The hole opened, and they followed Hethei inside. Desmond gasped as they stepped onto the now dull grass she knew so deeply and loved. Quickly, she thought not of home but of the place with the lake, the need to feel the wind in her hair filling her heart. Another hole opened, and she pulled Desmond through. They were now standing where they always stood, at the bank of a giant lake that she couldn't see the end of. She sat down.

She wasn’t ready to share her pain yet.

Hethei flew out of his portal and over the lake, circling a couple of times while Desmond sat down beside her. Then Hethei flew to the forest that was behind them.

"Wow! That was amazing! Frek! You’re amazing, do you know that?”

She ignored him as she took off her silver slippers and slipped her feet into the water. He was beside her working to do the same. His feet lightly touched hers when he put his under the water. He flinched and moved his foot away from hers, but she smiled, reassuring him that the moment of touch had been ok.

She turned her attention away from him to look out over the lake.

"I just… I just really can't believe this. For the longest time, I had thought you were a dream. The only thing that told me different was the doctor about the water in my earhole.” He laughed. “What was that first world you brought me to? I didn't really get a good look at it."

"That was my world. I have to travel back there before I can get anywhere else. I'm not sure why."

"Hmm... that’s interesting. Is that where you got your power?"

She stopped swaying her feet in the water. She had never thought of it, but maybe because she got her power from there, that was why. She nodded to answer his question and closed her eyes to enjoy the warmth of this place as the heat of her skin became one with the temperature of the glistening waves that pulsated lightly against her foot. She opened her eyes to see that the sun was setting. Owls hooted behind them.

"This place is so peaceful and beautiful." Desmond breathed.

"It was the first world I have ever been to that opened up to me."

"Was that a scary experience or thrilling?"

"Horrifying at first. A hole opened up in our room, Hethei disappeared into it. He was gone, I wanted him back, and then a hole opened up for me. Then once I thought I was trapped here, another portal opened and took me back to Ausrine."

"Frek," Desmond whispered, "How do you make it work?"

"You know how sometimes we feel certain desires for some things?"

"Yes, like soup bowls and Sprite."

"Kind of, but instead, it’s like a desire for a place and the feelings that place gives you. Like your body calling out to be somewhere else than where you already are. Then the world listens."

"Interesting…"

She let the silence surround them.

Desmond broke it, "Do you like to swim?"

His question made Airya think of her swimming in the lake back at home. The images of all the children drowning tore through her mind… Lilla’s poor body.

She bit her cheek and looked away from him. Not wanting him to see her tears, “Do you?”

"Yes, but I have to be careful," he tilted his head and motioned to his missing ear.

Why was he asking? Wasn’t he scared after the last time she almost killed him when she accidently took him to the world of only water? Or was he trying to show her that it had not been that scary for him after all? She imagined after he had seen his parents murdered in front of him that traveling to another world and almost drowning wouldn’t be on the top of his list for the worst things that have happened to him.

Airya nodded and stood up, letting her wet feet soak the grass. She had never been swimming in this lake but had a desire to do so. She needed to show herself that it was safe. That she could be brave.

She looked down at her sparkling dress, trying to decide what to do with it. Normally, they swam in their tunics at home, but she didn't like the idea of getting her precious gift she had gotten from the world she could not return to wet again after the last time. It had taken too long to dry and she didn’t have the heat of Nokia anymore to help her. She slipped it off and looked to Desmond who was looking away from her.

"Do you want to go for a little swim?" she asked him.

He extended his hand, waving a couple of times, still refusing to look her way, "Yes, yes, that’s fine. You jump right in."

She nodded and did so. She let the lake swallow her up after she dove and let it run its invisible fingers through her hair as she twisted her body around to swim back up to the top. When she had broken the surface, taking in the soft breeze on her face, she looked to find Desmond floating in the water near her, his clothing in a heap on the ground next to hers. She swam over to him.

"Where was your favorite place to swim?" she asked.

Looking shy and treading water to keep his head above it so it wouldn't enter his ear, he answered, "Probably just the hotels my uncle and I would sometimes stay in for some baker conventions."

Airya nodded, dipped her head back under, and let herself float for a moment, pretending she was in a completely different world full of peace and no struggles. There was a hand on her arm and a light grip. It was Desmond having a hard time staying afloat. She looked down at the faded scars on her arm that his fingers were wrapped around and was surprised that he had never asked her about them with all his other questions.

"Do you need to get out?"

He noticed that he was holding onto her and let go to swim next to her with his long arms pushing the water away.

"Yes. I think that would be best," he answered out of breath.

When they reached land, she watched him grab ahold of the ground and pull himself up. His legs were skinny as he crawled across the ground. He stood up. He still had shorter piece of clothing wrapped around his lower body, which she thought was odd but didn't want to ask about it. She pulled herself out of the water and laid down on the grass for a moment as he looked away again, pulling his top clothing onto the top half of his body and then his longer clothing material onto his legs. She didn't see any other scars on the rest of him. He only had the ones on his hands, arm, and face. She got up and went to her dress, slinking it back on, enjoying the sticky feel of it as it grasped onto the wet parts of her.

"Do you want to see where I’m from now?" she asked, ready to share that part of her with him. She had showed Aesha and it had turned out ok. Why not him? She had already put him through so much, and he had lost so much, maybe he could understand her on the level that Aesha could have if she was still around.

Airya needed that.

He nodded, looking nervous for a second until he bent down, grabbing both of their footwear. The water from the clothing he had layered under the material now covering his legs was coming through, making the material darker in spots. Airya smiled, finding it funny.

"We will let Hethei roam here a little longer. He will head back to Ausrine when he comes looking for us." She reached out for her world, wanting to see her walls and feel the hopeful dream of bringing her people back to their streets again. She felt the portal before she saw the hole open in front of them and grabbed Desmond's free hand and walked through.

Once they were through, she let go and turned to him, slipping her silver slippers away from his grasp to put back on her feet as he looked around. They were in between the temple and the village.

"It’s so quiet. Is everyone asleep or somewhere else?"

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Airya didn't answer, focusing instead on getting her second slipper on.

He jumped to his next question noticing her hesitation, "Do you want to show me where you live?" he pointed down toward the village.

She stood up and pointed in the opposite direction toward the temple. He turned around and stared at it wide-eyed, "You live in there? Why?"

"My mom and dad were King and Queen of this kingdom."

"You..." he stepped back away from her, hands outstretched, "I mean you’re the most beautiful girl I have seen, so I figured in a way... but royalty? You’re a princess?"

"I’m a queen."

She could see him try to swallow as he stared at her taking her in, not saying a word. Finally, he tore his eyes away from her, looking shaken, and glanced. "Holy frek! Those are the highest mountains I have ever seen!"

"Yeah, me too," Airya crossed her arms over her chest, "No matter where I travel."

"What is beyond them?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"What is on the other side? There are two sides to a mountain." He stated.

"Nothing. That is where Ausrine ends."

"Really? How do you know?"

"I don't know. That’s just how it is and always has been. That is the end of our world."

"Have you ever tried to pop over there with your power?"

"No…."

"Then let's do it. Let's try to go over there." There was a thrill playing in his voice.

Airya looked to the mountains. That was their wall. She had never thought about the fact that there may be a whole other side. That was where Ausrine ended.

"You don’t have to if you don’t want to," Desmond said, "Maybe you can show me the rest of your kingdom and maybe I can meet some of your people."

She had thought she was ready to tell him, but now that she was here, she wanted to avoid that subject a little longer. She reached out for her own world, but for the parts of it unknown. The part that she had never even fathomed might exist and might be an extension of the world around her. The hole opened, and she grabbed Desmond's arm and pulled him through.

They slipped. A hard surface hit Airya's side after her feet slid out from under her. Desmond fell right beside her at a different angle. He groaned.

She put her hands to the ground. It was slick, cold to the touch, and wet. Like it was a frozen black surface. She shifted her body around to where her knees could slide under her, and she found her footing while keeping herself still, pressing her hands into the freezing ground to stand up. Desmond was still on the ground, the scarred side of his face pressing into it as he tried to sit up. She looked around. The black ground seemed to go on forever. She saw the mountains on one side of her as a dominating fence to this part of the world. The mountains traveled around the black surface they were standing on, until she couldn't see the mountains anymore. She didn't know where the mountains on this side ended, but now, she knew well enough that her kingdom was a small part of her vast world. Here, there was a never-ending black cold ground. In her kingdom, there was only a circle of never-ending mountains.

"Is this? Is this ice?" Desmond asked.

Airya looked to him and saw him rubbing his hand against the surface. Then something clicked in Airya's mind. A land of black ice. Was this where the Shackle had taken Sedeth? Was this a dwelling place of souls? Were her people here? But how? How could Nokia and Ausrine be connected?

This couldn’t have been the place where the Shackle had been found before. This couldn’t have been the place where Brillia had sent that man to die.

Was magick interconnected somehow? Was death magick? Had the Shackled Eye of Brillia picked up on the magick of this place and how bodies and people never aged or died? How they only dwelled in discontinuation?

But the Shackle was old. Made before her people had come here. Why had it sent Sedeth here?

"Airya."

Airya looked at Desmond, not realizing he had been yelling at her.

"Are you OK? You look spooked?"

She shook her head, "This. This. This place. I think this is where Sedeth was taken to by the Shackle. The Shackle that’s supposed to take you to where souls dwell in discontinuation."

"What?" Desmond sat on the ice, holding himself up with his arms. His legs were spread apart.

"There was this shackle that I was after… to… to find and bring back my people. And this King, he said he used it before. Said it only took him to a land of black ice. I... I think this is the land. I think this is it!”

"You were after a shackle? To bring back your people? Where are your people?"

"A Soloc broke the Desphere and killed them all."

Desmond balanced himself and stood up. His uneasy smile was filled with uncertainty. He reached a hand out as if to calm her down. "Hey… Let's get back to your temple, OK? Why don't you show me around?" he tried sliding his feet to get closer to her.

Did he think she was insane?

"No. I have to look around here. I have to see if I can find them."

"Who?"

"My people!" In a frenzy, her ache for her people extended to a hole in the universe which she fell into, grabbing Desmond to fall in with her. They landed on grass near the giant hole in the ground where her parents lay. "My people! Do you see them? They aren't aging! They aren't changing! They’re trapped! Trapped in the land of black ice!"

On his hands and knees, Desmond peeked over the pit and fell back in horror, "Airya. Please. Please. Take me somewhere else. Please.” He was shaking.

Wanting nothing more than to leave him there, staring her pain in the face, and staring into the faces of her hundreds of dead people, she forced herself to want to be back inside the temple of her home. When the hole opened up behind Desmond, he turned around and reached for it just as Airya walked into it and onto the temple floor by the river. The first thing she noticed by the thrones was the spoon that she had gotten her dad. Her heart ached. She wanted to scream. She wanted someone to understand.

She thought Desmond would understand. He had lost people too.

Desmond stood up behind her, "Airya. I’m so sorry this— that this happened to you. Trust me. I know how it feels. I know how it feels to lose everyone. And I’m so sorry if… If— if everyone had— if you had to see it all. But… you can leave this place. You found places with other people. Surround yourself with them. You don’t have to stay in this empty world with no one in it. You shouldn’t."

Who was he to tell her what she should or shouldn’t do? She had a time limit. She could bring her people back if she only tried harder.

Just like Aesha, she could see he was falling away. He didn’t realize that no matter where she went, she was hated and didn’t belong. He was proving that to her now. The horribleness she had lived through was never going to be enough to relate to anyone... No one could understand what it was like to rule an empty kingdom.

But this wasn’t an empty kingdom. She wasn’t completely alone. "There are others. Alive here. There are others."

"What? Who?"

"The Solocs."

He paused. His brows furrowed in and he swallowed, "Do they live in the village I saw?"

"No. They live in a village they built after they had left this place. After my parents came into this world," the words bubbled acid on her tongue. Even though they were here, and she wasn’t alone, they hated her too. Just as much as she hated them.

“You sound like you despise them."

"Because they conspired and killed my people."

"Earlier, you said that a Soloc, one Soloc, broke the whatever you called it. How does that mean they all killed your people?”

“Because they all hated us our whole lives.”

He shook his head, “One doesn’t mean the collective. You don't give them the time of day at all, do you? It isn’t fair on them if you judge them all based on only one. There is also no point in staying here if only they are here and you don’t talk to them. It’s better to have people around you when you lose someone. Like my uncle was there for me. Trust me."

"I can't. Even if I wanted to push down my hatred towards them, I’m sure they hate me even more now than they did before," she wiped away an angry tear.

"Why?" Desmond came forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

She missed Hethei. She needed Hethei here.

"Because I banished one of their people from this world. I threw one of their people out of this world for good after he told me he was the one behind killing my people."

Desmond let and left his hand right above her shoulder.

"Airya… This doesn't seem like the best place for you," he whispered. She knew his awe in her was fading.

"It’s my place. I need to try to make it like it used to be. I need to learn to rule like my parents or like the King and Queen of Nokia!"

"How are you supposed to rule if you have no one to rule and a here alone? How are you supposed to rule if you can’t even talk to others who live here with you?”

"Why do you care about the Solocs so much?" she turned to him. Hating him.

"Because they’re people, Airya! People, creatures, whatever! Even different species are beings you can learn from. You don't understand. My uncle, who was a complete stranger, took me in and taught me all I know and how to survive in this life! If it wasn't for letting a complete stranger into my life and getting to know him and all he taught, I would not be where I am now. You can owe almost everything in this world to communication and knowledge from others! It’s wrong to push people away just because they’re different! It’s wrong to not give anyone a chance to explain."

She would not go to the Solocs like he wanted. She couldn't forgive them for what they had done. But she was done fighting with him. She didn't want to fight with some boy who had no idea what he was talking about. She had her own battle inside her she was fighting with every day. She thought back to Nokia and how Aesha would probably understand where she was coming from if she didn’t hate her for turning away from them both. She wished she were here for her to talk to now. Sedeth would have also understood this situation. She was sure he would have done anything to avenge his Kingdom if someone had harmed all his people. But Airya wasn’t going the vengeance route. Wasn’t that good enough that she was leaving all the Solocs alone and hating them from a distance?

“Sedeth would have understood. And so would his sister,” Airya whispered the thoughts that were spinning in her mind.

“Who are Sedeth and Aesha?” Desmond asked.

“They are a king and a queen in another Kingdom from another world who think of me just like you do now too. I turned down Sedeth’s proposal… he understood… but Aesha… She didn't understand and the last I saw from her was the hatred of me in her eyes." A few tears fell onto the floor. She could not go to them now. Not like this when they had offered her everything and she had turned them away.

She had no one.

"Proposal?" Desmond’s tone was flat.

Airya nodded, "To be his maten. To be his queen and leave my kingdom for his. But they don’t understand how I can’t do that…."

A small hole opened over the thrones and Hethei flew in and down next to Airya like he knew she needed him. Hethei rubbed his beak against her cheek.

After a while, Desmond finally spoke, making Airya remember that he was still there. He sat up on her knees, "Airya. I do hope that you come find me to not be alone,” he paused for a moment, "But I think it’s time that I return home. If you need someone, can be here for you."

She nodded. There was a tingle and desire to be back in his small home in that odd chair before all of this had come to be. Back when there had been laughter and excitement at new things in new worlds instead of the haunted loneliness falling over her now only because she didn’t want anything to do with the people who had taken everything from her.

A hole opened and Desmond stepped inside. It closed behind him.