“This feels…” Kae trailed off, unable to find the words.
The princess took the huntress’s hand, pressing Kae’s palm to her cheek again. She smiled, and entwined their fingers. “This feels right.” She said.
Kae smiled, and kissed her again.
***
The Warmaster was waiting outside the inn, one hand on the reins of his horse. He had lost track of how long he had been standing there, staring into the middle distance in the general direction of the inn’s entrance. Ma’tii the wolf had been walking circles around the panther Beastman and his horse, equally bored out of his mind. Warmaster Sairus sighed. He turned towards the wolf.
“How long has it been, wolf?” The panther asked.
Ma’trii stopped beside the Warmaster and sat down, looking up at the Beastman with a plain, bored look. He grunted once, and Sairus nodded, understanding.
“Warmaster!” said a voice suddenly, causing the panther to snap back to attention. Loren and Kae hurriedly exited the inn, the two women holding hands. “My apologies, I seem to have woken up late!” the princess continued.
Warmaster Sairus’s sharp eyes darted towards the girls, to their clasped hands, the slight blushes on their cheeks and the way the princess couldn’t seem to stop smiling. The panther Beastman smirked, and nodded. “Of course, princess. We will leave once you are ready.”
“We’re ready!” Loren blurted out. “I mean, I’m ready. Kae is too.” Behind her, the huntress burst into laughter.
Ma’trii quickly bounded towards Kae, huffing and nudging at the huntress’s legs. Kae broke off from Loren, laughing and tackling her longtime friend to the ground. The huntress and her wolf rolled about on the floor, playing. Loren watched them with a satisfied smile.
“Princess. If I may…” The Warmaster trailed off. Sairus had already mounted his own horse. “Spymaster Isran has volunteered to lead the soldiers ahead. Prince Kaiten and the mage Cassendir wait by your own horses, but they do not seem to mind the delay.”
Loren nodded. “I see. That sounds well, the soldiers would have a headstart through the Kilrough Mountain pass. The sooner they can get home, the better.” She stopped, noticing the panther’s troubled expression. “What bothers you, Warmaster?”
Warmaster Sairus motioned towards Kae. Loren’s face fell.
“Kae?”
The panther nodded. “Your place is with your family, my lady. As their heir to the kingdom, you—“
“I know, Warmaster.” Loren’s voice was weak, about to break. She looked back at Kae and saw how the olive skinned girl picked herself up and dusted herself off, all with a joyful smile on her face. “My place is in the castle. On the throne, at court, ruling Aldoran justly and with kindness.”
Satisfied with the princess’s dutiful answer, Warmaster Sairus nodded. The panther flicked the reins of his horse and turned to leave, when Loren smiled.
“Why shouldn’t her place be there too?” the princess said simply.
The group emerged from the Kilrough Mountain path. The road of tamped down earth gave way to flat stones carefully and systematically laid onto a road. Large signposts of thick wood were hammered into the side of the road, proclaiming it to be the Imperial Highway. Arrows pointed towards the north-east and true east, marking the roads towards Rhodia and Aldoran. In the distance was a familiar sight: a tall castle upon a hill, and its walled city bordered on one side by the Great Ocean. The sight of it brought tears to the princess’s eyes as she saw the castle’s towers bathed in the warm sunlight, and smelled the salt on the breeze. The wind rustled the leaves of the trees in the Kilrough Forest, and Ma’trii ran past Loren’s horse towards the tree line, disappearing into the forest. Kae whooped and hollered, and pushed her horse into an uneasy gallop to follow Ma’trii. Cassendir gasped and stared out at the sight, muttering that he wished he had something to draw on, something with which to capture this image of Aldoran.
The princess sniffed and wiped away her tears with the heel of her hand. She began to laugh – a pure, relieved laugh that bubbled in her chest and refused to be stilled. Sitting up straighter in her saddle, Loren gripped the reins and kicked her horse into a gallop down the paved road of the Imperial Highway. With every hoofbeat, the wind blew through her hair and through her clothes, the brisk and familiar feeling of it wiping away the weariness in her soul. She passed the tree line of the forest, and Kae and Ma’trii rejoined her at a run. The princess laughed with them, standing slightly on the stirrups, shoulders hunched over the horse’s neck, and bade it to run faster. To run down the Highway, towards Aldoran.
Towards home.
Epilogue
It had been a week since princess Loren returned to Aldoran. At first, there was a flurry of activity when she arrived with her friends and the Warmaster. Ignoring the concerned, doting servants, Loren rushed straight towards the queen’s private chambers where she found her mother, pale as a sheet, lying in her four poster bed as still as the grave. Loren approached quietly, carefully, searching through tears for any sign of life. She saw the barest bit of movement as the queen drew a ragged breath, and immediately called for Kae.
The Spellmaster and Healer crowded around the queen to carefully administer the basilisk venom antidote. Within minutes, the queen’s breathing grew stronger. Then she opened her eyes, and those sharp, dark eyes fell on her daughter.
Loren winced, expecting to be scolded for running off, or for letting the dragon pendant be destroyed, or putting herself and Lind in danger. Instead, she felt the queen’s thin, cold arms around her, weakly pulling her into a tight embrace.
“I’m so glad you’re safe.” The queen said in a willow voice. Her skin was pale,
