10 years later

'Alright, take a deep breath. A very deep breath.' Mrei checked her gown and jewelry one more time on the mirror and dusted a tiny amount of red powder on her cheekbones. Then she turned around. "Tamio, what do you think? Do I look good enough?"

The 8 years old boy nodded enthusiastically. "You look perfect, your highness."

Tamaris had poured all her mother's love on Mrei for the first 10 years of her life, but after the princess had forgiven her for the death of the queen she had also given herself permission to have a child of her own. And strangely enough, after Mrei had appointed both her and Rolan as her new chancellors, sparks had quickly started flying between the two and soon enough Tamaris had been pregnant with their son. Due to her age - she had been already on her early 40s - the pregnancy did have some complications but in the end she gave birth to a healthy child.

Tamio grew up in the palace, almost like a little brother to Mrei from the moment she first saw the baby. Officially he was her personal servant - and she did order him to fetch stuff or help with this and that sometimes -, but usually princesses weren't supposed to lounge in front of television with servant boys all day or skip their separate personal lessons together. The latter got both of them into trouble with Tamaris, though. As a future shadow to the royal family, Tamio had a lot to learn from early age, and Mrei also had a lot of studying to do in order to really fill her father's place as the ruler of the Kingdom of Dawn. Although she willingly admitted that Tamaris and Rolan were a huge help.

There was a knock on the door and and Tamio went to open it. Rolan was waiting on the other side. "Your highness, the airship from Tavali has landed."

Mrei cast one last look at the mirror. It had been over two years since she had last seen Kress and Lucas. She was sure she had looked like a lanky teen desperate to cover the blemishes on her face with make-up back then. Would they even recognize her now?

"You look fine," Rolan assured her. "Beautiful enough to make any man only have eyes for you."

Mrei smiled. "You're lying."

"Well...maybe a little bit. But any more and even I wouldn't believe you're just waiting to meet your 'brothers'. And I have known you three since you were kids."

That was true. Kress was also biologically her half-brother - Tamaris had checked his background after they had returned from Tavali and apparently the chancellor's claim had been the truth -, and although she had thought him really cute on their first meeting, also Lucas felt more like a brother than anything else after their adventure.

"Let's go then. Tamio, hurry up!" The boy had gotten distracted with television again while she had talked with Rolan. She was proud of the new all-around favorite children's show that had replaced "The Adventures of the Dawn King", though. It was called "The adventures of sky children" and it told of two boys and a girl - and their pet cerro - traveling around the world and meeting lots of interesting people. With a little fantasy flair, of course. She may have grown up, but she still loved stories with the heroes defeating monsters and helping people and recovering mysterious treasures.

And thanks to the new technology they had unearthed and the city floating in the sky acting as a beacon, they could broadcast television programs to all parts of the kingdom. RDs were still popular just because you could watch them whenever you liked, but they also had scheduled broadcasts. Communications between cities had also become much easier and faster.

~*~*~

Lucas could barely contain his excitement to see Mrei again. With the city of Tavali now inhabited - mostly by people of Skyfall tribe but also some of the younger, more liberal generation from the inner parts of the kingdom -, Kress was needed to operate its central functions and Lucas had chosen to stay and keep him company. Because, honestly speaking, Kress was not a people-person and he would have probably shut himself into the inner core alone if surrounded only by strangers. Even this would be a brief visit, a couple of hours at most. They couldn't be away too long in case something happened.

Kress looked uncomfortable standing there by his side.

"Itchy clothes?" Lucas guessed. Since they were meeting the queen - no matter that Mrei was their long-time friend -, both were dressed in their finest. For Lucas that meant tribal clothes, not that different from what he'd normally wear, only a little bit fancier, but Kress had been given some sort of uniform "fit for the messenger." It was quite form-fitting, with blue and white colors and lots of feathers, including a cloak that looked almost like bird's wings.

"No," Kress squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "My wings hurt."

Lucas just nodded. Those wings were a blessing unique to Kress, but they were unstable, flickering in and out of existence. Most of the time they only appeared when he operated the flying city. "My wings hurt" had sort of become a universal explanation ranging from strange feelings in his body caused by his mixed-up genetics to vague premonitions that...something was about to happen. Sometimes Lucas thought that Kress was imagining things, but he was not about to say that out loud.

"Lucas! Kress!" Mrei called out as soon as she entered the hangar and saw them. They both still looked just like she remembered them. Completely ignoring the proper etiquette, she lifted the hem of her dress just enough that she wouldn't step on it in her hurry and ran to hug them both.

Rolan watched them with a smile. Some things didn't change.