What is Real?

Before she could even finish the thought, she found that it did. She was back at the table with Ivy. At least she no longer felt nauseous. She wasn't back in this reality at quite the moment she had left it, she realised. Back then she had collapsed on the moss-covered floor rather than been sitting at the table, and Ivy hadn't been in the room.[98897]

"Are you feeling better now, dear?" Ivy asked with every appearance of solicitude.

"What is going on here?" Astra asked. "Why do you pretend that I am your daughter? I am Princess Astra of Aqualaria."

"Oh dear, you've been having that dream again, haven't you Alice?"

"What dream?"

"The one where you believe yourself to be this Astra person and that you've been held as the prisoner of a dragon. You've told me all about it on previous occasions. It seems so very convincing to you that it's hard for you to realise that it's your life here that is real and the idea that you are a princess is but fantasy. Many girls dream that they are really a princess. Most grow out of it, but with you it seems instead to have become stronger over the years."

Could she be right? Astra found herself wavering. But then she remembered something. "When I first came here you said 'Welcome, Astra'. That proves that I really am Astra. But how did you know my name?"

1. Ivy sighed. "All right, I'll be honest with you."
2. Astra found herself looking into Ivy's brilliant emerald eyes. Memories of Astra slipped away from her, and once again she was only Alice.
3. Before Ivy could reply, Erica entered. "Mother, Timothy is here!" she said excitedly. "Now we can perform the rite."
4. Minestus and Belboz enter. They've come through on Astra's "coat-tails".

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