Episode 110: The Journey Home

After bringing the two Aquarian Crystals to the water temple, the princesses and their friends receive grievous news about Paul’s kingdom, and Ryla reveals something of importance. 

Transcript

Episode 10: The Journey Home

Once upon a time in the land of Atheria, there was a princess Nea and a princess Lulu and they went on the most amazing adventures. They had just gotten back from an underwater adventure taking two magic crystals that fell from the sky back to a special temple under the sea – which in turn began to heal Atheria’s water of dirt and grime.  

Now the city of Sparland had thrown a giant party to celebrate the clean water. And it wasn’t even a full day until some terrible news came Prince Paul’s way.  

“Prince Paul! Prince Paul!” said a tired young boy. “We've been searching for you! Where have you been?” And Prince Paul told the boy, “I've been on an adventure with Princess Nea and Princess Lulu. We have been helping to the heal Atheria.”  

And as they talked to the boy, he told them that at Cedar Landing the water there was turning dirty and drying up as well.  

“And how recent is this report?” Prince Paul asked the boy. 

“As of yesterday, your royal highness.” 

And Princess Nea, Princess Lulu, O’Lah & Prince Paul did not understand. They had just used the blue and the purple crystal to heal the water and make it clean, at least that's what they thought. 

And the inventor, who was standing nearby with them (now that they were back in Sparland) spoke up, “This boy is right. Prince Paul of Cedar Landing and O’Lah of Ubbin, as keepers of the Aquarian Crystals, you have done a great job starting the healing process. And it has begun, here in Sparland. But there is more work ahead, and much more to prepare for. You now need to use the crystals to make sure that all the water everywhere is clean. Head to Cedar Landing, Ryla will meet you there and she can explain. I must stay here and work on building out those plans, Princess Nea & Princess Lulu.” 

And he gave two princesses a special wink. 

So Prince Paul & O’Lah, began their journey to Cedar Landing to investigate and figure out what was going on. And he even asked Princess Nea and Princess Lulu if they would come too, and they said that they would.  

And as they headed back, the journey it was very long and they had to go over many obstacles. They picked up supplies on their way out and crossed the great field where the ogres tried to attack Scorch and through countless woods. Now, normally, on this journey there was bridge over a large canyon that you could walk over. But as they approached the bridge, it was broken in two and disconnected – leaving the party stuck on one side of the canyon. 

So they sat down they thought, “How are we going to cross this bridge?” And up above them, they saw Ryla circling back and forth.  

And Princess Nea thought, “Maybe, she can help!”  

But the Ryla never stopped flying and never came down. She just circled a couple of times then disappeared over the horizon towards Cedar Landing. 

Just as they were about to give up, they heard someone on the other side of the chasm, Prince William , upon hearing his brother, Prince Paul had returned from the sea, had come to get him.  

And group called out, “Prince William! Prince William! We need some help!” And Prince William seeing the broken bridge and his brother on the other side, “I know. I know. We got word that this bridge was broken …” And Prince William stopped suddenly, noticing that his brother was in the presence of an ogre. 

Paul, noticing that this brother was uncomfortable in the presence of O’Lah, spoke up. “Brother, may I introduce you to O’Lah of Ubbin. She is a fellow traveler of mine, a friend to Cedar Landing and Sparland and now even the underwater kingdom of Allaymia.” 

“Of Ubbin?” Prince William repeated, clarifying that she was not of the same ogre horde that attacked Sparland. 

“O’Lah of Ubbin,” she said herself, kneeling before Prince William.  

“Well, a friend of my brother’s is a friend of mine. And I trust that you, O’Lah of Ubbin are of sounder mind and judgment with us humans then others of your kind.”  

And he spoke is such a way that made O’Lah feel less important than him, just for being an ogre. Which is something she had felt her entire life. There was a way humans, elves and other races treated ogres that felt wrong. As much as it hurt her feelings, O’Lah had begun to find ways of moving beyond it and see the truth instead.  

“Well, we are here to fix the bridge. I've brought a bunch of builders that are gonna make quick work of it.” 

And the crew started re-building the bridge, and they threw this huge rope across the canyon and both Paul and O’Lah caught it. And together they held it while the team started building the bridge around the rope. And before they knew it, there was enough of a bridge for someone to walk across it!  

Once across, Prince Paul asked his brother, “William, is it true? Is all the water, dirty?”  

And William replied, “Yes, it’s true. And a bunch of common animals are getting sick and their owners angry.”  

So they traveled back to the Cedar Landing with Prince William and his builders. 

“Show me the dirty water.” Paul commanded when they arrived, “Me and my companion can do something about it.”  

When they walked into the kingdom with a female ogre. The townspeople got frightened and in fact, some people wanted to lock O’Lah in jail. 

Princess Lulu and Princess Nea noticed what was happening and decided to speak up, ‘People of Cedar Landing, if anyone should wish to lock an ogre up for what they have done – it’s Princess Lulu and myself as the ogres of Gozdur had sieged our beloved city and our castle. But this is not one of those ogres. She is pure of heart and she is helping us heal Atheria’s water.”  

“Trust me when I say that she is noble and she is good. And she is a friend.” 

And with that Princess Lulu smiled and agreed, “It is true, kind people of Cedar Landing. Let us welcome O’Lah of Ubbin as one of us.”  

And at that moment, Prince Paul and O’Lah walked towards the river that ran through the middle of the city, where buckets of dirty water sat on the edge of the river for everyone to see. And they stood back and watched as Prince Paul and O’Lah, together, and pulled out their crystals. And they dipped them in the water, and the river water immediately started fanning clean water throughout the stream. And dirt and grime in the buckets started to magically disappear.  

And when they turned around, everyone was staring at hem in awe.  

The keepers are real, someone whispered. And the protectors? Another. 

Then Prince Paul & O’Lah asked the crowd, “Does anybody have dirty water? Is anybody missing water?”  

And people started bringing their jars and their gallons and their bottles of dirty water. Only to find that some were already clean when they got there. But for the ones that weren’t, Prince Paul and O’Lah used their powers to clean everybody's water. And it was just by the sheer fact that the water came near the crystals that the water all started getting clean.  

And Paul and O’Lah realized that healing Atheria’s water could turn out to be a big, big job after all.  


*** 

That night, after they got done cleaning all of the water in Cedar Landing, O’Lah, Prince Paul, Prince William, Princess Nea, and Princess Lulu were all in the tallest tower of the castle, looking out over the city when they saw the Ryla flying around. And slowly, the hawk swooped into the tower through a window and stood on the table 

“Princesses, princes and O’Lah the friendly, wise ogre, it is time to share more about these crystals with you. I’m sure you have many questions.”  

And they all sat around as she explained more about the crystals. 

“Everywhere in Atheria is experiencing dirty water. Even though you have begun healing the Aquarian Temple, there are more – four more temples you must find and begin to heal. Until all five have been restored, cities, towns and villages all around Atheria will experience dirty water.” 

And Prince Paul looked at O’Lah, and O’Lah looked at Paul, and the two of them very nervous. They had no idea they had such a big adventure – and such a huge role top lay ahead of them. This was, in fact, a big responsibility.  

“Can you two do it?” Ryla asked, “You might be the only people that can do this.” 

Prince William, seeing a chance to help save the world jumped in, “I will help, I will go with.” 

And this made O’Lah feel awkward. The last thing she wanted to travel with was someone who thought lesser of ogres.  

“I might not be able to use the crystals like you guys can, but my brother should not go on this adventure alone.” And everyone looked at him funny. 

“I mean, he and O’Lah should not go on this adventure alone.” And smiled.  

And they agreed, albeit with reluctance from O’Lah that they would accept this charge and travel around the Atheria and restore the other four temples in order to clean all the water in the land. 

But Princess Nea and Princess Lulu looked at Ryla and the team, “Well, we want to help. Shouldn’t we come with?”  

And Ryla answered, “Princess Nea and Princess Lulu, you two are needed to find the other keepers pure of heart – there are still seven crystals that need to be found and each one of those crystals is needed to restore the five temples.”  

“And we must find them before any impure finds them and decides to use their power for themselves.”  

To that, Princess Nea and Princess Lulu nodded. 

And that night, in Cedar Landing the city slept in peace because they now had clean water. 

And at the very next day, Prince Paul, Prince William and O’Lah headed out on their own adventure to go unlock the other four temples and bring clean water to the rest of the world while Princess Nea and Princess Lulu set out on theirs, to find the other seven crystals and keepers of pure heart and mind. 

But what they didn’t know, was were others looking for the crystals – others who knew more about what they were and how to harness their powers for selfish reasons.  
 
The end.