Elaine was lying on the floor. Why? She hadn’t fallen there, nor had she been pushed, despite the bruise on her cheek that would seem to indicate otherwise.

When she thought about it, she didn’t know why she was lying there either. It had seemed like something to do, when she got into her room and saw the floor there, looking so smooth and inviting. In a way, it was nicer than lying on her bed, because the floor was so hard and cool underneath her. It was real, and the pain in her shoulders was real., and it kept her anchored in reality.

She needed to think. She needed to stop thinking. She didn’t know what to do anymore, because nothing made sense, except the feel of wood under her back. She reviewed her situation in her mind, and tried to force it into some semblance of sanity.

That strange woman had been following her for some time. She had first noticed her on the subway, on her way home from work. Since then she had seen her many times, and she had tried to ignore her. She had hoped maybe the woman would give up and leave her alone; after all she really wasn’t someone worth stalking.

Elaine wasn’t tall or skinny, or very good looking. She was normal looking, average in every way. Well, most ways. She had purple hair – had been dying her hair purple since the ninth grade. Purple hair wasn’t exactly normal.

Then, neither was belonging to another planet.

What had she called it? Nemian. What a strange name.

Someone coughed in the next room.

Elaine gave herself a mental slap for getting distracted. ‘Reviewing the situation. Right.’

A week ago the strange woman had finally confronted her. She called herself Tia, and she wasn’t alone. She had brought a young man with her. His name was Nate, and he looked to be about the same age as Elaine, and just as uncomfortable. After forcing herself into Elaine’s apartment the woman had told Elaine her story.

She came from a world called Nemian, she said, in search of the lost souls of their knight-generals. Elaine was one such knight, according to the woman: the Knight of Truth. Within the next few weeks she would recover the last souls lost to the Earth, she said, and then they would all be leaving Earth for Nemian.

Elaine had stared at the woman for a minute in stunned silence before bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter. It took her a good five minutes to calm down enough to tell the two strangers to get out of her apartment.

They hadn’t moved.

Elaine had repeated herself. The woman just shook her head. The man opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by the woman. “I can not leave without the four souls.” She said. Elaine had the feeling that this woman wasn’t exactly human.

That was part of the reason she had let them stay with her. In the end though, it had more to do with the fact that she wasn’t given a choice, than any rationale of her own.

Elaine pressed a hand to her chest. Supposedly, she had the soul of a knight from another planet, but she couldn't remember a time when she hadn’t lived on Earth. She wasn’t even sure if she believed in souls, not sure if she believed in a god.

And if she wasn’t really born on Earth, wouldn't that mean that her parents weren’t really her parents? The thought was too outrageous.

Elaine sighed. ‘What will I tell my parents?’ she wondered. Last time they had called she hadn’t yet met with the crazy woman. If they called again now, what would she tell them? ‘I’ve picked up a couple of new roommates. Well, actually, they picked me up, by which I mean they forced their way into my apartment.’

Someone coughed again in the next room. It was probably Nate. He had the look of someone who was prone to colds, but maybe that was just her imagination.

Nate was the Knight of Death according to Tia. Elaine wondered then if it was a bad thing that she found him good looking. He had tan skin, and long eyelashes, and cheekbones sharp enough to cut. He was also shy, which Elaine was glad for because she had no idea what to say to anyone anymore. When she was at work the other day she had a hard time keeping herself from jumping on a desk and yelling, “I’m crazy! I’m hallucinating! I think there’s a strange woman living in my apartment who is going to take me to another world! Lock me up please!”

Elaine grinned a little at the mental image. That would certainly liven up her job at least.

There came a knock at the door. Elaine debated with herself about whether she should get up, and ending up deciding against it.

“Come in.” She called.

Nate opened the door and looked down at her, then at the floor beside her. Elaine tried not to smile. He was too cute. “Um… Tia wants to talk to you.” He said.

Elaine got up and followed him out into the living room where Tia was waiting.

Elaine felt uneasy every time she looked at Tia. It wasn’t just because of the fact that Tia had forced herself on Elaine; it had more to do with how unnatural the woman seemed. All of her movements seemed stiff somehow, and rigid. Her voice didn’t sound like a real person’s voice either. It always seemed to be coming from somewhere deep inside of her, and that she just opened her mouth to let out the sound.

“I have located the Knight of Pain.” Tia announced.

“Sounds real friendly.” Elaine muttered. Then she looked at Nate, who was chewing his lip, and staring out the window. ‘But then, he is the Knight of Death, and I’m the Knight of Truth.’ She thought. ‘We don’t exactly fit our descriptions.’

Not that she could really be sure. She hardly knew Nate. For all she knew, he could be a serial killer. The quiet ones were always the ones you should be suspicious of…

Something occurred to her. “You’re not planning on bringing him here are you?” She asked Tia.

Tia nodded.

“You can’t!” Elaine protested. “There’s not even enough room for you two, let alone another. And then you’re bringing in a fourth right? My apartment’s just not big enough. Unless you’re going to announce to me that my apartment is actually bigger than I think it is, and I’ve been living that lie too.”

“No.” Elaine glared at Tia, but the woman seemed unperturbed. “I do not need to sleep lying down as you do. There will be room.”

“And someone can sleep in the bathroom if they need to!” Elaine yelled in mock excitement. She stared at Tia’s smooth white face, the three triangular tattoos on her cheek and fought back another sigh. She didn’t have much of a choice, did she? Shaking her head she glanced at Nate. He was still staring out the window. Following his gaze she saw nothing.

“Fine.” She said heavily, turning back to Tia. “Are you just going to go out there and find them then?”

“Yes.”

“We don’t have to go with you right?” She asked.

“That will not be necessary.”

Elaine turned one last time to Nate. He looked away from the window for a second to meet her gaze. He looked so sad, she thought, and then he looked away again.

Elaine went into her room, this time lying down on her bed and trying to sleep.

2: 2

The bruise she had gotten two days earlier, in her own kitchen. She was washing dishes when Nate came in. He offered to dry the dishes, and she had just shrugged. He took it as a yes and started drying.

He didn’t know where most of the dishes went, but when he got to the glasses he knew at least where those went. He reached up to open a cupboard right above Elaine’s head and put the glass in.

He must have gotten too close to her or something, because she had jerked away violently from his touch. So violently in fact, that she hit her cheek on another cupboard.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Nate asked, reaching out worriedly.

“I’m fine!” Elaine yelled, putting out a hand. Nate drew back before he touched her again. “Just please don’t touch me,” she said.

Nate backed away until they stood at opposite ends of the room.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…” Didn’t realize what? He wondered. He sounded like an idiot and he knew it, so he just said again, “I’m sorry.”

Elaine shook her head. “No. It’s nothing to do with you; I just haven’t taken my drugs in a while.” Nate stared at her, and she smiled. “I’m kidding about the drugs ok? I just don’t like being touched. It’s nothing personal. You don’t smell bad or anything like that.”

Nate nodded, but he didn’t know what to say. After a minute Elaine went back to washing the dishes and he went back to drying, careful not to touch her now. They had been washing dishes in silence for a while when Elaine had laughed. “That was pretty stupid,” she said. “I’ll bet I have a bruise tomorrow.”

 

Nate stared at Elaine’s bruised cheek from across the table. It looked really terrible. And it really was his fault, no matter what she said. He wanted to say sorry again, but he knew she would just wave it away anyway, so he didn’t bother.

How could she stand it, he wondered, having these people forced on her? Especially if she didn’t even like to get near people. How could she stand that? he wondered. He knew for a fact that she took city transit to work and home every day. Surely she must come into contact with people all the time on the subway.

3: 3

Tia left the next morning after dropping Valry off at Elaine's. Good riddance. With Tia gone and Elaine away at classes or work most days she had Nate all to herself.

Really it was too bad about his personality, or she might have been honestly attracted to him. As it was, all he was really good for was teasing, and even that was almost too easy to be fun. Almost.

"I bet this whole 'Nemian' thing is just a ploy to gather all of us together," she said one day while they were eating lunch. Elaine was at work and Nate had cooked Kraft Dinner. It tasted funny, which she had been sure to tell him. Who ruins Kraft Dinner? She hadn't even known it was possible.

"What do you mean?" Nate asked.

"I mean, Tia's not really from another world – none of us are. That's just too crazy." She leaned forward conspiratorially. "I'll bet she's just bringing us all together so she can kill us. One mass murder thing. The murder of the century. Elaine's probably in on it too, and that's why we're at her place and not any of ours."

Nate, who had looked like he could have believed her at first, laughed as soon as she suggested Elaine was involved.

Valry frowned. "What? You don't think she could be a murderer? Why not? I mean, think about it; you were the one Tia caught first right? So why didn't she use your place as a home base? Why choose this dump?"

Nate shrugged. He looked around. "Well, if you think this is a dump, you wouldn't want to see my place. This is really nice comparatively."

Valry snorted. "Poor boy."

Nate got up to clean up the dishes, and Valry watched. He had a pretty nice ass. Not really her type though. She shrugged and got up to go watch TV. After a while Nate came to join her.

"So who is this new person Tia's out looking for anyway?" Valry asked.

"I think she said something about her being the Queen," Nate answered.

Valry snorted. "Queen? They can't even keep hold of their queen? I don't know that I like the sound of this planet – they must be idiots."

"I thought you said there is no Nemian," Nate said. Valry punched him in the arm.

The front door opened. Valry glanced up, but didn't get up. Nate could do that. He was such a lapdog, going to the door every time Elaine came home.

"Oh. Hello," She heard him saying. "I'm Nate."

"I'm Vanali," A strange new voice said. Valry snorted. What kind of a name was Vanali anyway?

Then she heard Tia say, "She is your Queen. Bow to her." And Valry was glad she had decided not to get up.

"No don't bow! Look, I already told you I can't be this queen you're talking about! I was born here."

"That is irrelevant. You are the Queen."

Valry snickered. At the door Nate said, "Um… Why don't you come in? Elaine's at work right now, but she should be home in a couple hours."

He came into the living room with the new girl. Valry turned to look her over. Dark skin, straight black hair, almond shaped eyes… Too skinny. Not her type.

"Hi. I'm Vanali," she said.

"I'm the Knight of Pain, your Highness," Valry said with a grin, and got up to bow.

"Please don't," Vanali said. "I'm not a queen."

"Oh I know," Valry said. "Tia's just gathering us here to kill us. As soon as Elaine gets home we're all dead."

Vanali stared at her in shocked silence. "That's not true!" Nate put in quickly. "Valry just doesn't want to believe this is really happening."

"Nonsense," Valry sniffed. "I wish it was true – then I would be going off to some strange planet to be treated like almost royalty instead of being murdered in a dingy little apartment."

Vanali looked around. "It's not that bad," she said.

Valry huffed and flopped down on the sofa. "You guys."

"Where is Elaine?" Tia asked. Valry rolled her eyes.

"She went to work," Nate answered.

"We will leave in the morning," Tia said. "When she returns you must tell her she cannot leave again. I must go prepare for the journey."

"Right," Valry muttered. "'The journey.'"

They sat and watched TV until Elaine came home. When the door opened then, Nate didn't even get up. He looked like he was in shock really. Valry guessed it was pretty scary for him. One way or another, this thing would happen (or end) tomorrow morning.

She couldn't wait.

Elaine walked into the living room and stopped when she saw Vanali. "Every time I come home there's someone new," she said.

Vanali turned and got up off the couch quickly when she saw Elaine. "Sorry! I'm Vanali."

"Elaine," she answered with a little wave for Vanali to sit down again. "And don't worry about it; I know we none of us had a choice. Except maybe Valry," she added as an afterthought. Valry grinned. She really was enjoying herself.

"So where's Tia?" Elaine asked. "Gone off to find me another roommate?"

Nate shook his head. "Preparing for the journey tomorrow."

"Journey tomorrow?" Elaine asked with a frown.

"It ends tomorrow!" Valry exclaimed excitedly. "Either we go to this other world, or we all die. Aren't you excited?"

Elaine looked faint. Nate half rose, but then sat down again for some reason. Where was his chivalry? Elaine said, "Oh," and went into the kitchen.

Valry turned back to the TV. As exciting as all this business was, it still wasn't quite so exciting as MXC.

4: 4

"You look like hell," Elaine's reflection told her. She nodded in agreement.

Leaving tomorrow, Nate had said. Tomorrow. Elaine's stomach started rolling around uncomfortably and she went to stand beside the toilet. She couldn't believe this was happening. 'Please,' she wished mentally, as though her toilet bowl was a wishing well, 'please don't be real. I just wish you would all go away and leave me alone.'

What would happen tomorrow? If Tia was telling them the truth then they would be off to another world. If not… What then?

She couldn't think about it any more. She would make herself crazy.

She stepped back out into the living room. "I'll sleep in the living room tonight," she said, and walked out into the hall before anyone could answer.

She stood in the hall for a second before leaning back against the wall and sliding down to rest with her head on her knees. She was sitting there, trying not to think, when a big tabby cat came and rubbed up against her legs.

"You're not supposed to be in the hall Toby," she said and scratched his ears. He wasn't really allowed outside, but Toby could almost always be found in the hallway, sucking up to people and looking for attention. Toby purred and sat down with his paws on her stomach.

"This is too weird. It can't be happening," she told him. "I must be hallucinating or something. Maybe I've been drugged, or I'm still sleeping." She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall. "I wish."

A door opened down the hall. Elaine looked up as her neighbor walked past.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," he answered and kept walking.

Elaine watched him leave and laughed softly. "I wouldn't talk to me either," she said. "So why are you here?"

"Because Tia brought me here," Nate said behind her. Elaine jumped and looked up at him. How had she not even noticed her own door opening? "Hi kitty," Nate said as he sat down beside Elaine. Toby glanced at him and promptly turned away. Nate laughed, "He's right; I'm more of a dog person."

Elaine smiled and continued scratching Toby's ears. They sat in silence. "It kind of sucks, doesn't it?" Elaine asked after a minute.

"Yeah," Nate agreed. "Do you… do you have any family here?"

Elaine nodded. "My parents and my sister live in Toronto." She squeezed her eyes shut to keep tears from them. "I don't know what to do."

Nate said nothing. Toby went on purring loudly.

"What about your family?" Elaine asked. "Where are they?"

"I don't have a family," Nate said, staring at his feet. "It's funny; I can't remember anything from before I was six. I was told I lost my memory in the same crash that killed my parents. Maybe… that's the way it was supposed to happen."

Elaine shook her head. "No way. I just can't believe I was never supposed to have a family."

"You're right. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Elaine said. "It's just…"

"This is all wrong?" Nate offered. Elaine nodded. Just as she did so, they both jumped as a loud crash sounded from the apartment.

"What now?" Elaine asked, scrambling to her feet.

When she opened the door she froze. There in the kitchen stood Valry, growling and brandishing a knife at Tia. There was a pan lying on the floor, which explained the loud noise, but not Valry's actions.

"Shut the fuck up you monotone bitch!" Valry yelled. Elaine stepped back so that she was out of her line of sight. She didn't want to get involved in this.

Valry threw the knife. Elaine nearly screamed, but Tia caught the knife calmly and spoke in her usual monotone voice to Valry. "It simply is not possible. The Queen must have the bed."

Elaine almost laughed. That was what all this was about? Such a stupid thing, and yet there was Valry, picking up another knife to throw at Tia.

Just then Vanali decided to speak up. "Oh come on! It doesn't really matter if I have to sleep on the floor for one night! I've been doing it my whole life. So why don't you just go back to recharging, or whatever you were doing," She paused for a moment and then added, "I order you." In a rather shaky and unconvincing tone, but it did the trick anyway. Tia bowed to Vanali and exited the room.

Elaine watched Valry put down the knife and breathed a deep sigh of relief. Thank goodness that was over, and her apartment had survived it without injury.

"Well done Queenie," Valry said to Vanali with a laugh. "Damn I wish I was the Queen now."

Vanali shrugged. "It's not really all it's cracked up to be."

Elaine decided that would be a good time to make her entrance. "Well it sure is getting late, and we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow – I think I'm for bed."

Valry stared at her. Elaine tried not to flinch, knowing what madness Valry was capable of, but Valry just grinned and went into the bathroom, saying, "I call it first."

Vanali and Elaine watched each other in silence for a moment, until Elaine raised her eyebrows and shook her head. Vanali laughed. Nate coughed behind her, and Elaine remembered he was there. Such a quiet boy, he was hardly even noticeable most of the time.

"I have to pee," he said, staring forlornly at the closed bathroom door. "I hope she doesn't take too long in there."

As it was, Valry did take her time, and by the time she came out of the bathroom Nate was practically dancing around the apartment.

But soon they all settled in for the night; Valry and Vanali sleeping in Elaine's room, Tia in her closet space, and Elaine and Nate in the living room. Nate had insisted Elaine take the couch, and he would sleep on the floor, even though Elaine told him, truthfully, that she would rather sleep on the floor.

Still, everything was ok. Everyone was quiet, asleep; her apartment was still intact, ok. Only Elaine wasn't ok. She felt just about ready to break down and cry. She wanted to weep loudly and tear out her hair in frustration. What would come tomorrow? She didn't want to know.

She squinted at Nate in the dark. She could just make out the vague outline of his face, and his body under the blanket. It was so strange, sleeping near someone else. She had lived alone for three years now, and even before then, she had never had to share a room. She had never been one for sleep overs either.

Nate talked in his sleep. Unintelligible ramblings that Elaine kept straining to hear in case he said something that might help her in her plight. He said nothing of any use, nothing even in English, as far as she could tell.

Elaine sighed again. She couldn't seem to stop herself these days. It was no wonder really. But still…

She turned her back to Nate and pretended he wasn't there so that she could finally get some sleep.

5: 5

Vanali had never been on a plane; she was never allowed. Growing up in foster homes didn’t usually allow for luxuries like travel. Once, with one of her foster families, she had gone on a road trip across America. But that was completely different, wasn’t it?

The first time she had seen an airplane on TV she had laughed. How could such a machine even be possible? Something that weighed so much – how could it possibly fly? It obviously wasn’t real, and yet her foster mother had sighed and wished out loud that she didn’t have to take care of the brats and she could go on a trip to the Bahamas, in just such a vehicle.

She had had a dream once that she was flying. Not in a plane, but through the air, in the arms of someone strong and kind. In the arms of her father, she had thought upon waking.

Was flying in a plane much like this? She felt as though she was surrounded in a bubble of light and sound, traveling at speeds far too great, and at any second the bubble would pop and she would fall.

But maybe, if she fell out, she would be able to fly.

She tried to look around, to see the others, and what they thought of this kind of travel, but she found she couldn't move; she couldn't even open her eyes. She started to panic, wondering what was really happening to her. Was she going to die? Was she even still alive?

And then, suddenly, it was over, and she was standing in a vast open plain of flowing blue grasses, their colour mirroring the fierce blue of the sky.

She blinked, once twice. She heard Valry mutter under her breath, “What the fuck...?” and turned to look at the other girl. She was standing with her hands in her pockets, glaring around her.

Vanali turned to look at the others for their reaction, but they were nowhere to be seen. She looked back at Valry, but Valry didn’t seem to have noticed anything – she was too busy staring at the blue plains.

“Elaine? Tia?” she called. “Nate?”

Valry finally turned and looked around. “Where the hell are they?” she asked. “Do you think maybe they died in travel?” she added morbidly.

“No, I don’t think so,” Vanali snapped, getting nervous. If Tia had abandoned them here, in the middle of a strange world, what would they do? She didn’t relish the thought of depending on Valry for survival.

Valry let out a loud whooshing noise behind her and at the same time Nate popped into existence in front of Vanali, followed soon after by Tia. Vanali turned to smile at Valry, but found the other girl lying under Elaine.

“What’s your problem?” Valry snarled at Elaine, who seemed much more startled by their situation than Valry. “Get off me.”

She pushed Elaine off her forcefully. Elaine stumbled back and held her arm where Valry had pushed her. She was taking deep breaths and looking for all the world like she was going to hyperventilate. Vanali took a step towards her, but Tia got in the way, grabbing Vanali’s arm and leading her off a ways. Tia pointed into the distance and said, “The palace is this way. Not far now.”

Vanali squinted her eyes and thought she could see a little flash of light maybe.

“Let’s go then!” Valry said. She turned and grabbed Nate’s arm and set off in the direction Tia had pointed. Tia followed, soon catching up to Valry.

Vanali followed a ways before she realized that Elaine was not following. She turned back and saw that Elaine was still standing with her eyes closed. Vanali walked up to her and heard that she was counting.

“Twenty three, twenty four...” Elaine breathed.

“Elaine? The others have all left already – we should get going,” Vanali said as gently as possible.

Elaine opened her eyes and stared at Vanali for a second before muttering, “Oh” and walking off after the others.

Vanali fell into step beside the shorter girl and for a while they walked in silence. Eventually Vanali tried to break the silence. “Tia said it’s not too far to the castle from here,” she said. “But I squinted and I couldn't even see it. Sometimes I wonder about her.”

Elaine snorted and cracked a bit of a smile. “Only sometimes?” she asked.

6: 6

The human brain is a stubborn thing, or at least, Elaine’s sure was. She hadn’t really believed the things Tia had been telling her, hadn’t believed in Nemian. Even once they had arrived in that impossibly blue field, she still hadn’t really believed it somehow.

And now here she was, lying on the stone floor in her room, in the highest tower of this huge castle, and she was still denying it.

‘This can’t be real,’ she thought, over and over again. But if it was fake, it was very convincing. She could feel the stone floor at her back, pushing into her shoulder blades. She could feel the cool seeping up through her shirt.

“But how can this be real?” she asked out loud.

Nate shook his head. “I don’t get it either,” he said. He was sitting by the window, looking down into the courtyard where Vanali was still meeting people. “None of it makes sense.”

Elaine sat up. “Like what happened in travel there – what the hell was that?”

It made her shiver to think of it. She had been flying through space, wrapped up protectively in something warm, when all the sudden it had stopped and disappeared. Everything disappeared. She was left in a blank space. She had thought ‘I’m dead, and this is limbo.’

And then Nate had appeared. They stared at each other for a moment and then walked towards each other.

“Where are we?” Elaine had asked.

“I don’t know.”

Just as Elaine was starting to panic, Tia appeared. She had never thought she would be happy to see Tia, but she was.

“Why did you stop?” Tia had asked, but before Elaine or Nate could answer she grabbed their wrists and they were traveling again.

“Maybe we are dead,” Elaine said.

Nate looked down at her, tearing his gaze from the courtyard below. He was frowning.

“Well think about it,” Elaine rationalized, “No one knows what happens after death. Maybe there is no heaven or hell, just this. Maybe we live in our imaginations after death.” She propped herself up on her elbows to look Nate in the eye. He looked disturbed by her suggestions, and she almost regretted her words.

Nate shook his head slowly. “Then why are we all here together? If I was living in my imagination, it would be much duller than this,” he said. He turned back to the courtyard and added softly, “Though I would feel safer now, if I knew that at least I was already dead.”

Elaine shrugged and lay back on the floor. “Well, you can believe whatever you want.”

Nate watched Vanali below for a little while. She was too far away for him to see her face, but he could tell she was uncomfortable. Anyone would be, suddenly becoming queen of a country on a different planet.

He sighed and turned back to Elaine. She had closed her eyes and was humming to herself. He got off his perch by the window and sat beside Elaine.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” he said, hoping she could help him make sense of an impossible situation. “It doesn’t make sense that this place could actually exist.”

“It doesn’t exist,” she murmured. “It’s all in my imagination. None of this is real, and I’m sad to say, neither are you.” She opened her eyes and reached out and almost touched Nate’s cheek, but her fingers just hovered by his skin. “But I think, maybe I’m imaginary too, so there’s no need to be very worried.”

Then she closed her eyes again, and pretended the floor was her own floor. And as much as she liked Nate, she pretended he wasn’t there.

“Maybe I’m not here,” she murmured.

Nate frowned. It was hardly the answer he had hoped for. But she was just as confused about all this as he was, so why should he be looking for answers from her? It wasn’t fair. He opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say, so he just sat in silence, waiting.

7: 7

Her country was called Cirelle. It was a large country in Nemian, a powerful country, neighboured by several smaller countries. It was one of the oldest countries, its history going back hundreds of years. It had several traditions, one of the most important being the Knights.

There were seven Knights. Truth, Death, Pain, Betrayal, Dreams, Beauty, and Innocence. When they had arrived that morning, the three from Earth had met three of the Knights who lived on Nemian. The Knight of Betrayal was a tall girl called Carrie, with a head of curly red hair and tons of freckles. Vanali had instantly thought of the movie when she was introduced, but forced herself to stay quiet, and not make a face.

Mina, the Knight of Innocence, seemed much younger than the rest of them. She had wide blue eyes and a huge smile. She wore ribbons in her hair. Maybe, Vanali thought, it was all part of the act, dressing her up to be what she was told to be. But Mina’s air was so friendly; she couldn't be suspicious of the girl for long.

Landon, the Knight of Dreams. For someone with a title like his, he sure looked like he needed sleep. His eyes were ringed by dark circles, so that he looked a little like a raccoon. His hair fell over his eyes, as if he was trying to hide them.

She had yet to meet the seventh Knight, but as far as she was concerned, that was fine. If she had to be introduced to another person she would scream. All morning she was introduced to courtier after courtier. How could she be expected to remember all these people? She was happy to at least remember the names and titles of all her Knights.

Her Knights. How strange the thought was.

After the introductions were finally over she was lead to a dining room where the Knights all sat already, waiting for her by the looks of it. When she entered the room, the three Knights from Nemian stood up immediately. Nate and Elaine took their cue from them and stood up soon after. Only Valry remained seated, looking bored.

“Please sit down,” Vanali said, seating herself at the end of the table.  More than anything, she found, being a queen was embarrassing.

Once she sat down dinner came out. It was served on silver platters, and in several courses. IT all looked a little strange, as she recognized none of the food being served, but she hadn’t eaten all day, and it tasted delicious.

Partway through the meal Tia came in and announced that tomorrow the Queen and her Knights would be presented to the people of Cirelle.

Valry laughed loudly. Carrie was sitting beside her, and she looked nervous. Her cheeks turned pink and she looked down at her food.

“Oh stop it,” Elaine said, “You’re acting crazy.”

Valry stopped laughing and jumped up on her chair. “I am crazy! This whole thing is crazy! But you know what?” She paused and leaned towards Elaine, who just glared at her. “I’m having fun,” Valry declared and sat back down. She nudged Carrie with a smile, and Carrie smiled at her awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable.

Elaine shook her head and said something quietly to Nate. He smiled. Vanali watched them for a second, wishing she had someone to talk to. She felt so isolated, simply because someone had decided that she was Queen.

Mina saved her from her melancholy by turning to her and asking her what Earth was like. Vanali did her best to explain, but how do you describe a whole planet? She had a hard time, and ended up babbling, but Mina was a good listener, and asked questions when Vanali stumbled.

She was in the middle of trying to explain planes to Mina when Valry asked loudly where the seventh Knight was. Mina and Carrie both looked at each other and then looked to Landon, who coughed and said, “I don’t know.”

Valry rolled her eyes. Everyone was quiet for a moment, and then turned back to their food or their conversations. Dinner was soon over, and they still had not met the seventh Knight.