Secrets

Malia stood in a dark room surrounded by candle lit flames, in front of her was a large cage guarding a baby phoenix. Entranced, she walked slowly towards it, her plain white gown flowing behind her.

When she got close to the cage, the bird cooed at her and gradually lifted its tiny wings. Suddenly, as the bird lifted its wings it grew large and the sound that came from its mouth was deafening. Malia fell back while the bird stared at her. It looked exactly like the one in her dreams except its eyes were blue, and they looked familiar.

She slowly got up and opened the cage, and the bird flew out and circled the room. Malia watched it fly and her eyes changed to a mix of red and golden yellow. They both stared at each other directly in the eyes and the bed slowly descended in front of her. She lifted her hand and slowly touched it. It felt soft and warm and a bit unreal. She could feel it breathing and watching her intently and she could easily tell that it was filled with grace and great pride.

The phoenix rose above her and opened its mouth and fire came out of it and surrounded her. She tried to scream but then she realised that the flame did not hurt and her eyes and the phoenix's had the same red and golden yellow colour. And at that moment she knew that they were one.

*****
Malia walked out of the room and stepped outside. There were several people trying to tame or control the animals. Four people were trying to hold a large turtle down with ropes, a dragon was pursuing a man who was probably a soldier and there were tiny creatures that looked like dragon phoenix hybrids coughing up tiny flames and flying around the people and animals. Some of them flew around her and she tried to grab one.

"They may look small and innocent but they can be really annoying and noisy." Nicholas said from the top of a huge bald eagle.

"Like you?" she replied half jokingly.

"Now, is that anyway to speak to your future husband?" he answered jokingly.

"What makes you think I'll become your bride?"

"Well you didn't refuse when your family asked you and at the party you didn't look sad either."

"That's not a very good reason and I can still say no. My grandfather made sure of it."

"Then why haven't you?"

"I'm curious. This seems fun and I don't have a lot of that. Besides, now I don't have to worry about my family troubling me for a husband or arranging one that I don't know."

"I'll make it fun for you and you don't have a very good reason either. At the end, I'll give you more reasons than being able to cross finding a husband out of your list."

"What makes you think I have a list?"

"Lucky guess." he smiled at her.

"Where's your phoenix. Did your taste change?"

"No. My friend Alastair is here. The both of us decided to exchange birds and see if we can get used to each others."

"You can do that?"
Malia suddenly felt a small animal rubbing itself against her leg. She looked down and saw the phoenix in its small size. It must have wandered out of the room.

"How did it go?" Nicholas asked, nodding towards the bird.

"It was alright." She lifted it up and held it in her arms.

"What's its name?"

"Sinne." she replied rubbing its head, "And its a she."

"Nice name. So, do you want to ride her. Meet the others?"

"I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

"I'll help you. C'mon."

She slowly put the phoenix down.

"Now use your imagination. Picture it big and strong and maintain eye contact." he began.

"Am I not supposed to keep my eyes closed to be able to imagine?"

"Just trust me." She did as he said and after failing twice, she used her will and her emotions like he told her to and the phoenix rose to its full size.

Sinne bent low to allow her climb on. After settling down, the bird rose into the air.

"Since this is your first time and you and Sinne obviously need to get to know each other more, I suggest you fly low."

"And how long have you been flying?"

"Since I was twelve."

She scowled slightly but followed his lead.

"The dragons belong to the mountain dwellers." Nicholas explained when they got near the dragons." Next they went to the turtle that had calmed down. "The turtle controls the waves and brings loud sound waves from its mouth. I don't see the owner but it should be one of the earl's children."

Then they flew close to a young girl of about twelve sitting on the ground and trying to grow a tree. There was a panda bear sitting patiently beside her. "That's Christine. She controls trees and wood. She is a good healer too."

"She's young." Malia noted.

"Yes." The girl looked up from the ground and waved at them, smiling brightly."

"And the flowers?"

"We haven't found anyone yet. Whoever it is, is probably scared or something because they would've known what they were capable of by now. Come on. It's getting late."

"We just got here."

"No. We've been here for hours."

"I was in that room for a few minutes." she protested. He replied, "It might have seemed lke that but it lasted for hours. That's just the way it is."