Inside the prince’s room was a veritable nursery playroom. Children of all ages romped and played with each other, merrily immersed in their games of tag, or other amusements that engaged their young minds. Watching them, one would not think a disaster had befallen their city…until they turned their gaze to the older youth. Teenagers and young adults were sitting in a corner of the room, holding and comforting each other, as unlike their younger counterparts who did not understand the scope of what was happening, they did. Fear of the unknown, fear for their families that had gone undiscovered, fears for family that were found and were being treated for their injuries and fears for the many that had been discovered, but whose lives had slipped away with the tide.

Dr. Cherry, the town’s only psychiatrist, was in their midst, assessing their various stages of grief and anxiety. She was making progress, but by the time nightfall had arisen, the number of children had inflated from 17, to 39. It was going to be difficult to treat all of the children, in addition to the adults that would surely require counseling, on her own. She needed help, so she sent for a friend of hers, a psychiatrist in Adohi that specialized in child psychology. With his help, she could return to her focus, adult therapy, while he could take over the psychiatric needs of the children. In the meantime, the children were hers to treat, along with the assistance of the empress.

When Artemis entered the room, the younger children hardly gave his arrival any attention, but the older children sprang to their feet and hurried to him, assailing him with questions about the whereabouts of their loved ones. Avalon, too, saw the entrance of her husband and walked over to him, just as the teens had reached him.

“Children, children!” Dr. Cherry called, hurrying over to the cluster of teens that had surrounded the emperor and empress. “Please, you must be still. The emperor was not responsible for locating our loved ones. He was in charge of finding people and materials to rebuild the city. I’m sorry to say it, but he has no new information about your families. The princes, Alder and Arjuna gave us the updates of everyone that had been found when they arrived.”

“Then, my parents are dead?!” one of the teenaged girls asked, her words wracked with pain.

“I didn’t say that, dear.” Cherry said, touching the girl’s shoulder. “I am only saying that there will be no new information, tonight. Let us wait until morning and hopefully, we will be able to find others that have not yet been found. All that we can do now, is wait. Come settle back down and we can discuss it more.”

The girl regarded the woman a moment longer, then solemnly, started off, back to the corner of the room that the young adults adopted as their territory. Cherry watched the girl amble off, slowly followed by the other teens that had ambushed the emperor. She sighed and turned her attention back to the monarchs.

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