Inez spent over an hour searching the woods near their tent, calling out to Medya, and hoping she would return to her. She knew that if a Kittani who can turn invisible doesn't want to be found in the woods, then she certainly won't be found. But she had to try. But after all that time, she stumbled through the dark and back into the tent, her eyes puffy with the tears that she had shed. She collapsed on the pillows, still sobbing in a way that she was sure was not queenlike, but she didn't care. She just wanted the love of her life back. What had started out as one of the best nights of her life, had ended as one of the worst.

In the early hours of the morning, Medya finally crawled into the tent, scratches all over her body as she had gone crashing through the underbrush before putting her clothes on. Inez immediately grabbed her, pulling her into a tight embrace so she couldn't run away. Not that Medya wanted to, she hated being apart from Inez after the night they'd had. Their tears mixed together as did their lips, knowing that their love was still there even without saying it.

"I'm so sorry my queen. I'm just so anxious about that brand. I can't bear for you to think any less of me for that, and I don't want to be pitied," Medya tried to explain through hiccups that had started during her crying.

Inez only pulled her closer, rubbing her back and kissing her everywhere she could reach. "Oh, my love, I don't pity you. I am in awe of you. That you went through all of that and came out as this strong and powerful woman that I couldn't help but fall in love with. But I am terribly ashamed of my family and what they did to you and so many others. Did you know that more than half of Liana's crew has that same mark? I don't pity them either, I salute them and their tenacity to fight back. Do you understand now?"

"I do, I do!" Medya gulped, before collapsing again, exhausted onto Inez's chest. "I'm so sorry, I know I'm overreacting, but that was one of my biggest fears, that you would feel upset every time you saw that symbol on me. I don't want to cause you pain, only pleasure and happiness."

"And you do, my silly kitten," assured Inez while she wiped away Medya's tears. "Now, sleep with me. We have another long day tomorrow, and we need our rest."

"First, I'm going to pretend that you didn't just call me kitten. And then, I'm going to ask if we can we sleep naked together my queen?" Medya asked shyly. "I think I need to feel your skin on mine, I need to be as close as I can be to you right now."

Inez grinned at her love, kissing her eyes and the cute little pink nose before capturing her lips for a soft and loving kiss. "Of course, we can. I will hold you all night if you like. And after tonight, you're no longer a kitten, you're a fierce mountain lion."

"I like that better, yes." Medya quickly stripped out of her clothes, and crawled under the furs, getting comfortable as she awaited Inez.

Inez was right behind her, stripping off the tunic and pants before she crawled in as well. She'd never replaced her shredded panties, so it was a quick strip. Medya lay on her side, pushing back against her, letting her know she wanted to be spooned while being held. "I thought this made it too difficult to sleep?" Inez reminded her, thinking of the time in the tent when her tail nub had poked her.

"That was before I knew what you felt for me. Now, I'd let you do whatever you like with my tail and enjoy it while we slept," Medya pointed out.

The taller woman smiled, and then wrapped her arms around the smaller, pulling her tight against her chest. She could feel the nub pressed against her again, but this time there was no flinching, only a deep sigh of contentment from Medya, who was soon breathing deeply in her arms. Once she knew that her love was sleeping, Inez finally let herself drift off too, knowing she couldn't let anything like that happen again. Medya's past had left her too fragile, and Inez vowed to make sure she could show her just how much she had grown and blossomed despite all those trials.

In the morning, they got a late start, having finally fallen asleep well after they had meant to. Luckily, as Liana told her with an embarrassed flush, everyone had slept in. As she explained it, Medya and Inez had been rather vocal, and the tents weren't exactly noise proof, so everyone heard them and got horny and pretty much every tent ended up being noisy that night. Except for Noa and Katja that is. Katja was too recently escaped from her past, and Noa's wasn't any better. They had taken it slowly and stuck to kisses and cuddles, since neither wanted to hurt the other.

But the camp was finally packed away and everyone on horseback just after a late breakfast, and they made good time throughout the day. The forest soon gave way to apple orchards and farms with empty fields that looked to be getting ready for planting. With winter hopefully coming to a close soon, it wouldn't be long before those fields were full of growing vegetables.

Lunch was eaten on horseback, since nobody was really hungry after the late breakfast, so everyone was happily passing jerky and dried fruit back and forth as they rode. Inez and Medya rode hand in hand down the road, though it was clear that several other couples were doing the same. Inez almost hit her saddle with her jaw dropping when she noticed Liana riding side by side with Nahmia, their knees constantly coming into contact, and an awful lot of furtive glances being tossed between them. She wasn't sure how old Liana was, but she knew that Nahmia had to be almost double her age! But she had to admit, they looked so happy that she had to support them.

"Do you think we'll still make it tomorrow?" Medya asked Inez as they rode through the countryside.

"We will. We can ride a little longer than normal today, and then tomorrow we can get there just after midday. Then we'll see what we can do about my dear almost husband," Inez said in an even voice.

The plans for confronting the king were still fluid. They could sneak in, since Nahmia and Inez knew all the secret passages in the castle, though after 40 years so could the king and his followers. Or they could just ride in and demand an audience, relying on the surprise of their appearance to throw everyone into confusion. Their least favorite option was just an attack. In the old days, Appalya didn't have a huge army, and there should be few troops around the castle. But nobody could say what had changed with Hudd on the throne, so they didn't want to have a fight if they could help it. Medya wanted to use her invisibility magic to get inside and clear the way for everyone else, but Inez had been totally against that, not wanting to have Medya out of her sight. In this case literally. Especially since her arm was still sore.

As they travelled, another small town came into view. So far, all the towns and villages they'd seen, they bypassed once they realized how scared the citizens were of troops, and Medya was getting sick of it. "We need to go into the town," she told Inez.

"I don't want to scare the people," Inez reminded her.

"Yes, but they're afraid because of Hudd. You're going to give them hope. If we let the people know you're alive, and that you're going to reclaim the throne, then they know things can change for the better. Otherwise, you take the throne, and they see no difference."

Inez looked over at her, a smile forming on her face. "You know, you're brilliant. We could even pay people to spread the word around the country that things are going to be changing."

"Just tell them not to alert the castle, I don't think Hudd would like that kind of news." Medya joked.

The decision made, the group made their way into the town, with Inez at the front, and Medya at her side, good hand on one of her wands, just in case. A lot of people still hid, closing shutters and doors behind them, but when they finally got to the local tavern and made their way inside, they were able to finally find a group of people who didn't run, though they did eye the troops carefully.

Inez marched to the bar, dropping several golds on it. "Drinks are on me!" she announced loudly. "My name is Princess Inez, the rightful ruler of this country. I'm looking for some people who might be interested in earning some coin to spread the word that King Hudd is going to face justice for what he's done!"

The tavern patrons looked thrilled at the prospect of free drinks, but then looked confused. "Princess Inez is dead!" one finally piped up. "Turned into a statue, she did!"

"Is that what you were all told?" she asked, scanning the tavern, and seeing a round of nods in reply. "Hudd cursed myself and all of my wedding party, turning everyone to stone and then smashing all but my statue. Nahmia here, was one of my royal guard. She and one of my maids were all that survived, and it took them 40 years to be able to afford the magic to free me. But now I am free of that curse, and I'm going to put an end to Hudd's reign. My family had been ruling this country well for over a thousand years before him, and I mean to bring it back to that prosperity. You shouldn't live in fear. I saw the way people reacted to us when we came through town. That should never happen."

A young man stood and bowed. "Princess you may be, but how do we know it is really you? None of us were even around when you were cursed. Anyone could claim to be the princess and we'd never know," He stated in a trembling voice.

Inez stood still; the man had a point. A cough behind her caught her attention. Medya was taking off her backpack, and then dug through it, bringing forth her tiara and the wedding gown. "The princess was wearing her tiara and this golden wedding gown when she was cursed. When she was freed, so was it. There is no other item of clothing like this in existence. If it is real, then so is she! Come feel it if you have doubts!"

There were gasps all around as the patrons in the tavern flocked to see it, some even so bold as to touch it with their fingers. Before long, they were all bowing to her, their questions at a standstill. Inez ordered everyone food, and before long, several of the men had taken gold that Medya had offered in order to spread the word to the cities on the northern coast, as well as the towns that they had bypassed on the way from Tefra. It was a start, but a good one.

"I've noticed that you don't seem to worry much about spending gold," Inez whispered to Medya as they mounted their horses to head out of town and continue along the journey.

"It isn't my money." Medya said with a shrug. "When I searched Vasati's tower and took all his enchanted items, there was a lot of gold and jewels as well. He was the most powerful spell caster in the clan, really in the whole country, so people were constantly paying him to create an item or cast a spell. There is a lot of treasure in the backpack, I never bothered to count it. He might have been the only person around who could have afforded your dress." She added with a smile.

"So, when we go out to dinner after this is all over, you're paying?" Inez joked with a nudge of her shoulder between the horses, gazing at the shorter woman.

"Of course, my queen." Medya smirked.

"Princess Inez!" Noa called out, gesturing to the front of their column where a single rider stood holding a white parley flag.