I opened my eyes and looked around, my body was wrapped up in the blanket like a burrito, I just sighed in pleasure 'best sleep ever!' I thought before closing my eyes again "come on princess!" Screamed a deep voice and my eyes shot open to meet a pair of ocean blue eyes "ah!" I screamed while jumping up. "Oh I didn't mean to scare you, princess," Ao said while standing back up and flashing me a concerned look. "Oh i-it's fine," I said while placing my hands on my heart. "Well since your fine, can you meet me at the dining table, we have more to discuss," Ao said while leaving me behind.

I groaned, got up, and walked to the bathroom. When I got to the bathroom I immediately looked in the mirror and examined myself, I was completely healed -no cut or scrapes-. "No way" I mumbled to myself while doing my bathroom deeds. When I finished I washed my hands and walked out of the bathroom to meet the others at the dinner table, I noticed Ace looking at the book I was looking at yesterday, Celest was eating and Ao was sitting in the chair with his arms folded and his eyes closed. I cleared my throat loud enough to gather their attention but that was only for a split second before everyone resumed what they were doing -except for Ao- Ao stared at me and motion for me to sit down and that's exactly what I did- I took a seat right in front of Ao and looked him right in the eyes "so this bounded thing, what is it?" I immediately asked after sitting down, gaining everyone's attention. Ao just stared at me before opening his mouth to speak "being bounded is something like a mate, except it's more-" he sighed before continuing "more?" I asked impatiently "rarer and is only something you find in the Icepts species, but even among them it's rare." He stopped "uh you keep saying Icepts species, but what exactly are they?" I asked while leaning forward in my seat. The room fell silent upon my question then Ace began to speak up "the Icepts are a species of ice dragons, there the last KNOWN dragons of this land but there are very few" he said while looking up from the book "few? Like how many?" I asked as I prepared myself for the answer "mmmm there might be 2 more females and 3 more males" Ace said while tapping his chin and looking up, my mouth hung open 'a total of 5!' I yelled in my head. "As I was saying" interrupted Ao "being bounded is very serious, this man? He is able to appear in your dreams correct?" Ao asked and I just nodded "my knowledge of this subject is small but I do know that as your bond gets stronger he and you will start to be able to feel each other's emotions and read each other's thoughts" Ao finished 'read each other's thoughts' I said calmly in my head before piecing together what he meant "WHAT, MY THOUGHTS!" I screamed out loud and everyone jumped "oh I'm sorry," I said while apologizing, sitting back down and heating up with embarrassment. Ao looked at me and sighed "do you know how you got here?" He questioned, just when I was about to answer my past flashed into my mind and I came to a sudden realization 'I'm not from here, I have a little brother at home who's probably worried sick, I still had exams, what about my body, did they recover it?' I chewed on my nails while drowning in my thoughts "hello....helllllloooooo" a faint voice called before I heard a loud pop while snapping out of my thoughts I looked to see it was Celest, she had clapped her hands and was giving me a look of worry "was it him?" She asked with a spoon in her mouth and I just giggled "no ha, it wasn't" I said while petting her soft blond hair, her green eyes sparkled like my mother's and my heart squeezed in pain. "Are you ok?" Asked Ace while getting up, "yeah I'm fine, sorry I just remembered some bad things" I said while reassuring them and Ao cleared his throat "I'm sorry to push you but I need to know what happened before you got here" I just looked at Ao and began to tell him my story.

When I was finished Celest was in tears and Ace was comforting her. Ao's rabbit ears were flopped down on each side of his head "I'm sorry" he mumbled. "Don't worry I'm really strong!" I said while holding up both of my arms to show off muscle, I earned a laugh from Celest and a smile from Ao. "By the way, is there no such thing as a human here?" I asked while putting down my arms "human?" Ao, Celest and Ace said in sync while raising an eyebrow "what is this human you speak of?" Ace said while sitting up "uhh a human is a person that looks like me, you and Celest b-" I was interrupted by Celest "woooah, so they're also mice like me and Ace" she questioned, her bright eyes sparkling. "Uhh mice?" I questioned while looking around "I don't see any" I said while looking at Ao who was laughing in his seat "silly we're right here" Celest said while motioning Ace to go over to her. They stood next to each other and out came two big, round ears, gray on Celest and black on Ace. They also had pink furless tails, 'why am I not surprised' I thought to myself before standing up and walking out "are you ok Nika?" Asked Celest, when I turned around Celest cocked her head to the side. "Yeah I'm fine, just sleepy," I said while yawning "oh ok, well then I'll call you when dinner is ready," Celest said while skipping off into the kitchen. "Well I'm going to go take a nap," I said while walking out of the dining room and into my little sleeping area, I laid on the pullout couch and wrapped myself in the blanket before going to sleep.

"We meet again," a voice said and I turned around, "you knew didn't you?"  I said while crossing my arms and tapping my foot "whatever do you mean?" The man said while holding up his hands as if he was confused himself "you knew who I was, you knew we wer-" I paused and heated up "bound to each other" he finished for me. "Yes!" I shouted -because of my embarrassment- "no need to shout, princess" he mocked "yeah yeah whatever, anyway I still don't know your name"  I said while looking at the man who just stared at me "you'll find out in due time but for now you need to focus on your origins" he smirked at me "and I'm supposed to do that how?" I said sarcastically "the book" he responded. "Does he mean the book that Ace was reading, well it does seem informational, maybe I'll ask to borrow it and read it" I thought to myself "if that rat boy is named Ace then yes the book he had" the man said while staring at me " no way did y-" I paused "no, I didn't read your mind, we aren't even officially bounded yet" he laughed at my ignorance "then how di-" I was cut off "you said it out loud" he said now laughing harder. I grew hot with embarrassment and turned my back "awe come on don't be so mad princess" he said in a mocking tone "oh whatever you...Icept" I hissed back and he stopped laughing, I turned around and met his icy eyes. "You aren't any different, now are you, Princess, ~" he smirked before disappearing.