Off to one side was Hewy, the Troll, who was busy giving the Gooblin King, Hir'aeth, the evil eye as the Gooblin King wondered to himself where had Druzzy, the Troll King, snuck off too? Efem, the Tree Mother, was huddled with Dewin by a small bench and waving her hands in the air trying to make a point as she tried to get his complete attention. While Dewin was trying also to see where the Troll King had wondered off as well as try to keep one ear open to listen to Efem. Things were certainly tense and confusing. It was then, as Goodiegood was looking around at everyone, that she noticed the large crystal-like egg in the the middle of the garden. "I doubt that has been here very long," she asked without expecting much of an answer. She realized what it was as she looked closer seeing something blue swirling around inside of it. Turning to her sisters she said, "It looks like what we feared has happened. The Prophesy has begun with the Last Wish Dragon being lost. Now we must find out who sacrificed their magic for this to have happened." As the three sisters started looking around the garden to see who might be missing from the vision they had earlier, Goodie2shues finally hollered to the crowd, "Everyone! We don't have much time so listen up! We need to talk to Ffion or the Shadows' King. Does anyone know where they are?"
When the Dowager finished, Goodie4u mumbled loud enough for only her sisters to hear, "Now we know who sacrificed their power, as the King and Ffion being Nyte Shades are the only two beings strong enough to give up their power and not be swayed by the Darkness or Greed." Realizing that speed was now needed, Goodie2shues spoke again to the crowd. "We need to speak to Ffion immediately! The Realm depends on it!"
As her sisters disappeared, Goodiegood quietly mumbled to herself, "The best thing we can do now is get Ffion back to our place so we can whip up our 'Surrogare' recipe before this egg fully hatches. The Ntyemares are the best choice to fly us home in time." As the other two sisters flew off to do her bidding, Goodiegood thought about trying to explain to Awena and the Dowager what was happening, but there just wasn't enough time. All she could do was shout out "Trust ME!" as she ran to follow her sisters.
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The first to arrive was Awena which the Dowager was very glad to see. Griselda had quickly grabbed her and took her down into the depths of the library where the Shadows' King had been holed up for the past several days.
As they approached their destination, a green glow was emanating from under the door to room 101. When they knocked they had already decided not to wait for an answer and rushed in before the King could refuse seeing them. What they saw was a surprise! Both spied the King sitting on a low stool with his head in his hands. His clothes, normally clean and spotless, were rumpled and dirty. His hair stuck out in all directions, no longer combed and braided, but the part that shocked them the most was the defeated look in his eyes. As they rushed to his side to find out what ailed him, the Dowager was first to speak. "What is it King Hunter?" she asked as Awena placed her hands on his slumped shoulders. Awena could feel the tension and frustration that was floating around the King but also something she thought she would never see in him. She could feel his despair! Slowly the King looked up at them and in a weary voice asked, "What do you know about the Dragon tablet?" "Very little," the Dowager replied. "Other than what the flutterby just shared with me a little while ago. It has been located and coming here by way of a Borrower as well as with your faithful Scribe, Dulbbe." "Then there is hope!" murmured the King. Slowly he stood up with a little wobble since he truly hadn't eaten much in days. He placed the silk cover over the green glowing crystal ball that had been beside him. While he was doing this, the Dowager was sharing that she had felt the need to assemble everyone in the King's garden, while she was apologizing that she had used his personal messengers the Nytemares. The King nodded to her as he picked up the crystal ball and proceeded to leave the library room. "I agree," answered the King. Appearing to gain strength from all that he was hearing from the Griselda, he continued, "We will all assemble in the garden as soon as everyone is here, especially Hungry. He is the key element and now it seems is his time. I had hoped to give him more time by sending him to his teachers when he first arrived in the Shadows' Realm. When the tablet had been taken, it started the process and whether or not he is ready, it seems that Hungry will now be coming into his power."
King Hunter, the Shadows' King, lead everyone out into his garden and then down a trail and through a veil of hanging vines that parted as the participants approached. Hidden inside was a secluded garden of Moonflowers which surrounded a small stone bench in the center. The night was black with the new moon and only a handful of dimly shining stars were in the sky but everyone could see the white trail of stones that lead through the Moonflowers and surrounded it. "Hungry, would you please sit yourself on the stone bench in the center of the garden?" asked King Hunter while directing the others to stand in a circle around the bench and the now seated Dragon. "Arnie, as I understand it, you have my tablet?" asked Hunter to the Borrower who was trying to hide behind some of the others in the circle. With a bowed head, Arnie approached the King while offering the tablet in her hands. "It is the one time I am sorry that I 'borrowed' something Sire Sir," Arnie meekly replied. Hunter gently took the tablet from her hands. "You are forgiven, for it was all part of the prophecy and you were just the element that sparked the beginning of it," the King told her. He then turned to Awena of the Sleeping Sisters and asked, "Did you bring the Blue Rose with the Tear that your Order has been watching over for eons?"
"No, Awena, Please hand it to me," the king replied. With the Dragon tablet and now the rose in his hand, King Hunter approached Hungry. "Do you trust me?" asked the King to the lil' Dragon. As Hungry looked up into his eyes he could see a great sadness in them but he could also feel an over whelming sense of peace and love. "I don't know you well Sir, but I do trust you," Hungry replied. "Then eat the rose," the King commanded as he handed it to the Wish Dragon. Hungry replied, "That should not be a problem for I am forever hungry and sure could use a little snack right now. Is it sweet? I do love sweet things, especially from the Sugar Plum factory." The King nodded his head and told Hungry that he wouldn't be hungry afterwards. Hungry ate the rose. As he started chewing, he closed his eyes savoring the sweet taste and the lovely smell of the magic ambrosia. Then he burped. It had come from his tummy where a little spark had arisen while he chewed the flower. It had floated up his throat and out his mouth as he burped. The spark continued to rise and was quickly hovering over his head where it grew bigger and brighter. Larger and brighter it grew like a shining star in the sky. The light was almost turning this dark night into day with it's glow and then all of a sudden it burst! Sparks flew everywhere causing those standing around the Wish Dragon to shield their eyes and turn their heads away. When they turned back to look at Hungry, the Dragon tablet laid on the ground, the Shadows' King was gone, and a huge crystal orb was in the middle of the garden where the Wish Dragon had been sitting. As everyone was examining the crystal orb, the others did not notice as the Troll King quickly picked up the tablet and slide it under his crown. 
It had been several days since Hunter, the Shadows' King, had disappeared into room 101 of his library. Meals were even being sent down to him, left at the door, and later empty trays were picked up - so everyone knew he was still there, but what was he doing? "One of the servants reported seeing a green glow coming from under the door where they were leaving the trays," remembered the Dowager. "I wonder what he is doing?"
"So, Hir'aeth has told Hungry about the Dragon tablet. I wonder what his game is to be offering it to Hungry if he gets it? Doesn't sound like him at all," she thought. As she was thinking about all of the things the flutterby had told her, a knock sounded at her door. Crossing the room again, she opened the door to find one of the castle servants there informing her that the Princess would like to see her when convenient in her sitting room. Deciding that now was as good as time as any, Griselda followed the servant.
Griselda figured that the King knew more than he had been saying, but how much to tell Ffion was the quandary. After a short pause, she made her decision and told the princess some of what she knew. "I have heard that it is rumored that a Borrower has found an ancient Dragon tablet. What it is in the tablet I have not heard, but that there are several who are looking to get it has been mentioned." Deciding that now probably was the best opportunity she would get, Griselda continued, "Do you know what is in the tablet or why it is so important?"
"Awena was right in part," she realized, "but even the Sleeping Sisters do not know the whole story it appears." When Ffion finished, the expression in her eyes were both of hope and dread as she stared at Griselda and waited for her to say something. Hope that the Dowager could help her and dread that there was no hope. Immediately the Dowager smiled and took the princess' hand and as if reading her mind and replied, "There is always hope. Don't despair. This is something I should have done right away and have put off for too long. First, we must send some messages by the fastest means you have available. Flutterby would take too long, so we need the speed of the Nytemares! Go send for the King's farrier, Scarlet, while I write the messages. After he sends them off, you and I will go and see the Shadows' King!"
He too wanted to hear what the Goodies had to say and maybe learn something else about the Dragon tablet for the Troll King. The problem was that when Arnie crossed the threshold of the door, what looked like a circular bundle of sticks over the doorway turned into a tangle of snakes! Since rats and snakes don't get along very well together (unless one knows he is invited to be the dinner which doesn't usually turn out well for the rat), Drat jumped back from the doorway just in time to hear Goodie2shues tell Arnie to close the door. "Ugh! I hate snakes," shuddered Drat as he heard the lock on the door click shut. Knowing he was now locked out of the cottage did not slow Drat down though. Quickly he started walking around the cottage trying to peek into the windows to see if he could at least see what was going on. But as he approached every window either they closed their shutters or the curtain hanging over it blew together tightly. "Oh Drat!" muttered the rat.
Watching the two laughing so hard finally got the rat to start smiling and even he started to snicker. "All right, fun time is over. Now what was so funny?" again asked Drat. "You are!" answered the Wysp. When you said 'Drat' we thought you were talking to yourself until we realized you were frustrated... When Drat finally figured out what the Wysp was telling him, he just shook his head from side-to-side and groaned, "I have got to get different traveling companions." With the three waiting on the doorsteps discussing what they were going to do now (especially with two of them hoping to get another chance at the obtaining the Dragon tablet), and Arnie inside the cottage, the Dowager over at the Shadows King's castle was planning her next steps also.
"Since an ancient Nyte Shade had given their magic to the dragons it made sense that the flutterby could feel the Dragon magic in the princess," Griselda realized. Soon she was in one of the guest rooms and was preparing for her next conversation with Ffion. "I must see how much the princess knows about her heritage and if she is aware of the connection with the Dragons," thought Griselda. "But first, I must get a message to Awena." Realizing that using a flutterby to send a secret message might not be the best option at the moment (especially if they were attracted to Ffion), the Dowager decided to use the next best thing. Quickly she took out a small package that she had been carrying with her and began her message. Opening a window in her room, she soon spotted a small Bee-G buzzing around a strange looking flower (it was in fact B-Glad who had been sent by Cornelia for some pollen from one of the plants that only grew in the Shadows King's garden). She waved the package in the air so the Bee-G could see it.
"For all we know from what you have said, deciding his fate may be something as simple of helping with his education," the Dowager continued telling her old friend. Before Awena could speak, Griselda went on with her thoughts, "I still think that we should visit Hunter to see what he knows as he is the King of the Shadows' fae."
Knowing that her friend was right, a thought came to the Dowager. "Maybe you can't go right now, Awena, but I can. If I show up to talk to the King it would not be out of place. Especially since I recently sent Ffion a flutterby with a message and I forgot to tell it to return to me when it delivered it. That way if the Shadows' King is not available, I can always resort to Plan B and talk to Ffion to find out what is going on." Realizing that the Dowager did have a good idea and that she did not have a better solution (again the prophecy was definitely not clear - as most are not), Awena agreed with Griselda and bade her to have a safe journey. The trail to the King's castle was easy to follow as Griselda started on her way. She even found one of the books that was given to Meen by Awena for Ffion's education (it must have mysteriously leaped out of her bag along the way). "I must remember to have a little talk with Meen before I leave the castle," Griselda told herself as she picked up the book. "Especially about the taking care of books."
Soon she was escorted to one of the audience chambers where the Princess was pacing back and forth. "Good afternoon Princess. How are you this evening?" Griselda asked. It took a minute for Ffion to answer as her mind had been on her father and the Dragon tablet. "Greetings Dowager Griselda, how may I help you?" "Well, I see that you are busy with something so I won't take up much of your time. I sent a message the other day to you by flutterby and the little thing has still not returned. I hope that nothing has happened to it but also wanted to make sure you received the message," answered Griselda. "Oh, I am sorry. Yes, it did give me the message and for some reason it has stayed here with me. I guess I should have sent it back to you but I have been enjoying the little conversations we have been having and things have been crazy for the past couple of days," answered the Princess blushing slightly. "You mean the Borrower and Dragon tablet issue," replied Griselda nodding her head. "It has been a little hectic."
It took a few minutes before Griselda could even think of a response to the Princess. "You are a Nyte Shade?" was going through her mind! If so, then so is her father, the Shadows' King. With this one little revelation, things were starting to make sense now about the prophecy. The Princess Ffion and/or her father must be the prophecy's Nyte Shade, but who is the Fae? "Could it actually really be me?" wondered the Dowager.
As Arnie was thinking of the things she could do to the Wysp if it was tricking her again, others in the Realms were also making plans... 
After a short pause, Awena continued in a low voice, "I believe that Fae could may be you as you were the one who was able to open the enchanted book when no others could." "I feel that you are wrong, but tell me more about this prophecy," answered the Dowager. "There are so many other Fae involved in this mess with the Dragon tablet that you must be wrong." So, as Awena and Griselda discuss the prophecy, others were also busy... 
"I still think that checking with Drat (the Troll King's top minion) might be more beneficial," he continued. "Come on you scaredy-cat! If we talk to any the Troll King's minions or the Gooblin King's, then they will know what we are doing. Now, just follow my lead," said the Baron as he walked into the Troll bar right past the sign that read "Aged Goat's Milk Today's Special - 100 Proof" as they looked for Hewy... 
"No, I don't know. As far as I have found, nobody even knows what they looked like for sure," answered the Sleeping Sister. "There are no sketches in any of the scrolls and no descriptions. For the power of the magic they had, we can only assume that they could probably also change shapes and may be with us still."
Soon they were sipping tea and slowly Griselda was beginning to come to terms with this discovery. "I felt betrayed by them not telling us, but now that I think more about it," she told the Sister, "I guess that it was never my place to know. It's just hard to fathom that Dragons were at one time just another being in the Realms and not the powerful creatures they became..." After a long pause, and when Griselda did not continue, Awena decided it was best to tell her old friend of her concerns. "Griselda, I believe that the finding of the tablet by the Borrowers and your discovery of this book were meant to be. Somehow they are tied together and you are going to be a major player in the game." What the Sleeping Sister did not say but was in her thoughts was, "and I hope you have the strength for it."
Startled as a jolt of lighting went through his arm, he dropped the book to the floor and jumped back. The book acted like it had heard the question, opened and flipped through several pages, finally stopping partway through the book. "Be careful son," warned the Dowager when they realized that the book was finished moving and not going to close, the Baron started to pick it up from the floor. He slowly placed it on a reading table near the bookshelf it had come from keeping his hands from the front of the book incase it decided to close like teeth chomping together. Awena stepped up to the book and saw the page it had opened to, smiled and then stepped back, motioning for the others to read the page. "I think there is your answer." If you would like to read the story with Griselda and the Baron... click here or on the book below. 
"It is no matter. From your description we probably have a copy of it here in our library," smiled Awena.
"Come, I will take you to the library." Rising smoothly from the cushion, Awena and the Dowager started towards the door. "Hummm... Don't worry about me," grumbled under his breath the Baron as he struggled to rise from the floor. He wasn't going to let two "old ladies" beat him to the door. Soon they stood before an ornately decorated entranceway with no door. "Aren't you worried about someone getting in here with all of these books and scrolls," asked the Baron thinking about how even Atian had a lock on his door. Awena just smiled and said that "they are well protected". What that meant, the Baron did not know, but after thinking about the power the Sisters had, decided it was probably better if he didn't.
Finally the Sister stopped in front of a large bookshelf and asked the Dowager if anything looked familiar. "We try to copy everything exactly the same from other books to include the cover and binding," she explained. "Anything look familiar?" Slowly Griselda pulled back a portion of her sleeve, revealing her dragon tattoo and started to approach the bookshelves. All at once, a book started to glow! "It looks like we found it," the Baron grinned as he pulled the book from the shelf. As the Baron turned to the others he realized that Awena was no longer smiling. Catching his mother's eye, he gestured toward the Sister and then Griselda saw it too. "Is there something wrong?" she asked her friend. "What is it?"
"What are Nyte Shades and what connection do they have to the Dragons?"
"Not very big," thought the Baron as his mother started to lift her hand to knock on the door. But before she could knock the door opened and there stood one of the Sisters. "Awena awaits you in her chambers." Unsurprised, the Dowager nodded her head in thanks and the both of them followed the Sister through a series of hallways until they arrived at an ornate set of doors. "The place doesn't look this big from the outside," the Baron muttered, only to receive a look of reproach from the Dowager. "Do I need to leave you on the doorstep?" she asked him in a frosty voice. Realizing he had best just keep quiet and listen with his mouth closed he gestured for her to lead the way.
"It is a pleasure to meet you." the Baron said as he bowed. " I am Belvedere Allowishes Theodore Steffon, but you may call me Baron since I am one," he told the Sister removing his hat, "Or by my nickname BATS." Smiling, Awena introduced herself and proceeded to give Griselda a brief hug. "It has been way too long," she told the Sister, "but as usual, sadly my coming here is not just a friendly visit." As the smile left Awena's face and by the look on Griselda, Awena knew that another big event was on the horizon. "Come, sit with me and we will get reacquainted and then you can tell me what troubles you," she told both of them. Trying not to be noticeable, the Baron quickly glanced around for a chair as he did not relish the idea of sitting on the floor for any long period of time. Ignoring him, Griselda lowered herself gracefully to a pillow and waited for the others to join her. Groaning silently to himself, "I think I have just gone down a rabbit hole here!" and not as gracefully as his mother, the Baron sat on an adjacent pillow. "I hope I can get up when this is all over. My knees aren't what they used to be," he continued thinking to himself.
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