The dirt road was long. Fern knew she lived far from the capitol but still it was much longer than she had expected and though she was more awake now than before, her feet ached from the long walk.

For a man so lanky and lightly built Fern thought Thorn would stop for breaks. To her dismay, he did not.

And she wasn't going to ask to stop. Then she would look weak, and though her feet felt they were melting away, her dignity was not.

Keep. Going!

Eventually Thorn spread his arms theatrically, announcing
"I give you...civilization!"

Finally having come upon a town Fern couldn't help but smile. This town wasn't exactly glitz and glam however. Quite the opposite.

It reeked of lost potential and though it was busy, every item in the outdoor stands Fern saw was far overpriced and the people who roamed the town greatly contrasted each other, some being obviously rich capitol travellers, others easily noticed elemental mixes and deadbeats with drab clothes and tired eyes.

Fern wondered which crowd she fit in with. Today, it was the aristocrats but yesterday, it might have been the lowlifes.

This town was obviously the kind of place people travelled through but didn't live, none of the people with shining clothes or dainty figures seemed like they wanted to stay.

"It's a lot nicer than that tavern, yes? A small portion of these people seem friendly!" Thorn said.

"Y-yes."

"Oh, dear, are you afraid? I'm sorry, we'll rush through quickly, alright?"

Fern took a step or two back, and waved her hands out in front of her.
"No! I'm fine, I'm just nervous to meet my..."
Fern had to force the word out and it stuck in her mouth after, as if she had sworn.
"Husband."

"Your husband? Oh, don't worry about it, he's...well..." Thorn trailed off in a lost attempt to list Prince Oak's good traits, Fern deducted the young man likely had none.

"...He isn't a bad person..."

Thorn had done nothing for Fern's nerves, far worsened them in fact. Trapped in her silent anxiousness Fern didn't notice when a muscular woman with dark skin and leather armour came running into the plaza. The woman accidentally rammed into her on her way to Thorn though when Fern stumbled back Thorn made sure to catch her before she hit the ground.

A moment later when he began to talk to the woman about her clumsiness he dropped her into the dirt without even noticing.

"That's the Princess, Carnation! I can't believe you..." Thorn trailed off.

"Why are you here?"

The woman - Carnation- shuffled her feet nervously and put a hand onto Thorn's shoulder.
"The King said...if anything were to happen...someone had to be here to protect the Princess."

Thorn looked even more offended than usual "I'm here!" He grabbed her hand from his shoulder about to push it back to her but he stopped when she started speaking again.

"Twist my arm." Carnation said in a serious voice.

"I'm not gonna twist your arm."

"Nah, man. Do it. Can you? Can you protect the princess?"

To be completely honest, Fern was vouching for Thorn to twist this woman's arm, just to see if he could do it. Carnation could definitely take it.

Thorn nodded and made his first attempt at twisting her arm.
When nothing happened the Carnation- spoke again.

"It might help if you weren't holding my hand."

Thorn seemed surprised to realize he was even doing such a thing and he dropped her hand immediately.
"I'm sorry."

She hit him on the back, maybe a little bit too hard because he stumbled forward looking scared for a moment. He winced in pain though Fern thought it was an exaggeration.

"It was cute!" Exclaimed Carnation, laughing.

Thorn looked so incredibly shocked at the statement that Fern couldn't help but laugh. He tried to stutter a response but came up empty handed.

He looked about ready to twist Carnation's arm when he finally retorted with.
"Yeah? Well you're cute, too!"

Fern pulled herself off the ground, she was nearly certain her devoted right hand man had completely forgotten her. She grabbed Thorn's hand and began pulling him along through town square.
"You're a disaster!" She cried, and this was the man who comforted her about her marriage. Everything he had ever said was out the window now.

"Carnation is the disaster here. Clearly. But I hope you can stand her because she's coming with us."

Carnation made her way to where the two were standing and extended a hand, Fern took it and was surprised by how small her hand seemed in comparison.
"I'm your personal bodyguard. If you need someone to protect you from a griffon call me, if you need someone to fetch you water call Thorn."

Thorn clearly thought this statement was demeaning but it was pretty obvious he couldn't take down an angry lion with the face of freedom.
Carnation looked more than capable.

Carnation leaned in to Fern and gushed
"I'm so excited to meet a princess! I've always been just in love with the idea of wearing pretty dresses and dancing with princes...I hope you like it here!"

"Don't you work with princesses all the time?" Fern asked to which Carnation shook her head.

"One jerky prince, one introvert prince and one dramatic prince. Oh! But a couple days ago I got to meet a duke's daughter!"

Thorn checked his pocket watch and started to usher the two through the town square
"It's time to go, girls."

He stopped walking when they arrived in front of a sleek carriage. When Fern got closer she was surprised to realize it wasn't horse or even unicorn drawn, but two horse sized dragons pulled it along. They had greenish-blue bodies covered in scales, twisting horns, and massive claws. The most impressive part of them however was their large wings, not as bat-like as Fern had remembered from her few encounters, but not feathery either.

Fern didn't want to step closer for fear of being attacked, even if these dragons looked relatively calm.
"Dragons? Where'd you even get these?" She asked in awe of the beautiful creatures.

Thorn smirked.
"Royalty is royalty. Strings get pulled for powerful people."

Of all the lives she could have stolen...a princess wasn't a bad choice.

Thorn opened the carriage door and Fern sat down first, tailed by Carnation. Thorn sat in the front, he would be the coachman.

Throughout the hour they were there Carnation enthusiastically rambled about everything and anything and Fern put in the occasional nod or agreeing words.

Carnation seemed friendly and sweet, Fern much liked her, and if she wasn't mistaken she was friends with Thorn as well. Not only did her muscle contrast Thorn's thinness or her warm brown skin contrast Thorn's pasty pigmentation, but her peppy but strong personality was also rather different from him.

Carnation was likely the tallest person Fern had ever seen, beating Thorn by several inches (which she thought was impossible) and Cliff by a few more.

Fern often poked her head out the window to look at the dragons, she hadn't seen a dragon in a year or so and had forgotten exactly what they looked like. They were cute. And scary.

When they finally landed in the capitol Fern's legs were wobbly, as if not used to flat ground.
She wondered if this was how air elves felt when they went to war on earth turf.

When Fern finally looked up from her legs she nearly imploded. The capitol was infinitely more than she could have ever imagined. Rows of elegant pearl white buildings as far as the eye could see, neatly trimmed bushes with exotic looking flowers, and fancy looking elves with colourful and stylish clothes.

She looked to Thorn who was cleaning his nails like this wasn't at all impressive, and maybe it wasn't to him, but it was the most exquisite thing Fern had ever seen. Carnation put a hand onto Fern's shoulder and smiled.
"Cool, right?"

"Totally!" Agreed Fern, mouth agape as she looked up at the buildings.

"Before your commemorative garden party I thought you might want to get cleaned up from trying to blend in with the forest Earth scums."

Fern gritted her teeth and spun around to face Thorn, who was still cleaning his nails.
"Forest earth scums?"

Carnation looked down at Fern and said in a low tone.
"If you were like the other princesses he's dealt with he'd have to justify anything less than perfect so you don't think lowly of us. Don't mind him." Carnation's presence was oddly calming for someone so strong and nearing seven foot. Fern felt like she couldn't be mad around her, maybe this was how she defeated her enemies.

Fern let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding in.
"Thanks, Thorn. When's the garden party?"

"Five o'clock sharp. You have an hour."

Fern expected Thorn to lead her into the building in front of them but he didn't.
"Can you come with me? I don't really know what to wear while I'm here." Fern prompted and Thorn nodded, looking rather tired.
"Haven't you been choosing dresses your whole life?"

He held open the door for Fern and Carnation and they found themselves in a large shop much more forward and clean than any store Fern had seen before.

The ceiling was incredibly high and there were golden indoor balconies from other floors overlooking the trio as they made their way across the shop's large floor of dresses.

Fern found it hard to believe this was the same country she lived in, that this country was fighting a war.

She would wear these robes tonight, they made her look so much more like Tsunami.
But princesses didn't wear one dress for consecutive days.

Blue. She needed blue dresses, if she wore a different color her brown hair and green eyes would give away her identity as an...Earth forest scum.

At first Fern grabbed every blue dress in sight but that quickly became a hassle, the pile in her arms growing taller and less stable by the minute.

She had to ask Thorn and Carnation about this, she hoped she'd need only four or so. Then again, she supposed, she was getting married. And that meant she'd never be able to go out in public without being mauled. Fern grabbed a few more dresses for her pile and waved to her travel associates.

With her towering pile of disgustingly pompous dresses Carnation and Thorn were able to quickly spot her amidst the clothes. They rushed up to her and when prompted Thorn explained
"You have a seamstress at the castle, you only need a few of these."

"How many is a few?"

Thorn turned dejected to Carnation and whispered
"Oh dear, she's an idiot!"

After vigorous whispering and finger counting about the appropriate number of dresses Carnation leaned down to Fern
"Aspen can make a dress in a day. You'll meet her tomorrow and she can make you a dress by the day after that, so you'll need...give or take...fifteen."

Fifteen dresses for just over two days?
Fern was used to three outfits for a week.
Was there even time to change so many times?

After taking away eight or so dresses Carnation and Thorn became distracted by a dress Carnation thought she could wear to the wedding.

Fern allowed herself to drop into a nearby chair and for a few moments she just stared blankly into the middle distance.

"Dear, do you need to bail on the party?" Asked Carnation who Fern didn't even notice had arrived next to her.

"That's an option?" Fern sniffled, sitting up straighter as she felt her mind come back to reality.

Carnation bit her lip and gave a solemn glance in Fern's direction.
"...I...don't think so, Princess. It's probably too late, I'm sorry. I should've asked earlier."

Changing the subject, Fern asked
"Where's Thorn?"

"He offered to buy me a dress for..." Carnation coughed and continued in a more sensitive tone.
"Your wedding."

The two shared a moment of sad silence before Fern quietly asked
"Have you ever been in love?"

After a second of thought and a sideways glance Carnation replied
"...Yes."

"How do you do it. How do you fall in love?"

"...I don't know."

The false princess and her guard lapsed back into silence.

Eventually when he made his way to them Fern asked Thorn for a veil. Just like the one Tsunami wore in the drawing she saw.

It covered her eyes but left the rest of her face exposed, it was helpful, she wouldn't have to meet anyone's eyes as she spoke to them, as she spoke to them in another persons place, as she lied about everything.

She excused herself to the bathroom and prepared for the hardest part of the 'makeover', the hardest part of stealing a water elf identity.

She looked into a large round mirror and pulled a dagger out of her smaller scabbard.
Fern calmed her breathing and stared at her reflection, this was necessary, she'd never pass as Tsunami without doing one last thing.

Just as she was ready a feminine voice echoed around the small room.
"You're wearing a dark veil and carrying a sword and dagger, if I didn't know better I'd say you were a criminal. What are you doing here?"

Fern stumbled back and drew out her dagger in front of her, wielding it like the weapon it was
"Who said that?" She demanded to know.

A figure slowly materialized in the mirror in front of her. A thin woman with long wavy blue-green hair, and a serious expression. Fern was surprised to note that she didn't have pointed ears or sharp teeth like an elf, she had equine ears and a horn in the middle of her forehead, accented by tribal markings around her eyes and arms.
"My name is Ivy."

Fern stared up at the mirror and leaned side to side to catch any flaws in the system, what was this?
"What are you?"

"I'm a dryad earth centaur. And I'd much like to be let out of this mirror." Ivy said as if it was a simple wish. Fern didn't even know how to get someone out of a mirror, in fact she had never heard of anyone trapped in a mirror.

If the mirror was a prison of some sort that made this woman a prisoner. Was she?
"Why are you even in a mirror?" Fern asked slowly.

"It's a two dimensional prison the pure blood dryads made to trap their least favourite centaur mix disgrace. The shopkeeper who found it months later thought it would be lovely in a bathroom of all places."

Ivy looked up hopefully at Fern.
"People are always too scared to help me, but if you were to cut through the glass I could be free again."

Fern sighed.
"Why not, At this point my free will is dead so...why not."

"But can you step back? I have to do something first." She added.

Fern lifted her dagger to do what she had been anxiously waiting for.
She pressed the dagger against her antler and made her best attempt to saw through. She couldn't feel it, as there weren't nerves or blood but she still felt frightened as she cut through them ever so slowly. It was a part of her, and she wasn't sure if it would ever grow back.

Her breathing was heavy as she moved the knife against her antlers, she was sealing her identity as Tsunami. From this, there was no going back. At the very thought tears leaked from her eyes. Fern would look into the mirror again, and this time she wouldn't see herself, she would see the woman she killed.

Eventually the knife cut through her antlers and the tops of them fell into her hands, the rest she was able to cover with her hair.

After a minute of looking at her severed antlers, her severed identity, Fern looked up to the mirror.

She leaned back and violently slammed her antlers into the mirror with both hands.
The glass immediately shattered and fell to the floor, reflecting rainbow colored light beams across the dimly lit room.

Fern wasn't expecting that a centaur leaping out of a mirror would nearly crush her but it most definitely was a near death experience. A centaur took up the entirety of the small bathroom, that was a fact Fern walked in not knowing.

Ivy stepped back as much as she could and Fern pulled herself to her feet.

"I'm meeting so many tall people..." she mumbled, looking up at yet another acquaintance with massive height.

"So...have fun in the wilderness..." Fern said opening the bathroom door and gesturing into the shop.

"Nice try, no horns, I'm coming with you."

Fern went pale.
"That wasn't part of the deal!"

Suddenly footsteps sounded against the floor and Fern and Ivy exchanged afraid glances.
Fern was about to shove Ivy back into the bathroom but the man appeared around the corner too soon.

He had plum hair with one thick strand sticking up and he stood with a certain air of status, Fern let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was just Thorn, he couldn't do any serious damage.

Thorn seemed to jump back in fear when he saw Ivy but drew closer within seconds, he looked beyond astonished.
"Remarkable..." he muttered before coming to his senses and snapping back.
"What in the world is a centaur doing here?"

"I was trapped in the bathroom..." said Ivy.
She had probably meant to appear more respectable than she did in that moment.

Thorn didn't seemed deterred though, he seemed downright excited and electric as he exclaimed
"I've never seen a centaur before! Why, barely anyone has since your kind broke away from us a thousand years ago! Oh my stars! You're so fascinating! what's with all these tattoos?"

Ivy seemed nervous but answered in a calm fashion.
"They denote levels of status in the tribe. Mine are...lowly."

Thorn nodded.
"Interesting..."

"Can she come to the castle with us?" Fern butted in, impatient.

Thorn took a moment to think about it, mumbling to himself all the while until he eventually said
"Well...I don't see why not as long as she stays out of sight..."

Ivy trotted a few steps forward and put a hand on Thorn's shoulder much like Fern had seen Carnation do.
"Thank you! I know it'll be so much better than the valleys!"

"Yes, yes, but Tsunami we really best be going lest we be late for the party." He led them only a few steps before
Carnation turned the corner.

The first words out of her mouth were
"Thorn has a seven foot tall girlfriend?! O-Oh why didn't you tell me! She's absolutely-"
Carnation cut off as she realized something.

"A centaur?!?" She shrieked.

"Let's go." Thorn said, leading everyone back outside and making sure to pull along a flabbergasted Carnation.

"C-Can you tattoo me?"

Ivy shrugged
"Yeah, sure."

It wasn't until they (including Ivy!) were back in the carriage that Carnation ha scalded enough to realize.
"Princess, did you not have antlers?"

Fern took a shaky breath before choosing her answer carefully.
"They were fake." And she was glad for this veil covering her lying eyes, it hid the truth behind it and the truth...was a lie.