Back at Mizual’s shop, the two girls sit and wait for his return.  It’s getting late, but there is still light outside so its not too late.  Arura wishes she knew what time it was.  The shop is set back up, and looks a bit different then when she first woke up on the table. The bell above the door rings, starling the two girls, and a gentleman wearing a black and purple robe enters the shop.

“Hello young ladies, is Master Mizual in?” he asks very slyly.  

“No, He’s gone to finish the preparations for this year’s Ritual.”

The man looks the two girls over.  “Ah ok well then can you give him this?”  Pulling out a small bag, the man sets it on the table, turns around and walks out quietly.  Standing up Terra walks over to the object and places it behind one of the counters.  

“I hope this year’s closing is better then last years, and they get rid of some more of those pesky portals.”  Arura looks up at Terra now with a confused look on her face.  

“What do you mean by portals?”  

Smiling, Terra replied, “Oh well, there are these portals you see, and well people vanish through them all the time.  You can’t really see them unless you have dragon blood, and well um nobody knows what happens to the people who walk through them.”  She stopped for a breath,

“Some people say you die if you go through one; others say you go to a different place.  Nobody is sure really because once someone walks into one they never comes back.”  

Arura gets a connection look on her face, the sort you get when you put two and two together and make a whole.

“I bet it was one of those portals that brought me here!  And if I go back through one, I will be able to see my parents again!”  Excited, Arura stands up and hurries for the door.  

“Hey wait up!” calls Terra as she stands up from her stool, a bit too late as Arura slips out the door and runs down the street, Terra chasing foot behind her several paces.  “Slow down!”

Arura races down the almost empty street towards the town square.  As they run down the street, the crowd of people starts to get thicker, Terra finally catching up to Arura,  “Damn you’re fast, Princess.”

Terra reaches for Arura’s arm and smiles.  “What do you hope to accomplish by going through a portal?  You could die you know?  Not that I care or anything, but Mizual might.”  She is still smiling as they make their way through the crowd now, trying to find Mizual and the other dragon blood.

“Over there!”, Terra tries to direct Arura through the crowd of people towards a group of very fancily dressed men.  “You see them I hope, Princess, if not you’re blind.”  Arura nods slowly as they make their way to the men.

“I see them just fine,” Arura says with a bit of sarcasm.  “Mizual can show me which Portal to go through can’t he?  I really want to go home!”  She’s almost in tears again.  

“I  droubt it.  The Portals are dangerous; that is why they close as many as they can every year when they open stronger,” Terra replied almost caringly that time.  Mizual, noticing the two girls approaching steps back from the others to greet them.  

“Greetings children, the Ritual will begin when the sun has set.”  He smiles at them both.  “I see you have a question for me child,” he states, looking at Arura.  Arura seems kinda happy because she’s thought of a way to get home, looking up at Mizual,

“You have to show me the Portal to my home Mizual, please?!”  Mizual frowns at her, not a mad frown, but an upset frown.

“I told you child, You will be reunited with your parents soon, and after this Ritual I will take you to them, but now is not the time for such things.”  

Taken back by Mizual’s words Arura, steps back a few steps and almost backs into Terra.

“Hey watch it Twig head, those are my feet you almost stepped on.”  

Mizual still looking at the girls, a bit upset  at Arura’s request of him, asks, “Would you two girls mind finding a place without me for now?  I will join you after I complete my part of this ritual.”

Nodding, Terra grabs Arura’s arm and drags her through the crowd again.  “I think over by that tree near the town center will be a good place to watch the going-on’s of the Ritual.”

Being dragged to the tree, Arura looks upset and feels down.  “I want to go home Terra; I don’t like it here!  I don’t know anyone but you and Mizual, and well I just meet you both.”   Stopping under the tree, Terra looks at Arura and sits down, “Sit down and we can talk.  Id like to hear more about your home.  I haven’t been outside this city ever in my life.”  

Arura nods her head, and sits down next to Terra under the tree.  “Well where I'm from there are no pointy eared people, and I was a boy.”  

Terra looks over at Arura.  “You don’t look like a boy to me, Princess.  As a matter of fact, you look like you never were a boy to begin with.”  

Arura’s eyes start to mist up as she and Terra sit beneath the giant tree.  “You know I don’t care what the hell you say, I am a boy.  At least, I was.”  Tears start to fall now from Arura’s face.   

The sun seems to go down a bit more, not all the way yet.  “And screw this place, I want my parents!”  Crying harder now, Arura puts her hands over her face.

Terra moves closer to Arura and slips her arms around her to hold her close.  “It’s ok princess.  I’m sure Mizual will bring you to your parents.  He doesn’t lie.”  

“Screw him too,” Arura bawls from behind her hands.   Terra, a bit unsure of what to do or say, just holds Arura close,  “This’ got to be a nightmare; I swear its a nightmare!”  Suddenly Terra leans over Arura’s shoulder without thinking on her part, places her lips against Arura’s as Arura moves her hands away from her face.. and kisses her.  The kiss seems to last forever, and by the time Terra releases Arura the sun has finally gone down.

The music starts up just as the last rays of light disappear, and chanting can be heard.  What seemed like fireworks shoot up in the air.   Arura is still dumbfounded by the kiss, and Terra has a big grin on her face.

“See, things will work out, Princess.  You just got to have patience.”  The two sit under the tree quietly as the fireworks and music go on around them.  People from all over the continent are here for this ritual, which in the last several years has turned into a festival of sorts.  

Thinking about what just happened to her Arura is lost in her thoughts and doesn’t notice the people walking by, nor does she notice Mizual coming.   “The Ritual is complete and some more of the portals are closed.  It takes too much magic to close them all.”

Arura jumps when Mizual speaks,  “I didn’t see you there.”

Mizual laughs.  “That is because you were lost in your mind for some reason child,” he says, looking over at Terra, still smiling, “It’s late.  Why don’t you take Arura to the estate before we leave in the morning to get some rest?  I have some things to take care of at the shop.”  And with that Mizual turns around and walks away.  Standing up, Terra offers her hand to Arura,

“Lets get going.  It’s not too far from the town center.”  

The two girls walked in silence all the way to the large house at the end of another street, the street lights’ glow lighting their way.

The Estate house is huge - two storeys tall as far as Arura could tell.  Terra unlocks the door, and they both entered the home.  “Let me show you to the room you will sleep in tonight.”  

Terra once more drags Arura around, this time up the flight of stairs.  She opens one of the great oak doors to a very girlish room, “You can sleep here tonight.  My room is right next to yours if you need anything ok?”  

Arura looks around the room as Terra closed the door quietly and slips off to her room.  Laying in the big pink bed, Arura stares at the ceiling till she final falls asleep.