Reyna awoke the next morning to hear loud snoring, and her first thought was that she was back home, before remembering the events of last night. The room she was in was certainly not hers, too large and with more weapons that she would keep, and to her left she could see a man asleep and snoring very loudly. Wait, that was...her husband.

"Crap...I'm actually married." The elf mutters as she runs a hand through her messy hair in an attempt to comb it so it wasn't sticking up. Okay now the snoring was starting to get on her nerves, she was still tired and there was no way she was going to be able to fall back asleep with Kasef making all that noise. She immediately grabbed one of the pillows her husband had used to separate them and smacked him on the head with it, earning her a startled snort and Kasef sitting up with his bangs pressed upwards and some drool was on his face.

"Has anyone told you how awful you snore?" Reyna asks as the prince rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out of them. "You need to get that checked. Also you drool in your sleep."

"I'd tell you to get out, but I am too tired to care." Her husband responds as he ran a hand through his hair before laying back down. "Just let me sleep in, that ceremony sucked a lot of energy out of me."

"Well I certainly can't because I have to sleep with someone who snores like a bear with a plugged snout."

"Deal with it then."

Reyna made a face as he turns over on his side, now facing her as he laid down and buried himself under the blankets. Deciding to lay herself down as well she pulled the blankets back over her and turned so she was staring at the ceiling and felt herself drift off to sleep again.

But after what felt like a few minutes, Reyna felt something heavy climbing on her, small feet pushing into her body before whatever it was settled right on her chest. Confused, the elf cracked open her eyes to find a pair of bright blue ones staring straight at her. With a startled scream, Reyna grabbed the creature and tried to fling it off her, but it just landed at the foot of the bed with a loud yowl. It took her a moment to realize then that it was that weird cat from the night before - Kala. The hairless beast gave a confused mew as she sits up and gave another mew before deciding to walk over to a now awake Kasef.

"Did you seriously try throw my cat?" He asks as Kala yowled and flopped against him dramatically.

"Why was she even on me in the first place?!" Reyna exclaims.

"She just likes sleeping on my chest, she probably thought you would be comfortable to sleep on."

Reyna grimaces as the cat gave her an unamused look before snuggling up against Kasef, who laid back down. Well she couldn't fall asleep now, she was way too wide awake to fall back asleep. With a sigh, she shoves her side of the blankets back and climbs out of the bed to grab her robe and wrap it around her hastily.

"Where are you going?" She hears Kasef ask as she walks to the bedroom door.

"Back to my room, I'm too wide awake to fall asleep now and I'm going to go get dressed. Plus I'm hungry." Reyna responds as she grabs the handle to pull open the door, only to be greeted by her maids and some servants standing outside. "Oh!"

"Good morning milady!" Nour greets cheerfully as the maids and servants entered. "The dowager queen ordered us to let you and the prince eat breakfast in his room and bring you some good clothes. So we have something for you to wear for today until the royal tailor fixes you a whole new wardrobe."

"Typical grandmother." They hear Kasef grumble as Reyna glances to see him walking to a low table near the balcony where the servants had placed food on. "Leave us, you are dismissed."

"Thank you Nour, tell dowager queen Zaria I said thanks for the clothes." Reyna says as she accepts the bundle of cloth from her maid. Once the servants and maids cleared out, Reyna places the clothes on a chair and walks to her husband to find him sipping something from a cup. "Is this breakfast or a dinner feast?"

The table was practically loaded with various foods consisting of eggs, bread and seasoned meat, and it was a surprise that it hadn't broken under the weight of all the food. Kala even had a plate of her own loaded with meat and eggs that she was scarfing down.

"I eat half of this for breakfast." Kasef responds before grabbing a plate with eggs. "Though this may have some spices, I think the more plain dishes are meant for you."

"How thoughtful." The elf murmured as she grabbed the plate that was loaded with the food with some vegetables mixed in her eggs. "And...what are you drinking?"

"Hot chocolate, with some cardamon powder sprinkled in it."

"Blegh, sounds nasty."

"You put cinnamon in yours don't you? Its basically the same thing."

"Still gross."

Kasef just rolls his eyes before continuing to eat his breakfast as Reyna eats hers, deciding not to talk since it seemed like her husband was more interested in eating than having small talk. As they ate, they heard the doors of the bedroom open and turn to see Ahling enter with Khalen trailing behind him and a man Reyna recalled seeing the day she arrived at Neolandia, still scowling at her.

"Good morning you two, I hope you slept well." Ahling greets as Kala scurried under the table to gett ot him and mewed in greeting. "Oh and good morning to you as well Kala."

"Eh...sort of." Reyna says, glancing at the cat as she rubbed against the king's legs. "So...what brings you here?"

"Oh we just came to check on you two, and I see you're both not fighting at least."

"Hard to when we're eating." Kasef says before taking a bite of his bread.

"Well then I suppose you should make an effort to not fight with your wife so much." Khalen suggests and the prince rolls his eyes. "Anyways, for today lady Reyna, you will have some history and etiquette lessons under the dowager queen since she thinks you will learn better under her."

"But I know my history of Neolandia and have taken etiquette lessons before arriving here." Reyna says and the scowling man scoffed. "Okay what's your deal?"

"Oh this is Ido, one of my councilmembers and in charge of the royal affairs, also helper of Khalen so you'll be seeing him a lot." Ahling explains as the man scowled again.

"I told you your majesty, marrying your son to an elf would cause a stir among the Neolandians!" Ido exclaims. "I get that this is for peace, but consider how the other rulers felt about this union! What if they stop trading with us because of this?"

"Katolis and Duren are fine with the union, Del Bar hasn't said anything and neither has Evenere when we sent the invitations, they seem fine with it." Khalen responds with a shrug. "Are you sure that you're not upset because your daughter wasn't the one to be married? I've heard from some of the maids that she threw a terrible tantrum when she found out."

"That is outrageous!" Ido gasps and Reyna snorts. "Know what, I have duties to attend to, goodbye."

"Knew it." Kasef mutters into his drink. "Anything else you need to tell us or can we eat in peace?"

"Oh yes, I nearly forgot." Ahling says and looks to Khalen. "Actually should we tell them?"

"I'll tell them, I'm more experienced with this sort of thing." The councilwoman assures him before turing to the couple. "Since you two are now wedded, you are expected to bear at least one or more heirs."

"No!" Reyna and Kasef yell in horror.

"Calm down, I'm not finished yet. Under normal circumstances the council would be pushing for you two to have an heir, but they are very skeptical right now about having a half elf prince or princess, so you two don't have to have a child straight away at the moment."

"Also you two are a bit too young for parenthood, so we'll have to wait." Ahling adds. "While I would like some grandchildren before I die, that can wait. Enjoy your time together, get to know each other a bit better and perhaps try to get along. Talk things out if you're upset with each other, it wouldn't look good if the future king and queen of our kingdom were always bickering all the time. Anyways, enjoy your breakfast and your day, I'll hopefully see you at dinner."

---

[Xadia]

"You look exhausted sister, would you like something to drink?" Zolar asks as Janai dropped onto the couch with a tired sigh, not even bothering to remove her armor."

"Sun lily tea, if you have any." She says before dropping her head back on the pillows. "I swear Zolar, if I have to hear my sister lecture me one more time-"

"I know I know, just relax. Remove your armor as well, you'll feel better."

Janai nods before slowly sitting up to start removing her metal bracers and dropping them to the floor with a sigh. "I'm so tired brother, do you mind if I end up sleeping here?"

"Go ahead, after you remove the rest of the armor and drink the tea." The older elf says as he emerges from the kitchen with two mugs and a steaming kettle. "The family won't come back until later today, so you can at least rest and relax until then, will you be staying for dinner?"

"Perhaps, I just don't feel like going home yet."

"Good, you're in luck then. Cici is going to be cooking some really tasty soup when they get off work and come back from the market."

"And hopefully Reyna doesn't burn the kitchen down trying to help." Janai says with a small frown as she removes her cape. "Speaking of which, the house is too quiet, and I haven't seen her at all when I came. Normally she'd be here glaring at me from another couch, where is she?"

Oh she knew that look her brother was making, the way his brows were scrunched and his lips pressed in a very thin line. He only ever made that face when he was very upset.

"She's not here." He finally says before taking a seat on a different couch and pouring himself a cup. "And she's not coming home."

"Did she...run away?" Janai asks cautiously.

"I wish that was the case."

Now she was concerned. Zolar may not have been her brother by blood and she never really got along well with Reyna, but she knew the young elf was very close with him and it was concerning to see him upset over his seemingly absent daughter.

"Zolar, what happened to your daughter?"

The poor elf looked ready to burst into tears, and she was very sure she saw one leaking from his eye before he wiped it away and says, "She got married off to some prince in the human kingdoms. And with how things are, she won't ever be able to come home."

"SHE WHAT?!" Janai yells as she leapt out of her seat. "Zolar it is practically taboo!"

"Not really, it's frowned upon but not taboo." The older elf says and shook his head. "Believe me little sister, I was very against it, but this was for peace and the council of the Skywings weren't changing their minds. What else could I do?"

"Protest it, fight for her, she's your daughter Zolar!"

"There was nothing I could do Janai! Horus was even against it and they decided without him that my daughter was to be used for this!" Zolar yells, smashing his cup down on the armrest of the couch so hard it shattered, spilling hot tea on his hand and the cushion but he didn't care. "You don't think the days leading up to her departure were torture for us, especially me? The day she left I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest, watching her and Ibis fly off to the borders of Duren, knowing full well I would never see her again. And before she left, she was looking at us with such a heartbroken expression and..."

He was shaking, tears rolling down his cheeks as he struggled to get the words out. Janai was on her feet, hurrying over to her brother as he began to weep, flinging her arms around him in a hug as he buried his face into her shoulder. It was so rare for her to see him cry like this, last time it was when she was young and that was...years ago.

"I'm never going to see her again Janai, the house doesn't even feel the same anymore with her gone!" Zolar sobbed as Janai hugged him tightly. "She's probably so miserable there, what if they do something to her and I can't protect her from it?"

"Oh hush now, you know your daughter, she won't let some petty comments from those stuffy human nobles hurt her like that. If anything, she'd probably punch them if they so much as make fun of her weird cheek feathers or physically hurt her." Janai assures him before raising his head to look at him in the eyes. "Look, all we can do is pray and hope that this war with those humans will end. And when that happens, you can bet I will practically fly my Inferno Tiger to wherever they are keeping her and bring her back home so she could be with you and your family again."

"You make it sound like she's being kept in a prison." Zolar mutters.

"They might as well be keeping her in one. And I swear when I get her back, I'll punch that husband of hers for good measure."

"Janai, you can't do that, you'll be arrested! Reyna's married to a prince!"

"Prince or not, I'm punching someone."

Zolar lets out a tired sigh, seemingly already cried himself out. "Great suns, and I thought Karim was the more reckless one of the three of you. Fine, if we get that peace and the borders open up, you can go get Reyna. Just don't punch that poor prince, it'd be a bad impression."

"Well then he'd know Reyna's own family is not to be dealt with lightly."

---

[Neolandia]

"Lady Reyna!"

Reyna's head snaps up immediately from the table, frantically looking around to find royal children looking at her in terror while their teacher is standing right at her desk.

"Ummm...repeat?" She asks nervously as the teacher gives her an annoyed look.

"Nevermind. Nijah, recite that poem written by queen Lina."

How embarrassing, a four year old knew this and is doing better than me. Reyna thought as Nijah began reciting a poem on the sands and landscape of the kingdom.

As promised, she was taking a history lesson with the younger children under a man named Samir who had been scrutinizing her since the start of class. As suspected, her knowledge on Neolandia was a bit outdated, and right now she wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but in this stuffy classroom. As Samir droned on and on about some old king who founded one of the many oasis that dotted the kingdoms, the lesson soon came to an end. And the second they were dismissed, Reyna made a beeline right for the door and exited, feeling quite relieved.

"So what do you kids normally do after your classes?" She asks the children as they exited their classroom.

"Whatever we want!" Talora says cheerfully. "Though Salim and Aquila tend to hole themselves up in the library with two dozen books until dinner."

"We do not!" Aquila exclaims.

"Yeah!" Salim agrees.

"We hole ourselves up there with ten dozen books!"

"Aquila!"

"Sounds like something my father Ibis would do." Reyna chuckles as the two siblings bicker. "Well I'm not as avid as a reader as I used to be, perhaps one of you kids can show me the stables? I want to check on Magpie, maybe see if I can take him out for a walk."

"Walk?" Sharifa asks, her curiosity piqued. "Walk!"

"Walk!" Nijah yells as she grabs Reyna's hand as Kafele grabs the other and the two attempt to pull her away. "Horses!"

"Alright slow down!" Reyna laughs as she is led away, Sharifa and Amir right behind them.

Once in the stables, Reyna immediately spotted her horse next to a pretty pale haired horse, trying to touch noses with it but couldn't due to the wide space between their stables.

"Magpie!" Reyna greets cheerfully as her horse perks up at his name. "Hello my sweet boy!"

"Kindness has a boyfriend!" Kafele giggles as he and his baby sister run up to the other horse. "She's Kasef's horsey!"

"Aww, she seems like a kind one, you can see it in her eyes." Reyna chuckles as the said horse nickers softly. "So what sort of treats can I give Magpie anyways?"

"Carrots, sugar, oh oats too." Amir explains as he counts the items off his fingers. "Oh and apples, Kindness gets very excited when Kasef gets her apples - especially the sweet tasting ones."

"I've seen a horse eat a potato!" Kafele says as he tries pushing up the latch on the gate. "Let's take her for a ride! Teach Reyna to ride!"

"Whoa slow down, Kasef is gonna get upset if we take his horse out of her stable." Amir scolds as he stops his brother from pushing up the latch. "Go grab a stablehand at least, we'll use Magpie for practice since Reyna needs to learn how to ride a horse."

"I'm sure it's not that difficult or different from riding an elephant. Or a hot cat." Reyna says with a shrug as Kafele rushes off with Nijah.

"It's very different, trust me."

Once a stablehand had come over to help saddle Magpie up, Amir led them all to a large fenced off area outside to lead them in. Almost at once Reyna began to feel sweaty, wishing the dress she was given had shorter sleeves or at least not be so high collared.

"Alright the first thing you are gonna do is mount Magpie, and since you're a bit short you can use these steps for help." Amir instructs as he drops a set of wooden steps onto the sand next to the stallion. "Now when you get to the top, which leg are you going to use to get on?"

"Depends on what side of the horse I get on, right?" Reyna asks. "One of my dad's has a sister who owns a riding mount and I used to climb on her a lot of the time, so I at least know which direction I have to get on to avoid sitting backwards."

"And since the steps are on the left side..."

"I get on with my right leg first."

"Perfect!" Amir says, clapping his hands. "Okay can you get on?"

Reyna nods as she climbs the steps and slung her right leg over Magpie's back. The horse lurched forward a bit, nearly causing her to topple forward before Amir immediately grabbed the reins to steady the stallion while grabbing the back of her dress.

"Whoa careful! Sharifa help me!" The teen yells. "Steady the horse!"

"Help!" Sharifa yells as she ran forward, grabbing the leather reins.

"This is why I don't ride mounts!" Reyna yells as Amir manages to yank her back to sit right on the saddle. "Oh gods..."

"You good?" The teen asks and she nods immediately. "Okay now you're gonna have to grab the reins - Sharifa let those go and hold the halter - and hold onto that horn in the front of the saddle.

Reyna gulped nervously as she grabbed the horn tightly, trying so hard to not look down. It had been years since she ridden a mount, even Janai's Inferno Tiger, and the height between her and the floor was just...terrifying.

"Actually can we stop? I want to get down." She says quickly, trying not to let the panic in her voice be heard. "Please?"

Amir blinked in surprise before nodding, nudging his sister gently to move so he could grab the halter of the horse. "Okay I'll help you dismount. Can you get down on your own?"

"Scared?" Sharifa asks as she moves around to the other side of the horse and patted Reyna's leg. "Scared?"

"A bit." The elf admits with a nervous laugh. Okay now to get off without falling off and face planting on in the sand. She had seen the humans in the market dismounting horses, it looked easy so there shouldn't be a problem...right?

"What's going on?"

Reyna flinches and looks to the fence where Kafele and Nija were at to see Kasef approaching. Oh great.

"Reyna's stuck." Kafele states.

"Am not!" Reyna protests. "I'm just...having some difficulty getting off."

"You've never ridden an animal before or something?" Kasef asks as he slipped under the fence to enter and walks towards them.

"I don't ride mounts, I tend to get around by flying or walking."

"Geez, maybe getting a horse for you was a terrible idea."

Magpie snorts loudly and stomped his foot when the prince got close. Kasef immediately stopped, eyeing the animal warily as his ears flattened against his head.

"Shh it's okay, he's not a threat." Reyna says gently in an attempt to coax him and leans forward to gently touch his neck. "Can you not move so I can get -AH!"

Out of nowhere, Magpie suddenly knelt, sending the elf lurching forward and clung to his neck as the horse was now laying down, making the distance to the floor easier to get to.

"Oh wow! Did you see that Kasef?" Amir exclaims as Reyna quickly gets off. "He just knelt down!"

"Smart." Sharifa says with a grin.

"Smart indeed." Reyna agrees as her horse gets up again. "Well riding was a terrible idea, how about we just walk him?"

"You don't walk horses, he's supposed to be ridden." Kasef points out.

"And you're supposed to accept eating your veggies." Reyna retorts with a grin, earning a laugh from the younger children and teens.

"Bubba don't like veggies!" Nijah laughs. "Gross!"

"Nijah, shush!" Kasef scolds as Reyna grabs the reins of her horse.

"Come on Maggie, we'll walk you back to the stables. You don't have to be around the grumpy man anymore you sweet boy, and you can get back with your girlfriend too." She cooed as she lovingly pats her horse's neck affectionately.

"Kindness is not his girlfriend!" Kasef yells as Amir runs to open the gate.

"Yes she is! Sammy told me she cried when Magpie was taken out last night!" Kafele yells back.

"Too bad her rider isn't as nice as her." Reyna laughs as she led the horse out the gate. "Say, have the guests left yet?"

"No, daddy says they're gonna be staying here for a few days to rest and then go home." Amir says as his siblings follow as he leads them to the stables. "So you're gonna be stuck seeing Elvira for the next couple of days, and Platinum too."

"Oh joy."

"Oh look who it is!" Reyna grimaced at the sight of Elvira coming over to them on a horse of her own, also holding the reins of the horse from earlier that Magpie was trying to touch noses with. At the sight of Kindness, Magpie's ears perked and gave an excited snort. Kindness in return made a happy sounding noise and trots forward to touch noses with the stallion.

"Aww, someone's having a better love life." Elvira comes before sending Reyna a sickeningly sweet smile. "So, how's your second day as a newlywed? Much better than yesterday?"

"None of your business." Reyna scoffed. "And what are you even doing here?"

"Going on a ride with my friend, what's it look like?"

Ah, she had forgotten about that little detail. Great, if Kasef was friends with this annoying woman, she was probably gonna see her a whole lot more than she liked.

"Hey why don't we go to the pools, it's hot today." Amir suggests. "You can swim, right Reyna? Kasef, wanna join?"

The crown prince blinks in surprise. "I-"

"We're going on a ride, remember?" Elvira responds as she dropped the reins of Kindness so she could walk over to her rider.

"It's fine, enjoy your time with your friend." Reyna says with a shrug. "Come on, I'd rather be in the company of you kids today, since a certain someone has been acting cold to me since the morning."

"You're not jealous, right?" Kafele asks as they walk away from the two teens. "That my brother is spending time with Elvira instead of you?"

"I'm not, if he wants to hang out with his friends I'm not stopping him, even if they're not too nice." Reyna says and scoffs. "Jealous, why would I be jealous of her of all humans?"

"I dunno."

"I'm honestly glad he married you and not Platinum, she's just...awful." Amir says with a sigh. "Every time Florian and his family visits us, she wants nothing to do with us kids and spends hours in the spas or in the gardens. Elvira on the other hand, always active and doing everything with Kasef, one would think the two of them would have been a good match."

"Why would they even be married I'm the first place?" Reyna sks with a frown.

"My father and Florian had been discussing marriage once at a dinner and I overheard Florian suggested his niece or Elvira as a potential wife for my older brother."

"I like Reyna better!" Nijah says as she darted forward to grab the elf's hand. "She's nicer!"

"Nicer." Sharifa agrees and looks back. "Not nice."

"Well I am glad you all think I'm a better sister-in-law, but you all don't have to just think of me as your brother's wife. In fact, just think of me as...your new big sister." Reyna chuckles as she adjusts her hand to hold Nijah's better. "So don't ever be too intimidated by me!"

"Yay!" The younger children and Sharifa cheer as Amir just punched the air.

Once Magpie had been returned to his stable and given some treats (he really seemed to enjoy the apples over the sugar cubes), Reyna allowed the children to lead her to an area of the palace she had only seen once when she was taken to be bathed before the wedding ceremony. It looked like a large lush outdoor garden at first glance, but once they made their way through the plants, there was a large pool of water similar to the ones she had stopped at on her trip to the capital of Neolandia. Surrounding the pool were Platinum, a blonde woman she had seen with Florian last night (possibly his wife), queen Fareeda, princess Ophelia and even king Silas, but they were all staring at the large gold spotted cat that was lazily walking around in the water.

"Spots! What have we told you about hogging the pool?" Amir yells as he ran to the edge of the pool where the cat swam over. "Did Sanura let you out?"

"I'm BOILING here, get that thing out of the pool!" Platinum shrieks.

"What the heck is that thing?" Reyna asks as the cat crawled out of the pool to shake itself off. "It looks like a big spotted Kala."

"That's Spots, she's a leopard." Amir explains as Ophelia made a mad dash for the pool and launched herself in. "She belongs to our sister Sanura, you remember her right?"

Reyna frowns and tries to put a face to the name. It had to be the girl who was fiddling with the feather quill in the classroom earlier and was poking Salim a lot during dinner the other night, right? Goodness so many children and she was still having trouble putting their names to their faces. "Uh...I think so?"

"It's okay, there is too many of us to keep track of, even father mistakes us for one another. One time he called my older brother Sharifa."

Reyna snorts as the younger children giggle loudly, before she jerks back in alarm when Spots walks towards her. "Uh...help?"

"Nice." Sharifa says as the big cat sniffed the elf's shoes. "Reyna nice."

Spots then looks up at the elf, made a loud chuffing sound before flopping over on her side, exposing her belly to her. Reyna had only seen Inferno Tiger kittens do this sort of action, mostly to get belly rubs. But the last thing she wanted was to give belly rubs to this odd cat.

"Belly rub!" Nijah yells as she dropped to her knees to pet the cat's fluffy underbelly.

"Nope, not touching that." Reyna says as she steps away from the cat. "I already lost a horn, not gonna lose a hand - or a second horn."

"Oh but that would be such an improvement!" Reyna grimaces and turns back to the pool to see Platinum sitting on the edge, staring daggers at her. "A big improvement!"

"No one asked for your input!" Reyna yells back. "So shut your trap!"

"Platinum be nice, we're guests!" The blonde woman yells.

"Of course, aunt Stina." The girl mutters and Reyna rolls her eyes.

"I should just push her into the pool." The elf mutters as she began to remove her boots. "That should shut her up."

So the blonde woman was Elvira's mother, the one Platinum called her aunt. Stina seemed to be watching her, and even from this distance Reyna could tell the queen was frowning in her direction, obviously not pleased with her presence. Whatever. Once her boots and socks were off, Reyna rolled the pants up to her knees and sat at the edge of the pool to dip her legs in with a sigh and closed her eyes. Like the pool at that oasis she stopped at a few days ago, the water felt refreshing and cold.

"Why do elves have four toes?" She hears someone ask and opens her eyes to find princess Ophelia floating a few feet from her, trying to stay in the shade.

"That's just how the gods made us, though I had heard of someone with a weird defect where they had five toes on one foot and three on the other." Reyna says as she lifted one foot delicately out of the water to wiggle her toes. "Though I never understood the use of those extra fingers, the ones called...pinkos?"

"Pinkies! And they're used to make promises!" The princess says as she held one hand up to wiggle her small finger. "Do you guys not have pinky promises?"

"I suppose this is the closest we'll have to a pinky." Reyna says as she lifted a hand to wiggle the finger with her wedding band on it. "But I've been told this one is the ring finger."

"My mommy knows someone who has rings all over their fingers, so everything is a ring finger!"

"That must be a pain to remove and put on again."

"It is!"

Okay the kid wasn't half bad, curious as the young royal Neolandian children. Maybe like Aanya she'll get along with this human child as well. Now if only she could get along with these older and more judgemental women.

----

"Ugh it's so hot today, how can you stand it?" Elvira groans as she and Kasef are riding.

"If you were born and raised here you'd understand, living in such a cold place like Hinterpeak makes you weak in the desert." The prince snickers as he tugged on the reins of his mare to stop to allow Elvira and her steed to catch up. "You've been visiting this place for a week nearly every year, one would have thought you became tolerable to the heat."

"Shut up." The princess mutters as she gets close and grabs the water skin on the saddle to unscrew the top. "Ugh, so glad I'm not the one who's gonna live here for the rest of her life, I'd die of heatstroke by the end of the year."

"Don't remind me, it feels weird to be reminded that I have a wife."

"And an elf at that, did they have to send you such an eyesore for a wife?"

"She's not...that bad appearance-wise."

Elvira rolls her eyes as they urge their horses to walk. "If you say so. Say, why don't you marry my cousin?"

"This again?" Kasef asks with a groan as he pulls on the reins of his horse to stop walking. "Elvira, this is like the second time this week alone you brought that up. Why are you even suggesting that, you know I'm not her type!"

"Hey I'm just trying to keep you from having a miserable marriage that was doomed to fail from the start." The Del Barian princess says with a shrug. "Look I know you don't want this, and as your friend and future ally, I'm only suggesting this so your name won't be smeared in the history books for marrying an elf. Platinum will be old enough to marry in a few years, you'll be doing yourself and the elf a favor by divorcing."

"You do realize my father and his right hand won't let that happen, right? They worked too hard for this peace treaty with the Skywings and they're not going to break it simply because I don't want to be known in the history books as the prince who disgraced his ancestors by marrying the enemy."

"Not unless we can find a reason for you two to be divorced."

"Elvira, I'm not divorcing Reyna just so I can marry your cousin. Besides, my siblings like her, Platinum, not so much. Last time your family visited Sharifa had a screaming fit when your cousin smacked her when she touched her dress, and she didn't even apologize."

"Sharifa should know better than to touch people."

Kasef just shakes his head. "I am not marrying Platinum and that's final. Father spoke to me earlier and said he wanted me to get along with Reyna better, and that means spending time with her and finding a way to have her warm up to me."

"Poor you." Elvira snickers as they turn their horses to go back the way they came. "Say, why don't you get her a gift? Perhaps a pet of sorts?"

"I already gave her a horse, and the damn thing doesn't even like me for whatever reason."

"No not a horse, perhaps like a smaller animal, like your weird cat."

"Reyna doesn't seem to like cats either." Kasef points out, recalling how Reyna reacted that morning to Kala sleeping on her. Then he remembered something. Last night during the party while Reyna was greeting the other royal guests, he remembered one of his sisters mentioning that Reyna claimed to own several pet birds back in Xadia. "Hey, you said you had a bird imported from Xadia as a pet, right?"

"Yes, what about it?" Elvira asks with a small frown.

"Would...would it be possible for me to get one for my wife? One of my sisters mentioned that she owned a few birds back home as pets, perhaps I could..."

Elvira's frown then grew into a grin. "Oh a wonderful idea! I know a merchant back home who specializes in exporting exotic animals who got me my Xadian bird. I could ask him to give you one and he could have it brought to your kingdom and you can pay for it when he brings it! I'm sure your wife would love to have something from her homeland!"

"Then that settles it, a Xadian bird for Reyna." Kasef says, sighing in relief. As much as he disliked this arrangement of a marriage, he figured he should at least put some effort into keeping it strong. Perhaps in a year or two if the two separated kingdoms had a treaty, they could just divorce, find someone they actually loved and go on with their lives. "Let's head to the pool after taking the horses back, I need to check on my younger siblings and Sharifa, and my wife."

After leaving their horses at the stables, Kasef and Elvira made their way towards the pool area, but something felt amiss. He couldn't he any loud laughter and splashing, instead, he could hear screaming. Panicked, he rushes through the worn path until reaching the pool to find his siblings, several guests and servants surrounding it while two figures are struggling with each other in the water.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU ONE HORNED EYESORE!" He hears Platinum scream as he rushes to the crowd and pushes several aside to find Reyna and the noblewoman fighting in the water.

"MAKE ME YOU DUMB BLONDE!" Reyna screams back as she attempts to grab Platinum's braid to yank her head down into the water.

"Enough!" Kasef yells loudly, getting their attention as everyone backs away. He moves to the edge of the pool and immediately grabs Reyna by the back of her dress, completely ignoring Platinum's outstretched hand. "What in the hell happened?"

"She started it!" Reyna snaps as she pointed an accusing finger at Platinum as she is yanked out of the water and onto the stone floor. "Shove me right in, ask the kids!"

"Yeah and she grabbed her ankles to yank her in!" Kafele yells. "She kept saying mean things to Reyna!"

"Didn't Khalen tell you to behave?" Kasef asks as a servant hands him a large thick towel and shoves it into Reyna's hands.

"Well I was trying to play nice until a certain bitch took it too far." Reyna snapped as she angrily draped the towel around her. "You know, you really ought to reevaluate your choice in friends husband."

"And you should learn your place, elf." Elvira says as she steps in before reaching in to grab Platinum out of the pool. "Oh poor cousin, your make up is running, you look dreadful."

"Shut up." Platinum mutters as she is handed a towel. "Divorce for them is immenent!"

Reyna frowns and lifted her hand before Kasef grabs it and pushed it down and quickly scooped her up into his arms. "Ah! Hey!"

"Bubba where you going?" Nijah asks loudly.

"Taking this one to our room, she needs a change of clothes." Kasef responds as Reyna casts him a skeptical look. Once out of view and in the opened hallways of the palace, the prince immediately released the fuming elf. "Okay we need to talk about your temper."

"OH I HAVE A TEMPER NOW?!" Reyna screams, earning her some stares from servants passing by. "THAT BITCH STARTED IT! I TRIED TO BE CIVIL!"

"Lower your voice!" Kasef hissed as he pressed a hand to his wife's mouth, only to yank it away when he felt something wet touch it. "EW! What are you, four?! Not even Nijah does this!"

"Be glad it was my tongue and not my teeth." Reyna snaps before adjusting the towel around her. "Why is it that every time I am around that human, you think taking me away is the best option?"

"Because-"

"What's going on here?" The two look up to see Zaria approaching them, several attendants trailing behind her while one held her arm in support.

"G-grandmother." Kasef greets as he hastily bows to the dowager queen. He glances at Reyna, who hadn't even bowed at all.

"Lady Reyna." Zaria says once she was close.

"Umm, what's the proper title to call you by?" Reyna asks and some attendants gasp in alarm. "This sort of thing wasn't covered by the etiquette teacher I was being trained by back home."

"Dowager Zaria would suffice by anyone who isn't family." the old queen responds coldly before her frown softens. "But you may just call me Zaria if you so wish, or grandmother. You are family now after all."

"So no need to bow or curtsy?"

"Just a simple bow or cutrsy is fine, nothing to big or deep. Now, why are you soaked and why is my grandson scolding you?"

"King Florian's niece pushed me in the pool and your grandson is scolding me for pulling her in and attempting to drown her after she insulted me."

"Reyna!" Kasef gasps.

"I certainly would have liked to have done that to queen Astrid, but we can't risk a little Del Bar and Neolandia civil war over an attempted drowning." Zaria chuckles. "We should get you fixed up for that dinner, go back to your siblings Kasef.

"But-"

"I'll take it from here." Zaria insists as she put an arm around Reyna and pushes her to the end of the hall she had came from. "Wash up and fix your hair, you look like an agitated ostrich."

"What's an ostrich?" Reyna asks as she is led away.

"A large bird that roams the few grasslands we have here, several decades back king Jebora nearly made them our kingdom's symbol because he loved them so much. Of course he died before that law could pass and his daughters Viper and Roadrunner made sure not to let that happen. He was a bit senile."

"They're terrifying." An attendant mutters under his breath. "Relentless, fast and will stomp and kick you if given the chance."

"I like them already." Reyna says with a grin, causing Zaria to chuckle.

"Then I'll be sure to get you one as a gift in the near future, after it's trained of course. Now, we should get you cleaned up and I have just the dress for you."

----

"Fighting with a member of the royal family, that's bad." Nour murmurs as she is toweling Reyna's hair dry. "Best hope king Florian won't hold this against our king, or his daughter at least when she is queen."

"I could care less about Elvira." Reyna spat as the towel was whisked away before the maid carefully grabbed her face to turn her head with a make up brush in hand. "Oh not this again."

"It's a special dinner, Zaria said you need to look presentable." Nour points out. "I'll just put very little on, maybe some on your eyes."

"I hope we don't have to do this every night." Reyna groans before closing her eyes and feeling the brush tickle her eyelid. "I don't need any of that weird stuff on my lips, right?"

"Lipstick?"

"Yeah that."

"Not unless you want the red stuff we have that would look awful on your skin." Nour tsked as she moves to the other eye. "But my cousin knows someone who makes cosmetics so I can ask him if he can make a nice shade of grey for you to use for formal occasions."

"Fix her hair, the makeup can wait." They hear Zaria say as she enters the room, already dressed in a long flowing black dress with gold flowers dotting the hem, a simple wooden cane in hand that she was leaning on. "Now, this dinner is important Reyna, you took lessons on what is appropriate to use for specific foods, right?"

"Yeah, the lessons are practically burned into my memory." Reyna says and shudders a bit. "I can't look at a spoon anymore without thinking which spoon is appropriate for soups."

"Excellent, and worry not, there won't really be any soups tonight. Also, I have two things for you to wear to the banquet."

"Oh, I already had a dress picked out." Reyna glances at the simple teal dress one of her maids had laid out on her bed. It was plain, but it should be nice enough to wear for a fancy dinner, right? One look from Zaria told her that probably wasn't going to fly. "Unless...you have something a bit better?"

Zarai smiles. "Indeed I do. Kamaira, the gown and pendant please." The doors to Reyna's room opened as a servant rushed in carrying something before handing it over to the queen, who handed her staff over to a nearby servant. "This was modeled after one of my own dresses, I thought you'd look best in it. And if you like it, perhaps my personal tailor can make you a version of it in the colors that suit you best."

"Umm, thank you." Reyna says, wondering what sort of dress the dowager queen had in mind for her to wear. Gods she hoped it wasn't so old fashioned and tacky, last thing she needed was for Elvira and Platinum for making fun of her in-laws choice in clothes. "I'm sure it's lovely."

"It's not old fashioned, I promise, I wouldn't want to stick you in something tacky that my own grandfather tried to stick me in when I was your age." Zaria chuckles as she shook out the dress. "In fact, I was told I had a fashion sense that was too ahead of my time. Perhaps this was more fit for now."

The dress was just...fancy. Long with a feathery veiled cape and thin bronze chains with some black and gold colored gems, a large black gem holding the veils and cape together at the throat. There was no way she could wear this without messing it up.

"Umm, are you sure this will fit me?" Reyna asks as the queen hands the dress off to a servant, who whisks the elf off to a large changing screen.

"Of course, I had a personal tailor remake this the other night to fit you. Bless his heart for making this so quickly."

"Zaria are you sure this is right to wear for a dinner?!" Reyna asks as the servant is helping her dress.

"Absolutely. In fact, I wore this to many dinners when I was visiting other kingdoms or hosting them here in the palace." She hears Zaria respond. "I liked the dress so much I even had it resized after I had Ahling, would have given it to his wife but she thought it looked odd on her, so I was going to give those for my granddaughters when they were old enough."

"And she's done!" The servant announced as Reyna is gently pushed out from the changing screen. "Hmm, would the pendant clash with this? It already has a large brooch to hold the veils in place."

"It should be fine, it goes nicely with the dress anyways." Zarai says with a dismissive wave as she walks over to Reyna. "Now, I have something that's been in my family for generations. Ahling is busy entertaining the guests right now, but he asked me to give you this."

The queen carefully dropped something heavy and cold into the elf's hands and she gasps when she sees it. It was a large gold pendant hanging from a gold chain with a large black onyx in the middle and a carving of a woman sat in the middle of it.

"Every future queen had a chance to wear this necklace and pass it to her daughter, daughter-in-law or granddaughter. And since my daughter-in-law isn't with us anymore, I pass it onto you in her place." Zaria says as she takes the necklace.

"O-oh, thank you." Reyna says as the dowager queen unclasped the chain to drape it around her neck and reclasp it. It felt heavy around her neck, probably because of the large pendant.

"Perfect." Zaria says, giving her a small smile before taking her hands. "Come, we need to get you fixed up now. Can't have our guests waiting."

Once her hair and makeup was done and a pair of shoes were placed on her feet, Reyna and the dowager queen made their way towards where the banquet should be. As they walked, Reyna suddenly didn't feel so nervous as she was earlier. Instead for some reason, she was feeling...sad.

What's the matter with me right now? She wonders as they pass a large looking glass on the wall and glances at her reflection. Just the sight of herself was enough to make her feel a bit anxious and afraid. What is that doing here? What is an elf doing-

"Oh I forgot this portrait was here." Zaria says, snapping the elf back to the present. Reyna looks up to see that they were passing a large painting displaying a large weird looking bird creature caught in mid-run, a young dark haired woman on it's back and holding what looked like reins that were attached to the bird creature's beak like it was a horse.

Flash, my sweet boy, I wonder where he is. Reyna thought as a small smile came to her face.

"That's an ostrich, did you know we used to ride them like horses for fun?" Zaria says as they stop in front of the painting. "While king Jebora was acclaimed to be the one who loved these animals the most, it was his daughter Roadrunner who loved them the most. While she loved them, she thought the elephant would be a better symbol for our kingdom. Of course nowadays we don't, instead we have jousting on elephants now, quite a shame really."

"Such a shame." Reyna agrees.

"Oh, and look who's outside waiting for us." Reyna glances ahead to see Kasef standing outside the hall, fiddling with the collar of his shirt before he straightens himself up when the two approach. "I wasn't expecting a welcoming committe, is everyone inside already?"

"The Del Barians haven't showed up yet, you know how they are." Kasef response before his eyes wander to Reyna and they widen. "What in the gods heavens are you wearing?"

"Something I would have stuck you in if you weren't born a boy." Zarai chuckles as the elf shrunk back a bit. "It was modeled after one of my dresses, the one I'm always seen wearing in portraits in my younger years. Doesn't your wife look lovely?"

"Grandmother, I don't think that's appropriate to wear for a banquet."

"It's fine..." Reyna mumbles quietly. Who was this man? Why was he looking at her so oddly? Where was Viper-

"Just saying, I don't want her getting odd looks." Kasef says, interrupting her thoughts before extending a hand to her. "Come on, everyone is waiting."

Reyna nods meekly before allowing him to lead her inside.

It was a large hall, plants and paintings decorating a lot of the walls as the various royal families sat around a large table. Everyone was chatting happily with each other before they went quiet when they caught sight of them.

"Reyna, mother! There you two are, I got worried!" Ahling says as he got out of his seat and hurried over to Zaria. "Mother you had me worried, I thought one of your bad coughing fits and muscle freeze ups happened again."

"I'm fine dear, I haven't coughed at all today." Zaria assures the king as he leads her to a seat. "I was just helping Reyna get dressed and giving her the necklace."

"O-oh, the one Noelani wore at a dinner rehearsal before the wedding?"

"Yes that one. Now where are those damn Del Barians?"

"Mother, language please..."

"Here, you're sitting next to me." Kasef says as he pulled out a chair next to where his grandmother was sitting.

"Thank you." Reyna mumbles as she took her seat and allowed him to push it in. Who were these people, what was going on, why was there an elf in the palace -

"Oh there they are, finally." Zaria grumbles as the door to the halls opened and the Del Barian royal family enters. Reyna could feel her heart rapidly beating in panic as her eyes land on Elvira. She was here, it was that woman, why was she in the palace?! Where's Viper, where is Viper, WHAT IS TAIGA DOING HERE-

"Hey, you okay?" Reyna gave a yelp when she feels a wam hand on hers and turns to see Kasef looking at her in concern and looks down to see his hand on hers. "You look like you saw a ghost."

"I-I'm fine." Reyna says quickly as she pulls her hand away.

"I see grandmother gave you the family heirloom." Kasef comments, nodding at the necklace. "And you have the earrings I gave you."

"Oh, well I guess this was a special occasion and she wanted me to wear it?" Reyna says as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her fingers brushing the thin gold chain of the earrings. "I thought it'd be fine to put these on, Nour said wearing at least one gold item would help me not look so out of place."

"You look tacky." Elvira comments loudly. "The necklace looks quite tacky."

"Elvira, be nice." Florian scolds as he takes a seat next to his wife. "Alright, we're all here now, shall we eat?"

"Of course! We were just waiting on you and your family." Ahling says as he motions for some servants, who rush over with chalices.

"Sorry, you know how my wife and daughters are, have to make themselves look perfect even though they already are."

"Aww dearest, not in front of the others." Stina giggles. "You know how we are."

They've always been like this. Reyna thought, a small wave of annoyance rolling through her. Arrogant, loud, spoiled, stupid-

"So! How are you two getting along?" King Harrow asks loudly and Reyna could see everyone looking at her and Kasef.

"Umm...quite well?" Reyna responds and she could see the skeptical look Elvira was giving her.

"Good! May your marriage last long!" The king says as he raised his cup, as did other guests and family members. "So, my son heard from one of your younger in-laws that you can do magic, were you a mage in training before you came?"

"Uh, not exactly. One of my fathers is one and he taught me magic so I could defend myself and also only taught me because I wouldn't stop pestering him to teach me. I'm not as strong or as powerful as he is, but I hope in due time I will be and perhaps use my magic to help."

"So, you hope to be a court mage?" Viren asks and Reyna immedietly stiffens. "Doesn't Neolandia have one already?"

"We haven't had one in many years, last one was one named Aya and she was much older than I am now." Zaria responds. "I was only a young girl when she passed, but apparently she had no successor to be our next court mage. I did hear rumors of there being a talented mage wandering through our kingdom, but he hasn't come around the capital yet. But that's fine, we don't need a dark mage at this time."

"A shame, hardly any well skilled dark mages work for the royal families."

"Well then, perhaps this time the royal Neolandian family could have someone who knows proper magic."

"Mother be polite!" Ahling scolds as servants start bringing in food. "My apologies lord Viren and king Harrow, my mother has a bit of a sharp tongue."

"Well she has one as sharp as my mother's and could still make her shut up." Florian chuckles. "A shame you never inherited that Ahling, but perhaps your children or future grandchildren will inherit it."

"Florian!" Stina scolds when Kasef nearly gags on his drink.

"What? He's going to get one or two sometime, right?"

"This isn't the sort of dinner conversation I was hoping to have." Reyna mutters as she takes another sip of her drink as a steaming dish was placed in front of her.

"Was it too much to ask for a quiet dinner?" Kasef mutters before grabbing a fork.

Reyna just simply shrugs before grabbing her own fork and stabbed into a piece of meat before putting it in her mouth. How odd, why wasn't this spicy?

"You best hope for grandsons, boys are much easier to deal with than girls." Florian says and out of the corner of her eye Reyna could see Elvira and a blonde girl who looked almost identical to her roll their eyes. "Stina gave me just daughters and I swear I'm getting grey hairs!"

No reaction from the queen, but Stina did look ready to smack her husband, instead just shaking her head and continuing to eat her meal.

"Boys are just as difficult to deal with, be glad you at least have children." Ahling scolds. "As for grandchildren, I don't care if they're boys or girls, just as long as they are healthy and their mother is alright after giving birth."

"Father, we're only eighteen!" Kasef groans. "No grandchildren talk!"

"In a few years! As I said last night, I won't mind having half elf grandchildren, they'll still be adorable and I just hope disliking vegetables isn't genetic."

Reyna stiffens a laugh when she sees the embarrassed look on her husband's face. Grandchildren, was she ever going to give them to her father? Oh they would be so adorable, with soft dark hair, sweet little smiles and squishy little cheeks one can pinch-

"No really Ahling, having sons is much better for the bloodline! And you are lucky to have plenty of biological sons!" Florian says and Reyna is very sure the queen was going to slap him. "My brothers have plenty of sons, yet sadly I don't. Stina and I have been trying for years even after Elvira and Martina, and nothing!"

"Then...perhaps that's what the gods wanted for you?" Reyna says and she could feel the cold stares from the Del Barians on her. Ah maybe she shouldn't have opened her mouth.

"My wife is right, at least you have heirs even if they aren't boys." Kasef says, coming to her defense. "Martina and Elvira are at least lucky to be this healthy and alive."

"Well at least my sister and I are better than my cousins." Elvira says and the girl next to her nods quietly.

"How about we just eat?" Iris suggests loudly from far down the table.

"Yes, please." Zaria agrees as Reyna take another stab at her food.

"Oh gods she picked up the wrong fork!" Elvira gasps loudly. "Salad forks for meat items!"

What?No, no she was very sure she picked up the right fork, the stupid fork lesson from months ago was practically embedded in her memory. Reyna glances over at Zaria to see she was using a more longer fork that was shaped a bit differently than the one she held in her hand. Glancing over at Kasef, he was using the exact same fork as his grandmother. Reyna felt a wave of shame was over her as she quickly dropped the fork she had been using and pushed her plate away from her. All eyes are on her, why is everyone staring?

"Stina, I thought you taught your daughter better." Zarai says with a frown as she pulled the plate back to Reyna and removed the salad fork.

"And I thought you taught your grandson's wife more etiquette." The Del Barian queen retorts as she casts the elf a skeptical look. "Obviously, you can tell she wasn't brought up properly."

"May I be excused?" Reyna asks quietly, her hands twitching at her side as her eyes kept flitting to the large steak knife next to her cup. The smirk Elvira was giving her right now was putting her on edge, she was feeling more afraid and anxious right now than earlier. "Please?"

"Just use this one, focus on your meal." Kasef says as he grabs the correct fork and stabbed it into her meat before taking her hand to grab it. "Eat."

"Umm, this meal is quite delicious!" Harrow says quickly. "Ahling, what are we eating? I don't think I've tasted this before?"

"It's goat Harrow, I've served it to you before last time you visited." The king responds. "Uh, say Reyna, tell us more about Xadia. What do your people do for...for the summer?"

"Really Ahling, you had to pick such a poorly mannered elf for a daughter-in-law!" Stina says, switching the conversation away from the new topic. "You know, those elves might have just sent you some random elf they picked out instead of a well educated one. Maybe you should have them send you a better one and sent that one back."

"Hmph, obviously. Maybe we should just send her back." Elvira sneers. "Her family obviously are to blame for her attitude."

Oh that did it. It was one thing for someone to talk bad about her, but to drag her family into this? No, she was not going to stand for it. No one insulted her fathers, sibling and grandparents and got away with it.

"Maybe you should SHUT the FUCK UP!" Reyna screams, slamming her fist on the table, the anger coursing through her body.

"Reyna!" Kasef yells, but her attention is now on him.

"Oh so you're gonna defend this bitch after she's been insulting me all day since last night? How spineless are you to let her get away with such words!"

"Watch your tongue elf!" Stina snapped, her pale blue eyes blazing with fury. "That is my daughter you speak of!"

"Well then you should have done a better job at teaching her some manners!" Reyna retorts. "Goes to show how great your parenting skills are! At least my fathers taught me to have some!"

"N-now now lets not fight! T-this is supposed to be a nice quiet dinner!" Ahling tries to say, but it seems like no one heard him.

"Learn your place elf, you may have married into a royal family, but you have no power." Stina snaps as she stands and Reyna stands too. "Your title alone is nothing."

"I don't need a damn title to kick your ass and your daughter's ass right here and now!" Reyna retorts as her hand raises. She could feel the tingling of the lightning in her fingertips coursing through her, all she needed to do was draw the rune and-

"Reyna!" She feels Kasef grab her hand and immediately slam it down on the table, his eyes brimming with anger. "That's enough. Sit down."

"Make me." The elf growls, jerking her hand out from under his. "I dare you. Or are you too spineless to even do so?"

"Keep your wife on a leash, Kasef, she needs to know her place." Elvira says loudly.

Without warning, Kasef suddenly grabs Reyna and threw her straight over her shoulder, earning a startled yelp from the elf as her husband storms out of the hall.

"Put me down!" Reyna screams as she pounds his back with her fists. "Put me down this instant!"

"Not until we get to your room, we need to talk!" Kasef snaps as he keeps briskly walking. "And no interruptions! You've embarrassed us enough for this week alone!"

The moment they reached Reyna's room and Kasef managed to shut the door behind him did he put her down. The moment her feet touched the carpet, Reyna immediately slapped her husband across the cheek before storming to her bed. Everything felt so stifling right now, she needed to get out of this dress. Her hands immediately went to the necklace and quickly removed it from her neck, and the moment it was off, did her mind start to clear. All that...what was that?

"Seriously, a slap?!" She hears Kasef yell. "What is the matter with you?! You nearly gave my father a stroke with your colorful language!"

Oh that. But that felt really odd, it's as if she wasn't even in control of her emotions or her words during that dinner.

"I...I don't know..." Reyna admits and buried her face in her hands. "I was fine earlier when your grandmother came in to escort me to the dinner, but then on our way I just started feeling moody all of a sudden? Like I was sad at first, then I felt this overwhelming sense of fear when I was sitting across from the Del Barians, and then this surge of anger hit me? The hell is wrong with me?"

"Don't play innocent, you know exactly what you did! You threatened Stina, you looked ready to stab her and Elvira!"

"Well if she was insulting your family, what would you have done, sat there and said nothing? No one talks shit about my family and gets away with it - and I mean it! But I wouldn't stab anyone over it!"

"Well you looked ready to do so! I saw your hand Reyna, you nearly grabbed the steak knife when Elvira started talking before I dragged you out!" Kasef snaps as he storms forward, causing her to shift back until her legs hit the foot of the bed. "You can't get into fights with everyone you don't like, you hold your tongue and stay quiet."

"Oh is that what I must do to get your friend to like me? Let her say what she wants and insult me to my face?" Reyna asks as she glares up at her husband. "Your brother told me that you hardly ever hold your tongue when you get upset, what a hypocrite you are to tell me to stay quiet."

"This isn't about me, this is about you and-"

"My unsavory attitude? I told you I don't know what happened! You don't believe me don't you?"

"Well you don't even have a good enough excuse to explain your weird mood swings, what are you going to say to the queen tomorrow when she comes demanding an apology?"

"Oh I need to give her an apology? Why do I have to be the one to apologize?" Reyna asks with a frown. "Get out of my room, I wish to be alone and I am done talking."

Kasef gave an annoyed huff before storming off to the door and flung it open before slamming it behind him. With a frustrated sigh, Reyna quickly undresses, careful to not rip or mess with the dress as she removes it and placed it on a chair before grabbing her night shirt and pants.

"Stupid, I'm not apologizing to either of them or that stupid cousin." She mutters as she grabbed her journal and began to angrily scribble in it. "Why do I need to when they started it?"

Day 3

I hate my husband and he never listens to me. Stupid dumb and awful. I miss my home I miss my family, why can't this peace come sooner so I can see them again?

Queen Zaria and her family like me at least, I think so do some of the other rulers. Except the Del Barians. Especially stupid Elvira.

Reyna writes more, ignoring the knocking at her door before hearing it creak open and something make a clattering sound. She turns to see the door shut and sees a plate of something on the floor covered by a napkin. Curious, she gets up and walks over to the plate to uncover it and finds a small white mound with something green sprinkled on it and a spoon next to it. Reyna carefully pokes it with the spoon to scoop some of it up and sniffed the food before putting it in her mouth. Ah this tasted sweet, and who left this?

Probably not Kasef, maybe one of his siblings or one of the servants who saw the whole mess at the dinner. The elf thinks as she picks up the plate to take it to her desk and continues to eat, savoring the taste. Still, what was even going on? I wasn't even being myself until now. What was with those random mood swings? I just hope this doesn't happen again. And I hope the family isn't mad at me tomorrow...