Galileo's eyes popped open. She'd slept like the dead and now morning light flooded the room. She sighed and rolled from her bed, dressed and pulled on her hooded cloak. After taking the time to comb her hair, she wandered down the hall to Riker's room, carefully opening the door. A smile touched her lips as she stared into his room. It was never clean, he didn't seem to understand what tidying up meant. His boots lay in opposite corners of the room as if they couldn't stand to be near one another, his sheath was tossed on top of the dresser, while his sword was standing on its point in a corner. Clothes were strewn everywhere and Riker himself was sprawled across the cot in the corner, fast asleep.

She shook her head, wondering how he slept in such a position, it didn't look comfortable. His head hung off the side of the bed with his hair dangling, one leg was up with his foot propped against the wall while his other was curled up against his body. Her head tipped as she tried to figure out how he even got into that position. With a shake of her head, she made her way across the room, careful not to trip over anything as she made her way to the bed.

Riker didn't stir as she approached. When she stopped beside the bed she took a moment to study her best friend. They'd both grown up and she wondered, for a brief second, why he stayed with her. He could have found someone, settled down and had a passel of kids. Yet, here they were, same place, same routine. She prodded his shoulder and got nothing. Riker never woke easily. Ever. A grin appeared on her face, it was time to proceed with their morning routine. She hummed as she left the room, returning several minutes later with a bucket of water freshly fetched from the well. A bucket of lovely, ice cold water, which she tossed in his face.

Riker jumped up from the bed screaming like a banshee.

She stepped back, trying to avoid getting splashed by flying droplets of water as he stood on his cot shaking like a dog in the rain. After a few moments he calmed down, sent her a grin and stepped off the cot.

"Morning, Gal," he said as if she hadn't just dumped a bucket of water in his face.

"Morning, Riker." She turned and left the room as he started sifting through his things to find something to wear. She smiled as she left the house, walking across the clearing to where Shadow lay. His head lifted as she approached, when he spotted her, he jumped up, scampering across the space separating them like an oversized puppy.

Flower stood, stretched and came to join them with more dignity than Shadow showed, just as Riker appeared at her side.

"So, what's the plan for today, Queen of the Water Buckets?" Riker mumbled while rubbing his eyes.

"I guess Shadow and I will do a flyby of the castle, see what we can see. You are on food duty."

With a small shrug, he clamoured onto Flower's back and flew off.

She watched him go, turning to Shadow once Riker was out of sight. "How's my best boy doing this morning?"

The dragon grunted in return.

"That good, huh?" She chuckled when he gave her a gentle little shove with his head. He gave her a little smack across the back with his tail. "You are a sassy little dragon." She was a dragon rider and that meant she understood much of what the dragons said. It was a rare talent nowadays.

He snorted in indignation and tapped her with his tail again.

"Okay, fine, fine, a large, sassy dragon. Happy?"

He showed his satisfaction with a toothy dragon grin.

"All right, enough talk, let's go, we have work to do," she told him as she climbed onto his back. He took off, heading for the castle. They maintained a high altitude, looking down from above on their quarry. From below she knew they appeared as a dark, shadowed cloud hovering in the sky. The spell imbued in the ring around the dragon's horn kept them hidden from sight. The king outlawed magical beings of any kind, if the dragons were spotted they'd be killed. From their position above the castle she could see the activity in the courtyard and shook her head. They'd all heard about the runaway princess. The girl had everything, safety, a full plate of food each night, and yet she decided to take her pampered butt and run away.

"What an idiot," she muttered. "Come on, boy." They circled downward and landed in the forest.

Shadow snorted as she climbed down, his look disapproving.

"Shush, I'll be fine." She flipped up the hood on her cloak and headed for the nearby village. Her steps took her straight to the market, she and Riker knew many of the merchants personally. They knew their situations, who needed money the most, who needed supplies for their family more. With the bit of money she'd stolen the day before she purchased goods from those merchants she knew she could help with her purchases, bypassing the wealthier ones.

As she made her rounds through the market, she spotted the various wanted posters tacked up here and there, some she knew well, others were new.

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

Rayn Auro

1,000,000

She couldn't understand how a man could post a reward for his child and put dead or alive on it. She shook her head and bypassed the poster for the princess.

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

Merrigan Donoghue

for the use of magic, and aiding and abetting fugitives

20,000,000

There were other posters for sorcerers, some worth as much as the Donoghue woman, many of them worth much less. She wondered exactly what the girl had done to get that far on the king's bad side.

Her eyes picked out the ever familiar posters for her and Riker.

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

Galileo Aldaine

Dangerous

Wanted for thievery, assault, and crimes against the crown.

10,000,000

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

Riker Iona

Dangerous

Wanted for thievery, assault, and crimes against the crown

10,000,000

She chuckled as she passed the posters. "Good luck finding us, old man." It was sort of a sad thing to realize criminals were worth more to the king than his own daughter. The reward for her was lower than any other poster she spotted. It made it appear that the man could care less whether his daughter was returned to him or not.

Hours passed as she shopped, avoiding any run-ins with the guards while she did. She met up with Riker and they compared notes before finishing the shopping. Here and there people would stop them, offering a hug or handshake of thanks for their help. They completed the shopping and wandered back into the forest.

Galileo stopped and stared at the girl walking toward them through the trees. The girl appeared to be a handful of years older than they were and she was leading a freaking unicorn. She studied the girl with a frown, taking in her rumpled clothing spotted with dirt, despite the condition of her clothing Galileo knew high quality when she saw it. The dress was a deep golden color shot through with sparkling golden thread that shown in the sunlight. The girl's hair was a deep red-brown.

They moved toward the girl. The unicorn whinnied and the girl stopped walking, frowning at them. "Hello, I don't want any trouble. I'm just passing through."

"While we excel at finding trouble, we are not currently seeking it out, so we'd love it if you didn't cause any," Riker told her.

"I'm sorry, what?" the girl asked him.

He shrugged and rested his hand on the pommel of his sword.

Galileo watched him. She and Riker had known one another since they were small and though he was just about the goofiest guy she'd ever met, when it came to situations when he needed to be serious, he could be quite threatening. He was serious now, his eyes narrowed on the girl and her unicorn.

The girl didn't seem to understand what threatening meant. She remained silent as she stroked the unicorn's mane.

Galileo snorted and looked the girl up and down. "You are a long way from home, little princess and quite dirty as well. Having some difficulties?"

"Excuse me?" the girl snapped at her.

"I'm sure you heard me just fine," she retorted.

"I don't think I did."

"Ah, so you're also hard of hearing as well as stupid. Good to know." She shouted the last few words.

"Take that back!"

"I think you should take that whiny little—"

Riker slapped a hand onto her shoulder and sent her a glare. "All right, I think that's just about enough." The two girls stood there glaring at one another. "Great, so ... uh ... nice weather we're having, huh?" Neither girl responded, he scratched his head and looked from one to the other several times before he threw his hands in the air. "All right, fine, I give up, go ahead and murder one another for no reason at all." He turned and stomped away from them.

Galileo glanced at the unicorn. "That's a fancy horse," she muttered.

"She's a unicorn," the girl corrected her. "Her name is Bella."

She shrugged. "Whatever."

Riker returned with Flower stomping laong behind him.

The girl shrieked in terror when she spotted the dragon. In response to her owner's fear, the unicorn winnied in fright.

She grinned as she watched the two. If they feared Flower, they'd die when they saw Shadow.

"What is that thing?" the girl asked in a terrified voice.

Riker looked at her in confusion. "A dragon. How do you not know what a dragon is?"

"Dragons are illegal!"

"Uh, aren't unicorns illegal?" he asked.

The girl opened her mouth to reply, but froze as a shadow fell over them. Her head tipped back and her face paled when she spotted the giant black shadow circling overhead.

Galileo was truly enjoying the girl's look of terror as she backed away. Her foot hit a rock, she stumbled toward Riker, who stepped out of the way like all good men do when confronted with a damsel in distress and the girl fell smack into a pool of dirty water.

Galileo laughed again.

The girl slammed her fisted down causing water to spray up around her. "Stop laughing at me!" The unicorn bent her head, nudging her mistress with her snout.

Riker seemed to have realized he messed up by letting her fall and reached out a hand to help her up.

"Don't you touch me!" she screamed, droplets of water cascaded in little rivulets down her cheeks.

Shadow settled down beside Galileo eyeing the girl in the puddle. He made a small sound and Galileo looked at him and shrugged.

The girl muttered and cursed as pulled herself to her feet and stood there dripping.

They all spun around when they heard the sound of a twig snapping nearby.