The Ice Princess

Chapter 6

"I am still but always moving. I am filled but always sprouting. One by one, tier by tear I fall. What am I?"

Before Ryder could have even a second to think about it, Blair scoffed saying it was too easy and was already on the move as she had figured it out in the split second she had read it. After a while of following her, Ryder nodded his head as he had figured out where they were headed. To the grand fountain.

When they had made it to the fountain, thankfully they were the only ones there in which they could then take the hint secretly. 

Grand couldn't even describe the fountain as it was made of marble and gold with 6 tiers with water spraying into it as water trickled down, tier by tier. It was a mesmerizing sight to behold as Blair took a moment to just stair at the magnificent fountain that didn't live up to hers at home that her father had built for her mother, but it was beautiful nonetheless. 

While Blair was busy staring at the fountain in owe, Ryder looked around for the next hint and shouted in hoorah as he found it under the edge of the fountain rim. Blair headed over to him as he read the hint.

"My heart goes many ways, but once one has made its way through, there, you'll find what you desire. I am beautiful, but I have thorns. Pluck them out or walk through the pain. It's the journey that brings the beauty. Come find me."

"The rose garden!" Ryder blurted out as he wanted to solve the riddle before Blair could as she had been solving the previous ones.

Blair frowned as she snatched the clue from his hands and read it again. And again. And again. "It can't be. It would have been too simple to assume the rose garden. To use the word thorn must be to just throw us off. It has to be a metaphor. Using the word 'thorn' is too obvious. It has to be something else."

Ryder read at the hint once more and frowned. "What else could it possibly mean besides the garden? A rose is painful to pick but in the end it's beautiful and worth it."

"It's beautiful yes, but is it truly that painful to pick it. Once your skin is pierced by a thorn, all you've to do is pluck it out. It's the easy way out. This riddle is telling us not take the easy route, but the bumpy one." Blair thought on it some more as Ryder just stood there analyzing her words and the hint.

She wasn't wrong and he figured she was quite the clever one once it started making sense to him. Looking out into the estate, it immediately came to Ryder.

"It's in the ma-

"The maze!" Blair said interrupting him from finishing his sentence. Without seeing if Ryder was following her or not, Blair made her way into the maze.

Rolling his eyes at her, Ryder followed. He at least wanted some credit for solving that one. "You know I was the one who said it first, right?"

"Oh did you? I didn't hear you." Blair said nonchalantly as she focused on her path. Of course she had heard him. She figured that they had both solved it at the same time but she wasn't going to lose to him. 

"Oh please, I know you heard me." Ryder said, grumbling to himself. 

Blair scoffed as she elegantly swept her hair lying over her right shoulder behind her. "If it wasn't for me, you would have been making your way to the rose garden, consider it a tie, even though it should be mine as I said it first."

Ryder didn't know if she was being competitive or petty but she was irking him to the core. "You don't even know for sure if it's the maze or not. What do you plan to do if it's not in the maze?"

As they came to a dead end, Blair and Ryder turned around to take the other way in hopes of finding the center. 

"You know you are free to check out the rose garden if you so wish to." It was almost comical to her as she thought about how he thought the destination was in the rose garden. The first sentence clearly depicted that it was the maze and the next question was clearly to just throw them off.