Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK II - Scene XLI

Back in the room Box was somewhat dejected. She felt lost. The long, long journey they'd all been on had been long indeed, but it always felt like it had some kind of purpose. A destination - Aunt Ellever's house; the trek to Once Woods. Even the voyage across to Brynnyfirdia had a sense of escape, but now there was nothing. No reason. No purpose. Just an empty feeling. She lay on the bed with a dull, hunger-like ache in her stomach. She thought back to the farm - to Grandma Mayleen and Grandpa Taxilian. It must have been worrisome for them too, not knowing where her, Goola and Julen were - and now, with nowhere to go herself, for the first time she considered what they were feeling. Sat waiting, without a message to even give a note of existence. What were they thinking? Perhaps by now letters had passed back and forth from Aunt Ellever's home, telling news that they hadn't arrived. She imagined the sense of panic and concern. It inspired a surge of guilt, which compounded with the inkling of guilt she still felt about leaving the half-tails. Who, like a second family, had given unconditional shelter and care when they needed it too. Now here they were, in yet another home. Living off more hospitality that they would never get to repay.

Goola, in contrast, just looked out of the window. The bright evening sun had changed to a dark, late evening twilight, and the view out onto the fields and forests was slowly dimming and retreating to the garden lawn. A sunken shadow now hanging on the little wooden windowsill she sat at. Like Box her thoughts occasionally turned homewards too, but hers were more just momentary memories. Passing visions. Her earlier distress at being so far from home now replaced by a numbed stoicism, and a feeling that things were simply beyond her own control. As she looked over at Box lying on the bed she noted this difference in spirit, and wondered who was the worse off. At least they had each other, she considered, with a touch of relief.

Then a knock came at the door.

Before either could react Liofia walked in. She closed the door behind her, then sat down on Goola's bed. Immediately she pulled out a large piece of paper, spread it across the bed, then drew a large circle upon it.

"I have a journey for us," she whispered, with a slight smile.

Then, in a surprisingly neat hand, she drew the vague outline of the mainland kingdoms, followed by the outline of the Western Isles. Placing a big, plump dot where they currently were.

"There is more land beyond the outer desert," she then said impishly, her smile deepening, as she enjoyed the opportunity to take her little friends on a mental treasure hunt.

Neither Box nor Goola understood quite what she was getting at. A feeling that she was playing some kind of silly game the overriding impression given.

Liofia continued to etch in further parts of the map. The Three Deserts, each one arching out into the wide ocean. The Island of Erba, a blob in the sea. Next, the Island of Tunida, far off in the southern ocean. Then a quickly sketched Maiden Lands, just for good measure. She paused, giving the pair a few seconds to take in the wholeness of the map, before drawing a little arrow that pointed out across from the Three Deserts. It went over the Outer Desert, then into more ocean - which she marked with cute little wavey lines. She then scribbled in some more islands to carelessly fill this great void of outer water, that lay beyond the original circle.

"I overheard them speaking," she revealed, her voice dropping into a more hushed whisper, "I even saw their charts. There's extra land. The world isn't how we were told it was. The desert is large, but it's not forever. It ends, and after that there are new beginnings."

Box and Goola kept listening, unable to process what she was saying. Liofia's playful words skipping over their heads. They stared blankly at the drawing that was sprawled across the bed, as Liofia waited for a response. A question, or some look of amazement, but little was coming. Then, in a sudden flash, Goola was reminded of the map that Grandpa Taxilian had given them - now so long ago - when they'd first began their journey from their homely farm. She walked over to her jacket, that hung over the chair by the dresser, and reached into its pocket. The map was ragged and worse for wear, but there it was. She unfolded it and lay it on the bed, next to Liofia's. The image was faded, but the contours were clear to see. She looked at icy mountains in the centre, that even now were much more seriously depicted than the carefree sketch that Liofia had doodled.

"All that time we were wondering about 'Middlemap,'" she voiced, her eyes slightly widened, "When really we should have been looking out to the edge." 

Liofia cast her eyes over this second map. Its aged look making her own look almost cartoon-like. "I know it's hard to believe," she remarked, doubting the idea of outer lands herself, in response to Goola's burst of enthusiasm. "Perhaps it isn't true at all ..but the boy - the one with the odd little monkey - he claims to have been there. To have been on the outside."

Box looked up with added interest as she said this. The exotic little monkey, that she'd seen just hours earlier, bobbing about the village, adding a realness to these unreal notions.

"Tomorrow I'll find him, so we can ask him to tell us more," continued Liofia.

"What does Julen think?" asked Box, still in disbelief, but now with a slight uptick of excitement.

"I haven't told him yet. It may be a little too surreal for his mind. We might have to tell him gently. We can do it tomorrow when we find out more."