Rae felt sunlight on her face. She opened her eyes and found herself in the healer's hut. "I'm alive!" she looked around. Loa was in another bed, and her mother was in another. "I'm alive! They're alive! We made it!" Ashana walked in. "Rae you're finally awake." "Finally?" "Yes. You've been here for three days already." "Three days? But how?" "You and Loa were found on the beach. We all assume that the dolphins brought you because you were both unconscious." Rae rubbed her eyes and yawned. "How's my mother? How's Loa?" "Loa is doing well. She woke up a few hours ago, but went back to sleep. Jade on the other hand…well right now we're not sure. Her injuries are very serious, and we're lucky that she was found because she might have died out in the forest." "So does she have a good chance of making it?" "As I said, we're not sure, but we'll do everything we can to save her." "Thank you Ashana. I'm going to go back to sleep now cause I am really tired." Ashana smiled and went to check on Jade while Rae went back to sleep, happy to know that Loa and her mother was alive.
A few days later, Rae and Loa were able to be released from the healer's hut. Unfortunately Jade wasn't doing that well, and Rae, although she didn't show it, was very concerned. They were just about to leave, when Ashana stopped them. "Hold it you two. I'm not done giving you instructions. You might be able to leave here, but you still need to rest a lot." "Thank you for all your help, Ashana," said Loa. Rae nodded in agreement. They turned to walk out of the hut, when Ashana spoke again. "I almost forgot to tell you an important message. It was requested when you were found that you both go see the queen as soon as you are well." The girls glanced at each other. "Thanks…I guess we'll go see her…um soon," said Rae. "Yeah we…will," said Loa. The girls said good bye, and exited the healer's hut.
Once outside of the healer's hut, the girls began to panic. "Gods! Why would the queen want to see us?" said Loa. "I'm not sure. Hey! Maybe she's going to declare us heroes or something." "I guess she could do that. But we could be in major trouble." "I know what you mean. Let's see, I got sent home from school, and we went off without anyone's permission…Yup I'd say that the odds are against us." The girls glanced in the direction of the palace. "We might as well get this over with. What happens happens and there's nothing we can do to control it," said Rae. Loa agreed, and they both set off for the palace, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.
Rae and Loa looked up at the huge palace that loomed in front of them. "I just had a though," said Loa. "What?" "Well the Enforcer is off the island battling…maybe our punishment won't be that harsh." "Hey who say's we're getting punished?" "Rae!" "Ok so we might, but we brought it upon ourselves. Actually I guess you can say that I brought it upon us, but that's another story. Let's go." The girls walked into the palace. "Where do we go now?" asked Rae. "The throne room…I guess," answered Loa. They walked to the throne room. "Do we knock or just go in?" said Loa. "I think we should go in," said Rae. The girls took a deep breath, and opened the door to the throne room.
They entered the throne room in awe. Both of them had been there before, but it was always an interesting place. Queen Cyan was sitting on the center throne, and Princess Vicky and Princess Eponie were sitting on thrones on either side of her. Rae and Loa walked up and kneeled. Rae decided to speak. "You called for us, my queen?" "Rise," said Queen Cyan. Rae and Loa stood up. "Yes I called for you, and with good reason. I don't know whether to punish you or be proud of you. Who's idea was it to sneak off the island without permission anyway?" Rae spoke. "It was my idea. But I had to go! I had to save my mother. Don't tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing if you were in my situation!" Queen Cyan was almost taken aback by Rae's sharp reply. "There is no need to speak in an angry tone. This meeting was not called because of anger." "I'm sorry my queen. I'm just upset. I lost my temper." "It's all right. Let's get on to the real matter at hand here. You girls snuck off the island… You know that it is wrong to go against the laws about leaving the island without anybody knowing. But you went for the greater good…" "You're right, your highness," said Eponie. "It was for the greater good. Not only that, but it was also for loyalty. As a tribe, we are all loyal to each other, and I think that Rae and Loa should not be punished, because they were going with their amazon instinct." "That's true," said Princess Vicky. "As soon as we are able to learn, we are taught about loyalty and love for the tribe. We are taught that we must help our fellow amazon sisters no matter what the consequences are. Rae went to find her mother, the person who is probably the most important person in her life, and Loa went with her out of pure friendship. Had they not gone, Jade might have died in the forest. I don't think that they should be punished. After all, we all would probably do the same thing." Queen Cyan nodded. "That is a reasonable explanation of things. Rae and Loa, you will not be punished. In fact, I honor both of you. You are true amazon sisters, for you risked your lives to save one of us. Your courage and loyalty will be set as an example to all amazons. You may go now." Rae and Loa bowed to the queen and the princesses, and left the palace.
"Can you believe it? We didn't get in trouble at all. I mean we were honored by the queen!" said Rae once they got out of the palace. "I know. I was so worried that we were going to be punished, and look what has happened. We're heroes, Rae!" "Yeah. Maybe they'll put up a statue of us or something! Ha ha I can't wait to see the face of my arithmetic teacher when she hears this!" "Well I doubt they'll put up a statues of us. That's going a little too far don't you think?" "I guess so. I just got carried away. I mean we thought that we'd be in so much trouble, and now we're honored!" Suddenly Saran ran up to them. "Rae! Oh thank the gods. I was looking all over for you. Ashana sent me. It's Jade! Something serious has happened!" "Thank you. I'm going, you guys catch up if you want." Rae took off for the healer's hut. "Wait," Saran began. "What were you going to tell her?" asked Loa. Saran took a deep breath. "I…I was going to tell her that this is much worse than she thinks…Loa, Rae's mother is dying."
