After some arguing on Maple’s part to justify her idea, Sir Vulmine, Maple, Reven, and Relia walked together in one of the castle garden, this one adorned with a life-sized statue of an older king and a few saffron crocus spread throughout. The terrorist was being carefully watched for their every move, but Maple didn’t show concern.

“It may be hard to believe, since I’m alive and well before you now, but I have been slain before. By a necromancer, no less. They were intent on using my soul for damnable things of which I couldn’t begin to hazard a guess, but my daughter here did… well, what slimes do when young and without impulse control. She consumed my soul, briefly, and through an act of instinctive alchemy, roughly bound our souls together as one,” he said, eyes growing distant, “It was… words cannot describe the experience. It wasn’t pain, not quite, it was… different.”

The crystalline woman in her brother’s body cringed, remembering the sensation distinctly, "Yes, I… recall… something like that…"

Maple nodded, letting out a soft sigh. "I was barely sapient at that time, knew almost nothing of the world. Only that I loved him, and that he was being taken from me. I couldn’t allow that, so I just… followed my heart, I guess,” she said with a shrug.

Relia stared for a moment, “You just… went with your gut and successfully fused souls? In a way that didn’t destroy either personality?”

The slime shrugged in reply, knowing it sounded absurd, “I thank the Primordial for it every day. I can only imagine it was Their guidance that led to my success in the matter.”

Reven shook her head, amazed they could be so lax about it, “Then what happened? How did you separate?”

Maple nudged the older knight, smiling. “Well, I started looking for a way to undo what I had done. Thankfully, I didn’t go through it alone. Before long, I met a newly sapient gem slime that I named Hope. She was with me for a couple of months in which I taught her how to talk, read, and write, the basics at least. Then I met Kendrick… King Kendrick, now. He was a lonely woodcutter, with virtually no social skills and no emotions. He stuck with us at first because we let him stay with us when his cabin at the time burned down, and then we saved each others life back and forth a few times, and… well. Team Dracoslime was born.”

Reven looked over to Vulmine. “And the whole time, you were…?”

“I was in her head, observing but unable to act. I was able to speak to her, and she could speak for me. During that time, I served as a mentor of sorts for the team, teaching them all I knew about how to fight, how to navigate social situations, how to shop and the like. They were like helpless babes, the lot of them,” he said with a laugh, “But they had good hearts, and were quick to learn. That’s not to say there was no hardship, of course, though… I had to watch as someone I had come to think of as my daughter put herself into unfathomable danger, and I had to live with the knowledge that she was doing it solely for me. So she could learn to separate the two of us. So that I could live after avoiding a fate worse than death…”

Reaching over, he ruffled Maple’s “hair”. “She wears my armor still, even after getting me my body back. Says it makes her feel at home no matter where she is,” he teased.

Maple simulated a blush, swatting his hand away, “Yes, yes… anyway, I imagine this is why Kendrick asked us to come here. It was quite a trying ordeal, and it took a great deal of time, wealth, and rare resources, but as you can see I did put the two of us apart. I suspect he was hoping I would offer the same thing to you.”

The wording made the crystalline woman clench her jaw a bit, but overall said nothing as the little bit of hope that had begun to form in her eyes extinguished. “The way you say that…”

The slime put a hand on her shoulder, making her about jump out of her - or really, her brother’s - skin. “Don’t worry. I have every intention of doing just that. But I don’t want to say anything that would make you think that it will be a fast process. There’s no telling how they did what they did, and I may well not even be able to… but I would say I am likely your best hope at liberation from this body you’re stuck in.”

Reven clenched her jaw, eyes deep in thought. “I… won’t deny it. I fear my makers, greatly. We were the first successful fusion… and I heard about the others. What happened to them. What happened to those that tried to escape once they began having successes. I am their property, and they have made that clear… even now I’m sure they’re planning some way to kill me from a distance… but…” she bit her lip, hard enough to bleed almost. “Show me you can do it. Then maybe… maybe I’ll tell you what I know. But before even that, you must guarantee my safety. With a soul binding contract,” she demanded firmly, staring at the slime. “Whether or not you can separate us, I will see myself and my brother safe. Do you understand?”

Maple gave her a sad smile. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to get that information first, and quickly. If my methods, this conversation, fails… they will resort to the more unpleasant methods they were going to do in the first place. But give me some time, and I’ll see to a contract being drafted. I do have to make something clear though…” she began, before Vulmine piped up.

“Right. Your criminal charges. You understand that this situation is very complicated in that regard, yes?” He asked, frowning. “There’s much we don’t know yet, obviously, but if I had to guess you were not a willing participant in this. It seems that you may have been coerced into the act. The king, being who he is, will be more inclined to have mercy with that being the case, but the queen…”

The three Mare natives shared a look.

“W-what about the queen…?” Reven asked, seeing the look and glancing between them herself, fear apparent in her face.

“Well, she’s prone to far less mercy than the king himself, and that’s to say nothing of Lord Takrok…” Maple said, sighing. “Oh Lord Takrok is going to be such a hassle…”

“A hassle to what?!”

“Ah. Right. Well, the best solution for you in this circumstance, I believe, would be extradited to Kitharn. Once again, the king won’t be too hard to convince, but the queen and Takrok… they will be much more complicated.”

Relia nodded, “I don’t entirely agree with the notion, but I do admit that being extradited would in fact be the best outcome for you. But I can’t deny that it is far from guaranteed that such a thing would even be possible. To extradite someone that assaulted the king… I don’t see too many arguments that could make it so, and no arguments that would work on both the queen and Lord Takrok.”

Maple bit her lip, deep in thought. “I’ll see what I can do, but in the meantime… do me a favor and answer any of Lady Relia’s questions? If you make this easy on us, you are more likely to be able to be transferred, and there I’ll be able to ensure a better quality of life than you would receive here. Do you think you’ll be able to keep your brother in line long enough for that to happen? If we can succeed in this, I can make you and your brother new bodies, so neither of you are stuck in pain.”

This got a silent nod from the woman, fear and uncertainty on her face… but maybe a bit of hope, too.