came to walk next to Tonraq, who gave him a distrusting look.

"After the loss of her daughter, life just felt unfulfilling." Tonraq answered. "She just wanted to be left alone."

Can't really blame her

I thought as I took a step towards a door that had a blue flower on it. Probably the nursery. I walked on with the others to the room in the far back of the hallway, which had a half-faded sign of a crown and underneath it an image of two playing polar bear dog pups.

Just like in that song that keeps coming up in my head

I thought as Tonraq knocked on the door.

"Come in." A voice called as Tonraq opened the door and let us in.

"I'm sorry to barge in on you like this but there are a few people here that wanted to speak to you." Tonraq calmly said before he stepped to the side, which made me gasp in shock at the woman before me; she looked exactly like me.

Doesn't have to mean anything

I thought as we all gave a small bow before the former queen.

"Everyone, this is my sister and former Queen; Ammi." Tonraq smiled as he looked at the woman next to him, who gave a small bow as Tonraq introduced us all.

"What do you want?" The woman asked as she sat down in a chair and looked at us.

"We need to get into the nursery. With your blessing, of course." Xai Bau spoke up, getting next to me and wrapping an arm around me. "we might have a clue about your daughter."

"My daughter?" The queen gasped as she looked at our leader. "But she died years ago."

"Why are you so sure of that?" Femke asked.

"We found some of her clothes with blood on them in a polar bear dog den not far from the city." The queen said as she looked down sadly.

"That was all they found?" Tziza wanted to know. I agreed with this being very strange. I've known these animals up close. They don't eat humans unless they're very desperate.

"They found her bones. They were stripped clean." The queen replied, looking haunted by the memory.

"Could it have been a trick?" Tziza asked.

"No. That's impossible." The Queen stammered, looking down with tears in her eyes.

"It's possible." Tziza said as she got the picture from Tonraq and handed it to the Queen. "We found some valuable information about your daughter."

"I think you should listen to them. Even if they didtry to kill your niece." Tonraq said.

"They did?" She asked shocked. Man, they must have kept her really isolated if she didn't know that.

"Until Femke came along and knocked some sense into us." Ghazan said.

"We truly regret what we did." Zaheer said as he looked down.

"Your niece is cool with us...I think." Ghazan tried.

"She doesn't want you dead." Tonraq growled under his breath.

"In any case, are we sure these bones belonged to the child?" Xai Bau asked.

"Also, polar bear dogs don't just strip bones clean." I added. "Their muzzles are too big for that. Haven't you ever seen your niece's up close?"

"She raised naga from when she was a pup." Tonraq said as he crossed his arms. "That makes her different."

"It's still the same animal." I said.

"A carnivorous animal that needs meat to sustain itself." Tonraq answered. "You can't stop biology."

"That's what people say to tell me I'm helpless because of how I was born." I protested.

"Besides, Ming got taken in by a Polar Bear dog once, right?" Ghazan added. Great, now that was out in the open, too.

"You were?" Queen Ammi asked as she looked at me with incredulity. "How come?"

"Ran away from home." I shrugged "A Polar Bear Dog found me and took me in as one of her own cubs. Nothing big."

"Why did you run away?" The queen asked, sounding unsettled by my attitude. She really was sheltered.

"They hated her." Ghazan said with a shrug.

"Poor woman." The queen said.

"I was used to it." I simply said.

"It still must have been horrible." The Queen said mournfully.

"Can't really do anything about it, so I don't let it bother me." I answered as I avoided her look, not at all liking her pity.

"Did you have no other family?" The queen wanted to know. Why was she being so damn nosey?

"My aunt Ti, but she disappeared after the one time I saw her." I replied bitterly. "My parents said it was because of me. I believed them."

"Do you need help finding her again?" The Queen offered. "I think we can do that."

"Why would you help me?" I asked skeptically. Why would she help someone who she only knows as 'Person that tried to kill my niece'.

"Because you deserve to hear her side of the story and if your parents know anything of the whereabouts of my daughter, she might know more."

"That would explain why they never let her near you again." Xai Bau realized. "They might have been afraid she might let something slip."

"Like what?" I challenged.

"The truth about your past?" Xai Bau said firmly. "Where you're actually from."

"Or where you got the locket." Ghazan added, which made the Queen look at me, alarmed.

"What locket?" She asked.

"This one." I said as I got the thing from beneath my dress to show it it her. "My parents had it for some reason. Tonraq said it was your daughter's." I said as I handed it to her. The queen gasped as tears formed in her eyes. "This was hers."

"Then they have had the princess." Xai Bau spoke up.

"They're probably the ones that fed her to the Polar Bears Dogs." P'li brought up. "Probably keeping the locket as a trophy."

"Maybe she didn't actually die." Ilene brought up as she, Dizanna and Selvia walked into the room. "Maybe the medallion was kept as a ruse to threaten whoever was behind taking the princess that they had proof of who she really was. You know; blackmail."

"We should interrogate them about that." Tonraq offered.

"We'll check in the nursery for a photo of the princes in the meantime." Zaheer said as he looked at me with a small smile. "Maybe a closer look could help us identify her."

"I'll see if I can reach out to find this Aunt Ti you spoke of. Maybe she can help us find out what happened as well." The Queen smiled.

"Ammi?" Tonraq asked incredulously. "You really seem invested in this."

"You should be as well." Queen Ammi replied with a smile on her face. "She is your family as well. Even if you haven't seen her for thirty-six years."

Thirty-six years? That's my age

I thought before shaking my head.

Has to be a coïncidence

But she kept asking you questions about your background and was shocked when you revealed you held on the princess' locket

A voice in my head said as Tonraq led us to the nursery where Queen Ammi unlocked the door.

She hadn't expected to see that locket back and was just being polite

I snapped back at the voices in my head before we all entered the nursery where a strange feeling crept over me; I knew this place.

"Here lived one lucky girl." Ghazan commented as we looked around the nursery. I had to admit he was right. On one side of the room were drawers full of expensive toys that had never been played with while on the other side stood a beautiful changer with next to it a closet filled to the brim with luxurious looking baby dresses.

"We're not here to gawk. Let's get to work." Femke said as she started to look around. I myself walked to the wall and looked at a portrait that was hanging there. It held the same people in the picture. The only difference was that the woman was standing sideways, her arms around her pregnant belly, looking at it with a loving glance while the king stood with his head against hers.

That man must be the King

I thought as I looked at a smaller picture on the drawer that showed the royal pair, this time sitting in the grass with their backs against a tree, the king holding the queen in his lap as they were reading a book.

"What's that?" Ghazan asked as he peeked over my shoulder and looked at the picture as well. "Romantic."

"That must be in the spirit oasis." Zaheer noted as he came to look at the picture as well. "That's the only place on the North Pole where they have grass."

"You're right. It was taken on the day I met him. We fell in love soon after." Queen Ammi said as she smiled at the picture.

"This one must be from when you were pregnant." Femke noted as she pointed at the other picture with a smile on her face.

"Yes. We were both so happy when we got the news." Queen Ammi smiled. "Especially since my husband had an illness that could render him sterile. The doctors had said it would take a miracle to get a single heir, yet we were blessed."

"Lucky." Ghazan commented smirking.

"Yes, but when our daughter was stolen it broke him." The Queen said as she looked down sadly.

I can see where this is going

I thought as I turned away from them instead looked at the crib instead, getting that feeling that this was familiar.

"He died a few months after she was taken. The doctors said it was too much for his already frail body."

"That's horrible." Femke said, sounding upset.

"It must have been hard to lose your daughter and husband so close to each other." Xai Bau said as he looked at the queen sadly.

"It was. I held out hope they would find my daughter, but then they found her bones..." Queen Ammi answered.

"So that hope was crushed as well." Ilena said.

"That's awful." Dizanna added with a sad look while Selvia just nodded.

"Nobody should have to suffer a double tragedy like that." Xai Bau said with a nod while Femke held on to Zaheer with tears in her eyes.

Always been the sensitive one

Went through me as I opened one of the drawers to look inside, seeing a lot of rompers and sleeveless dresses. So much stuff. This made looking for a simple photograph like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Far too many clothes for one baby

I thought annoyed as I closed the drawer again and opened the next one. As I did so my eye fell on a pink rattle, lying half under the dresser.

Must have dropped it there before she was taken

I thought as I picked it up and studied it closely, getting a flash of nostalgia. Did I hold this thing before?

I placed it on the drawer and went on looking for a picture of the princess while listening to the others talking and searching as well.

Just shut up and do your job

I thought just before my eyes fell on a photo album in one of the boxes in the corner of the room.

There we go

I smirked as I made ice fingers to pick up the book without soaking it, showing it to the others.

"Good going, Ming." Ghazan said.

I slowly opened the book and on the first page there was a picture of a much younger version of myself. It had to be because I looked like that in my pictures back home.

"She looks adorable." Femke smiled.

"And exactly like a younger Ming Hua." Xai Bau added, looking from the picture to me, which made me annoyed.

"That's impossible" I snapped as I looked to the side.

"You two have the same birth date. You look very much alike..." Xai Bau started. "This can't be a coïncidence."

"Stranger things have happened." Tarrlok added.

"That doesn't make it true." I said as I looked at the picture sternly.

"Doesn't make it false, either." Femke said as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

"So?" I asked as I looked up at her.

"You have a choice. To either get to the bottom of this and find out who you were before those two took you…" Femke said as she looked me straight in the eyes. "Ore stop now and keep wondering about this for the rest of your life."

Like you'll stop about it if I say 'no'

I thought bitterly as I rolled my eyes at her.

"I know it must be a scary to try and find out your past after all you've been put through." Xai Bau said, which made me huff. "But it could mean you would find out who your real parents are."

"What good will that do?" I challenged.

"You can find a family that truly loves you." Xai Bau said, at which everybody else nodded. It just made me sigh, knowing they weren't going to let this go.

Might as well give them their way to make them stop

I thought as I looked at the picture again, before I made up my mind. I was going to try and find out who I was. Even if I wasn't the Princess, I would at least find out whether or not I indeed was a true Hua.

"Fine, let's see where this mess will get us." I sighed.

"Another mystery to solve." Ghazan smirked while I looked up, noting the Queen had sat down in the rocking chair near the window, looking out sadly.

This must be hard for her, having to relive those things

I thought as i listened to my friends chatting in the background.

Can't blame her. It must have been hard to lose her daughter

I thought as I gathered the courage to walk up to her.

"Care to join in? It's yourdaughter we're searching for." I asked as cold as possible, which made her look up sadly, eyes red from crying.

"I can't" she said sadly. "I would be so happy if it were possible for my daughter to return, but I fear the other possibility."

"Why?" I asked as I sat down near her on the floor, not wanting to come over as intimidating.

"What if we find her and she doesn't accept me? What if she thinks I abandoned her?" The Queen asked. "What if she turns out to be truly gone?"

"If she thinks you abandoned her we have clear proof that you didn't." I said calmly. "And if she turns out to be dead after all... well, then you at least know for sure."

"And what if I turn out to be yourmother?" She asked now with a uncertain voice. "If we find proof you indeed are my girl. Would you accept me?"

"Well, there's the whole having tried to kill your niece thing." I started, looking down a little unsure. "But if you're willing to look past that, then sure."

"I understand that it must be hard for you to help me after all you have been through." The Queen smiled as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "But know you were always wanted if your indeed her. I never intended any of this to happen."

"I know. Tonraq said so." I said as i looked to the side before looking up as she had gotten up from her chair and sat down on the floor next to me, which caught me by surprise.

"You do resemble her a lot." The Queen smiled as she looked me in the eyes. "How old are you?"

"Thirty-six. Same age as she would have been." I said, which made the Queen gasp.

"And your birthday?" She asked.

"I dunno. We never celebrated it." I said, looking away. "There was nothing to celebrate."

"But do you know the date?" The Queen inquired as she looked at me sternly.

"Fifth day of the second moon cycle." I said after thinking about this for a moment, remembering vaguely that was my official date of birth, which made the Queen gasp even harder as everybody turned and looked at the two of us.

"What's wrong?" Tziza asked as he walked to the Queen with a shocked look.

"So many things alike..." The Queen said as she looked at our second in command sadly.

"Cooïncidence?" Ghazan asked, shrugging.

"Or not." Femke stated calmly, which made me glare at her. Could she knock it off or at least be more direct?

"Who knows?" A new voice said from the doorway. "Maybe I can help shed some light on the mystery." The voice said as I looked up and gasped.

In the doorway stood someone I hadn't seen since I was merely five years old.

"Aunt Ti." i whispered as I felt tears in the corner of my eyes.

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And with that i end another chapter! I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading and many thanks to paranoidgirl for doing such an awesome job as beta reader and advisor on the story.

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