Fallen Kingdom ✔️

Fears

Unknowingly, Prince Bowen confesses to planning a proposal. It ran through my head in my dreams. Waking up to morning light, I found that I wasn't alone in the tent. Prince Bowen was asleep beside me. He was so warm that I wanted to stay close to him, maybe even have his arms wrapped around me, but I had to wake him and the others. It would be breakfast and travel. Getting out of the tent, I found that Striker and Rathelia were already making breakfast.

Rathelia called me over. "We found a pig in our camp when we woke up this morning! We get to have pork, ham and bacon for breakfast! And we found a Tuuka's nest!"

"A Tuuka's nest? A chicken-dragon out here? We must be getting close. Magical creature love magical landscapes. Attracts them even. So we get pig and eggs for breakfast. I think that I would like those together. How are you cooking them?"

"Just scrambling them as they cook to get them cooked evenly everywhere."

I smiled. "Genius, Striker!  Try putting this in it. It's dried and crushed black pepper."

When Rathelia took a taste, her eyes teared with joy. "This is wonderful! How did you come up with it?"

"Experimenting. Back in Servania I had a job for a bit collecting chickens eggs for the palace. I would be allowed to take some home for my family. I would experiment with flavours every time with a small portion. I would also experiment with how to cook them. Anything I got would be something new for me to try. I found black pepper crushed tastes good on many things, including eggs."

Soon, everyone else woke up and there was a huge feast. I couldn't believe it, it felt like I had a family. The only ones who weren't here were Father and Mother. I think they would be proud of me if they were here. I noticed there was someone else who wasn't here. Prince Bowen. That dunce was still sleeping! It's been nearly an hour since I woke up! I stomped over to the tent, only to have him jump out at me.

"Scared you." He laughed.

"Prince Bowen, this is a serious quest. How long have you been awake for?"

He looked nervous. "When you left the tent, I woke up. I got dressed since you had left and waited for you to come back but you never did. I thought about playing a joke, so when you came back, I scared you in a silly way."

"This is... why were you sleeping next to me?"

"I was tired, you were tired. We're sharing a tent. I thought it would be warmer since it was so cold out. Was that not okay to do?"

"A young woman and a young man in a tent alone far away from the rest of the group. Do you not see anything wrong with that?"

"No. If you would rather not sleep next to me, we can just take turns sleeping like before."

I jumped into the tent. "You didn't touch my bag, did you?"

"I looked inside the large pouch to make sure the ink bottle didn't break. You punched it in your sleep."

"Good. Don't go into my bag again. There's something in there I don't want you to see. Also, breakfast, now."

Prince Bowen left hiding a chuckle. I sat in the tent, sighing. I never wanted this quest to end. If I could just stay here with him and the others for the rest of my life, I'd be happy. I didn't want to have to deal with marriage or what's right for the kingdom. I wanted to have adventures. I wanted to fight. Mostly what I wanted was for Prince Bowen to stay alive. There was Tuuka here. There were deer and rabbit and bear if you're brave enough. There was a whole garden variety as well.

I walked back and found that everyone was just relaxing instead of packing up. Everyone but Prince Bowen. I noticed what we were drinking. Panic arose through me.

"Rathelia, Striker! Where did you find this water?"

"At the river." They replied at the same time. "Isn't it wonderful?"

I turned towards the River. "River Maiden, please let yourself be known! We request your help!"

Gwenyth walked to me, laughing as though she were drunk. "You can't speak with here here. We have to hike to the mountain, climb it and find her tree. What gives her the healing powers is the tree of youth that makes a small fountain."

"Are you saying that her tree makes the fountain of youth?" Bowen asked, his jaw dropping.

"Fountain of youth? What a silly name. Her name is Cordelia."

This time, I was shocked. "As in, daughter of the sea?"

"Hidden daughter of the one and only sea god. When he died, she was left alone here, one of the last remaining gods left in the form of a river run deep into an isolated area of Armeada."

"The unknown river of the known lands. My mother used to tell me that story as a little kid to help me sleep at night." I sighed, so very upset about my mother's death. She nor my father deserved it. They did far more than anyone had known. "I think she would have taken my brothers here too."

"Your mother sounds like she was a good person."

I smiled at Bowen when he put a hand on my shoulder. "She was. She was a wonderful queen, but even even better mother. She was incredible, being able to fight off half our guards by herself. She was a fighter. She had all the knowledge of a Princess and all the fight of a warrior."

Bowen wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Sounds like a young woman I know. You act the way you describe your mother."

"She was my hero."

"And you're mine." Bowen added. "I'll get everyone to clean up. You just relax for a bit. We'll head out soon."

Prince Bowen might be an idiot, but he was kind and usually knows what to do. He's becoming less dependent on others. I don't think he'll ever stop depending on me though. I have five times the knowledge he does and I am his person guard at the moment. He'd never admit it, but he enjoys having me to take care of his royal pain in the butt. I also have to admit it's been nice having him around too. He's put all his faith in me to do this, and I have put my faith in him that he won't just leave when this is over. I just hoped I was doing the right thing for my kingdom by doing this. Prince Bowen, if he were to double cross me, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I've grown to be quite fond of him.