Isolde never quite liked the idea of a big feast. She would always be the lady whose idea of a perfect day would be her notebooks, quills, a picnic lunch with an imaginary admirer, and the company of none but the song of silence and the colours of the wind. This is how Isolde had always been. Calm, tranquil and gentle, a soft breeze that fills you with joy.

Several uneasy thoughts poked Isolde, in the same way, she toyed with her food. Should I not have trusted the elf?

"Izz, you haven't touched a single thing on your plate."

Snapping out of her reverie after hearing Zephyr call her, Isolde shook her head and regained her usual, calm composure. She cleared her throat before adding, "I'm not really hungry, I ate before the ceremony."

"Don't second guess your decision, Izz." Edwin piped in, which gained him nothing but a glare from Zephyr. 'How dare you call my best friend that? That name is reserved for me to use.' remained unsaid between the pair.

"Edwin is right though, you shouldn't be worrying so much about Aiden, you made the right decision. I wouldn't have done any different." She tried reassuring her solemn best friend, who had finally begun to eat her dinner, but her eyes went wide, as realisation struck her.

"Aiden?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you guys? His name is Aiden, and he's 16 and a half."

"' Didn't I tell you guys' does it look like we know?" Edwin huffed, shooting a nasty look to Zephyr, while she merely rolled her eyes at his antics, the pair sighing in annoyance.

Seeing their annoyed exchange, Isolde cleared her throat and began, "Zee, when did you talk to the elf?"

Hearing this question, Zephyr simply forgot her annoyance at the other member of the Royal Council and beamed at her best friend as she spoke with excitement, "Oh, I didn't ask the elf! I asked Sorin, he met the elf at the gates of the palace before coming to you. He inquired of the elf quite well."

Hiding a smirk, Isolde added, "And, what else did he tell you, hmm?"

"Well...nothing? The rest was the same story he told you in the Main Hall."

Edwin's focus actively shifted back to the conversation, mostly to Isolde, after he had zoned out for the last few minutes. "Isolde, why don't you talk to the elf yourself?"

Flashing him a soft smile, the young monarch replied in a joyful tone, causing Zephyr's slightly annoyed huff to go unnoticed, "Oh, I've decided to do that right after dinner, and I think I shall go by myself."

"Of course, Izz."

Succeeding this exchange, dinner passed by in mostly silence. Of course, jokes were still cracked, and by the end of it, Edwin and Zephyr were no less than smiling at each other's banter, earning a small sigh of relief from Isolde. She had chosen her council very well indeed.

Her heels clacked on the tiled floor as she walked over to the back of the dining hall, where Aiden stood. Apart from the music her heels made, she was followed by nothing else. Each step, somehow making her more nervous than the previous.

'Come on Isolde! It's not that hard.' She scolded herself mentally.

She stopped a few paces before Aiden, yet he somehow sensed her standing there. Elf abilities? She didn't know. But it felt warm staring into his eyes as she did.

Shaking her head out of her reverie, Isolde cleared her throat. "I think we haven't properly been introduced. I'm Isolde Merriweather Carlquist, Crown Princess of Hetalia." She bowed out of regular, customary courtesy, and the elf replicated.

"Aiden, Aiden Sunfire. Prince of the Sunfire Elf Kingdom, Drystan."

Her eyes went wide at his words, "You're the prince?"

His head held low at her words, and he shakily replied, "My Kingdom is in tatters...and I...that's insignificant, I'd like to first thank you for very kindly and genuinely agreeing to help me, thank you for saving me..."

Isolde beamed at the elf's words, "It's a duty as a Crown Princess, to help those who need it. I'll try to make better accommodations for you as time passes. I hope you wouldn't mind the servant quarter too much for now."

"Oh, not at all, I couldn't be more grateful for lending me a hand in this dire situation."

She smiled again, the elf's fun nature making her feel comfortable. "Why don't you join me for a while, before you are taken to your quarters?"

"But the guards–"

"Oh, they will be taken care of."

And for the first time since he had washed up on the shore of the kingdom, the elf genuinely smiled.

His smile was the last thing Isolde comprehensively remembered of the night, for once she got caught up amid a joyful after-dinner dance with her friends and civilians, she finally felt it. Freedom.

Freedom from her own mind. These past two years flew away amidst a lot of sadness and tragedy. Perhaps all it took to break free and find her wings once again was a crown atop her head to give her the strength.

After all, they say the crown makes one feel powerful. Or well, I believe it just gives you the mental power to unleash the magic within you.

Isolde bounced on her soft bed, still wearing her coronation down, letting out a deep sigh. She didn't remember the last time she had this much fun. Each moment replayed itself in her mind like melodies of a song on a record player, as she closed her eyes, a content smile dancing on her lips.

She twirled in her coronation gown one last time before slipping it off and switching into her nightgown. Despite being exhausted from the unimaginably fun events of the night, Isolde picked up her quill and journal and sat by the window to scribble.

"Because you are a little grey bird too, just like me.

tired of the weight of expectations, on your wings..."

The quill slid down from her hand onto the chaise, her journal pages fluttered from the soft breeze, just like her auburn hair. Her eyes that closed to think her next few lines took her on the beautiful trip to dreamland, and she fell asleep right there, on the chaise by the window.

A bird, she thought.

The distinctively loud flap of a giant bird's wing, that's what had woken her up so suddenly. The clock read 3:13 in the morning, haze and dullness still lingering in the surroundings.

Isolde crept out of her window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the bird who had woken her up. She stood still, eyes fixated on the tenebrous sky above.

And soon enough, her beaded eyes spotted the cause of her awakening. A majestic, almost magical, orange-red-gold bird flew overhead, in complete silence and solitude. Isolde could make out that it was about the size of an eagle from the looks of it.

It seemed to have a magical trance on the young monarch, as her eyes remained fixated on the flight of the bird. Something suddenly caught Isolde's eye. A strange-looking pendant that the bird was wearing.

From all that she knew of birds of various kinds, she knew they liked shiny objects. But it was still rare to see a beauteous bird of this sort wearing a pendant. Very cartoonesque, she thought, smiling to herself.

Right at this moment, the giant bird thought of looking around and spotted Isolde. It froze. She froze. Shrieking shrilly for a brief moment, the bird swiftly swooped above and out of sight of Isolde.

Isolde thought over this incident as she lay in bed, idly wondering about the kind of bird it was. It was huge and majestic. It seemed so...so magical. Turning these thoughts aside, Isolde slumped into a delicious slumber once more, waking only to her morning call.

Slipping into one of her comfortable gowns, which was turquoise and pink coloured, skipping putting on a corset, Isolde decided to head over to check up on Aiden before turning towards her breakfast.

Her heels clacked on the floor of the halls as she made her way to the servant quarters, earning bows from any passing castle staff. She knocked softly on the door to Aiden's room. In retrospect, she shouldn't have swung open the door when it wasn't answered a moment later, for Aiden was already making his way to the door, and yanked it open at the exact moment Isolde grabbed the knob.

That was enough to disbalance the poor monarch, who tumbled forward into the elf's room. Aiden moved quickly, steadying her with his arms. "Easy there. Are you alright, Your Highness?"

Isolde breathed out shakily, realizing that it was the elf who held her in his muscular arms, and stuttered out, "Yeah, yeah, I'm alright! Thank you for catching me. Oh, and please call me Isolde." By the end of her sentence, a smile had morphed its way on her lips.

Isolde's concentration moved down from the elf's golden-hazel eyes to his clothes, seeing how the guards had offered him a few old orange-red dresses. And at the same moment, she spotted something that made her eyes go wide in bewilderment. His pendant.

It was the same as the bird she saw last night!

"Aiden! Your pendant?!"