Ash’s POV.

We entered the castle late into the night. The first thing I see is the two sets of servants, twelve butlers and twelve maids. A man in butler attire walks up to me and the Queen.

”We welcome you home, my Queen.” He says. I then notice that he has a symbol on the shoulder of his uniform, one that the other butler don’t have. “And I’m happy to be back home, Arnold.” The Queen reply’s. “Mercy? Can you take this young one to her room? The tour of the castle will have to be for tomorrow.” She moves her hand in my direction. A young lady comes up to us. She’s no older then twenty-three yet no younger than twenty. “Of course I can!” Says this maid, she’s clearly excited to have someone new. “What’s your name?” The question is directed at me. I sign. I ask. “Mercy.” With that our little journey begins.

We’re "talking" on the way to the room I’ll be staying at. "How old are you?" The maid says. I answer. She’s not paying attention to what’s in front of her when she hits a wall. I chuckle at her. “Hey! Mercy, you ok?” A voice speaks. “You hit the wall pretty hard.” This time I’m able to track the voice to a small blue Fay. “Yeah. I’m ok. Thanks for your concern, Luna.” Says Mercy as she’s getting up from off the floor. “I’d like you to meet someone, Luna. Ash meet Luna, Luna meet Ash.” She moves her hand to me and then to Luna. “Nice to meet ya!” The small Fay says. I reply.

I’ve let them talk to each other for a good while. I look to the nearby clock, I swear there’s one of those in every room, it reads eleven thirty-two. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was late. I clear my throat to get their attention once I do I point at the clock. “Oh my. It is quite late is it not?” Mercy says. “We should get going.” And with that we head to our destination.

After a little while we reach the room. “This is where you’ll be staying from now on. Ok?” Mercy nods to the door. “And that door there is the Princesses room.” She points to the next door a little down the hall. In my opinion she said that a bit to casually. Why? Because that means I’m next door to the Princess! The bloody Princess for crying out loud. Anyway I can save that brake down for later, I need to snap back to reality for now. I look at Mercy and nod. I then open the door and walk into my room. Big is the first thought that came to my mind when I walked into my room. Really big was the second. It was the largest bed room I had seen up to that point, not even the rooms in The Independent Colonies were this big as we had stayed a couple of nights there while the Queen was doing something political with the local Lords, something to do with the treaty of Moonhaven. Though being too tired I find myself walking to the massive (relative to me) bed. Once in and under the covers it doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

I woke to the sound of an alarm. I smash my hand down at the source of the irritating noise but I miss completely as I'm still half asleep. The pain of hitting the corner of the bed-stand helps the clock in making me rise from my slumber. As I sit up I look to make that noise from the nether-realm stop. Seeing that it's only seven o'clock, I look to the closet to see if there is any thing to change into while I wait for a servant to come to start the tour that is scheduled for eight o'clock. To my delight there is something in the closet for me to change into and get out of these still torn and dirty clothes that i haven't had the chance to get rid of. When I finish I look to the bookcase that doubles for a bed-stand to see if there is anything of interest. And I find a book of about a poor fox that managed to defeat the evil king that ruled over the animals in the kingdom, the book is titled "The Adventures Of Colin The Strong Willed Fox: The Adventure Begins."

Just as I finish the fifth chapter of the surprisingly large book the maid from last night knocks and enters the room. I sign as she enters. "Hello and good morning, Ash!" She says happily as she walks over to the bed that I'm currently sitting on. She sits beside me and asks. "What are you reading?" To which I reply by showing her the tittle. "Oh! I remember that book from when I was a kid! It has a great protagonist doesn't it?" She says with a great amount of nostalgia coming from her voice. I sign to the maid. Changing the subject I point to the clock. "I guess that we should." Mercy says as she gets up gesturing me to follow. "Lets start of with the dining hall shall we?"

As we enter the large room filled with tables and hungry servants the man from last night, the one with the odd looking symbol on his shoulder, walks past us, exiting the dining hall. As he passes us he nods in a friendly gesture to the both of us. I ask once he has turned the corner. "That was Head-butler Jackson Walker. He, as the tittle suggests, is in charge of organizing the butters and male servants." Mercy replies. "And she," She points to a large women. "is Charlotte DuPont, Shes the Head-maid." As soon as she finishes her sentence a low growl comes from my belly, indicating that it wants food. I can agree with my stomach. She giggles at the display. "I think we should get something to eat." The maid says as we walk to one of the many tables.

Once we sit down a butler comes by and give us a menu as if this were a restaurant. "What would you like to drink?" The man asks. I look over the menu as Mercy orders her drink. I sign, still looking for something to feed my ever hungry stomach. He leaves and after a few minuets he returns with some tea and water. "Do you know what you want?" The man asks. I simply point to the mac and cheese as well as something that I have never heard of called a 'hamburger'. Mercy orders a 'fried chicken' and 'potato fries' whatever those are. Look all I've had to eat over my time as a slave was mac and cheese, salads, roasted fish, beans and baked potatoes, so don't blame me if I don't know what 90% of whats on the menu is. Once he leaves the Queen and the Princess enter the room. Someone called out and all those that were in the room got up and bowed, seeing this I did so as well. The Queen waved her hand in dismissal and all the servants and such returned to their prior doings, I did so as well.

Once all have settled down the two Royals walked towards us. "Oh dear." I thought to myself "Why are they coming this way." The Princess looked no older then me. She had brown hair and eyes, just like the Queen. In contrast my hair was black and I had silver eyes. Though that wasn't the most vibrant color in the room. That goes to the Fay that was following them, she had blue hair and eyes. Not that I could see her eyes from this distance, she was only a foot tall after all. "Hello, Ash, Mercy." The Queen said as she sat down across from Mercy.

"And hello to you as well my Queen, Princess, Luna." The maid said as Luna summoned a fay-sized seat and table for herself, placing them on the not-so-fay-sized-table. "So how did the talk with the Colonies go?" She started a conversation with the Queen and Luna.

"So just me and you then, huh?" The Princess asked as she sat with a slight blush that I did not notice, not being interested with the adults talk. "So whats you name?" It took me a second to realize the question was pointed at me.

I signed to the princess, I was a bit flustered by the sudden question from the Princess. She looked at me confused as she was the Princess. I explained. She made an 'oh' face as her reply came. "Lucy, the Second Princess of Daemonia." As she had finished, the butler came with me and Mercy's food, he asked the other three what they wanted. The 'hamburger' looked like a steak, some lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup and mayo put between two pieces of bread, like a sandwich. I picked the thing up and bit into it, that day my stomach fell in love. "You should slow way down." I hear the Princess say. I sign in complaint while doing as told. "Have you never had a burger before?" Lucy asks. I reply with emphasis. She looks absolutely mortified. "What did they keep you from?!" She blurts out, confusing the others at the table. "Mom, this is the first burger she has ever had." Lucy says to the Queen, making this look like a big deal. I just continue with devouring the poor yet amazingly good food in front of me, ignoring the chaos. Just as I was finishing up Lucy looked at me and asked what I was limited to in terms of food when I was a slave. She almost lost her self. I think she must like food as much as I do, which is a lot.

Once everyone was settled down and had finished their food Mercy suggested that we continue with the tour. To which I agreed. "Mind of I join you?" The Princess asked "I don't want to be stuck with mom all day as she talks politics." We let her join in. As we departed Mercy asked where we should go next. "Good question." Lucy said. "How about the garden? There is plenty to see on the way there."

I signed. And that was settled.

On our way there we went through the gorgeous throne room, the sparing grounds, the guards barracks, the servants quarters and the wizards tower. By the time we actually got there the moon was well above the horizon, the garden was beautiful under the moonlight. Even if the flowers were in their buds. I signed to the other two. Lucy walked up next to me as I had ran up ahead. "You could say that again." She said with awe. "It gets me every time I see it. You're lucky that it's a full moon for the first time you see it, Ash." Her voice a mere whisper. Mercy comes up and says. "You're right, Princess, she is lucky." The moon is between two vine-covered light poles, the dim light from the luminescent moss is enough to ad to the beauty of the scene and see the paths but not enough to take away from it. "It's getting late you three should be getting to bed soon." The Queen says scarring the hell out of us three. "But you are quite right, it is a sight to behold." Clutching her chest Lucy speaks up. "Don't do that!" She says. "But you're right it is getting late. I'll be heading to bed then." She walk away. As I run up behind her through the entrance into the castle I hear the Queen laughing behind me.

As were walking down the hall Lucy turns around. "Why are you following me?" She questions. I run up ahead of her and turnaround. I joke. She giggles at the little joke. "But seriously why are you following me?" She asks again once she's calmed herself down. I tell a half truth as my room is next to hers. Not wanting to make the same mistake Mercy made last night I turn back around and slow down so that I'm walking next to Lucy. We chat while we walk to our rooms. She eventually asks why I haven't separated from her. I tease. Not long after we turn into the hall that our rooms are in. As we walk by my room I turn and open the door, reveling that I'm her neighbor. She stops and looks at me. "This is your room?!" She asks, surprised. I sign. I say knowing well that she is not done. "Don't leave it at that! You're my neighbor!" I look at her. I ask, teasing her. "I haven't had a neighbor in my entire life with the exception of my sister!" She stares at me as I look to the clock. I ask. After a little convincing she concedes to my request. "Good night." She says before opening her door. I sign as I enter my room.