**A Daywen the Life Of**

Daywen often found herself looking back on that night with Silas with a mix of embarrassment and pride. A lot had led her to leaving the kingdom. Even more into deciding to take her life into her own hands, to grasp the agency of her life. But that night, that night of naïve fun wonder was what had cinched it for her.

If she had stayed in the kingdom and done such things with someone outside of it, let alone a human, her family would consider her unclean until the offender was put to death. It was a grim and grisly way of treating the world, but she knew the rules her archaic kingdom had made for itself. Her parents were of a time where such things were standard practice, and the entitlement that ran through their everyday aesthetic wore on her.

She was surprised when they had let her and her sister have cell phones. Nightra pretty much dismissed hers at once, always a dutiful daughter and princess, resigned to fighting for the kingdom's army and accepting her fate as second born. Daywen, on the contrary, was astounded.

She quickly found her way to the internet, finally able to see the world as it was. It was a dark, fun place full of intrigue and wonder. There were people who were terrible, and those who were filled with an infectious optimism. There was violence, and love, and hate, and debates. And sex. Lots of sex.

She had been cooped up her entire life up until that point, but that specifically caught her attention. She watched video after video, not understanding the feelings she was experiencing. She watched and learned, seeing it less as a duty, and more as fun. So when her parents marched her potential suitors in, she was excited at the prospects. But she couldn't imagine what any of it would be like with them. They bored or frightened her.

She realized that this wasn't the life that she wanted for herself. She wanted more than this. So, she contacted her outside help, got a disguise, and made her way into the human city. She had been using Unhinged on the sly, and felt bold enough to make a public stance on the new blog that was coming out about it. And then she met Silas. And he showed her casual, non worrisome, fun.

After that, life became an adventure. She tried food she never would have been able to. She experienced concerts, and dancing, and movies. She met some decent guys who helped her learn what she wanted to learn, and treated her with kindness and gently. She saw the world as it truly was, not just a list of words on her phone screen, but a mixture of humanity and creatures working apart and together to keep the Earth spinning. And she followed the blog.

Her heart panged for Silas and Vexys. She laughed at their views on their interviews. She rolled her eyes every time Zeus' name popped up. And she read as Silas sweated meeting Sir Jonathan and stood bravely against her sister. Her time would wind down, her parents not caring if she was found as Nightra was a most suitable replacement.

She got a job working at a small diner, and got an apartment with her coworker. She learned how to fix things, and how to create art. Her roommate showed her how to play the bass, and they spent their nights jamming or curled up in their pajamas watching dumb movies. And she waited. She waited until the time limit was up and she would be truly free to be herself.

Any day now.