~Chapter 9: Druun Unleashed~
15 Minutes Later...
Raya and the other four Princesses walked through the temple, heading down the passageway that led to her mother's resting place. It hadn't taken them long to arrive at the temple. It had been only 15 minutes since they had left the palace and arrived here and 15 minutes since they started exploring the place, admiring it's inner beauty, making it 20 minutes all together.
"Like, are we there yet, Ray?" Umeko asked.
"Don't worry, it's not far from here." Raya assured.
"That's what you said 15 minutes ago." Umeko said.
"Well, we were walking down the passageways 15 minutes ago. Besides, this one leads to where my mother is buried." Raya said.
"I hope so. I'm tired of doing all this walking." Umeko said.
"Me too." Tami asked.
"Well, excuse me for not being in a rush to get to my mother's grave-site." Raya said.
"Quit it, you two. We're going to see someone's grave, not another celebration. Be considerate." Namaari scolded.
"Thank you, Namaari." Raya said.
"Don't mention it." Namaari said.
"I don't care how long it takes to get there. I'm loving the temple's scenery. It's so beautiful. I've never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life." Sakura said, looking around and admiring the site of the temple.
"Me either. Even Fang's temple isn't this gorgeous, sad to say." Namaari said.
"Really?" Raya asked, looking back at Namaari.
"Fang's outer appearance may be all glits and glammer and perfect...but it's anything but perfect inwardly when it comes to our people." Namaari explained.
"Oh, i see." Raya said.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to bore you guys with my home-life problems. Let's talk about something else. Like you and me, Raya. We both have one parent, both of which fell into sorrow when our other parents passed away, we're both two girls who are just now getting over the loss of a dead parent." Namaari said.
"And we're both skeptics of the legend of Kumandra." Raya said. "During the time in the ballroom before dinner, Raya had gotten to know all four Princesses of the other nations, especially Namaari, who had been the one to spill the details of her home-life the most, which in turn convinced Raya to do the same. She also felt sorry for Namaari and that she had lost her father and her mother went into sorrow, just like she had lost her mother and her father had fell into sorrow. But she knew their deaths were entirely different. Judging by Namaari's description of her his demise, it was clear that her father's death had been natural. A totally different situation. It was not the same thing. Namaari's father just passed away, Raya's mother was killed in a boat collision.
"That too." Namaari said. "You know...according to the legend of Fang...she's still out there."
"Who?" Sakura asked curiously, looking back at Namaari.
"The last Dragon." Namaari answered.
"Sisu?" Raya asked.
"You're joking." Sakura added.
"No, i'm not. My mother's been talking about it for as long as i can remember. According to legend, after the last Dragon blasted away all of the Druun, she fell into the water and floated down stream. Legend says she's now sleeping at the end of the river." Namaari said.
"Yeah, but which river is that? There are like hundreds in Kumandra." Tami said.
"Your guess is as good as mine. But if we could find it...could you imagine a real Dragon in the real world? Things could be so much different." Namaari said.
"Yeah. Maybe we really could be one world again. If the legend was really true, that is." Raya said.
"Which it isn't." Namaari added.
"Well, i'm glad to see you've both come back to reality. You had me worried there for a sec." Umeko said.
Raya then looked ahead and saw the double-doors on the left side that led to her mother's grave. "We're here." She said, making Sakura look forward. The 10-year old girl led the other four girls over to the doors and opened them, revealing her mother's grave on the other side.
"(Gasps)!" Sakura gasped. "The grave of Chieftess Runa."
"Even though she's dead, i can feel her presence every time i come up here to see her." Raya said.
"I can see why she wanted to be buried here in the temple. I mean...this place is beautiful." Tami said.
"Thanks for showing us this, Raya." Umeko said, smiling.
"No problem. We're all friends here. My house is your house. Right, Namaari?" Raya said.
But there was no reply from the Princess of Fang.
"Namaari?" Raya said. "Namaari?" She repeated as she and the other three Princesses turned to Namaari, only to find that she was now gone.
"She's gone." Sakura said.
"Gone? Gone where? Where could she be going?" Tami asked.
"I don't know, but we better find her quick and soon. This temple's a really big place and it's easy to get lost in if you don't know your way around. Come on, let's go." Raya said before she and the other Princesses took off running down the rest of the passage, not even bothering to close the double-doors to her mother's grave.
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