The rambunctious air put on by the large gathering of individuals wealthy and poor alike had quieted down to solemn respect as the ceremony was now under way. It was a joyous occasion to see what was once a young girl now become an adult and achieve the ranks of Queenhood, but it was also at a traumatic cost due to the loss of the King, her father, only a little more than a month ago. Although they had already carried out his funeral it was still fresh in everyone's minds despite attempts to liven things up with fancy decorations, confetti, alcohol, and an invitation to everyone around the kingdom to take part in the celebrations; the lucky ones able to fit inside were swarming around the royal gardens, open to the public for today, as she took the stage on the balcony above. Although evident that they would create quite a mess down there, it helped alleviate some of the tension by allowing them to go wild for once. Forgot all of the troubles both behind them and ahead for a brief moment.

And so the eighteen year old Aribelle tried her best to hold back tears for her departed father, smiling for him as she kneeled down in front of their kingdom's flag; large and flowing up on the wall of the castle above their heads. It had a blue background and a radiant silver circle in the center flanked by a pair of silver eagle wings.

At this point in the ceremony it was normally the previous king or queen who would bring the crown and place it on the successor's head, but due to his death the crown was brought instead by his wife, her mother; an elegant peach haired woman with pale skin and a fair face, dressed in a flowing white gown glittering with jewels. In this kingdom it wasn't the King's wife who was Queen or vice versa, but instead whoever was born into the royal family, if achieving the thrown, was King or Queen depending on their gender. Their significant other didn't get such a title in marriage but was often still highly respected, as was the case of Lady Ildrean. She held a plush purple pillow containing a picture of King Wildred standing tall and proud behind the royal crown, an expensive silver and blue headpiece with many jewels. It had been with the royal family for many generations. What was once her father's was now her's as of this day. It all felt so surreal. After all, she had only found out about her ascension to the thrown a bit after her father passed away. She had older siblings, three in fact, who would have gotten this title before her. It was so much to take in upon finding out their news of declining the throne, all for various reasons. Although she was slightly frightened at her newfound responsibilities and didn't believe she was entirely ready, she decided that she would do her best to become a Queen to make her father proud. To make her entire kingdom proud.

"Do you, Lady Aribelle Grandhelm, accept your father's crown in exchange for serving our great Kingdom of Estoria, which are forefathers have spent many years and much bloodshed to build into what it is now, so that you may continue our legacy and make Estoria even greater than what it was before?" An elderly man wearing priest robes questioned her. He was the highest member of the Estorian Church, a position that granted him some unique powers such as carrying out this ceremony.

"I do," she answered after taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"Then as of this moment, the 7th day of the 9th month of the 889th year on the Estorian Calendar, the royal crown has passed from the late King Wildred Grandhelm to his 4th child, Queen Aribelle Grandhelm!"

There was much applause and roaring of the audience as the crown was removed from it's resting place and placed on top of hear head. It was heavier than expected, almost making her head fall down into her chest, but her neck muscles managed to correct this imbalance in time. Perhaps this was foreshadowing of the heavy burden that was now hers. Hopefully she could handle it. If not, well, at least she would have many new people who she could hopefully trust to put her on the right course.

She got out of her kneeling position. As a queen she would not be expected to kneel so easily; only to the flag on certain ceremonies. She than turned to face down to the gardens below and gave a speech, her voice shaky during parts and stopping to pause to compose herself or remember the lines that came next, but luckily she didn't mess up too badly on the speech she had been planning for a week. It was a relief when she got through it and the crowd clapped for her. Not that she was shy, but she fully expected to go bumbling around and forget her lines, embarrassing herself in front of everyone in her first moments as Queen. Her mother was such a better public speaker than her. Aribelle stole a glance behind her, smiling when she saw her mother clapping as well, a look of approval on her face. Guess she didn't do that bad after all. But than again someone's mother would think her child was perfect even if they got up there and started babbling like a drunken chimpanzee, so this didn't tell her much.

She went back from the ledge so that a few other royals could take her place and give their own speeches. This lasted for a couple more hours, turning what was a lunch when everyone arrived to a late dinner feast now that the entire ceremony had come to a close. Aribelle let out another sigh of relief now that everyone was over as signified by a group of trumpet players sounding out their majestic tune. Now all she had to do was shake some people's hands, talk to them if need be by exchanging pleasantries, and then stuff her face with all the best foods that had been prepared especially for this day. Her meal would be with a more select group, although still large, while the rest of the routy crowd would go to another dining hall to eat their complementary meal. Well, their taxes had paid for it, but it still felt good for them to get something tangible out of their hard earned money.

Her stomach growled due to thinking about all of the food that awaited her. Hopefully that wasn't too unladylike, and hopefully nobody had heard over the loud noise of their surroundings. She glanced around before continuing on her way. Guards, high ranking members of royalty, advisors, close associates, a few religious figures, and her mother formed the group that was making their way to the royal dinning hall, but there was still plenty more people around in the meantime, causing their progress to be slow going despite it not being too far from their current position.

"I'm so hungry. Just let me eat already!" She thought to herself, although kept a smile on her face all this time. "So the burdens of being Queen already start for me. All I need is one little sweat roll...or more..."

The piercing roars of those sheep were already irritating to hear from the start. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion; a moment to celebrate... to drink and make merry. The young princess was now being enthroned as the new ruler of their kingdom. What could possibly be a reason for someone to feel immense hatred? A dozen of reasons... apparently. These events were nothing more than just fodder for those naive citizens who were already satisfied with filling their bellies with useless indulgences; people who were content to reproduce and live another day without a care for those who had died to defend them, to keep them alive. Last time the books checked, the King wasn't in the battle of the Moors where almost a hundred soldiers died... The King wasn't also in the battle of the Plains where more than just commanders sacrificed their lives to keep those peasants safe. The King didn't even dirty his shiny shoes to even just empathize with those who lost their limbs... Nothing that the King did was worth praising.

His daughter? Where in Ashmedai's name was she when the generals were dying? Where in heaven was she when the soldiers were starving when the supply routes were cut off by those damned dwarves? No. Not even the queen was worth praising; none in the royal family were worth praising. They were all cowards who used the bodies of innocent men with wives and children to save their own sorry carcasses. Such vile creatures, such greed. Yet, these mindless cattle praise them as if their blood was the one spilled on swords upon swords. At the very least, these pathetic excuses of rulers could have legalized magic, and erased the sickening stigma that was implanted upon all who use the arcane arts, but no... they despise everyone who could gain the upper hand on them... Son's family had to hide their abilities in fear of those wretched fools. Even he had to hide his abilities, lying to the masses that his tattoo was mainly for design... nothing more, nothing less. Living in the shadows of those he could have easily ended... No. This selfishness has to end...

Son watched the Queen... err... Ariben? Ari? Aribelle? Ah, Aribelle. Queen Aribelle... Son forced himself to digest the disgusting sight of the bloodstained crown to be placed on that worthless head of that poor excuse of a princess. The crown which his father... his mother... his family... died defending, was now being placed on another incompetent ruler. Estoria will fall if these kinds of leaders were the ones being thrown to be the King or Queen; in fact, based on what Son was seeing, it looks like as long as you have a connection with the royal family, you're in! Brains? Obviously not. Heart? Only if you have one made out of ice. However, Son knew his duty... He was the queen's adviser, and as such, he should act as one... No matter how unbearable it might become. If he allowed Estoria to fall, he would have let his family down... He wouldn't want that.

Son closed his eyes in fury as the crown was set on the girl's head... assuring her position as queen. Son knew what was going to happen next... She was going to give a speech... Nope, that was his limit. Son closed his senses entirely, trying to muffle all of the hypocritical words she was spouting from that horrid mouth. After a few agonizing moments, Son joined the rest of the royal group towards the dining hall. Son kept his distance as FAR as possible from the hypocrite queen. Son ignored every person who met with the royal group; not that there was anyone who wanted to shake hands or exchange pleasantries with a man in a dark robe and hood. Even the other royal officers were keeping their distance from him.

Suddenly, he noticed that the crowd was relentlessly closing in on their small group, to the point that it became constricting. Those fake smiles that the royals were giving the crowd just rose the frenzied fanaticism that was already boiling in each sheep. Son noticed a group of young men who were now edging closer to the queen, apparently trying to sate their fanaticism... The dark adviser rushed forward through the formation of royals as he held up his left hand, effectively blocking the group of boys from edging any closer to the group.

"Pardon my manners, but my majesty, the Queen, would like to take a breather from all these commotions." Son said in a grim tone as the other peasants looked at him with ire. "If you truly wish for our Queen to be at her best, then you will allow her to rest, for she is human like all of us." Son smiled; an evil smile. Then he whispered something to those vile peasants that he hoped the queen wouldn't hear. "Step away from the queen, you witless worms." Son whispered in a morbid way as he smiled and looked at the path ahead of them, apparently instilling dread into those peasants who wanted to meet the queen and exchange pleasantries. He turned to Aribelle, speaking in a calm tone now.

"Pardon my manners, your majesty. Please, your meal, as well as the meals of the honorable officers and guests have been specially prepared for this glorious occasion." Son chuckled as he bowed and returned to the back of the formation; causing every peasant near him to edge further away then they already were...

Rand watched as the people applauded the new queen, "There sure are a lot of them." He muttered, all Rand could do was sit and listen to the speeches, but he was fidgeting way too much something didn't feel quiet right or maybe he just felt exposed wearing his best dress clothes whatever it was Rand tried to keep quiet until the end and failed miserably, his flight or fight responses kept kicking in he sensed danger just didn't know where, but by the time he scanned the crowd the event had ended and the queen was on the move.

Following after the queen was difficult an entourage of nobles and military officers followed her in her wake all Rand could do was push his way through his other hand on his sword pushing through was no effort and eventually he made his way through to see the adviser send back a crowd of people they looked frightened but Rand didn't have the time to stop and see what was going on he had to catch the queen and he did falling in behind her like a shadow but his sword hand never straying far from the metal hilt of the blade and proceeded to follow her into the hall.

Finn sat with other people of his royal class, mainly some of the Lords and Ladies that he had made friends with. They were some of the few humans in this country that didn't despise elves. As he listened to the Queen's speech he kept trying to catch her sister, Serena's, eye. They had met when he had came to Estoria two months ago. When they fell in love Finn decided to prolong his trip. His father would never approve of a human. He'd probably collapse the moment Serena entered the Illinor Woods.

Finn applauded and stood with everyone else and fell in line with the other members of royalty that would be dining with the Queen. Finn had no bad feelings about the Queen. Of course she was young and inexperienced but she would learn. And she had plenty of allies to help her. Finn was sure that he could negotiate some kind of deal with her that would please his father and also offer up the help of elves in the war against the dwarves. As much as his father hated humans, he was a sucker for a good deal, and ever since the drunken son of the dwarf king had vomited all over the castle floor, the dwarves had a bad rap with him.

Princess Serena Grandhelm~
Serena watched her sister gladly as she made her speech. Surprisingly she wasn't jealous at all. Serena had no pleasure in being a princess, let alone a queen. She despised the rules, the dresses, the dancing, everything. She wanted to be her own person, not some puppet played by the kingdom. Which is why she fell in love with Finn.

Finn was the adventurous Elf prince. Serena never had a dull and boring moment with him. He was full of new questions and wonders. Her love was passionate and sweet. A day didn't go past without her thinking of him. She needed him like a knight needed his armor.

As the ceremony ended, Serena followed the new queen to the dinning hall. They were bombarded by peasants and noble families alike, congratulating her for her new title. Serena carefully slipped in a yawn. Hearing speeches can be really exhausting, he thought to herself.

A group of boys started toward Aribelle. Like a fox the special advisor, Son, stepped in front of the queen and stopped them. Son was creepy and secretive in a way, Serena never liked him. But he was the special advisor, there wasn't much she could do except ignore him.

Rose Thorel~

Rose stood near the other servants working in the castle. She grinned happily. This was Aribelle's day. She couldn't be more excited. She listened intently as Aribelle gave her speech. This was the moment Rose had been waiting for. This was what she had foretold one year ago.

Despite the cheering, the lively decorations, and all the smiling faces. Rose knew evil would come. This wasn't the end. She was unsure what form the evil would take but she was prepared to protect Aribelle, her brother, and others if needed. She would do anything to make the future right. Even though magic was hated through out the kingdom, Rose was grateful for gift. It gave her the Lowe to protect others, and she wasn't afraid to use it. She would never let anyone know of her gifts though, she would protect her magic too.

Azoth was standing in a corner near the back of the room, he felt like he should not be here.
He was a Wetboy, not a Duke, not someone fitting this place.
But as his teacher had said, Wetboy's in time go good to go to special events, they will see faces, learn of changes and often, they tend to have a job.
Today was not much different, and in all reality, he was already done...

Earlier a Maid was bringing drinks around to guests.
He had stayed close to the woman, walking behind her, acting like a second shadow, staying out of everyone's sight, using the socializing as a distraction, and when she gave a drink to the target, he "accidentally" bumped against her.
He apologize right away, and grabbed a new drink, stealthy dropping a small tablet in the drink and gave it to the man before walking away.
By this time tomorrow the poison would reach a full run trough his body and the result would be something similar to a heart attack, the man would die in seconds without ever feeling anything.

But as he done his job he was forced to remain on this dull party, without anything to do.
At least that was what he thought, but then suddenly people started to gather in a crowd.
The higher class, and in most cases the ones thinking there so much better, were saying things like "undignified" "animal" "disgrace" "slut"
The male's were mostly speaking with each other about body parts, female ones.
Of course there were those that did not acted like this, but these things were what caught Azoth's ears.
He pushed himself trough the crowd, wondering what this was all about.
What he found surprised him.

---

A young girl opened her eyes.
She sat up, barely, and looked around at the forest around her.
nothing looked familiar, not even her own nude body, as far as she could think, she did not even know what everything was, she did not know the color's of the tree's or leaves, she did not even knew what a tree was.
She looked further, seeing something in the far distance, if she knew what it was she would have known it was a castle, a huge one at that, but she did not knew it.
Yet this huge thing was interesting for her and she started to crawl, yes crawl.
It was instinct, nature that compelled her to crawl as a baby, reason, she did not even know how to walk.

It took her quite some time before she finally reached the place.
How it was possible is unknown, perhaps because she was crawling, perhaps it was her nudity but the guards let her pass, might be that they just did not see her.
Eventually she reached the front door, she looked at the large wooden thing in front of her and was surprised when it suddenly opened.
A woman exited the castle, giggling to the man she was with, they left the door open.
Curious as she is to all these new things, all these grand things, she crawled inside.

---

Azoth could not believe his eyes, a young, Asian looking girl, nude, covered in mud was crawling on the ground, her eyes looked blank and it seemed she entered the castle more by accident then on purpose.
Azoth wondered what the girls history was, but he decided it better to stay away from this.
He walked away, going back in the shadows of the room's corners.

Agilne Sky put on her gloves. She was in her house, dressing for her job as a maid at the castle. She was an assassin, this job was a cover-up. She would get jobs from time to time and get paid well. She walked out of her house and to the castle, where there would be a ceremony to make the princess the new Queen. She stepped into the crowd and walked with them, the ceremony was about to start. When the Queen gave her speech, she clapped along. She stood along at the back of the room, waiting for the order to bring out the food and drinks. For now, the nobles were chatting to the Queen and to eachother. She wondered what the next few weeks would bring. Certainly it would be full of surprises.

Goliath smirked as he looked upon the kingdom. His master was flying him in through the back. He knew the citizens would come into a panic if they saw a dragon fly in. "Vorqic d'nag tiric ti coi?" He said as the dragon flew him in. It wasn't long before he landed behind the castle away from the sight of the public. There were several knights who were waiting for Goliath to show. Goliath was to be a new personal guard of the newly appointed queen. He wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. They were putting a shiny piece of metal on someone's head and calling them their leader. It seemed like a bad way to choose a leader but it wasn't his right to speak of. He remembered being given the task several weeks ago. When his master was resting and he was watching the horde of treasure. He remembered seeing a hooded figure approach and ask for an audience with the dragon. He remembered an argument and next thing he knew was that he was suppose to watch over the new queen. It was all weird to him but he didn't care. He got off the dragon and looked to it. "Clad doege. Si geou ocuir wux poktosh." The dragon then lifted off and flew away out of sight from the public. Goliath looked at the other. His dragon styled armor and long silver hair had a shine to it like a crystal in the sun light. "Sorry if I'm late. I do not wish to waste your time." The knights then escorted Goliath into the castle. He stopped to see a crowd of people be stopped by a short and I'll tempered man. Goliath walked up and kneeled in front of the newly appointed queen. "Your majesty. My name is Goliath. I am a new personal guard." He stood up and held out a golden necklace with a dragon crest on it. What made it distinct was that the only way to get one was to steal it from a dragon or serve one. "Take this. It is a symbol that you are forever watched by the dragons eyes."

Alex clapped when the crown was put on the princess's head. As he listened to the princess's speech he thought to himself "I shouldn't be surprised that the King had a such a beautiful daughter" He then stood up and followed the rest of the nobles as they joined the princess in the dining room. He waited till everyone had greeted her. He saw the dragon soldier introduce himself. "so she has a new body guard, interesting" He muttered. He then finally got his turn to greet her and he walked up and bowed " It's a pleasure to finally meet you Queen Aribelle" He then stood up and said "I thought you would prefer to get a personal visit from me instead of sending a messenger." Alex smiled and said "I hope that now that i'm here we can talk about the future of trade between our Kingdoms."

Rand stood behind the princess watching everyone after what seemed to be an eternity of butt kissing nobles, a large man came in and gave her a necklace with a dragon on it and announced he was to be her new body guard, the way he did it all made Rand suspicious but he almost seemed unsure of the way things worked otherwise he wouldn't of been so frank with everything he nodded to the new arrival but his hand never strayed from the hilt of his blade.

What came after the strange arrival was a king talking about better relations between the their respective kingdoms nothing big and nothing new but what shocked him was like Aribelle he was young too young but there was something about him that made him stand out to Rand besides the fact of being too young but then after his announcement to the queen he took his seat and Rand busied himself with the others that came up and for the rest of the night he was wondering where this danger was coming from.

After the last noble sat down Rand saw her a girl crawling around on the floor like an infant the worst part she was naked he pointed to a couple of knights "Assist me." Was all he had to say before they nodded and fell in behind him "Miss, are you okay?" He yelled across the room his voice like a whip silencing all other conversations thoughts spinning in his head "Who is this person? Where did she come from? and most importantly how did she get passed the guard?" When he covered the distance to the girl he grabbed one of her arms as a knight grabbed the other "Can you speak miss?" He asked.

The girl looked up when she heard someone yell something she did not understand.
Watching some person running towards her, silencing the crowd around her.
As he grabbed her arm she looked at it, confusion willing her eyes, and also some fear, then he spoke to her.
Again she did not understand what, still, he was talking to her, giving her some attention, so she smiled.
Then an other man grabbed her other arm, causing her to look at the hand that lifted her up, then to the guard and smiling again like some idiot, unaware of the looks of some males as they lifted her up, revealing her nude and mud covered body.
The same woman that before were slandering insults began to gossip between each other.

---

Azoth watched the scene unfold, sure he wanted to stay out of it, but he was curious.
And who could blame him, he was bored, job done and stuck at some stupid party, so this turn of events was nice.
Still, he noticed the looks of some of the males and hated it.
He was a pro, he only took those that were his targets, rare occasions he had to take down a bystander that had seen things.
But if he would disregard his teachings, disregard his profession, he would kill all those man right here and there, if any escaped, he would hunt them down even.
He had seen people like them when he was growing up, how they raped girls to death, he recognized those eyes and it disgusted him.

He pulled of his jacked, walked straight into the crowd, knocking some of the bad mouth noble bitches out of the way, and being even more rude to the male's, letting them trip, while freighting excuses for it.
He knew it was risking his cover, but he had to do something.
He walked up the the girl and thrown his jacket over her, covering her front.
"to prevent foul eyes"
That was all he said as he walked away again, glancing some of the men that had been eyeballing her.
The man all looked angry at Azoth, but it seemed they realized when they should not mess with someone as the took a step back when they looked into his eyes.

---

The girl watched how a man walked trough the crowd, giggling at the tripping people, then she was surprised at her self, looking at her body, wondering what she just did, not even knowing what laughing was.
It scared her when something was thrown on her, but when she noticed it was from the man that she had seen coming she smiled again, yet she stiffened when he spoke, feeling something off of the man.
The act was kindness, the reason felt like he was similar, to what? but his voice sounded darker.
Still she looked at the thing he had thrown on her, it was warm so she smiled again.
She looked at the man that spoke to her before with curious eyes, wondering what was going to happen next.

Rand watched the man who gave the girl the jacket go "He was a little creepy, You there" He said pointing at another knight "Go start a bath for this girl and get her some clothes that fit" He would bark orders at the other knights as he took the girl out of the dining hall and into the hallways of the castle "Can you understand me?" He asked the girl once more but he knew by the curious look she gave him probably not but he gave the knight carrying the girls other arm one last order "You, go find my sister maybe she can help me." The knight nodded and left him and the girl alone in the dark hallway.

While the 3 were walking had should have been clear that walking was not something she could do correctly, crossing her legs, stumbling a little, only standing because she was being help upwards.
Still she did not resist, this was all new and all so very interesting.
"Can you understand me?"
She looked at the man that spoke to her again, curious to where they were going, not giving a reply at all, wondering what all these things were that was coming out of the people's facial opening, it sounded interesting but also confusing.

As the other knight that was holding her up left, she instantly dropped towards the ground,unable to stand on her own legs, not knowing how to do so, not even knowing she can do that at all...
He looked the man that left with sad eyes, she had found this upwards movement fun, and now she lost one of the 2 that made it possible, she wanted him to come back and play the upwards movement game some more.
With the same expression she looked at the other man, and then to her own legs, poking them with her finger before giggling by the feeling, again she looked at her stomach as she realized she made that sound.
She looked at the man next to her again, giving him an other smile.

Geralt was not overly fond of such gatherings. It was harder to keep track of potential threats in a crowd and thus he kept to the outskirts of the ceremony. He wore no ceremonial armor, no richly tailored clothing, just his simple leather armor and forest green cloak. His bow was strung and rested on his back. To the many that did not know of him, they would see little threat from the weapon that was shouldered, after all it would take time to ready it and nock an arrow. This was not the case for the Ranger however. As easily as one would draw a sword, he could unsling his bow, nock an arrow, and have it drawn to fire. And so he was content to watch the proceedings.

As the young queen accepted her crown and gave a speech, he was only half listening. Of course he clapped with the crowds but his attention was more focused on those gathered. Once the royal party began to move, Geralt moved with them though at a distance. A palace guard moved to intercept the cloaked and armed Ranger but upon seeing his face backed away and nodded respectfully. He returned the gesture and praised the man for his vigilance instead of scorning him for ignorance. Better safe than sorry.

He noticed Sonorus, the so called 'adviser' scare away a group of peasant boys. Though Geralt held no love for the younger man he felt that it was a good move. Geralt had no intention of sitting and eating and instead took a mug of wine from the table and stepped back to lean on a column. The Elven Prince, Finn Audalian, was in attendance as well as King Alexander Gildone. The two royals from other nations were likely here to discuss alliances and trade agreements. All well and good, Geralt thought. The young queen would need such things.

A commotion shook him from his thoughts and he turned to regard a strange sight indeed. A girl, naked and covered in mud, had crawled her way into the palace. Geralt held a look of confusion momentarily and then thought about having a little chat with the guards about their vigilance. For now it appeared that she meant no ill will but one could never be too careful these days. Three men rushed to her aid, giving her a jacket and helping her to stand. The one that had given her the jacket glared at several men who were regarding the girl with far too much interest. Their reactions were surprising as they backed down. Geralt noticed this and committed the mans face to memory, something about that one..

One of her newest advisers, a man named Son, oddly enough, appeared to instill a lot of fear in some of the guests surrounding her, unless she was reading too much into the situation and the looks that the people gave him as the man went to the back of the formation. Then again she was hungry and still jittery from all of this commotion with her inauguration, so her mind could be playing tricks on her. That was probably it. She didn't like to think ill of anyone without proper evidence and he seemed kind enough to her.

Looking from him back in front of her she spotted, quite easily given his large stature, an armored man approaching, allowed past her guards without incident so was expected. Ah, so this man must be the new knight that had been assigned to her. She had almost forgotten about him with everything going on. Apparently he was quite skilled and would help things out tremendously. She had to strain her neck to look up at him and risk her crown falling off her head. Luckily he quickly kneeled down upon reaching her, allowing her to regain a more comfortable position. She readjusted her tilted crown as he spoke.

She had no reason to decline his offer to take his necklace, as far as she knew, so she thanked him and placed it around her neck. It matched well with her other jewelry, appearing quite fitting on her.

"Ah yes, of course!" She replied to Alex. She was starting to once again get overwhelmed by people trying to talk to her. So many people, so little time, and her sweat rolls were getting cold in the royal dinning room. "I must say that I'm quite famished from the long day and would prefer to fit in a meal before we discuss things further. However, you may feel free to accompany me for the meal. If that is satisfactory I can easily call for another seat and silverware at the table."

Before he could respond she heard commotion further down the hall out of her sight. It didn't sound like a violent struggle, at least, but it certainly was drawing a large amount of attention from the surrounding individuals. On one hand she was quite hungry and didn't want to keep herself or her royal quest waiting, but on the other hand this had peeked her interest and, if it was in fact a threat or would evolve into one, it could be very important to know that. She glanced at the strong looking man named Goliath and a few other of her surrounding guards.

"I'm going to investigate that noise. Cover me," she ordered, making her way over there. Hopefully it wouldn't take long. The scene that was now in front of her was certainly surprising. A barely dressed young woman appeared to be heavily intoxicated in some ways, but in other ways not. It was hard to tell exact what her mental state was. A child? Perhaps that was the best way to describe it. Whatever the case may be it didn't make much sense, leaving her speechless for a matter of seconds.

"Ah...you there," she said, pointing at Rand, "good luck with that. Keep up the good work and stuff; you're in charge there." She turned to continue back to where her food awaited. Better not deal with such a bizarre situation.

Rose Thorel-

Rose broke away from the other servants as Aribelle went up to the large commotion. Right away Rose could feel something strange, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Suddenly she saw a naked girl on the ground. Rose knew the strange feeling was coming from her. Who is she? Before Rose had time to figure out her thoughts, the queen was already leaving. Rose was supposed to be serving the queen and her entourage tonight, she would get punished if she wasn't there. She smiled when her brother was put in charge of the girl. She would ask later about the situation. For now, she needed to do her job.

Princess Serena~

Serena smiled as her sister left for the commotion. She would of followed Aribelle if Finn wasn't there. It would seem odd if she conversed informally in public with him, so instead she gazed at him. Her cheeks were already a little pink. She hoped they would get time alone to talk tonight. The whole ceremony was boring Serena immensely. It was taking forever just to get to dinner. Serena sighed quietly. Soon, the day would be over though. All that was required was some patience.

Rand led the girls to the bath and had some servant girl wash and bathe the girl while he looked away "Why did she assign me this job?" He said aloud to no one when the servant girl was finished he helped her take the girl out of the bath and gave her some clothes "It appears, Sir that the girl can't dress herself" The servant girl told Rand quiet flatly too, "Well then let me help you get her dressed." He said quiet nervous "This isn't my job." after helping the girl get dressed he helped the girl up and realizing she couldn't walk just stuck to carrying the girl, "Now to find the queen" He said and walked out of the room.

Son, who was partaking form some tea displays, glared at the commotion; taking some precise observations regarding the queen. It was quite obvious that a lot, if not all, of the guests there avoided him, heck, even the one serving the tea was already trembling. In all honesty, Son didn't mind that he was being avoided like a plague, in fact, he reveled in it. Perhaps he already had gotten used to such a life, that it was already considered normal. Son was the observation type of person... He liked to analyse people, and guess what, he found his target... The Queen's sister, Serena. It seems like this princess was gazing at someone, evidenced by the pinkish hue of her cheeks, which signifies increased blood circulation near the face. Blood Circulation increases upon heightened emotional scenarios, and basing it on how Serena gazed at the elvish prince... Son would therefore conclude that something was sparkling between the two.

Son smirked... In his mind, he had already circulated some strategies to manipulate the elvish prince and the princess in order to seal an alliance between the elves and their kingdom.

"Interesting... Love. Such a strong emotion, yet, so easily manipulated and severed." Son mumbled to himself as his red eyes surveyed the crowd.

Next, Son observed the interaction between Aribelle and the king of another kingdom, Alex, was it? The adviser had already began concocting some plans to manipulate the king to their side... It would be easy. The key to winning is to find your opponent's weakness, and use it against him... To take their strength and destroy it... To pinpoint critical spots, and make them suffer for it... Until they break and fall. This king was no exception... All Son needed to do was to find a crucial point against him, and the wealth would soon be theirs.

"Soon... someone will want to marry Aribelle... If that Alex would be the one to do so... then, manipulating both kingdoms will be quite easy." Son smirked; smiling to himself. Suddenly, he noticed a growing commotion... With a swift stride, he arrived at the scene, only to see a barely-clothed girl... Normally, scenes such as this would arouse most men, but to Son, it was all but a display of weakness and tomfoolery. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that this girl was more than what she seemed to be... He needed to make sure that her appearance won't jeopardize his plans. As Rand left the area, Son followed through. He saw Rand conversing with one of the servants, and Son knew he has to step in.

"Sir Rand. If you don't mind, I would just like your service in protecting and keeping this young lady in your custody." Son spoke in a calm tone as the servant began to make way for him; fear or disgust, no one was sure. "Until then, she will be under your care. She will be treated as a guest in this kingdom until her background information can be uncovered." Son spoke as he looked at Rand with determination. "Her majesty is extremely busy, and I would prefer it if she was not so stressed. The real hell starts tomorrow, and as such, her majesty must be completely rejuvenated without further worries. I worry for health and safety." Son sighed as he turned around. "By the way, make sure no one else will talk to the queen while she dines... It would be hectic if these guests would try to manipulate her so early into her regime."

With that Son went back to the dining room as he blocked one guest after another from talking to the queen. Finally, he arrived to Aribelle as he bowed a little bit; it was already known that Son never made a full bow... Not yet.

"My queen, sorry for the interruption. Would you like me to hold of all other guests' inquiries and concerns until tomorrow? That way you won't be disturbed. I'll take care of the other matters regarding political and militaristic cases. As of this moment, my queen, just enjoy your break." Son smiled as he turned around and glared at all the other guests, making it certain that the queen was not interested in pleasantries at the moment. With a swift movement, he ordered some servants to inform the guests that the queen was unavailable for any concerns at the moment.

Son left the queen's side... with much contempt.

"Such weakness... Can't even hold your head high in these occasions.." Son whispered silently, his teeth gritting with loathing.

"Ah...you there, good luck with that. Keep up the good work and stuff; you're in charge there."
A new voice, the girl looked up to see a pretty girl in front of her, she did not smile this time as she was mesmerized by all the pretty thingy's like the thing on the girls head and the thing hanging around the girls neck.

From there on she was put into a thing of water, this she knew, not the bath, not the word, no the substance, the liquid, this she knew, it was familiar, it was like it belonged to her or she belonged to it? she could not tell.
Then the other girls started to wash her, mostly she let it happen, trough at a few moments they came to spots on her body that either felt weird or ticklish, causing her to splash and giggle some more, resulting that she looked at her stomach again, but by now she was starting to get used to it and giggles more because she was giggling.
The servants used this moment to continue to wash her.

Then the nice man appeared again and gave her something soft, she grabbed it by instinct and started to toy with it as a 6 month old child, giggling some more about it.

"It appears, Sir that the girl can't dress herself"
"Well then let me help you get her dressed."
She looked up as she heard people speak, curious about what was going to happen now, dropping her new play thing.
She let the nice man do what he had to do with her getting dressed, not struggling, she liked this person.

Around the time he said "This isn't my job." she looked at him, smiling again, not understanding a word he is saying but she thought he was making those sounds to her.
Then suddenly the man lifted her up in his arms.
"yelp"
The first sound she made since she woke up, revealing that she did had a voice at least, trough it only outed because the sudden lift surprised her.

Then a new person showed up "Sir Rand. If you don't mind, I would just like your service in protecting and keeping this young lady in your custody."
She may not understand a word he was saying, but the person in more ways them one frightened the crap out of her, she stiffened and then started to crawl deeper into the nice man's arms, curling up like a ball against his chest, fearful eyes looking trough a small opening between her arm and shoulder.

Once the man left she relaxed a bit more, looking to the nice man's face, fear was still painted into her eyes.

Alex was going to answer when the queen moved to see what the crowd was for. Alex turned in time to see the mud covered naked girl being carried by the guards. Alex didn't need the eyes of the hawk to see that this girl was unusual. "well hopefully a explanation for that can be brought to light after she is cleaned up." He thought to himself. Alex then glanced at the adviser Son and watched him leave. Alex then walked over to one of the men that came with him and said "please ask Him that I wish to have a audience with him, if he has the time" The servant bowed and quickly moved to deliver the message to Son. Alex then thought to himself "Let's hope that this adviser is willing talk, Last time I tried to make a treaty The adviser was more of a hindrance that a aid."