The Distant Queen

by Terry Volkirch

This story is mainly about a romance between two young women who are from two different worlds. It's a fantasy story with some adventure but there are no mythical creatures and there isn't a lot of magic. It's really a sweet and tender romantic comedy with a mostly happy ending.

In chapter 10 (of 11), Gabi mopes around wondering what happened to Marie. Did Marie die? Is she trapped in Limbo? Read on to find out! :)

Chapter 10

Gabi stirred after being unconscious for nearly an hour. Every muscle ached. Her ears rang and her head pounded. She moaned and her breath kicked up dust, causing her to cough. She was definitely having a bad day.

The aching woman slowly raised herself to her hands and knees and turned to look up at the portal. It was gone, and with it, her true love. Did Marie make it to Kispri? Hopefully, she'd find out tonight during her astral travels. For now, she had herself to worry about, so she stood up and went back to where the two women left their packs, near the stream.

After combining all the items she felt necessary for survival into her pack, she splashed some water on her dusty face and sighed. Washing her face wouldn't be good enough to satisfy her. What she needed was a good soak in the hot spring.

The spring wasn't that far but even a day and a half of marching seemed an impossible task for someone who'd lost so much. The love of her life was gone after far too short a time. The world, any world, could be so cruel, so unfair.

The normally strong queen mercifully allowed herself a moment of weakness, and she wept. She sobbed bitterly and screamed at the sky. "Mother Moon! Give me strength!" Suicide was never an option but she felt so lost and alone. She didn't want to do anything. In the end, it was only her strong sense of responsibility to her queendom that motivated her to start walking towards the hot spring.

* * *

When the alien sun retired for the night, Gabrielle found herself camping under the stars once again. She looked up at the sky and wondered which star was her Sister Sun. She wondered about a lot of things, and hoped Muriel and her queendom could do without her for awhile because she had other plans.

"Goodnight my Love," she murmured, just before falling asleep. "I'll find you ... wherever you are."

The lovesick queen shirked her duties, not even bothering to tell Muriel. Her wise old friend would understand, she thought. Love was more important than duty. So she spent the night in her astral form, searching for Marie.

She pictured her mate in her mind and willed herself to go to her, but nothing happened. In every other case, she could will herself to any familiar person or place she wanted. Why not now?

In her frustration, she ended up wandering, letting her mind send her astral body to the random places in her thoughts. It was understandable that she'd find her way back to Prizzaria and Muriel.

The old woman took one look at her astral queen and held out her arms. No words were said as sometimes only a hug would do.

Gabrielle wanted to cry. She felt the emotion but the tears wouldn't come. Her astral body didn't work that way. She had to be content with the comfort of her friend's embrace. They held each other for several moments until Muriel's legs began to tremble. The tired, old mystic had to separate from her friend and sit down.

"Come," the old woman said, patting the adjacent cushion on the couch. "Tell me all about it."

So the queen poured her heart out, telling everything, even her worst fears. She thought that the only thing that could prevent her astral body from finding someone would be the death of that someone. Could it be true? Was Marie dead?

"I don't know if she's dead," Muriel said carefully. "All I can do is promise you that I'll search for answers in those dusty old books of mine ... and I'll search for Marie. If she's anywhere on Kispri, I'll find her."

* * *

Over the next several days, Gabrielle spent her time soaking in the hot springs during the day and preparing for the upcoming queendom conference by night. There was still very little else for the queen to do back in Prizzaria but plan for the conference. She continued to delegate responsibility and make a few decisions until it was time.

The queendom conference was held once a cycle and lasted five full rotations, during which, all of the officers of the queendom gathered together with the queen to review the current personnel and procedures. If anything needed changing, they'd try to come to a consensus, and on those frequent occasions when they couldn't reach consensus, the queen would make a command decision. That made her attendance mandatory.

Normally, conferences were tedious affairs but everything ran smoothly enough. The upcoming conference presented a problem however, because of Queen Gabrielle's limited availability. She had to schedule early morning meetings and late afternoon meetings that ran into the night. That was the only way it would work because she had trouble using her astral form during the day back on Agrin. She couldn't sleep long after sunrise.

During the first couple days of the conference, everyone adjusted well enough to the odd schedule. The only thing they wondered about was why their queen would end their meetings so suddenly. She'd jump up, apologize and run off, leaving the current matter unfinished.

It was near the end of the fourth day and the conference had been going well except for one thing. It moved at a snail's pace. In what seemed like almost no time at all, Queen Gabrielle started feeling a gentle tug. Her physical body was stirring.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry to disappoint you once again," she said to the assembled officers. "But I grow tired and must take leave."

"Again?!" Cedric wheezed. "I grow tired of your excuses to interrupt important business, and I grow tired of these early morning meetings."

"And I grow tired of your complaints!" Gabrielle snapped as she quickly stood up.

"Your Majesty!" Muriel shouted from across the room. The mystic had been standing by just in case and it was a good thing she did. She stared hard at her friend, conveying more with a look than the aging Cedric could say in an entire evening. The old woman offered sympathy but held firm that outbursts were not becoming of a queen.

The silence held everyone in an iron grip for several dozen heartbeats while Gabrielle returned her friend's intense stare. Then the frazzled queen looked down.

"I'm sorry for my outburst," said the queen. "But I really must retire to my bedchambers. Sometimes, even a queen has limits."

Gabrielle ran from the room and out of sight just in time to fade away back to Agrin, leaving Muriel to attend to damage control as the old woman so often needed to do.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the mystic said. "Queen Gabrielle has truly been tested these past several rotations. She gives a lot for her queendom and asks very little in return. I'm here to ask for her. Please allow her the dignity of a little time off to deal with her personal problems."

Cedric started to say something but the others at the table all turned to glare at him, effectively silencing the troublesome old man. The queen would get her much needed time off.

* * *

During her next visit to Prizzaria, Gabrielle met with Muriel for a different kind of meeting. The conference was forgotten for the moment. It was time to talk about Marie.

"Still no word?" the hopeful queen asked.

"Sorry, but no."

"I'm so worried. If she is out there somewhere, she could be in trouble. She doesn't even speak our language!"

Muriel reached out to touch her friend's shoulder and tried to soothe the distraught woman.

"Hey. You taught her a few words, and she knows my name and the name of the queendom. She can learn the rest. She's a smart young woman."

Gabrielle snorted. They kept having the same conversation but Marie was still nowhere to be found.

"What about your books? Have you found anything to explain why I can't find her with my magic?"

"No luck there either, but I did finally think of something."

The queen tried not to hope. Hope had gotten her nowhere so far but she couldn't help herself. She looked at her friend with pleading eyes, desperate for anything.

"She could have a talent."

"A talent?" Gabrielle's heart raced. "You mean like some kind of stealth magic?"

"Exactly," the mystic said.

"But none of her people had talents. How could she have one?"

"You changed her into a woman so I'd guess she'd have to be a woman of Kispri. If that's true, she'd have to have a talent."

It wasn't much. The queen still couldn't find her lost love, but it was something. It gave her hope that Marie was still alive.

So the conference was postponed a day while Gabrielle thought about Muriel's idea. Magic couldn't be used to locate someone with a stealth talent, but there were always other ways. They could post flyers and alert those with the translator magic talent to watch for a woman with short dark hair that speaks an odd language. The queen wouldn't give up searching for her true love, not for all the cocoa on Kispri.

* * *

Marie had no concept of time. She entered the portal and time ceased to have any meaning. There was a long, dark tunnel with a light at one end, a light that she couldn't seem to reach no matter how long she waited.

She passed the time counting heartbeats until she got to a thousand. The light still seemed no closer. When she tried to turn around to look behind her, she had a shock. She couldn't move. She couldn't do anything other than blink her eyes and think. It was the magic of the portal.

The portal she'd entered connected to another one on her destination world, and it was a very long distance between them. The trip would take several days. That's why she was paralyzed. She was actually in a limited form of suspended animation so she could make the trip with minimal discomfort. Her heart rate felt normal to her but it was actually slowed to less than one beat a minute. Counting a thousand heart beats took a long time but she still had a lot farther to go.

Luckily, the portal she'd entered only needed to start her journey. That was good because it was destroyed immediately after she entered. It barely had enough time to send her. The destination portal did the rest of the work, keeping her on course and waiting to receive her.

At the end of her journey, she opened her eyes and casually walked out of the second portal onto another world. She was greeted by a yellow-white sun and a single large moon in an area surrounded by dense forest. Could she be on Kispri?

The anxious woman immediately moved back a ways and stubbornly watched for Gabi. She had no idea that the portal back on Agrin was destroyed and refused to believe her mate wouldn't be coming.

* * *

Several days after the conference had ended, Gabrielle was tired of niggler meat, and the thought of eating one more root nut nauseated her. She had to leave her lovely hot spring and do something with her life.

Her bruises had faded and she felt well enough for a brisk pace so she traveled north, back to the only place she knew on Agrin. She had no money but she hoped to sell the magic book, or at least trade it in for another one. She needed to find a way home.

Every night back in Prizzaria, she asked about Marie and every night it was the same answer. Her true love hadn't been found. With her hope reserves nearly exhausted, she stumbled along in both physical and astral form, merely existing rather than living. The life was slowly draining out of her.

* * *

Mother Moon took pity on the poor young woman at the portal and sent heavy rains. She hadn't moved from the spot other than to sit down when she got too tired to remain standing. The rain snapped her out of her funk and got her to recognize both her thirst and fatigue. She satisfied both, taking shelter in a small intact building that stood near the portal.

The next morning, the rains had passed and she went back out to the portal -- still no Gabi. She checked the instrument panel, having studied the book along with her mate, and found a curious result when she tried to set Agrin as a destination. It wouldn't work. The view screen said the world was inaccessible and refused to open a connection. She was devastated.

She spent the next several weeks taking shelter in the ruins and slowly working out how to live off the land. She also explored the ruins around the portal and came across something interesting in one of the many underground sections. If it was what she hoped it was, she might just get somewhere on the new world.

* * *

Gabrielle was surprised when she found herself walking past a farm. She'd been lost in thought, dwelling on her sorrow, and hadn't noticed she was close to Roggzer once again. With a renewed sense of urgency, she increased her pace and headed for the book shop.

Occupying herself with magic was a welcome distraction. She made it to the book shop several hours before sunset and began talking to the owner. She couldn't read so she'd need his help deciphering the cryptic symbols. At least she knew the language well enough to talk to him.

The intensity of the tall woman disturbed the old man who ran the shop, and he was about to tell her to leave his shop. Then he looked deeply into her eyes and saw the sorrow in them. He remembered her and her companion, and he noticed her companion's conspicuous absence. He figured the sorrow had something to do with that absence, so he let her stay. He even offered to help. It went against his better business judgment, but he softened and gave her all the help he could.

In the end, they could only find one page in a thick book that had any useful information. The page contained a large scale map with several places of magic on it. Gabi couldn't very well carry the whole book so the old man did the unthinkable. He carefully cut the plastic page out and gave it to her, free of charge. He even bought the other book back from her at full price. Something told him she needed the money more than he did.

"Now go," he said. "Please leave and heal the sorrow in your heart. It's painful just looking at you."

Gabi thanked the man and graced him with a friendly smile before hurrying out to check on the market. She'd lost track of the days and had no idea when the next weekly market would take place.

* * *

Marie was most pleased with herself. She never considered herself to be a mage but here she was, flying in a magic craft at high speed over the forest. It was an exhilarating experience.

The craft had been built by her ancestors who'd come through the portal. It had simple controls and was well constructed with a very reliable power source. She figured everything out in short order and used it to search for Prizzaria. That was one odd name Gabi taught her that she'd never forget.

The first village she came across was little help. She didn't speak the language so all she could do was speak the name of her destination and point in various directions. Every person she saw seemed a little surprised to see a woman on a flying craft, but they weren't afraid of magic so they humored her. Unfortunately, they'd never heard of Gabrielle's queendom so they shrugged and went back to whatever they were doing.

The determined woman followed a road out of the village and flew over several more villages, each with the same result. Disappointed, she continued on until she came to the outskirts of a small town. Surely someone in town would know of Prizzaria.

"Hello," she said to a tall old man using Gabi's language. It was one of a few words she knew.

The man gave her a blank look. He did so because he didn't speak the language of Prizzaria. That was because Marie was actually several hundred leagues from Gabrielle's queendom. The portal could target a world but not any random place on that world. One portal could only connect to another, and that second portal was a long way from Prizzaria.

The young brunette shrugged but she didn't give up. She mentioned the name of the queendom and the man's eyes widened a little. He'd actually heard of it and was surprised to see someone so far from home, naturally assuming the woman before him was trying to get home. When she pointed in various directions, he deduced what she wanted and pointed back over her left shoulder. She gave him a broad smile, spoke another unrecognizable word and was soon a small speck on the horizon in the direction he indicated.

Marie pushed her speed to the limit, and at that rate, it would take all of the remaining power the little craft had left to barely reach the border lands of Prizzaria. In less than twelve hours, the small brunette would be making a very rough landing within Gabrielle's queendom.

* * *

Over the next several days, Gabrielle scoured all four of the large markets in Roggzer, looking for cocoa. She didn't find any but at least she was able to buy something more nutritional. There were many fresh fruits and vegetables available and they were very inexpensive. At the rate she was going, her money would last her several weeks as long as she kept going back into the wilderness to fish and camp every night. She could afford a couple nights in an inn but food was more important. She couldn't bring herself to indulge for even one night no matter how much the soft warm beds called to her.

Finally, after more than four weeks, Gabrielle returned to her queendom in astral form and discovered that the universe wasn't as cold and cruel as she accused it of being.

"Welcome, my Queen," Muriel said. "I've got a surprise for you."

"What ... are you going to tease me with hot cocoa again? You know I can't even smell it. Why do you torture me so?"

"No, no," her old friend laughed. "We found Marie ... or rather, she found us."

"What?!" Gabrielle shrieked.

Muriel hushed the excited woman and told her that Marie was in the royal bedchambers. She was pretty badly injured when they first found her that morning and she was fully healed only moments ago. They used the royal translator to confirm her identity and then pampered her like a princess. That was all the old mystic could get out before the queen rushed to reunite with her true love.

Marie faced away from the closed door when Gabrielle phased through it. She was talking to Ribbles, her toy rabbit that sat on Gabrielle's bed. She refused to part with it and took it from her pack those many weeks ago before entering the portal. She'd stuffed it under her blouse and tucked in the blouse to keep it safe. Ribbles and her dagger were the only possessions she had left other than the clothes she wore.

"I don't understand anything, Ribbles," said the frustrated brunette. "Everything is royal this or royal that, and they tell me that Gabrielle rules as their queen. How can that be? Did I really reach the right world? Are they really talking about my Gabi? Will I ever see her again?"

Gabi patiently listened, happy just to hear the woman's voice. Finally though, she felt compelled to say something.

"I came in to check on you but I can go if you'd rather be alone with Ribbles," she said with a straight face.

Marie quickly turned and squealed.

"Gabi! Is it really you? How on Agrin did you get here? Are you really a queen? What's going on?"

The tall woman slowly moved closer as her lover bombarded her with questions. When she got within range, she solidified her astral body and just answered with a hug, causing Marie to break down and cry.