The Princess And The Stones

"Ssssiiiimmmooonn. Stop that..." Maria lazily groaned in her sleep the next morning. The sun must have risen hours ago, yet the two still remained in bed, exhaustion from the night before still controlling them.

"Stop what? I'm not doing anything..." Simon mumbled back as he pulled the blankets tighter around himself.

With one quick tug, Maria pulled all the blankets back and rolled herself into them, leaving Simon shivering in the chilly morning air. "I'm being serious Simon. Stop pulling my hair!" she snapped.

"I'm not, now stop hogging the blankets!"

"I'm not going to stop until you stop."

"Maria, I'm not pulling your hair," Simon moaned, lazily opening his eyes. A gasped escaped his lips as he saw what was really causing Maria's problem, "but I see someone who is."

In front of him stood a teeny tiny sprite, who struggled to pull at Maria's messy hair, seemingly trying to wake her up. Though she could clearly use his help, Simon found himself only staring at her. He'd never seen a sprite before, and honestly didn't know how to react.

She was a pretty little thing, with bright red hair and glowing golden brown skin. Her green eyes were tiny, no bigger than the tip of a quill, and, like Maria's, were somehow slanted, yet at the same time, still rather round. Delicate green wings sprouted from her back,

'Whatdayamean?" Maria groaned. Her eyes had closed and she began to drift back off to sleep.

“Stupid girl.” The tiny sprite hissed.

“What did you say?” It was evident that Maria was offended, yet she didn't move from her quilted cocoon.

“Maria, that wasn't me. It's her!”

As if someone had just asked her to move a mountain, Maria slowly rolled over and pushed the blankets away, cherishing the last few moments of comfort. When her eyes finally opened, the sprite covered her mouth and gasped. "The princess!?"

Without even thinking about it, Maria reached up and pinched the tiny girls wings together. Her quick movement had made it hard to believe she was so sluggish only seconds before. "What did you just call me?"

Though the hateful tone should have frightened the sprite, after all, it frightened Simon, yet she seemed totally unaffected. Casually, she crossed her arms and smirked. "Oh, it's definitely you Your Highness. Don't be so alarmed. You know very well sprites can see through glamour Princess."

Without releasing the little sprite, Maria lifted her head from the pillow and sat up. “Who sent you?”

The sassy little sprite whipped her head to the side and closed her little eyes. As if she were the queen of the world, she saucily said, "I don't have to tell you."

"You realize I can break both your wings right now, don't you?" the princess hissed. She'd never actually go through with it, but the threat and the glare the sprite had received was more than enough to convince her to comply.

"A friend of the boy's mother," she pointed to Simon, "I'm not allowed to say any more than this."

Maria bit her bottom lip to hold her tongue in place. Rather than spatting out words of frustration, she calmly asked, “Why were you sent here then? Surely you must be able to tell us that then.”

The sprite shrugged. “I suppose I could tell you. My master has sent me to fetch you. My master says you are supposed to stay the night in Jesiba with my master' s family. My master's wife is a dear friend of the boys mother.”

Turning to Simon, Maria asked, “Do you have any family friends living in Jesiba?”

He nodded. “Mother's friend used to send her daughter to visit us in the summer. She'd stay with Miss Geren for two or three months and then go home. I've never seen her parents thought. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't even seen her since before she turned 13.”

“Would it be the same family?” Maria asked, looking from the sprite to Simon, and back to the little sprite.

The tiny girl tapped her fingers against her chin for a minute, before finally saying, “I think so. My Master's daughter talks about visiting a farm when she was a child, so it must be.”

Maria sat up and stretched out her stiff back and arms. The stuffed mattress had done quite a bit of damage to her over the night. A rock would have been more comfortable. “Well, we'd best be off then, shouldn't we be Si? You know I'll get restless staying around an inn too long.”

Reluctantly, Simon sat up and drug himself across the room to where he'd set the bag filled with their clothes and money. From it, he produced Maria's usual pink dress and her loose fitted white knee length pants. “Here,” he said tossing them in her direction, “I'll go get Sonia ready.”

And with that, he left the room.

Maria quickly fought with the dress to slide over her head, and then fought once again with the lacing that ran up the front of the dress. “So,” Maria asked, finally taking note of the awkward silence from the sprite, “what's your name?”

“Zarina. Lady Zarina Morgant of the Karelena sprite clan.” The sprite replied, her words drowning in pride.

Maria began to search through her mind. “Morgant. General Morgant's daughter, aren't you?”

“That'd be me,” she said with a shrug, “my father was very loyal to your parents. Still serves them as faithfully as he did the day he enlisted as a young boy. I can't say the same for you.”

“You'd best not speak so ill of those you know nothing about.” the princess hissed, as she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulders. “What's done is done. I won't be returning, so don't even try to convince me to do so.”

Zarina scoffed. “Like I would even try. You are just as stubborn as your mother. You're own husband couldn't even make you stay. There's nothing to make a sprite you've never met before could ever change your mind.”
“You leave Oreon out of this!” Maria shouted, before dropping her voice to a whisper, “he's nothing to me anymore. Just a lost, buried memory, and I intend for it to stay that way.”

Zarina flew down onto the desk near the bed and began to walk away, giggling slightly. “Oh but Princess, how could you bury a memory so beautiful? Those grey eyes, that dashing smile, his--”

“I'd rather not remember him for what he looked like, but for what he was.”

Before Maria could even think of a comeback, Simon entered the room again, demanding to know what was taking the two so long. 

Maria shruggled and simply said, "Just talking. You know how girls can be sometimes, don't you Simon?"

He sighed and decided not to push any further. There was little doubt that Maria had lied. 

It was almost noon when the three had finally packed up and set off. Maria had taken the reins, having agreed with Simon that Sonia would be much more comfortable with her master in control, while Zarina and Simon barked out directions.

The road from Ishibac to Jesiba wove in and around the rolling hills of the Caraden Plains. While a few small farms and orchirds scattered the area, the majority of the plains were vacant and vast, stretching out farther than the eye could see, out to a point where the lush green grass kissed the azure sky. 

The plains were a beauty to see, for a while anyway, until one grew bored of the surroundings, and began to feel as if they had seen a place before.

"Zarina, are we lost?" Maria finally asked, after an hour or more of roaming through the plains.

The sprite shook her head. "Not at all. See those buildings off in the distance? That's Jesiba. You two just keep heading straight until you get there. I'm going to fly ahead and annouce to my master that you are on your way."
 
Before the others could even speak, Zarina took off flying. Not once did she turn around to see if Maria had lead Sonia in the right direction. She couldn't, she didn't have time.

Near the northern edge of the town was a large stone manor, her master's summer home. It stood tall and proud, quite aware that it was far more grand and valuable than the buildings that surrounded it. 

Her master's chambers were on the tops floor of the manor. The windows were left slightly ajar on purpose, leaving just enough for a young sprite to squeeze through. 

"Master! Master!" Zarina cried, flying into the room, searching desperately for the young man, her real master, "Master, where are you? 

"I am right here Zarina, whatever is the matter?" Her master asked, his voice smooth and unaffected by Zarina's panicking. He stood up to look eye to eye with his faithful servant.  

"She's alive, Master! The princess is alive, and she's on her way to Jesiba!" Zarina shreiked with excitement. 

The once calm young man felt his jaw drop, his grey eyes open wide, and his body drop onto his bed. "She's alive..." he repeated, "My sweet princess... She's coming back to me... I can't let her slip away Rina, I can't lose her again."