The Daughter of the Northern Star

Long Explanations

Chapter 9 - Alana

"That poor child was cursed years ago when she was just a little girl..." Startling me, Zemira's hand touched my face, and I had an impression that she knew much more about Dilara's family than she spoke about when a sad look took over her face. "And most of her lifetime, she spent them in a coma-like state, being unable to even move without the help of anyone else in her sleep."

Her explanation was quite simple, but more and more, I could understand why everyone was looking at me as if they had seen a ghost before them when at the same time, I was frightened by this place and their appearances.

"Dilara was almost like a doll, and no Healer or Oracle was able to help her... Not even me, while we couldn't understand how it was even possible that she was alive as her body didn't do any other basic need besides breathing as she continued to grow as usual. Almost like nothing around influenced her in this dream world that kept her alive."

"... Will she ever wake up someday after I leave this body?" With a pain in my heart, I asked her, feeling bad for all the people who were happy to see me while they believed I was her...

"Well, child, this is a question that even I'm not able to answer, since only we have control over our own souls to allow them to return to our bodies or find a new one to start a new life cycle..." And while I listened to her, I slowly started to think about myself... Looking at the well-cared hands of this body, I wondered if this was what had also happened to me.

I mean, if Dilara had been in a coma all this time due to the absence of her soul, then now that mine was here, my body became a new empty vessel, where she could be or not right now.

... Making me feel bad for my family as I believe more and more that I should be really in a coma at this very moment, having no idea about how I would find my way back home while neither Zemira seemed to be able to help me...

"But back to the other things we were talking about!" Clapping her hands, she mentioned, removing us from that sad vibe while wiping away the tears that came into her eyes as she turned around, returning to her seat that didn't seem to be comfortable at all in that little tree. "Inina is the only one who is here with one of her children and some of her servants to witness the spell that we did a few days ago and which led you here."

Her words were simple, yet it made me hard to believe that I could say the same about the Oracles and any other creature in this world as I kept listening to her...

"Honestly, I don't know what brought her attention to this event that only held some importance for the Werecats. But thankfully, she honored us with her visit, or if not, I can only imagine her desperation along with the others of your county when they become aware of your disappearance. " Hearing her words, I could only imagine how right she should be, since it should almost be as if someone had kidnapped their child after they put her to bed, being even worse when I thought about Dilara's condition.

... She wouldn't be able to fight back or scream for help, and like me, they would probably think the same, getting even more worried before they found out she was here... With me instead...

"... Even if they would also be extremely grateful when they arrived here and saw you full of life." Again, as if she could read my thoughts, Zemira stated. "And as I mentioned before, they rule over the only lands of Re'vér that borders with Saram, or in other words, the kingdom we are in right now, so it wouldn't take so long before they found out about your whereabouts here."

Telling me for the first time something about this place where I had woken up, she kept saying as if I were Dilara herself.

"And speaking of Saram, it's because of their future king that you're here right now." And bringing back my curiosity, she commented. "The spell we performed that day was to allow him to find his Matér, even if we never expected that you would appear before us just like that when we did it, despite that being our second attempt."

Her explanation seemed to make a lot of sense if I was someone from her world and could easily understand everything like this, yet my attention was still locked in one word said by her, which was the second time I heard it, but that I didn't have any idea about what it meant.

And as if she knew my thoughts, she stopped herself before saying more than I had already not listened to as I tried to figure out what this Ma-something was in my mind. 

"... I need to do something about this soon." Saying out of the blue with a sigh, I hear her comment to herself before she returns her attention to me. "Matér meant Soulmates in your world's words or Mates as I saw in that little object in which you read what seemed to be tales."

"Do you mean on the cellphone?"

"Yeah, I think that's how you guys called it." Making me completely confused about what she meant by that, I wanted to ask how she knew about it, and the novels that I read on my phone, but something else caught my attention when I thought better about what she had just said to me. "Wait! MATES! So does it mean they expect me to marry him or something?!"

Of course that the idea of having a Mate to myself was always wonderful when I read all those stories; however, I couldn't say the same about how I felt right now when I saw myself in that situation while living someone else life.

"Well, yes. This is precisely what being mated means to the Werecats." As if that were no big deal, she continued to explain as I understood now why she said that it was ironic that Dilara's parents ruled over the only county in their kingdom that bordered with these lands.

... Their eldest daughter was the Soulmate of the neighboring kingdom's future king, and there were so many ironies in that simple fact...

"Of course, this will not be right away, as usual, seeing how Dilara's conditions until a few days ago, but this is the minimum expected. After all, Ka'lih can only become the king of Saram if he has her by his side, being a very delicate situation since two other people can officially take his place if a little accident happens to him. And in between them, one is more than greedy enough to even start a war for the throne."

Once more, she finished telling to me as if it were something simple while the feelings in my chest were calming and going crazy at the same time, as everything seemed to be more and more uncertain when I thought about my future, leaving me full of doubts that I would like to remove. 

... Yet, before I could even say anything to her, she stopped me...

"Questions will need to remain for another time, and it seems like I used up all my time that I had to be alone with you. So, soon they'll look for you, and we wouldn't want them to destroy the door if they don't hear and kind noise coming from you, right?" Remembering that I still didn't know how she got into the room, I just had time to open my mouth when she apologized for something else, not making any sense to me.

... Or at least, it didn't until she snapped her fingers...

It was enough to make the whole world around us disappear before fear, anxiety, worries, discomfort all came back to me at once. Taking my breath away before everything turned dark before me, and I passed out again, not even feeling when she held me in her arms as we returned to the room we were in before...