A/N: All of the italicized text is the King's introspection.

A King Ponders

Chapter 2

His breath hitched when he saw her sitting on the bed up against the headboard.

She had her knees drawn up under her chin with her arms wrapped around her legs.

Her big round chocolate-colored doe eyes opened wide as she looked at him and she whispered in a surprised tone, "It's you."

She said his name in a whisper, "Zan.

Zan just stood there with his mouth open. He was speechless. Excitement overtook him. A huge smile spread across his face, and he rushed towards her, but he stopped midway.

Rolling his shoulders and putting a stern look on his face. He tried hard to regain his composure. It wasn't like him to act giddy. He had to keep his cool.

Zan looked at Liz. 'Damn, she is so beautiful,' he thought to himself. Her hair was dark brown almost black. It was long and hung nearly down to her waist. Her big beautiful eyes were the color of chocolate. Her nose was cute as a button. Her cheeks were flushed and pink showing her embarrassment. Her lips were full and looked delicious. When she looked up at him, he noticed how enticing she looked when she bit nervously on her bottom lip. He wanted to nibble on that lip. He asked himself, 'Is this the sweet innocent girl he met at the New York City Library so many years ago?'

Their eyes locked, and they just stared at each other in silence.

In spite of all his efforts to come across indifferent, she could still see the excitement in his eyes.

She recognized the spark in those beautiful amber gold eyes. He was the only person she had ever seen with eyes like that.

"Lizzy?" Zan was the first to break the silence. "Lizzy? Is it really you?" he said stepping towards her.

"Yes Zan, it's really me," she replied still feeling the shock of seeing him there in her bedroom.

"Zan, how did you…."

"Lizzy, when did you…."

They both began to speak at the same time. Zan looked down at the floor, a huge smile crossed his face.

He looked at her again, "You go ahead, Lizzy," I can wait.

Smiling back at him, she walked across the room to stand in front of him. It didn't go unnoticed by Zan the way her eyes widened as she looked him over from head to toe. He was the most handsome man she had ever laid her eyes on. Suddenly, she felt shy, and cast her eyes downward.

Zan saw the change in her demeanor. He took her sweet chin in his hand and raised her face up to look him in the eye, "What are you doing Lizzy? You don't have to be shy around me," he said compelling her to look at him.

"Zan, it's just…" she still couldn't shake her shyness.

"Lizzy." He pleaded playfully.

"Ok, I was just wondering how is it that you are here right now? How did you get inside the house? How did you know I was here? Zan, what are you doing here?" She asked him curiously. She was still stunned to see him standing there in her bedroom.

After slamming back to reality, and for just a fraction of a second, Zan looked at Liz like a deer caught in headlights, but he recovered just as fast and put on his passive expression. "Well…." Zan stammered not knowing how to explain.

"I need to ask you a couple questions first," he said trying to come up with an explanation.

Seeing Liz made Zan think about when he was around 12 years old, and first discovered the New York City Library. He cautiously walked through the library's big doors. He stopped and looked around in awe at all the books he saw on the shelves. He had never seen anything like this place before.

He had no idea what he was going to do there. He didn't even know where to begin. With a look of fascination, he strolled next to the shelves running his hand along the book bindings as he walked.

He had no idea which section of the library he was walking in. He hadn't gotten past the enthrallment he was feeling. He felt like he had hit the information jackpot and he was definitely going to collect.

He walked a bit further and realized he was in the Biological Sciences section. He took one of the microbiology books and opened it up and looked over some of the information.

He was looking at pictures of organisms thinking, 'These little guys exist in their own little world. We can't even see them, and look how they can affect the human body.'

He chuckled to himself as a thought came to him, 'I wonder if there is something out there that can't see us, and do we affect them the same way? Hmmm." he let that thought go as he replaced the book on the shelf and slowly continued on his way looking at the other book titles.

He was slowly moving along the aisle captivated by all of the variety placed before him. He nonchalantly inched his way along.

He bumped hard against someone, and saw books flying through the air in every direction. They ended up scattered all over the floor at the feet of a very interesting human.

"OH! Excuse me!" Liz exclaimed feeling mortified at her bungling. "I'm so sorry."

Zan stood there silently staring at the beautiful, petite, and clumsy creature standing in front of him. He figured she was about the same age as he was. She looked about 12 years old. She had her hair tied up in a ponytail but the sides were springing free, hanging messy along the sides of her face. She looked like she was all thumbs trying to carry too many books. Zan thought she looked cute.

Trying to appear unaffected, he kept an indifferent expression as he said, "You need help with those?" Zan felt strange talking to her. He never talked to anyone besides his family. Talking to another kid was new to him. He felt uncomfortable, but it was thrilling at the same time.

"Yes please. If you don't mind I really could use your help getting them to the table over there," Liz said appreciatively.

Zan took all of the books from her and motioned with his head and said, "That table there?" Liz smiled at him and nodded. He set the books on the table and started to leave. Liz stopped him.

She stuck her hand straight out in front of her, "Hi, my name is Liz. Thank you for helping me."

She noticed that he was not going to volunteer his name so she slowly lowered her hand and asked, "What's your name?" Still looking at her with an unresponsive expression, he didn't say anything. Liz being persistent said, "Well?"

Zan asked, "Well what?" trying to play off not answering her. Yet, as if his feet were glued to the floor, he stood there just looking at her confused by what he was feeling. He wondered what all the rumbling in his stomach was about.

"What's your name?" Liz asked rolling her eyes at the stoic boy standing in front of her.

"Zan." He scoffed, and gave his eyes an animated roll back at her, as if he was put out by telling her his name.

"Zan." She repeated his name slowly; ignoring his attitude. "I like that name," Liz said smiling up at him.

'Well it's a good thing you do, cuz I'm not going to change it for you,' he sing-songed the thought in his head; trying with all the power he had not to like this human girl that he was talking to.

"You want to sit down with me?" Liz pointed out a chair for Zan to sit in.

Feeling weird, and his stomach still rumbling like crazy for 'whatever' reason it was doing so, he declined the offer and pointed back at the shelves of books, "Nah, I have to finish, um, over there."

"Oh, I was just hoping that…." Liz trailed off. "Are you sure you can't sit and talk for a little while?" she asked with a hopeful look.

Zan relented and looked at her with the same stoic expression and said, "Ok, I guess, but only for a minute though," He had a feeling he was going to regret it.

He tried to fight whatever these feelings were, but in the end his overwhelming need for a friend won. He felt happy to be near her. He was enjoying the attention she was giving him. He looked down at his knees while he pursed his lips and frowned. He wondered why he was feeling the way he was about this girl. 'What's so special about her?' he thought to himself all the while knowing the answer to his question.

She was being nice to him.

Zan heard Liz's questioning voice as she spoke to him bringing him back to the present, and the issues at hand.

"Zan? Are you going to answer my questions?" Liz asked him. "I'm really happy to see you, but how did you get inside the house, and why are you here?"

"Liz, how long you have been here in the City? What you were you doing right before I opened your bedroom door?" he asked Liz getting straight to the point. He needed to figure out where the vibrations had been coming from.

He started concentrating, trying to feel the vibes again. 'There they are,' he thought to himself.

He was feeling them again. They started feeling different. They felt stronger and this time they were connecting with his emotions. He didn't understand what was happening. He gave Liz a startled look.

'I can feel her'

TBC