I've seen you all! I've seen your crimes! I will make sure to avenge all those you've hurt. I am no longer oblivious to what your actions behind my back. I am your Queen. You will obey me or you will all burn!

~The Ravings of Queen Orianna. A speech documented during a council meeting discussing loyalty. Evidence Piece Ten in Queen Orianna's Trial.

I hold on to the spikes of the dragon tighter than I've held onto anything in my life. We are above the clouds though I dare not open my eyes. I don't want to know how high we are.

"Open your eyes princess," I jump as Nianzu's voice rings in my mind. I don't argue, I just slowly do as he told me. I gasp. It is beautiful. The sky around me is blue and glistening. A layer of fluffy clouds sits bellow making all sorts of shapes. I've never seen anything like it. It's so quiet and peaceful.

"There, not so bad," he chuckles in my mind. I frown.

"How is your voice in my mind?" I ask out loud.

"So we could communicate whilst I am in animal form. Perhaps it has something to do with our blood promise."

"Did you have it with Visara?"

"No," he replies. "Now, where do you want to go. The Lupine lands are just beyond The Lost Wood. I could fly you straight into their city."

"No," I say out loud before I stop speaking as the thoughts rush around in my mind.

"You can reply with your mind you know," he tells me. I roll my eyes but try it anyway.

"We can't just land in their city," I tell him. It is partially true. "I will have to approach slowly. It will take a while for them to trust me. I need to try and find the Mer and the Sirens. How I am going to do that, no one but Visara new of their location," I tell him with a sigh. "They were eager to help Visara so I am hoping it won't take much to convince them." The dragon banks and changes direction. I gulp, thinking about the Lupine. I know that getting the Lupine on my side will be the most difficult, even after their visit all those years ago. I am also... scared, I suppose. Scared that things will have changed since then. Nianzu's voice in my mind distracts me from those thoughts.

"They are in Tarlon," he tells me. My eyes widen as he tells me where the Waterfolk are hiding. "Visara had me take her there when she originally found them. What lake they are in now though, I have no idea." He sinks down below the clouds and my eyes widen again. I can see for miles and miles. The ground is so far below us. We fly over the grasslands I had travelled across on Trouble. I see a couple of villages, dotted here and there also.

"Nianzu," I say in my mind. I hear a grunt. "As much as flying is fun and the views are beautiful, I really think we should travel a different way," I tell him.

"Why?" he asks. "You can't be tracked this way. You also can't be seen and no one can catch you."

I sigh. "Yeah, but what about when we land. How can we be sure that when you land, we won't be seen? Plus, dragons aren't meant to exist. Even if we are high in the sky, people will see something isn't right. It is best to stay under the radar," I tell him. He huffs.

"So basically, you want me to be a horse," he grumbles.

"Yeah," I tell him. He doesn't say anything for a few moments as he begins to fly toward the ground. It is an odd feeling as his body tips forward and we begin to dive. It's exhilarating and I find myself letting out an excited scream as the wind whips my hair from my face. I hear Nianzu chuckling in my mind as he sharply banks and spins in the air. I laugh and let him do it. He's been trapped in the forest so long. It has been thousands of years since he was able to do this. Plus, the flatlands we fly over are pretty deserted and I can't see any towns or villages nearby.

Eventually, we land. My legs wobble as I jump off his back. It feels odd being on solid ground again. He shifts back.

"You know it will take longer travelling this way right?" Nianzo tells me. I nod my head.

"Yes," I reply. "But I feel like I should get to know these lands better if I plan on ruling them. I should learn about how people live instead of just flying over them." He sighs and looks at me.

"Fine," he sighs, before transforming into a large black horse.

"Ermm," I begin to say. 

"What now?" He sighs. I chuckle slightly nervously.

"The horse I fled on and who the people after me will be searching for looks very similar to how you do now," I tell him. He sighs and before my eyes, the horse's black coat changes into a dark brown colour with white patches on its face and a black mane.

"Better?" he asks. I nod my head.

"Yes," I reply out loud as I walk over to him and swing up onto his back.

"I'd still rather be a dragon," He mutters. I snort as he starts to race across the grassy plains.

"Hey," I begin, a question popping into my mind. "I thought you could only change into the beasts and monsters your mother created," I say. Nianzu chuckles in my mind.

"My mother worked with the God of Creatures many times. Even helping him make many creatures. Though most religions don't like to tell people that. She will always be the monster making villain," he sighs.

"Interesting," I mumble then fall into silence as we continue our journey. We carry on throughout the rest of the day and part the way through the night. He doesn't seem to tire. He's been longing to be free like this for thousands of years. Luckily, these lands go on for miles and miles without there being another person in sight. If we do see people or a village, we just avoid them and they avoid us.

When it reaches about ten pm, I decide it's time for a rest.

"It looks like it's going to rain tonight," Nianzu tells me. Even though it's dark, there is no sign of the moon and the air feels wet.

"Perhaps we can go to the nearest town and get a room in an Inn," he suggests. I sigh.

"That would be nice, except for the fact everyone in Vivelle is looking for me. My eyes are a pretty big give away and I broke my eyeglass, remember?" He sighs.

"You have me now. Just hide under a hood and let me do all the talking. Plus there is your eye patch." I look at him. Not that he can see my glare because it's dark. Though I do reach into my bag and pull my eye patch out and cover my blue eye. It's better than nothing. I just hope that no one asks me to move it.

"Yeah," I say with a frown. "I'm really going to trust you to talk to someone and book a room without raising suspicion when I'm the only person you've talked to in the past couple of thousand years."

"You need to have a little more faith in me," he tells me as he grabs my arm and pulls me in the direction of a village in the distance. As we start walking, I feel the first blob of water hit my head. I groan and pull my hood up as Nianzu begins to run. The village isn't far away and it isn't long before we are walking through dimly lit streets. The rain is pouring, but even at this hour and in this weather, there are drunken people leaving and entering the Inn.

"Okay," he says. "You are my wife," he tells me as we walk in. "Do they still do that?" he asks with and pauses.

"Eww, and yes," I mutter as I push him to move again so we can get out of the rain sooner. He lets out a little chuckle. He removes his hand from my arm and wraps it around my hand. "Just let me do all the talking." It is with a sigh, I let him lead the way. He removes his hood as we enter the building and I see a smile on his face. He's excited. Though I guess being locked up in the woods with no company for all those years makes you long for interaction.

It is busy inside. People are huddled together as they laugh and hug each other. It is warm also. Candles sit on the dirty brown stone walls and there is a large fireplace against one wall. Nianzu drags me through the crowd, who hardly pay us any attention. We walk right up to the bar.

The barman gives us a suspicious look.

"One room for the night please," Nianzo tells him. The barman frowns but not wanting to turn down business asks us for the money and gives us a key. I reach into my jacket and pull out the pouch, reaching for few copper coins. I hand them to Nianzu to give to the barman.

"So, what are the two of you doing in these parts at this time?" the barman asks as he angles his head to try and look underneath my hood. I shy away from him, leaning into Nianzu's arm as though I am tired.

"We've been travelling around Vivelle," Nianzu shrugs. "My wife wanted to see some of the great wonders of our world before we settled down," he tells him as he clutches me tightly. I smile, impressed. The lie came out so smoothly. "Unfortunately, we got a little lost and have been sleeping under the stars for the last few nights. Luckily we saw the lights of this place in the distance or we'd probably be dead to the cold by now," he chuckles. The barman, unimpressed just huffs and shrugs. 

"As long as you don't bring trouble with you," he huffs before looking at me again with a frown. Nianzu looks down at me and hugs me closer.

"My wife doesn't like people to look at her. She is shy," he sighs.

"Your room is up those stairs and at the end of the corridor. Food and drinks are served until midnight so once you are dry, you are welcome to come down for a hot meal. Though meals aren't included in your room bill," he tells us.

"Thank you," Nianzu replies with a smile and leads me toward the stairs. It is a little bit of a struggle as we battle our way through the crowd of people to get to the stairs. Most grumble as we push them out of the way but soon forget and get on with their conversations again. Once we are up the stairs, the noise begins to fade a little. We follow the corridor to the end and see the door into the room.

The room inside is nice. There is a double bed against a window, a fireplace and a wardrobe. There is also a door off to the side which leads to a small room with a toilet, washbasin and a small metal bathing tub. The walls are cream with a couple of dark stains and the floor is cold and wooden. Nianzu walks over to the fireplace and lights it. He also lights a few candles that are dotted around.

"Let me warm up the water over the fire," he says. "Then you can bathe," he tells me. I smile.

"Thank you," I reply as he comes out of the bathroom with a full bucket of cold water. I go into the bathroom myself. The tub sits against the wall and has a single pipe coming up from the floor that attaches to the tub. I turn the valve on the pipe and let cold water spurt into the tub. Only filling it up a little so that the water won't burn my skin when the freshly boiled water is added. I shiver as I leave the room and go and sit in front of the fire. Even though we weren't in the rain for long, my clothes are soaked through. My bag, luckily, didn't allow any water to soak inside.

"Here, let me take that," Nianzu says as he pulls my soaking jacket off me.

"Such a gentleman and a smooth talker," I chuckle. He laughs.

"You forget I used to serve a queen," he tells me. I smile and he hangs my jacket on a small rack in front of the fire. He hangs his coat too. We sit next to each other by the fire whilst we wait for the water to warm. Not saying anything. After it is done, he takes the water and adds it to the already cold water in the tub. Then leaves me alone. The water is just right as I sink into it. A sigh escapes my mouth as I relax. I am so tired and my muscles ache. I've not relaxed like this for so long. I reach for some of the soaps and massage my muscles and then wash my hair. Then, I get out and reach for a towel. I pull the plug at the bottom of the tub and allow the water to flow away before adding a new, fresh splash to the tub ready for Nianzu. I grab my clothes and leave the room.

"Done," I say.

"Good, my water is ready," Nianzu replies as he grabs the bucket from the fire and walks into the bathing room. He is careful not to look at my body which is only wrapped in the towel. I quickly hang my damp clothes up in front of the fire before grabbing clean ones from my bag. I get dressed quickly.

"Do you have any other clothes to change into?" I ask through the door.

"No," he shouts from the other side. I frown, not sure what to do. None of my clothes would fit him. I sigh and knock on the door.

"Can I get your clothes. I'll get them dry," I tell him. There is nothing but silence as I hear the bath water splashing.

"Okay," he sighs. I open the door into the bathroom. I spot his clothes on the floor and rush over to them, not looking at the tub. I am out again quickly, closing the door behind me. The long coat he had worn over them had done a good job of keeping his black trousers and top mostly dry. I remove my clothes and put his on the rack instead, letting the heat from the fire dry them off a little longer. I instead hang my clothes on the bed frame to continue to dry.

Once I've done that, I sit on the bed and sigh. The door to the bathroom opens and Nianzu walks out wearing nothing but his towel around his waist. His long black hair flows down his back, wet from the bath.

"It's been a long time since I had a warm bath," he sighs as he runs his hands over the drying clothes. Satisfied, he takes them and walks back into the bathing room to change. It is weird seeing him without his dramatic, hooded black coat. He comes and sits next to me.

"Want to get some food?" he asks. I look up at him.

"And risk further exposing myself? I don't think so," I tell him. "Plus I've not slept properly in days," I reply with a yawn as I close my eyes. He sighs.

"Okay, this is not going to work," he tells me. I open one eye to look at him. He is shaking his head.

"Sit up," he orders. With an annoyed grunt, I do as he says.

"What?" I groan.

"I am going to do something I'm probably going to regret," he sighs. I look at him with a frown as he takes my hands. "I'm going to gift you some of my magic," he tells me.

"What?" I ask, widening my eyes and pulling my hands away from him. He rolls his eyes and grabs my hands back.

"Really, that's how you react? I am about to give you some magic and you react as though I've just told you I've murdered someone," he snaps. I frown at him but allow him to continue. He takes a deep breath.

"I wouldn't normally do this, but our promise was that I'd try everything I could to help you succeed. This will help. Plus, I don't want to be spending all my time hidden in rooms or in random parts of the wilderness. I've been locked away for thousands of years. I want to be back in society again." I nod my head.

"Okay," I sigh. He smiles and squeezes my hands tighter. Nianzu takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. I do the same. He turns around my hands so they are palm up. Delicately, he strokes his thumbs along my skin where the hand meets the wrist. I shiver.

"Stay still," he whispers. I do as I am told. He grips me tighter and I feel an odd tingling sensation fill my skin. It starts at the tips of my fingers before travelling over the rest of my hands, then up my arms. The tingling changes to an odd warmth as it fills my whole body. I open my eyes to look at my skin. My eyes widen and my breathing quickens as I realise that my skin tone is a few shades darker. Instead of the pale cream, it is now a light olive tone. I gasp and Nianzu lets go of my hands and sits back. His eyes are still closed as he takes quick, deep breaths. I look back at my skin before standing up and going to the mirror in the bathroom.

"Holy fuck!" I shout when seeing my reflection. I touch at my face softy then run my hands through my hair. My hair is short and cropped jaggedly around my shoulders. It's also a dark, golden blonde. My eyes are slightly smaller and now a dark green, brown colour. Both of them are the same. My nose is also a little bigger and my lips thinner. I still look like me, but also different. I run my fingers down my nose and then over my lips. Opening the top of my shirt, I graze the skin there. The mark has vanished!

"Can we go an have dinner now," Nianzu sighs as he leans on the doorway. I can't speak. "Don't worry, you can change back. This is the only other form I've given you. You can now shift between the two as I can shift between animals," he tells me as though it's nothing.

"I just..." I begin to mutter. "I didn't know you could do this..." I whisper as I run my hand through my shortly cropped hair again. He frowns.

"I can turn into any beast imaginable and you can't comprehend me changing a few colours?" he asks as he shakes his head and walks out. I don't know what to say so I just shake my head and follow him to the door.

He takes my hand again and looks at me with a smile.

"You're my wife, remember?" he asks with a grin. I shake my head.

"I thought I was really shy," I say with risen eyes. He scoffs and shrugs as we walk out of the room.

"Also," I whisper as I lean into his shoulder. "Where are our wedding rings?" I ask.  He doesn't answer me as we walk back to the noisy bar.

The barman set aside a table for us near the fire. I get some water and Nianzu gulps down on a beer.

"I've missed this," he says with a sigh. I chuckle.

"Just don't get drunk," I tell him. He smiles and puts of mug down. His eyes glance around the room. At the chaos and shouting. I watch him as he takes it all in. Our food arrives, interrupting his daydreaming. A steaming bowl of thick, tomato soup is placed in front of me with fresh bread on the side. My stomach grumbles and my mouth waters as the rich smell fills my nose. It's been so long since I've eaten something with any flavour. I've been living off crackers for the last week. I lap up the soup and bread quickly then eye up the large chunk of meat Nianzu had yet to finish. He stops eating as though he feels my glare. His eyes find mine and narrow.

"If you wanted some, you should have ordered some," he tells me. I let out a snort of laughter before standing up and walking over to the bar. I push my way through more drunken people before reaching it. I then ask the barman for some more food. He gives a grumpy huff but heads into the kitchen with my request. I then hand him a few more coins for the food and for two new drinks.

"Thank you," I say to him. He shrugs and gets back on with work. I am about to leave when I feel a presence next to me. A large man leans against the bar. His once cream shirt is covered in dark stains of beer and mud.

"You're pretty," he slurs as he leans next to me, the smell of alcohol on his breath burning my nose. I sneer and step away.

"I need to get back to my husband," I tell him. He smiles and grabs my arm.

"I could be your husband for the night," he tells me as he pulls me into him. I let out a squeak.

"Leave her alone Ron," the barman says. "Don't make me throw you out again." The man huffs and lets go of me before leaning on the bar. I shake my head and make my way back to my table.

"Here you go," I say to Nianzu as I pass him another drink. My food comes a few moments later and I eat it quickly. Once I'm done, I lean back in my chair, my belly full. I let out a content groan.

A barmaid takes away our dishes and Nianzu walks over to me and takes my hand. He pulls me out of my chair and leads me to where there is a large, comfortable-looking seat in the corner of the room. We sit down next to each other and he pulls me into him. Remembering that we are playing husband and wife, I allow myself to relax into his side. I sigh as I soak into his warmth and the feeling of safety that being next to him brings. We don't say anything. We both just watch. It's a world neither of us has seen. I've seen people drunk, but that was at balls and grand parties with important people. Here, everyone is carefree. They are with their friends and families. They aren't afraid of offending important, dangerous people as they make rude jokes or take the piss out of each other. They aren't afraid of making themselves look stupid. They are carefree and enjoying themselves.

"Oi! Quieten down you drunken twats!" a voice shouts over the room and the chatter begins to quiet. "Poppy would like to sing a song!" the voice shouts. The room erupts with cheers and shouts and I find myself smiling.

A young woman is helped onto the table by two men. She wobbles a bit before gaining her footing. She smiles and begins to sing. Her voice is enchanting and it silences everyone in the room. It is hauntingly beautiful. I find myself engrossed in her performance, much like everyone else in the Inn. Once she is done, everyone claps and screams at her. She grins before starting another song. This time, it's a lot more cheerful and it isn't long before the rest of the room is singing along.

Again, we just watch. Once the singing is over, I let out a large yawn.

"We should go to bed," I say up to Nianzu. He looks down at me and nods. "We have a long day tomorrow," I sigh.

"That we do," he replies as he stands up. The barman has begun to usher people out to close as we leave the room. When we reach our room, it is a lot quieter. I lay down on the bed and let out a long sigh as I am swallowed by the comfortable mattress. I am about to fall asleep when I remember I don't have my sword next to me. I rush over to my bag and grab it, placing it next to me on the bed. I don't feel safe without it. Nianzu stays stood, leaning against the wall.

"You can sleep on the bed too," I tell him. Feeling guilty because it's been a lot longer since he's had a comfortable bed than me

"Thank you," he says and lies down next to me. "Though I should stay awake and keep watch. We don't know who may invite themselves into our room during the night. Especially as you whipped out a nice big pouch of money earlier." I nod my head.

"I'll keep first watch then," I tell him, gripping my hand on my sword.

"No, you sleep as long as you need," he says as his body begins to transform into that of a large dog. He curls up on the end of the bed which has a view of the door. 

"I am used to sleeping with one eye open," he tells me.

"Thank you," I say as I lie back down. I bring the sheets around me and sigh. I am asleep instantly.