IN A MYSTICAL LAND, far, far away at a time nonexistent from now, therein existed the Green Kingdom, a land of immortality and immortal beings. It was envied in all the land by creatures both mystical and mundane. It worried the lot of them that believed in black magic because the inhabitants of the Green Kingdom fought against such forces.

The Green family held and protected the good magic from being consumed by darkness that threatened to reign over the land. Their mortal enemy, the Gipus kingdom, fought by all means to keep darkness reigning but before passing, Pink-White's parents, Terese-White and Bingy-White, had fought to their last bone to keep darkness at bay.

That did not, however, hinder the witches of the Gipus kingdom from cursing the people of Green kingdom with a curse. It was the cry they made as a bunch of them dissipated into eternal flames. The curse was directed to the royal family. Pink-White's parents were to exist only for a while even though they were immortal initially, part of it was taken. Gipus' magic was not dark enough to steal all their immortality even though it is what they would have wanted. Before destroying the Gipus kingdom (source of all dark magic), the witches had withdrawn part of the Green family's immortality.

The Greens initiated the banquet of the Elixir of Life. They had discovered it from the Silver family, a family akin to theirs and superior in healing magic. They were healers by descent and greatly honored for their ability to heal the world from any kind of infirmity. When the witches of Gipus kingdom had cursed the Greens, the Silver family was highly recommended as the only kingdom that could reverse the curse. It was sad however that they could not undo all of it, instead an agreement was decided upon—a slight remedy is all they could offer.

The Silver kingdom would provide the Elixir of Life after fifty years at an eighteen days banquet organized by the Green family. This tonic was meant to give an addition of twenty years after their earthly lifespan was over. This agreement worked for the Greens and other kingdoms that had the gift of immortality and had been affected by the 'Gipus Curse'.

The Gipus Curse worked in a way that if the parent chose, they could sacrifice the twenty years—offered to them as an extension from taking the tonic—to their children so that they could live longer. Parents could not exist alongside their children for longer than they must. Terese-White and her husband, Bingy-White, had left their son, Pink-White to take care of their grandchildren; Shinka, Shimki, Shimpi, Shimi and Shinja. Bingy-White was the first to go, Terese-White came later on.

It was a huge sacrifice that resulted in sickness of his wife, Evalene Green. The Gipus Curse had affected her differently because she was not immortal. Pink-White had fallen in love with a mortal without knowing that their union would lead into her death. Only later did he find out that her life was fading away because of her association to their family through marriage. The tenets of how the curse worked had not been fully laid out to them. It was not like the witches had blessed them with a manual of how-tos and consequences.

As the descendant of the pure Green family, Pink-White, was left with the responsibility to organize the banquet that initiated the distribution of the Elixir of Life. People came from far and wide to partake of this drink every after fifty years as the Greens were in charge of it, everyone had to keep in their good graces. Survivors from the Gipus kingdom would come too, as obligation to pledging their allegiance to Green kingdom as assurance that they had stopped practicing black magic.

The Green castle stood magnificently on the floating clouds swaying with the quiet wind in the morning leading to the event. It was calm as the golden hue of rays bounced off the balcony railing at the front of the castle. Hanging loose from each pillar were tiny yellow flowers with small green leaves being kissed by bees buzzing ceremoniously as they sucked at their nectar. The flower garden in the quadrangle had larger flowers, the buzzing bees swooned with the ecstasy from lots of nectar at their display—they did not know what to do with all of it. Nature was being extra generous that morning.

~*~

Chapter 1

ON THE SECOND FLOOR of the castle, Pink-White stepped out and breathed in his surroundings. 'It is a good day to be outside,' he sighed in thought. The flowers bloomed differently. He gazed down at the flower garden in the quadrangle. The daisies, roses, sunflowers opened to welcome the sun-kiss. Sound waves whispering cloyingly from the buzzing of the bees and little leaves as they slapped against each other.

Humming soulfully, he turned his back to the railing, leaning against it and through his nostrils, he let in the ambrosia from the roses. Closing his eyes for a nanosecond, his tune was engulfed by birds twittering. It was an enticing consummation to be taken away by nature. His mind traveled into the in-between—a place between now and his mind—for a moment, he could not do anything else but feel that is when he heard it. Something or someone was calling him. It sounded distant yet felt near.

"Pink-White, Pink-White..." a soft voice nudged at his calm mind like a little fire poker tickling the edges of a dying flame.

Had he fallen asleep? Or was he in a trance? One second, he was lost in the beauty of the atmosphere and the next he was hearing things. He heard the voice again but could not see where and whom it came from.

"Pink-White, I do not have much time. I may not do this with you ever again. Look at me now," the voice nudged on insistently.

When it insisted, Pink-White was able to recognize the voice, it was his mother's voice, Terese-White. He would know her voice anywhere but she had gone missing and he knew where she was, above all why she had gone. It was a place you left to when your immortal being could not exist on earth anymore, an aftereffect of the Gipus Curse. He was not ready to go there yet, so why was his mother here?

Had his mother come for him? Surely it was not time yet for him to die! Was it?

He had not died on a bewitching day such as this, had he? If not, then what was his mother doing here?

"Mom, how are you here? It is not possible. Am I dead?" he sounded panicked.

"No son, you are not dead. I do not have much time. Walk with me." She glided across the flowers that grew on the land, not crashing any as she floated over them.

Pink-White opened his mind to the surroundings. The colors had taken on a brighter tinge. Vivid. He tried to recognize the place, had he been here before? It looked like a place that one could only dream about—a sweet dreamy experience. The flowers were brighter as though more color had been splashed on their petals. Radiant. The sky too had a life of its own, vibrant with color. Was it possible for the sky to be any bluer? It was like the deep blue sea was floating above him and not the usual light blue skies. The clouds were breathing, churning as the wind turned them—swelling with each turn. Puffy.

His mother's voice snapped him out of his musings.

"There is something you must know and I thought to myself that what better day to tell you this than today when your heart is open and warm." As if to answer him, his mother swished her hands over the leaves on a tree standing in front of her. The tree reverberated like her tiny action had woken it up from a darling siesta. "Beautiful is it not, my son?"

"Yes, it is, mother. But where are we?" His patience was running thin because he was not sure why she was here. If it is his life that had come to an end, he needed to know that early enough. Maybe he could make a bargain with dear fate, if he understood why and where they were. "Why here mum? Where are we?"

His mind was working backwards asking the questions that had to be asked first last and those that should be last first. He did not beg to be excused. Anyone in his shoes would do the same.

"I did not want anyone to listen to our conversation so I brought you here. You do not know this place." Her eyes dancing over their surroundings, she gestured to him with a nod and continued, "Maybe you have visited it before in your dreams, I know it seems familiar to your eyes. It was your father's and my safe place. We would go into each other's minds when we wanted to be private about our thoughts and plans depending on who called out the other. This time I invited you. We are in your mind Pink..."

He was dumbstruck. The rest of her sentence disappeared with the line his thoughts had taken. Since that fateful night, his mother had never made any appearances not suddenly or foretold, ever! It was now that it occurred to him that he still felt hurt by what she had done. He asked the most logical thing that his mind could conjure up at the moment.

"Is everything alright mother?" He was not ready to bring up the sour topic, not when he had not fully healed.

"Yes, son it is. Everything is alright, at least it still is," she looked out into blank space thoughtfully before bending down to pluck on a scarlet rose.

The flower responded to her petting as though it still had its roots in the sunken ground it came from—the flower did not wither or lose its water. It bloomed in her hands as she simpered. She continued to walk to the tree in the far end. It was as though things and objects glided across the surface effortlessly not under the influence of wind but of their own volition. Pink-White found himself mindlessly imitating his mother's movements.

Next thing he knew they were sitting beneath a huge tree shade that swayed with the wind. The daffodils spread to pave way for clear land where Terese and Pink sat.

"What do you mean mother when you say 'at least it still is'? What are you trying to say? What is going on?" He was perplexed and believed that his mother would clear some of it by answering some of his questions.

"Oh, my son, too many questions and to them only a few answers can I give thee. A question at a time, time that we do not have." She sighed sadly. She knew Pink-White was terror-stricken by whatever she was telling him. Uncertainty and confusion marked the features of his countenance. She could see the way his throat bobbed up and down. Her boy was scared.

His glassy eyes gave away the fears he never voiced. 'Poor thing,' she thought. If he only knew what lay ahead. She was not in the place to tell him the whole truth which is why she went for a warning instead. Darkness was lurking in the shadows, their lives in danger but there was little she could do to save them, she had already done her sacrifice and where she was, her hands were tied. A warning would suffice, so she settled for that. Better half a loaf than no bread at all, right? It still didn't feel right.

"I do not understand Mother. What is all this? What are you trying to tell me?"

"It is why I summoned you here," she paused and scanned the encompassing mountain ranges, then looked back at her son, "Here... in calm unknown serenity, because a storm is coming."

"But the sky is clear mother; surely there cannot be a storm coming. By far, not today. It does not look so."

Why was she going around in circles when she herself had mentioned the time element? Did she not want to tell him?

"Just like your father, for a king so wise, you adamantly ignore the pain because it is better to look at the bright side." She lifted her skirts as she got off the ground. "Calm before a storm my child but like all storms, this too shall pass."

She strode away from him into the cotton clouds and faded away with them. Poof!

'He was a wise man, her son, he would figure it out at some point.' She thought as the clouds carried her away.

~*~

Pink-White returned from his reverie, he confirmed what his mother had meant when she said they were in his mind. His head hurt from such exertion and power usage. Till now he had not known such could be done with their immortal minds. Now he knew but before he could venture deeply into that thought his mother's last words bagged him.

*Snap! Snap! Snap! *

"Papaaa, papaaaa... the banquet..." his daughter, Shinja was standing right in front of him clicking her fingers upfront in his face.

Huh?

His back was still stuck to the railing as manner of pose. It had been in this exact posture that his mother had come to his mind. She mentioned a banquet.

Banquet? Which banquet?

Pink-White was still coming to from his encounter with the mother. Had it been a day already? Then it appeared to him that time had not passed for even a second. The encounter he had with his mother seemed to have frozen time on the other end of the world, in his mind, that is where it (the encounter) had occurred. In other words, it had been like a thought so no time had passed.

"Come on dad, the guests will be here soon." His daughter bagged impatiently.

When she mentioned guests, Pink-White's mind came back to the events that preceded his encounter with Terese, today is the day for the Elixir of Life celebrations. He was in charge of the banquet preparations and today they would receive the guest batches from different kingdoms meaning that the Silver kingdom would be in attendance soon. He had to get his head in the game otherwise he would mess up work he had put so much effort into.

His daughter did not give time to process whatever his mind was working its way around. She half-dragged, half-jogged him from the balcony pavilion that led through his bed chambers, into the hallway to her room. Instead of the pink streak of hair that went through his father's hair, Pink-White's entire head was ashen pink in color, in his eye sockets sat glassy eyes with golden irises stricken with a few black lines. He had a limp in his step that could easily be missed because of how straight his back stood on his thick thighs.

Evalene, his wife had given him the gift of five daughters, each older than the other by one year. The youngest of which was dragging him right now across the hallway, her name Shinja. She was twenty years old. Their eldest Shinka was twenty-five years old. They had chosen to have them spaced like that because of the mortal state of their mother Evalene Green. Marrying into a cursed family of immortals had costed her life, she died earlier than she would have if she had married a mortal being.

The Gipus Curse had robbed her of life because of it she faded away each passing day. In other days without the curse, Evalene would have gained immortality from her union with Pink-White Green. Unfortunately, for her, she married him after the curse had been cast upon the land. It was for love that she did it, choosing the love of her life over death. The days she would have spent with her husband, Pink-White, she decided to birth him five beautiful girls. She did not have a lot of time to nurture them but she tried her level best to ensure that they felt her presence for the few moments she was with them. She died while they were mere toddlers.

Pink-White was lost in thought when they finally made it into Shinja's room. The other sisters were jittery, pacing up and down, throwing clothes here and there. They did not notice Shinja enter with their father. She nudged her father onto the soft cushion by the window, he hit it with a plop, she turned to her closet pulling out a gown and placed it over her body.

"So, what do you think of this one papa?" she faced him expectantly, twirling with excitement that she could not contain. Her father was staring far away into the mirror like he saw something there and he had traveled to whatever it was. He worried his lower lip with his front teeth evidently inattentive to his daughter's fussiness.

"Papa come on!" she urged her father with a crestfallen expression on her face bothered by his inattention. Abruptly, Pink-White regained his composure back to what his daughter was showing him, eyebrows lifting to his hairline as if he was adjusting his eyes to what was standing before him.

"What? What? Oh yes, yes honey you look well... very beautiful, I must say. Splendid indeed!" He stared on blankly with a ghost smile plastered on his worn-out face. The scattered hairs on his brow gave away his exhaustion. Raising five girls on his own had taken a toll on him. He would never admit it to anyone how much it had taken out of him to raise them because he loved his daughters with every ounce of his old battered heart.

He had seen worse days; the death of his wife, father and disappearance of his mother, all of this in one lifetime. It seemed like an eternity. His girls gave him reason to keep going. Had it been a pigment of his imagination that his mother had come to him a while ago? But he was so sure that he had seen her, they had talked. She had been unclear though whatever it had been he would cogitate on her comments during the affair before it passed. She had said 'calm before a storm'.

An eerie thought swept across his mind that today was the calm, when the storm would break only time would tell.

Chapter 2

His daughters meant a lot to him, a time like this when they were preparing for a banquet that was so significant in their lives, made him think back to the times the girls spent with their grandmother, Terese-White. The girls had not been allowed to attend former celebrations of the Elixir of Life because they had been considered young and not ready for what came with such celebrations. Their fascination about one particular tale that their grandmother had told them had convinced Pink-White that this time around he would let them attend the celebrations.

At times he would listen in on the tales Terese used to tell the girls. His mind drove back to one time he had eavesdropped at the door while she narrated this aforementioned tale to his daughters. He had not stayed for long but he enjoyed the engagement from the little ones as she started.

~*~

Flashback

An aeon not far from now...

Four little bundles huddled close to each other, fidgeting under the plush beddings.

"Scoot Shimi," Shimki squeaked.

"No, I am good here." Shimi shot back using her small fingers to whisk away the wispy strands of hair that had fallen in her face.

"But your hair, it's in my fac..." Shimki did not complete her complaint.

Shinja interrupted their banter. She was the youngest of them all and the most eager to listen to the tale that their grandmother was about to tell them.

"Shush you two! Grandma wants to start." She stepped over her sisters who had covered themselves up earning herself muffled groans from each one of them. She would excuse herself to the loo before joining the rest for story time. She never wanted anything or anyone to get in the way of her enjoyment of the tales, that included peeing. She grimaced her apologies to them but kept on her mission until she dropped like a pile on the side closest to the lampstand. That was her favorite spot during story time because she was close to her grandmother and every word fell directly into her eager ears before it was interrupted by banter or snores from her sisters.

Her grandmother, Terese-White sat on a wooden rocking chair, rocking away gently as she waited for the little ones to settle before she started her tale. A tale that the girls never grew tired of. They wanted it read to them every night, every day. They would give her an earful if ever she slightly changed the tiniest bit of the story. Better yet, if she ever began a story other than that, they would dismiss her. The other four sisters would walk out of Shinja's room as though their grandmother had not started anything of importance. They blocked her out as if she was invisible.

"Grandma, grandma, tell us the story, the boy with silver hair," Shimpi eager with anticipation pestered.

"No, it was silver eyes." Shimi chided in insistently.

"No, it was not," Shinja squeaked.

"Girls..." Terese crooned gently, "May I begin?"

"Of course, grandma, do start." Shinja pleaded.

"Yes, yes, yes please," Shimpi, ever in a good mood bounced on the springy mattress.

Terese laughed silently, her form shaking with mirth at their eagerness. She hoped they would remember this tale. For it was a tale never to be forgotten. Enthralled by their curiosity, she thought, 'they will make wise queens someday'.

"Grandma..." Shimki nagged, "Would you start already?! Pleaseee..."

"Please grandma," Shinka chimed, "Or we might fall asleep and then, and then... we will never know how the story ends."

"As always..." Shimpi added matter-of-factly.

"Okay my dears, let’s get on with it then." Terese said smiling throughout.

The other girls did not know that Terese had always completed the story even when they had fallen asleep, however, she did not know that Shinja had always stayed awake to the end. Always eagerly listening to the end of the story and she liked how it ended.

"In the dim and distant past, there lived a prince. He was young, brave and handsome. He had the purest eyes and fairest hair. He believed in magic..." she was interrupted by a grumbling Shinka.

"But grandma, you said he believed in love..." Shinka mumbled grudgingly with a groggy voice.

"Yes honey, love. He believed in love..." she seemed to rethink her comment then she hastily added, "And magic too."

"Of course, Shinka you can believe in love and magic. Not so grandma?" Shimi asked pointedly.

"I see you are all very attentive. Now I will finish the story, if you promise to be quiet."

The girls became silent immediately. She read the story from a charm book that their mother had left behind. A chapter in there brought things into existence; it did not change the events but could relay them as they would be and maybe provide insight to things that are to be. She knew this and that is why she told the tale of the Silver prince with the charm book in hand.

Terese had decided long time ago that Shinja would take it up after she was gone, for that time was nigh. She had used up her time with them but gladness flooded at the deepest depth of her heart because the time with her grandchildren had not gone to waste.

“So soon?!" Shimpi pleaded, "Grandma a little more, please. We promise not to fall asleep."

"Please, please, please..." they all sang in singsong except for Shinka who had already dosed off.

"Okay if you will all be quiet and let grandma complete the story."

She drawled on about the Silver Kingdom whose heir's hair was all but fair. She did not bother to reach the time of his growth for the girls were lost in sleep with a contented countenance on each of their little faces speckled with little pebbles of sweat as they breathed in deeply. Their little forms moved with the action—up, down, up, down—like a see-saw. Shimpi was the only one that snored lightly.

Terese blew out the lamp after placing the charm book in one of the drawers in Shinja's dressing table. Then she headed to the window that was letting in azure moonbeams like that of a calm clear ocean whose waves swayed effortlessly, she began mumbling to herself in deep thought and concentration.

"I hate to do this to them but Pink will teach them all that I have not tackled in this short time that I have been with them. The memories we share will hold them through the tough times. I will find a way. I will guide them whichever way I can but for now, I have to go."

Tears rolled down her pale cheeks as she turned to watch the sleeping forms of her granddaughters for, she knew leaving them behind was better than stubbornly staying only to die later of an eternal death. It was risky to go but staying with them would be riskier.

Their survival depended on her disappearance even though it broke her heart into little pieces. To not be affected by the Gipus Curse, she had to leave them and head into the land of immortals—while there she could move a few things, not too many but a few things to help the situation. At least that is what she hoped would be the case. Staying behind to watch them grow was going to be disastrous as it would not be in honor of the agreement, they had made with the witches of Gipus kingdom.

She padded softly to the bed and kissed each one of them on the forehead lingering a second longer.

'"I will miss you," she whispered, her voice torn. "Your father knows I must go. I love you. I will always love you.'"

With that she walked out of the bedroom leaving the girls in Shinja's room snoring lightly, their delicate forms rising with the action. She heard footfalls as she headed out of Shinja's room but she dismissed the thought as paranoia concerning what she was about to do.

She moved towards the stairs and seemed to abruptly change her mind for what she was about to do, there was nothing in her room that was required for it to take place. Without taking a single step to go into her room, she dashed over to the sitting room where the plush furniture faded out with the effect from the glow of the cackling fire place as it died out.

Reaching for the poker from its vase that stood in the left corner of the the fireplace, she poked at the dying coals with it. A silent fire rekindled as she put out her hand on the shelf and felt for a match on its marble top casing. She got it and lit the candle that stood firmly on its candlestick sitting on the fireplace. Tears were cascading off her cheeks making her sniffle as she wiped away the salty drops that were flowing from her eyes.

"I am calling out to you Bingy-White. I need you. I do not want to go. Not yet. I know my time is nigh but I do not want to go, not when they are so young."

Her outburst was so sudden you could think that she was talking to herself in a soliloquy or maybe to some invisible person. But in response to her, a form appeared at the far side of the wooden shelf on its top left mirror door, a reflection formed.

"There you are. I thought you were never going to come." Terese gazed up at the image with adoration shining in her eyes.

It was a man old in age but the lines around his mouth revealed an ever-smiling man and not necessarily wrinkles. Fitted in the frame were his face, shoulders midway to his stomach. He had a stroke of pink hair above his right brow. He lifted his left brow and smirked at her. Despite the time and space that existed between the two of them, the fire sizzled still.

"Oh Terese! You have not changed a bit." His eyes skimming over Terese's form.

"Bingy, I miss you." She voiced quite weakly with a little color forming at the crinkles of her cheekbones. Gorgeous. Bingy thought.

"You are coming to me today, no need to worry about that anymore." He knew it hurt. It had hurt like hell when he had to leave everything behind for her sake. He missed her most of all.

At the mention of that she looked away into the cackling flame. This is why she had summoned him. She just did not know if he was ready to listen to what she had to say. A negotiation perhaps?

I know," she said with a wavering voice.

"What's the matter, my Tee?" She smiled at the use of his pet name for her. The smile fell almost immediately as she resumed. The hesitance in her voice told him all he needed to know. She was having second thoughts about their initial agreement. He did not worry however of her changing her mind. He was aware that she would make the right decision no matter the cost.

"The girls, Bingy, they are still so young," she added as if to justify her reason for having second thoughts.

"I know my dear. But we have pushed so far. If we push anymore, we will put their lives in danger." It would be beyond breaking stress of the string she had held for quite a while. He knew this. She knew this. But still...

"I understand. Is not there any other way of doing this?" She managed to pull her sad eyes away from the little furnace and looked directly into his eyes. Her gaze pleading with him silently for what she knew he had no power over. He felt her pain. He had sacrificed his time on earth so that she remained behind for their son and grandchildren.

"This is as far as you go. Pink-White must take on now. Half-immortality for them comes at a price that we must pay. You know that my love. You do, don't you?"

"Yes, yes, I do. Bu-but... they are just so... so young Bingy. How will our son handle them? God only knows that he is only but a man." A stubborn tear found its way down her right cheek. She quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand. Fear. Doubt. Pain. Frustration. Too much of everything. Always bad.

"Pink-White is stronger than you know. He will make it. It is sad that his wife had to die before seeing the girls grow." He shook his head as he reminisced on Evalene's life. Everything had gone south since that good for nothing Curse.

"They will need a mother Bingy. Can I stay? Evalene is not here anymore, it is not fair that they are left with no mother. They need a mother-figure in their--" her intonation was rising with each sentence. It would rise someone from sleep.

She needed to keep it down but somehow her voice was having none of that. She knew she sounded desperate and maybe it had actually come to that. She was desperate. Desperate for what would become of her granddaughters without her in their lives. Desperate for what was to come and what would become of what they had worked so hard for. Things they had sacrificed, were to sacrifice... Was it all worth it?

"They will be fine," he cut in to stop her down spiral of self-reasoning and admonishing. He could sense her inner turmoil.

"I sometimes wish the future did not have to cost us so much," she lamented.

"For them it is worth it. Now go ahead and say your last goodbyes to our son. At least you will not come this side to no one like I did. You will have me waiting for you on the other side. You will have me for eternity," he winked and disappeared with a pop.

It was nothing that Terese had not seen before. Over the years, she had called Bingy-White, her husband, for talks as this one when she was having second-thoughts about the choices they had for their loved ones. She missed him terribly for his love, counsel and charm. He had been a caring husband who considered her needs before his own. Her strength.

She had badly wanted to see her granddaughters grow at least to teen age before she left into the unknown world of the Immortality. It had been Bingy's idea to sacrifice over ten years of his life to add them to hers in order to grant her heart's desire, that was how much he loved her. She missed him ever since and even now when her love for him burned with a fervency so great it could not be quenched. His gift to her had served its time now she had to give it up.

Walking with tardy steps, Terese reached over to her son's door and halted her movement. Stretching her hand out to the door knob, she thought against it instead and spoke to him through the door. It would come back to him as a dream. She could not bear seeing his face while she said goodbye. Drawing close to the door, she tapped it twice, a slight rap that could not rouse her son. She talked.

"You will do well Pink. Your father believes in you. I believe in you. You will do well. I cannot stay. My life here is done but I will be with you. I love you." That was all she said—she could not think of anything else, if she said anymore, it would change her mind into not going—before she vanished before his eyes. He had seen it as a dream.

'This is all because of that nonsensical curse. If it were not for it, maybe, just maybe, things would be di...' She halted her thoughts and vanished into thin air.

Let it be known then that it had been the custom of the Greens to give up years of their existence to the Green Lake--because of the Gipus Curse--in exchange for immortality for their children. Bingy-White gave his ten years to his wife Terese-White for she had wanted to stay around and help her widowed son raise her grandchildren.

~*~

The next day, Pink-White woke with a start getting up from his bed. What a weird dream that had been! But his knowledge of the Green Kingdom about how things worked made him think otherwise of dismissing the dream as any other dream. It had to mean something. As if to answer his thought, Pink-White was welcomed by a sloppy footman when he stepped out of his room. He had tears in his eyes, his voice trembled with fear as he announced to the king.

"Her-her Majesty, the Queen Mother, Terese-White is gone. She cannot be found anywhere in the palace," he said panting while on bended knee, face down.

The anonymity of this happening was to the rest of the kingdom a surprise but not to Pink-White for he knew where his mother had gone--it had something to do with that odd dream he had had the previous night. It was only for him to know.

He wept.

...ends flashback.