In the Land of Richarte

[Raynesleigh]

Rhen Wulf, Princess of Richarte, slipped through the trees, her dark hair in a trail of dark waves down her back to her knees. She knew she was not supposed to be outside of the palace walls but she couldn't help it. It was nice to get out from under the thumb of her overprotective brother and cruel father. She sighed as she walked, gathering up her skirts and stepping over fallen logs and branches, the hem of her green dress however, was muddy and she would have to listen to her brother telling her off when she returned home.

Slowly, she slipped through the forest and then paused in a small clearing, giving a sigh as she looked around. With a smile, she reached in her pocket and pulled out a small pamphlet and charcoal pencil then sank down on a stump and started to draw. It was something she enjoyed doing and she could only draw all of her servants so many times before she memorized their faces. She looked up at the branches, biting her bottom lip and then returning her gaze to the paper she had in hand, drawing out the beautiful scenery when she heard a soft whoosh like noise. She lifted her head and looked around, slowly putting paper and charcoal back into the pocket of her dress.

"Hello?" she called, glancing around and biting her bottom lip, her green gaze sweeping over the landscape but not seeing anything. She frowned, still getting the distinct feeling she was being watched and when she turned her head and lifted her gaze, she saw a white haired young man standing on a branch above her. She stepped back, tripping over a branch. She gave a curse then stood up, lifting her gaze only to find him gone. She heard a crunch behind her and whirled around her green eyes widening when they came face to face with the white haired young men with the reddest of eyes.

She swallowed hard. "Why are you watching me?" she asked, her voice not wavering. She felt herself drawn to him and it was such a strange sensation she wanted to pull from it but she couldn't.

-----

Liane glanced at the courtiers assembled and sighed as she laid back against the wall, seeing the King looking his normal disagreeable self. And she was supposed to be marrying him. The idea sickened her to the core. He was a cruel man and she was in love with someone else. His son. When she married the King, she would be his stepmother. And he was a year older than herself. She sighed, her gaze turning to the man she loved. He was looking a little piqued and she guessed it was because Rhen had snuck off again. The young princess did enjoy worrying her brother's nerves. Slowly, she approached him and took him by the shoulder.

"Your highness. If you are looking for Princess Rhen, I can tell you where I last her...though I doubt you will be pleased..." she admitted, biting her bottom lip and then drawing her hand off of him and clearing her throat. "But then, you are considered the greatest tracker so I might not be so helpful..." she said then bit her bottom lip, glancing at her betrothed then back at his son.

[Missy]

Hunting in these woods had always been dangerous; patrols were constant, hunts were held often, and the dogs had sharp senses. Keeping to his dragon form was impossible. Who wouldn't notice a dragon? The creature, with dark, smokey eyes had to be ever vigilant when he chose to come here. The royal forest was nothing but beautiful, though, and he loved walking through it. He knew every tree, every root, every blade of grass and speck of dirt. The unlawful, unnatural hybrid pretty much lived in the King's woods. No one had ever caught him...until now.

The humans always missed him. No one ever looked up.

Sky had been perched atop a thick tree-branch when she sat down just underneath, on a tree-trunk in a clearing. Deer bounded away, a few does bleating their warnings; that sent all of the prey-creatures scurrying. There went lunch. He ought to have been angry with the young girl, but he couldn't muster the negative emotion. Looking at her, he was stunned. No human had ever been attractive to him. They were all ugly; they all had flaws.

She was perfect.

When the princess looked up -had she heard him?- she'd startled him. His right foot slipped, nearly causing him to fall as he continued to stare. He watched her jump up and tumble backward. She'd fallen instead. Taking advantage of her distraction, the dragon jumped from his perch to settle behind her. Whens he whipped around, their eyes met, and he was lost.

This is dangerous. She is dangerous. You need to leave right now. Did he move; even one inch? Of course not. How could he? Sky did manage a warning growl, however. He was still an animal, after all, and she was a threat to his survival.

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The Prince, lost in thought as he was, tensed when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He'd bet his Crown that it was a guard come to tell him his sister broke her leg or something of that nature. He was going to kill her. Then again, maybe a broken leg wouldn't be so bad. She couldn't run off from almost every lesson with a broken leg. Grinning at the thought, he turned to see who required his attention. When he saw her, his grin faded. His father would have chosen the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on to marry. He was so paranoid around her. He was sure that his being attracted to her was blatantly obvious to everyone around, so he avoided her when he could, when they were crowded.

Out of habit, he glanced around, his gaze lingering on his father, before he looked back at her. "Where was that? On the top floor, threatening to fly away as if she were some caged bird that isn't ever allowed to stretch her tiny wings?"

Rhen. There were no words. His sister was going to run him into the grave faster than war would.

[Raynesleigh]

She heard him growl but didn't move away from him. Instead she just watched him and then she reached out to him, her fingers moving over the scale like markings on his arm before slowly retracting. She looked at him and she smiled softly. "If you are trying to scare me, it isn't working," she said simply then took a deep breath, her gaze not leaving his. She bit her bottom lip. "My name is Rhen," she said, taking a step closer to him. "What's...your....what's your name? Or do you not speak?" she asked curiously. Not running off like she guessed she was supposed to.

-----

Liane slipped her fingers through her hair then sighed, giving a soft laugh. "No...I saw her in the village, headed toward the south gate. She might be headed toward the forest. I would of told her no but she doesn't listen to me any more than she listens to anyone. Free spirit is what her highness is," she laughed then bit her bottom lip.

"Perhaps I can go with you to look for her? I think she may be close to that clearing in the woods she is so fond of," she mused, giving a soft smile. "It'll be fun...please?" she asked hopefully, seeing her husband to be moving from the room with a girl on his arm. No doubt to enjoy some sexual escapades with said person. Better her the willing rather than her own self. Because the idea of sharing his bed was truly sickening.

[Missy]

The moment the girl made to move toward him, he tensed. His arm would have flinched away from her touch if he hadn't been so utterly frozen. He was about to tell her that if he'd wanted to scare her, he most certainly could have...when she smiled. He stopped breathing mid-inhale, his eyes dilating. Nothing had ever rendered him so...breathless, so disinclined to revert to his territorial instincts. There was something about her that made him want to...nurture, protect. He wanted to keep her absolutely safe.

"Do you not speak?" What? He hadn't been paying attention. What had she been saying? Exhaling the long-held breath, Sky looked into his sub-conscious' memory, picturing her as he'd seen her. He couldn't hear her in his mind, because he hadn't heard when she spoke, but he could read her lips.

Rhen. Her name was Rhen. Like a little bird? He smiled. When he looked back at her, he was nodding slowly. "I can speak," several different languages. After taking a step back away from her, to match her advancement with is own retreat, he looked around nervously. He was far too distracted and he was in danger. What if this was all a trap? If the humans caught him, they would certainly try to kill him. Dragons were not liked among the human-race. "My name...is Sky." He looked back at her then, swallowing.

He thought of something else then. Why didn't she run? He was a man with pointed ears, white hair, dark eyes, and scales seemingly carved into his skin. He was an abomination, he was unnatural. All of the others had run the moment they'd seen him, screaming as if he'd been a rat carrying the plague. "Why aren't you afraid? You've no guard, you've no way of protecting yourself...and I am," but all he could do was motion toward himself. What was he? He didn't even know.

-------------------------

Xzayl followed Liane's glance, spotting his father with a lady on his arm just before they disappeared entirely. The Prince sighed heavily, cursed his father's immorality, and glanced back at his company. It wouldn't be so bad, maybe. He definitely wanted to walk with her a while. What would everyone else think? They'd no doubt noticed the King and the company he chose to keep. Maybe they'd just take it as them getting to know each other better. That was plausible enough. "I suppose I should fetch her, yes." The sigh that followed was burdened with inconvenience and slight resentment.

"You can come, if you wish. She'll be less inclined to blow up at me with you there," he added as he began to make for the exit. He was outside of the palace entirely before he even bothered stopping and waiting or looking back to see if she followed.

[Raynesleigh]

Then bit her lip. "Why should I be afraid...Sky? Granted, you probably the most interesting person I have ever laid eyes on...with your ears and tattoo like markings but I have seen far worse. A big huge troll once but I doubt you are a troll," she said agreeably then slowly sat down on the nearby stump.

"Besides, if you were going to hurt me, you would of already done so. My father, when he is inclined, does hurt me if it pleases him to do so. Most of the time it is just on a whim. He is a monster. But I do not think you are," she smiled at him then looked down, running her fingers through her dark hair before lifting her gaze to the whole of him once more.

-----

Liane smiled, taking the opportunity to spend time with him without a second thought. So she moved quickly with him to the outside of the palace, smiling at him before walking toward the south gate.

The village was full of people hard at work as she went through and most stopped to bow at herself and Xzayl. She was still getting used to that. As Queen intended, they all had to bow and scrape as their king demanded. She found it all to be very useless. The King Sebastyn ruled his people with an iron fist and with a policy for showing no mercy. To often, she had seen starving children or mothers and fathers sent to the gallows for stealing the bread they needed to eat.

But then his taxes upon the poor and hardworking were so high, it was impossible for them to keep food upon the table. She glanced back at Xzayl, hastily making for the south gate and then exiting it to immediately be in the large forest surrounding the pala e and village for several miles.

[Missy]

"I'm not human, I'm not a person," the creature before the Princess quickly interjected, almost talking over her. At this point, he believed that he was more afraid of her than she was of him. Cautiously, he glanced about as he watched and listened for signs of any other humans.

When she told him that there were people that hurt her, the anger that he should have felt before now boiled within him, his dark eyes flashing white for a quick moment. "If you did know what I am, you wouldn't still be standing here," he added when he looked back at her.

Sky glanced at his "tattoos" then, smirking softly. He rolled his arm, the frosty-white scales shimmering in the sun that blazed down upon them. "Those aren't tattoos...and this is not my true form," he told her, swallowing as he wondered why he was telling her things she was better off not knowing. Still, if people suddenly turned up and he had not the time to run and hide, he'd rather them see him as a dragon and, if he had to turn into his dragon form, he didn't want to frighten her.

-------------------------

Despite his longer legs, the Prince wasn't keeping up as well as he should. He wasn't in that big of a hurry to catch up to his sister. He was sure that she was fine. "L-Liane? You're walking awfully quickly," despite all of the bows and greetings from others. One very bold woman ran up to him and grabbed his arm, expression desperate and eyes pleading. There was nothing to her; any beauty she may have possessed had long-since faded.

Xzayl stopped and looked down at her, green eyes searching. Behind them, in a dark alleyway, two young children were cowering in the shadows, a baby on the oldest's hip. Two boys and a baby girl, all looking very hungry. He assumed that most of the food went to the girl, some of it going to the boys when it could be spared. The mother probably received none of it, and that showed. The Prince winced.

Each child looked a little like their mother, but all of them looked different. The woman probably slept with wealthy men for what money they would give her, which is where at least two of the children probably came from. Life had torn her apart. First she met a man that used her and left, leaving her with a child she had no way of supporting, and then she'd been forced to sleep with other men to provide for the children she already had, leaving her with more children to support. It was foolish on her part, but she was desperate. Grumbling about men that slept with women just to satisfy a need with no intention of staying with them, he glanced over Liane, frowning. He had to give the woman some money. Despite her poor decisions, she obviously cared more for her illegitimate children than she did her own health and he couldn't let those innocent lives suffer more than they had to.

Fumbling with his own clothing for a moment, he pulled out a few gold coins, accompanied by a few silver, which was enough to feed them for at least a month, if not more, depending on how it was spent. "Feed your children, feed yourself, and then find an honest job," he told her as he grabbed her wrist gently, turned her hand over, and placed the coin in her hand. After he closed her fingers around his gift, he sighed and offered her an encouraging nod. "I will, highness," the woman assured him, stepping away from the Prince and his company. He watched her return to her children and before long they had all disappeared. He might have done better to actually buy them all food, but he didn't have the time.

Looking back at his company, he sighed, green eyes sad. "Come on," he told her, grabbing her hand and rushing her along now. He loathed being in town, he hated seeing all of his country's people in the state they were in. When they'd made it out of town, at the edge of the forest, he stopped and looked around. He was relieved to be away. He didn't realize that he still had her hand in his. If he had, he would have swiftly let her go and stepped away. It wasn't his place to be so familiar with her, no matter how much he wanted to be. When he was free of the town, he let out a deep breath and shook his head. His father was insane. "It doesn't make any sense."

[Raynesleigh]

Liane looked at their clasped hands and then her gaze lifted to gaze at her soon to be son in law then she sighed and drew away and looked at the beautiful landscape. "Yeah...well...a lot of things do not make sense Xzayl. Including the fact that your father, being the most powerful man in this country does nothing to help his people...I can only hope that when you become king, that you right the wrongs and injustice he brings upon his own people," she said softly then looked away, crossing her arms over her chest. After a moment, she just started to walk again, trying hard to keep herself in check. Nothing could come of her involvement to this man. Nothing at all. She was stuck.

Gathering up her skirts, she walked the familiar path through the forest she had taken as a child with Rhen. Back when they had been playmates. It was the way that her husband to be had caught sight of her and had demanded marriage. And with the marriage only a scant few weeks away, she was beginning to grow more wary and depressed at the idea of becoming a wife to him. Especially when she loved his son.

Glancing around her, she looked at Xzayl, moving through the trees and familiar places, headed toward the clearing. When she was close, she started calling for Rhen.

------

Rhen smiled. "Perhaps not..." she admitted laughingly, giving a soft blush before standing and walking toward him again, tracing her fingers over the scales. "Either way, you are not frightening," she promised, crossing her heart and then hearing Liane's voice calling her. She groaned. "Wonderful," she muttered. Slowly she looked at him.

"I should go. If my brother sees me talking to anyone he is liable to get angry and try to kill you...Perhaps...we will meet again," she said drawing away and smiling before turning and rushing through the trees.

"Coming," she called, glancing back again, but Sky was already gone. She sighed and turned, walking back toward the sound of her friend's voice then finding her with her brother. She gave a smile.

"Looking for me?" she asked, surprised her other brother Lynx was not with them. He was probably off enjoying the bed of some female. A trait he had inherited from their dear father.

[Missy]

He had been completely caught off guard when she pulled her hand from his. He hadn't even realized he was holding her hand. It had felt so natural to him...When she moved away from him, all he could do was stand where he was, staring at his hand. His hand definitely felt empty now; there was something definitely missing. Swallowing, he closed his empty hand until it formed a fist and then just let it drop. What had happened? What had he done? What did she think? His jaw clenched as the questioned sounded in his head. By the time he came to, she was already a little more than a dozen feet away from him.

Xzayl began walking after her in that moment, refusing to think of what had just happened. It would only drive him crazy and it was impossible to acquire any answers. Liane began calling for Rhen, and the man instantly became watchful. He searched for his sister, keen eyes not missing one little thing that moved around them.

He didn't like the idea of his sister out here by her lonesome. Many knew her just by looking and, as the Princess, she was always in danger. Men were vile. If a man that wanted her found her out here...what would be here to stop him? Not little Rhen, certainly. His baby sister hated him for how protective he was of her, and he knew he bored down to severely sometimes, but she was good in a world of evil. She meant so much to him. How was he to live with himself if he let anything happen to her? Rhen reminded him so much of his mother.

When she appeared, she came out through a group of trees to their right. He turned to see and let out a breath of relief when she didn't appear harmed in any way. "If you want to come out here, Rhen, you need an escort. If you don't want to take a guard, then at least come ask me to take you." He was a busy a lot of the time, that he knew, but he'd rather his sister be safe. He couldn't help but notice that her cheeks were flushed; from running or something else? Had anyone been out here with her? Was she meeting someone secretly? Suspicious, he narrowed his eyes at her. "What were you doing out here, anyway?"

-------------------------

A voice came to them through nearby trees and Sky's head whirled around to stare in that direction, eyes narrowed. Another growl emitted from him and he braced to run, but the girl was touching him...again. Why? He turned back to look at her, expression perplexed and troubled at the same time. He needed to get away from that area, quickly. "I need to-" only he'd been interrupted. It seemed that she was leaving instead. He nodded to her and then, when she began walked away, he disappeared immediately. There was no use in hanging around.

His new acquaintance moved quickly, quicker than he thought she'd be able to. That meant she was used to running through the woods. Odd for someone so...dressy. Out of sight and silent as an owl, he watched them all from above.

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Mud and muck was everywhere. How could she have fallen? The pigs had called to her and she'd gone to them, entering their pen so that she could see what was disturbing them so. It was her luck that an unruly piglet, large enough to get in her way, had darted in front of her squealing. She tripped over him and fell right into the pig's small bog. Great! Now she would arrive at the palace looking like a rat, a beggar!

Disgruntled, the female mage made a quick retreat from the swine. It seemed that had called her to play a trick on her, and the'd succeeded. It was her own weakness. Laelynn simply could not ignore a creature in need of her assistance. The animals around these parts knew that fact well and, often, though they meant no harm, played tricks on her. She should have known.

Now, she had to arrive at the palace looking as if she lived among street-dwellers. Oh well. It wasn't a big deal to her. That was, until the guards stopped her progress at the steps to the over-sized palace doors. "Excuse me," she cleared her throat, looking from one guard to the other. Pale purple eyes shimmered as she studied their body-language. "I'm simply trying to get to where I'm expected to be on time. I'm not how I appear, I assure you."

Laelynn argued with the guards for a good ten minutes before she became annoyed and threw her hands up in defeat. The would not let her thought. "Seek out Master Numair! He will tell you that I'm meant to be here!" The didn't even flinch; no effort was made. "This is not happening right now..."