The Missing Sister

 When Radi was 12 years old she lived in a big, beautiful house in the middle of a forest. Every day she would go out into the forest to find branches from fallen trees, sad branches who dreamed of being used again by someone other than the mold and moss. Radi would take these branches and drag them all the way back to her home. She would take her carving rock that she found out by the creek and carve these poor boring branches into beautiful swords. It would take her all day to create these masterpieces. And when she was done, she would put it into her pile of finished swords and go inside to sleep. Every day was pretty much the same for Radi. And she liked it that way.

One fall day when the air was cool and crisp she set out for another day of adventuring into the forest. Sometimes when she couldn’t find any good branches, she would sit down by the creek and wait for the deer to come. Most of the time the deer family would keep their distance from her, but every once in a while a baby would be brave and come within a foot of her to say hello. All the forest creatures knew her. They weren’t what you would call friends, but more like acquaintances. The only ones she could really count on for being friendly were the frogs. They weren’t really afraid of her. But on this specific day, not even the frogs were out. Radi assumed it was their hibernating time. They were just getting ahead of schedule she thought. But the deer didn’t come out either that day. She was sitting in the same spot she always sits in when the deer come by for a drink. “Why aren’t they here?” she thought. She walked back home to maybe work on some old swords that weren’t quite finished. But it puzzled her that no one was out. As she was walking back to her house, it hit her. Literally. From out of nowhere a rock, the size of a Ping-Pong ball, hit her square in the head. It fell to the ground and when she picked it up to study it, she was no longer there.

First, her surroundings disappeared. All that was there were her body and the rock. Not even did she have her sword that she was carrying with her. She was surrounded in a white, what looked like a void. Maybe everything? Or nothing? She didn’t know what was happening. Nothing this drastic had ever happened in her life before, or as long as she could remember. Then she thought to do the opposite of what brought her to this void, drop the rock. So she did. And when she did, land came back. But not as she knew it.

“Radi, it’s okay.” A girl spoke in the sweetest voice. Radi opened her eyes and felt herself lying in a bed of grass in the middle of an open field.
“How do you know my… my name?” Radi spoke very slowly, very confused-like.
“Oh um I uh heard you talking in your sleep?” The girl said in a question tone of voice.
“Who are you? Where am I?” Radi asked.
The girl replied, “This is Kalanora a kingdom built in peace and prosperity. I am Vauzel, the ruler of this kingdom. I know what’s coming next, what are you doing here? You were brought here because we are in great peril. See, I have a sister and she was kidnapped when she was 2 years old. We need to find her and this rock that you have was sent to find the person to help us find her. I know that’s a lot, ask as many questions as needed.” Radi looked blankly at Vauzel, letting everything just told to her soak in.

Radi finally had something to say, “If your sister has been gone for all these years how come now you need her?”
Vauzel took a deep, pensive breath. “Every time the queen of Kalanora gives birth, she has two kids. One kid is the eyes and mouth of the kingdom. The one who speaks and watches over everyone. The other kid is the one who can read the books. This kingdom is prosperous because everything that happens has happened before many centuries ago. So we know what is going to happen tomorrow because in the books of the date of tomorrow, we can read that date and know exactly what will happen.”
“Wow!” Radi exclaimed, “That is great to have. I love having a set routine and know exactly what will happen every day.”

Vauzel smiled and responded, “I can’t read those books, the books won’t let me. So for the past 12 years we don’t know what to expect every day. And because of that, we have noticed some strange things happening here, things that have never happened before.”

“You can stay here in the castle if you’d like.” Vauzel suggested to Radi now that they had walked to the castle.
“Okay, I’d like to explore the land if you don’t mind.” Radi replied.
“Sure, you can go anywhere! To the west is the forest, that’s where the forest children live. Don’t worry they are very nice. If you go northeast of here you will find Mount Zeeno. It is quite cold there; no one lives there except the wise, old hermit. It’s a great place to go if you want to be left alone. If you follow the river from Mount Zeeno down to the valley you will come into the town. That’s where the majority of people live, The Town of Zeeno. Past the town is the lake, The Lake of Coalescence. The water is so fresh and clean. It’s beautiful. And finally if you go a bit west of the lake you will come across the desert. Another great place to be if you want to be left alone. But it does have a reputation of people not coming back after adventuring out there. Make sure you bring a lot of water and are prepared for intense heat.”
Radi smiled, “Wow this is such a vast land. You have it all! I can see why you want to keep it so perfect. I can’t wait to get out there and see for myself!” She grabbed what she needed, water, food, a jacket. And with that she was off.

Her first stop was the forest since it would make her feel at home and she was eager to meet the forest folk. When she got there she met a nice little girl, probably about 7 years old. She wore a light purple dress made of wool (it smelled very bad) and brown leather boots. She didn’t talk much. All she said was that her name was Surin and her brothers and sisters needed her. Radi followed the girl into the deeper parts of the forest where these little tree houses stood surrounding a tall tree. The kids worshiped this tree. He couldn’t talk but for some reason you could hear him as clear as you could hear anyone. He spoke a language Radi didn’t know but he seemed very wise. The other kids were about the same personality as Surin. Very polite, kind of kept to themselves but nice enough to ask about you. Radi asked to see if they knew about the lost sister. They said they heard of her but they don’t know where she went.

Radi went on to the lake. She didn’t bother with the desert since extreme heat was not her thing. When she got to the lake she saw some people walking around and swimming in the lake. They seemed very happy. The lake was so pretty though it was impossible not to be happy. Radi tapped on one of the people’s shoulders. The guy turned around. He had gills. Radi, not trying to be rude but couldn’t help herself, was staring at that fish-like man.
“Can I help you?” The man said very kindly.
“Umm… I was wondering if I could get a map of the lake?” Radi said not very convincing.
“Yeah if you go inside the fishing hole the nice desk lady can help you.”
“Thanks.” Radi followed the sign that read “fishing hole”. When she got there it was nothing but a big pond with some trees around it and fish swimming freely. There was no desk. She looked into the pond and under the water she saw someone at a desk. Way down in the bottom. When the man said “in the fishing hole” he meant literally in it. “She must be one of the fish people”, Radi thought. There was no way she could swim all the way down there without some sort of diving gear. She scratched that idea and went back into the main part of the lake. No one there seemed to know anything about the royal family so there was no hope.

She followed the river all the way up the mountain. She put on her jacket and kept climbing. When she got pretty far up she saw a cottage. It looked quite vacant but then she remembered Vauzel said something about an old person living here. This didn’t seem like very good living conditions for an old person though. She knocked on the door and an old man answered. He didn’t say anything though, he just looked at her very tired-like.
“I was wondering if you know anything about the royal family.” Radi said
“Uh well I might know a thing or two come inside.”
Radi came inside and the man gestured for her to sit on the couch.
“Is there anything in particular you would like to know or do you just want some insight?”  The man asked.
“I actually wanted to know about the princess who went missing.” Radi responded
“She is safe.” The man spoke and then closed his eyes and smiled.
Radi became uncomfortable because she thought he might go to sleep, and may not wake up.
“Well where can I find her?”
“Need to find her you do not. Come home she will when the time is right.”
“How do you know this?” She paused for a second and thought, “You are the sister!” After she spoke she thought about what she just said. How can an old man be a 12 year old’s twin sister?
The man laughed. “Quite funny you are but no I am not the lost princess. I am but an old man who used to be a royal knight. When I was in battle one time a lost a leg. And that was the end of my fighting days. I became depressed so I moved here to grieve my loss. Such is the way of life.” The man smiled again and said, “Find this girl you will, she may be closer than you realize.” And with that Radi left, puzzled by the man’s words. The only explanation she could find was that he was the princess in disguise as on old man so that he wouldn’t have to do his duties. As much as that made no sense it was the only thing that could make his words true.

She went back to the castle the think of how the find this girl. When Vauzel came in the room to ask if Radi wanted dinner she could tell something was bothering Radi.
“Did you have a fun adventure?” Vauzel asked.
“Yeah I learned a lot.” Radi stared out past Vauzel and then looked at the rock that sent her here. “Is it possible that your sister is safe and closer than we realize?” Radi pondered
“Of course, anything is possible. What makes you say that?”
“The old man on the mountain. He said she is safe. He knows where she is. Do you think he could be your sister? I know it sounds crazy but how else could he know where she is?”
Vauzel looked at Radi unconvinced.
“I think that old man might be going a little crazy. I mean he is cooped up all day in a small little cottage in the middle of a mountain where the temperatures are like 20 degrees. I think you went a little crazy just being there for an hour or so.”
Radi laughed, “Maybe.” But she knew that he was right somehow. The princess is closer than they realized. Both of the girls sat there on the bed deep in thought.
“Your theory about the old man gives me an idea.” Vauzel said “Maybe my sister is someone I see all the time.”

Just then a feeling soaked in. Radi jogged her memory remembered when she was just a small baby when her mom came in to her room and picked her up out of her bed and stuffed her into a cat carrier. The next morning she remembered waking up in a new house. But it was the house she lives in now. And then is occurred to her. It all made sense now.
“What if I am your sister?” Radi said wearily.
Vauzel grinned, an almost evil grin. She started laughing and then said, “Welcome back sister.”
Radi let the thought absorb in her mind.
“Did you know this whole time?” Radi looked at Vauzel.
Vauzel looked down sheepishly, “I didn’t know how to tell you so I thought it would be easier if you figured it out yourself.”
“You are probably right. Is that how you knew my name?”
“I was hoping your mom didn’t change your name. I hoped you were too old when you were kidnapped to learn a new name. So yes. I knew your name was Radiance.”
“Radiance? You get named Vauzel and I get named Radiance?”
“Radiance Dash actually. Dash is our family name. We always called you Radi since Radiance isn’t the coolest of names.”
“I will always go by Radi.”

And from there on out Radi lived in Kalanora with her real family. There were still some holes that needed to be filled but at least now life made a little more sense.