Alina had barely managed to keep the ire from her voice when she had ordered the maids from her room, insisting she was feeling weary from her luncheon date with the King, and wanted to rest alone.

Of course once she was completely by herself she set to doing what she always did when angry.

Pacing and chattering to herself under her breath.

“That gigantic arse of a King! Thinks he knows all about me just because we had half of a conversation… not even half! More like a quarter. What an arrogant, self-important, son of a-”

Alina dropped her forehead to her hand and forced herself to take a slow calming breath to stop the threat of another episode.

“Oh well. At least that rules him out as a possible husband nice and quick. Let’s see, tomorrow I have the luncheon with his brother, and the Zinferan’s didn’t send any suitors this year…”

Ambling over to where her lute had been set down that morning, Alina picked up the instrument, and nestled gratefully back down into her seat.

“I just wish… I wish I hadn’t lost my composure. I wish he didn’t have to poke at the one thing I… I…” feeling a strange swell of emotion in her throat, the Princess shook her head free of the thoughts and began strumming away on her instrument instead.

“Let’s see, I think I’d prefer to sing a-”

A loud rigorous knock cracked out.

“Godsdamnit.”

“Enter,” Alina called while once again forcing her annoyed expression into a neutral one.

When the door opened, instead of a maid or Ruby to enter, however, it was Katarina Ashowan.

Her long red hair was twisted behind her head, and her dress was despairingly frumpy as a brown sheath with only a single golden cord settling around her hips. Wait… was that dirt on her hands…?

“Ah, good! You’re here! I bet my mother your court date this afternoon wouldn’t last an hour.” Kat grinned triumphantly. “Now that you’re finished with that unpleasant business would you mind… err… helping me with something…?”

Alina’s brow furrowed. “Help you with what exactly…? Your brother warned me to always say no when you ask me that.”

Kat rolled her eyes and allowed her left hip to jut out. “Oh please. He embellished a lot of those stories.”

“The one about the donkey and the wine barrels really couldn’t have been embellished that much, I even heard about it in Rollom, I just didn’t know it was you who was responsible for it.”

“Alright, I’ll have you know Harold the Ass had the best day of his life, and since then our relationship has improved drastically. So come on now, I’ll even let you rant about your terrible date if it means you’ll come along.”

“It wasn’t terrible, it was-”

“Yes, yes, things that could be told to me while walking, let’s go!” Katarina clapped her hands, and for some reason, Alina found herself obeying as she hastily put the instrument down and joined the tall redhead.

“Wait, do you have anything else to wear that isn’t… Princess-y? You know what, doesn’t matter, I’ll steal one of my mother’s dresses.”

The Princess was growing both more alarmed and intrigued by the second. “Just what are we doing?!”

“It’s better to show you, I promise you will like it.”

Next thing Alina knew, she was being pulled by the hand out of her chamber, and into the whirlwind that was Lady Katarina Ashowan.

***

“Okay… I admit it… this is quite wonderful. Are you certain your mother won’t mind me wearing this dress, though?”

Katarina grinned at the Princess. “Don’t worry, I’ll have it washed and back in her wardrobe before she notices a thing.”

Alina sighed and looked down at the gaggle of tiny adorable kittens all mewing about the loft of the stables. “How old do you suppose they all are?”

“Six weeks. I remember their mother looking particularly round about that time.”

The Princess picked up one tabby kitten with bright intelligent eyes. “These little beasties are just what I needed today, thank you.” Turning her bright smile to the redhead, Alina was surprised to see that the young woman across from her was frowning.

“Well… guess it’s none of them. Come on, there’s another litter in the abandoned house down the road. My father’s familiar manages it, so we’ll be welcome, but just be prepared for… strong smells.”

Then, without allowing for a breath to pass, Katarina vaulted her body gracefully over the edge of the loft onto the ladder and was already half way down before Alina managed to place the kitten in her hands down.

“W-Wait, what do you mean? More? Why are we looking at more kittens?”

“I’m looking for my familiar,” Katarina replied while leaping off the ladder before the last two steps and turning with her hands braced on her hips to look up at Alina.

“The spiritual friend witches find when they are where they are supposed to be?” the Princess asked excitedly as she slowly and carefully finished her climb back down.

The redhead laughed. “Glad to hear education on our kind was introduced into your curriculum.”

Alina blushed. “Ah, sorry… I’m just excited… for some reason my father is always so hesitant to talk about your father and I… I have many questions.”

Katarina clapped the royal on the back and let out a loud charming chuckle. “Don’t worry, my dad tries to tell me stories, but my mum always makes him shut it because, and I quote, ‘Kat doesn’t need any more ideas.'”

Alina laughed, only when she did so the hay dust in the hair was sucked in and… she began coughing.

‘Oh Gods… Oh Gods no…’ Coughing over and over, tears began spilling over her eyes as she tried to regain her breath.

“Oh, oh no… What do I do…? Do you need a physician? Or a drink of water?” Katarina rested her hand on Alina’s shoulder and looked around to see if anyone was within shouting distance as the Princess slowly melted to her knees while attempting to draw breath.

“HEY! HEY, YOU TWO! YES, PLEASE! PHYSICIAN! NO, DON’T COME RUNNING HERE- Oh good Gods. I’m so sorry. I swear I didn’t know it was them,” Katarina’s fervid whisper while clasping Alina’s upper arms only made her dread double.

‘Why is she apologizing? Unless…’

“Princess! Here, Brendan let’s take her outside. Perhaps the fresh air will help!” Through her blurred vision, Alina could make out the friendly and concerned face of Henry Devark, the Prince of Troivack, and standing behind him looking as calm and unconcerned as ever, his older brother the King.

“It’s alright, Your Highness, how about you summon a Physician while the Prince and I carry her out. She doesn’t weigh much, I can manage this much,” Katarina was not releasing Alina’s right arm, and thankfully, the Prince seemed happy to listen.

The King on the other hand remained rooted to the spot.

“Princess, do you think you need a Physician?” his deep voice asked without any inflection in his tone.

Alina managed to shake her head, but was unable to see what everyone’s reaction was as she was then hauled out of the barn, her feet barely touching the ground.

She could feel Katarina’s burning touch, and was amazed at her strength… Truly she wasn’t a normal woman.

Soon, the lush green grass was within her sights, and sure enough her raspy breath began to come out a little smoother.

After a few moments, her throat ragged from her coughs, Alina dashed the last of the tears from her cheeks and turned her face away from the Prince and King towards Katarina, her red eyes pleading.

Kat, whose worried expression was still marring her face, turned her face to the King. “Why are you just standing staring? You could get her a cup of water, you know.”

“I don’t perform useless tasks. She didn’t signal she needed water.”

“So you’re too damn dense to figure it out yourself, is that what you’re saying?” Kat was on her feet, her hands on her waist. “Even if she didn’t need the water, it would’ve been about ten times more productive than what you did by just standing watching your brother and I.”

“What if you hadn’t been able to carry her, or the Princess had needed a Physician after all? It was a wiser decision for me to stay put,” came the equally calm reply. “You’re being incredibly uncouth towards a King, are you aware of that, or is that normal for a Daxarian?”

Kat let out a scoff while rolling her eyes. “King or not, if I see someone being an idio-”

Alina reached out and grasped Kat’s hand, the woman’s unbridled words were too shocking to process.

“L-Let’s go,” the Princess managed weakly.

Kat shot another withering stare to the King before helping up the Princess, then bowing her head to Henry who was watching the entire scenario play out with an astonished smile.

“Thank you for your assistance, Prince Henry. It was greatly appreciated. We will be leaving now.”

Katarina was beginning to stride away, when she noticed Alina wasn’t at her side.

Instead, the royal stood with her blushing face turned to the ground. “I… apologize… for my friend’s discourtesy, Your Majesty.”

“Don’t apologize for me, I’m not a child,” Katarina groaned before turning back and walking over. “I just don’t think people should ever be in a rank where they can’t be called out for being arseholes.”

What followed the redhead’s announcement was heavy silence before Prince Henry burst out in hysterical laughter.

Alina turned and looked at him, and found herself dumbfounded by his reaction.

“She’s… your… worst… nightmare!” Henry wheezed while he clutched his sides and made zero attempt to quell his laughter.

Alina shot a nervous glance at the King who was staring at his brother… and looked quite obviously angry.

It was the first expression she had ever seen on the man.

“A-Anyway, Your Majesty, if you could please not repeat any of this. Especially in front of my father, I-”

Henry’s laughter petered out then, as Brendan turned his frown to the Princess.

“That’s strange,” the Prince began while gently rubbing his sore abdomen. “You said the same thing yesterday.”

“Yes, well I don’t like- wait. Yesterday?” Alina turned her confused stare to Henry, while completely missing Brendan’s look of alarm.

“Ah… right I was taking a stroll through the woods to loosen up my joints after arriving yesterday and I… err… Sorry, I think I startled you,” the Troivackian Prince smiled sheepishly before his grin turned completely sunny once again.

“You… I thought you were a bear!” Alina burst out, a smile of her own beginning to form.

“I know, ahh… it was actually really funny until you started having another breathing issue… You’re a wonderful singer by the way!” He complimented quickly while a faint blush entered his cheeks. “In my opinion, I don’t think nature and you are close friends.”

Alina laughed easily, and found her smile lingering as she felt an undeniable wave of comfort sweep over her.

“Well… I suppose we will have to hear you sing sometime, Princess! Now, shall we go look at the other litter?” Katarina’s interruption brought Alina’s attention back around, though her smile dimmed slightly when she noticed the Troivackian King’s cold expression had returned.

“Yes, but we must hurry before dinner tonight.”

Smiling, the redhead winked down at the Princess. “Don’t worry, we will be down there and back up before anyone even notices you’re missing.”

*

Norman stared at his daughter’s appearance flatly.

Her hem was caked in mud, her hair was frizzing out in multiple directions, and there was a strange odor lingering about her that he didn’t care for in the least.

“You missed dinner, and come back just before we send out Knights to look for you. I expect a full explanation.”

Alina clasped her hands in front of her skirts and bowed her head. “You see father… I… well… went into Austice…”

“Without any escorts?! Alina, it isn’t like you to be so careless! You know with all of the suitors here you need to be especially cautious. What if one of them proves to be horribly unfavorable and tried to harm you?!” the King burst out desperately.

“I-I wasn’t alone! It really was fine, I was dressed like this so no one knew who I was and really we just went to-”

“We? Who is ‘we’?” Norman asked while rounding his chair and a strange glint in his eyes that Alina wasn’t sure was a good thing.

“Well… Katarina Ashowan... Father. You like them though! You wanted us to be friends!” Alina burst out desperately.

The King rested his forearms on the back of his chair by the fire and dropped his head while letting out a loud moan. “Oh Gods. It’s happening again… Kevin was right… I should’ve been more cautious…”

“What does Mr. Kevin Howard have to do with Katarina?!” the Princess demanded in confusion as she strained her mind to recall why the assistant could possibly have said anything bad about the infamous noble family.

Norman sighed and lifted his head to look defeatedly at his daughter. “I think I may have censored my stories about Finlay a little too much…”

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with the Ashowan family? You said you trust them completely!”

“And I do… they just tend to… cause trouble before setting things right again.” Sighing deeply Norman rounded the chair and lay his hands on his daughter’s shoulders.

“As long as you are safe that is all that matters. Now, how was your luncheon with the Troivackian King?”

Alina openly grimaced. “Father… if I never ask you to tell your stories about your time with Finlay Ashowan, will you never ask me about my dates with the Troivackian King, and trust me when I say they are inconsequential?”

Norman studied his daughter for a long moment, his identical hazel eyes searching her own.

“Very well. As long as he hasn’t offended or hurt you, I will leave it be. I trust you.”

Letting out the breath she had been holding Alina allowed her shoulders to slump forward. “Thank you. I’ll go to bed now.”

Leaning forward and planting a kiss on her father’s cheek, Alina then lightly stepped to leave the library. When, while casting a cheeky smile over her shoulder said,

“Besides, Katarina Ashowan has already told me that there is a certain mystery surrounding the nine fountains on the castle grounds. Apparently there is a tenth and she wants us to go look for it tomorrow.”

Closing the door behind herself, the young Princess couldn’t help but giggle when she heard her father loudly exclaim, “Son of a mage! GUARDS, SUMMON VISCOUNT ASHOWAN THIS INSTANT!”