Chapter 48

'Don't just leave like that. You scared me." I told him. 'Okay." He frowned at me like I wasn't making sense or like I was losing my senses. 'What?" I asked as both Laura and Thorne stared at me. 'Your acting weird." Laura responded. 'I am?" 'Yes. You scared me to death when you started screaming like that." Laura told me and I thought maybe I had over dreamt. 'Did you have a bad dream?" Laura questioned me. 'No." 'Okay. I'm going to wash my face so we can continue with this journey." She left us and went her way. 'Are you okay?" Thorne asked, looked at me and went ahead to arrange the log of wood he wanted to use to roast the fish he got. 'Nothing." I answered. I was only worried about him, why did they make it look like it was an abomination or an act of stupidity? Maybe he thought I was stupid when I gave him that hug. 'Everything okay? You seem deep in thought." He asked again when he had put the fish on fire he had set with sticks. I nodded. 'Just thinking about home." I lied. Maybe that should be all that's in my mind. Home. We were some distance away from Ice Crest and I still haven't thought of a way to face my mother. 'Why are you in thoughts? What's actually bothering you?" I asked him. 'I'm just worried." 'Don't worry. They're your family. They'll accept you." He comforted me trying to put his hand over my shoulder but then didn't when he heard Laura's footsteps. 'Wow. The fish is ready." She smiled and took one for herself. 'You guys need to eat this." I didn't have the intention of eating fish that was cooked but the sounds Laura was making couldn't let me keep away. 'I want to try too." I said and put one into my mouth immediately before they could say anything. 'You don't like roasted fish." Laura watched me eat and swallow the fish. 'This tastes nice." I said and ate more. The truth was that if I had any other options, I wouldn't try eating roasted fish but we were in a faraway place so I had to make do with what was available. 'We should start out, now that we don't sleep on the road again." The journey was filled with ups and downs, we climbed mountains and passed valleys. Got tired but picked ourselves up again. We rested but didn't wait for too long before setting out again. 'Aren't we there yet?" Laura complained. I understood that she was upset, hungry and angry 'We are. Soon." I said but was interrupted by 'I see a light." 'What's that?" 'That's the general clan light. We are here, finally in Ice crest!" I said. I know they had expected me to jump in excitement but that wasn't how I felt. 'Thank Goodness." Laura heaved a sigh of relief. 'I hope they serve us good food." I was hungry as well but that wasn't my concern. This was a plan I had made for a long time but as I stood here right now, it didn't seem like I was ready for anything in this clan. 'You're stopping, Naomi." I didn't realize that I had stopped walking. 'Oh, I'm sorry. Let's go in." I finally gathered the courage that I needed. We walked in, slowly, careful to observe everything. We saw some warriors lined up at the huge gate and asked us some questions. 'Who are you in search of?" The one with the smallest head asked. 'I'm here to see Luna Isabella and the Royal house." I said, loud and clear so they could hear. I wondered why they couldn't see that it was me or couldn't they recognise me? 'Who is asking for the Royal house?" They questioned us the most. 'Tell Luna that Naomi is waiting. She'll know who I am." I said and got a cold stare from the Warriors. I decided to just ignore them all since none of them recognised me. Anyway, when I stayed in the Palace, I didn't come out much so I understood that no one knew me. It took some time before the guard finally let us in. 'The Royal house awaits you." That single statement he made brought fear into my heart. I hoped that everyone didn't assemble because of me. 'That lady looks familiar." I heard one of the guards whisper when we passed. So they did remember me. It was quite a distance from the gate to the Palace so we walked as we admired the environment. It was getting dark and the moon was already seated in the sky, at its right place. 'Wow. It's beautiful." Laura said as she looked up to the moon. 'Yes." Thorne agreed, walking closely behind me. 'You guys have the best view of the moon. Imagine, if I had to see this every day of my life, then my life would be so easy." Laura replied. It was indeed beautiful but I was intrigued about it when I lived here. To me, it was just a dumb moon that didn't make anyone's life easy. When I was little, I didn't like coming outside. At one point, the king stopped the Princesses from coming out because he wanted to keep us safe from harm. I had to obey the orders and I looked at the world from my window. As I thought about it, I guess that's why I didn't bother, thinking twice about it when I was banished because of Lucas. The environment was so familiar, the roads so old but now tarred. The air here was still slow and hesitant, everything was dull and haunted. It felt old to be back here after this short period of time I spent outside. We were welcomed by a guard into the Palace and screened to make sure we weren't spies or hunters who were in search of prey. The Palace didn't look a bit different, It was still as old and boring as it used to be. The roads that led to it were battered. Apart from the weird feeling, everything was still the same. The Palace, which I remember looking small, now looked much bigger, maybe because it had been a while since I was here. I wondered who it was that was waiting for me, I might not admit it but I missed my family so much.