Xocolantia: The World Made of Candy

Chapter Four: "Ash Changes Her Middle Name.... Again."

The elf that we had run over had called me a princess and acted like he's known me for my whole life. I tried to laugh it off, but the laugh just died halfway through. Harp and the elf were staring at me. Harp's eyes had gotten wide, urging me to say something. Harp knew that it would've taken me years to actually say anything.
They looked at the elf and said, "Excuse me, but what did you mean when you called Ash a princess?"
He blinked. "I mean exactly what I said. Although when I had first saw you, you were about my height and a boy. Your mother, Evianna, named you Ashyr Anthony Gray. I see you've at least kept most of your first name. My name's Timothy by the way. You called me Tim-Tim when you were younger."
I tried to absorb this information. "Y-you knew my mother? W-what was she like?"
I hadn't thought of my mother in a long time. I hadn't gotten over her or my father's deaths.
Timothy looked at me, his brown eyes filled with sorrow. "I knew your mother and I also knew your father Anthony. Your mother had named you after your father. It was a tradition in the kingdom that your eldest born son's middle name would be their fathers. It was also tradition that the eldest daughter's middle name would their mother's middle name. I hope I'm not being too forward but may I ask if you've changed your middle name as well as your first?"
I wiped away tears that had been cascading down my cheeks since I had stopped trying to hold them in.
"I shortened my middle name to Ann. May I ask what my mother's middle name was? She never got the chance to tell me, and I've always wanted to know if it was as beautiful as her first."

He smiled at me and said "Blair. Her middle name was Blair."
"Blair." I said the name aloud and smiled to myself.
It was just as beautiful as her first. "You said that the eldest daughter's middle name would be the same as the mother's middle name correct?"
He nodded
"You know what this means right?" I said to Harper.
"Yes, you can change your middle name again."
"My name is now officially Ash Blair Gray."

I talked with Timothy for a little while longer. I heard a cough. It was Harper. "Hey, Ash, can we talk outside for a moment?"
"Sure." I followed Harp out into the hall, they closed the door so that Timothy couldn't hear us. "What's wrong?"
"Well, first this random person we accidentally ran over called you a princess. Secondly, you don't seem to have a problem with the fact that he did. You're just standing there having a conversation with him like you've known each other for years."
"Okay, but Timothy says we have known each other for years. He knows about my parents Harp. Where else am I supposed to get this kind of information? My foster parents don't know anything about what happened to my parents. And even if they did they would never tell me. I don't even remember what happened to them. Maybe he can shed some light on what really happened to them."
Harp gave a sigh of frustration and said "Ash, I know how important it is to you to find out what happened to your parents but do you even remember Timothy at all? For all we know he could be some short deranged psychopath who finds joy in tricking and kidnapping people.
I nodded and tried to remember Timothy from my past but I couldn't remember anything. It was like my life before the age of 12 just disappeared. I felt the tears start to roll down my cheeks again as I looked back up at Harp.
"I'm sorry Ash, I know that you really wanted to believe him."
"No, you're right. But what if he can prove that everything he's telling us is real?"
Harper sighed "If he can prove that everything he has said is true than I will believe and trust him but until then I don't. And I don't think that you should either."
I nodded. "Well then we'll just have him show us that what he's said is true." I wiped my eyes and went back to Timothy's room. Harper followed closely behind. I looked at Timothy and said "Timothy, Harp and I talked and we decided that we want you to prove to us that everything your saying about me and my parents is true."
Timothy smiled, "I thought you'd never ask Princess. Just give me a minute and then we can go."
Harper looked at me worried and said "Go where?"
He looked at them and said "Xocolantia, of course."