Chapter 2

Atreyu awoke slowly.  He groaned as he pushed himself up from the unfamiliar covers.  His eyes were still sleep-bleary, but they felt wrong-- light and smooth, not heavy and softly furred, like the skins he was used to.  He rubbed his eyes, then his face.

Atreyu stopped.  What was this he felt?  He rubbed his chin again, only to find it roughened.  He looked around, recognizing his surroundings as a guest suite of the Ivory Tower.  Seeing a mirror on a nearby dresser, he swung his legs onto the floor and stood.

Immediately, he swayed and fell back onto the bed.  He rose more slowly, finding himself off-balance.  Atreyu staggered over to the mirror.  The Atreyu that stared back was a stranger.  The sun-bronzed skin and long dark hair were familiar, and the features held most of the boy’s appearance.  But the face was longer, the features more sharp, and the lower part was darkened by the light stubble of a first beard.  Where he had closed his eyes in the form of a boy of ten or eleven, Atreyu had awakened in the body of a young man of fifteen.

*The aging.  The Vizier’s scratch worked,* he thought.  He turned around, and looked out the window, seeing only the dark of night.  There was a knock at the door.   Atreyu found a white tunic beside the bed and pulled it on, tucking it into his buckskin breeches.  “Come in,” he called.

The Childlike Empress stuck her head in.  Before Atreyu could speak, she put a finger to her lips.  As she entered, Atreyu was amazed to see how she had aged a little more since he had seen her.  They were now at the same stage, just past the first years of adolescence.

MoonChild brought up a hesitating hand, and gently touched Atreyu’s chin.  She giggled at the slight roughness.  “It seems you have caught up with me,” she said softly.

“Apparently,” he agreed.  “Why are we whispering?”

“Are you joking?” she replied, smiling.  “If my advisors knew I was in here...”

Atreyu returned the smile.  “They can’t punish you.”

“No, but I would get at least an hour or two’s worth of lecture on propriety.”

The young warrior looked away.  “It _is_ different now, isn’t it?”

MoonChild took his hand in hers.  “It doesn’t have to be.”  She patted his hand.  “So, are you ready to go?”

“I might need a few hours to get used to this new... situation.”

She smiled again, and Atreyu’s heart warmed.  “I understand.  I’ll have them bring up some food for you.”

“How did you know I was hungry?”

“I woke up ravenous this morning.  There’s more of us to feed now.”

Atreyu ate heartily-- almost twice as much as he was used to-- then went outside to the garden.  With the gleaming spire of the Ivory Tower above his head, he began running.  Atreyu made three full laps at his best speed before heading into the hedge maze.  There, he began leaping and hurdling the obstacles, pushing his strength and agility to their limits.  After some time, Atreyu stopped, panting.

From behind him, he heard clapping.  Pushing back his damp hair, Atreyu looked up to find MoonChild (it was becoming harder and harder for him to refer to her as the “Childlike” Empress anymore) leaning against a pillar.

“I am impressed, Atreyu,” she said, beaming.

“Honestly, so am I,” he answered.

“Really?”

“A week ago, I wouldn’t have lasted half as long.  Perhaps this affliction has some positive side effects.”  Atreyu walked towards one of the many fountains to be found in the garden and took a drink of the cool, sweet water before splashing more on his face.  “Is it time to go?”

MoonChild walked up to him, and stared him in the eyes.  “You have reservations about me, don’t you?”

Atreyu began to speak, but then stopped.  “Sometimes you know me too well.”

“Then you do.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, MoonChild.  I would trust you with my life.”  Atreyu took a seat on a nearby marble bench, and she sat down beside him.  “But you’ve never been beyond the gates of the Ivory Tower.  I don’t know you will... handle... things out there.”

“I know I’ve been sheltered,” she replied, her voice soft, “but I _have_ to do this.”

“I know, I know,” Atreyu said, “the prophesy...”

“It’s not just the prophesy.”  She placed her hand on Atreyu’s shoulder, and the young warrior was surprised at the strength of her grip.  “For precisely the reason that I _have_ been sheltered all my life.  I need to know if I _can_ do this.  If I can be more than just the Childlike Empress.”

“The Childlike Empress,” she continued, “is a symbol– a banner or a decoration trotted out of the Ivory Tower on special occasions for people to praise and fawn over, but never understand, or even talk to like she was a real person.”

Atreyu was surprised now at the strength of her words.  “I never knew,” he said.  “I never knew how lonely it must have been for you.”

“Do you know how jealous I was of you?  When you leave this place, you return to your plains and your tribe and your purple buffalo.  All I have are walls.  Ivory walls, yes– but still walls.”

The young man took MoonChild’s hand in his own.  “MoonChild, I am your friend.  I always have been, and always will be.  And if this is something that you must do, then I will be there for you.”

She hugged him closely.  “I couldn’t possibly conceive of going through this with anyone, in any reality, but you.”

Atreyu held her tightly.  It was, on the surface, nothing special.  They were the best of friends and had been quite affectionate with each other, hugging often.  But now, something in the back of Atreyu’s mind was telling him that something was different.  He felt different holding her.  She felt different in his embrace.  Unknown to him, MoonChild felt the same things.

Both slowly let go of the other, writing off the confused feelings to nervousness and apprehension.  “We should go back in,” Atreyu said.  “We need to prepare for the journey.”

MoonChild stood, then began laughing.  It started slowly, then grew to a full-blown giggling fit that claimed Atreyu quickly.  After several breathless minutes, Atreyu was finally able to speak.

“What… are we laughing about?”

She panted, trying to compose herself.  “I just realized… I haven’t a thing to wear that’s nearly appropriate for this adventure.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out.”  He got up.  “Let’s go.”

They headed back into the Ivory Tower as the sun found its highest point of the sky.

**********

It was some time after dinner, and Atreyu was in his quarters, studying a map of the Rock Chewers’ region of the land.  There came a knock on the door.  Atreyu crossed to the door and opened it.

Standing in the doorway was MoonChild.  Atreyu immediately guessed that she had tried to jury-rig suitable traveling clothes from the selections in her wardrobe.  Every time he had seen her, she had been wearing a beautiful flowing gown of purest white and silver.  He mused over how cross some of her handmaidens would get when they returned to the Ivory Tower with her dress muddy and torn.

Now, the young Empress had apparently taken scissors and a crude needle and thread to one of those gowns.  The layers of diaphanous skirts were slit front and back, fastened roughly and tucked into a borrowed pair of riding boots.  From one of her servants, no doubt, she had acquired a silk vest and wide leather belt.

“What do you think?” she asked sheepishly.

Atreyu’s face twisted with the strain of holding back his laugh.  “It was a nice try,” he managed, then promptly let out a laugh.

MoonChild smiled.  “It’s hideous, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and not very practical, I’m afraid.”

She pouted dramatically.  “Then what’s your solution?”

“We delay the quest for a day or two, so we can visit my village.”

“Really?”  She was visibly excited by the prospect.

Atreyu gestured for her to enter, and she did.  “I’ve been thinking about the journey, and I have nearly nothing we need here at the Ivory Tower.  At my village, we can find all the supplies and provisions we need.  Plus, we’re sure to find you some appropriate clothes.”

“It’s settled then.  We leave for the plains at first light.”  She spun on her heel towards the door, but lost her balance.  Atreyu was beside her in an instant, catching her.

MoonChild righted herself and smiled.  “Sorry.  I’ve been losing my balance lately.  I’m… um…”  She paused, a little embarrassed.  “I’m… distributed differently now.”  She proceeded to blush slightly.

Atreyu was lost for a moment.  “Huh?” he wondered, then looked at her again.  She did indeed look different.  Older.  More… mature.  “Oh,” Atreyu said quickly, then changed the subject.  “Then I’ll see you first thing in the morning, then?”

“Yes, yes,” she replied.  “Good night, Atreyu.”  The Empress leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“Good night, MoonChild,” he answered.  She turned and walked out the door, leaving Atreyu rubbing his cheek and wondering what had just happened.

Outside the door, MoonChild leaned against the wall.  Something was definitely happening, and she hadn’t the slightest idea what.  She did know, though, that when it had run its course, nothing would ever be the same.

TO BE CONTINUED…