Between two world's

Dungeons and Castles

I looked up into her concerned face "who are you?" It was barely above a whisper but she heard me none the less, "I am Elida your highness and I am a cook at the palace" she beamed at me, tears threatened to spill from my eye's, "Clara, my name is Clara" my voice betrayed me by shaking, she gave me a soft smile in return, "Elida, you may return to your work, I will escort the Princess back to her chambers" Leon said as his shadow crept up from behind me, Elida looked at me sympathetically before giving him a short bow and leaving me on the ground like the small child I felt myself to be. I stayed there for a while just hugging my knees and willing the tears to remain unshed as Leon stood above me as though he were my prison guard, he let out a heavy sigh before crouching before me, "Princess we must return to the castle" he offered his hand to me and I shook my head "I want to go home" my voice was so quiet I didn't think he heard me, "please believe me when I say this is your home Princess, this is where you belong" he straightened to his full height "we must return to the castle now", I suddenly found all my confidence and bravado then I stood in front of him on my tiptoes "I am no Princess and this is not my home" I jabbed my finger at him, "I'm dreaming aren't I? I hit my head harder then I thought when the sinkhole opened right next to the diner, or I didn't make it out in time before the diner disappeared into it, yes that's it your not real, none of this is real!" my voice had risen to a shout then and he just looked at me with both amusement and annoyance written on his face.

He stepped forward and lifted me over his shoulder like I weighed no more than a feather, I kicked my legs, wiggled around and beat my hands against his back but that damn golden armor made it hurt me more than him, after what felt like forever he set me on my feat back in the room I had woken up in and like the petulant child I was I stood with my arms crossed pouting, "Princess..." I didn't let him finish "CLARA, MY NAME IS CLARA" I shouted it at him, he ground his teeth, "fine, CLARA... you are the heir to the throne of Elphame, your Mother, Queen Adela quested me to find you and bring you home to your rightful place, three years of searching in the human realm and every time I was able to track your magic you disappeared and I'd have to start all over again, do you know how frustrating that is?" he began pacing in front of me, "no of course you don't because you are clueless like a human, how much more proof do you want Clara? You are not human and you ARE the Princess of Faerie" he stopped his pacing and stood in front of me a look of pleading in his eye's and the tears finally broke through the barrier that was holding them back and I fell into his arms as sobs began to rack through my body, somehow I once again ended up on the floor but this time Leon had his arms around me so I didn't have to comfort myself, it had been so long since I had someone to take comfort in. When my sobs had finally subsided I pulled away from him slightly, "are you ok Clara?" he asked concerned, I shook my head "no, because if everything you are telling me is the truth then all the bad things that happened wasn't because of fate or bad luck it was because of me, all those people got hurt because of me, Zoe my Dad even Charlotte"  I wiped my nose on the back of my hand not caring that I was probably all blotchy and snotty from crying,  he helped me get to my feet and gripped my shoulders firmly, "none of that is your fault, your powers are strong and had started to breakdown the block on them, none of it was you Clara" His eye's softened as he cupped my cheek "please believe me" I felt a weight be lifted from shoulders and realized that all this time all I'd ever needed was to hear those words, "so if I'm not human then what am I?" I hope I'm not like the maid, I'm not sure I could cope with that much hair! He backed away and regained his serious warrior face, "that's what we intend to find out your highness". So we are back to formalities? I never said I believed him? I never said I believed I was royalty and even if it's true I don't think I like being called your highness or Princess it's just not me!

I spent the next few hours meeting all different kinds of magical beings, I found out the the maid is a shifter, a wolf shifter to be exact apparently there are dozens of types of shifters from simple house cats to big mythical dragons though Leon said they are rare, the cook well she's a forest Nymph, the older man he's a footman of the castle and he's a Sprite witch explains his shimmery wings and I've also met a Kelpie, a Goblin, and even a Pegasus, can you believe it? I hardly can. Leon said the longer I stayed in Faerie and the more Fae I  met the quicker my powers will strengthen and we will be able to determine what kind of Fae I am, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not a shifter, they are cool and all but I can't get my head around the idea of fur.