Chapter Thirty-four

Briar

I've heard that Ryo and the other guards have already arrived back now with the empty wagons and I've been taking apart tents and putting them away for the first time ever to help out with the preparations to leave the campsite. It's actually been a good distraction for me and I feel like I have closed the lid on that box again that was threatening to open up with the reminder of my past that I didn't think anyone knew of.

I have noticed that I have also picked up a shadow as well. One that has been following me allover and has been a silent watch guard of sorts for the last hour or so and now that I know the strange wolf is really a Fae male for real, I just don't know what to think about fussing him like I did before and my cheeks are tinged pink from my embarrassing though albeit ignorant behaviour I demonstrated before.

'Oh for the love of the Fae Gods!' Ruby mutters besides me, 'throw your Mate over there a bone or something, he looks utterly dejected that you're ignoring him and he's trying to be all cuddly and furry just for you, to give you some comfort!' She hisses loudly at me and my face heats up even more at her words as the others who're working around us have heard some of the words she's said and they're giggling and glancing between me and my new shadow.

I bite my lip and look over at him and my heart relents at the sight of those soulful puppy dog eyes that are watching me. I kneel down and hold my hand out to him in a mixture of acceptance and forgiveness to the strange but gorgeous green-gold wolf before me, who springs up from the floor and runs over eagerly to butt his head against my hand again for me to fuss and he wags his tail in happiness over me finally giving in and petting him.

'I don't know if this is weird or not,' I say to Ruby, who just shrugs thoughtfully about what I said as she looks us both over.

'Well,' she says, 'I think it doesn't matter what form you're in, everyone loves to be touched by the one they love and love comes in many forms, so I wouldn't overthink it if I was you,' Ruby tells me and I cock my head to the side and listen to what else she has to impart to me as well.

'I'm sure that by remaining that way, your Mate is trying to offer you some comfort in a physical form that you would find relaxation in. One, that you couldn't get with his actual Fae body that you might see as confrontational and possibly fill you with all sorts of anxiety and so he's come to you in this body to show his support albeit silently and his love to you without pressuring you to say anything at all,' Ruby tells me.

'That was rather insightful,' I say after a moment to Ruby, 'thank you for being there for me all the time as well,' I say to her and I reach out to take her hand in my free one and I squeeze it gently.

'Well you've been there for me too,' Ruby coughs quietly and returns the gesture of physical contact back to me by squeezing my hand this time. 'Besides,' Ruby says as she stoops down to the wolf's line of eyesight, 'I've always been a sucker for an underdog kind of thing,' and as Ruby says that, the wolf Adrian, rolls over onto his back with his four legs kicking up into air playfully whilst exposing his stomach to us and I copy his favourite move and roll my eyes back at him for once at his playful demeanour.

'Alright, alright,' I say giving into him and scratching his tummy, 'I forgive you,' I say loudly and the wolf yips happily and rolls back over to lay on his stomach and has his tail thumping happily against the ground, kicking up some dust as well.

'See what I mean about an underdog?' Ruby says to me, her elbow nudging into my side for emphasis and I turn to look at her, my head tilted to the side again.

'What do you mean?' I ask her and wait for her reply.

'An underdog is hard to resist loving,' Ruby remarks, bumping playfully into my shoulder, causing us both to laugh out loud and my mysterious new furry companion to run around in circles and happily wagging his tail at us.

'Girls?' Mistress Garnet calls out to us and we look over to where she's standing at, 'they want us in the carriage ready to move out soon,' she yells and I, Ruby and our new companion run over to Mistress Garnet and follow her back to our conveyance with some new company joining us on the final leg of our journey.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Ryo

I watch Briar and the new arrival Adrian interact as I lean against the side of the wagon and rest a moment before I too, start pitching in with the work still left to do around here and I say out loud what's playing on my mind. 'Do you think that's the last of us to turn up?' I muse to Ashton and he snorts in amusement at me as he too pauses in his work to look over at Briar fussing over the adorable fur ball that will be tough competition in the future I see.

'I hope so,' he replies drily back to me and then carries on working. Lucas who is also working near by us, hears my question and then ducks his head away worryingly so and continues to carries boxes that are packed to load already in the wagon behind me and I frown at his behaviour and think over the words I just said aloud.

'I'm sorry Lucas,' I apologise to him, 'I didn't mean anything by that, it's just our number seems to keep growing all the time and there's still only one Briar against all of us and I'm sure it's going to be overwhelming for her when she actually starts to process what this all actually means for her- physically and mentally,' I reveal my worries out loud to him but that still doesn't seem to put him at much ease though either I can see.

'I'm sure eventually we will all be in sync...,' I try again and trail off as I see that what I have said next hasn't hit the mark either at whatever topic Lucas is preoccupied with.

'What's the matter Lucas?' I perceptively ask softly, watching a slight flinch in his body betray him and he whips his head back up to look at me.

'It's probably nothing,' Lucas says and picks up another box besides us and tries to leave but I place a hand on top of it to stop him from leaving.

'What's probably nothing?' I ask him with an eyebrow arched up at him, Ashton also stops what he's doing as well to listen to us with avid interest.

'It's probably nothing,' he repeats defensively and I arch an eyebrow again at him and then fold my arms over my chest and simply stare at Lucas to elaborate more about 'probably nothing'.

'You repeated yourself twice now,' Ashton helpfully supplies, 'so it probably means something,' he points out to Lucas.

Lucas's gaze switches back and forth between myself and Ashton and he visibly wilts at what he sees there in us, 'If it's something to do with our Mate Briar, we need to know so we can help if needed,' Ashton plays his hand well at getting Lucas to open up to us two and I hide my grin from appearing on my face.

'It's just,' Lucas begins to say and buys himself time from answering as he stows away the box he was holding and then looks at us and wrings his hands together to get his thoughts in order before he starts to speak to us, 'it just,' Lucas repeats himself, 'that I always worried about one Fae,' he starts telling us.

'This one Fae that worked in the kitchens as a chef and he just seemed awfully interested in Briar at the time...,' Lucas trails off saying and my body stills imperceptibly and Ashton knowing me, notices my reaction to the news.

'It's not possible right?' Lucas asks, 'Since there's all of us already...,' Lucas gazes and points to us two and the absent Raine and the newly acquired Adrian as well in that gesture, 'but you see he was travelling with us as a part of Lord Ashton's new retinue as well. Just like myself and my Grandfather,' Lucas shares that knowledge with us and I start to look around to see if I can spy any new faces about and maybe go introduce myself to them privately....

Noticing that I'm looking around, Lucas tells me, 'He's been sent ahead with my Grandfather as well,' Lucas helpfully supplies us with that information as well and he finishes looking expectantly at the both of us to figure something out about it.

Ashton starts after a moment of remembering, 'He was a late addition as well, like you Lucas,' he says slowly.

'Did the chef give a reason to why he wanted to go with you?' I ask Ashton and he looks uncomfortable about something he knows or doesn't know for this question.

'He didn't particularly,' Ashton admits, 'he said he just didn't like the atmosphere in the kitchens and was willing to start again somewhere else, even if it was from the bottom rung of the ladder than rather staying where he was and it doing him no good,' Ashton tells me.

He continues to think a moment more and he just shrugs his shoulders at us both and continues to explain, 'As I recall, he was a very talented chef, the food I ate at those parties I had to attend was just sublime and I couldn't think of a good enough reason to turn him down without attracting suspicion when he approached me about it as I was in a hurry to get going on that night in question,' Ashton points out to me and I grunt in response to him, my mind was trying to tell me something that I wasn't particularly liking here at all.

'I snap my fingers and point at Lucas, 'If you're thinking this particular Fae male in question had a similar motivation like you to join Ashton's travelling retinue, then how?' I ask Lucas, who isn't following me, 'How did you, the both of you know, that Briar was leaving that night? You all came to Ashton at the last minute to ask to leave with him like he's just pointed out now?' And when I asked that one critical question, other questions started to pile up right behind that one, writing themselves in bright lights across my mind.

'I learned about Briar leaving because of my Grandfather finding out,' Lucas reveals, 'he was attending to the injured King in his suite that night and my Grandfather had stepped away for a moment to place an order to the kitchens. He wanted to ask for a nutritious but light meal to be readied for the King to try to eat as he knew that would help give the King's body some energy to heal with,' Lucas begins to explain to us.

'As my Grandfather stepped out of sight, he heard voices on the other side of the wall, the other menders or so he at first presumed but it could have been anyone there really. As my Grandfather pressed a hand to the stone to signal he wished to place an order to the kitchens, he heard someone come running up saying they had an urgent message to deliver to the Lord standing there, whoever that was,' Lucas recounts to us.

'The messenger continued to deliver the intelligence and told the people waiting in the corridor that the assignment they had been given to watch and her associates as well, were all acting strangely and upon further investigation into the cause of it, the messenger had learned that they were all going to flee that night. They then had tried to locate their assignment but could not find Briar anywhere in the castle as she had disappeared already,' Lucas continues to recount more to us still.

'After hearing all of that, my Grandfather left as soon as he felt it was safe to do so after the others in corridor had cursed at the messenger and left with them. My Grandfather came to tell me and then sent me out to look for a Lord Ashton of the Summer lands that he heard mentioned about in the message as well and my Grandfather went about packing our belongings quickly for us to leave as well. Luckily,' Lucas recounts, 'most of our important items get put in the trunks at the bottom of our beds to save space,' Lucas finishes telling us everything and peers at us closely to see our reaction of hearing about this story for the first time.

Ashton looks at me with his lips pursed thoughtfully for a moment, 'Maybe the chef had overheard the 'message' as well through the stone message system that Lucas's Grandfather was using at the time,' he supposes to us, 'and Briar at the time must have already been on her way to get Raine out of the dungeons and of course no one would think to look for someone they are tracking down there of course...,' he says to me, 'but why did they need to keep a track of Briar and her friends movements?' Ashton points out the obvious with a knowing look.

I grimaced and replied, smashing my fist into the side of the wagon and cursing loudly, the wood splintering loudly with just that light tap, 'Because whoever 'they' are, more than likely suspected Briar of being magical or maybe the three of them all together of being magic users or at least in cahoots over Briar being a magic user and now I'm also thinking that they didn't want Raine at all during this attack on our camp,' I tell the both of them my sneaking suspicions.

'Adrian had told us of the strange behaviour of the group that he was observing that had been sent after us but he pointed out the group was just hanging back and monitoring us. We all just presumed at the time that they had wanted Raine and not someone else entirely,' I curse loudly again and Lucas and Ashton all start to look around the place we were in with worried looks now.

'Last night they must have seen an opportunity to grab their target,' Ashton guesses and I nod, Briar was with Hunter and nearly everyone in the campsite apart from those on night duty had gone to sleep, even I had done as well as Raine. The group had been watching for the known powerhouses or wild cards of our group to let their guard down as they slept. They had been observing us all and struck when we were at our weakest, my fingers curled up into a fist now.

'We're safe for the moment I think,' I finally say to reassure them both, 'and soon we'll be beyond anyone's reach,' I say, still trying to ease their worry and my own mounting case of them, 'let's just get a move on and get out of here before anyone realises the attempt has failed,' I say to the both of them and Ashton and Lucas both nod at me to comply and they rush off to get things done.

I turn to the pile of stuff that needing to be loaded up and I start throwing it in, it can get sorted out later on I decide. Once we were on the road again and at the base of mountains, we would be gone and beyond the reach of whoever wanted our Briar. They would find it next to impossible afterwards get to her, I would ensure of that myself I thought as I gritted my teeth and kept stowing the stuff away.

Chapter Thirty-six

Briar

We're all going at rather a faster pace I felt than we usually had done during this entire journey and I glance at Mistress Garnet who also has a thoughtful and puzzled look upon her face as well, she's probably thinking along the same lines as I was here.

I could see that Mistress Garnet was observing the tense faces of the riders that were around us, who seem to be almost escorting the carriage we were in, to wherever we were heading to next and the atmosphere outside just seemed really tensed to us.

We were still on our own in here and we only had ourselves to ask the questions about what was going on right now as Lord Ashton had decided to not join us again as we traveled in here and the only other Fae male that was currently with us was in his wolf form and he would probably know about as much as we did at the moment.

The carriage was driven tightly around a corner and we slid along the benches as it did so. The view out of the windows opened up suddenly now to a craggy granite mountain side and the dense trees I had grown accustomed to as they had been a constant sight for the last few days for us, gave way in the sheer face of their extreme opposition. Mistress Garnet, Ruby and I peered out of the windows closest to us to see the change in scenery better and then Ruby suddenly points to something she noticed first in the distance before anyone else did.

'Look at those enormous things!' Ruby points out to these huge square boxes made of a blonde wood of sorts that stand out from the surroundings clearly.

'Maybe they're houses of some sort?' Mistress Garnet says sounding dubious about that and she points to something, 'look they have windows,' and true enough glass is placed at certain points along each of them to view the outside world with but what didn't make sense to us, was how they were all placed haphazardly around the area. Normally people built their homes in an orderly fashion of sorts for better access I thought as I pressed my face up against the glass to see it all better.

'They have funny roofs on as well,' I say pointing out the funny raised beam of sorts built away from the top of the structures for the others to see as well.

'Well anyway,' Mistress Garnet says putting the strange structures aside, 'I think we've arrived at wherever we were heading to,' Mistress Garnet comments as she notices everyone else is slowing down and pulling up now at these strange buildings.

Our carriage was slowing down as well to a stop but before it did, someone had hopped off a horse ahead of us and was at the side of one the buildings, fiddling with something and suddenly the side opened up into two huge doors and to our surprise the carriage kept being driven forward smoothly inside what was indeed an empty box of sorts, before it came to a complete stop.

'What's the meaning of all this I wonder?' Ruby asks while we're all stunned and looking about our new indoor surroundings now.

One of the carriage doors opens up now and it's one of our many mysterious drivers standing there and looking at us all before he speaks, he seems to be of a young age looking at him but on a Fae that's still a rather deceptive subject. 'If you would please exit now ladies and follow me, we're now continuing the journey on a different form of transportation,' he informs us and we bat our eyes at him in confusion.

'The carriage is getting stowed away for transportation and the horses are being taken to the stalls in another transport for their own safety,' he explains further, 'and there is a specially made accommodation for us on another transport if you will please follow myself right to it,' he says and then steps aside for us to leave. Mistress Garnet, Ruby and I, look to each other to make a decision here as we all find this very strange.

'What about our things?' Ruby asks the driver and he replies immediately to her to assuage any concerns about that topic there.

'They'll be coming with, but staying here in this transport then sent later on to where you're staying, when that has been determined,' he supplies the answer with no problem.

'Well, I guess then we'll go and explore the new transport we're going to be travelling in then, shall we girls,' Mistress Garnet asks us and we nod, 'Adrian was it again? Shall we?' Mistress Garnet asks the Fae wolf shifter and Adrian yips and jumps up out of the carriage before us, tail held high in exploration leading the way for us to follow outside of the empty box room we're currently in.

It was true what the driver had said about the horses, they were being led away to another opened up house now with all the soldier's horses going in too and the inside was designed differently with actual stalls and half doors to close in on the horses to keep them put as much as possible during transport.

There was even soldiers in here with us, securing the wheels of the carriage and the other wagons that had been driven inside too, to anchorage spots built into the floor to keep all the vehicles in place for the reason of restricted movement.

Following our guide now, it was a short walk to another box, where it was also getting filled up with the remaining people travelling with us and there was benches inside there, secured to the floors following all the way around the room and built under the windows as well so people could look out at the view if they so wanted too.

'So how are we travelling in a house of sorts?' Ruby asks us as she peers utterly clueless inside and outside of the box, as our guide leaves us now and is walking inside with no problem about it at all to claim an available seat in there.

'That's easy,' a familiar voice calls out and it's Prince Raine with Lord Ashton joining us.

'Ryo went ahead to get them and if you wait a moment or two, you'll see how we'll be travelling,' Lord Ashton informs us and I look around to see the other houses are being closed up now and those people that were doing the final checks, are coming to join us as well, when a very strong gust of wind is suddenly battering us and it almost pushes us into the ground, being accompanied by loud guttural growls and shrieks which pierce the hearing as well.

'Ah, I always forget if you're not used to them, it can be quite frightening at first,' yells Prince Raine as Mistress Garnet, Ruby and I cover our ears and are momentarily blinded by our hair blowing into our faces.

Adrian in his wolf form, has flattened himself to the ground
and leaning into me quite heavily as well, is whining painfully. I drop my hands and kneel down to cover his much more sensitive ears for him and suddenly the onslaught of wind has stopped and is now accompanied by the sound of heavy thumps hitting the ground all around us. I look up to see what the sound was but I can't see a thing to explain it at all but suddenly my eyes catch sight of a shimmering in the air and then I see we are surrounded by the most surreal of sights.

'Are those dragons?' Ruby asks and gawks in astonishment at them all, they were all different shapes, sizes and colours and a part from one, that was the biggest of them all, they each had a rider strapped to them.

'Yes,' Lord Ashton replies and they will be carrying us and all our gear as well in those transport containers,' Lord Ashton informs us, 'you see the beam of wood placed on top?' He points out to us the weird construction that had caught my eye from before and we all nod, transfixed in awe of the sight still before us.

'That's the handle for the dragons to carry in their claws and lift the containers up and away with whatever is in them,' Lord Ashton finishes the simple explanation to us.

'Really?' Ruby asks in utter astonishment.

'Yes,' Prince Raine replies and points with his hand as one of the dragons and their rider, flaps their wings, does a half push-jump off the ground to land on top of the house or box, well whatever it's called- transport. Then they hopped onto the thick beam, which is now a perch obviously and the dragon's claws grip firmly around it and start to beat their broad wings to generate enough power to lift away from the ground with the container in their grip.

'That's truly amazing,' Mistress Garnet says as she shields her eyes to watch another member of the group do the same thing over again.

'Yes, it is a rather unique way to travel,' Lord Ashton admits with a beaming smile as he watches the sight as well. 'Now if we can all hurry inside this open one here, we can all finally set off,' Lord Ashton indicates with his hand towards the one container behind us that people are rushing into to grab a seat quickly.

'What about the big one?' I point out to the dragon without a rider. 'It doesn't have a rider with it? Is it a wild one?' I ask in interest as I examine it and crane my neck up to see it all, towering well above us. It's white scales are glinting in the sunlight for a moment as it shifts under my attention as if to show off.

I heard a choked sound coming from behind me and I look back over my shoulder to see a look of amusement on Prince Raine's and Lord Ashton's faces. 'No, that one doesn't need a rider,' Lord Ashton carefully explains to me.

'I also don't think anyone would be brave enough to try,' Prince Raine adds and Lord Ashton elbows him in the side.

I shake my head at their strangeness and look once more at the magnificent creature before me, it's eyes that are watching me, belies a great intelligence behind them. 'That's too bad, they'll never know that they're missing out on something incredible I bet,' I say that more to the dragon than the Prince and Lord standing behind me. The dragon cants it's giant head to the side and sends a plume of shifting smoke over the area as it still watches me with that assessing intellect it obviously has.

'I think that's our signal to go,' Lord Ashton announces and begins to herd us, with his arms outstretched towards the closing doors of the last box.

'Where's Ryo?' I ask as I scan over as much of the group as I can see but I don't see his distinctive pale hair amongst this group of people and I look towards the doors that are being closed and secured on the inside in a hurry by those that need to grab a seat as well.

'Ryo's taking care of something important to him by doing it himself right now and making sure he's protecting it with everything he's got,' Prince Raine tells me and a part of me hopes Ryo will be ok and worries over the considerate Fae's safety as well.

'He'll be ok,' Prince Raine says to me soothingly to reassure me as he, himself, gently but quickly steers me to the remaining few seats left to be had and makes sure that I, Mistress Garnet and Ruby are situated safely before he turns quickly away and takes a seat further down.

When we had all sat down, we felt the box shake around us as a dragon hops up on top and we copy everyone else's actions and grabbed onto the hand pulls attached to the wall besides as we begin to feel a queer sensation of weightlessness and our stomachs dropping away from us as we all tried to brace our feet against the floor.

Adrian, still in his wolf form, was scrabbling around for purchase on the smooth floor as the box swayed one way then the other. 'Don't worry,' Prince Raine calls out from further away, 'once we're lifted past the mountain top it will be a smooth ride as the dragons level out then,' he explains to us who are new to the experience but poor Adrian is still sliding away from me, his wolf eyes rounded with worry. He's going to slam into the other side of the container and then get tossed back the other way and I know he's going to get seriously hurt like this I think to myself as he moves further away from me still.

I make a split second decision and let go of my hold to grab onto and I pull Adrian back towards me with both arms to cage him in to stop him from sliding away further and possibly hurting himself. But because I did that, I slid off the bench as well and sat on the floor and as the container tipped rather steeply to the opposite side, I and Adrian both, started to slowly slide away together instead.

A strong arm wraps round from behind me and grabs my waist protectively and hauls me back along the floor. I'm made to sit with my back pressed against someone's warm chest and wedged between a pair of long muscular legs bracing themselves now from sliding along the floor as well.

I turn my head to the side and look over my shoulder to find out who's caught me and by doing so they've indirectly saved Adrian too and I see it's Lord Ashton sitting on the floor with us, one long arm held above his head, still holding onto the rope pull and his other arm encircling my waist and keeping me from being tossed about the room.

His body heat is seeping in through my clothes and a spicy, warm scent that is enticing, embraces my senses as well as his body and heat does. He then leans his head down to speak in my ear instead of shouting over the noise to be heard. 'It won't be long,' he says, 'so stay right there, I got you both I promise,' Lord Ashton says protectively to me and I look up at his arm that is holding the rope pull and see that it's flexing hard, taking the brunt of the strain of holding us all in place.

I just stay put and don't struggle against his hold and Lord Ashton leans to talk again in my ear, for me to hear only, 'Good girl,' he whispers to me, his warm breath caressing my ear and my face flames up because of him and he sees my reaction to him and he chuckles to himself, quietly pleased about something.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Briar

Soon enough, we can all walk carefully about the room now, just as we were told by Prince Raine and the flying has levelled out and is now steady. So now I'm looking out of one of the big viewing windows facing the direction we are flying in, whilst everyone else who we've travelled with is relaxing about the room and talking amongst themselves.

If this is the only time as I live and breathe that I see the world unfold in this spectacular way below in this panorama then I want to remember every single detail to make it last the rest of my days.

My fingers curl up touching against the cold glass and it seems the only people to remain quiet and hover near the windows are myself, Ruby, Mistress Garnet, and Lucas too who had joined us as well to take in the sights.

Everyone else here acts like this isn't so unusual and is a daily occurrence or something for them, which I find hard to believe in at all. Even Adrian in his wolf form is standing up on his hind legs, front paws resting on the window sill to also peer out the window with us in interest.

I take it all in, I see small lakes and big bodies of water reflecting the light that touches their surface back up to us to see it sparkle. I also see winding and shining rivers snake across the land below in great serpentine curves, while the land itself is a patchwork blanket of farmlands in some places, great swathes of dark green woods in others and signs of small and big settlements dotted about like children's toys on the floor. But the best bit for us is the sky as I take it all in.

Oh the sky! I think as I'm entranced. It goes on forever and ever as I drink my fill of it, I never thought I would ever see the sky in this way. The sky was something I thought was always out of reach for me, a place of freedom that I stared at but I could never attain.

Even though I may have lost my slave brand, this right here makes me feel truly free even if it's just for this moment, this is my own piece of time that will be encapsulated in my memories just for myself. A moment that no one can ever take away from me.

'It's really a wondrous sight? Don't you think?' Hunter asks as he joins our side, with Lord Ashton and Prince Raine following closely behind him.

I look at him and nod, 'Yes it is,' I agree with him wholeheartedly.

Ruby looks away from the window to point at the land below that we're flying over and she asks Hunter, 'Where is here exactly?' The curiosity clear in her features that she's dying to find out.

'Ah,' Hunter says, looking strangely at us all for a moment, 'I guess no one told you where we were going out of secrecy all this time but let me reveal that knowledge to you now,' he says with an elaborate flourish to us all. 'Welcome to the Land of all Seasons,' he announces to us and we just look at each other not really understanding him.

'What Hunter means to say,' Prince Raine says stepping into save Hunter here in this moment, 'is this is the beginning of the territory that the Emperor maintains himself, whilst ruling over all of the other kingdoms and territories from a distant overseer point of view, depending on the ruling class in each of the territories from further away to maintain order but they may not always follow their Emperor's way of doing things though,' Prince Raine says the last part in a chagrin kind of way and winces. He's probably now remembering his visit at the Winter Court.

'The Emperor is known to welcome everyone from everywhere in this big world, as long as they have good intentions,' he continues to tells us after that pause and he's got all of our attention fully trained upon him now.

'What that really means is that everyone who makes it here, is given a fair chance in this territory and their circumstances are heard out. No one is judged or imprisoned because of who they were born as or perceived as without being given a fair chance first. Full Faes, half Faes, human, slaves and the banished walk side by side in this territory and all are welcomed here and given a second chance,' Prince Raine finishes telling us all and Hunter nods his agreement as well about what Prince Raine has just summarised for us.

'That sounds like some kind of wonderful, impressive fairytale right there,' Mistress Garnet points out, the one person to always keep a level head about such things and Lord Ashton speaks up next.

'Sadly, as you know, nothing in this world is perfect but this place is at least more tolerant than the rest out there in the world and the Emperor keeps endeavouring to make progress and build inroads to influence changes for the better in the other territories that he hopes will take hold if he just keeps trying hard enough,' Lord Ashton explains to us and Mistress Garnet looks out of the glass again and down at the world below with a new perspective forming in her eyes.

'So no one has to hide who they are and they can live how they want, in a moderate kind of sense that is,' Mistress Garnet adds, 'the law is the law for a reason of course, to stop others from impinging on another's freedom,' she says, 'and you're accepted by people in general no matter what you are?' She asks out of her own interest to know about it.

'Yes,' Lord Ashton answers and nods to her.

'Then that sounds like a truly wonderful place to start a new life in then,' Mistress Garnet declares her own opinion on it.

'It truly is a changed place, compared to what it used to be like with the old Emperor ruling. The current Emperor is advocating for the other territories to try and change to a better way of understanding and fairness, something different from what you may have experienced yourselves,' Hunter says agreeably and continues to speak to us.

'I, myself, was one of the many rescues that happens from time to time when the Emperor sends his teams of people out to investigate what the other kingdoms are doing behind his back, just like this team here,' Hunter points to the rest of people here with us, 'and one such team at the time, saw my mistreatment and made the decision to rescue me from those circumstances. They brought me here afterwards to do anything I wanted to do then because I made free to do just that,' Hunter says revealing some of his own personal circumstances in his past to us.

'Now don't get me wrong here, nowhere is absolutely perfect in this world and you still have to put out a lot of effort to earn your place in it, but at least here in this place, you are allowed a chance to do it,' Hunter finishes with that.

'It sounds like a good place,' Ruby murmurs aloud looking back down again at the world below.

'If you look down now, the Emperor's capital is coming into view right now,' Hunter acts like a guide and points out to us the huge sprawling man made or Fae made mark placed upon the land with too many buildings and roads to number, sprawled out down below.

'Is that where we're going?' Lucas asks Hunter, speaking up for the first time since we entered this contraption.

'Yep, that's right,' Hunter replies and the box floor beneath our feet feels like it's beginning to drop now and we all go wobbly on our legs, finding it hard to stand still. Hunter then adds for us all to hear then at that moment, 'We're going to be landing at the Emperor's palace because we're all staying there,' he reveals suddenly to us, like it's not a big deal at all and we're all taken aback at finding this information out in such a casual manner.

But times run out for us to ask more about it, it seems as we're prevented because Prince Raine has turned around and is facing the crowd to gain their attention.

'Alright everyone,' Prince Raine calls loudly out to all us in here, 'prepare for landing soon, find your seat and stay there,' he gives out the warning to us all and then he turns to us and ushers us all to the nearest bench seats again.

Lord Ashton claims my hand, and he looks at Adrian too and asks him in invitation, 'Are you coming along as well?' Adrian jumps down and pads along besides Lord Ashton and myself. Lord Ashton sits down on the floor first next to the bench and makes himself comfortable, one extended arm holding the rope handle and the other free hand pats the space between his legs again for me to sit in between them. When I slowly do with a blush colouring my cheeks at this shared intimacy, Lord Ashton secures me with one of his arms again with a smile just for me on his pleased face. Adrian then sits and turns around to face outwards in front of me and wedges his furry body between my legs and I then wrap my arms around him when he's settled to hold him in place as well.

The flight soon becomes bumpy again and we all felt the slow descent downwards towards the ground from the very soles of our feet all the way up to our rattling teeth. I had so many questions right now again but I could not speak a one as I didn't want to bite my own tongue off by accident and so I held back on them all for now.