Warmth and comfort, that was the feeling as she began to wake up. Azareth smiled softly, it had just been a dream. A long and hideous dream. She was home in Truffween, her parents were just in the other room making breakfast. Slowly she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was not in her bed, but she was in a bed. The walls were covered in paintings, each one a different dragon.

The room was large and had everything a person could want. A large wardrobe sat to her left and a huge fireplace sat across from her. It was ablaze with a warm fire. In front of the fireplace was a table and several chairs covered in embroidered pillows. To her right was a large table full of the red flowers in vases. She recognized them from her walk up from the docks. The bed she laid in had four posters and lace curtains were drawn closed all around her.

The door to the room opened and she dropped back down to the bed. She closed her eyes and stayed still so as to not draw attention to herself. The person was walking around the room lightly humming to themselves. From the sounds of it, the person was female. Azareth breathed softly trying not to seem like she was awake. The woman walked over to the bed and Azareth heard her open the curtains.

“Silly child, you think you can pull the wool over my eyes,” the woman said. She pulled the warm blankets off of Azareth and began to tug them off the bed. “I know you’re awake dear.” Azareth opened her eyes slowly and saw an older woman with greying hair staring down at her. She slowly sat up, careful not to take her eyes off of her.

“Who are you? Where am I?” Azreth asked. The woman smiled kindly at her, gently taking Azareth’s hand in her own.

“My name is Midrina and you are in the king’s castle in Berlar,” Midrina told her. Azareth blinked a few times, but then laughed lightly.

“No, really,” she said.

“Sweetheart, let’s get you cleaned up, you’ve been asleep for a whole day now,” Midrina said. She began to help Azareth off the bed and poured some water into a large bowl. Azareth watched as Midrina held her hands against the sides of the bowl. The water inside the bowl began to bubble and heat up, Azareth’s eyes were wide as she stared at the water.

“How?” Azareth asked. Midrina looked at her and smiled weakly.

“There is much you need to learn, dear,” Midrina said. Azareth grew silent as Midrina began to undress her, taking off the ruined pants and dirty shirt. She had been wearing them for so long, she lost count of the days. Midrina began to wipe the dirt off of her face and neck, working her way down her body. When she reached Azareth’s thighs, she gently took off the soiled bandage and saw the slow healing arrow wound.

“My dear, what happened to you?” she asked. Azareth looked down and then back straight ahead at the wall.

“It was a long trip here,” Azareth said. Midrina didn’t push any further and finished cleaning Azareth up. Once she was finally clean and her thigh was rebandaged, Midrina led her over to the wardrobe. She opened the wardrobe and Azareth saw a dozen long dresses hung neatly.

“No,” Azareth said. Her arms crossed over her bare chest. Midrina turned and smiled at her, holding open the door.

“No? Sorry dear, no is not an option,” Midrina said. “You are eating with the King in an hour and he’d like you to be dressed accordingly.” Midrina began to pull dresses out of the wardrobe and hold them up against Azareth.

“But I don’t wear dresses, I haven’t since I was seventeen. I’m eighty-five now, so no.” Azareth stepped back and Midrina sighed and dropped her smile for the first time.

“My dear, you don’t have a choice. I can’t explain why it is not my place. Now I am thinking red, the colour suits you so well.”

“Alright,” Azareth said. She huffed and complained the whole time, but she listened to Midrina and put on the red dress. She looked at herself in the mirror and took in how she looked. The dark red of the dress did compliment her very nicely. It was a simple dress, it hung straight down her body. The long sleeves ended with black embroidering on the duffs. Along the caller of the dress was more black embroidering, only her collar bone showed in the dress.

“You look beautiful, dear,” Midrina said. Azareth smiled weakly and turned to face her. “Now what shall we do with your hair?”

“I normally braid it back,” Azareth said. “Keep it out of my face, I have so much of it.”

“I know, it’s lovely.” Midrina sat Azareth down in a chair and started to run a brush through her hair. It was such a strange feeling, Azareth knew how to wash herself, clothe herself and do her own hair. But Midrina wasn’t letting her do any of that, maybe they felt guilty for treating her poorly when she first arrived.

“There, all done,” Midrina said. When Azareth looked in the mirror, she smiled gratefully. Her hair was hanging down her back, letting her natural waves show. “Now just put these shoes on and we shall be off to breakfast.” Midrin handed Azareth black shoes that covered her toes and sat on the back of her heel. Nothing liked her comfortable boots, which were sitting next to the bed covered in dried mud and dust. Once her shoes were on, the two of them left the safety of the room and headed through the castle.

The castle was larger than she expected, with several doors leading into unknown rooms. Lanterns hung all along the halls, along with beautiful paintings of dragons and their lords together. Azareth was amazed that there were so many of them.

“These paintings, who are they?” Azareth asked. Midrina continued walking but glanced over her shoulder at Azareth.

“Oh, these are the royal family’s ancestors.”

“All of them?” Azareth asked, amazed. The royal bloodline had been around for centuries and each of their members had gotten to be painted with their dragon. She felt such a warm feeling in her stomach.

“We’re here, now don’t be nervous. Everything will be explained to you, alright?” Midrina said. Azareth nodded her head and followed Midrina through the doors. They were now in a huge room with a long table, several chairs sat next to it. The windows along either wall let in the morning sun, creating such a warm feeling in the room. Tapestries were hung on the walls, showing great warriors on top of their dragons.

“Good morning, your majesty,” Midrina said. She bowed her head and Azareth noticed at the far end of the table sat the king of Berlar. She bowed and heard a chuckle come from the king.

“Please, come sit next to me,” the king said. As Azareth walked down towards the king she started to remember what had happened before she awoke in that room. He called her his daughter. Her pace slowed as she limped towards him, afraid of what was about to happen. When she reached the seat next to the king her hand shook as she pulled out the chair.

“I, uh, I am sorry for fainting in front of you, your majesty,” Azareth said. The king looked sadly at her but nodded his head.

“Don’t be dear, you have travelled so far to get here,” he said to her. He cleared his throat as people began to bring food into the room for them. “I don’t know what you remember from our first encounter-”

“Oh, that,” Azareth interrupted him. “I remembered what you said, sir.”

“Then you know you don’t have to be so formal with me,” he said. Once the food was laid out in front of them. The people all moved away and stood at the far end of the room. Azareth looked and saw the king was watching her.

“My captain told me that you go by Azareth, that’s a very lovely name.”

“Can I know your name, sir?” Azareth asked. She picked up a fork and began to poke at the potatoes and eggs on her plates.

“I am King Andrion, please call me Andrion if that makes you more comfortable.” He started to eat his food and Azareth followed his lead.

“So if you're my father, does that make me the princess of Berlar?” she asked him.

“Of course.”

“How did you know I was your daughter?” she asked. He stopped and tilted his head to look at her neck, but her hair was covering it.

“That birthmark of yours, it’s the same one my baby girl had the day I sent her away.”

“What happened? Why did you have to send me away?” Azareth put her fork down and looked at him painfully. She couldn't believe that he was her father, but she wanted to know the whole story. Andrion put his fork down and cleared his throat before locking eyes with Azareth.

“You were only seven months old when it happened, Berlar was attacked by the orcs of Worsak. Hundreds of them had stormed the city and were making their way to the castle. Many of my citizens lost their lives fighting against them. Our dragons fought alongside us, but even they had struggled against the orcs. Your mother and I had barricaded ourselves in the throne room with a handful of guards. We knew that the orcs were here for the treasure, our knowledge on the dragons and of course you.”

“Me? They wanted me?”

“Yes, you were the perfect leverage they needed to get whatever they wanted from us. Of course, we never would have given you to them,” Andrion said. He reached for Azaareth’s hand, but she pulled it away. He looked hurt but continued his story.

“We had to sneak out through a secret passageway from the throne room to the docks. I left my men there to fight off the orcs so we could escape. The plan was for all three of us to escape and then one day return when it was safe. The orcs had broken through the passageway and were right behind us.

“I sent your mother ahead with you and watched her get into a rowboat. You two were safe, that’s all I wished for. I began to fight the orcs that had caught up to me, but several of them had made it around me. They shot arrows at the boat you were in and I watched as your mother was hit in the chest with one. She fell off the boat and I watched as you floated away from the docks.”

The two of them sat in silence for a moment before Andrion continued on.

“I don’t remember how, but we managed to fight back and regain the kingdom. It took several years to rebuild and fix everything the orcs destroyed.”

“Did you even come looking for me?” Azareth asked. Andrion looked at her wide-eyed.

“Of course I did, we sailed to the mainland for you. When we reached land we saw your boat was empty. I had no idea what had happened to you if you were alive or dead. My heart was broken, losing your mother and you all on the same day. I sent word to all of our allies that you were missing and that they were to send word if you ever showed up. I had even described and drawn your birthmark for reference.”

“And no one ever came forward,” Azareth said. She looked down at her plate and then over to Andrion. “I’m sorry that it took so long for me to come back.” He smiled kindly at her and Azareth reached forward, taking his hand in her own.

“I am glad you are here, now we can be a family.”

Azareth was sitting in her room staring out the window. Midrina, who she learned to be her handmaid, was going over everything she needed to know. She first needed to learn to act like a lady. Proper manners, posterior, edict and clothing. How to delegate between different conflicts, how to understand politics. She hadn’t even begun to cover the history of Berlar or the dragons. Azareth felt overwhelmed, how was she supposed to learn all this information? How was she supposed to change who she was in just a few days?

“Azareth are you listening? Sit up straight,” Midrina said. Azareth blinked a few times, sitting up straight and smiling sarcastically at Midrina. The older woman began to talk again about how to manage a conflict arising in the kingdom, but Azareth’s mind kept wandering to Jurah and Artibain. If they were alive if they were safe, did they find another boat to the island? Midrina poked Azareth’s shoulder hard and Azareth turned to glare at her.

“Ouch, what was that for?”

“Young lady, I understand you would have learned all this growing up, but you need to learn it now. I am sorry it is such a short time, but it will help you.”

“I don’t know how to change myself, I grew up with a map-maker and a healer. We weren’t uncivilized, but I was always told to be myself.”

“I know, but I need to at least tell you all this,” Midrina said. “You can do with it what you will, but I need to go through it first before I tell you about the dragons.”

“Okay,” Azareth said. Midrina was trying to finish what she needed to say quickly. She knew that no matter how much she talked, Azareth would always be herself. Midrina put a book down in front of Azareth, she stared down at it. A picture of a dragon with its wings spread out sat on the cover.

“Dragons?” Azareth asked. Midrina nodded and Azareth opened the to the first page.

“Dragons come in three common colour patterns, brown and orange, black and red, green and gold.”

“What about white and silver dragons?” Azareth asked.

“Oh yes, the white and silver colour pattern is very rare. No one knows why, but they seem to come around after a great loss. The size of each dragon varies, but the average size we’ve calculated is ten meters tall and fifteen meters long.”

“But they can be bigger right? Say like twenty meters?”

“Yes, of course. Now listen, questions at the end.” Midrina was getting frustrated with being interrupted. “Now the dragons don’t obey lords, they communicate with the lords. Lords can hear the voice of the dragon in their heads. It is what connects us to the dragons, able to work with them.

“Now everyone knows that dragons can breathe fire and fly, but people outside of the Berlar don’t know about how lords will ride on them. It makes travelling quicker, but we never use them only for travel. We must remember they are our companions and we shall treat them as such.”

“What is this even for anyways?” Azareth asked, looking up at Midrina and then down at the book in front of her.

“Oh dear lords,” Midrina said. “Child have you not been listening to me this entire time?”

“I’m sorry, I’m worried about my friends.” Azareth looked back out the window, hoping she would see something. There was something small on the horizon that caught her eye.

“I know, but this is important. The information I am telling you is for the choosing ceremony, where a dragon will pick you to be their companion. Your choosing is tomorrow morning, the whole kingdom will be there. That is why I am rushing through this,” Midrina said. Azareth looked up at her eyes wide.

“The choosing?”

“I swear you haven’t listened to a word I’ve said. You thought you would just go up to a dragon and claim it as you own?” Midrina laughed. “Honey, the choosing is very important to lords. It can be beautiful, but also dangerous if you are not prepared for it.”

“I will read the books,” Azareth said. She continued to stare at the small thing moving on the water. “Excuse me.” Azreth leaped from her seat and walked out onto the balcony just off her room. She focused on the figure as it got bigger and more clear. It was a boat, a small one but it was coming straight for them. She grew anxious trying to see who was on the boat. That’s when she got an idea. She ran back into the room, she ignored Midrina’s calls. She ran as fast as she could in her red dress through the castle and out its front gates.

People were looking at her confused as she burst out of the gates and began running through the city. Vendors and shoppers alike stopped to stare at their newly found princess running from the castle. Azareth made it to the gates of the kingdom and looked down at the docks. The small boat had docked and two people had climbed out of it. When they turned around Azareth realized it was Jurah and Artibain.

“Oh thank gods!” Azareth cried. She began to run down the hill through the flowers and towards the docks. “Jurah! Artibain!” Her voice carried through the air and the two of them stopped and saw a woman running towards them. When they saw who it was they both relaxed for the first time in three days.

“Azareth!” They yelled back to her. Azareth neared them and she felt herself smile so hard her cheeks began to hurt. Artibain opened his arms just in time for Azareth to run into him. The two of them fell to the ground and started to laugh.

“You’re okay, your both okay,” Azareth cried. She pushed herself off Artibain and looked up at Jurah. He took her hand and pulled her up, instantly wrapping his arms around her. Azareth felt tears burning her eyes, as she wrapped her arms around Jurah.

“You made it, your safe,” Jurah said. He felt so much relief saying those words.

“Are you wearing a dress?” Artibain asked, pushing himself off the ground.

“Shut up,” Azareth said. She gently pulled away from Jurah and smiled up at him. “There’s a lot we need to discuss.”

“Of course, lead the way,” Jurah said. She smiled and linked her arms with both of them, heading towards the kingdom.