forbidden flower

  The woods was full of life. The animals jumped and ran. They were excited to see Cammie. She always had food for them. Young Cammie sat on a tree stump, the animals would come to her. She would take the food out of her basket and feed them. She would spend hours in the woods picking food for them. She knew what the deer ate, what the squirrels wanted, what the birds liked.
  Finally, after feeding all the animals, she decided to go for a walk, deeper into the woods. She had never gone very far from her home but today she wanted to see what farther down the path.
  She played some with the animals, pretended to fly like a butterfly, watched the squirrels scamper up and down the trees hiding their food for winter time.
  She hopped, skipped and jumped the whole way. She loved the woods, everything about them. The woods made her smile, happy. Being an only child, she had to find things to occupy her. And the woods was perfect.
  There were times when she would climb a tree and hoot like an owl, only to hear one answer her back. That was the best part of it all.
  As she made her way farther down the path, she noticed how things were changing. No animals. No berries of any sort. But it was a beautiful change. Different flowers, some she had seen before likes roses, lilacs. But there was many she had never seen. She was struck on how beautiful they were.
  Cammie smelled all the lovely flowers. She wanted to pick one to take home to her mother, but wasn't sure which one. She wanted the most prettiest one of all. She knew she would have to bring her mother out here.
  Then she noticed one that really struck her eyes. It was a round, three shaded flower with a bud in the middle. The bud was a dark pink, with the other two being a light purple and a medium blue. She smelled of the flower. It had the most distinct smell. One she had never smelled before. She couldnt describe the smell.
  Reaching past a few thornes, she broke the stem as far down as she could.
  As soon as she did, ten warrior elves popped up, surrounding her in an instant. One elf, with a small silver crown on his head, a dark cloak covered his body. He was the leader.
  "What's your name child?" Anger filled his deep voice.
  "C c Cammie, sir." She was so scared everything about her shook.
  "Seize her."
  Two elves ran over, grabbed her arms, putting metal handcuffs on her wrists. She started crying. Screaming for her family.
  "You have picked the forbidden flower. You must be punished."
  "No." She screamed." Ill give it back."
  The elf leader turned, walking away. The two elves grabbed Cammie, picked her up and followed him. The other elves walked behind them. She tried to fight, continued to scream but it was no good. She finally gave up except for the crying.
  It didn't take them long before they were in a small village. All the elves cam out to see what was going on, ad they paraded Cammie through town. They reached a rock house, the lead elf went inside. In a few minutes, he came back out.
  "Take her to the dungeon. Send Zora to look after her."
  Cammie started begging to be let go, to not be put in the dungeon.The two elves took to a small castle right in the middle of the village They entered the castle, walked down a long corridor, then went down a long set of stairs. It was damp and musky, getting worse as they reached the bottom of the stairwell.
  Cammie could hear a man singing, quite badly, but in the darkness couldn't see him. One of the elves lit a candle as they made their way to an empty cage. She could see two men and one woman in the other cages.
  "She's just a child," said the woman in a raspy voice.
  The elves paid her no attention as one of them opened the caged door, pushing her in. He closed the caged door behind her. Both elves turned and walked away.
  The woman, who was in the cage next to her, sat against the iron bars, that separated the cells.
  "What did you do, little lady? She asked Cammie.
  Cammie looked at her through the tears.
  "I picked a forbidden flower."
  All three of the others gasped loudly.
  About that time, they heard hard footsteps coming down the stairs. A short heavy set woman, with a lit lantern walked straight to Cammie's cell. She looked at Cammie for a long time, before she spoke.
  "Im Zora. Im suppose to take care of you,"
  Cammie stared at her, mostly in fear. Zora was a very ugly old woman, with several deformities to the face and body. She had a patch over her left eye. As she unlocked the cage door, Cammie back up against the back wall as tight as she could. Once again, the tears flowed freely.
  "Im not gonna hurt you, little girl," Zora said. There was no emotion at all in her voice. She had the cage door open, motioning for Cammie to follow her. Reluctantly, she did.
  "Where are we going, maam? She asked Zora with no response.
  The went to another part of the castle the held several different rooms. Big rooms. One of the rooms had alot of seats in it. That was the room they went into. Sitting in one of the chairs, was an old elf with a cloaked robe on. He was bald headed, with thick rimmed glasses sitting on top of his head. When he finally looked up, he brought the glasses down onto his face.
  "Please, sit down." He said almost in a mumbled voice.
  They both sat done, facing him. You could tell that Zora had been in this room many times. She seemed bored.
  "Miss Cammie, why did you pick the forbidden flower?" His eyes burned through her.
  "Sir, I didn't mean to. I picked my mother a flower. It just happened to be the wrong one. Why is it the forbidden flower?"
  "The flower is hundreds of years old. When one dies, another one replaces it. It grows that fast. When Dorman, the chief elf found this village, he found that flower. Whoever has possession, has power to defeat any enemy that faces them. Right now that is this elf nation. When you picked it, you weakened us. You told every enemy that we may have, that we are vulnerable to defeat."
  "But why didn't another one grow?
  "Because the flower didn't die, you picked it." His voice rose, with anger dominating it. "You picked the flower," he repeated trying to be alot calmer.
  Cammie lowered her head, closed her eyes tightly. To her it was just a flower. To them it was a way of life.
  "Can I go home, sir? I'm very sorry for this." Her whole body trembled, shook like a lead in a wind storm.
  The elven judge just looked at her for a few minutes. His eyes reading her like a book. He rubbed his face with a palm of his hand.
  "Im afraid not. To the elven nation, you have commited a mortal crime that must be punished. You put us in danger, and now you must work in the caves during the day."
  Zora and Cammie left the room without another word spoken. Her fate had been decided. No going home. Her family will be so worried. But nothing she could do about it.
  They ended up back at her cell. Zora opened it, Cammie slowly walked in, hearing the door close behind her.
  "I'll be here in the morning to get you." She said as she turned and walked away.
  Cammie laid down on the hard cot. This is a bad dream she kept thinking. I will wake up. But she knew that it wasn't. Not in that sense, anyways. She rolled up into a ball, silently crying once again. She hoped that some way, her father would come save her. She soon fell asleep.
  The next morning, she was awoken by Zora who didn't seem happy at all to be helping her. She ran a metal cup across the bars of the cell, waking Cammie up.
  "Wake up, girl. Time to go."
  Cammie woke up looking at Zora. She had on the same clothes she had in the day before. She crawled out of the makeshift bed, putting on a orange outfit that Zora had brought her. It was way to big but she made the best of it. Zora opened the other cell doors, and they followed. It didn't take long for them to get to the cave. There were several people already there, with their orange suits on. There was about 30 in all. Cammie by far being the youngest. They were all in a straight line, waiting for the cage door to open.
  Zora handed Cammie an ice pick. She once again turned and left. The woman whose cell was next to Cammie's stepped up behind her, putting her hand on Cammie's shoulder.
  "I will show you what to do. You stick with me." Cammie just smiled at her the best she could.
  Cammie followed her in. She knew that the woman had given her name, but she couldn't remember it. She was glad that the woman was going to help her.
  They entered the cave. It was lit by many torches. Cammie looked around, seeing many elf guards. All the people found their spots on the walls, started picking. Cammie's new friend told her to stay next to.her. Between them was a small old rusty cart. She watched her friend as she dug her pick into the dirt wall.
  "Are we allowed to talk," Cammie said in a low whisper.
  "As long as we don't stop working."
  They dug for a long while in silence, making sure that most of the dirt fell into the cart. When the carts were full, the two men from her cell came and got them, pushing them down a big hill, only to return a few minutes later, with an empty one.
  "Why are we doing this."
  "We are looking for gold pieces for the king. They take the carts down the hill, then others sift through the dirt."
  "Has any ever been found?
  "Oh yes. Lots of it"
  One of the guards walked by them, stopping to watch them work. He stood there for a few minutes before walking away. The guards looked mean. They all had swords on their back.
  "Why are you here?" Cammie asked her friend.
  "I was caught in the rain forest. I had gone for a hike, ended up going farther than planned. When I saw the rain forrest, I couldn't turn back. The elves kidnapped me brought me here."
  The guard that had once walked by them, once again stopped behind them again. His breathing was very harsh. Cammie thought about turning around to look at him. In a low, voice she heard, "Don't look. Keep working."
  She worked harder. The dirt was very hard. The picks didn't do much for breaking the dirt. She wasn't sure if she or any of the others had found anything.
  A bell went off deep inside the cave. Everybody walked outside, where there was a food cart, with water bread and vegetables. Cammie ate and drank quickly. She was very hungry. But it wasn't long before the bell went off again. Back to work they went.
  By the time the day was over, ever bit of her body hurt. Cammie, her friend, and the two men made their way back to the dungeon. A few minutes after they arrived, two guards came down bringing food. Cammie looked at her metal plate, saw the worms and bugs that crawled across her fruit salad. She looked over at the others who were picking them out. She set her plate on the floor, sick to her stomach.
  The man across from her started singing again. Neither one of the men had spoke to her, or even looked her way. Guess she understood, her being so much younger.
  Her train of thought was broken when she saw her friend lean over against the bars.
  "You will get used to to. It doesn't get any better. I've been here two years now, and it don't get any better."
  Cammie looked at her with sadness in her eyes.
  "I just wanna go home."
  "We all do," said the man who was singing. "Sonya, tell her about the last person who was overheard saying that."
  "They left in a body bag so keep the thought to yourself."
  It wasn't long before she heard heavy breathing from one of the men. She to closed her eyes, quickly falling asleep.
  The next morning came too quickly. Once again they made their way to the cave to dig. Cammie fell in beside Sonja, started digging, neither one saying a word.
  The bell rang and they all made their way outside. Cammie headed straight for the food cart. After she ate, she made her way back toward the cave, ready to go back in. That was when she noticed Zora coming her way. She waited for Zora to walk up to her.
  "The chief elder wants to see you. Please follow me." That was the nicest she had been so far.
  Cammie followed her. They walked through town, down a dirt road, to another cave. But this one was lived in by the chief elder. He met them at the entrance.
  "Please come in,sit down." There was no types of furniture at all save a few rocks. In the center was a small fire. Zora sat down, bringing Cammie with her. The elder looked at both of them with a smile on his face. Then his eyes met Cammies.
  "Is Zora taking care of you?"
  She nodded her head.
  "Young Cammie I know this is a bad situation for you, but I do hope you understand the situation. We are a proud colony, who prides ourselves on the history of our breed. We are a small colony who wouldnt fare well with a big army especially now."
  "Sir, I know I made a huge mistake. I didn't know any better. But to hold us, all of us prisoner, and to dig in the cave is too much."
  Anger rose quickly within the elder as he stood up, walked slowly to the entrance. His hands clasped together behind his back.
  "When someone puts us in jeopardy, they, you must be punished. That's the way it's going to be. You may now be excused. Zora after you get her back, come see me."
  Once they got outside, Zora grabbed her by her shoulders tightly, got face to face with her.
  "You should never talk to the chief elder ir anyone else like that ever again while you are here. Do you understand me?" The more she talked, the louder she got, the tighter her grip. Cammie stared at her in fear. Finally she let go, started walking again toward the cave.
  That night, she told Sonia what happened, what was said. She gave Cammie a look of regret.
  "Whenever one of us get out of line, Zora gets punished. She gets ten licks with a leather whip from the chief elder. I've seen her back. She can't take much more."
  That made Cammie feel really bad. She sat, staring at the wall for several moments. She stood up, paced her small cell floor. She couldn't imagine what Zora had to go through in those cases. She had to apologize to her. She had to make sure it never happened again. She sat back down on the bed looking at Sonia.
  "Who is she? Why is she here?"
  The other man, who had never spoke, cleared his throat very loudly.
  "She was King Alla's wife. Alla was king of the elves for many years, til he decided to marry outside of the tribe. The tribe banished them both but soon after, the king died. They think he was poisoned. She was kidnapped, brought back here to be the slave that she is. She was such a beautiful woman, til they put some kind of spell on her. By the way, im Alla's brother. But that's all I'm gonna say."
  Cammie spoke to him several times, as did Sonia, but the man never replied. Cammie laid there deep into the night, trying to comprehend everything she had seen and heard so far. None of it made sense to her.
  The next morning, Zora showed up right on time. She was hunched over some, walked with a limp. She didn't speak at first, just opened the cages. As we all came out, she stops us, gave us a light smile.
  "Today is King Alla day. You don't have to work. You can spend the day outside, but you can't go past the gates."
  "Miss Zora, can I speak to you?" Cammie asked.
  Zora turned slightly, looking at her through the corner of her good eye.
  "I want to say sorry. I know what happened cause of my actions."
  Once again, Zora attempted to smile at her. But didn't respond. She just motioned for Cammie and the other's outside. Once outside, Cammie and Sonia looked around, trying to decide what to do, where to go. Nothing stuck out. They couldn't see any stores or shops. The woods were beyond the bounderies.
  Cammie looked around to see what the others were doing. Some were just sitting in a shaded area, others just walked around aimlessly. Nobody knew what to do cause we spent all day in the cave and all night in our cells. Most of them ended up talking together. She wondered what was on their minds.
  Cammie couldn't deny that she thought about strolling over to the woods, making a break for it. But she knew she would be caught, probably tortured, if not worse. Her and Sonia ended up joining a group of coworkers. All they talked about was  working in the cave.
  "Where are the elven guards? Why aren't they out here making sure we don't run off?" One guy asked, looking around.
  "They are watching our every move, I guarantee it. They are in secluded hiding spot, watching to see what we are going to do." One man said.
  "I wonder if they can hear us?" Another commented.
  In silence, they all looked around, but didn't see anybody. Cammie noticed King Alla's brother sitting alone against a tree. She walked up to him. Before she had a chance to speak, he spoke first, talking kinda fast
  "Young lady, what is going on is in any given time, the elven recruits are gonna storm down into the village, killing as many of us as they can. If one kills, then they join the elven army. If one doesn't, he gets tortured til death comes. There are weapons all around here, yall got to find them. Quickly."
  "What about you, sir?"
  "MY young friend, I'm ready to die."
  Cammie ran over, told the group what she was just told. Everybody, including Cammie, scampered around looking for a weapon of any sort. About that time a loud deafening bell sounded from somewhere. That was when, the recruits busted out of their hiding spots, running into town. The group formed a line, a walk with their weapons drawn.
  The elves screamed loudly, crazily as the made their way toward the group. Some had swords, some had bows and arrows, 2 of them had clubs. The ones with the swords and clubs ran forward as the ones with bows, stayed back. They started shooting. The bows were easily block, but it was gonna be alot harder once the swords started swinging.
  The group stood fast. They had a few swords, sticks. Sonia somehow found a now with several arrows. Cammie had a stick, about two foot long. She glanced over at King Alla's brother. He never moved. He was the first one to take a sword in the chest.
  The elves attacked, but were quickly driven back. The group chased them. Sonia shot her arrows. But the group had to be careful cause of the arrows being shot at them.
  The elves turned back toward them, running at them as quickly as they could. Once again, they stood their ground, waiting for the elves to attack again. This time, the swords came down hard on them. A few of the group fell, but the elves were falling just as quick.
  Cammie saw a sword coming down on her. She raised her stick to block it. It got stuck in the stick. She kicked and punched the elf, til he let go. She quickly pried the sword out, made her way behind the elves, dodged a few arrows, started swinging it. She took down three of them in one sweep. The fight continued, til the bell went off again. The remaining elves turned and ran back through town into the woods.
  Two elven men with long cloaks on walked out from behind  the remaining group. They counted how many elves were dead, then counted how many of the prisoners had died. 10 elves, 4 prisoners. They stood for a minute, looking at the prisoners. It was almost an evil look. Then they turned walked away.
  Cammie found Sonia leaning up against a tree, behind her. She had a deep gash in her leg. Blood was pouring out of it. One of the men, Jacob was his name, Cammie thought, saw it, took off his shirt, wrapped it around her leg tightly. After a while, the blood stopped. She walked with a heavy limp. Cammie and Jacob helped her to a set of stairs where she sat down.
  "What the hell was all that?" Jacob asked with alot of confusion and anger in his voice.
  "You were all suppose to die. This is the first time that the prisoners beat the elves." Zora said as she walked up to them. Her voice was different. Had some happiness to it.
  Zora looked over saw the king's brother against the tree, head doubled over onto his chest. She started to walk over to him, then for some reason changed her mind. Looking at Cammie again, she said,
  "This is how the king enjoys himself, bu watching y'all die. He is just that sinister, that evil."
  "So what happens now?" Jacob asked. But it was Cammie who answered.
  "Zora will take the brunt of our punishment. There's no telling how many licks she will get. And the rest of us will have to go through our own hell, whatever it may be."
  Zora actually smiled at her. A sincere smile.
  "I will gladly take this punishment. This has made me a happy woman for the time being. King Alla would be so proud."
  "Do we go back to the cages now?" Sonia asked.
  "You will all now face the chief elder. He will decide your fate. Please follow me."
  They followed her wondering what their fate gonna be. Why they had to go through this. They did what they had to do to survive against the elven recruits. This just wasn't right. When they entered the castle, everybody stepped out of their way. They were all emotionless.
  One by one, we entered his office. The ones who went in first, came out,  not saying a word or looking at anyone. It doesn't look good at all, Cammie thought.
  It was Cammie's turn to go in. She hesitated, looked at Zora, then at Sonia, then walked into the room closing the door.
  "Cammie, we meet again. You put on a heck of a show out there today. You killed five of the elves by yourself. What do you have to say for yourself." His tone of voice was cheerful, almost surreal.
  "I don't know, sir." She tried to keep her voice calm, good natured for the sake of Zora and maybe herself.
  "Very impressive, I must say. Now here's the deal. You can go home on one condition. You chose one prisoner from your group to put into the torture chamber. If you should choose not to pick someone, you will go into the chamber. You have this time tomorrow to nake your decision. Hopefully nobody picks you to go in. You are excused."
  She walked out of the room with the same look that the others had. A look of total dispear. She joined the others. Nobody spoke at all. Just looked at each other. Sonia joined them, with tears in her eyes.
  After the last one came out, Zora took them back to the cages. Cammie threw herself into the cot, hitting her head hard on the metal brace  that surrounded the bed. She began to cry.
  None of the three spoke. Cammie cried herself to sleep. Sometime during the night, three guards loudly brought in a new prisoner. Cammie heard Sonia moving right next to her. They threw the prisoner into the cell, slamming the door behind them. They all three laughed as they made their way up the stairs.
  "Is there anybody there?" It was the voice of a man. A deep voice.
  Cammie spoke first , then Sonia. The man across from her, she hadn't learned his name, didn't say a word. Once again, footsteps came down the stairs. It was Zora. She looked very tired, very angry as she lit the torch next to the mans cell.
  "My name is Zora. If you want or need something. I'm the one to get it for you." Her voice was so monotoned. She had made that speech too many times.
  "I want the hell out of here," the man screamed. He started shaking the cage. Zora blew out the torch, went back up the stairs. Cammie heard the man lay down, then fell back asleep.
  The next morning, Zora never showed up. They waited for her wondering why she hadn't came. They were suppose to be at work, not in the cages.
 . Cammie noticed that the man across from her had not moved at all. She pointed it out to Sonia, who went over to her cell door, called his name. He never moved. That was when she noticed the knife in his stomach. He was dead. That was part of their plan. The kings plan. For them all to either kill themself or each other.
  "Hey. What are we suppose to do? Just sit here all day?" It was the new guy, he sounded very aggravated.
  "No, sir it's not. We are usually working right now. I'm not sure what is going on." Sonia said.
  He laid back down. Sonia looked over at Cammie.
  "This is getting weird, getting bad. They are making sure we all die. I'm not sure why. What did the chief elder want you to do?"
  Cammie told her. Sonia was in shock. Cammie asked her the same question.
  "He told me that they were going to pick three prisoners and I had to shoot them with a now and arrow. If I decline, then they shoot me with it. I don't know what to do."
  Zora came down the stairs, walking straight over to Cammies cage. She turned, stared straight at her, fire flew from her eyes.
  "I want you to pick me to go into the chamber. My time here is done. I've had enough." Anger flew out of her mouth as she spoke.
  Cammie stared at her not believing what she just heard.
  "I have to decide from the prisoners."
  "Girl, I've been a prisoner here for many years. I'm no different than you. I just have alot of responsibilities to content with. I have tried to figure out a way to save yall. And I can't. I can't save myself. Say you will pick me."
  "Ok I will. If that's what you want."
  She turned and walked away. The new guy called her name a few times but she never looked his way.
  Cammie didn't know what to say. If she picked Zora, as she wanted, she could go home. A big part of her was sad, about Zora, but she was also very happy about going home. She looked at  Sonia, who was smiling at her.
  "I get to go home." Cammie said with a smile on her face.
  Two guard elves came down the stairs. Their swords drawn. They walked straight to Cammies cage, pretending like they were going to stab her. They laughed the whole time. Finally they stopped, looking serious.
  "The chief elder wants to see you now." One of them said.
  Cammie said ok, then pointed toward the cell across from her. The guards looked over, saw the dead man, then started laughing again, as one of the opened Cammies cage.
  They made the trip to the chief's office once again. As she entered the room, he stared at her. It was not a good look at all.
  "What is your decision, girl." His tone was very frightening intimidating.
  "Sir with all do respect, I pick Zora."
  He laughed hard. Standing up, looking out the window, he asked her,
   "Is that your decision?"
  "Yes sir it is."
  "You are dismissed."
  "Do I go home, sir?"
  He never responded, never turned around to look at her again. As she left the room, the guards seized her. But instead of taking her back to her cell, they took her to the torture chamber. Within a few minutes, to more guards came walking up, with Zora in tow. Behind them was Sonia, three prisoners, and the chief elder. They put Cammie at the only window of the chamber, as they lined up the three people for Sonia to shoot. Then they brought Zora to the entrance door.
  A loud blast filled the air followed by two more. Three of the elves fell, with blood gushing out of their backs. The fourth elf turned and ran over to the chief elder, standing in front of him. But another shot rang from behind them. The chief elder fell to his knees then to the ground.
  Sonia got beside the building, letting the arrows fly as the elven army made their way over to see what was going on. She took out several. The gun blasts continued for a while as the elves fell to the ground.
  Cammie grabbed a sword, started fighting a few as they ran toward her. After a few minutes of fighting, Cammie saw a set of keys fall out of one guards hand. She ran over, grabbed them up.
  "I'm gonna go unlock the gates." She yelled to Sonia. She took off running. She didn't notice the elf chasing her, til he hit her leg, with an arrow through his chest.
  She ran to her cell first. The only one there was the new guy. She threw the cell door open, quickly trying to explain the situation. All the other cells were empty. As she ran back outside, she heard the break bell go off. She ran over to the cave, as everyone was coming out. They couldn't see what was going on from where they stood.
  "Is everybody out?" She asked one of the other prisoners.
  "Can you go look please? Hurrily and quietly get everybody out without alerting the guards."
  She gave Cammie a strange look , but did as she was told. Within a few minutes, the lady and three others came walking out.
  "Everybody is out. Now what's going on?" She asked with a quizzed look.
  "Y'all help me close the gate to the cave, then I'll explain as fast as I can."
  None of them argued. They quickly ran over to the cave, closing and locking it as the guards made their way to it. Just then did she see Jacob standing on the wrong side of it. He was still inside. There was nothing she could do without letting all the guards out.
  "Jacob," she screamed as she saw the sword go through his stomach. They pushed him aside, as they tried to unlock the gate.
  "Who wants to stand here, make sure they don't get out?"
  One guy who had a thick stick in his hand, said he would. Cammie heard the whacks from the stick, and the sreams afterwards as her and the rest of the group made their way over to the fighting. There wasn't much left of it. Many of the elf lay dead, or gave up the fight. Cammie looked up to see several men walking down the hill from the woods. Then she noticed others, walking down from different directions. One was her father.
  As he got closer, she ran up to him, hugging him tightly. He returned the hug.
  "How did you find me?" She asked, tears of happiness rolling down her face.
  "I've always knew about this place. Just didn't know how bad it was. When you didn't come home, I decided to scout it out. Once I saw you, I made plans to come get you. Now here we are."
  She hugged him again. Then introduced him to Sonia and Zora, and a few others she had gotten to know. All the prisoners thanked him and the others.
  "First thing we need to do, is burn this place to the ground." Her father said.
  They lit some torches, throwing  them into the buildings.
  "We have to find the king," Zora said, a little emotional.
  "We got him going up the hill over there." That was when Cammie saw that it was her uncle Simeon. That excited her that much more.
  "Now what do we do?" Asked someone.
  "We go home." Several said together. They all laughed.
  Cammie noticed that Sonia was talking to one of the men.
  "Pa I cant go home without Soni and Zora."
  "Miss Zora, would you come live with us. Help us around the house, with pay?
  "I would love to."
  "As for Sonia, I think she is gonna be our neibor."
  They all made their way home where ever their home may be.
  Cammie, Sonia, and Zora all lived happily ever after.