Gravity pulled her in.

She did not get wet, or even get into any sort of water when she fell into the elegarii. It was like a camouflage, a very good one, because it was definitely not water, or real water, water like what she thought it should be.

The water surface was just a façade. She dived into the water, and she flew like a bird among the orbs that flew up all around her. Her arms outstretched, she screamed till her throat hurt as she plummeted in a freefall, and she could not open her eyes because the speed of the fall. No water. Just air. Lots of air. The air that slowly sucked her consciousness, she did not even know anymore how long she went on a freefall down the elegarii.

Her scream became fainter, and fainter, and then all was dark.

<<<>>>

She saw Mom.

She had missed her so much.

Mom stood in the middle of a forest. Foreign, dead, forest with rotten leaves and soggy soil all over. Tree barks and branches were dead. The air was heavy with the pungent smell of dead animals and plants. Nothing was alive.

"Mom?" she called, and Mom smiled at her. Her beautiful, wide smile that showed her tea-stained teeth, the smile that always calmed her down. Mom wore the same clothes she wore the morning she died. Dark blue cotton shirt, and grey sweatpants. Mom nodded at her, waved her arm at her, asking her to come closer.

She walked closer, and she stood in front of Mom.

Mom was beautiful, her expression looked rested and peaceful.

"Mom ... Mom ... I miss you," she whispered in between sobs that she knew was coming.

Mom held her right palm out. Something was on it.

Mom nodded at her, then Airin saw what she had on her palm.

A seed. A seed so small she could hardly see it if she did not strain her eyes. A small, white-brownish, rather flattened, seed.

"The forest is dead, the soil is barren, nothing is alive now, but this seed is. This, Airin, is the seed of the giant sequoia trees. They grow to be one of the biggest, oldest, trees on earth. Look, look, how small some big things start as," Mom spoke with that sweet accent of hers, accent that came from the fact that English was not her first language, Cantonese was. How she missed that voice, that accent! Familiar, sweet, cozy.

"Mom, I am scared. I don't understand," she stammered with her eyes glued at the seed. She had seen sequoia trees before when she went with some friends on a hiking trip to the Sequoia National Park a few years ago. Those trees were massive, awe-inducing, and old. Its diameter could be encircled by some adults holding hands around it. She just did not realize how small, how undistinguished, the seed that grew to be those majestic giants was ... until now.

"Shhh ... my sweet girl. Shh. Listen. A heart dies because it forgets ... it forgets hope, it forgets its reasons to fight. This forest dies because it forgets the warmth of sun. But this seed is hope, albeit it is small, seemingly insignificant. Hope reminds a dying heart how to live again," Mom smiled as she put the seed on Airin's open palm. Strangely, the seed disappeared as soon as it touched Airin's skin as if it had melted into Airin.

"Mom?" she looked up at Mom, confused, but Mom disappeared with a lingering smile on her face.

"Mom!" she shouted as she opened her eyes, and sat up on a bed.

Not her bed.

This bed was bigger, much bigger than her bed at her apartment. There were four wooden pillars on each corner of the bed, pillars from which a kind of white mosquito net hung limp. The pillow was white, while the blanket, thick and cozy, was dark brown.

Her brain was like an old, rusty, dusty machine that slowly sputtered to life again, and started scrambling to find out where she was.

She managed to gather a few bits and pieces of information: Elegarii. Freefall. Halgard. Nydda. Lyanna. Xander. All the key events started to flood her mind, and she pieced together what had happened to her. She had been in a daze, the one that was caused by Nydda's magic on her, the one that led her to dive into elegarii.

Her mind was clear now. Clear, and useless, because it failed to stop her from being here in the first place.

"Damn ..." she mumbled, and now she realized a splitting headache that ravaged her. She started massaging her temple, trying to ease the pain.

Where is Xander? She looked around as she massaged her temple, and she saw a woman in her forties, thin, wearing a long blue skirt and long sleeve white shirt – the clothes that made her look like she just stepped out of a movie with Middle Ages setting without changing her costume. The woman stared at her from across the room. Her hair was brown-grey, bundled neatly on her nape, her hand was holding a porcelain jug, and she froze as she watched Airin.

"Where am I?" Airin tried to sound calm, but she sounded like a scared kid losing her way.

The woman blinked, put her jug down on the table in front of her, and walked slowly, tentatively, closer to Airin. Airin realized that the woman may have thought of her like a specimen of foreign life now.

Her eyes widened as if trying to have analyses of who Airin was, her body structure, her mind, her intentions.

"Where am I? Who are you? Where is Xander?" she rattled off all her questions, and sat up straighter. Her eyes scanned the room. The room was not big, it had only the bed, a table, with one rickety chair next to it, the porcelain jug, and one cup on the table. The wall was greyish, made of stone of some sort. A fireplace was next to the table with burning woods creaking to warm the room. One big window was to the left of her. Curtains, dark green and thick, covered it.

"Miss ... how do you feel now?" The woman called out to Airin. Gentle voice. Airin took a deep breath, the gentle voice helped her calm down.

"Please answer me. I was ... I was in the elegarii. I really don't know what is happening now," Airin pleaded.

"I am Prissa, your chambermaid. I have been assigned to help you ... adjust ...to life here. In Halgard. You are in Halgard, Miss ... Miss ..."

"Airin."

"Miss Airin. A beautiful name. Now, like I said, I am Prissa. I know how you get here. Through elegarii, our kingdom's greatest treasure. Not in so much detail, only that you came with Nydda, and Lord Xander, and Lyanna. You came from another universe, that was what I heard!" Prissa walked closer, her voice was more excited now. Her eyes glistened in curiosity.

The fact that she was not the least afraid of Airin, of someone from another universe, showed how common the knowledge of elegarii well and its magic to people of Halgard. It seemed so normal for her to speak to Airin, because elegarii made this possible.

"Prissa, where is Xander? And Lyanna?"

"Lyanna goes back to her own palace, Miss Airin. She lives with her nannies and teachers. Lord Xander ... well ... he has been busy these past two days ..."

"Two days?"

"You have lost consciousness for two days, Miss. I was the one who changed your clothes. Only me. No man was ever in this room!" Prissa nodded her head, and Airin felt lightheaded. Two days. Fainted. That was the moment she noticed that she wore some sort of gown, light blue, long sleeve, length to her ankle. A kind of nightgown, maybe. She rushed to pat herself, her most valuable possesion – the silver necklace with Mom's jade pendant – was still around her neck, her bra was still intact, as was her underwear. The gown was made from woolly material that caused her skin to start itching.

"This is crazy," she whispered to herself. She shut her eyes tightly, wiped her face with both palms, opened her eyes again. She was still here in this Middle-Age room. It was not a dream. It was her reality. That scared her like hell.

"I do not know much about you, Miss. But trust me, you will be well taken care of here. Our King Rovan would like to see you now that you are awake," Prissa smiled. Her face was make-up free, wrinkles in some spot, thin frame, and pale skin.

"I want to see Xander," she insisted.

"I do not know where he is," Prissa answered with genuine concern in her eyes.

Airin took a long, deep, breath, and slowly came down from her bed. She walked to the curtain with the gaze of Prissa following her.

She opened the curtain, and gasped.

Snow was everywhere. It covered the dried brances of trees, the ground. All. Outside was a white snow world, a garden, a very spacious one with paths that led to different zones of plants.

"Where ...?" that was the only words she could muster to say. Her head was heavy, her headache lingered. She felt sick, weak, and scared at the same time.

"The back garden of our palace, Miss. You are in the main palace of Halgard, the seat of the throne of Halgard, of our King Rovan." Prissa stood next to her now. "A beautiful place, this kingdom. Even after the wreckage of war with Myrana, we are still resolute. We are rebuilding all that was destroyed," continued the chambermaid, her half-cocked chin showed her pride of her homeland.

"Now, you are awake. Let's get you cleaned up. Our King wants to see you!" Prissa nodded at her.

Airin could not help feeling like a new pet that needed to get cleaned up. She did not like it one bit.

Where are you, Xander?