Honey : The Empire's Treasure 135 Centuries Of Waiting

"Saavi what's wrong?" Kaze happened to look at Saavi when she just finished listening to the recording.

"Hmm?...uh...umm...young miss know prince Ailwin..." She whispered softly.

"What?...she knows who?" Kaze didn't hear her clearly.

"She knows Prince Ailwin!... They met before..." Saavi really didn't want to explain how Mika met prince Ailwin.

"She knows a prince? How?"

"I don't want to say." d.a.m.nit! How am I suppose to explain young miss' unladylike behavior to them!?

"Okaaay....well do they have a good relations.h.i.+p?" Kaze needed to know if his plans for rescuing Mika include saving her from Lord Kendel and the fifth prince.

"Umm..." Saavi thought back to the first time Mika met prince Ailwin.

"Well?"

"It's an okay relations.h.i.+p, neither here nor there..." She refuses to tell other people her young miss licked a cake and then presented it to a prince.

Even if young miss doesn't want to preserve her status as a young miss of a high clan, I must, Saavi thought.

"Saavi, what does that even mean? *sigh*...Can we depend on Prince Ailwin to not harm her?" Kaze felt lSaavi was hiding something from him.

"Umm...." Saavi thought back to the second time Mika met the prince at the weapon shop; where Mika accused Ailwin of stealing her sword, and he made him pay for everyone's bill.

"Saavi...?" Kaze had a bad feeling when Saavi stood there in a daze.

"I...think..so...?" A prince would kill a thirteen-year-old girl over a piece of cake and a sword, would he?

"Should we still try to get there as soon as possible, or take a break to come up with a new plan?"Jonas asked.

"Rus.h.!.+"

"Plan."

Both Saavi and Kaze answered at the same time, confusing Jonas.

"I thought who said he would harm her?" Kaze looked at Saavi's nervous expression.

"Yes, but we shouldn't inconvenience him too much..."

Besides, the sooner we get her back, the sooner young miss is not charged with giving the prince high blood pressure, Saavi thought.

"Fine, we'll continue on at the same speed, but keep a watch on your band. She might try to contact you again..." Kaze said, pointing at Saavi's wrist.

"En."

In the meantime, the very person Saavi is worried about is relaxing in her tent, eating a dinner prepared by Ailwin's soldiers.

"Mmmm! This is better than Vlacca clan's food...Yumsa, want a taste?"

Yumsa sat on top of the table, chewing on a crumb of bread.

"En. Yes, please!" The tantalizing smell coming from Mika's plate had Yumsa salivating.

"Good?"

"Yes, yes. It's delicious!" The honey coated steak and honey-b.u.t.tered potatoes were a first for Yumsa. Usually sticking to plants and bugs, this meal was a great treat after a hard day of work.

Cutting off tiny pieces of meat and potatoes, Mika left it on the edge of her plate for Yumsa to eat.

Satiated after dinner, Yumsa yawned and patted her little bloated stomach. With a relaxing mood inside the tent, she started to get sleepy, though her drowsiness took a backseat when she thought about the day's events.

At the makes.h.i.+ft bed, Yumsa hovered beside Mika's head as she fiddled with the wristband the soldiers gave to her.

"Mikaela, can I asked you a question?"

"You want to know how I cure the tree and the water?" Mika didn't take her eyes off of her work. She needed to extract the security chip and the monitoring system inside the wristband before she could send out any messages to Saavi.....and her mother.

The last thing she needs is a prince and his people in her business.

"En. Having you found a way to fix all the honey trees?" Yumsa was so excited in the cavern when Mika healed the tree and cleared the water. However, they were in a constraining situation so she couldn't ask.

Mika stopped what she was doing and looked up, "Yumsa, do you think you can create an air bubble around us to stop people from listening in?"

"En, I know how."

"Do it, but just big enough to cover both of us, not the tent." Mika realized her mistake in the city. Due to Braeden hearing her talking to Yumsa, it made her seem more suspicious.

Though I was able to play it off as a joke, and distract him from that little detail, in the future that won't work as well. I need to find a way to talk to the spirits without other people knowing. Maybe Drako knows of a way, I'll ask him later.

"Okay, done!"

Mika looked around, "They can't hear us?"

"Nope! But you can hear them..." Yumsa smiled, proud that she could show off her skills for Mika to see.

"Good..."

"So...did you find a way to fix the honey trees?"

"No."

"Huh?....but you were able to heal the one in the city." Yumsa didn't believe that Mika did have a way the fix the honey trees.

"Yes, but it took a lot of my energy and time. I can't go around to each and every honey tree on the planet and do what I did here. I'll end up dying before, I could even see the fruits of my labor."

"....well, at least you found the cause right..."

She had to have found the cause or else how could she have healed it, Yumsa thought.

"Yes....and no."

"Huh?"

"The tree in the city had a virus."

"A virus? What is that? I don't understand."

"A virus is an infective agent that is too small to be seen. It's able to multiply within the living cells of a host, such as a tree."

"So it's like a disease."

"En, but the virus in the tree at the cavern acted more like viruses you see in computers. It was manipulating the tree's cells...it's DNA, trying to change it into something else. That's why it was sick."

"Then what about the water?"

"The honey tree was trying to purge the virus from its system by releasing it into the water. That's why the water sprites got sick first." Mika was putting all the pieces of the puzzle together for Yumsa to see.

"....but you know what is killing the trees, so why did you say no."

*sigh*

"...In order the properly heal the trees, I need to find the source of the virus. What I did back at that cavern was just a patch job. If I don't find the origin of this virus, that tree will most likely be sick again..."

"What!? No!..." Yumsa started to cry. Centuries of waiting, and she finally thought she saw a promise of a new beginning, but it seems she'll have to continue waiting.

"Oh, Yumsa don't cry. We know more now than you guys did before, and that's a start, right?" Mika used her pinky to pat Yumsa' head to comfort her until she stopped crying.

Twenty minutes later, Yumsa was asleep on a pillow as Mika continued to work on the wristband.