Jeselia sat on her bed with her hands on her lap, and her back straight as she watched General Hurikan pace around in this sunlit creaking cabin. Meanwhile, her small and violet-coloured owl stood on her shoulder, its head rotated along with General Hurikan's left and right pacing, unblinking.

One gauntlet covered his mouth, and the other rested behind his back. His brows kept narrowing as he continued to walk back and forth; he didn't bother to tuck away a strand of grey that lazily fell onto his forehead from his sandy brown braided hair.

"You seem to feel more than just worried, Hurikan," Jeselia noted. "Do you... Want to talk about it?"

"I'm afraid my thoughts might somewhat insult you, Your Highness," General Hurikan replied without glancing at her.

"If you're honest about it and your intention is good, you won't... 'Insult' me. You can tell me what's wrong." She put on a small smile.

General Hurikan stopped and stared at her for a moment. He put his hand that covered his lips behind his back, which revealed his trimmed beard. "Are you sure, Your Highness?"

She nodded. He sighed. 

"Alright, I shall be truthful," he faced her. But he paused for a few more moments before he began. "Well... Ever since you proposed this plan and denied any suggestions from your adviser, my mind has gotten full of questions. I really don't mean any ill intent or judgement, Your Highness, but...

"Why haven't you let the royal ambassador go on your behalf? Or even if you didn't want that, at least have a translator for this journey? Most importantly, though, why choose Vulcanthor of all places?" 

Her posture slumped a little. Her owl turned to her. "Unfortunately, the ambassador doesn't have the knowledge on Vulcanthor. Neither the translator, and we don't have time to wait for them to learn. Besides, I don't want to bring more people for a task that should be, hopefully, easy and simple." 

"I chose Vulcanthor because their strength matches that of our enemies. You've seen how strong they were, Hurikan," she spoke politely. 

"That is fair. But, again, I mean no judgement, Your Highness, if the ambassador lacks the knowledge, what makes you know about Vulcanthor--"

A knock on the door broke the discussion. General Hurikan brushed his hair back before Jeselia answered, and the captain entered the cabin with a bow. 

"Your Highness, I've come to inform you we have arrived at Vulcanthor." 

Jeselia stood up as the owl flew away from her shoulder and stood on a chair. Then she returned the bow. "Thank you, captain. We'll be there shortly."

The captain bowed again and left the cabin. Jeselia looked back at General Hurikan with a small returned smile. 

"Come on, I'll show you the answer." She walked towards the royal-blue coloured cloak that hung next to the door and put it over her boat-necked, deep-periwinkled, and long puffed sleeves gown. "What do you think? Is it unassuming enough?" she made a gentle twirl.

"Simple enough, Your Highness. But I would advise you keep the hood on at all times. They might not take it too nicely for your violet hair."

"Obviously." She pulled the hood over her head and hid her long braid in it.

Jeselia stepped aside, and the General, still uncertain about her answer regarding Vulcanthor, went and opened the door for her. 

The deck was a bit brighter due to exposure to the sun, and the air was clearer yet filled with sea-salt that penatrated their noses. Her owl followed her and stood on her shoulder again as the General went behind her as well.

Jeselia scanned the deck one more time and noticed the crew who stood in a row in front of her, all welcoming her with a bow and a smile. She wasn't sure whether they did it out of obligation to her obvious royalty, or the fact they knew the reason of her travel here and did it out of respect for her noble goal. She appreciated it nonetheless. She returned the gesture and a thank you before she and the General turned and walked down the ramp.

From the empty docks where no local expected them, they walked towards the port where, finally, they saw them. The cobalt blue Vulcanthians roamed around the port as some of them carried crates of fish from their ships and to the port while the others chattered. Jeselia peeked at General Hurikan's face; he was giving the puzzled look at the locals.

"Your Highness, you never mentioned Vulcanthians are non-humans." General Hurikan blinked.

"I thought you knew," she said. "That is why I didn't seek help from other human nations. How could they fight back against non-humans who possess the strength ten times stronger than average humans? Only Vulcanthians have that power."

They continued down the path and to the exit they went. However, as soon as they stepped outside on the solid clay soil, a few Vulcanthians caught a glimpse of Jeselia. It didn't take long for the glimpses to turn into nudges the Vulcanthians made to one another, and eventually, the nudges turned into a small gathered group with curious stares. The chatters turned to whispers as Jeselia tried, as subtle as possible, to gulp and stop her trembling by keeping her posture straight.

General Hurikan took a step in front of her. He raised his hand slightly, and the other rested on the hilt of his sword when one Vulcanthian approached them. Even the owl widened its blue eyes a bit and puffed up. General Hurikan's temple bulit a sweat when the Vulcanthian came close and stood tall before them. Tall as in the General had to raise his head a little high to see the Vulcanthian's face.

"Say, you are a strange foreigner," the Vulcanthian spoke.

The General continued to sweat and stare at him. Jeselia put a hand on the General's shoulder plate, and he turned to her. She nodded. He stepped aside.

Jeselia took a deep breath and sighed before she stepped forward. "Am I not the first one, then?"

The Vulcanthian shook his head. "Yes. But you are the first strange one indeed."

General Hurikan's eyes widened quickly when Jeselia responded in the same language the local spoke. He couldn't stop looking back and forth between her and the tall Vulcanthian. The owl shrunk and tilted its head at the same surprise, too.

"Strange as in?" Jeselia continued.

"You're not one of those humans from Swan Kingdom, are ya?"

"No, I'm not. In fact, I'm from Windelia Empire. You've heard it, didn't you?"

The Vulcanthian exchanged looks with his people. Some shook their heads, others shrugged.

"No. We've never heard of empires. Only Swan. You're sayin there's more human kingdoms?" the Vulcanthian asked.

Jeselia nodded with a smile. "Yes, in fact, that's why we came here. We would like to see the Moon King to discuss important matters. Could you please take us to him?"

"Halt!" a cry and the thudding of metal boots caught everyone's attention.

They turned and saw very few guards march towards them. The guard in the front especially, had the stern look on his face as he arrived at the scene.

"Why is everyone gathered in the port?" The stern guard asked as he eyed everyone, until his eyes landed on Jeselia and paused.

She felt the faint shivers run down her spine when this particular guard looked up and down at her; the slight feeling of unease filled her stomach. Something about that guard didn't sit right with her. But she continued to show her politeness nonetheless.

"Oh, General Seymius, there ain't nothing wrong here. Just this rather strange human and his friend want to see the Moon King for something important." The Vulcanthian gestured towards Jeselia and the General.

"Hello--"

"You're not from Swan that's for certain. And you're not on the list of known men nor on the schedule for when any human ship should arrive at Travicia Port." That guard, by the name of General Seymius, stomped his foot and straightened his back. "However, that is not what I'm mostly concerned about." General Seymius leaned closer to her.

General Hurikan stood in front of her again, squinting his eyes.

"W-Wait, what do you mean?" Jeselia actually didn't mind what Hurikan did. Especially in this moment.

"You seem to understand Vulcan, that's even more concerning." General Seymius squinted back. He stood again and looked at the Vulcanthian who approached Jeselia. "You. Haven't you noticed anything strange other than the foreign clothing?"

"Well... He's got a funny voice and face." The man replied. "Why? What's wrong, general?"

"Unfortunately, gentlemen, what you see in front of you is no man or boy." General Seymius declared. That declaration was met with confusion from the people, including Jeselia and Hurikan's.

"Wait... You don't mean that..." Slowly, the people's curiosity crumbled into disbelief at a realisation that Jeselia couldn't understand.

"That creature... Is none other than, a Witch." 

Her heart dropped as soon as the Vulcanthians gasped and backed away from her. For once she couldn't maintain her mein; she hated to do this but she stood behind Hurikan. Without a word from Hurikan, he he gestured for her to walk backwards. She agreed, but she didn't even lift her foot when the other guards already went and blocked the entrance to the port they just came from; their spears raised and pointed at her.

"Look, even if I'm a witch, that doesn't mean I have harmful intent. All I need to do is to speak with the king. Once I do that, I will leave immediately. Please--"

"Speak with him about what?" that general was starting to piss her off.

"I have important matters to discuss. I'd rather tell the king in private."

"Private?" General Seymius paused as he looked around. "Alright then. We'll take you there," he drew a very brief smirk before he added, "to the dungeons!"

That harmless curiosity she once saw in the locals' eyes went from confusion to disbelief and shouts of agreement with the Vulcanthian General. Maybe she should've considered the situation more carefully. Vulcanthor was an all-male nation. She knew that and thought that maybe it was the 'confused but curious' type. Not the 'no women are allowed' type. Now here she was about to be captured, possibly in an unlawful way based on how that man Seymius behaved.

Once the guards surrounded her and Hurikan, he didn't hesitate to pull his sword out and aim it at the guards. "Step away!" he cried as if those tall men would understand his human language.

The owl had yet again puffed up into an even bigger size and let out a defensive screech.

An idea came to her. But she held her hands tight. That'll only make the people side with that General even more, she thought.

Before any further chaos, and out of nowhere, a black fabric-like thing materialized out of thin air and quickly surrounded Jeselia and her general into a big black dome. She gasped, the owl let out a confused low screech, and the General cursed when everything went dark and silent in an instant. Only for a few moments, the black dome dissolved into nothing and revealed something else entirely.

They weren't at the port anymore. They found themselves inside a slightly spacious room of some sorts. There was a bed, a rug, a large straw basket... A bedroom Jeselia realised. But still, she was confused, the owl and Hurikan too-- She jumped around when she heard the sound of a 'woosh' in the room. A spinning black dome was with them. Hurikan pointed his sword-- That dome dissolved as well and revealed another thing inside it.

A man as tall as a Vulcanthian. Yet his skin colour was different from the ones she saw at the port. His skin was cinnamon-brown and his long wild hair was sunset-orange, paired with ruby red eyes that blinked at them. What was the most noticable was the large, brown, bat wings that the man had on his back.

The stranger kept staring at them. Jeselia and the others did the same, blinking as well.

"Holy shit I actually did it... " Jeselia heard him whispering to himself. "That was cool! Oh! Also, hi! Name's Fearian." He waved with an excited smile.