The ride to the location Frush had in mind was unbearable. My back ached, my wound would give sharp pains with each little move I would make. My whole body was in pain, and the ride seemed to take hours. Frush kept telling my poor, tired horse to go faster.

     My head still rested on his arm, and leaned against his chest. I could hear his heartbeat, and his body radiated with warmth. I'd never been so close to him before, and it kind of felt good. Stop it Isabelle! You're on the edge of death! I scorned myself for thinking romantic thoughts toward him. In my less positive eyes, he was an emotionless, cruel warrior. But other than that, he was a soft spoken, handsome huntsman with a sensitive side (OK, I'll admit, I was in love instantly with him... Sort of).

    My throat burned from thirst. I tried to tell him, but I was too quiet, and my words came with squeaks too high pitch and quiet to understand. Finally, he slowed Tenderfoot, and lowered him to the ground with that same high pitched whistle. Frush slipped off the horse while carrying me, and the scent of salt water surrounded me. I heard the clash of water, and the soft rushing sound of the ocean coming to the shore.

    How did we get here in this small amount of time? I pondered. Even though it seemed like a long time when I was riding, we couldn't have approached an ocean this quickly. But it didn't matter. Frush walked towards the ocean, and stopped at the shoreline.

  "Temphya shar mah im Weyune," he said aloud. I looked towards the shore, and saw a silhouette on the water, walking towards us. No really, the person was walking on the water. I figured the person was a woman, despite the dark night, she had the hour glass shape. She has a long, flowing dress, but it was hard to tell what the color was, because it was dark at night. She walked very close, it made me uncomfortable.

   "You, Frush of Fylon, dare to ask permission to enter Weyune?" She hissed. I guess people of water had a grudge against people of fire.

   "Not me," he muttered. The woman looked down at me in my pitiful condition. "She's interfered with the river dragon, Khogeeb. She has serious injuries. I need your people's  healing skills to make her better."

    She sniffed. "Why should I do something at your request?"

   "It's not only for me, it's mostly for her, so she can complete her quest," he said desperately. "Please help her!"

     I felt Frush's arms slip from under me, and felt something wet against the back of my body. But the strange thing was, Frush wasn't carrying me anymore, and the woman was right beside me. I realized, I was on top of a water platform. Peculiar, I thought. I heard the woman muttering foreign words I couldn't understand. I saw something blue glowing with a sliver of silver on top of her head, and I figured that she was a wielder of water.

   "Where is she from?" She asked. Her tone was sharp and a bit demanding, it made me uncomfortable.

   "She's Burkrian," he lied. He looked at my arm, and his expression relaxed. I didn't have the bracelet on my arm, but I never knew why it was such a big deal.

    "Mm," she grunted. She muttered more words, and the water started closing over me. My heart started to take a race, and I thought the water was about to drown me. Before it completely closed, I saw Frush looking at me, giving me an "everything's going to be fine" look. He'd never done that before, even when I was dying, and he was telling me everything was going to be OK. Strange how fast he's warmed up to me, I thought.

    The water hovered over me, surprisingly, not drowning me. It seemed to form a bubble, for, I could not breathe underwater. Pretty obvious, isn't it? I never know how I was still awake and thinking when I should've been unconscious from pain and the fact that I was dying.

     My stomach jumped a little bit from sinking deeper into the ocean. The Weyunese, I guessed I called the woman, was leading me deeper into the ocean. My consciousness began to fade, and my pain was increasing. I tried to tell the weilder that we needed to hurry, because she seemed to be slow.

      My conscious finally faded, and I fell asleep, knowing I may never be able to see Father, Amelia, I would never be able to train and experience pain with Frush, and I would never come back to Sava and restore it. I would die, barely with any training, and only making it past Fylon and the human world, out of all the thousands of miles I could've traveled.

                                                                          ☀

      I woke up, expecting to be in my after life. I looked at my surroundings. I was in a marble room with an open roof. My bedspread was white, and I seemed to be float-flowing. Strange, but it must've been normal in the after life. My gown was also white, matching the bedspread. I looked down, and saw vegetation in the smooth stone ground, flowing. Definitely after life, I thought

       I was convinced I was dead, until I saw a floating fish, swimming in the air. Suddenly I remembered that I was wounded, and put in Weyune, the realm of water. I remember riding on Tenderfoot with Frush, talking with the Weyunese weilder, and falling asleep underwater.

      As these thoughts swept through my head, I tried to sit up, only to feel pain at the top of my stomach. It didn't hurt as much as it did the other day. Plus, I felt a tight binding around my waste and back. My back seemed to be fine, because it didn't seem to stab it's daggers of pain up my spine. After I thought about this, I jumped at the sight of four Weyunese at each side of my bed.

       They each had deep blue gowns with long, draping sleeves. Their hair was shiny silver, and braided back with pearls speckling it. Their skin was pale, and they all had smooth, intelligent, calm, but serious, faces. Their eyes were a bright green color, so serious, i wanted to hide under my covers. The strangest part —they all were identical. Quadruplets.

       "Are you frightened?" The one on the left side of my bed cooed. Despite her serious features, her voice was so soothng and kind, all the seriousness seemed to ooze out.           

       "No," I croaked. I didn't realize how thirsty I was. "Do you happen to have any water?"

        The quadruplets glanced at each other, giving each other amusing smiles. "What?" I said hoarsely. "Do you?"

        The quadruplet behind me giggled. "Well, Isabella—"

       "Isabelle," I corrected.

       "— your obviously in water," she finished.

         Oh right, I thought. How could I forget?

       "But," I stamered. "How..."

       "How are you breathing?" The one said to my right. "Only the power of the Gem of Weyune could help you breathe here. Thank God the queen had mercy on you. That Fylonese makes her uncomfortable."

       "Frush? Why?"

       "Because he's from Fylon," said the quadruplet in front of me. "From the last war, the queen still has a grudge against Fylonese. But thankfully, not against Burkrians."

       "Oh," I said hoarsely. I felt stupid for asking, so I changed the subject. "How do you drink water? I mean, I can't drink salt water, it will make me sick."

       "Well I'm sure we can—"

        The quadruplet behind me was interrupted by the doors bursting open. All four sisters yelped, only to be seeing a weilder face-to-face. She had flowing, sky blue hair, a long, sleeveless dress with a scallop shell that rested on the chest of her dress. Her hair was split in two parts that were tied as they rested on her shoulders. Her eyes were emerald green, and her skin was pale. She had a pouty lip, but a sharp scowl. She was beautiful, but she looked angry, dangerous.

         "You are dismissed from your duties for now," she gestured to quadruplets to leave. They scampered away closing the door behind them. The weilder's eyes snapped to mine, which sent a chill up my spine.

         "Who are you, Burkrian?" She said quietly but strong. I wanted to sink in my covers.

         "Isabella... er, Isabelle," I stammered. My face began to feel hot.

         "Usually," she began. "People say, 'My lady' after every sentence they say towards me."

         "Oh," I swallowed(which was really hard, because I was thirsty). "So you're the queen?"

           She nodded, and her eyes became wider, like it was obvious. Really, it was an honor to be talking to the queen of Weyune, even if she looked like she wanted to hurt me.

       "I'm so sorry, my lady!" I said either loudly in an apologetic way. "I didn't know. It's just, you look so... young."

         She did look REALLY young to be a queen. She was somewhere in her late teens, or early twenties. My comment seemed to flatter her, because her tense face muscles relaxed, and her eyes seemed to become a warmer green.

         "Well," she sighed. "I'd never expect that from a Burkrian. But, I'm not all that young."

           I hated to ask how old she was, but curiosity was always my fatal flaw. "How old are you?"

           She started laughing, which was very surprising. Her smile made her round face puffy, and her eyes squinted. Her teeth were not the slightest yellow. The sight made me relax.

         "That's a strange thing to ask," she wiped a tear off her cheek from laughing so much. "Most people consider it rude, but I will answer." She stopped laughing and cleared her throat. She became serious again. "I'm fifty decades old."

          My jaw dropped. I never expected that. She looked so young for her, well, old age. My jaw started to hurt, so I closed it.

        "Wow," I croaked. "I'm sorry, but, I never expected that number."

        "Mm, I know," she sat straighter. "You sound thirsty."

         Random, but true. I felt like I swallowed sand. "Could you-possibly- make fresh water?"

        She nodded. Gephmah, she said aloud. She held out her hands like she was holding a ball, and a different kind of water formed an orb. She clapped her hands, and the orb came towards my face, and stopped before it could bump into me. The orb was the size of a human head. I stuck my lips out, and started sucking it. The water was indeed fresh, and so nice and cool. When I was refreshed, the orb was already gone.

       "Would you like to see Weyune?" The queen asked

       "More than anything!" I laughed. I was ready to get away from this plain, white room.

        The queen walked by my bed, and held out her hand. I took it, and she easily helped me get off my bed. I was surprised to feel no pain in my stomach, but my back was heavy. My long, white dress came to my ankles. She led me out the door. I gasped at the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.

       This chapter is dedicated to theepicgladerdemigod. He is an amazing brother to me, and also an amazing writer! I give him my thanks for encouraging me and always being there for me. Go check him out. His story leaves you at the edge of your seat!