The Queen tried to encourage her King and her sons, but as the years passed, she began to give up. She decided to take a trip to see her youngest sister, Princess Felicity in her homeland of Terra. Felicity was so excited for her sister's arrival that she planned a wonderful welcome dinner for her. She had her favorite maidservant fetch her the most beautiful gown in all of Terra. When the Queen arrived she was overwhelmed by the welcome party and overjoyed to see her sister after so many long and painful years. Felicity wanted nothing more than for Queen Pillar to relax and take her mind off of her troubles. She gave up her favorite maidservant, the young and shy Rose, to care for the Queen during her stay.
The sisters filled their days with horseback riding, games, and story telling. Queen Pillar would be known to suddenly stop right in the middle of a laugh and gaze off into the distance. The memory of her precious Hope haunting her as she tried to enjoy her days. The Queen was finally not able to bare being away from her kingdom and decided to journey back in hopes of seeing her King and receiving tidings of good news. Princess Felicity could barely stand to see her sister in such distress, and knew no other gift to give her other than to send her maidservant Rose with the Queen in order to keep her company along the many days journey. The Queen and Rose had taken quite a liking to each other. Rose gladly did anything the Queen asked of her, sometimes even before the Queen could finish her sentence. Rose would sit in the hall outside the Queen's bedroom as she told stories of her daughter to the children before they went off to bed. Rose was the same age as Princess Hope, and at times on their journey, Rose would see the Queen staring at her with tear filled eyes.
When the Queen arrived back to the Land of Everlasting, she was greatly comforted to be greeted by the strong, loving arms of her King. She wept as he told her that they had yet to receive any news. The King assured his wife that he would go to the very ends of the Earth to find his lost child. Nothing could ever prevent this most powerful King from finding her. The King, fearful to leave the Queen alone, asked Rose to stay in the land of Everlasting a while longer as he set out once again with this sons in order to seek out his precious daughter. Rose gladly accepted his request and sent word to the Princess that by request of the King, she would be further delayed.
As the king was just about to give up on what was to be his last journey he ran into an old man walking down the road. He offered the man a ride and told the man of his search. The old man excitedly told him that he had once seen the little one he searches for, many years ago. He told the King that a rich man who said he was from the Land of Calumny had brought the young girl into his fabric store. The rich stranger asked the old man to make the girl some peasant clothes and destroy the royal clothes she was wearing. The old man tried to object and asked the rich man, why he should do such a thing. The rich man explained that the little girl was a peasant from the village and had broken into the Land of Calumny and stolen the dress of a young princess. He was under the orders of the King of Calumny to have this girl dressed in her rightful peasant clothes and sent back to the village to live amongst the hogs where she belongs. The old man consented to make the clothes, but never destroyed the royal dress. King Paladin asked the old man to take him to his store so he could see the dress. The old man revealed the dress that he had kept all those years and the King immediately recognized it as the dress Princess Hope had been wearing the day she was taken. The King asked the man where the Land of Calumny was, or if he could say where the village might be. The old man looked down in shame and admitted to the King that he had found out days after that strange visit that the Land of Calumny had never existed. The rich man had lied to him. He was just a poor uneducated man that didn't know of far off lands. When he heard of the search for the missing Princess Hope, he realized what he had done and tried to get word to the King, but all of his correspondence had been intercepted. As the King hung his head in despair, the old man told him that there was one more thing that he had kept that he thought might help him. The old man looked around to see if anyone was watching and then went into his back room. He returned with a wooden box. Before he opened the box he told the King that before the little girl left his shop, she smiled kindly and warmly at the man, curtsied, then shook his hand. As her hand pulled away, the old man found a treasure left in his palm. He couldn't describe what it was to the King, so he opened the wooden box to show him.....
To Be Continued....
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