Guilt

5

Nora slowly walked out of the forest and stopped as she looked up towards Austin, who was currently running around looking for something. "Nora! There you are. I was looking all over for you! Where is Felix?" Austin asked quickly as he ran over towards her.

"Felix... he is still in the forest, he protected me and told me to run, so I did," Nora quickly told Austin as he had his hand wrapped around her. "Do you remember where?" He asked.

"Yes, I do remember. It was just down the path and past the gates," Nora said quickly while looking at the guards with a fearful face. This made Austin think of the possibility that someone wanted to harm his queen.

"Find Felix Carp!" He ordered every alien guard that was brought with him. Everybody started to move quickly into the forest and down the path just like she said. Austin then took Nora's hand and followed behind his guards into the forest, too.

As everybody entered the gated part of the forest where Nora and Felix were before, they saw him, the innocent young boy laying in the middle of the flower field.

"Felix!" Nora yelled out and ran over to his side. She kneeled next to him and pulled him into her arms. Austin and the guards followed behind her and saw their friend, the young boy who joined them not so long ago. He was a bright person who always brought laughter into the training grounds and the castle.

"What is this?" Austin asked. He slowly went down beside Nora and touched Felix's forehead. On his forehead was a very light pink-shaped heart, just like the flowers, but Austin didn't know that "pink heart? Was it an enemy?" Nora asked Austin for any answer she could get.

"Not any that we know of. Who would do such a thing? What is this place?" Austin said while standing up and helping Nora as well. The guards that were with them picked up Felix in a respectful way and brought him back to the ship. When they reached the ship, the guards took Felix into a separate ship and it was closed off. Austin didn't know how to comfort his Queen, so all he did was stand by her and hold her hand.

"Are you all right?" Austin asked her as they entered the ship and into the bedroom, "I'm all right, just having a difficult time recovering from it" she said honestly to Austin. He led her to a small chair that was in the room and sat her down. Austin went down on one knee and held her hands in his.

"Nora, I am here for you if you need me because I love you," was what he said while scanning her face for any type of reaction. "Austin, the flowers that Felix and I found had a beautiful meaning, I wanted to give it to you as a gift but we were attacked," Nora said before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small branch that had the flowers on it and gave it to him.

"Dicentra, in the language of flowers, it symbolizes love and passion," Nora said while having her full attention onto the branch he held. "It is heart-shaped, incredible, just like that painting on your wall but red," he quietly says with a small genuine smile.

"I picked a few more, I read in a book that it can be made into tea," Nora says as she stands up and walks towards the door, "You should tell everyone that I will be making tea for you all, it will be ready by seven." She says as she made her way out of the room.

Austin, still in the same spot, was deep in thought about something before getting on his feet and leaving the room. He made his way to the guard's quarter and told everyone to meet in the large dining room for some tea that their Queen had prepared for them. At first, the guards were suspicious of why the goddess chose a human girl to be their Queen, but when they saw how she held onto Felix, they changed their mind.