Lessons

After a late-night of giggling, fantasizing, and anxiety, Snowbird is watching me move her toy puppets through the air.

"Did anyone ever give you lessons, Snowbird?" She shakes her head. "Well Bit taught me some things, which I don't think she was supposed to, most of it was about Efrya since that's where her ancestors are from. She also told me some things about Ethuenia and Eshia as well."

"Was Bit your Mom?"

I sigh sadly,

"No, she was my doctor here. But she acted more Motherly than my own Mother."

"What'd she teach you?"

I lowered the toys to the ground.

"Well, she told me that the Three Islands are made up of just that, three islands. But there are four countries, which I just listed to you. We share our continent with Ethuenia, you know the Oskela Desert? Our border's in there. Bit said that Esmijan is the only place where humans have powers."

"Wow," Snowbird breathes,

"Yeah, but the other two countries still have magic in some form. In Ethuenia, they have fantastic Beasts of all sizes! There are human-animal Beasts, Beasts that kind of look like humans, and just animal Beasts." Snowbird is leaning forward excitedly,

"They have Centaurs, and Hydras- well everyone has Hydras because they live in the Fliula Ocean but they mostly like the waters near Zublela."

"Where's that?"

"Ethuenia, it's the capital. Like Prenford is the capital of Esmijan. Anyway, Bit went on and on about Efrya which I think is the most interesting."

I float up the puppets again and circle the boy and girl around each other.

"Bit said that Efrya isn't governed by a Government like ours, they have Kings and Queens."

"And Princes and Princesses?" Her eyes are shining,

"Mhm. Efrya is divided up into four kingdoms. Royal Clemor, Pluji, Esnistan, and Yasnad. Bit said that the largest forest in the Three Islands is a part of Esnistan, Pluji, and Royal Clemor."

"Is that big?"

I shrug,

"I don't know but I would assume so." Snowbird's stomach rumbles loudly and she clutches it. I frown,

"When is breakfast going to arrive? You're hungry."

"Soon. Finish the story!"

"It's not a story Snowbird, this is real life. Royal Clemor is ruled by King Byron and Queen Anita. They have two boys, Prince Edwyn and Prince Pedro. Bit told me that Prince Edwyn is going to be the next King, along with Princess Evie of Pluji."

"How does she know this?"

"Apparently everyone knows that Prince Edwyn and Princess Evie are going to get married when they're older and combine Pluji and Royal Clemor."

"Oh. Who's King and Queen of Pluji now?"

"Princess Evie's parents, King Corey and Queen Aeliyah. Princess Evie has two younger siblings, Princess Abby and Prince James."

"Who are they going to marry? Is Princess Abby going to marry Prince Pedro?" I crinkle my nose and smack Snowbird lightly with a pillow, making her laugh.

"Ew, no! That would be like your Mother's sister marrying your Father's brother!" I don't notice Snowbird's slight confusion.

"Esnistan is ruled by King Alhan and Queen Kirsen. Bit said that they don't have any kids yet and that they'd better hurry up if they want the throne in their family." Snowbird laughed.

"Yasnad is ruled by the biggest royal family so far. It's ruled by King Jerome and Queen Ryleegh. Their oldest son, Prince James, is going to be the next King. Then there's Prince D'andre, Prince Alexander, Prince Marques, and Prince Rachard. Bit said that her daughter Lara thinks that Prince Alexander is super cute." Snowbird giggles again.

"I'd like to see Ethuenia. I want to see the Oskela Desert and the Beasts you told me about."

I frown at her.

"You can see the Oskela Desert in Esmijan too,"

"Yeah but I want to see the Beasts! I want to meet an ogre! Do they have ogres there?"

"Extinct." I state, I truthfully don't know if they are or not!

"Oh. Well, then I'd like to meet a vampire!"

Why does Snowbird keep thinking of all the dangerous ones? I remember Bit telling me that vampires were dangerous and if any Esmijans saw any Beast across the border, they were to kill them immediately.

"Wait," She says abruptly, "I thought you said there were four countries."

"I did. But I'm not done with Efrya yet so, shh!"

Snowbird closed her mouth.

"Instead of humans having all the magic in Efrya, they have Familiars."

Her eyes widened.

"They get a Familiar when they turn 10, so you and I would have one if we were Efryan. Bit has a girl sheep Familiar named Ivy."

"That's so cool! You'd never be lonely! I want a Familiar! If you go to Efrya do you get one Ray-Ray?"

"No. Bit said you have to have Efryan blood,"

"Well maybe one of us might!"

"No," I say again, "If we did, our Familiar would've already appeared."

"Aw. Will you tell me why you've only talked about three countries?"

"Maybe it's because you keep interrupting me and I'm just getting to it now?" I ask irritably.

Snowbird looks down in shame.

"It's alright, I was just teasing. I've only talked about three because us three countries don't really like the fourth one. It's called Eshia and magic is banned there."

Snowbird gasps and clutches one of the puppets I'd let go of a while ago.

"Yeah, you don't want to visit there. They think all magic is evil, dangerous, and makes us lazy. If you have magic there, they'll drown you in Magic Lake."

"Oh no," She whispers.

"But don't worry. There's no chance of that because they don't let anyone in ever. Not if they believe you're tainted by magic."

"Do they let people leave?"

"Yes but people rarely want to leave because they think we're all lazy and dangerous and have too much power. Meanwhile, we think they're barbarians and stubborn brutes who are stuck in the old days from before the Beasts came out of the forests, from before humans were worthy enough of Familiars, and from before the Government made their magical breakthrough."

"Bit told you all this?"

"No. Bit only told me that Eshians banned magic and that the other three countries don't really like them. The rest I got from stories other patients have told to scare us kids."

"So then it's not true?"

"Oh, it's true alright! Where else would the stories have come from?"

"Uh, Raylee? Have you ever watched those really old castle movies? Or the rare lamp ones?"

"You mean Disney and Pixar?"

"Um, no. But their movies had stories in them that were created by their imagination. They were made up. Maybe the stories about Eshia are made up as well." I waved away her suggestion,

"Of course they weren't! Why would someone make up stories to scare us? They're real."

"But what about horr-" I quickly shushed her.

"Sh! How do you even know about horror movies? They're banned! Illegal! No one is allowed to make movies that show magic, Beasts, or Familiars in a bad light!"

"Maybe they're not banned in Eshia," She whispers meekly, "Maybe that's why magic's banned. Because they're scared." Silence descends as we think about her hypothesis, what if she's right?

"May-" It's Snowbird's turn to shush me, when she doesn't say anything just slides off her bed, and onto the cement floor, I try to speak again.

"Wh-"

"Sshh!"

I groan to show her my annoyance and cross my arms.

"Someone's coming. I can feel the vibrations of them opening the first door."

There's a pause so I place my hand on the floor as well, I feel a slight shake,

"It's closing!" She shrieks quietly. What if it's Crynn and his friends coming to get us?

"Quick Snowbird! Put on some shoes and anything you may need for the escape, I don't know what it's like outside so don't ask me!" Snowbird looks at me with wide eyes, I can see the anxiety clouding her grey eyes. Suddenly, she turns away from me with a whip of her white hair and begins searching her room.

"It's time."