We woke late in the day, as we had not retired until the break of dawn, and got dressed in a hurry. Lena’s nerves were evident as she continuously rotated around the room, claiming she had forgotten something.

“Calm,” I told her soothingly. “There is nothing to fear with Vi’den.”

“If he’s anything like Sevani, there’s something to fear,” she said.

I smiled. “Vi’den is very different from Sevani in all ways except wisdom. In fact, Vi’den is the most respected Elder on the Council, and the oldest second only to Ma’ris.”

She gave me an amused look. “The A’li-uud have strange names,” she teased.

I swatted at her behind, and she yelped with delight. “I could say the same for humans,” I said. “The simplicity of human names eliminates all the grace and beauty.”

“You’ve clearly never met anyone who wasn’t a Joe or a Sam, then,” she joked.

“I have met a Lena,” I said, pulling her to me and pressing my lips gently to hers. She smiled against my mouth and accepted the kiss, her tongue gliding over mine like a swath of silk. When we broke apart, I clapped my hand to her rear once more just to elicit another shriek from her and said, “Come. We must go if we wish to arrive before nightfall.”

“Where does this Vi’den live?” she asked curiously, following me out of the bedroom.

“He resides in and presides over the kingdom of Finiba,” I explained. Before we exited the house, I made sure to take a container of water and a satchel of snacks for the journey. “Finiba is the kingdom of hills. It is green and vast and peaceful. Some consider it the most beautiful of Albaterran kingdoms.”

“Do you?” she inquired as we began hiking down into the Capital.

I turned to glance at her with amusement. “It is certainly beautiful, but no. My heart has always been with Pentaba.”

“You’re very loyal to your home.” Lena’s eyes were trained ahead on the palace before us, which was the only building within the Capital tall enough to be level with my house. “Even after…everything.”

“Pentaba has not betrayed me,” I said a little sternly. “Nor has Sevani. His responsibility is to make certain Pentaba is safe and prosperous, and he has never failed us. He gave me direct orders that, regardless of the reasons or outcomes, I failed to follow. There must be consequences.”

She frowned, deep lines of disapproval etching on either side of her mouth. She had made her feelings on consequences and the Council clear last night, and I understood her point of view. Nevertheless, I was caught in a series of unfortunate events, and transgressions could not be ignored. At the very least, a trial was in order.

“Why did you kiss me?” she asked suddenly.

The change of tack surprised me enough into halting, and she jerked to a stop when she realized I was no longer at her side. She turned around, standing at least two heads below me with the steep decline of the hill, but her face betrayed no hint of abashment or regret for the question. I gazed down upon her.

“I care for you,” I responded bluntly.

Lena grinned. “You seemed very unhappy with me most of the time I’ve been here,” she said.

“I was.” The option of lying to spare her feelings was not an option to me at all, being an A’li-uud who favored honesty in all cases. “Only because I felt useless. Being War Chief is an honor, and it felt wrong not to uphold that honor. It was not personal.”

“I know.” She retreated back up the hill toward me and stood on her tiptoes to kiss me. Before she could pull back, I leaned forward and cupped the back of her skull with my hand to prolong the affection. After almost losing her, I could not get enough of her.

When we began our trek once more, she returned to her inquisitive questions. “How do we get to Finiba?”

“It is the kingdom to the south of Pentaba,” I said. We finally reached the base of the hill and evened out onto the Capital’s stone street. “We will take a boat to the Finiban shores and travel by carriage from there to Vi’den.”

“A carriage?” she cried excitedly, her face lighting up. “Like Cinderella?”

I stared at her. “Bless you.”

She stared back, clearly as confused by my response as I was by her query. Then, her full lips split into a grin, and she placed a sassy hand on her curvaceous hip. “That wasn’t a sneeze,” she said admonishingly. “I forgot you don’t know about fairy tales.”

“And what exactly is a fairy tale?” I asked.

“Fairy tales are…” She pursed her lips, searching for the right words. “I guess they’re kids’ stories, but a lot of adults like them too. They’re about things like princesses and mythical creatures. The modern versions usually have some kind of underlying message, like feeling good about yourself or something, but the old versions are actually pretty gruesome and morbid. My favorite was always the original The Little Mermaid.”

“So, they are folklore.”

“Not exactly,” she contradicted slowly. We were beginning to turn the corner that crossed in front of the palace, and I forced myself not to look at it as I ordinarily would have. The previous evening had left a rather sour taste in my mouth, despite what I told Lena. “They’re mostly just entertainment.”

I did not understand completely, as A’li-uud told folklore for entertainment, but she seemed to be struggling to explain properly enough as it was, so I chose not to press her further. Instead, I questioned, “Were these fairy tales a big part of your childhood?”

“Oh, yeah,” she replied with a nod. “Whenever it was too muggy to go outside or storming, Mom popped one of the Disney movies in, and—” She paused as I stared at her without comprehension again, and then laughed. “Yeah, they were. I never really realized I wouldn’t get to watch movies anymore since I’ve come here, though. It’s weird to think about.”

Though I had no inkling as to what a movie was, I opted to focus on the latter part of her statement. “You did not think of all the things you would be leaving behind when you decided to become a colonist?”

“I thought I had. And I did, as far as the big stuff were concerned. I paid to get out of my lease early, sold my car, that kind of thing.” She swung her gaze from left to right as we walked, taking in as much of the Capital as she could while continuing the conversation. “But when you’re making the decision to literally move to another planet, it’s easy to focus on the most important things. The smaller stuff gets overlooked. I didn’t realize I’d probably never eat a spicy tuna roll again until I’d been here a whole month when I had a sudden craving in the middle of the night.”

“Do you regret it?” I did not wish to ask the question for fear of her answer, but it flew out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“Never eating a spicy tuna roll again? Or coming to Albaterra?”

I determinedly kept my eyes on the road in front of me. “Well, as they seem to be one in the same to an extent, both.”

“No,” she replied. The firm decisiveness in her tone indicated she was telling the truth, and I felt a flutter of relief in my chest. “I came here because I was lost in my life. I still don’t know what I want to do with myself, what my purpose is, but now that I’ve been here I feel pretty sure this is where I’ll find it. Plus,” she added with a chuckle, “so much has been happening lately that I haven’t really had the time to wallow in my sorrows.”

“Yes, but unfortunately what has been happening is not of a good nature,” I said darkly.

She looked up at me. I felt her eyes pressing into my temple, staring insistently until I finally turned my own head to look back at her. “Some of it is,” she murmured.

I halted again, but this time it was not in shock. Rather, it was to sate my overwhelming craving to kiss her. There, in the middle of the street directly in front of the Elder palace, I placed my finger beneath her chin and tilted her face up to mine until our lips met. Her scent, pleasant and sweet, overwhelmed me until I only breathed her, and her taste followed suit.

“Yes,” I agreed, withdrawing and looking into her eyes. “Some of it is. Now, we must hurry. I could be called to Forum at any moment. If that happens without speaking to Vi’den, there is no hope for me.”