The Pieces Adorned

Some Answers

Aurora woke up to a stream of sunlight filtering in through the vines. She put her hand up, shading her eyes and looked around. Aphaca was still asleep above her, so she stood up, stretched before digging through her bag to find her mother's journal. Sitting back on the bed, against the headboard, she pulled her legs up and placed the journal on her knees as she flipped through the pages.

The little drawings of the three sisters adorned each page. Usually, they were playing around, trails of stardust, moonlight, and sunlight dancing behind them. Each page another story is told about them. How they gave life to our earth, how each kingdom reigns under a specific sister. It seems like her mother once believed in finding these pieces and had outlined in colored ink an aspect that could have a clue in it.

"The Ice Kingdom reigns under Luna, the moon sister, and they have created many beautiful statues in her likeness. Each is adorned with a crown of crystals resembling the glow of her light she gave to us," Aurora readout. This block of the text had light blue ink curling around the black lettering.

Aurora looked up from the journal and thought about the Ice Princess Rhew. She was covered in crystal jewelry and the dress she commissioned Aurora for had little crystals sewn in along all of the hemlines and scattered throughout the dress as well.

"Maybe she can help me. After we leave the Forest Kingdom we will head there first." Aurora closed the journal placing it back in her bag before reaching up and nudging Aphaca.

Aphaca groaned and swatted at Aurora's hand. With a shake of her head, Aurora stood on the bed so that she could look at Aphaca and shook her again. Aphaca slowly opened her eyes and looked over at Aurora.

"What?" She croaked out.

"It's morning, we need to eat and continue heading to the Forest Kingdom."

Aphaca sat up, her hair up in a while nest. Aurora giggled before climbing down and went to the vanity that was pushed in the far corner. It was almost completely hidden by the vines, flowers, and leaves but it slowly pulled away as she walked closer and picked up a comb.

"Huh, never seen that before," Aurora commented under her breath before walking back over and handing the comb to Aphaca.

"Thank you," Aphaca jumped down from the hammock and began combing through her hair.

Aurora walked back over to the vanity and quickly just redid her brain. It was messy and pieces of her hair didn't go into the braid so they just curled around however they wanted to but it would work.

"Grab your things. Let's go to the dining hall and there should be some food laid out." Aurora opened her mouth to speak but Aphaca cut her off. "Don't worry. You can still take some and eat it. They are not 'gifts'. The King ordered them not to trick guests like that."

With a nod, Aurora placed her bag over her shoulder and her cloak back over top of her shoulders as well before following Aphaca back out the door. Once out the Dryad took out her key and locked the door. She started down the hallway leading back to the front and Aurora quickly followed suit.

Once in the front room Aphaca took a sharp turn to the left and went down a dimmed hallway. Aurora didn't like the looks of it but had to trust Aphaca since she had been there many times before.

Loud voices were soon drifting through the hallway. They were all laughing and conversing. This eased some of Aurora's tensions but she still didn't feel at ease. She had a tight grip on the strap of her bag. Her shoulders hunched up to her ears and her steps light as she feared if she made a sudden noise something would pop out at her.