"So, you just take this polish and softly run it over the metal," Huck explained to me. He was teaching me to maintain my arm.

I did as Huck had showed me. "It's hard to do with my left hand," I said and frowned.

"You still not used to it?"

"Not as much as I'd like. I try to do stuff without the prosthetic on but..." I trailed off and sighed.

"Hey, I get it. It becomes a crutch. I sometimes even sleep with mine attached because I hate not feeling the weight of it." Huck smiled, showing off that gap between his teeth.

I nodded and looked back down at the metal. "Yeah. I sleep with mine too. Dy doesn't like it because the metal gets cold."

He snorted and pulled back from the table, took off his prosthetic leg and put it on the table. "It's a learning process. These might be good, but they're not real. It's not us."

"No, they aren't." I smiled a little and dabbed the cloth in the polish.

"Actually, I also took your advice. I've sowed something for uh..." He grimaced and ducked under the table, rummaging through his satchel. "You mentioning a corset gave me the idea."

He put a corset looking garment on the table and scooted it closer to me.

"I just left out the wires and stuff. But with this I can just slip it on and tighten it. So, thanks for the tip."

"It looks good. You're a really great sower, mate." I looked over the seams and then handed it back to him.

"Yeah? You think it'll work? I don't know much about corsets."

"You could cut it up on the front and then put in buckles instead of having to bind it and unbind it all the time."

His eyes widened and then he slapped his forehead. "I should've thought of that."

"I mean, I don't know how well versed you are in women's undergarments," I said and chuckled.

"Not one bit. Especially not something like this. I don't think anyone in Aatskina wears this."

"Latest fashion in Andaheim. Basically torture, but dammit it makes my waist look tiny."

Huck laughed. "Gotta suffer for beauty, huh?"

"You know it."

"Gods, I'm glad I'm not a girl."

"Being a girl isn't all bad. I really enjoy make-up. Dressing up. I like feeling pretty." I shrugged a shoulder and moved on to polish the fingers on my prosthetic.

"Both Dy and I hated that when we were kids. We were a lot more into playing robbers and thieves and stuff like that. We'd go out completely clean and come back covered in dirt. And I'd usually have some scratches and maybe a busted knee."

"Were you very clumsy?"

"Oh yeah. I'd always fall down and get hurt."

"So, when did the thing with the dragon happen?" I looked up and met Huck's gaze. He looked up at the ceiling, frowning a bit.

"I was about ten, I think. We were on a hiking trip and I wandered off. And then I guess I wandered into a dragon's nest. It wasn't happy with me and I barely got away. It got my leg though. I had to crawl back and then my sister found me. My leg couldn't be saved. I'm telling ya, the skin was in shreds."

I cringed and muttered yikes under my breath.

"It was probably scared," Barr said from the door, looking very hesitant about entering the room.

It was just kind of a sitting room with one wall being windows on the top floor. I liked it here as the couches in the corner were comfortable and there was a table you could sit at, play cards or do some maintenance as Huck and I were doing right now.

"Sorry for interrupting..."

"You're not," Huck said. "How's Baby doing?"

Barr came further into the room and brought Baby down from his head. "She is happy. She is eating a lot and she is growing. Soon her wings will grow talons and her beak will fall off. She will grow teeth instead."

"How big will she be?" Huck asked and moved a little, making room for Barr at the table.

"She will not be much taller than up to my knee, I reckon. Her wingspan will be very wide. As wide as Dy, maybe." He sat down and put Baby on the table. She chirped and then started chasing my washcloth.

I couldn't help but smile at her futile attempts. She tried to hide behind my roprosthetic, she was too large and then she tried jumping over it. But she was too small and tripped over the arm.

"Aw Baby," Barr chuckled and brought her back to his head. She squawked and then hid in his hair.

"She's cute," Huck said. "Looks nothing like the dragon that bit my leg off."

"They usually do not bite. I have never been bitten anyways." Barr glanced at Huck and Huck smiled at the spirit.

I cleared my throat. "Anyways, I'll go look for Dy." I grabbed my arm and attached it to my actual arm. The boys didn't even notice I left as Huck started explaining how his leg worked and Barr looking at Huck with admiration shining in his eyes.

I found Dy in our room, the radio on and a book in her hand. She was lounging on the bed, her arm behind her head, the book resting on her stomach. She was for once wearing a shirt with short sleeves, showing off her tattooed arms and I loved the sight. I stopped in the door, taking in the sight of my lovely girlfriend for a moment.

"Hey," she said and smiled up at me. "What have you been up to?"

"Huck gave me a lesson in roprosthetic maintenance. And then Barr came in and things got a little weird?"

Dy snorted. "Barr's so lost in Huck."

"What?" I came further into the room and sat down on the bed.

"Yeah, you haven't noticed? Wherever Huck is, Barr is not far behind. Those two have been hanging out a lot. And the way Barr is looking at good ol' Huck, I don't think it's platonic."

"Oh no. Huck's crushing on Regin."

"We've got a real love triangle then." She put the book down on the small bedside table and sat up, leaning back against the wall.

"I just hope no one gets hurt. They're like our moron little brothers."

Dy snorted and leaned forward, kissing my cheek. "Let them sort it out themselves. They're both big boys. They'll figure it out."

"Who knew we'd find a spirit in a glacier and that same spirit would crash so hard for Huck?"

"I don't think anyone could've ever come up with something like that." She put her arm around my body and pulled me into her lap. "But then again, I never imagined loving a queen."

"Dy?" I clenched my jaw.

"What's wrong?"

"What if... I don't wanna be queen?"

She frowned a little. "Then we'll figure something out. We still gotta stop the war. Maybe we should just focus on that for now?"

"Yeah," I muttered and nodded.

"And if it turns out you don't want to be queen, Al, you do have a brother who's already king. Who knows, maybe he actually wants to be king."

"If I know him, he doesn't want to be king. He's not the responsibility type of person, you know?"

"People might surprise you when they're asked to step up. Or in his case, forced to. Apparently, he's very well liked too. The people relate to him and his underdog story."

I bit the inside of my cheek. What if Quinn was a better ruler than I would've ever been? He was kinder than I was. Warmer. He had always been the sibling people liked. Well, him and Àlvar were. I was just supposed to be quiet and look pretty when I was little.

Would it even bother me if he was a better ruler? He was king now and I had been waiting for a possessive feeling to take over, but all there was... Was relief. I was finally free. I also didn't want children and as a queen it was my duty to carry on the bloodline, but I didn't want them. I didn't want to feel one growing in my belly. Ever.

"I won't be able to perform all my royal duties."

"What do you mean?"

"I... Don't want kids."

Dy frowned a little and her back bumped against the wall behind her. "You don't want kids? Like at all?"

"I don't wanna carry them."

"Ohh." She nodded a little. "I do."

I smiled. "Yeah? You wanna be pregnant?"

"Yeah. Eventually." She shrugged a shoulder. "I'd like that experience. And uhm... It'd be cool if it was with you."

I couldn't help but laugh. "It'd be cool?"

She smiled back. "Yeah."

I leaned forward and kissed her. This was a declaration. She wanted to start a family with me, and it overwhelmed me. It pushed everything else aside and for a moment, that was all I could think about. A family with her. Seeing her belly grow, feel the baby kick. That's all I wanted.

"We've officially crossed the sea between Paamut and Kabir and will land in about four hours in the capital, Ghanabel," Aleks said. He had called us to the bridge so we could really enjoy the view of Kabir.

I had never seen anything like it. Lush green trees, white sand beaches and almost emerald-coloured water. The sun was blasting down too from a cloud-free sky. Small villages sprawled all over the vast valleys between the towering mountains, and the houses were unlike any I had ever seen. They all looked to be made of one white stone with red roofs.

"This is beautiful," I said and smiled up at Aleks.

He nodded. "I know right? I wanna retire to here someday."

"Yeah, that's not happening," Raakili said and shot her husband a pointed look.

"I know you're not a fan of the heat-"

"No, the sun is not a fan of me, and you know it," she interrupted and folded her arms over her chest. "You might not burn, but I do."

Aleks rolled his eyes a little and I tuned out their bantering. I focused on imagining how the sun would feel on my skin. How warm would it be?

"Hey Al," Huck said and came up on my other side. "When we get there, remember to cover the metal. Otherwise you might actually get burned. So stay in the shadow as much as possible and maybe detach it around noon when the sun is the brightest."

I sighed a little defeatedly. "I was hoping this would be the one place where we wouldn't have to worry about the roprothesthics."

"Yeah sorry. Metal gets extremely hot or extremely cold fast." He smiled a little apologetically.

"Great. Couldn't have made them of wood or something?"

"Unfortunately not. That'd be ridiculous. And so unsturdy. Hell, it'd break. Come on, Al." He laughed and patted my shoulder going back to where Barr was leaning against the railing looking out the window.