5 Friends 

*All our troubles in life stem from choices. Logical thinking and deep analysis do not always help with daily life choices… By Anonymous*

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Her dreams had always been the same, this was the only time in her young life that she had seen something different.

"Was she going crazy?" Lendon asked herself,

"Why were the leaves in the physical world and not in the dreams?",

"It was in the dream one moment and then it was here?"

"How did it even get here?" she asked herself again with a perplexed expression.

Lendon was so confused but was drawn out again when she heard the panicky voice of Thalia,

"Hey! what's wrong with you?"

"What are you muttering to yourself?"

"We should do something!"

She looked up to see Tarragon on the floor shaking with her eyes rolling back in her head.

And then she heard something that she considered even crazier…

"I told you that you would need it", the voice sounded like it was smiling and that was creepy…. very creepy considering the circumstances.

"Now is the time", the voice continued,

Lendon briefly wondered why the older girl; Thalia was looking at her to do something when she was younger. At that moment, Thalia had lost all her composure and if one entered the room, one would think that she was the youngest.

She hesitated a bit as she did not even know what she was doing, ten-year-old Lendon chewed the strange leaves and spat out the juice into Tarragon's mouth directly but in a rather clumsy way. Then she blocked her nose with her two hands but failed miserably at it for obvious reasons. These actions were almost natural to Lendon as if it was something she had done previously.

Thalia saw what she was trying to do and stepped in to securely hold Tarragon's nose, thereby blocking her airways. Out of instinct, Tarragon opened her mouth to breathe and swallowed the liquid juice in her mouth.

Almost instantaneously, she stopped shaking on the floor and lay still.

Thalia started panicking and screamed at Lendon, "what have you done?!" … She's going to die! … I mean, "she is dead!"

Lendon sat there calmly which was strange considering her age as well the circumstance she found herself in. Deep in her thought, she was in another sort of trance again and not fully aware of her surroundings.

After a few moments which felt like years for Thalia, Tarragon sat up sluggishly and took in a large swing of air into her lungs. With shaky hands, she wiped the nonexistent sweat from her forehead.

Tarragon did not require any of her two new friends to tell her what had happened as she was very much aware of her body and was conscious of her surroundings during her 'attack'.

The three girls sat on the floor with blank faces and each occupied with their thoughts.

Tarragon wondered what had happened to her and at the same time was eternally grateful to her new companions.

Thalia was not exactly sure of what had happened, and especially what Lendon had fed Tarragon and,

Lendon, was not sure either as she could not understand it from her point of view not to think of explaining it to her two older companions.

That night Lendon dreamt of the same girl, again.

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[The young girl was dressed in the same simple dress that was very worn out and clean. She skipped along a dirt road and gathered flowers periodically. She had the most beautiful dark skin and her most prominent feature was her striking blue eyes which made people a little uncomfortable when they looked at her head-on including Lendon herself when she initially saw it.

This was because of the contrast between the skin and the eye colour. She was indeed an ethereal beauty even at twelve years.

After gathering the flowers, especially her favourite blue roses, she skipped back home.

This was how she spent most of her time; playing in the forest by herself because most of the other children in their small village did not want to come near her because their parents didn't let them. They believed she was a curse and a witch because of her physical characteristics.

She did not know her birth parents and had been raised by a kind old woman who had found her as a baby in the woods.

On this day, like any other, she brought the freshly picked flowers to her Nana, as she called the woman who raised her….]

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The dream was mundane as if explaining the life of the girl to her. When Lendon woke up in the middle of the night, she was a little disturbed as it looked like she was dreaming about the same people and watching their lives unfold in her eyes.

She laid back down on the bed and hoped that she did not dream again. Well, ... if wishes were like horses…

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["Come play with me," The girl extended her hands.

"My name is Elcaro," she said and smiled. Her smile was so enchanting.

"I already know you Lendon, so you don't need to introduce yourself"

She took Lendon's hands, she led her into a maze…]

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When Lendon woke up to begin the day's work, she looked tired. Noting this, Tarragon said,

"You seem to be having a lot of these dreams nowadays",

"And you don't look like you are having enough sleep too", Tarragon said worriedly.

Lendon smiled weakly at her and assured her that she was okay.

They had now been in the palace for a few months and the dream episodes had never stopped, even once. Every single night, Lendon had them. She was sometimes grateful when she got the passive story-telling ones and not the ones that she had to 'play' with Elcaro.

It wasn't that she did not like the fun, she did because she had missed out on it in her current life. The problem was that she wasn't sure they were just dreams.

When Tarragon left the room, Lendon removed her clothes and looked down at her hand which had a few scratches and red marks from thorns she got while playing with Elcaro in the maze… in her dream.

She cleaned up quickly and put on her clothes, making sure that her whole body was covered. Like when she arrived in the palace, she made sure that her clothes, fell below her feet and they were loose as well. This meant that no part of her body was visible when she wore her clothes. Over the months, she grew out her hair and even let out some bangs in the front.

This largely obscured most of her facial features. The two friends did not pay much attention to this. But with time, people paid less and less attention to the 'ugly' girl. She made sure her duties were done on time and only spoke in a rather small voice when directly addressed.

Her dreams went on for years and Lendon got used to her 'friend' in her dreams and looked forward to meeting her after a hard day's work…

To Lendon, she felt Elcaro was more genuine than any person she had by her. This unfortunately included Tarragon and Thalia.

*** *** ***

Ten years on...

Once a year, there was a celebration banquet organised for the King's birthday.

The palace was bustling with a lot of movement and activities. The underlying excitement could be felt as the whole Kingdom prepared for the annual birthday banquet for the celebration of the King's birthday. He was turning thirty-nine.

In as much as there was excitement, some people were not too happy as this indicated how long they had been without a royal heir.

This was the scenario that had brought most of their neighbouring kingdoms to their knees. The elders especially knew this because they had orchestrated some of these downfalls themselves.

As the third elder, Conrad sat in his mansion and reminisced over a meeting the Committee had had today about the royal heir, his butler, Joei brought him a letter.

He was a little surprised at the seal since he had no correspondence with their distant neighbours of Fireland. But no one could mistake the seal of swirling fire on the letter he had in front of him.

When he opened the letter, there was a visible smile on his face as he read the contents…

*** *** ***

Back in the palace, Lendon returned to her room a little earlier. As it was a particularly hot day, she was sweating so much and decided to take a quick bath before the rest of the maids returned.

There was a lot of preparation going on for the banquet. The whole palace was to be cleaned and she had been assigned to the gardens alone. She wasn't much of a talker and always got the work that no one liked to do. But as she was not a complainer, she always took it and finished ahead of schedule as well.

Lendon also preferred to clean up and take care of herself when no one was around. This was the same reason she dressed and carried herself the way she did.

Entering the vast bare room where all the palace maids took their baths, she undressed and quickly started to rinse herself with cold water. Lendon finally relaxed as the cold soothing water cascaded on her body.

Lost in thoughts she did not know that she had company in an adjacent room that was hardly used.

Thalia was in a secluded spot in the bath when Lendon walked in. Being the lazy girl she was, she sometimes hid there when she did not want to work as no one used the bath at that time anyway.

When Thalia heard someone enter, she nervously hid deeper into that spot. After a while, she heard water splash and peeped to check who it was. Realizing that it was her friend, Thalia opened her mouth to call her, but all her words got stuck in her throat and her eyes widened.

Thalia prided herself on being the most beautiful out of the three girls. Tarragon had never been a match for her as she grew up to be as petite as her budding years. Tarragon was simple to look at in every way and did not stand to outmatch her, not that they were in any competition. Lendon wasn't much to look at or that is what she, Thalia had always thought until that very moment. Thalia had grown up tall and thin and very proportional. She emphasized her body very well in all her clothes and did not leave much to the imagination. Since the Palace was not so strict, when it came to clothes and how it was worn, no one ever paid much attention to her.

One of her main aims was to get into King's Indicy's bed notwithstanding the repercussions. Her favourite quote was, "I can die in happiness if I get into his majesty's bed even once".

Her wish had sadly never come close to fruition as since she was assigned to the king's palace, she had never met or even seen him. In reality, she only worked in the outer Palace and had never stepped foot inside the main Palace.

As though she was unsure of herself, Thalia took a second look at her naked friend and felt bitter inside. It looked like she had been living in her own bubble…

Lendon was the embodiment of beauty. She had a chest that was neither too small nor big… just the perfect size. Her slim and almost flat tummy emphasised her rounded behind and rather large hips as well as shapely legs. The most surprising thing to Thalia was her face.

With the bangs out of her face, she just could not describe her friend in words, she was goddess-level beautiful, and she, Thalia knew deep in herself that she never even compared half to the beauty in front of her.

After Lendon left the bath fully covered again and in her 'ugly' form, Thalia walked out in a daze as she felt betrayed. After wandering around for some time, she came to a decision and a bright smile spread across her face as she walked with determination toward an unknown location.

That evening, after a full day's work, the three girls sat in their room and chatted casually among themselves. Thalia had a strange look in her eyes as she stared at Lendon.

"Is there something on my face?" Lendon asked worriedly,

"No", Thalia said with a smile and turned to both girls.

"I am so excited!" she hush-screamed while moving excitedly on the bed.

Lendon and Tarragon exchanged amused glances and gave her their whole attention.

"I paid off an attendant in the main palace" she whispered,

"They will allow me into the library of King Indicy",

"I can finally see him up close!"

Both girls listening shook their heads but still showed encouragement for their friend. Suddenly, Lendon asked,

"You need a large sum of gold for this",

"How did you get the gold?"

All smiles vanished from Tarragon's face, and she worriedly looked at Thalia. Tarragon knew that her friend would go to all lengths to get what she wanted and wondered what she had done this time.

Thalia had that mysterious look again, turned slightly to look at Lendon and just said,

"I have my ways…"

"Anyway, I have to go tonight, or I will miss my chance!".

Again, both girls sucked in their breaths but did not utter a word again as they knew that they could never convince her to rescind her decision.

When the palace got quiet that night, Thalia slipped out of bed and walked to her destination. She used the advantage of her slimness and the various pillars as well as the darkness of the night to circumvent the patrolling guards. When she met her contact, the person took her through a secret passage she never knew existed even though she had passed by that wall several times and brought her to a screen that looked directly into the Royal Library.

The attendant turned and whispered, "Stay here, I'll be right back to get you",

She nodded but did not listen to any other instructions given by the attendant. After some time of watching the library and confirming that no one was there, she lightly pushed the door in front of her and walked into the space without even bothering to hide.

Thalia thought to herself, "If I stay here for a bit, I'll see him in person". With an obvious greedy and evil glint in her eyes, she turned but what she saw stopped her in her tracks cold.

Then a voice that could send chills even down the holiest asked her,

"What are you doing and how did you get here?"

With a frightened face, and very wide eyes, she opened her mouth, but no words came out…

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