Dorhne

I finally stepped through the trees. Seeing the bright light of the sun made my eyes water, but just as quickly the sun was gone. A full moon rose in its place and the silver moon light lit my way as I made my way up the broken path. I assumed my hair was covered in broken twigs and fallen leaves. I expected my favorite dress to be ripped and teased in all the wrong places. I expected my arms, legs, and face to be covered by scratches and bruises. But as I neared the long winding river, known as Mirror River for this exact reason. I stepped up and glanced down. By the light of the moon I could see every detail of my appearance as if I were standing in a full-length mirror. 

My long brown hair was neatly pinned up; the short, white, summer dress was just as white and neat, as if I’d bought it just yesterday; my arms, legs, and face were blemish free, just the freckles that ran across my face and up my arms. I smiled a little and looked back at the forest I’d just exited. 

When I began this journey, I hadn’t realized I’d have to cross through the forest. The wooded areas in this place are the hardest to get out of. Of course, nothing here was easy, but I had to see Him today. It might be my last chance before he finally left on his “journey” and I just had to see Him. So even though I started so amazingly far away from our meeting point, I made my way, and trying not to ruin my dress, all the way to see Him. 

There’s a hill not too far ahead of me. So I made my way over, carrying my sandals so as not to ruin them in the sand, and climb to the top. The hill isn’t very high, but it’s high enough for me to see where I had to go. Tonight, the city looks amazing! There are a thousand lights, people are out and music is playing. Above the city I can see a family of pigs making there way across the sky. 

If you look to the left, you can see the country; the lush green, purple, and orange of the grassy hills. There are animals in their pens and some wild ones also. The sky above the country was an eerie purple, possibly a storm was coming, or it would rain bubble gum, you just never knew in this place.  I knew that if you could see just a bit farther you’d be able to see the villages. There are villages from all over the world here; like the Indian village with teepees and ritual bonfires, or villages from 100 years ago with makeshift huts and fragile people that live by “the rules of the wild”, or simple villages, which I knew was just east of where I stood, which had its log cabins and carts pulled by large animals (though here the animals might start a conversation) and marketplaces much, much bigger than any in our little town. 

I looked up at what was the night sky at the moment. In this place the sky wasn’t controlled by time; it could have the sun shining for three months straight, or there could be a split, the sun and moon could come and go so fast you’d get dizzy just trying to watch a bird, you’d feel much older too. But it was night at this moment, which was perfect since I was looking for a star. Even the stars here are amazing, much better than any you’d see in my small town. There were absolute millions of millions of stars almost every night. Shooting stars were still pretty hard to find, but when you did, they say it’s six times as magical as the shooting stars we normally see. They light up the sky like your own personal sun and if you made a wish you would have it, no matter how silly or big or totally out of this world it was. Though here, everything was totally out of this world. 

I haven’t seen a shooting star yet. If I did I’m not even sure what I would wish for. A better life in the real world? More money? To be a huge superstar and have all the kids in my own village adore me instead of ignore me. Maybe I would just wish for a way to get where I needed to go faster. I found the star I was looking for.

In this place if you’re in love, you have a star. Its one star you and your love could always find. It would warn you if your love was in trouble, tell you if he was in danger or dead. Right now I needed it to tell me exactly where he was. I found it, glowing up there just a tad bit brighter than the others, pointing north. He was at the kingdom. What was he doing at the kingdom?