Finding the Wisest

Chapter Twenty Three

As Maya stood, looking around at the slight havoc that they had caused to the beautiful throne room, a nice thought passed through her head. Even though she had trusted Faye by mistake the first time, she and her friends had fixed the mistake Faye had caused. They had done it. Her easy trust wasn't a weakness. It couldn't be.
A buzzing sound filled her head and as she shook her head to make it go away she started to felt heavy and sluggish but her head felt light.
She sat down then on the floor, feeling slightly weak. She lay her head on the cold floor, taking deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth.
She didn't know where Nebbia had gone to, she didn't know where anyone was. Everything went dark as she heard her name being called 'Maya, Maya'
                              
                                    X
She came to some minutes later, though to her it felt like hours. She felt the coldness of the floor against her cheek as her eyes fluttered open. Her throat felt extremely dry and it was making her feel uncomfortable. She looked around, her face showing how confused she really felt.
A wrinkled hand with a beaded bracelet round its wrist stretched right in front of her with a blue cup in its hand.
Maya looked up, trying to see the owner of that hand and she smiled a bit.
It was just Old Kita.
Maya took the cup of water gratefully and chugged it down, succeeding in almost choking herself on the water. Old Kita laughed as Maya righted herself.
There was a bit of silence.

"Walk with me, Maya. Let us go outside. "
Maya nodded and stood up, wincing as she felt pains she didn't even know she had.

She stretched, trying to loosen her limbs then she ran to catch up with Old Kita as  the woman had already started walking towards the entrance of the throne room.
The place looked the same as it did before Maya passed out, broken glass and misarranged furniture.
They walked out of the throne room and walked through the corridors, meeting the place in a bit of disarray. Then they were out of the Castle and into the the courtyard.

"How are you feeling Maya?" Old Kita began
Maya scratched her wrist "Honestly?" She sighed. " I would kill for a large can of soda right now and some pizza but it doesn't look like I can get such commodities here."

That set Old Kita into fits of laughter. She always seemed to laugh at some of the things Maya did.
They walked a bit more while they listened to the birds sing and watched the confused and mildly injured citizens take care of themselves. "I seem to have found out how you came to be in these lands."
Maya looked at her with rapt attention, not saying a word.
"Sahlee did mention to you something about the royals having jewels to protect them and aid them in ways they wanted. Yes?"
Maya nodded "Yes she did."
"Well, I have a  train of thought. I believe that as you were still a royal, even though you lived in another place, you still had your jewel with you. I believe wearing a jewel on a crown the way Faye did would be very conspicuous from wherever you came from. Your mother may have spoken to a magic wielding person from where you said you came from and placed the jewel...in your watch."

Her watch.
Her watch!!
She looked at her right wrist and there it sat. The green watch, still in her pocket was her mother's watch. Even after everything that had happened.
The watches had their jewels in them.
Maya groaned in realization. So that's why her mother was always so difficult about the watch thing  always making sure that Maya wore it. Driving her to near insanity.
Her mother was trying to keep her safe.

A thought flashed through her mind. Why didn't her mother tell her anything about all this?
Would she have believed her mother at all if she had told her?
But still, why didn't her mother tell her anything about it? Not even something little. She didn't also remember her mom ever telling her stories of this place, not even as a bed time story.

"The curse Faye placed on this town has lasted for ten years. It was about time someone came to free the kingdom. If a little time had passed, the curse may have lasted for more years to come. The people of this kingdom thank you and your friends, Maya."

Maya smiled at her. Old Kita held her arm " I must go now to prepare an antidote for the king." The old lady started to move away from her with surprising agility that seemed to catch Maya unaware over and over again no matter how many times she saw it.

She stood alone for a while until she was engulfed in a hug from behind.
"My baby!"

"Mom!"
Maya turned and threw her arms around her mother. The reason why she had gone on this whole journey was just to get her mother safe and sound. Her mother was here, safe and sound. She couldn't believe it.
"Are you okay Mom?"
Maya pulled away from her mother, looking her over like a worried mother looking over her child.
Lily Ford, was not looking too good but it was better for Maya, to see her mother look a little bit injured but okay than not to have any idea where here mother was at all. She had gone through the latter and didn't know if she could go through it again.

"I'm alright sweetheart. Are you okay?"
Was she okay?  She shrank away from her mother's piercing gaze.
Then she was engulfed in a hug once more.
"Mom, why didn't you tell me anything about all this? Why did you say that dad was dead?"

The older woman let out a resigned sigh and passed her hand through her hair, very much the same way that Maya did sometimes. The dye had started to come out of her hair and some silver lines were showing.

"Maya, I started to, when you were very young but I realized it wouldn't make sense to you as you grew older. Would you have believed me if I told you that you were the princess of another kingdom far away? As for lying about your father's death, it was more for my sanity than yours. If I made myself believe he was dead, it wouldn't affect me as much. I don't know. It was very difficult Maya."
Maya remained mute as her stressed mother continued talking.

"I didn't know how long my Kingdom was cursed for. Everyday I checked the watch to see if it would give me a sign an indication that something had changed. Something. Anything.
I didn't even know the links were opened that day I went to the park. It was just luck"

Maya paused over the unfamiliar word
"The links?"
Her mother stopped talking and looked at her child strangely and then with understanding.
"I forget how much you don't know, Maya. There are links from this kingdom to anywhere in the world. Only royals can access these links with our royal gems, which I'm sure you know of. The link in America is in Arizona, in that very park near our house. They open and close."

Maya nodded as she took in that information.
"I'm sorry for fighting with you mom, right before you went to the park."

"I'm sorry for not telling you all this, Maya."
Then Maya and her mother hugged again.
They walked together, Maya telling her of her journeys.
As they walked they found Nebbia seated beside a broken statue. Lily Ford held Maya's shoulder, telling her in a non verbal way to stay. She followed with words " I want to go talk to her alone."
Maya nodded, understanding the situation. She turned away and started to walk in the opposite direction as her mother approached Nebbia.