is the son of Arakas. The king of Hellfire. He is a nightshade elf ."
My look only grew more questionable.
Since I hadn't had time to read the stories about the kingdoms until now, I didn't know what she was talking about.
"Because of the war that was going on here at the time, after the victory of the Alliance of Light over those of the Alliance of Darkness, all Nightshade Elves were banished. And they are strictly forbidden to enter the soil of our lands without invitation or valid reason," Malia added to her narrative after correctly interpreting my gaze.
She let her hand slip from my mouth and nodded at me meaningfully.
I had better not mention this handsome gentleman to the other guests.
We went back to the company and Shadow moved more and more into the background of my thoughts.
"You really lived in the human world until yesterday?" Princess Morai and Prince Dandelion asked me incredulously.
"Wasn't it dangerous or boring there?" asked Prince Dante, who had joined us.
"It was neither boring nor dangerous. I had a nice house, my own car, and had recently earned my doctorate in mythology. This world here seems more dangerous." I told the princes to the princess.
"What is a car?" asked Princess Morai, pondering what I meant by that.
"A car is comparable to a self-driving carriage or a jorai." answered Malia for me. Now I looked at her a bit skeptically. She grinned and answered promptly. "A Jorai looks like a covered motorcycle, is also only for two people, similar to a Smart car, except the seats are one behind the other."
"Ahhh okay." muttered I to myself.
Prince Dante turned to me.
"Tell me Princess Juna, why do you bother with such a lowly fairy like Lilly Starfly? You might as well have better company with you, after all, your reputation is improving more and more right now as I talk to you."
At the same moment, he grabbed my butt.
I looked at him in disgust and horror.
Bam!
I had lashed out in a split second and slapped him across the face.
"What do you allow yourself to do? You don't know her, nor do you know me! And I don't really care what my standing is here. I know who my friends are and YOU are definitely not one of them! And if you dare to touch me like that again, you can be sure that it won't stay with a simple slap in the face!" I yelled at him.
All eyes were immediately on me, but I didn't care. Nobody had the right to talk about my best friend like that or to touch me. Especially not some pompous poseur of a would-be prince who thought he could get away with anything.
I gave him a nasty look.
He started laughing out loud.
"You have a temper, I like that. Conquering you will be difficult, but I accept the challenge!" he said and smiled at me.
I would have loved to wring his neck.
Lilly and Malia pulled me away and turned the ball into a disco.
Malia got her laptop from her room and Lilly connected her cell phone to it. It didn't take long for the anger about Dante to disappear.
The queens and kings were a bit startled by this loud techno music at first, but even the elders couldn't hold back after a few minutes and started to tap their feet.
To the princesses, Lilly and I showed some of our dance moves from Triangle and the princes also adapted to the rhythm.
The party went on until the wee hours of the morning. Not until well after sunrise, when the staff already started to clean up the hall, the last guests said goodbye.
I was happy about the course of the evening. I was able to make new friends, teach a creep a lesson, and share and explain a bit of 'my' world.
Now, when I was back in my room, my thoughts drifted back to Shadow.
I spoke the name once quietly, to myself.
Shortly after, a small, rolled-up note suddenly appeared on my nightstand. I picked up the note and read the small text, in finely legible handwriting.
"Dearest Juna, the evening with you will remain in my memory forever. Due to the past of my people, I am unfortunately forbidden to meet you again. It was risky, but I had to at least take a look (yesterday) at you, the masked ball was the perfect opportunity, as no one recognized me that way. When we will have the opportunity to meet again I unfortunately don't know, but through the magic that prevails here, at least we can send these messages to each other. Just say my name and you will receive a magical sheet of parchment. Say "Night" and the message will be sent to me.
Kindest regards Shadow."
I had to grin, thinking directly of an ancient way to send text messages or emails.
I rummaged around in my desk drawer until I found a quill pen and a barrel of ink.
"I miss my pens," I muttered quietly to myself.
Alright, ancient mails, so ancient writing utensils too. I sighed and thought of asking Malia, if she could switch between worlds, to please bring me some things.
My heart grew heavy as I thought of "my world."
I wondered what my parents were doing right now.
What had they told my employer?
"Damn! Work?! I need to talk to Malia!" I shouted, clearing the letter aside and running towards the guest wing.
A short time later, I arrived at her room door.
I knocked on her door like a lunatic.
"Malia! Malia, it's me Juna! Please open the door I NEED to talk to you!" I shouted to her.
She opened the door for me and looked at me a bit puzzled.
"What's wrong? I was just about to go to sleep. Is there a fire or what?" she asked me as she yawned for a long time.
"No, there is no fire. But I would have some questions and yes it's urgent because before that I couldn't go to sleep. And an unrested, grumpy princess, isn't a great view, is it?" I told her, leaning casually against the wall.
"Okay, what's so urgent that it can't wait until this afternoon?"
She yawned again. I almost felt guilty for keeping her from sleeping.
"Three things, or rather questions, are on my mind" I began.
"What about my job? I love my job as a teacher and have worked hard and long on my career. What has my employer been told about what I do and where I am? Or has he been told anything at all? Am I fired?" I got scared and anxious at those words because I really liked my job.
"Don't worry, I sent a note to the principal saying that you had to take some time off because our paternal great aunt, passed away and we would now have to take care of her estate. But since this would take some time, as she lived in Australia, he gave you two months off," she said and winked at me.
I was relieved, but two months off?! Wow.
"So what are the other two questions?"
Her question snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Hmm? What? Oh yeah. I came here through a mirror, how do you get back? Can you just go back and forth between worlds like that?" I asked curiously.
This question had been buzzing around in my head since I arrived. How did I get back? Would I even get back home?
"Yes, you do come back. In the Tower of Runes, here in the castle, there is also a portal mirror. You just have to touch the runes, read them, and then touch your reflection to activate the portal. By the way, the mirror that leads to Elderon here is no longer in the Triangle's