Flame Princess kneeled down beside Finn and put her hand on his shoulder. He didn't move. "Someone help," she yelled. Cinnamon Bun was already running. Behind him guards were racing to her. She took Finn's backpack off of him. As she held it, she realized it should have been burning right now. However, it wasn't.

"Take him to my room. It is the most heavily guarded. Get the doctor." At her command, Cinnamon Bun grabbed his legs while a guard grabbed his shoulders and carried him off. She followed right behind, backpack at hand.

They removed Finn's boots, placed him on the bed and then left the room, leaving only Flame Princess and Finn behind. After putting Finn's backpack down beside the bed, she pulled her chair over from her desk and took a seat beside the bed. Time seemed to slow down.

Finally, the doctor entered the room. Just like nearly everyone else in the kingdom, he was a fire elemental. "Hello, Your Majesty. I have to warn you ahead of time, I don't know much about humans. I'm not sure anyone really does," the doctor said. Flame Princess just nodded.

He walked over to Finn and began to examine him. He took off Finn's hat and placed it on a nearby table. "Could I have some privacy?"

Without a word, Flame Princess walked out of the room and waited by the door. Her mind darted back and forth between the possibilities of Finn's condition. Still, she couldn't recall anything that would help identify what had befallen him.

She heard the door open and watched as the doctor stepped out. "I have examined him and can't see anything wrong except some minor scratches on his arm. It may be a good idea, however, to contact a doctor in another kingdom who has more experience with humans. Now, I have some appointments I need to take care of. If his condition deteriorates, just give me a call."

"Thank you," she said before quickly re-entering the room. She was happy to see that Finn looked in no worse shape. On the stand right beside the bed lay Finn's strange key and a folded piece of paper. She reasoned that it must have been the piece of paper he had taken from the dungeon.

For a few minutes she just stared at the folded piece of paper. On one hand it was Finn's private property, but on the other hand the law of the land was total honesty and no secrets. Finally, curiosity won out and she picked up the piece of paper and began to read:

So, oh Great King of the Sky and All Beneath, you have found the last one? I hope you succeeded where I failed and have destroyed them all. Don't think it isn't because I didn't try. Oh, how I did try. We both know that just because you can do something it doesn't mean you will, no matter how much you may wish to. The theoretical and practical exist in two different planes, though often times the hardest course of action to take is none at all.

I feel compelled to give you two questions. I am sorry I cannot give you more, but I am sure that by now you have learned that answers are hard to find, and often hold truth only for one. What will you do now? How long can you last? Think long and hard. I hope you last longer than I.

"What?" Flame Princess said to herself. She instantly regretted reading the letter. It only made her more worried. She returned it to its place on the stand.

She heard a knock at the door. "You are needed in the throne room, Your Majesty," Cinnamon Bun's muffled voice said through the door.

She signed. She didn't exactly want to leave, but her people needed her. "Have at least two guards inside the room just in case," she said as soon as she left her room. She then followed Cinnamon Bun all the way to the throne room.

Hours later Flame Princess was finally done. She had checked on Finn every now and then, yet there was no change. This time there was also no change. She took her seat at the bed and just looked at him. Usually, she would have been eating dinner at this time. However, all she wanted to do was sit by the bed.

It didn't get any easier to leave him there as she went on with her duties. Each time she felt guilty, no matter how she tried to reason it to herself. Still, each time she left him there.

She had time to reflect on what happened. She blamed herself for not noticing that the shadow's strike did have an effect. He hadn't walked with his hand behind his back like that any other time. He had actually completely avoided using his left arm. He even left his sword behind. These should all have been signs.

Flame Princess was confident Finn would be fine. He had said so, after all. What she worried about was what he was going through. Just because he would be fine didn't mean it wouldn't be painful. He already had the constant pain of the sword. He didn't need any more. He didn't deserve any.

From where she sat, she could see that the cuts on Finn's arm were now scabs. She reached out and touched his hand. It didn't seem to be any warmer or colder than she remembered which was a good sign. Still, being able to touch the human without hearing sizzling gave her an odd feeling.

She felt his hand move. She heard the thump of feet on ground. When she looked up at the bed she saw that he was gone. Panning her head further right she could see Finn, sword in hand. She was frozen. His eyes seemed to take in every detail of their surroundings. It was like he could see everything. He was starring right at her. He wouldn't attack me, would he?

He held the same stance he seemed to favour; his sword, held in his right hand, was low and out to his right side, ready to strike. His eyes held more life than she had seen in them in years. Quickly, his eyes began to glaze over and his sword lowered. "Sorry," Finn said as he looked around the room for his sheath and sword belt. Finding it on a nearby elaborately decorated chair, he slid his sword into it and put it on.

Finally regaining her thoughts, Flame Princess began to speak. "Finn...how did the sword come back to you?"

"I told you, I am the sword and the sword is me," he said as he found his boots by the bed and put them on. "Why, I'd have an easier time losing my right arm than I would losing this sword."

"Finn, how?" Her voice was firm.

"I called it." His voice didn't change. There was a brief moment of silence.

"So you knew you'd fall unconscious and didn't want anyone to end up touching it. At any time you could call it," she said.

"Yup."

"Finn, why did you fall unconscious? Are you okay?" She had to ask. There was no hiding concern this time.

"You have to admit I'm in pretty good shape for someone who was stabbed through the shoulder. If you know a better way of beating something that moves exactly as you do, I'd love to hear it."

"But you said you would be fine. That there was no damage."

"Yeah, but it still felt real, even though it wasn't. My body didn't know it was only an illusion, so it reacted the usual way it would."

"A normal person would have been unconscious long before then from a stab through the shoulder."

Flame Princess thought that Finn saw the implied question, but didn't really want to answer it. Still, after a pause, he did. "How normal can I be with that sword? Besides, I couldn't leave you down there while I took a nap." Checking his pockets and not finding what he expected, he began to search the room again. Seeing the letter on the nightstand beside the bed, he gave Flame Princess an expressionless stare before returning the letter and the key that lay beside it to his pocket. "Did you read it?"

"Yes." There was another moment of silence. "What does it mean by 'King of the Sky and All Beneath'? What does the letter even mean?" She had to ask. She also wanted to change the subject away from her reading his letter.

"It is just an old title with no meaning anymore. As for its meaning...who knows really," Finn said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Nice room by the way." His eyes skimmed the carved obsidian furniture. From the bed displaying a phoenix motif to the floors, Finn's eyes examined everything. Being in this room so often, Flame Princess realized she had begun to ignore its beauty.

"You know, you could stay at the castle overnight. You could teach me to use that orb over dinner." Flame Princess was beginning to feel more natural talking to Finn. Still, his new mannerisms made her recall fond memories, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous.

"I was planning to ask to see your library. How about if you give me full access and show me to your best jeweller in the morning?"

"Deal. Come on, follow me." She tried her very best to hide her smile.

They briefly walked through the halls to Flame Princess's grand dining room. Flame Princess opened the door and walked through it. Behind her, Finn closed the door as she took the only seat at the head of the large table littered with food.

"Grab a seat," she told Finn while pointing to the chairs against the wall. Quickly, he complied and carried his chair to the other end of the table. Luckily, it wasn't a very large table, being meant for small private meals and not for large gatherings. It would also make it easier to talk. Still, some part of her wished he would have sat closer.

He leaned his backpack against the leg of the table. He undid his sword belt and placed it with sheath and sword onto the table. Only the handle lay over the edge, allowing his right hand quick and easy access after he sat down in his chair. Even without his sword being in easy reach, he didn't look at ease in his seat.

"Is there anything I can get you?" She felt she had to ask. She also realized she hadn't seen him eat anything.

"No, it's fine. I'm not hungry anyway. Besides, you don't have anything I could eat." A long pause soon followed. Finally, it was broken by the door opening. Finn was already standing before the door fully opened and revealed the intruder.

"Princess," Cinnamon Bun said as he entered the room and walked towards the table. Finn sat back down and just stared into the table. She wondered where his mind must have been.

"Hi, CB. Can you give us some privacy as soon as you are done?"

"Sure," he said as he tried some of the food on the table. His expression made it obvious that he didn't enjoy the taste. Still, he tried a little bit of everything and waited a couple of minutes. In the meantime, Finn remained perfectly silent.

"Everything seems to be fine. Anything else, Your Majesty?"

"No, thanks again CB," she said as her knight bowed and left through the door.

"Goodnight, Sir Cinnamon Bun," Finn said right as the door closed.

"Sorry about that Finn," she said. Finn didn't move. He just continued to stare into the table.

"Finn!"

"Oh, sorry. What were we talking about again?"

"You were going to teach me to use that orb." She grabbed something from the table and ate it. She didn't care what it was really. Truthfully she didn't feel that hungry. However, she knew that if she didn't eat she'd feel horrible later.

"First, you have to promise me that if you no longer want it you either have to give it back to me or shatter it and give me the pieces."

"Sure Finn." It seemed like a very reasonable request.

"First thing you have to know is that I've only ever used it to make sure that I found the right items and even then I only looked back a couple of minutes. As it turns out, it's actually harder to do so. Anyway..." He scratched his cheek.

"The orb can show you the past, present or future. I told you, never look at the future but you also want to avoid the present as well."

"Why?"

"People can react to you in the present."

"You mean people can actually see me if I'm using the orb?"

"In theory, yes. That is why you want to avoid doing so. Instead you only ever look at the past. However...control is a little difficult with the orb. Tell me, how have you been using it so far?"

She felt a little embarrassed by the question, but she answered. "I held it when I was sleeping and it affectedmy dreams. I...saw things, in my dreams." She put more food into her mouth to give her an excuse not to talk.

"The orb needs you to be relaxed. You can't force it to show you something. Instead, you need to just let it show you the way things are. It tries to show you what it thinks is relevant to the question you ask it. It is also very difficult to use while awake. In fact, most of the material I could find talked about using it the same way you did. Sounds like you didn't need me to figure it out."

"Thank you, Finn."

"So about that library..."

"Can it wait until I'm done eating?"

"Sure." Finn returned to his withdrawn self, just staring into space. She wondered what he was thinking but was too scared to ask. She wondered if she even had a right to know.

Until she finished eating, Finn seemed to not even move. He just stared into space, lost in his thoughts.

"Alright I'm done. Let's go," Flame Princess said as she rose from her chair. Finn quickly rose and with sword at hip and backpack on back, followed her out of the room.

They passed through hallways lined with doors. Each door looked nearly identical to the last, but the time Flame Princess had spent in the castle allowed her to know her way. Abruptly, she stopped and opened one of the doors. "This is your room for the night. I hope it is fine." To her knowledge, it was the second best room in the castle. Every bit of furniture in the room, from the desk and chair to the night stands, was of the highest quality. The bed that lay against the far wall was quite spacious. She hoped he would be comfortable here.

Finn took one quick glance before turning back to Flame Princess. "Looks fine, thanks FP."

She had hoped he would have had a different reaction. He seemed to not really care where he would sleep at all. All that seemed to mattered to him right now was the library.

A few minutes later they finally made it to the library. The monotony of the hallway was broken by an ornate double door. Flame Princess opened one of the doors and walked through. When they entered, they were greeted by an exact copy of the previous doors. "Close them behind you," she ordered Finn. Quickly, he complied. "It helps to keep all the books pristine or something like that."

After opening the second set of doors, it instantly felt cooler. Book cases filled the room on either side giving the otherwise huge room a claustrophobic feel. In the centre simple tables and chairs stood. The backs of the chairs faced the door. Not a single book lay on any of the tables. The entire place was pristine and made even more beautiful by the faint red light that poured through the window.

"Feels nice in here, almost like being outside." He turned to her. "Thanks again FP. Oh, don't forget you have to find me a jeweller in the morning," he said before running into the book shelves. Flame Princess grabbed a seat at one of the tables. She couldn't help but let out a slight grin. She hadn't seen Finn this close to happy for a very long time, though she conceded it could've simply been her imagination. Scanning through bookshelf after bookshelf, Finn finally found a book that caught his eye and pulled it out. He stared right at it.

"Something wrong?" she asked him.

"This is paper."

"Yeah, it was magic treated so fire elementals could handle it." She shrugged. "While my people were evil, they also liked knowledge."

Apparently satisfied with the answer, Finn carried the book and placed it on the table in front of Flame Princess before going back into the stacks. He seemed to recognize the organization structure, and once again, seemed at home. She didn't see him once stare into space again, despite her taking special care to watch him.

She lost track of time as she watched him running back and forth. The books he grabbed seemed to have no connection to each other what so ever. One was on fire elemental biology, another was on expeditions into a series of caves and yet another was a collection of legends about once famous, yet obscure warriors. The end result was that the formerly clear table now had a rather impressive stack of neatly piled books at its centre.

Finally, her thoughts were broken by a yawn. Realizing how late it must have been and how tired she was from the day's activities, she decided it was time to call it a night. "Good night Finn," she said as she got up and walked towards the doors.

"Good night," Finn's muffled voice yelled from behind a bookshelf.

She walked back to her room. It was a reflex at this point. She didn't even need to think, freeing her mind to contemplate the day's events. Just as before, it was the exact same question. What is going on inside Finn's mind?

The thought took her all the way to her room and before she knew it she was lying still in her bed with the orb in hand. She recalled her conversation with Finn as they walked to the dungeon and tried to think of something she could do to be there for Finn. The more she thought, the more she realized that she knew very little of what he wanted or even what he had been up to. She only knew what it had done to him. More thoughts sprang. Is he enjoying spending time with me? Why is he acting like nothing affects him? They were her last before everything faded away.

She saw herself leaving through the double door of the library. Finn darted back between the book stacks but eventually came back to his table empty handed. She watched as he picked up the chair and placed it on the other side of the table, giving him a perfect view of the doors. He wandered around the room, examining the walls before finally returning to his table.

She realized, to her shock that she could not read his thoughts. The constant pain of the sword prevented her from doing so, except at the most superficial level, causing his thoughts to sound very distant and nearly impossible to understand. She hoped some of his thoughts would be louder than others and cut through the noise. She found herself wanting to understand him.

Another realization finally hit her. She was not in the present or future. Otherwise, she would never have seen herself leaving.

The sound of the door opening caused Finn to stand up and eye the door. He stood close enough to his sword in the event he would need it but made no move to pick it up just yet. Flame Princess just watched.

Cinnamon Bun walked into the room. His thoughts on the other hand were much easier to hear. "Haven't gone to sleep yet, Finn?"

"As I'm sure you know I had a nap earlier today." Finn sat back down into his chair. "What are you doing up?" Finn bluntly asked.

He walked closer to the table and eyed the books. "Falling unconscious isn't taking a nap." Finn only shrugged in response. "I was just going to bed after finishing my duties but decided to check here first. You should get some sleep too." Cinnamon Bun walked back towards the door. "She misses having someone fun like you around."

"I'm afraid I lost the fun part of me. Besides, I'm thinking it may have been a mistake coming here."

"She is the happiest I have seen her in a long time. That isn't a mistake. If anything, the mistake was not coming around more often." Cinnamon Bun voice grew harsh. "Don't pretend that being here in this library wasn't part of the reason you decided to come here in the first place. I just can't believe that you would come to see these books and not her." As he left, he paused at the door for a moment. "You know, a phoenix was spotted in the skies about a year ago. I was beside her when she saw it and I heard the wish she made. It involved you," Cinnamon Bun said as he left the room. She had almost forgotten about that day. Thinking back on it, Flame Princess couldn't help but feel that the phoenix did bring her good luck like the old stories said it would.

She watched as Finn stared at the door for a good long moment after her knight had left. A grin grew on the humans face. It only lasted a moment before the grin turned sad and finally completely faded away, leaving Finn to return to the book that lay in front of him.

The entire image seemed to shatter, and she felt herself thrown backwards. She couldn't help but close her eyes.

"I'll give you one more chance," she heard a familiar voice say. Thoughts circled. She saw her pillow but she wasn't fully awake. Darkness from the edge of her eyes crept in. It soon consumed her vision, and sleep took her again.

That took longer than I had hoped. Hopefully you enjoy it. I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say. It really is more of a build up chapter but still, I hope you like it.

Gold Testament: Sorry for the wait again. As for your bet...look! A bear!

Adventureinoooh: Glad to hear you liked it.

valdezn: Thank you. Having at least one person read it and like it makes it worth while.

Luciana Light: Well, that response has me worried. I hope you like this chapter.

Ooobserver: Glad you like that element and I do plan to roll with it. Hopefully it'll snow ball nicely.

Fiery Crusader: Thanks, not so typical dungeon crawl was exactly what I was going for. I looked up Dark Link (since I never played Zelda) and can see the parallel (though in my case, I tend to think of the magic mirror in the 1989 Prince of Persia game when I read it).

Broken In7: The question about the cursed sword will be answered later in the story.

Writingsterner: Here you go.