"What's the point of becoming my personal attendant if you don't even attend to my simple needs?" I berated, tapping my finger impatiently on the round table.

Kikuhara, now called 'Kiku' raised his head, but his nimble fingers continued sewing, swift and spot on. With his overlong hair tied like a lady attendant and his slim built dressed in female clothing, it made him perfect in acting as my personal lady-in-waiting, especially with his pretty face. It was confusing whether I should address him as her.

"I'm sorry, were you talking to me?" she asked, sarcasm dripping out of her.

I eyed the chessboard on the table to nudge her attention to it.

"Just because you have nothing to do doesn't mean you can disturb someone of lower ranking who is busy doing her job."

I wonder whether Geviv knew this would happen, so she chose the person who could deprive me of my usual dose of games. Smart move from her, but Kikuhara cared so little of what I do, giving me a large berth to do whatever I wanted.

"I see," I said, standing up from my seat at the corner of the room. I picked up the pocket-sized chessboard and hitched it under my arm. "I guess Matius would love a visit from his future queen."

"In your flimsy, see-through nightgown?"

I looked over myself and my female parts were vaguely out in the open. "Who in the heavens could wear something like this? Where did you even get... this?"

"The ladies from Migza, your supposedly ladies-in-waiting have offered fresh clothes for you. They said it's what princesses wear in their sleep."

"And where are my usual night gowns?" I asked as I twirled around with my foreign dress. "Well, it's not so bad, for nightly activities with my husband that is."

Kiku just stared at me as if I lost it before returning to her sewing, not saying anything.

I shrugged, deciding to change. I wouldn't want to risk another intense Matius. It had been three days already, and it surprised me I tolerated boredom this long. However, I could feel it starting to weigh me down. If I stay cooped up any longer, I would go insane and I might do something I shouldn't be doing in this limited, enclosed ship.

After donning something appropriate and tying my hair into a loose ponytail, I was about to cross my room when the strangest sound filtered its way around us.

"What was that?"

A whale?

It was similar. An echo of something low and melancholic, as though it was howling, crying, calling for something.

I walked towards the only window, threw it open and narrowed my eyes over the horizon. A distance away, there were specks of light hovering over the sea, arranged in a long line like a wall of fire. Kiku was beside me in seconds, alert and stiff. The wind whipped around us, and we were assaulted by the smell of the salt and water.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Migza's naval patrols."

How the hell did Geviv's spy get through that?

"We have our ways," Kiku replied as if she had heard my thoughts, a sly smirk gracing her innocent face.

"I don't think that's where it came from though," I said as I surveyed the expanse of the sea.

Then it came again, louder and... closer.

Above us, there was unrest on the deck. Men were shouting and their rushing footsteps mixed in with the eerie sound. Kiku was about to jump through the window, perhaps to check on the problem, but I grabbed her forearm before she could.

"Wait," I said. "Have you forgotten, you're still Kiku. Do not act unless I tell you so. Matius is an observant man. If you're not by my side when a guard arrives, suspicion will fall on us."

I met her stare head on without wavering, reminding her of her place. When she realized I was being serious, she nodded in compliance and returned to her usual seat. Not a minute later, there was a frantic knock on my door. I nodded my head at Kiku, and she went to attend to it. As soon as the door opened, more disturbance from the hallway assaulted our ears, and I glimpsed at servants and guards dashing around before it was closed.

"Your Highness," Captain Lenos said, sweat lining his forehead as he curtsied. "Forgive us for the inconvenience, but princess must take shelter in your room until further notice from the ambassador."

"I have no problem with the arrangement, but may I ask what is going on?"

His eyes steeled as though he raised his guard at me. It was a subtle change, but went unnoticed. "Pirates, Your Highness," he replied. "Nothing we cannot handle."

Pirates? So close to hundreds of naval vessels just a mile away?

"I see." I nodded in understanding. "I am worried, good sir, for the well-being of the ladies in this ship. Tell the servants to take shelter with me as it is the safest room. I do not take no for an answer. Besides, this is an order."

"You are most kind, Your Highness."

A small group of soldiers were already stationed outside the door when Captain Lenos went out. He directed a few of them to gather the servants. I met Kiku's eyes and knew she was thinking the same thing. The man was hiding something from us. It must have something to do with that strange sound, which by now had fallen silent as though it was pacified.

As the vulnerable servants settled down with us, some awkward, not knowing where to look or to even make a sound, I told them to relax and make themselves comfortable. With the window and door tightly closed, muffled shouts and voices weakly fluttered around us. I sat at the corner beside the window with Kiku hovering behind me, trying to act anxious.

Then I slammed against the wall, almost falling off the wooden chair. Everybody was caught off guard by the sudden shift of balance.

Heavens, did it hurt!

The ship had crashed against something, perhaps the pirate's own vessel. I may have faith within the physical prowess of the Migzan soldiers, but something was bugging me. Something was not right.

"Are you all right, Your Highness?" an elderly servant asked me.

"It will bruise, but I am able. There is no need to worry for me." I smiled at her.

"You're brave and courageous with a kind heart, Your Highness."

Nobody called me brave. Anything similar was seen as recklessness from my own people. I did not know how to reply to those compliments, instead I stood up to give her my seat. But before I could, the ship groaned, and I knew it would crash again, so I pushed the servant away from me, not expecting the wooden window to blast into splintering. Kiku moved like lightning, using a thick linen to shield me from being hit by shards.

Chaos ensued.

Servants screamed and panicked, running away from the large hole made in the wall. I narrowed my eyes through the sprayed foam as the waves crashed into the room, drenching me from head to toe. What I saw through the curtain of seawater was the deck of a worn out ship, starting to sink sideways. Large metal cages littered the deck, but thank the heavens they were chained on the floor to keep them still. However, there were some things inside the cages. Because of the poor lighting from the dying torches, I couldn't make out the large shadows slamming themselves against the metal barriers, crying out like the sound of whales. The source of the strange noise.

"Your Highness!" The bulky captain ran towards me and his companions immediately formed a semi-circle around me, swords drawn from their sheaths as they faced the broken wall.

"I am alri-"

A large wave smothered my voice as it crashed into the room, almost sweeping us away from its force.

"Folk!" Captain Lenos shouted in alarm as he pulled me behind me. "Men, whatever it costs, protect the princess."

I was so confused I grabbed a servant behind me and placed her there as my double. I slid into the crowd and sneaked a glance at whoever the enemy was, not prepared for what I saw.

A half-naked man with only white trousers, with olive skin covered in red tattoos of intricate design, wearing arrays of stones as a necklace was standing at the very edge of the sinking ship. His long, straight hair had a blue halo at the edges and eyes that seemed to gleam in the dark, like a cat's. Beside him were humongous... falcons?

Talons the length of my arm, bodies thrice the size of the strange man and beaks that could rip heads easily, just like the decapitated man on its talons. The largest feathered creatures I have ever seen in my life, and a ferocious one at that. Three of the falcons hopped over the enormous cages and hitched it under their claws before spreading their wide wings, causing us to duck from the powerful winds it generated from just a single flap.

"Captain! They're taking the Ancestrals away!" one of his men shouted, frantic and angry at the scene he was witnessing.

The only falcon beside the strange man screeched. An ear-splitting scream of warning that terribly stretched on and on. Ancestrals? I have no clue what they are, but my head was painfully throbbing. No matter how hard I clamped down my ears, the high-pitched scream cut through my head.

"Leave them be, you imbecile! The princess' safety is the topmost priority," Captain Lenos shouted over the sharp screeching of the threatened bird.

Then it stopped.

Relief washed over me. With trembling fingers, I pushed myself up from my kneeling position and shakily stood up, like a newborn calf just learning how to walk. But a firm hand pulled me back down on my knees, just like the rest of the servants left behind.

"Stay still, Your Highness," Kiku whispered as she threw a dry wool over my shaking body.

"Fallens!" the strange man shouted, taking advantage of everyone's weakened state. His voice pierced through the roaring wind of the falcons' flapping overhead. The noise from the deck calmed down as though even they heard his commanding voice. "Continue violating the rules of Yagan and your mortal king will pay for your trespasses. Fallens may win this war, but Folks prevails, just as Yagan had defeated Khaos in the realm of Heofon."

He glared at the Migzan soldiers in disgust before mounting the falcon which gave a smart ass snort as it spread its massive wings. It deliberately swung its wings against us, causing the ship to wobble. The man and his feathered creatures flew overhead, disappearing over the night sky littered with inky clouds.

"That was... dramatic," I murmured.

"This is nothing compared to yours," Kiku replied, and I almost snorted from her ridiculous notion.

"Please, Geviv owns the crown for being the drama queen."

I nudged Kiku, and we both crept back to where we should have been before the mess had began. The young servant that had supposedly taken my position was nowhere to be seen when we arrived. Captain Lenos and the rest were busy being dumbstruck and confused at the strange man's last words.

"If only I could understand what they were saying, I could have gotten something very vital about the war going on in Migza. Perhaps that man is one of the opposing party?"

"Trust me, Your Highness. I am as clueless as you."

"Don't worry,  I wasn't asking for your opinion. Just stating." I smirked, knowing Kiku's nerves were twitching with irritation.

Perhaps because of our ignorance on the history of Migza, Kiku and I were the least bit shaken about the current events. Unlike these soldiers who wore intense, unreadable yet readable expressions of worry, anger and helplessness, which in turn, morphed into determined and ready-to-kill faces. Whatever that strange man had said riled up some sleeping beast inside these soldiers.