A/N Sorry I forgot to post the reviewers!! Here are the three new reviewers:

Sacha Lysander

Writer-who-also-loves-to-sing

October7

Special thanks to Writer-who-also-loves-to-sing for her six reviews! Oh, and also I forgot to mention that I don't have the ability to write long stories. I try very hard, but this is just they style of writing I use, and I can't change it; so sorry if I confuse you by moving too fast. **************************************************************************** ***********************

The rest of the day was pretty laid back for me. Mirage just showed me around the house a bit, and explained everything about how the sacred treasure of Purlad was stolen, so the land couldn't stay as beautiful and pure as it used to be before. It used to be so beautiful as she describes it, I can almost smell the fresh spring breezes, the hum of an insect, the sweet melody of a birds song as she talks about it. But after the treasure was stolen, the condition of the kingdom deteriorated every day.

But in the back of my mind behind the images of the beautiful land of Mongolia lingered the chilling fear of being alone with a bunch of strangers. I had been meaning to ask about my family, but I was too fearful. I promised myself I would ask the next morning.

* * *

Dinner was almost as discomfited as breakfast that night, except for the fact that nobody was staring at me like I had a cabbage stuffed up my nose this time. But I did notice Jade sneaking glances at me, except she didn't glare; she just looked at me, almost inspecting.

Dinner was actually quite enjoyable. I had a nice fuzzy pair of slippers instead of shoes, and there was a merry cackling fire in the next room nearby. We ate a meat that reminded me of venison (but I didn't ask what it was), roasted potatoes, cranberry sauce, mandarin oranges, huge pea pods, rolls, water, milk, and for dessert we had the same dried up honey looking stuff from breakfast, sweet cakes, and the same red liquid from breakfast.

I summoned up the courage to ask what the red liquid was after we had finished dessert. I didn't try any of it, just in case it was blood, but I highly doubted it.

Mirage smiled and said, "It is the cow's blood. But we add a bit of water to dilute the taste."

My eyes opened wide with shock as she poured a tiny bit into a cup and held it out to me.

"Try." She urged. "It is very, very good for you! Try it!" She gave me the glass of blood. I hesitated, ready to push it away, but thought 'if I'm going to be here forever, I might as well try something new. The drink had bubbles around the corners, reminding me slightly of milk. As I brought the glass up to my lips, I could feel Mirage's eyes on me.

I felt liquid on my closed lips, then opened them just a tiny bit, and took the smallest sip. My eyes squeezed shut for a moment, and I prepared to choke with disgust. I was just about to put a look of abhorrence on my face when I realized it wasn't all that bad. In fact, I couldn't even taste much at all.

I set the glass down and smiled. Mirage smiled back and said,

"See? It wasn't that bad was it?"

* * *

That night, even though I hadn't really done anything, I was extremely tired. Mirage said that I could make a call to my parents tomorrow morning, because it was way to late in America to do it at night here.

Jet lag was keeping me from staying up later than seven, so I headed up to my room and flopped down onto my large bed, this time spotting another bed on the other side of the room. I guess I didn't see it that morning because there was a curtain pulled across the room shielding another half.

I lay in the magnificent bed and looked at the ocarina that Mirage had given me. The varnished stony blue color made the small instrument look very special. I turned it around the looked at the lightning symbol on the back. I ran my finger over it, but couldn't detect any surface difference. It was completely smooth. I brought the ocarina closer to my face and looked hard at it. It was quite amazing how the symbol had no light bulb to light it up.

I was so deeply engrossed with inspecting my instrument that I didn't hear Jade come in. I only noticed she was there when she asked,

"Your name is Kit?" Her voice had an interesting accent now that I heard her outside of the kitchen in a quiet room.

I nodded.

"And you're Jade, right?"

She nodded. "Mother told me to tell you that night gowns are in there, as well as some other clothes for you." She said, pointing to the dresser.

"Thanks." I said.