The infirmary was on the other side of the Castle it was a white room with many beds, there were nurses walking around attending to patients, many of which were the wounded soldiers and rescued Tigris that had arrived with Sam and his friends earlier that day.

One particular patient Sam noticed was the old Tigris who was still wearing the oxygen mask. Reegan and Toido came by earlier to speak with the nurses about keeping the mask on his face. Reegan had aided Toido to reiterate his explanation that the mask was healing him and not to remove it until he said it was time.

The old man turned his head to look at Sam as he approached. Sam asked the nurse if he could speak with him. The mask did not obstruct his eyes so Sam could tell he was looking at him.

"Hey I'm Sam!" He said to introduce himself.

The old Tigris eyes widened and he tried to lean forward.

"Sa. . . . . .Siam. . ." Is what Sam thought he heard the old man was saying before his eyes closed and he fell back to sleep. Tafficious was standing next to Sam looking over the old one.

"I assume he came from one of the other Tigris lands that had fallen. It was many years ago when we lost contact with them. When the Grotesques began to conquer the world beyond our borders. We believe it is the dark sorcerer Andruin who commands the Grotesques!" Tafficious explained.

"Andruin? Tafficious can you tell me about him?" Sam asked.

"It was a long time ago. . . I was out on a hunt with the King when he found two soldiers wandering lost in the mountains. They wore strange armour, one white and one red. We believed them to be in league with our enemy that lives underground," Tafficious explained as June and Rufus moved in to listen as well.

"They were cold and hungry and so they did not attack our party. I thought for sure we would take them as prisoners but our King saw a great talent in them, he took it upon himself to become their teacher. One of them his name was Andruin. He was wearing the red armour, the other his name was Aughustus, he wore a white armour,"

"Aughustus?" Sam asked.

"You fur less mountain folk truly must be from another world if you do not know of Aughustus. After many year of living here in Catlinburg under King LyrAndal's tutelage he discarded his armour. He revealed to us that he was a very powerful Tigris warrior and a brilliant engineer, we have him to thank for providing us with the amplification towers that have protected our borders along the walls," Tafficious said pointing to the gate and the towers along the wall which was all visible from the infirmaries large windows.

"And our Queen who was then at the time a princess took a liking to Aughustus and they grew close. . . . He is the father of Princess Candillice,"

"But Andruin! He never showed us his true form under the armour. . . . He too was a very powerful student but he craved power. He became obsessed with our relics, he wanted to learn how they were made so he could fashion one of his own design. . . . . ."

"After the King disappeared Andruin began to gather the relics to keep them for himself. He told the council it was for safe keeping and that was when he committed the most atrocious deeds it really is too upsetting to tell you what he had done. . . . . Afterwards he absconded taking some of our relics and we have not seen him since."

"Visiting hours are over!" A nurse interrupted and they all saw that it was getting late. Carlyle had his paw disinfected, they used a sort of glue on the cut and gave him a bandage to wrap around his paw.He had other injuries as well because apparently some of the Queens generals had roughed him up. However they said Carlyle was good to go home and sleep in his new housing arrangement that was set up by the council for the Prophetigress Protectors.

But before they could go home and rest a guard came to the infirmary to inform the Princess that the Queen was summoning the Council and Prophetigress as well as her company and guests to the throne room.

They all walked over to the Throne room, as the guards opened the doors they saw that Reegan and Toido were already in the hall. Toido was projecting some imagery in front of the Queen and her generals. It was the information that Toido had copied from the Virillian computers.

Sam could only see that Toido was showing them the locations where the slaves were held as well as the locations and sizes of the enemy armies.

"Then it is as we have feared! We are the last of the free Tigris people in this world. The threat is great but I believe that our walls will protect us. . . . . . . we will speak more of this after I have consulted with the generals and our council," The Queen stated and she waved her arm in a fashion to indicate that Toido and Reegan were dismissed.

Sam looked around and the seats were mostly empty except for a few of the Tigris people who were present in the room when the Queen picked him up by the tail. He remembered seeing their faces while he was upside down.

"Princess Candillice and her company may now step forward," The Queen said. She waved her arms towards her to indicate she wanted them to come close to the Throne. Candillice walked towards the Throne with Sam, Rufus, June and Carlyle beside her. The Queen looked at all of the Tigris present in the Throne room and the commoners present as what she was going to say next she was doing for the people. The Queen looked back towards Sam.

"Samuel Gusterson!" The Queen said which made him nervous.

"I apologize for how I treated you when you arrived," She said.

It brought some ease to Sam's mind although it appeared very difficult for her to say.

"In the light of the intelligence data provided to us by Ambassador Fenz Reegan and Toido of Protolia, and in recognition of your magnificent talent, I would like to say on behalf of the Royal Family and the Council of Catlinburg that you and your friends are welcome to stay. . . . for as long as you remain in the service of the Prophetigress our Princess Candillice," Queen TyrAnna proclaimed.

Sam felt relieved and he bowed.

"Thanks your highness!" he said

"We have accommodations prepared in the royal wing of the Castle for you and your young friends Rufus and June. Candillice will show you to your rooms!" Queen TyrAnna stated and then she stood up and walked behind the throne to signify that the speaking session was finished.

"Come with me!" Candillice hapilly told Sam, Rufus and June and they followed her.

It was just down the hall where the servants finished preparing the rooms for Sam and his friends.

"Wow!" Sam shouted as he ran into the room, It was very tall with many windows. Because of the round shaped of the room Sam thought it must be one of the tower sections he had seen from the outside. In the centre of the room there was a very interesting structure he would probably describe it as a combination of bunk bed and kitten play house with a bed on the bottom and a posts that towered to the top of the room. At the top there was a large domed roof area with a view of the sky.

"Your rooms are down here of course!" Candillice pointed to a set of three doors that opened to some more rooms. These rooms were large and contained some nice beds fit for royalty and were well stocked with clothing.

"OH! and this thing in the center is what we call a kittens play tower! This room was built for. . . . someone else," Candillice looked briefly sad as she explained this but then her expression changed to being happy again.

"Lets climb it! Shall we?" Candillice said as she dug her claws into the carpet like walls of the giant kitten play tower. Sam looked over at the Princesses claws and he pulled out his own claws to compare them. He noticed they had similarities.

"But Candy. . . . .Rufus and I don't have any claws!" June said showing her hands.

"There's a lever that will bring down the stairs hold on I'll go get it!" Candillice said.

Sam watched Candillice take a swipe at the rug like wall of the tower and was surprised at her lack of restraint.

"Wont we scratch the furniture?" Sam asked.

"What? That's all a part of the fun!" Candillice replied. With a thought of "oh well," Sam too dug his claws into a drape that was hanging from the play tower, he first tugged on it to check how secure it was.

"Sam why is it that you have claws and your friends do not?" Candillice asked with great curiosity while she looked over to June and Rufus below them.

"I don't know why my doctor didn't say. . . ." Sam said and shrugged.

They started their climbing with Candillice jumping ahead as she climbed the rug like material on the wall of the play tower before making her way over to the drapes that Sam was climbing. She shook them a little jokingly causing Sam to have to hold on tight. He just laughed about it before jumping to swing on some ropes that were dangling from the ceiling.

They both reached the top of the play house where upon looking around Sam saw there was some couches and a nice big telescope. There was also a round table that Sam thought would be great for playing board games. Candillice then asked Sam to follow her across a walkway along the dome shaped window to look outside.

"A celebrations going on down there!" Candillice exclaimed.

She pointed to bonfires in the villages below and Sam could hear the music playing. He could definitely see there was dancing going on and some of the Tigris were flying large kites.

"Hey Candy can you let us up now?" June shouted from below.

Candillice walked over to a large lever and from underneath the walkway a long set of spiral stairs came folding down towards the bottom. Rufus and June ran up as fast as they could as soon as it had finished unfolding. Sam watched towards the wall, He could see many Tigris soldiers marching and this worried him.

"Are they expecting an attack on the wall?" Sam asked as he thought it was too many soldiers for a simple patrol.

"The scouts say there's no Grotesques close by but the army will be on high alert since the blue star has vanished. . . . . . but Tiya told me it will come back," she explained as Sam began to look west where he noticed something beyond the wall he had not seen yet.

He saw a large canyon that looked like it was carved out of the stone. Sam's night vision was good enough for him to see that it looked like the canyon was filled with massive statues and pillars and probably lined with artificial caves.

"What's that canyon over there Candillice?" Sam asked.

"We don't go there anymore I haven't seen it for a long time, I guess you can only see it from this tower," Candillice replied.

As they were viewing the canyon it became lit up by several orbs of light flying through it.

"Those must be the Guardians," Candillice said as they were both in awe of the sight.

"What are Guardians?" Sam asked.

"My Mother told me about them they are ones who left this world a long ago but they decided to return. Some took different forms like Papilliowalayo!" Candillice explained.

The light orbs left the canyon and flew up into the sky flashing brightly.

"Wow!" Sam exclaimed.

"My Mother told me they only flash like that if they want to tell you something. The message is only received by your true inner self!" Candillice said.

"Would our true inner self signify the subconscious?" Rufus asked but Candillice didn't know how to reply, she had nothing more to say.

Candillice yawned and stretched "I'm tired! Calling it a night see ya in the morning!" Candillice said before she jumped towards a rope, slid down to the bottom floor and left for the room. It didn't take long for Sam, June and Rufus to get into the sleeping gowns that were provided in their own rooms.

"I'm not sleepy yet!" June said.

They came back out to the living room area that was next to the play tower. Some very comfortable chairs,a large red carpet over a stone floor and a nice warm fire place was waiting for them. Rufus noticed there was a shelf with a rather extensive library of books. He tried to read some of them however he could not make any sense of the words. He was thinking it was going to take months to translate the words, but just as he was thinking that before his eyes the words rearranged themselves and he knew what they meant. As he looked over the writing in the books he had a very intriguing question.

"Samuel did you happen to question how it is that we possess comprehension of the language of Underlings and the Tigris people on this planet?" Rufus asked.

"It must be the magic of this world!" He answered after careful thought.

"Wait! I seem to recall an episode of Galaxy of the Unknown that may contain some relevant information," Rufus said as he proceeded to scroll through some video files on his computer. He found the exact location in the videos timeline of Reegan's television show he was looking for and he played it.

Reegan appeared on the screen, he was pointing to an image of something the Galactics called the Harmonic Abode. It was an image they had prepared to show the people of Earth what the Universe looked like. It showed one halved section with each layer on top of the other like a tower but Sam thought it looked more like an apple split in half.

"There weren't many explorers who had found a way to visit the higher realms, but for the ones that did. They returned with stories of encounters they had with people living there and the one thing most consistent with each of their accounts was the absence of a communication barrier," Reegan stated, Rufus paused the video at this part.

"Perhaps this planet we currently inhabit is a realm that is elevated above our Earth in the levels of this Harmonic Abode. This would result in an enhanced physical complexity. . . . Now that! Would be a good scientific explanation for what we may have been perceiving as magical events and properties!" Rufus explained.

"No magic?!!!" June screamed in protest.

"None at all Juniper! None Indeed!" Rufus replied with a smile.

"But how did we get to the lake? I don't remember a jump gate it was like. . . . . .POOOF! And we were just there!" June asked.

"When we were at the lake I wasn't wearing the pendant necklace my uncle gave me. I think that's because we went inside of it!" Sam said.

"WHOA!" June shouted with her eyes widened.

"And how do you come to this conclusion Samuel?" Rufus asked.

"One time I trapped Ken in there!" Sam answered and they all burst out into laughter.

That night in bed Sam thought of what it felt like to be standing on the island where he met The Lightling sisters, he also thought about the way he looked in his reflection on the lake. His thoughts drifted towards how his hands were covered in orange fur with black stripes of shiny fur on his tail and how much better it looked compared to his ugly skinny tail. He looked up to see Tiya waving at him and she called him LyrAndal like he remembered. But why would she call him that Sam wondered? Did he look like LyrAndal somehow to her? Should he have asked her for more information about himself? Maybe next time he thought as he sunk into the comfortable bed. Sam was beginning to think that it must have once belonged to a prince or some kind of royalty from what Candillice had told him.

In the morning Sam was awakened by June.

"Wake up Sam were going home!" June screamed.

"Ahem! Mr Reegan received a signal from his star ship last night. He is of the impression that it is coming to retrieve him to be more precise," Rufus commented.

Sam was well rested thanks to the comfortable bed and the sun was shining through his window. Rufus and June ran back out to the living room where Reegan and Toido were preparing their recording equipment for the days recording session.

On a chalkboard Reegan had outlined a plan for several topics and filming locations.

"We should really wait for reinforcements from the Galactic authorities to arrive before we go too far on this planet. But in the meantime I have a full show schedule planned out to begin filming immediately. . . . ." Reegan stated with great excitement as he began to list of several locations he wanted to visit and names of Tigris he wanted to interview.

It was beginning to look like the start of a wonderful day Sam thought.