The next day I saw Brok in the hallway. He looked at me without saying a word and left. Krimla had told me that he was going to attend to some of his political businesses as usual and that he wouldn't be back until dark. She told me that I could go wherever I pleased as long as it was in the castle and that I would be called upon for lunch and dinner. She said that if I needed anything at all to let her know and that she would assist me in any way. Then she disappeared telling me that she had to keep the house clean and that she didn't have the time to really be with me. I nodded and explored the castle on my own. I wondered if this castle ever had an ending. It seemed like the more I explored it, the more I found and the more I tried to reach out, I just could not. I decided to see some of the rooms. One of the rooms was filled with thousands of objects. Objects that I couldn't identify, but they all had different shapes and sizes. They seemed useless to me, but I wondered if the objects were from other worlds and what were their purposes.

At night, Brok came in to the dining room, but we spoke little and this soon became a custom of every day. Every day he would leave to do whatever it was that he was doing and I would have to stay here and wander off to different places in the castle, yet I could never actually go out of the castle and explore. It wasn't all boring though. As I went out into the gardens I would discover a new creature every day. Insects that were huge and of different colors, plants that were foreign to me and from time to time I would caress some of the boons. They finally accepted me after weeks of visual contact. I would sit nearby and look at them and they at me. Every time I tried to extend my hand to them, they would vanish immediately believing that I was some sort of strange new predator. But over time and after they noticed that I was gentle, one of the boons chose to give me a chance. His little fluffy body hoped over to me. I didn't dare to move. I just sat there frozen, waiting for the brown little fluffy cute thing to come to me.

First the boon would approach me, but when I tried to reach for it, it hoped away, so I devised another strategy. I decided to just sit there and pretend to ignore the little fellow. He twitched his little mustache. I so wanted to grab it and just pet it and give it some friendly love, but I maintained my strategy. Every day the boon would come just a little bit closer to me. Every time he looked at me though I pretended that I was either looking at the sky or caressing the grass. I was anxious to have him in my hands, but I knew that if I tried to force him, he would simply skip off somewhere, climb a tree and never approach me again and so I waited patiently for an entire month until one day the boon had finally hoped into my lap. I grabbed it and petted it. His heartbeat was very fast. I didn't want to give it a heart attack so I didn't over pet him. Little by little, the other boons followed and soon I was able to caress a bunch of boons.

I would lie down in the ground with them and start rolling my body until I was tired. I laughed under the purple sky and the boons hoped next to me. Some even made the cutest sounds ever until I finally just lay still under the yellow grass. I observed the planet with the rings on the sky and I laughed out loud. The boons rushed on top of me and petted me with their lips.

"Ha, ha, ha, that tickles," I laughed. They were so cute.

"Oh, so you want to tickle me, huh? Get over here," I played and I would tickle them on their throats and on top of their sides of their buttocks. I realized they were ticklish there.

"Amazing," I heard Brok say. I sat upright in a flash as the boons hoped away and headed deeper into the gardens. The rays of the sun shone across Brok's dark, blue skin and his eyes were so bright that they were mesmerizing below the pale, purple sky. I could barely take my eyes off them. Brok blocked the sun from his eyes placing his hand on his forehead.

"I'm glad to see that you are having fun in my absence. I see that you have acquired some new friends," Brok said to me as he approached. He extended his hand to me. I grasped it and got up from the ground.

"I guess..." I mumbled back.

"Anabella, I am glad to see you here. I have been so busy these days that I haven't had a moment with you."

"Oh," I replied.

"I have noticed your silence in the dining room."

"Well, you always ask about my day and it's really not as different as the day before, so I figured why bore you."

"I can never be bored as long as the words are coming out of your mouth."

"Really?"

"I think it has to do more with the sound of your voice actually."

"You're joking," I said half smiling. Brok grabbed my arms and pulled me in.

"Thank you. I needed to see you smile," he said. I laughed.

"What?"

"I've had a rough day today. Things are not going well," he said and then he let me go. I walked beside him as we approached the door.

"What do you mean?"

"Politics."

"Oh. What's the problem with politics?" I asked him, but Brok shook his head.

"I don't want to bring my problems to you. I however, do want your company if you don't mind."

"Okay," I said.

"Wonderful," he said and we walked for a long time, but without really saying anything to each other. I didn't know what to say and I felt awkward to just be walking around the castle without saying a thing. I really wanted to try to cheer him up, but I had no idea of how to do that.

"Brok, what's your family like?" I asked.

"Royal, highly sophisticated and completely disproving of me and my ways."

"What ways?"

"I do not wish to speak about my family if you don't mind. They do not love me, they only tolerate me and I only tolerate them."

"That can't be true."

"It is."

"Brok..."

"What?" He asked. I hesitated for a moment.

"I was thinking... maybe there's a way I can cheer you up."

"Good, because I was growing bored," he said. I ignored his remark and went on.

"You know maybe we should have a party," I said.

"A party? What is a party?" Brok asked.

"Well... a party is something that people do to have a good time. There's music and food-"

"Dancing?" Brok asked.

"Yeah! Exactly, dancing and people... I mean you can invite Sha people."

"People bore me. Let us have a party, you and I alone," he said.

"But what kind of a party would that be, just you and I?"

"Aren't I enough?" He asked me. I nodded.

"Of course, you're enough. I didn't mean that, but if you want to throw a party it can't just be you and I, you have to invite other people. You don't have to invite your family members, you can invite anyone you like."

"Alright, I'll throw a party. It sounds like fun," Brok said kind of reluctant.

"It is, I promise you, it's very fun," I said.

"Alright. I'll have Rox arrange the whole thing."

"Um... that may not be a good idea. Can I arrange it instead?"

"Yes, but the first thing we need is a date. Let us have this party tonight," Brok said.

"Tonight? That's way too soon. I need a couple of days to do it."

"Will three days suffice?" He asked. He seemed to be kind of in a hurry with this party. I wondered for a moment if I could pull it off for three days and then I remembered that all I really needed to do to have this party jamming was to use the intelligent servant of the house.

"Um... I think I can arrange the party for tomorrow night actually."

"Wonderful. Tomorrow night it is."

"But Brok, wait a minute, should the food be from Sha or from Earth?"

"Do whatever you want. It's your party. I will leave that to you."

"Brok, but how will I know if the guests will like it? I mean I don't even know who's coming."

"Do not worry. I am the prince of Sha, they will like whatever I serve. It's their duty to obey," he said. That was comfortable, but it was also kind of strange.

"Thank you, Anabella. You have been such a light in my life. I don't know what I'd do without you," he said.

"Probably the same thing you did before you knew me?"

"Yes, probably. Thank you," he said and he kissed me in the forehead. My smile waned.

"I hope I did not offend you."

"No, not at all... I wasn't... I wasn't expecting it," I stammered.

"I won't do it again. I apologize," he said. I shook my head.

"What? No, no... don't worry about it. It's... nothing," I said.

"Okay. I must go now."

"So quickly?"

"Yes, but I will see you tonight and you can talk to me about the arrangements," Brok said.

"Okay, I'll see you later then," I said. Brok nodded with a smile and left to the front of the house. Not very far away was Krimla. She was looking at us, with her hands to her waist line and with a menacing frown on her face. She turned away to quickly for me to even say something to her or to reach her on time. Certainly, I did not just imagine that. Her expression was pretty clear to me. What the hell was her problem? I wondered. I had to find out.