7 Welcome to Resh 2

"Why did you come to our world anyway?" Fiona asked as she and Gwyn stepped out of his room. The door automatically slid with a soft hiss as it shut. Gwyn began to look all around as he walked alongside her.

"Wasn't trying to... Hey, what's that?" Gwyn pointed to an illuminating object sitting on the floor. It had a spiral shape as it rose from the floor and ended in a point.

"A lamp."

"A bit oddly shaped, isn't it?"

"Maybe to you... getting back on topic, you have no idea how you came here?"

"I think I recall some substance; it seemed to encase my car... and the next thing I remember was waking up in the bed. Hey, what's that?"

"Never mind that...."

They turned a corner and began down a new hallway.

"Say, where are we going anyway?" Gwyn asked as they walked past some Aqueenians dressed in what he assumed were doctor's clothes. They waved to Fiona and Gwyn but began muttering about them as soon as the duo had walked past.

"I was just walking randomly; do you want to go somewhere?"

Gwyn thought to himself for a moment while he walked.

"I don't know," he finally replied, "What is there to see?"

"Well, not too much in the hospital, to be honest. However, we have plenty to see all over the city. There's a marketplace not too far from here, you could go on an art tour, and we have the best coliseum on all of Resh!" she said with unmistakable pride.

"So is Resh the name of the city?"

"No, this city is called Quenth; Resh is the whole world," Fiona answered.

Gwyn nodded as he understood. He was piecing things together but still had several more questions.

From what he had put together, Aqueenian was the name of the species that Fiona was. He had thought they were all blue aliens, but during the walk, he had passed several green Aqueenians as well as some turquoise ones.

They were the species that lived in this area of the planet called Resh, but there were at least one more human-like species. Gwyn tried to recall the name, but he couldn't come up with it. He figured it would come back to him later.

"So, what do you guys do for fun around her anyway?" Gwyn said after looking around the hallway; they walked down some more. The shapes of the rooms and hallways seemed to favor curved and intricate shapes, but the overall décor was lacking. They passed a couple of lamps with odd shapes, and any benches had legs that resembled ribbons flowing in the wind, but Gwyn saw no pictures hanging on the glossy, white walls.

"This is a hospital; I'm not sure what you mean by fun."

"I meant more generally, on this planet...."

"Oh, well, it depends on the person."

"I see," Gwyn answered, "So, can we go somewhere out of the hospital?"

"We probably shouldn't; it might cause havoc... actually, yes. We certainly can!" Fiona answered with a devious smile.

"Could you repeat that first part?" Gwyn asked, but Fiona was already happily running ahead and leading the way while waving for him to follow.

She peered around a corner while crouched down as Gwyn caught up.

"I don't see anyone; once I give the signal... we make a break for it!"

"What exactly are we making a break for?"

"The front door. If you take this hallway straight down, you wind up in the central staircase. There are two winding staircases and a large window that goes from the ground floor to the ceiling of the fifth. We run and charge down the stairs and make a break for the front."

"And what purpose will that serve?"

"It will piss off a lot of people, especially my old man," Fiona said while giving Gwyn a thumbs up. Gwyn groaned. He was going to get in trouble as soon as possible in this alien world.

"Is your father some big shot?"

"He's something like that...."

"Is it wise to use me to annoy him?

"You might get beheaded."

"Beheaded?" It took Gwyn a minute to process, but he ended up shouting rather loudly in shock.

"Yeah, it's when they sever your head from your body."

"I like my head on my body!"

"Would you rather lose another part then? I can probably convince them to take off an arm instead. Maybe the left?"

Gwyn took a step back and shook his head.

"How about we don't do anything that would cause me harm."

"Hmm, then we should probably sit you back in the hospital bed. I'm just joking, by the way."

Gwyn sighed, and then he chuckled. He didn't know what else to do.

Fiona stood up from the corner but continued to peer around it.

"Are you two planning to go anywhere," a deep voice asked them from behind in a hushed whisper.

"We are planning to run, but I keep seeing nurses and doctors pass from time to time," Fiona answered.

"This is a hospital; you're going to run into nurses and doctors," the voice answered.

Gwyn turned to see who was speaking to them.

A giant Aqueenian stood behind him. Not only was he tall, but he looked like he could wrestle an ox to the ground with one arm. Gwyn took a step away from this giant figure, mainly as a defensive measure. The Aqueenian smiled at him with bright, yellow eyes.

"Hello, you must be our otherworldly traveler," he said in a deep, booming voice.

The voice caught Fiona's attention, and she turned to look at the newcomer.

"Yes, I am... I think..." Gwyn stuttered.

Gwyn's back faced Fiona, so he could not see her waving her hands at the newcomer as she tried to indicate the massive Aqueenian should leave.

"Nice to meet you; I'm Donn, the crown prince and Fiona's older brother!" Donn put out his large left hand in front of Gwyn. Gwyn stared blankly at the hulk of an Aqueenian. "Oh, don't you do handshakes on your world?" Donn asked quizzically.

Gwyn, meanwhile, was putting some dots together based on what Donn had said. He blurted out his conclusion, though it came out more scrambled than he might have wanted it:

"Crown prince... That means... Fiona... and her father... the king?" He turned to Fiona, who was looking away and whistling.

"You didn't tell him, Fiona?" Donn said without withdrawing his hand, "Hmm; I guess there was no need... Anyway, my friend, are you going to leave me hanging here!" he boomed, though there was no malice in his voice.

Gwyn slowly greeted Donn with a handshake. It was awkward as Gwyn was already not left-handed, and Donn's grip might have well as crushed it. Gwyn resisted wincing in pain as they finished their greeting.

"Brother, would you mind telling me what you are doing here? Surely you are busy with the conference preparations!" Fiona interjected as Gwyn turned away from Donn and shook his hand rather dramatically.

Donn just laughed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interfere with your information gathering. Our father already got wind of our friend waking up and asked me to bring him to the throne room."

"He could have just sent me a message...." Fiona said without a hint of care in her voice.

Donn sighed.

"You know how our father is... why don't we just get going."

Gwyn was awkwardly looking back between the two as they spoke. They turned and waved that he should follow. Fiona took the lead in leading where they should go, and Donn walked next to Gwyn.

"So, is there something between her and the king?" Gwyn whispered to Donn without thinking. He regretted it immediately, and he figured he should not get too involved in their family matters. Surprisingly, Donn answered anyway.

"Our father considers her to be a little different from the rest... but she should tell you on her own. So, tell me, what kind of training have you had?"

"I'm just an ordinary human...."

"Don't be so modest; you came from another world! I suspect you might be a great warrior!"

Gwyn spent the rest of the walk trying to convince Donn he was not someone with extraordinary powers. He failed.