Now the time of our departure came.

Haaa ~ its nice to be a baby … you can take a nap whenever you want.

After the departure, my mother and father doted on me quite a lot. I think they wanted me to forget the horrible treatment of the queen but I am quite thankful for that since it allowed me to see that my mother's race was seen as something inferior and so it was clear that in the future I would be subjected to such treatment quite a bit. Better now than later was my mindset on that matter. If I grow up experiencing such behavior it will be easier for me to deal with it, later on, was my thinking on that topic even if I am not sure where that thought came from.

And it still is a mystery just why I have this feeling that I should not be able to produce such a thought.

After they made sure I was ok they started packing their things in a hurry while I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Not very fun, so, after I stared at it for awhile I thought what the hell and just went to sleep.

I was woken by a tickling sensation on my tummy and couldn’t help but giggle. Opening my eyes I saw my mother before me beaming down at me.

Oh, hi daddy.

I thought when I saw my depressed father standing behind her. I could even hear him mumble “I wanted to wake her up ~.”

Seems like mommy won once again … on what did you bet this time?

Getting picked up I saw many suitcases and boxes standing next to the door. Well, to be precise there were two piles of them. One was neatly stacked and by the other one a box was still open, clothes spilling out of it.

Don’t tell me they bet who could pack their things the fastest? How cute ~

“Spera, darling smile for mommy once again ~”, and with that sentence I was brought back to my situation on hand as my mother began to tickle me once again.

This happy atmosphere went on until a knock sounded at the door.

“Sir your carriage awaits you.”

“Of course.”

My father looked at us and smiled. The next minute his expression froze and he opened the door letting in an army of servants that each picked a box or suitcase and carried it outside.

Slowly my parents followed.

When we exited the building I was startled to see the grand castle behind us. Even if the woman who was called a Queen visited us and, thinking about it, was most likely something like a Stepmother to my father I did not expect her to be living in a castle of such a splendor.

Still shocked by the great building I turned around and could see two lines of servants standing before us leading to a carriage which was packed with our luggage. As the last piece was secured the carriage started driving away and was replaced by a smaller carriage that was decorated with a shield which had a red dragon in the middle.

Before the carriage stood the disrespectful maid from three hours ago who was called Lidiana and next to her stood a woman with white scales, golden eyes with a silver ring around the irises and red hair with white tips.

Her face seemed to resemble the Queen from before. This must be the Luciana that the Queen mentioned earlier.

The hate in her eyes was surprising, since this time it seemed not to be aimed at my mother but my father.

“Well, seems like the Mutt finally has an heir. Now you should just stay away and never come back.”

“Don’t worry Luci I don’t want to come back here ever again”, my father answered the young woman who greeted us with such words.

“Don’t call me Luci”, the woman screamed and I could see fear entering the surrounding servants' eyes.

“Hai, Hai, Hai, … Now then where is the carriage for the maid?”

“Huh, what are you talking about?”

“You can’t think that I would want to travel together with the watchdog your mother assigned, right?”

“You have no say in that matter. Now get going I don’t want to look at you ever again.”

“Luci …”, he was glared at by the woman.

“-ana … can you take care of Tara? I know you hate me but please she is your little sister”, my father corrected himself and pleaded. This Tara must be the important person the queen talked about.

“… Mesanth”, a sad look entered her eyes. “Just why did it come to that? Why couldn’t your mother just leave?”

“Luci …”, this time she didn’t answer.

Suddenly a loud voice sounded from behind.

“Why is the mutt still here?” The anger couldn’t be misinterpreted and the disgust was clear.

But I did not look in the direction of the voice but stared at the woman in front of us.

She flinched when she heard the voice and her emotions seemed to be wiped off her face only hate remaining in her eyes. Seems like I am surrounded by actors of superior abilities.

“They were just leaving”, Luciana coldly answered.

My father looked at her with sad eyes and earned a troubled smile that almost instantly vanished when I felt a powerful presence drawing near. Mesanth turned around to face the man that emitted the power and greeted him.

“Good evening Scarn.”

“Mutt, I told you to stop calling me that. My name is Scarion and I hope you remember that. I wouldn’t want that an accident happens to your little family, nee ~”, he said while tilting his head to the side with a sickening smile.

“And I wouldn’t want to kill you, nee ~”, my father answered also tilting his head but as he smiled I could see fangs in his mouth and his smile turned vicious.

Scarn took a step back and shouted: “How dare you!!!”

“Scarn, let's be clear ok? I am only obeying your family because of Tara and since your mother would never take a chance of losing her pawn I am quite sure that even if I kill you she wouldn’t be stupid enough to threaten my family … so keep that in mind. Only because I don’t bite doesn’t mean I can’t do it.”

With satisfaction, my father turned around and stepped into the carriage which my mother had already boarded.

I could see a smile on her face but also the troubled look on her face.

As the carriage started driving off the estate, the maid taking another one, she turned to him taking me out of his arms and said: “That was stupid.” My father looking down muttered: “But he deserved it.” “Hai, Hai, Hai, but you shouldn’t have defied him so openly. Just take it for three more years. When Tara had her debut we can finally take her with us. Just three years”, she repeated and hugged him while he leaned his head against her shoulder his whole body screaming of his exhaustion.

“Yea, just three years.”

The constant mumbling of them and the rocking of the carriage started to lull me into sleep.

I woke up with a start at the sudden movement of my body. I opened my eyes and saw my mother's body being held by my father while both of them glare in the direction of the driver.

A deep voice with a bit of mirth called out: “Lunch Break, please leave the carriage and get something to eat.”

My father just hissed: “Warthon is so getting it.”

Not comprehending who this Warthon was I looked at him curiously.

My mother laughed a bit.

“Don’t be too hard on him. You know that he can’t be near the royal family so he waits for us on the port. It’s not his fault that we got an asshole as a driver.”

“Oh my sweet dear I see that Fon’s speech is rubbing off on you. Just a few months ago I would have never dreamed of you calling somebody an asshole … not that I mind in this case.”

“Well, Fon has a foul mouth but he is the best General we will ever have. And you know that you can count on him to protect Mesana.”

“Well, that has nothing to do with him being my subordinate. He is just a total idiotic doting father. I still can’t comprehend how a bear could take a half tiger as an adopted daughter. It was just hilarious when he started and Mesana ran away from him since she couldn’t deal with all the affection.”

“Oh come on, and don’t point fingers. When are you going to stop petting Spera? She isn’t even in your arms and you still touch her all the time … who is the doting father now?” Noooo ~ mommy don’t stop him it’s such a great feeling being petted!

My father grumbled something about it being not fair but stopped.

“Well, then let us see what this little lunch break has in store for us…”, my mother said but the smile on her face was betrayed by her annoyed tone of voice.

As my family got out of the carriage I saw a small campfire being erected a few meters away from us.

As my eyes landed on the fire a thought stuck in my mind. I don’t know where it came from or what it means but it did not go away repeating over and over.

Marshmallows, Marshmallows, I WANT MARSHMALLOWS!!!

I could feel my mouth watering and I think a bit of drool flowed down from the corner of my mouth.

When my mother looked down she started to giggle and wipe my face with a warm wet cloth.

We sat in front of the fire and a meal was given to my parents that looked like a mass of … something. But the color reminded me of the cloth that was bound around my butt which my mother had changed before we started the journey.

Seeing the expression of my parents it wasn’t even tasty.

God bless you and I hope I will never have to eat that … but what is a Marshmallow?

Hmmm ~

The quiet of the camp was interrupted as four horses ran with a great speed into the center stopping abruptly just before my parents.

The maid that the Queen had sent with us as my nursemaid, jumped up and ran to her carriage barricading herself in it. Not that I had much interaction with her to begin with.

I could see five burly men jumping off the horses only to kneel in front of my father before my mother pressed my face in her bosom to protect me against the dirt which had been stirred up.

When I was released again the first thing that I noticed was that the strange meal of my parents had suddenly disappeared and in front of them were the five burly men kneeling on the ground with their head lowered in an arrow formation.

“Master, we are sorry to have failed you!”

They yelled together and lowered their heads further in the direction of my father.

“Hmpf” he snorted and looked down his nose at them but I could see that he had to control the corners of his mouth that twitched upwards.

I could also feel my mother suppressing a giggle in her throat coughing slightly to overact her amusement.

My father stepped forward and knelt down in front of the man who knelt in the middle of the formation and was in front of all the others.

Just as my father knelt down the man raised his head and looked him in the eyes. Given his position in the formation and the clothes he wore which were a bit better than those of the rest, he must be the leader of those men.

He was also of the same race like the royal family and my father with scales on his neck and limbs but his coloring was more in the blue tones. His scales shimmering like water, his hair dark blue and ending in light blue tips. But what surprised me the most was the being that I could see hovering above his head, that everyone seemed to ignore. It looked like a wolf but his fur was longer and he almost seemed transparent. His eyes glowed in a sapphire blue and I could swear I heard water lapping whenever he moved.

The being looked at me and seemed surprised at my attention, and I think it winked at me. The next moment, just as I wanted to reach out to it, it had vanished.

“Warthon” My father said with a smile that somehow resembled a hungry wolf looking at his prey. I could see the men and especially the one in front which my father had just addressed as Warthon tremble at the sound of his voice.

“Sir”, Warthon said lowering his head once again. “I am sorry to have caused you the inconvenience to be traveling with the entourage of the Queen. We will immediately take over command of the group and escort you to your kingdom.”

With a wave of his hand, the four other men sprung up and started taking over command. One ordered the coachman and a few of the servants to travel back to the castle, another one took over for the cooks and prepared a meal which this time consisted of a nice roasted boar and a soup which compared to the brew before smelled heavenly. The third one could be seen circling around the camp and he seemed to look out for something.

The last of the four walked until he was behind my parents and I could hear the sound of ceramic clattering against each other.

That solved the question of where my parents' previous meal ended up.

All the while Warthon still knelt in front of my parents. But wait didn’t my mother say before that he wouldn’t go near the royal family and had to wait at the port. Even though I don’t know what a port is I don’t think it is something in the middle of a forest. Just call it my spidey sense … no idea where that expression just came from.

“Warthon” My father said when all the servants of the queen had left the premises and it was only my parents the five men and me. “Why did you come? You know that you are at risk so close to the castle.” Suddenly the predator feeling of my father vanished and I could see the concern in his expression. Warthon also stood up and was now standing before him with his head still lowered.

“Sir, I could predict how the royal shit would treat you, and since you are traveling with our little princess I was sure that you would put up with a lot of things. But sir could you please protest next time when they are serving you Hishmak? You know that it poisons you. The last time they did that and you were attacked as soon as we boarded the Drafly Express, YOU.ALMOST.DIED.!!!”

WOW, that was a sudden turnaround … Is he emotionally unstable?

I wondered as I looked at the men standing before my father, grabbing his collar and yelling at him with a red face and a furious expression in his eyes. I looked up to my mother but I could see her smile at the scene and heard her whispering under her breath “Serves him right.”

Ok, it seems like I am still miles away from understanding anyone in this new family.

My father also had a silly smile plastered on his face.

“THAT.IS.NOT.FUNNY!!!”

“Oh come on Warthon.” My mother said stepping forward and next to the two men.

“You know how silly he sometimes is, here come on, hold my cute little angel and let me sort out this matter ok?” She said while almost shoving me into the surprised man's arms.

“But Madam … I thought you would never let her go…”

I could see my mother blush a bit. “Was that so obvious?” She asked and as a response, six male voices said “Yes!” while I answered with a little “Abuu!”.

“Urg”, was the only thing my mother could reply while holding her reddened cheeks.

Suddenly she turned to my father. He immediately backed of two to three steps. When he stood still he said in a soothing voice. “My love … you know we didn’t mean it. And I am sorry for acting so stupid before, please forgive me, you know I love you right, we will finally go back home so let’s enjoy the journey ok? …” He started rambling and pleading with her while all the while backing away from her.

“My dear … why are you acting like that?” She asked before she landed the first punch on my father's face, crossing the distance of a few steps in a second.

Anything further I couldn’t see since Warthon turned around. I could just hear the grunts of my father and the occasional yell of my mother asking him why he has to act like that.

Warthon looked down at me with a sympathetic face and I just wanted to ask him “Why are you looking at me like that?”

He started petting my head while saying “You poor dear. If anything happens just come to Uncle Warthon, ok? I know he is a handful but don’t mind it after a good beating he is good to go for at least a month maybe two if your mother is working on him. Haaa … what am I saying to a baby she can’t even comprehend me. But just to be sure. If anything happens just come to Uncle, ok? Uncle is always there for you.” But under his breath, I could hear him mumble “I hope she beats him good, he deserves it.”

The next few days were quite peaceful after the coachmen had been changed our pace picked up. But what I found strange was that the palace maid still stayed in her carriage, only coming out to relieve herself and get her food, but then she instantly went back to her accommodation.

But I did see her sometimes, glaring at me as if I was the cause of her misery. I couldn’t understand why she behaved like that. Her good looks totally ruined by the expression she had on.

But there was one plus to all of this. Thanks to the change in management we arrived at our destination three days earlier.

How did I know that? Well, you see the person picking us up at our destination almost screamed it when we arrived.

He was a thin looking man with glasses that just screamed that he was a nerd … whatever a nerd is…

I think he was an elf, well at least a half-elf, since his ears were pointy and I could see no scales on his body. But when he wiped his forehead nervously at my families arrival I could see two small horns on each corner of his forehead, hidden behind dark straight hair.

He seemed to be very formal, always addressing my parents with “Your Majesties” and speaking in that formal language that Warthon used when we were in public.

My father greeted him and called him “Old Zong” and seeing the behavior of the guards, yes, that was the position of the four other men with uncle Warthon who is the General of my father's army, this “Old Zong” seems to have an even higher standing than a general.

And also this time I was almost immediately handed over to him. I was a bit frightened by his cold expression but when I lay in his arms I could see his mask crack a bit revealing kind eyes and a slight smile when he looked at me. He even started petting my belly. I think I could get addicted to that feeling.

As I listened to them talking I became certain that Old Zong was some kind of adviser to my father that was very well respected.

After a while they started walking through the city, Lidiana walking behind the whole entourage with a distance of at least three to four meters. Meanwhile Old Zong started explaining what kind of transactions he made the last few days which new trade agreements he closed and then he started to analyse the current situation of the port city which we were in and the current situation of the royal family and the economy of the land we were on, Coalesco, which was the island where the royal draconian family reigned since the establishment of the Draconian empire.

If you are asking me how I knew that, I have to say that Old Zong really likes to explain every little detail and the information could be read between the lines. Well his offhanded comments about the “Shitty royal family that seems to be too lazy to move” and the “beauty of Coalesco that was ruined by them” may have played a role in it.

Every time he said such things his petting intensified as if I was some kind of stress-relieve, not that I am complaining. Petting is heavenly!

And with the words “I arranged the best dragonfly for us, your Majesties.” We rounded a corner and I could just gape in astonishment since in front of me was a very large snake with wings and four feet with sharp claws, well what you could think of when you hear Dragon which was at least 15 meters high and 40 meters long. And behind him there stood ten boxes the size of our carriage that seemed to hover in the air, all connected with each other and with the harness the dragon wore.

There was just one thing that I knew that I would never be able to forget, and that was the almost dead eyes of the dragon as he looked at the sky.