Welcome to Gaia! ::

Elia looked at Miyuki over her shoulder, and her gaze was filled with pity as she took in the girl's long hair and furry ears and tails. "Yes," she murmured sympathetically. "And you haven't been here in years ... don't worry. Once we're past the tapestry, it does get quite a bit cooler. If not for the darkness, the underground would be the most pleasant area of the castle, I think."

"There's a thought," Kiara noted. "Though I have to admit that I don't mind the heat.

"Here," Elia murmured as they approached a large tapestry that was hanging on the corridor wall. It had a depiction of a griffin in flight above a sea of dunes, the entire piece bordered with a repetitious pattern of eagles and lions. She led them to the far side of it, then lifted it away from the wall. There was nothing obvious in sight, but she touched a section of the wall, and it slid silently inward, revealing a hidden passageway.

Kiara was impressed. "Is that how all of the hidden passageways open?" she asked her future aunt curiously. "Are they all hidden behind tapestries? Are they all on the first floor?"

Elia laughed and stood aside, waiting for the other two to lead the way into the tunnel. "What would be the fun in giving you the answers to those questions?"

Elia giggled at the girls' enthusiasm. "Other than the darkness and the coolness, so far it's not terribly different from the corridor," she grinned, sliding the wall shut again behind them and leaving them in total blackness. "Just wait until we're away from the smithy, it will get even cooler."

Suddenly there was a light as a torch in her hand flared to life, seemingly on its own, revealing the area of the passageway that was around them. The walls were the same as the walls in the corridor had been: carved bricks half the height of Miyuki, as long as she was tall, each one of them with a sculpted griffin in the middle of it and runes all around it. Torches rested in brackets along the length of the passageway, but none of them were lit, save the one that Elia kept in her hand.

"Come, I'll take you further," the princess smiled, stepping between Miyuki and Kiara to lead the way.

"How far does this go down?" Kiara asked curiously, trying to peer past the limits of the torch light.

"I've never measured the distance that the tunnels cover," Elia replied thoughtfully, "but if I were to take a guess ... I would have to say that they cover at least a mile or so altogether."

Kiara was stunned at the number. "How many tunnels are there?"

Elia laughed. "Oh, lots."

"Because of what it protects," Elia replied simply. "In one of the tunnels down here is a portal that leads to your own world, Gaia. It's not to keep people from your world from coming and wreaking havoc - I'm sure that your grandparents have that possibility well under control - but to keep anyone who might invade us here to getting into your world."

"Do you really see that ever happening?" Kiara asked doubtfully.

Elia shrugged. "No. But better safe than sorry. It's not just us at risk then, and not just the Winters family: it's a whole other world."

Elia smiled at Miyuki. "Yes, well. We take precautions so that nothing bad can happen. And I believe that there is even a failsafe in place that if something were to happen here, that - Valar forbid - the palace should ever be taken, the tunnels can be collapsed to protect the portal. And to my knowledge-"

Which, warranted, was very great, considering her Gift.

"-this is the third and final of the portals," she concluded. "You've used the ones in the Southland and Borderlands. Besides this one, I don't believe there are any others - at least, none that lead to your grandparents' home."

Elia's eyes sparkled in the torch light. "You are a sharp one," she grinned at Miyuki. "I honestly didn't think you would catch that."

"I didn't," Kiara admitted, "but ... to be honest, I don't even know what a portal is. I've never heard of one."

Elia thought about it for a moment. "Well ... think of it as a door," she said finally. "Only instead of going from one room to the next, you can go from one place to another place entirely. Countries, continents ... worlds."

Kiara was amazed.

Kiara nodded at Miyuki. "I see." She looked back at Elia. "But you didn't answer Miyuki's question. Does that mean there are more?"

Elia was silent for a few moments as they headed deeper into the tunnel. They approached a fork. The left path looked much the same as the one that they were already on, but the path to the right was raw rock, braced with wooden beams. Without hesitating, Elia turned to the right.

"I was thinking," she murmured softly. "I could do what I ought, and say nothing, but ... I suppose that by my hesitation you would have already guessed that there are. But where they are, what they connect, and who made them: those I cannot tell."

Elia nodded. "Well ... how shall I put this? Innate magic is common in our world, and used all the time. But those who are able to learn magic that they are not born with are extremely rare. When they do magic, especially something as big as creating a portal, they do what they can to keep it secret. They like to keep to themselves."

Kiara stared at her. "I don't understand," she said flatly. "Is learned magic a secret? Or are the people secret?"

Elia exhaled slowly. "Let's just say, they don't want to be bothered," she decided. "Think of what people would do if they found someone who could do ... well, conceivably, anything. The poor woman would never be left alone."