The hooves of the horses pound on the stone path as they pull the carriage at a fast pace. In the carriage Queen Nalani daydreams as her head leans back onto something hard and uncomfortable but she doesn't notice for she is not in the carriage, but somewhere deep in her thoughts, the only escape she has from reality. She ignores Vivianne, Hestia and Kali while they talk about Rowan.

"Rowan is a warrior now Mother," Hestia says, with a small smile on her face as she turns to Vivianne, "are you proud?"

Vivianne matches her daughter's smile and replies, "I am proud of my nephew, he has done well in his training in Bastian City and I am also proud of you Hestia and of course Nalani, our fine young queen," Vivianne smiles before stretching her hand to hold Nalani's, clasping it in support, "the people of Rolanth see our joint power, they support our queen and her journey to the crown."

Hestia smiles before talking, "It is a journey Lani will succeed and she will bring power and glory to the elementals and finally diminish some of the poisoner Arrons power."

There is an unusual bitter tone in Hestia's usually happy voice as she speaks about the Arrons, who are forever power hungry and are as slippery as snakes. Everyone loathes them.

As before Queen Halia's war reign, there were was a poisoned dynasty with so many queens: Queen Nicola, Queen Sylvia, Queen Camille, Katharine the Undead and Queen Arsinoe the White Handed.

All those generations of queens made the Arrons too strong and made them particularly vengeful when their reign was ended by Queen Halia, the first war queen in generations.

Their rage was unfathomable - their power ripped from them like a plant from its roots. And the Arrons roots run deep but they have since been uprooted by the Murtras. The Arrons from Prynn and the Murtras from Bastian have had a rivalry ever since then. The war gifted take pride in being the ones to take the poisoners power.

Though the rest of the island hate the Arrons anyway. And the biggest rivalry between families is now the Radurons and the Arrons. Shadows and snakes, two sides of the same monstrous coin.

Vivianne rarely talks about Queen Halia but no elementals particularly do as her reign has ended and she was a war queen; after she had recovered from the triplets birth she departed the island with her king consort as all queens do. The Goddess had sent the three new queens and thus the old queen's role was over. No one knows what happens to the queens who go to the mainland, perhaps they live a peaceful happy life. Perhaps.

Nalani smiles at Hestia and takes her hand with her free one, clasping it tightly, she is grateful for true friends at this time. As much as she appears confident, she doesn't want to face Carina and Arwen alone.

"Thank you Hestia," Nalani says, with love in her eyes, "you are a true friend, same to you Kali."

Kali, who is sitting in the corner quietly lets out a small smile at Nalani's kind words and blushes.

"Thank you Lani," Kali says quietly, "even though I am a maid you have always treated me as your equal."

Nalani laughs, a happy free laugh as she replies, "You were never just my maid Kali, you and Hestia have always been my friends and Vivianne has raised me well" She pauses taking time to smile at Vivianne, Hestia and Kali. Her family.

"So Hestia, how does it feel finally being courted by Henri Renard?" Nalani asks, a smile on her face as Hestia's face turns a deep shade of red.

"Lani, he's not courting me," she says, not bothering to suppress the smile that has appeared on her face, "we are just having a bit of fun is all."

Kali laughs and shares a knowing look with Nalani as they both start chuckle. Vivianne's smile drops instantly at the mention of the poisoner boy with Arron blood as she purses her lips in disapproval,

"Hestia, I hope you aren't doing anything inappropriate with a poisoner," Vivianne questions, her voice dangerously low in a warning tone, "fooling around with a poisoner, especially one with Arron blood is foolish Hestia, especially so close to the Ascension. They are not to be trusted.

Hestia sighs and rolls her eyes, though she knows that her mother will not give up interrogating her until she is satisfied.

"He is different to the other Arrons, he is kind and besides Mother, it is just fun, nothing serious," she defends, turning her head away from Vivianne, her face dark with anger.

"Fun may be an odd concept to you but you should try it some time Vivianne," Nalani snarls in defence of Hestia, "it is doing no harm and their fooling around probably won't last."

Vivianne's face recoils as if Nalani has slapped her and she lowers her eyes, avoiding eye contact with any of them.

Bowing her head, Hestia mumbles, "He's going back to Prynn soon anyway, he was just here for a while because of his father's business."

The atmosphere in the carriage dampens considerably and soon silence seeps into the room and stays there until they arrive at Moorgate Park.

Vivianne flattens down her dress and exits quickly; wordlessly, Kali follows and then Hestia glances at Nalani before climbing out. Nalani sits there for a moment and takes a deep breath to calm her temper before climbing out herself.

Several people are already gathered to see her and when they see their queen beaming smiles are all around and the excited whispers and murmurings start. So many both women, men, elderly and children are here to lay their eyes on the Fire Queen.

Bowing her head graciously at them all as a gesture of her gratitude, Nalani immediately starts to walk through the path of people, the Westwood's, servants and guards just behind her. It is evident how popular and loved she is. She is the people's queen.

As she walks flowers and small red gems are thrown in front of where she walks, fiery coloured ones to signify and honour her fire gift. Some of her guards pick up the gems at Vivianne's bequest, after all, some are valuable.

Nalani bows her head in thanks at all she sees demonstrate their love to her and when she does, some do pious gestures and many shout her name and titles with pride. They call her Queen Nalani, the Fire Queen and their saviour. And it makes Nalani grin from ear to ear.

"Walking among the people is always a good way to interact with your subjects on some level, though it is surprisingly uncommon you are certainly the best at it," Vivianne whispers as she walks next to Nalani.

They both walk in line, both with the most radiant smiles. Nalani spies some men looking at both of them with a certain lust and awe. She is not surprised Vivianne still gets attention, she has always been beautiful and still is, it's as if age has barely affected her.

"Well the people need to know their queen, I need to be a symbol of strength and hope always so they can rally behind me," Nalani says while continuing to smile and wave at the people around her.

Her walk is almost over, though short it is effective. Especially with Beltane and the Ascension looming, it is particularly good to be in such positive favour with the people.

"You certainly have them enthralled with you," Vivianne says approvingly, "I am proud."

They have reached the end of their little walk now and have finally arrived at the markets, every single merchant and the like is out today with only their finest produce, everybody knows that Queen Nalani was going to arrive.

Before the crowds disperse and Nalani walks away, she turns around to address the eagerly waiting crowd.

"Thank you my subjects for being here to greet me today," Nalani starts and the crowd cheers and claps in response, "your support and love means a greet deal and as a queen I promise to support and love you all in return. I promise I will win the throne and rid you all of the threat of shadows and the poisoners taking power and only keeping it for themselves. I will never do that, I will always be your protector and your beacon of hope in dark times. My power will be your power." Their cheers grow loud again at that as they look at her with complete adoration.

"Before I go about my business I will give you one last promise," Nalani says, her voice booming and confidence practically leaking from her, " I promise that when I am queen crowned I will lead Fennbirn to a golden age, I will completely restore everyone's faith in the queensline. And we will all rise together and no one will dare challenge us ever again. I will be your queen, your champion, your saviour and I will never forsake you!"

The crowd roars at that, the clapping and cheering goes on and on for ages. Nalani only smiles as she watches the people eating from the palm of her hand. Becoming queen crowned is much easier when you are popular, when your people believe in you. Nalani loves the feeling their love and hope brings. She made no lies in her speech, she is ambitious and will achieve all that was promised. For herself, for her people, for Fennbirn.

—————

They have been looking in the markets and shops for about a half hour now, Nalani still euphoric and practically glowing from her earlier walk among the people and her speech. She is barely paying attention to what they are even doing.

Vivianne stands tall and brushes her fawn curls back before addressing them, "We will have a look in this market now and then perhaps go to look at dresses."

The three younger girls nod and then follow Vivianne as they walk past the market stalls. There are a colourful array of beautiful stalls with exotic clothes, foods, jewellery and drinks. The merchants all bow when Nalani approaches and kiss her hands or bless her when she buys something of theirs.

They all buy little trinkets from each stall as they always do. The people appreciate their generosity.

Hestia buys bracelets and necklaces to wear at Beltane to impress her lover Henri Renard or any new lovers that she may have by then and Nalani buys Kali a pretty purple shawl to decorate her plain maid uniform with. Kali had tried to decline but Nalani insisted, for she wanted to treat her friend and she gave Vivianne such a fiery look that the Westwood matriarch dare not oppose Nalani. They then move to another stall where clothes and dresses are hung up like an exhibition.

"These dresses and designs are exquisite," Nalani remarks as she draws her fingers along the bodice of several dresses.

The dark haired merchant woman is practically gleaming with pride as Nalani compliments her work.

"Thank you my queen," the woman says, bowing again, looking a little bro shaky from nervousness.

"When I am queen crowned I will have to summon to the Volroy to be apart of my royal dressmakers," Nalani states warmly, still taking time admiring each and every dress.

"Thank you majesty," the woman says, nearly overcome with joy as she watches Nalani order one of the guards to write the woman's name down. Annalise Till.

There is a particular loose black one which catches Nalani's suddenly and she points it out to Vivianne.

"We'll have that dress for Queen Nalani please," Vivianne says, gesturing to the pretty but almost scandalous dress, it will be perfect for the Quickening as it is loose and easy to move in. It's barely a dress at all really. It will show much of her cleavage and legs but she doesn't care. She won't be cold, not when she summons her fire.

Vivianne hands the money over to the merchant who almost snatches it like it is food and she is a starving beggar. Vivianne also buys Hestia a pretty deep turquoise dress that the young Westwood selects.

"Also can we buy Kali a dress?" Nalani asks, seeing the sad expression of the young maid as all the girls pay for their dresses.

"But she's a maid!" Vivianne states in bewilderment, it's not an insult, just a fact, "she wears uniform."

"I was asking you out of politeness but it wasn't really a question, more of a demand really," Nalani says sweetly before disregarding Vivianne, who rolls her eyes, and turning to Kali, "which dress do you want my dear?"

Kali blushes and shakes her head, "I could never accept it, I can't Lani. You've already given me that shawl it is too much, no more."

Nalani studies Kali deeply for a moment looking at her pale skin and her ginger hair before saying,

"She'll have the dark green one," Nalani says pointing to a beautiful dress that reminds Nalani of the forest and it's beautiful dark leaves. It will look perfect with Kali's fiery hair.

They then pay the merchant once again who looks happy at having received such a large amount of money and after some coaxing, Kali eventually accepts the generous gift with a blush.

As they are leaving Vivianne calls some of the nearby priestesses who are guarding the queen over, instructing them to take the dresses back to the house.

Begrudgingly, the initiate priestesses obey and the more senior ones scatter out, patrolling Moorgate Park. A few stay with Nalani and the Westwoods as a precaution.

Further into the market there is food with great fishes hung up, a fine catch for the fishers of Rolanth as naturalists usually have the best catches. There is a smell of delicious food being cooked though Nalani cannot quite figure out what it is and the scent wafts through the air causing both Kali and Hestia to raise their heads in the direction of the scent.

Blindly, Hestia starts walking towards the source of the smell, with Kali trailing behind her, all with hungry looks in their eyes. Nalani slowly starts to follow them and quickens her pace after she hears Vivianne's sigh of annoyance.

They reach the stall where there are big fat cooked hens with a glistening sauce coating them, along with towers of dark exotic berries and large cups of an unfamiliar white liquid along with other strange meats and spices.

The person behind the stall is a younger woman who looks only a little older than Nalani and Hestua. She is pretty but with strange looks that mark her as a foreign merchant to Rolanth. Her hair is a very odd shade of light blonde and she has pretty yet piercing blue eyes and her stare is quite cutting, not exactly what to expect from the usual Rolanth merchant. Definitely foreign.

Nalani has an odd feeling about the young merchant and looks down at her hands, they look smooth and soft unlike any merchant she has ever seen. Something is definitely off with this strange woman. Nalani looks to Kali and Hestia who have not noticed anything strange about the merchant and the young queen shakes her head, trying to rid herself of her dubious thoughts.

All the girls jump suddenly as a large hound knocks into the stall, knocking one of the hens down onto the stony floor. Hungrily, the dog starts to tear into the hen and finishes it incredibly quickly. Then the dog lies there and rests his head in its paws. Kali smiles at the dog and goes to stroke it.

"Won't you try some of my special glazed hen Queen Nalani, I made it specially in your honour," the merchant says in her sickly sweet voice as she bows.

"Perhaps, for now I am just looking," Nalani answers politely, bowing her head in thanks but still unable to shake the feeling of dismay she gets from the merchant.

Nalani watches as Hestia reaches for her purse and is about to buy something before Vivianne puts her hand out in a command to stop,

"Stop Hestia," Vivianne commands sharply and Hestia huffs before she obeys her mother, "where exactly are you from merchant?"

The girl bows her head in respect to the Westwood matriarch as she should. She then wraps her pretty shawl around her further, as if to disguise herself. It is made of fine silk but if her family are successful merchants then it's no surprise.

"I am from the south madam," she says, her voice is almost too sweet, as if it's hiding that something sinister within. It's not a Rolanth accent. And it is very eloquent and out of place.

"Where in the sou .."Vivianne begins but stops as all of them watch in horror as the grey dog starts to convulse on the ground.

Kali immediately jumps back in fright, a look of alarm in her soft brown eyes as she watches the dog in horror. The hound barks in pain, causing nearby merchants to look at the dog in shock.

Nalani watches as it convulses horribly on the ground for a few more seconds, a tormented look in its eyes. No one moves to help it as it makes its last convulsion and then goes still. Horrible foam has even bubbled from its mouth.

Nalani gasps as a nearby woman rushes over and cries in horror,

"What have you done?" The merchant woman screeches to no one in particular. Looking down on what is probably her dog, who lies on the ground dead.

The woman shakes her head at the dead dog before running away in repulsion. The realisation of what caused this hits all of them like a sudden ballet just before Vivianne confirms it.

"Poison," Vivianne whispers to herself, thinking for a moment before her face clouds with anger as she goes to grab the merchant girl and snarls at her, "you're a poisoner aren't you?"

The answer is obvious and Hestia, Nalani and Kali all step back as they watch Vivianne and the merchant girl.

To Nalani's surprise, the girl starts laughing, a manic look in her icy eyes,

"Yes," she spits, eager to vex Vivianne further and then she smiles as if to taunt them, showing all her perfect pearly white teeth in a Cheshire Cat smile.

"You are an Arron," Vivianne snarls becoming a wild elemental predator as she gets angrier by the second and her the strength of her anger starts to hit them all as powerful winds start to gust through the market stalls, sending debris everywhere.

Nalani forgets how powerful Vivianne's affinity for air can be as she watches Vivianne's hidden temper show in shock and a little bit of horror. She is normally calm in all situations but the tight leash which she keeps on her temper has snapped all because of one traitorous poisoner.

The girl just keeps laughing before she quickly digs a knife out of her pocket. It is hard to comprehend the speed in which she moves and then throws it. Aiming for Queen Nalani. One of the few remaining priestess guards quickly moves in the path of the knife in front of the Queen. And it digs itself firmly into her arm causing a cry of pain as the blood starts staining her white robes almost instantly.

By now all the guards have formed a small protective service around Queen Nalani. It's impossible for the traitorous girl to get another clean shot at the queen.

A second knife suddenly appears in the girls hand. No one is quick enough to react or comprehend what the girl is about to do and no one is fast enough to stop her.

"For Queen Carina!" She shouts with pride before slitting her throat quickly, leaving a scarlet smile there as blood starts to ooze out of the wound.

The pride vanishes from the girls eyes and pain replaces it as she holds her throat in a feeble attempt to stop the blood from leaking out completely and she starts coughing and spluttering as she struggles. Almost as if she'd just realised what she'd done. It is over in a matter of seconds before the girl goes limp in Vivianne's grip, horrible dark blood staining the girl.

Hestia screams and falls to the ground in distress; Kali just stands there, pale in shock. Vivianne sighs and lets go of the dead girl and lets her fall to the ground like a broken doll. She brushes her hand on her dress almost as if to erase the memory of the poisoner's skin.

The poisoner girl suddenly looks that much smaller as she lies peacefully on the floor with two smiles. One on her face and one at her throat. Her icy blonde hair sprawled around her in thick tendrils, all of it perfectly clean except for a few curls staining red, as they sit, drowning silently in the wound at her throat.

Her assassination attempt against the Fire Queen failed and the planning and attempted murder of any queen and of course murder itself before the Ascension Year has begun is forbidden and punishable by death. The Arron girl would've died either way, she just chose her own hand to do the deed rather than the sharp hunting knives of the Rolanth priestesses. They likely would've cut off her head.

Nearby, Vivianne crouches down, the hem of her beautiful light blue dress, staining with the bright red juice of the berries. The stain likely won't come out but she will have the servants wash it nonetheless. Vivianne looks at the ground for a moment before picking up the berries and examining them for a moment before saying, "Belladonna berries."

She then brings the cup of white liquid to her face and holds it just under her nose and she sniffs it before stating, "White snakeroot, a horribly dangerous poison that was mixed with milk."

No one really hears Vivianne as everyone is in shock. The only sound to be properly heard is the priestess guard who saved Nalani as she rips the knife from her arm. Luckily it didn't cut too deep due to the angle.

Nalani just stands there silently and surprises herself as she doesn't feel anything at the death that has just unfolded. All she can do is wonder if Carina plans to kill her like this and watch as her elemental blood stains her pretty tight poisoner dress. The elemental queen realises that death is all around her and stares at the fallen girl who looks more peaceful in death than she did in life. What was her name? Nalani wonders, do the Arrons support Carina that much, to let one of their own sacrifice themselves in her name?

These questions and more swirl around Nalani's mind, the whole thing just seems a foolish plan and a careless loss of life. Nalani is sure that this was not a plan from Andrea Arron or any of her lot. It is too careless, too unrefined. Not her style. Not to mention against the laws of Fennbirn.

Everything around her suddenly goes into slow motion for a second and she doesn't hear anyone.

She sees Vivianne's lips moving like she is shouting at Nalani but no sound comes. Hestia is crying on the floor and Kali is comforting her.

Then suddenly the world moves and breathes again.

Nalani hears Vivianne calling out to more nearby priestesses who had followed them to Moorgate Park as an extra security for the elemental queen. But many of the priestesses had not been there when they were needed; they were instead scouting the rest of the market for potential threats. High Priestess Corra had sent them as a courtesy, to soften Finn's death and show that she didn't favour Arwen. Which of course she does, though strangely Corra doesn't visit Arwen often, she just resides on the outskirts of Umbra. For none who aren't shadows are allowed with the walls of Umbra, the Radurons decreed it long ago and it is known to be incredibly difficult to be allowed past Umbra's borders. Well unless you have certain skills and trade that their city will benefit from.

Eventually the priestesses come back as they pull out their daggers and start running towards Nalani.

"Quickly!" Vivianne shouts, Nalani instantly becoming her only priority, "an attempt has been made on the queen's life."

The priestesses suddenly join the few already in a circle around the queen and they then surround Nalani like a circle of sharks and their hands all rest on the weapons strapped to the side of their white robes.

From in amongst the robes of white, Nalani sees Hestia running towards her, sensing Nalani's discomfort regarding the priestesses.

The head Rolanth priestess, Mab, steps forward to Nalani and scans her quickly for any signs of injury before grabbing Nalani harshly and pulling her by her arm.

"Stop!" Nalani shouts, trying to fight against Mab to get to Hestia and see if Kali's okay, " I need to help Kali. Hestia!"

Mab ignores her as she forces Nalani to move away from Hestia. For a priestess, Mab's strength surprises Nalani and catches her of guard for a moment.

Hearing Nalani's shouts, Hestia runs faster and is so is close now and goes to pull Nalani's other arm to get her away from Mab, "don't you touch her," Hestia snarls with ferocity and Nalani blinks in surprise, she has never heard her best friend be this aggressive in her life.

Mab turns and swats Hestia to the ground as if she were no more than a fly and says coldly, "Queen Nalani is safer with me."

Hestia starts to get off the ground, unhurt but Mab has already dragged Nalani several paces away before Hestia has time to react. Mab is so quick and so strong. Perhaps the priestess is trying to help Nalani, but she pushed Hestia and prevented Nalani from helping her friends and now she can only see red.

"Touch Hestia again and I swear I will melt your bones and boil your blood from your very veins," Nalani snarls, purely predator as she turns her lethal gaze towards Mab who has the sense to look a little scared at the Fire Queen's threats. She knows they aren't empty. At least she isn't foolish.

But even with her small glimmer of fear, Mab still ignores Nalani as she practically drags the young queen who has to jog to keep up with the tall Mab or let her legs scrap across the ground and get cut. The Fire Queen looks to see if there is anything that she can use and sees flaming torches on a nearby exotic market stall. She calls on the fire as the flames slither over to her, hissing like snakes and crackling uncontrollably.

"I am warning you Mab!" Nalani says, her voice low and dangerous, "Unhand me or suffer the consequences."

Mab continues to ignore her, her grip tightening horribly and drawing blood as her nails press into Nalani's wrists. Wincing at the slight pain, Nalani continues to call for the flames and the fire continues to move towards Nalani, for she is a magnet for any element. Mab finally turns to the crackling noise and a look of dread comes onto her face as the flames jump onto her sleeve scorching the pristine white robes a deadly black, identical to Nalani's eyes and as the queen's temper worsens, the fire rises high in fury, burning a part of Mab's pretty, smooth almond skinned face.

The priestess screams, shaking her long black curls everywhere and immediately lets go of Nalani.

The young queen then goes to run back to Hestia and Kali but two other priestesses hear their sister's screams and run over to Nalani.

Clutching her scarred face, Mab raises her hand and points at Nalani menacingly and manages to hiss some words out, "Freya, Petrah take Queen Nalani back to High Priestess Corra to be detained."

Both brunette priestesses nod and take one of Nalani's arms each and they start to drag her towards the priestess coach.

Nalani knows that it is useless to fight against them as she is outnumbered and her gift feels weak from having to call fire from quite a long distance. Though Nalani is confused as to why her gift is so tired, as she didn't eat any of the poisoned food so why does she feel weakened?

After a while she goes limp, partly from exhaustion and partly to annoy the priestesses. She soon lets herself to smile in satisfaction as she sees the expression of annoyance on both priestesses' faces as they have to put extra effort in to carry Nalani who is not helping in the slightest.

Eventually they reach the coach and the girls don't give Nalani time to react as they spin her around, blowing a purple powder in her face. She barely has time to register anything as she is lifted into the coach, her eyes shutting before she can object. Then she only sees black.