“Dummy!” I smack Zarri on the shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were!”

“I’m sorry!” She slaps her hands together in front of her face, shutting her eyes. “I thought you wouldn’t want to be friends with me if you knew...” She takes a peek at me. I sigh.

“Dummy.” I mumble. “You said you never had a friend before! Did you lie about that too!” I put my hands to my sides.

“No! Well. No... I do have one friend... Not sure what Ira is...”

“Ira?”

“Mh.” She nods. “Heeeee's like my guardian? He sometimes plays with me, but... He's always busy...” She seems sad about it... “Oh! Come with me! Come on! I want you to meet someone!” She grabs my hand and starts running. I almost fall a few times, but manage to keep up. Somehow. We run straight through a giant door and into a room.

“Ah!” I gasp and hide behind Zarri.

“It's ok. Don’t be scared. This is Emerald. My friend.” Zarri walks over to the giant cat. Those claws are huge!

“Is... Is she a Druid too?” I ask. Will Zarri be as big as that when she grows up?

“Nope. She's a Saber. The last of her kind.” Zarri pets the creature. “Emerald. Say hello to Ammi. Amana is my new friend.” The cat opens her eyes and my heart stops. My... She stands up and I back away. The cat stops and looks at Zarri.

“Oh, don’t be silly.” She tells the cat and turns to me. “Come here.” She drags me closer. “She won’t bite.” Zarri tells me. I gulp an air bubble. The Cat lowers her head to me, closing her eyes.

“See! She's saying she won’t hurt you!” Zarri keeps petting the Cat. “Isn’t Emerald beautiful?”

“Emerald?”

“Mhm! That's her name! Do you like?” Zarri looks at me again. I try my best to snap out of it. I pick the sides of my dress up a little and curtsy.

“Amana Starlight, Miss.”

“Hahahaha! Miss! Hey, she called you miss! How cute!” Zarri giggles at me. Emerald makes a sound and I step back again. She opens her green eyes again at me. Wow... I feel something. When did!

“See. She's friendly too.” Zarri has placed my palm on Emerald's fur.

“So soft and fluffy.”

“I know! She's so warm too!” Zarri hugs her Saber. The Cat lays back down again and Zarri sits down next to her. She pats on the pillow in front of them. I carefully lower myself.

“Oh! Here! Hold this for a sec!” Zarri takes the necklace with the green stone off her neck and hands it to me. I take it a bit confused.

“Hello, Amana, thank you for being friends with Zarri.”

“A VOICE! THE STONE SPOKE!”

Zarri roars again and takes the stone back from me.

“Nooooo, silly, that was Emerald.” She puts the necklace back on. “This is her Lector Stone. This is how we talk.” Zarri pets Emerald again.

“She talks!”

“Mhm.” Zarri smiles with a nod. “She's been keeping me company since I've turned five. She hasn’t always lived here, with me, you know. I usually would go visit her at the Stables.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“She talks...” I repeat myself.

“Yeah! She has great war stories! I love listening to them! Mostly because they are about my father!”

“Your father?”

“Mhm.” She nods. “He died when I was little... We never met...” Her expression changes there... “But Emerald here as told me a whooooole buuuunch of tales about him! Wanna hear!”

I nod.

“Ok, here goes.” She clears her throat and stands up. “The Story of Wykren Stardust! The Bladed Wind!” How scary! “A field with nothing, but a red sea of Balli warriors as far as the eye can see! And my father! With Emerald! Charging them! A short sword in his right and a double-edged axe in his left! Woosh! Woosh! Chop! Slash! Pow! Crush!” Zarri stomps around in place, swinging her hands...CLAWS!!? I shake my head quickly. I must be seeing things...

“The enemies go flying! Or should I say bits and pieces of them!” Zarri giggles. How can she! It sounds horrible! “Emerald stomps on them too! They charge through with blood spilling and guts raining and!”

“Eek!” I cover my face.

“Huh? What?” I hear Zarri's voice. “Oh! I’m sorry. Did that scare you? I’m sorry. I got carried away there a little... Emerald snapped me out of it. It's ok now, Ammi. Sorry. I won't talk about it anymore, so come out, now, ok? Hey.” I feel a light touch on my hands. I open up and Zarri is there smiling at me. Now I feel bad for being such a scaredy cat...

“I know! Why don’t we play something else! Not that I have much of anything else...” She pouts.

“Ira.”

“Huh?” She turns around from under a pillow.

“You said he plays with you sometimes? That's your other friend, right?”

“Oh! OH! YEAH! He, um, he's nice, but I... I can’t call him my friend...” Strange... Zarri curls up and hugs her knees.

“Why not?”

“I’m not allowed to be friends with people from the Palace... I get them in trouble...” She mutters quietly. I crawl over to her and now I take her hands into mine.

“Did something happen?” I ask her. She nods. “It's ok. You can tell me.” I smile. She hesitates.

“One time a Maiden was teaching me how to roll up bandages and stuff and a Robe found us and –”

“A "robe"?” I cut in.

“A Geezer. I mean an Advisor. Someone from the Council. Ira calls them Robes.” Zarri giggles lightly.

“Oh! I got it! Cause they wear robes, right?”

“Yeah!” Zarri laughs again. “So anyways, a Robe found us and the Maiden got in trouble for it. I tried to tell him it was all my fault, but he wouldn’t listen... I ran out of the Infirmary, screaming for Ira and out of nowhere he popped up. I clung to his pants, begging him to help the Maiden. He took me back to the Infirmary and straitened everything out. The Robe apologized and so did the Maiden. Even though she didn’t do nothing... I apologized to the girl too. I asked Ira what I do wrong and he said: nothing, Cuteness, you didn’t do anything wrong. I asked him why did the girl get in trouble and he said: because you are the Heir. It doesn’t look good for the help to be so friendly with Royalty...” Zarri's voice dies down with a hint of sadness there... Oh... I see... She's the Star amongst Stars...

“Cuteness?” I go back.

“That's what Ira calls me sometimes when nobody is around.” Zarri smiles silly again. “This one time I was hiding up there;” she points to the top of the bed roof; “because I didn’t want to study and everyone was looking for me.” She giggles again all mischievous. I giggle too.

“They were standing all here in my room and Ira came through the door and was all like: And since when do you, lot, have meetings in the Heir's room? Someone answered that I was missing and that they have been looking for me. When Ira asked them if they already searched this room and they said yes, but with no luck, he told them to get lost and keep looking. He then waited for everyone to leave and called out to me. I don’t know how he does it, but he always knows where I am!” Zarri pouts a little there.

“Well? Did you come out?” I ask.

“Mhm. Ira stood right here and said: everyone is gone now. You want to come out for me, Cuteness. When I peeked out, he put his hands up to me and I jumped down. He caught me! That was fun!” Zarri throws her hands into the air. Is it just me or do her eyes light up every time she says his name?

“You like this Ira, fellow, huh?”

“I loooooove Ira! He never lies to me! I like it when he visits! He always teaches me something new and cool! Oh! Blain teaches me plenty too, but only cause he's a Beast like me! Blain's my Teacher!” Beast? Oh! She means Druid...

“Seems to me you have plenty of friends.” I smile at Zarri. “You have no need for someone like me...”

“Noooo! Don’t say that! Don’t ever say that! I like you! Don’t leave me!” Zarri grabs my hands again. “Please! Promise me! Promise me!”

I blink a few times and nod. “Alright. I promise.”