Lodin sighed as the young princess once again stormed out of his office.

"I have to wonder if she is really worth it in the end," he mumbled to himself as he went around the desk and sunk into his seat. "She brings beasts to my castle, makes everyone terrified for their lives and creates discord in my ranks. And that within just a few weeks of staying here." He started massaging the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

"Do not let her go over something so simple, Lodin. If she had not been here, everyone would have feared a war instead. The alliance has already helped - the Western Kingdom is not as brave as it previously was."

Lodin turned his faintly amused gaze to his friend. "Right, right. I will give her a chance."

By the looks of it, that guy had certainly taken a liking to the young girl. More so than anyone else in the castle, to be sure.

He turned his gaze to the wide-open door, where two guards were stationed as always. They would do.

"You two," he spoke up, making both look inside to see whether it was them he referred to. "Come inside," he ordered "You both will be guarding the princess from this day forward."

From the corner he stood in, Sergon gave the two an appraising look, then nodded his approval. They were some of the most loyal they had in the Royal Guard, which was why they could usually be found guarding whatever door Lodin himself was behind. There was no doubt they could be entrusted with this task.

"You are to watch over her and make sure she does not either hurt herself or get hurt by the hands of others." Sergon smiled faintly when the dragon made a strange, whiny sound from the outside. "Though I suspect you will have some help in that department."

Lodin nodded. "That, and you are to see to it her quarantine is not overstepped to the best of your ability." That dragon of hers really did pose a problem in this area, but there was nothing to be done about it. "Is that understood?"

They both nodded with serious expressions, understanding the gravity of the duty they were being given.

"Yes, your majesty, we understand, and we will see to it that your expectations are met," the more serious of the two spoke up, after which they both bowed deeply to him.

He nodded. "Good. Now, go and introduce yourselves."

He watched as they gave him a last, light bow before leaving. Those two were undoubtedly the right choice. Especially since they weren't as young as some of the other men they had running around in the Royal Guard.

"I will find someone to take care of the night shift, you do not have to worry about that," Sergon said, his eyes also on the door the two had exited just moments ago.

Lodin nodded. "Sounds good." Now that was figured out, so on to the next thing. "Narza, you can come in now," Lodin said, knowing his advisor would be lurking around out there. He never strayed too far when something like this was going on.

And, true to himself, Narza walked into the room as soon as he'd been called for.

"Your majesty. How can I assist you?" He bowed deeply as he always did.

Lodin leaned back in his seat. "Do you have a report for me?" The question was just a formality - he knew without a doubt that the man did. It was exactly because of his swiftness with these things he was the perfect advisor, even if he was a little strange and hardheaded from time to time.

"I do," Narza confirmed, as expected. "On the events in Crocus port earlier today, there are no deaths - neither with the Dragon Slayers nor the peasants. A dozen or so were wounded from the initial impact, however."

Lodin nodded, taking in the information. That truly was a miracle, considering what had happened.

Narza quickly continued. "In terms of damage, the square the dragon crashed in will need some repairs. As will some of the buildings around it. Only two homes were destroyed." Something alike a lopsided smirk grew on his face. "Truly a small price to pay in comparison to what it would have been had it come to a fight instead."

Lodin kept himself from sighing too loudly in the face of Narza's words and Sergon's expression.

"Indeed," was all he said, keeping his own expression blank. "See to it that it is fixed as fast as possible."

Narza nodded, giving him another bow. "Naturally, your majesty." He quickly exited the room to do just that.

"I will go and figure out who to assign for the new tasks as well," Sergon added.

Lodin nodded and silently waved the two of them out. As soon as he was alone, he sighed deeply. These people would be the death of him someday.

Ciara had quickly made it outside, her steps fueled by anger and hurt. It felt like no one understood. Her. Dragons. Her home. None of it. No one could understand anything - and she could now understand how they couldn't. Every day, it became more and more evident how different they were. She had been so slow to that realization as well.

As per pure habit, she went for the only place that felt just faintly of home - by Kaisog's side. He understood everything she was going through like no one else could.

As expected, he was lying under the big willow, taking a nap by the looks of it. That spot had quickly become his absolute favorite - and he had it in relative peace.

She couldn't help but smile at the sight of him, snoring lightly as he was. Despite being quite a big dragon, he really was absolutely adorable. He always acted like such a child, and though that annoyed some, it only drew her in. His sunny mood never allowed itself to be dragged down by anything.

Even as she came to a stop next to him, nothing but his nose twitched in recognition of her scent.

She slowly ran her palm across the black scales, appreciating every crevice. They were almost completely smooth to the touch, with only a little bit of texture that one could barely tell was even there. At first they were cool, however once given just a little more time, one could feel the raw heat emanating from underneath.

"Oh, Kaisog. What would I do without you?" she slowly asked the drake, her eyes kept steadily on his inky scales.

Suddenly, his eyes flew wide open in a jolt of surprise. His dark slits for pupils focused on her, taking just a moment before recognizing her. When he did, however, he leaned back and raised his head, releasing a strange whine that sounded like a mixture of 'Why did you not wake me?' and 'I am so glad to see you!'. All the while, he was wearing the widest smile she'd ever seen on the face of a dragon.

He yelped and immediately rushed to bump his snout into her stomach affectionately. She giggled, both happy and impressed with how he seemed to know she needed some cheering up.

"You really are the best, you know." She hugged his snout, and put her forehead to his scales, opting to simply just stay there for a moment.

Hopefully, this way she might be able to leech from his unending energy just a little.

She smiled lightly at him as she pulled away again. "You know, we will probably be spending a lot more time together the coming days." His confused expression and the way he tilted his head to the side was absolutely irresistible. "They put me on quarantine. I will not be allowed to step outside the castle gates at least for some time to come."

She giggled at the way he smacked his mouth as if he had tasted something horrible and then hissed lowly when the idea settled in his mind.

When he looked at her because of her curious reaction, she ran a hand over his scales again.

"You do not have to worry - all that means is that we get that much more time to play together." She sent him a grand smile, which he immediately replied to with a toothy one of his own, snuggling into her sweetly.

"Oh, would you look at that - you found your way out here all by yourself," a voice spoke up behind her, breaking the moment. "And here I had hoped I would have had to show you the way to your friend there again," the owner said, a familiar, cheery grin on his face.

She smiled at him and his companion, finding herself unable to be angry about their intrusion in the face of that smile.

"Alex, Elias," she greeted them, only then realizing those two had been the ones to stand outside the office just a moment ago. "Oh! I am so sorry I ran right by the two of you without saying hi earlier, I was a little..."

Alex shook his head. "Do not worry yourself over that, princess, it was clear you all needed to blow off some steam."

"I suppose we did." She gently clasped her hands behind her back. "So, what brings the both of you out here?" Her eyes travelled back and forth between them alternately.

"We are to be your personal guards during the day," Elias bluntly explained.

She inwardly sighed. Right. She had almost forgotten about that. "To make sure I follow my orders, is it?"

Even Kaisog felt how she instantly deflated and nudged her in an attempt to revive her spirits.

One corner of Alex' mouth drew in thoughtfully as he crossed his arms. "Well, we are here to protect you, watch over you and, yeah, try to make sure you do not try to escape." He smirked. "Or at least report it if you do."

"Tch. Maybe you two can make sure this girl does not cause any more trouble for the king," Victoria suddenly said, having popped up out of nowhere. Her gaze fluttered from the two guards to Ciara. "He is far too busy to have to handle such childish games at being hero." She huffed, turned and strode away with her followers.

All their eyes were locked on her retreating back.

"News sure travel fast, huh?" Alex sighed. "You do not have to worry about her, princess. Mistress Victoria is that nasty to everyone." He paused. "Well, except the king, of course."

Even if everyone kept saying that, she really couldn't help but worry just a little about the woman. Did Victoria only hate her so much because she was the king's supposed wife or was there more to it?