The Little Star Princess (The Dragon Prince)

Chapter 9.

All she saw was endless darkness. No noise, no light, nothing. Aaesteria didn't know what had happened, only that she couldn't move anymore and was stuck in this endless darkness. She didn't know how long it was, whether it was years, days, or just minutes, but a woman's voice broke through the voice. "I'll wake her up now, I think she's strong enough!" Rayla? No... Aristiola? No... She didn't know that voice, but that voice was what triggered her being brutally torn out of the darkness.

"God, what was that...!", she murmured and opened her eyes, a little dragon looked straight into her green eyes. "Zym! Get off her!" Ezran. ,,Who are you? I must have missed it, huh?" She sat up gingerly, her whole body aching. The little dragon made dragon noises and licked them. "You're cute..." she grinned and Ezran threw himself on top of her. ,, Ez! Do you want to kill me?" she moaned, and a woman laughed. Her head immediately turned to the woman, or rather elfin. "And who are you?" she asked coolly. ,, I'm Lujanne! Guardians of the Lunar Nexus!" the woman smiled softly. "I'm Aaesteria, Archmage." She smiled kindly, too, and pushed Ezran away. "Where are the others?" she asked, looking around. "Outside, we didn't want too many people in here.", Lujanne said and looked at her in a friendly manner, she quickly walked to the bed and carefully helped her out. "I left your things on, let's eat now!", She smiled, slightly taken aback. "O-Of course!"

,,Asta! You're awake!" When Rayla saw her friend, she jumped up the stone stairs excitedly. "Aaesteria! We were soooo worried!" Callum called and followed Rayla. ,,I'm sorry! I thought it would be enough..." "You can talk about that while eating! Elves and humans here, please, and everyone with 3 or more legs, please go to Phö-Phö!", the moon shadow magician said and made an inviting hand gesture to the richly laid table.

,,What? Her name is Phö-Phö?" Alice asked skeptically. "She's a moon phoenix! Her name is short for phoenix-phoenix!" Aaesteria laughed, which ended in a coughing fit. "Something's really wrong with Asta!", Ezran smacked his lips. ,The moon magician gently patted Aaesteria on the back. "We'll fix that, won't we?" Lujanne asked her in a good mood. Aaesteria just nodded. "How do you like it?" Lujanne asked to change the subject. "It's amazing! How do you do that?" Ez asked enthusiastically. Aaesteria wanted to grab a berry, but then let her hands fall back onto her lap. "Well, yeah, the secret is... It's all just a hoax!" She grinned broadly. "What do you mean?" Callum asked her interested. "Don't you idiots notice anything?" the elf asked with a grin. "Not really...." "Well, it's just not real, they're just delicious illusions! In reality you eat caterpillars!" Aaesteria grinned slightly. "Elves rule number one, never trust illusion magicians!", Aaesteria laughed and enjoyed the surprised and rather confused faces. ,,Huh? Do you mean pearl barley?! I love pearl barley!" Lujanne shook her head. "See what Phoe Phoe is eating?" FFasked Lujanne and turned her gaze to her pet. "You mean the bowl of worms?" Phö-Pho gulped down all the worms. "Yep! Those are worms!" Callum dropped his meal of worms back onto the plate. ,,I do not care! It's still tasty!" Ezran saw that a bit differently and spat the worms on the ground. "How are your hands Rayla?" Aaesteria asked when she saw the moon shadow elf climbing up the bushes. "It's sooo nice to have two functional hands! Don't get me wrong Ava!" The wolf barked in confirmation. "I can do anything! It's sooo wonderful!" Aaesteria laughed happily. "I'm glad!" "And how are the others doing today?" Rayla asked and dropped down next to Aaesteria. ,,Very good!" Rayla grinned. ,,Excellent! Because we have to go." She said seriously. "But what about Asta!" Ez asked worried, the elf waved her hand. "I can charge myself completely during the night, we can start tomorrow at the latest." "But why do we have to leave already? We've only been here for 2 days!" Callum said confused. Rayla gave him an annoyed look and leaned on the stone table. "Because the danger is getting closer! I know, the longer we're here, the higher the risk!" Lujanne seemed to consider it. "Hm... She's right, shortly after the dragon prince was born, I felt something was wrong, those strange dancing lights. Dark forces pursue you." Rayla nodded. ,,And who likes dark powers? We also have valuable cargo to deliver. There will be a war like the world has never seen before if we don't bring the prince back to his mother!" As if on cue, the little dragon tipped his bowl over the boiled water. "But Zym is still too small! He can't even fly" Lujanne chuckled. "You seem to have a special connection to the young dragon, would you try?" "Why not!" "And I thought I'd learn some moon magic!" Callum said. "Well, I think I can teach you a little bit!" The magician smiled softly, Asta smiled. "I have something to do too.." "Hey! I thought you were on my side!" "Only a few days Rayla!", Callum said and Aaesteria nodded. "Nothing will happen! I need some time to warm up anyway!" Rayla snorted in annoyance. ,,Okay! Only one day! And just because I don't want Asta to fall over again!" Aaesteria looked at her gently, she put her tender hand on her shoulder. "Thank you for taking care of me!" Rayla blushed slightly. "N-Nothing special! You all still have to keep your eyes open! I was serious about the danger!"

"Rayla, dear, would you maybe go look for something with me?" Aaesteria gently grabbed her sleeve. Aaesteria grinned happily. "A hot spring! Let's go swimming together!" Rayla looked at her confused. "I-Actually..." "Come on! It's going to be fun!" "May I come too?" Ezran asked and squeezed in between the pretty Ladys. "You're still a bit too young, and above all it's not appropriate to go swimming with women.", she said softly and gently stroked his head.