Her Spirit's Eyes: Part Nine

      "Not me, smarty!" Zora said with a smile, and a bit of a laugh.

      "AAUGH!" Rose almost physically kicked herself, as she had been fooled - again, and was being teased about it. She glared over her shoulder. "That little...! I am going to get you!"

      Zora laughed, as Rose stormed off in the opposite direction. The Princess had thoughts go through her head at lightning speed. She was going to outsmart Dina, this time. She was not going to be made a fool, again!

      She raced down the stairs as fast as she could. She spotted two figures: one was Monina and one was Dina. But which one was which was the hard part.

      "Princess?" the Bruce asked. "What's going on?"

      Rose had very little time to think, but she didn't need any. She bent down and picked the Baby Xweetok up off the floor, and looked into her eyes. She tried not to smile as she saw that her eyes were indigo, she got the right one. She got Dina.

      "A certain Xweetok is in really deep trouble." she said in an angry tone, which was half-faked.

      Monina looked at the Princess with confusion, as she took the struggling baby upstairs to her room. As Rose walked through her bedroom door, her half-faked frown turned immediately into a smile. She began to chuckle, as she hastily pulled the Royal Dagger out of her top drawer.

      "In a few moments, I won't have to worry, or even THINK about you, anymore!" Rose said smugly.

      Dina's eyes widened, as she stared at her reflection in the Royal Dagger, which glowed indigo much more brightly as it grew nearer to her. She could hear laughing in her Xweetok ears... not only from Rose, but one with a deeper tone... it was as if the Royal Dagger itself was laughing...

      Princess Rose took a white shirt from her opened top drawer, and wrapped it carefully around the Royal Dagger. She then grinned, and dashed out of her room with Dina under one arm and the shirt under the other as fast as she could. She passed a wide-eyed Wanda as she dashed into the library, and she began to feel around the wall. She then found the button that she first accidently pushed when she first found the Royal Dagger. She smiled, and pushed it into the wall. The room rumbled, not quite as intensely as it did the first time, but it was still noticeable to the Royal Aisha. She ran to the secret door, and waited for a few seconds for it to open wider, and when it was open just enough for her to go through, she dashed through, with a tight grip on Dina. She dashed down the dark hall, the Royal Dagger, even through the white shirt, gave off a faint indigo light.

      She came to the torches, and they turned on in their orderly fashion of before. Just as the last two torches lit, the rumbling stopped, and Princess Rose walked up to the pedestal where the Royal Dagger was before. All the while, Dina watched the cool, but heart-pounding show with, wide, fearful eyes.

      Princess Rose chuckled, as she placed Dina on the cold, dusty pedestal. "Don't worry," she said in an evil tone, "this will all end, very, very quickly."

      The Princess then carefully removed the white shirt from the Royal Dagger, which was now glowing a very bright indigo. Dina tried to close her eyes as to not see it all, but for some reason, her eyelids would not budge. She felt a tear drip down her cheek, and she saw Rose lift the Royal Dagger high into the air, straight above its target, Dina's heart (which, needless to say, Dina could feel beating). Rose chuckled a little, and Dina knew that it was all over...

      "Rose?!"

      The Princess suddenly turned her head, and she saw four figures: Wanda, Zora, Laura, and... her father, King Kantun.

      "Father!" she yelped, turning around and hiding the Royal Dagger behind her back. "I... how did you get here?"

      Kantun made a gesture towards Laura. "This Xweetok here told me about it, and this Bori," he made a gesture to Wanda, "led me here."

      "Um, wow... uh, heh heh..." Rose could tell that her face was turning red. "You see... I was just--"

      "About to stick a dagger through that Baby Xweetok?!" the King said in an angry tone.

      "Of course not!" Rose exclaimed. "Why would I do that?"

      King Kantun glared at her. "Do not play smart with me, young lady. I saw with my own two eyes, you holding a dagger above that Xweetok."

      "Um... you must have been hallucinating!" the Princess said, as sweat dripped from her forehead.

      "Oh?" Kantun raised an eyebrow. "Then what do you have behind your back?"

      The Princess blushed, and took her right hand from behind her back, empty.

      "The other hand..." Kantun said annoyed.

      Rose smiled a little, put her right hand back behind her back and took the left hand out from behind her back, also empty.

      Kantun rolled his eyes and sighed, "Both at once..."

      Rose lowered her head, and slowly took her hand out from behind her back, which holding the Royal Dagger. Kantun couldn't help but smile, just a little bit, but stayed completely serious.

      "Rose, you are in real serious trouble, this time," he said.

      "But you don't understand!" the Princess yelped. "She's--"

      "I do not care what, or even who she is!" the King yelled. "You know very, very well that it is wrong to murder, especially an infant!"

      Laura stepped up to the pedestal, and picked Dina up off of it. "Yeah!"

      "And you, being the Princess!" Wanda added.

      Zora tried to stay serious, she really tried, but she couldn't help but shout in a loud, sing-song voice, "HA! BUSTED!"

      Kantun couldn't help but smile at Zora's juvenile outburst. "Yes, you are really 'busted' this time, Rose!"

      "Okay, so fine... you caught me," Rose grumbled. "But what are you going to do about it?"

      King Kantun glared at Rose. "You know you will have to be punished, and for a long time, this time!"

      Princess Rose snorted. "You can't be serious! I haven't been punished since I was five!"

      "I know you haven't..." the King tightened his grip on the scepter he was holding, "and I'm REALLY serious, this time!"

      "Vladimyr's Scepter?" Rose's eyes widened. "You wouldn't..."

      King Kantun held one of his hands in the air. "I hereby sentence you to eleven months in no other place than your room, except when eating meals, and going to the bathroom. And that is final!" At the end of that statement, the King took the hand that he had in the air and placed it on top of the big red jewel that rested on the top of his scepter. Rose gasped; only royalty could do that, and only when they were making an official statement.

      The Princess groaned, stuck the Royal Dagger back into its pedestal, and started to her room, mumbling, "Sheesh... no one's ever been officially sent to their room, before..."

      The five pets watched Rose amble out of the hidden room, and when she had left, they couldn't help but smile and laugh.

      "Heh, that was pretty cool!" Wanda said to Kantun.

      "Well, what else can you do when your daughter is trying to kill a baby?" King Kantun said with a chuckle.

      "Thank you so much," Laura said with a nod. "For everything."

      "You are very welcome." The King nodded back. "Now come on, I will take you all home."

     * * * * *

      The next day, at the orphanage, Ardon was at the front desk, looking over some papers. He heard the footsteps of someone walk up to the desk.

      "Hello, welcome to Ardon's Orphanage," he said, not even looking up to see who it was. "I'm Ardon Careheart, are you adopting, or dropping off?"

      "Hello, Ardon. I'm Laura Songdream, and I'd like to adopt."

      Ardon recognized the voice, and the name, and he looked up to see Laura, the familiar Striped Xweetok with Dina in her arms.

      "Laura..." he said, shocked. "I didn't expect you to ever come here!"

      Laura nodded, "Yes, and I was thinking of adopting an orphan."

      "Well, right this way!" he said, standing up and leading Laura further into the orphanage.

      Tom, Rorri and Harry overheard Ardon and Laura, and some whispering went throughout the crowd of orphans, "Someone's adopting! Quick, act nice!"

      Just as Ardon and Laura entered the room, the orphans stood up and smiled in a nice, orderly fashion. One by one, each of the orphans came to greet Laura, saying their name and a reason they should be adopted.

      Tom came first. "Hello, nice Xweetok lady! My name's Tom, and I'd really be a good helper if you adopt me!"

      Laura shook her head. "Sorry, Tom."

      Tom groaned, and walked away. Then Rorri came up to Laura.

      "Hi! My name is Rorri, and I'll always do my homework if you adopt me!" she said, and then made a cute face.

      Laura looked around the crowd of orphans, succinctly saying, "Who's next?"

      Rorri sighed, and walked to Tom, shrugging. Harry smiled at the two, and walked up to Laura.

      "My sincerest salutations, fair Xweetok lady," he said, in a formal tone. "I am called by the name of Harry and... I..." His smile faded as he watched Laura completely ignore him and walk away.

      Some of the orphans snickered at Harry, but then watched Laura with curiosity as she walked through the crowd of orphans, hardly even noticing them. Ardon followed Laura, shrugging at the orphans, showing that he wasn't sure what she was doing, either.

      Laura went a ways through the orphanage, looking briefly across each crowd as she passed them. Some of the orphans were even so curious that they followed her, but she didn't pay any attention to them. Then she finally came to a hall, the hall with each of the pet's temporary bedrooms. Each room had two bunk-beds, and at least two of the beds in each room were being used. All of the doors were opened, at least part way, and Laura looked into each of them as she passed by, until she eventually stopped at one of the doors. It was the door to Wanda's bedroom.

      Wanda's room was the only room where only one pet had been using it. Her dresser had been decorated with a bunch of stuff; she had apparently lived at the orphanage for a long time. Wanda didn't notice when Laura entered the room. She was too busy reading "The Prophecy of the Indera." She on the last page; she had been reading it for a little under a week now. Laura was standing right behind her, just as she read the last word of the book. Wanda sighed as she closed the book, but still didn't notice Laura until Wanda felt Laura touch her on the shoulder.

      At first she just thought it was one of the other orphans, but then she heard Laura say "Wanda..." Her eyes widened when she recognized the soft voice of the striped Xweetok she had come to know. She turned around and looked into the light blue eyes of Laura.

      "Laura?" she asked. "What are you doing at the orphanage?"

      Laura smiled. "I came to adopt."

      Wanda widened her eyes even more. "You want to adopt me?"

      "Well, you're nice, and I've really gotten to know you in the past week," Laura explained. Dina reached her fingers towards Wanda, and Laura pulled her away, just a little bit, and said, "...And I think Dina likes you, too!"

      Wanda stood in shock, awe, and a few other emotions. "So you really do want to adopt me..."

      "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Laura asked. "Because I won't adopt you if you don't want me to."

      Wanda smiled and shook her head. "No, go ahead. I really need to get out of this place, eventually."

      Laura smiled. "That's great!"

      Ardon chuckled. "Well, Wanda, don't you have something to say, first?"

      Wanda's eyes widened, and she jumped to her feet, sighed, and said, "Hello Laura, my name's Wanda, and I don't really have a reason to be adopted."

      Laura chuckled. "You have plenty of reasons to be adopted, we just went through a few."

      "Yeah, but that's what I say to everyone who comes to adopt," Wanda replied.

      Laura nodded, and then turned to Ardon. "Alright, then... I'd like to adopt Wanda."

      Ardon raised his eyebrows, "Phew! I almost thought nobody would ever say that!" he chuckled. "Well, anyway, come this way, please."

      Ardon led Laura and Wanda back to the front desk. The orphans that they passed couldn't believe their eyes. Wanda was being adopted? Nobody ever expected to ever see her get adopted. Wanda couldn't help but stick her tongue out at Tom, Rorri and Harry as she passed them, and they stopped at the front desk, where Ardon pulled some old-looking papers out of a file cabinet.

      "Wow, I haven't seen these papers in ages..." Ardon said, looking at the slightly yellowed papers. "Now anyway, this pet's first name is Wanda, is the surname known, let's see... oh, it is! Wanda, did you ever know that your surname is 'Darklight'?"

      "Wow, really?" Wanda's eyes widened. "I didn't know they actually put surnames on those... Wanda Darklight... gee..."

      "Yeah, they used to have surnames on these... not anymore..." Ardon said with a sigh. "Now let's see, she was orphaned nearly twelve years ago... gee, I didn't even know that... her birthday's in the Month of Sleeping, day 18... and there's a bunch of other stuff, but that's not really important, anyway... just sign here on the bottom..."

      Ardon handed Laura the yellowed papers and a pen. Laura signed all the places she was told to, and then after signing her name about five times, Ardon looked at the papers and smiled.

      "Congratulations, Laura..." he said to her, "you have now officially adopted Wanda Darklight! Here, you can keep these papers..." He handed the papers back to Laura, then he looked at Wanda. "Congratulations to you too, Wanda. You've finally been adopted!"

      Wanda smiled, gave Laura a hug, and then ran back to her old room to pack her stuff. After a while, she returned with a couple briefcases full of clothes and some other things. Laura smiled, Wanda smiled back. And they started on their way out of the orphanage, but just before they left, Wanda turned around and shouted, "Goodbye, everybody!"

      Some of the pets managed to breathe out a shocked, "Goodbye, Wanda!"

      And then with smiles, Laura carried Dina over her shoulder and Wanda followed her to their home.

     * * * * *

      "...and here are the stairs to my and Dina's bedrooms." Laura explained, giving Wanda a brief tour of her new home. "Any questions?"

      "Just one, where am I going to sleep?" Wanda asked.

      "Well," Laura replied, leading Wanda up the stairs, "there's a fairly empty room up here, as long as you don't mind one little detail..."

      Laura opened the door in front of her. Wanda looked inside, it WAS a pretty empty room, except for some wallpaper, and a yellow crib near to the door: it was Dina's room.

      "You mean share a room with Dina?" Wanda wondered.

      "Well, she doesn't cry very much at night, anymore..." Laura explained, "and it's the emptiest room in the house. You don't mind, do you?"

      Wanda smiled. "No, I don't mind at all! It's actually kind of nice, I very rarely got to share a room at the orphanage, I actually always kind of wanted to share a room, sometime!"

      "Good." Laura sighed. "Now why don't you unpack? I've got some other things to do, like buy you a bed, for example."

      "Good idea." Wanda nodded.

      Laura placed Dina in her crib, Wanda took her two briefcases and started to unpack. While Laura went downstairs to the kitchen, grabbed a granola bar, a paper, and a pen, and started to write on the paper:

     Dear Kiro,

      I got your postcard, and I read about Yollinda. From what I read, she sounds pretty nice. I'd like to meet her, someday.

      Anyway, lots of weird things happened this last week. For example, Princess Rose came for her inspections, but didn't actually do them until the day after! Even then she hardly paid attention... but if that's not weird enough, she invited me to the castle for dinner, afterwards! Heh, I'm sure you're wondering how that went, but it's kind of a long story. Let's just say that Dina got kind of out of hand.

      I also met a nice blue Bori in this last week; her name is Wanda, and it turned out she was an orphan. I decided to adopt her, in fact she's unpacking her things as I'm writing this letter. I'm probably going to go out and buy her a bed after I finish writing this; she wouldn't want to sleep on the floor! But she's a really nice girl, and I think she's glad to finally get out of the orphanage.

      By the way, how's Mystery Island? I'm sure the weather's nice, as always. Does it ever really rain there? I've been told before that it never rains on Mystery Island, but I'd like to know if it's true.

      Anyway, if you get the chance, buy a souvenir or something for me, and I've got to go get that bed. Bye!

     --Laura

      She folded the letter so that it would fit in an envelope, put it in an envelope, wrote the address and the return address on it, sealed it, and put a stamp in the top right corner. Then she put the envelope in her purse, put the purse over her shoulder, and opened the door. She was about to go out, when she remembered something...

      "Wanda!" she shouted. "Keep Dina out of trouble while I'm out, okay?"

      "Okay!" Wanda shouted down the stairs.

      Laura smiled, and headed out the door, to buy some things for the new member of the family, Wanda Darklight.

The End

Author's note: If you are reading this, then, YES! I finally got this story into the Times, after four tries! Well, I hope you had a fun time reading, and thanks to dptdtkf for proof-reading this for me, thanks to TNT for letting it in, and thanks to you for reading it!