"The reason why they needed a surplus of resources was to fuel their research, using old texts and spell books to find a way to cure the curse. They used everything at their disposal, not only food but also endless amounts of money, minerals, plants, and animals to test for a cure. They were confident that literature and spell-books gathered from the time the curse was said to have first afflicted the land had the answer. They were sure the answer they sought was long lost over the centuries, and going back to it's origin would reveal the truth. They tried everything, but no luck. Then one day, the demands for more agricultural supplies stopped, and Kay was released from his bedroom he was never allowed to leave. He began to do charity work for the people, becoming a loved icon of peace in the kingdom as the war against them by your family pushed on."

She paused. Closing her eyes in pain.

"There were many things the family didn't tell their inner circle for good reason. I knew very little of their plans to execute the cure, or if they even found it. To my knowledge, the heir was never cured of his affliction. But they did disclose to us they uncovered that the curse was 'as real as the magic that crafted it.'"

"What does that mean?" Simba asked, unable to understand what she was getting at. He couldn't understand why the Columbines would let their cursed son run wild if they hadn't found a cure. Kurona paused as if she had something more she wanted to say, but stopped herself. He waited intently for her to continue.

"The Columbines were the only ones that knew, but they are gone now. The Columbines were selfish people. They let a whole kingdom die because of their cure, they abandoned their only ally to save their son. So many people perished as a consequence of their actions. But Kasim had done in principle the same thing, you know.

She looked up at the bookcase, scaling the endless shelves with her eyes and trying to place the books from her mind back where they belonged. But the shelves remained empty.

"I spent my days in the old kingdom reading in this library, soaking up as much knowledge as I could. I knew so much, and had the world at my fingertips. To only have a fenced field to explore now..."

Her face contorted in a crack of despair. She wiped a tear from her eye.

"The knowledge I had collected is fleeting. The fence keeps me from what I once understood. Sometimes, I forget there was much more to know than that within these limited pages. But that's the point of this empty library after all."

Simba stared helplessly as she caved to her memories of the past. He felt a pinch in his chest, feeling guilty for what his father robbed from her. She was functionally an enemy, still devoted to her past loyalty despite their falterings, yet he couldn't help but let his heart sink as she struggled to contain herself. Kurona suddenly looked at him, unsure if she should reveal what she wanted to. She had more to say, but she knew Simba wouldn't believe her even if she told him the truth as bluntly as possible. He had to find the truth for himself to really accept it.

"The Columbines weren't the terrible monsters these book say they are. They may have been selfish and foolish, but they did have one noble deed I still believe in after all these years. They were too consumed in their son to extend their wishes towards a philanthropic reason. Maybe if they had seen past their castle, they would have really done what they claimed they were going to do."

She brushed her hair behind her ear and rubbed her skin on her neck. A small blue bird tattoo holding a poppy in it's beak unveiled itself on her skin below her right ear. She had concealed it under layers of foundation. Simba froze as he laid eyes on the image had been forbidden in the kingdom since the invasion. He had never seen the Columbine kingdom emblem before, only knowing of it through the books he read without pictures. To show support of the former family was a sentence few lived through.

"That's.."

"Yes, the Columbine Family Emblem," she said, brushing her hair back in place. "Your father didn't want to hurt me, so I use make-up to conceal it instead of having it ripped off my body." Simba stood as a statue, wide eyed and in panic. He had seen it before, despite not knowing what it meant. He had walked past it and didn't even know it. He was overcome with a realization that changed everything.

"Did you know a kid by the name of Hari Kian back in the Columbine Kingdom?" Simba asked once he collected himself enough to speak again, more abruptly than he would have liked. "He has golden hair and wore the blue of the former kingdom."

Kurona's eyes lingered on Simba as if her mind was trying to configure why he wanted to know. In the end, she just shook her head quietly. 

"No, no one by that name lived in the castle. Sorry, Sim."

Kurona then looked at him with a warm smile. Simba may be the son of his father, but the fact he was here asking her questions filled her with hope. And she knew where it would lead him.

"I'm happy an Adofo royal is seeking the truth," she said, running her fingers along the books again. "Lately, I've only been seeing shadows, unable to see the source of the light that cast them. To have you approach me like this gives me hope that your father's ways won't forever be the standard for our land. I gives me hope that the land can heal and you can find a way to cure a realm that has been diseased for centuries."

Simba nodded, unable to follow what she meant entirely in his distracted state. He felt like the gears in his head had finally started turning. 

"But to answer your question frankly, I don't know why your father is targeting you. He really does love you. He has told me time and time again how excited and proud he was to see you take the throne over the years, and he still cries over his wife. He even has nightmares of the day he lost her. He ruined a kingdom for your future, he committed atrocities so you would have a safer world to live in. He never talks to me about his strategies. He gets enough of that everyday- but he talks to me if he needs a shoulder to cry on. I know he has motivation behind everything. He would never abandon his love for you unless he had his hands tied in one way or another."

He stood, only able to look at the books, then back to the empty shelves. There was so much Simba didn't know about his father, and he now knew how much his father had to hide from him. Having a visual representation of how much he didn't know scared him. His father could be planning anything.

"I want you to have this," she said, taking off one of her boots and shaking out a golden piece of jewelry into her hand. She handed over a small locket, shaped like a heart, with a small dent in the side surrounded by some scratches. Along the surface was an inscription that read To Kay: The Key in fancy letters that swirled in loops. Simba tried to open it, but the dent kept it from opening.

"It belonged to the Columbine heir, given to him by his mother. I found it just before the invasion, and it is the only thing left of him before he was burned at the stake. Don't worry, metal cannot pass on the contagion."

She encloses his hand around it, holding his hands between hers.

"If you are getting to the bottom of the curse and what your father is planning, then you should take this. It may not be much, but it is all I can offer to help you on your journey against him. I hope it helps bring my kingdom some healing."

Simba watched as she fought back tears. She must have held onto this locket for so long for a reason. It seemed so useless, but the inscription offered a clue to what the Columbines were planning with their cure. Where it would lead him he wasn't entirely certain, but he knew it was a step ahead of his father.

"Thank you for your time, Kurona," Simba said, kissing her hand as he backed away to leave. "I'll do everything to make this world better for you and our people; I promise. You mustn't tell my father we had this talk."

Kurona put her finger against her lips in response. Simba nodded as he pivoted to run out of the library, his steel toed boots tapping loudly against the floor as he did so.

As he ran, he remembered the carriage back in Hari's forest. It once reared the same brilliant blue as that from Kurona's neck, washed away over time. There was a small part of the left wing of the Columbine emblem still visible on the old rags that matched the shape of Kurona's tattoo. Only now could he recognize it.

He remembered the boy's shirt from that day too. He remembered it had a faded shape on it's chest, lost over time but recognizable only with the original image to compare. Hari was from the former Columbine Kingdom; it couldn't be a coincidence. He must have used make-up to conceal his bird tattoo as well. Perhaps he was from the inner council or a castle slave, or maybe just a citizen. But why? What was his father's interest in this diseased boy living in the middle of nowhere who was once part of a Kingdom long lost? Hari's disease and loyalty were concealed in a forest, and any afflicted wretch in the dungeon would work well to fulfill Kasim's plans to afflict him. He looked down at his palm, the locket shining in the red light as he passed under the beams cast from the window. He didn't know, but Simba knew where to find the only boy he knew who did; and he had to get back to the forest before his father was able to get a hold of Hari.

Kurona looked as the boy ran out of the room. She wished he could tell him the truth. But it was like she knew: in the state he was in now, he could not handle the truth even if she told him directly. It was as if the boy had been chained in a cave for years. If he were to look directly at the sun, It would be too painful to take in. He would be blinded. He would reject the truth. He would have to find the cure on his own in order to accept it. He would need to take in the truth in small flashes until he was able to withstand the brightness waiting for him. He had to go alone, but she could help him. And she knew just the man for the job.

She rode up her dress to reveal a set of pages strapped to her calf. Unfolding them, she followed along the sloppy notes that fumbled about in the outdated language of the Columbines. The pages were ripped from a book she was given as part of the council. She had kept them once it was clear the War would be lost. She was clever after all. Now that Simba had fallen into his father's trap, she knew he would escape the cave to see the world as it really was and discover the cure on his travels. But he might need help to unchain himself to slowly see the truth, and it was time to deliver the final piece of the puzzle to an old friend of hers.

"I'm sorry I lied, Sim." Kurona whispered as she turned to leave the Library.

"You can't know yet. You'll have to find the story missing from these shelves on your own. You'll have to read someone else's story before you write your own."