Hood thrown back to show her face, dark skin and red hair on proud display, Lonna stomped her way out of the clothing shop and into the streets.

Behind her walked a confused Melissa driven forward by three armed men and one brown furred rabbit Sapphi, who’d apparently been keeping watch out front. The silver krakens on blue indicated their fealty to the countess of Koleff. That, combined with the quality of their plate, said they probably served the countess’s manor directly rather than the city as a whole. It was likely they had each had detailed pedigrees, dating back through generations of service - and knights sworn to them, who they'd bring to Koleff's defense in war.

Their blood would run red as any others’, though, if anyone dared touch so much as a clod of Talith’s clay.

“Lonna?” Melissa called out to her, voice hesitant, eyes wide. “Why did he call you a princess?” The same question Melissa had asked in the store. 

As before, Lonna chose to ignore it.

The people around her were less inclined to do so. Already, Lonna could hear the whispers spreading through the populace. Snippets of conversation, including “Princess Lonna?” and “The runaway?” 

It made her grind her teeth near to dust.

At least they were all smart enough to get out of her way. In fact, they were all but rushing to clear the streets, pressing themselves up against the store fronts so that Lonna could stomp forward.

Mere seconds after Lonna passed by an area, the cityfolk would slam into the space she’d occupied, and begin to whisper among themselves. As such, Melissa and the guards had little choice but to follow closely in Lonna’s wake.

Not that Lonna actually knew where she was going. She’d never actually visited the countess’s manor, as a princess - or if she had, she must have been too young to remember it. Sorissa had marched her out of the castle, occasionally, if only for carefully curated events. 

The rest of the time she’d been kept behind walls, so that she wouldn’t learn of Sorissa’s villainy.

Not that she could tell Melissa that. It wasn’t as if Melissa would understand, or even care. All she’d hear was that Lonna was Sorissa’s daughter. That she was Sorissa’s heir. Just like everyone else did.

There were only three people who’d ever accepted her for herself: her dead mother, her captive brother, and…

Well, Vellos was probably fine, but still.

“Lonna?” Melissa repeated, yet again. “Please. I can’t understand if you don’t talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to understand,” Lonna replied, finally turning to glare at Melissa. For some reason, Melissa’s tall and muscular visage looked blurry to Lonna. She blinked her eyes, a few times, and things seemed to clear. 

“There’s nothing to understand,” Lonna repeated. “I’m the princess. The queen’s daughter. The rightful heir. It’s just like you heard. I’m the runaway princess! The tree-forsaken daughter of a dragon and the tyrant queen, the epitome of all that is wicked and rotten in this world! Everything you, the heroine, are meant to destroy - all right here, in one tiny little package! Maybe after you take on Sorissa, you can have me for your damn dessert!”

Lonna wasn’t sure when her feet had started moving. She only knew that she was now standing directly in front of Melissa, glaring up at the heroine. Her vision was blurry again, for some reason, and her cheeks were wet.

“Lonna… You’re crying?”

Lonna looked up at the heroine, mouth opening and closing, unable to respond with grace. After a moment, she snapped her jaw shut, wiped the tears from her eyes, and turned to glare at the guards. 

“Well!? You were ordered to take me to the countess, weren’t you? Do so!”

The four guards exchanged glances. Only one stepped forward; the lapine Sapphi. She bowed her head to Lonna, briefly, and led the way forward.

Lonna followed, a silent Melissa in tow.

 

***

 

Melissa stood, shifting nervously from foot to foot, in front of a large desk.

On the desk was a small, polished, wooden box, a sheaf of papers, a writing quill, and an inkwell.

Sitting behind the desk was a woman.  Her short blonde hair was cut right at the nape of her neck; she had deep green eyes. A sword, hilted with a large squid with tentacles for quillons, was sheathed and belted to her waist. Her eyes shifted continuously between Lonna and Melissa, studying them with the intensity of a bird of prey eyeing its dinner.

Lonna, meanwhile, was staring not at the sitting countess, but at the brunette maid standing behind her. Melissa wasn’t sure if it was some sort of power play, or what, but the maid was clearly nervous from the attention. She kept fidgeting and the smile on her face was under growing strain.

“If you have something to say to my maid,” the countess declared at last, “perhaps you’d like to discuss it aloud? That way we can all be privy to the conversation.” The woman smiled sweetly as she spoke, but her gaze was hard.

“I have nothing to say to her,” Lonna replied, finally shifting her gaze to the noblewoman before her. 

There was a squeak from the maid, at that, which caused the countess to lift an eyebrow. “I admit that when Tabitha said she knew the runaway princess, I had my doubts. And when she insisted you’d definitely be the one accompanying our 'heroine…' Well. I’m ashamed to say I might have questioned her sanity.” 

The countess chuckled, faintly, to herself. “I’ll have to make it up to her, later.”

“I’m sure you will.” Lonna scowled as she spoke, her gaze still almost boring a hole through Tabitha.

“Of course, I assume you do have proof that you’re the true princess?” The countess lifted an eyebrow as she spoke.

“Why should I prove anything to you?” Lonna demanded, turning her glower to the countess. “I’m not doing a tree-forsaken thing until I know my brother is safe.”

“Your brother. The Lapsi, you mean?” The countess frowned for a moment, then shook her head. “He is well and good, I assure you; you will be free to join him shortly. But first, I really must insist that you prove yourself to me.

“Otherwise, I fear I will have no choice but to dispose of the seditious heroine, and the imposter princess. I will promise not to hurt the Lapsi, though, if it’ll make you more cooperative. He’s of no use or worth to me, regardless.”

Lonna glared at the countess for a moment longer. Then, slowly, she reached a hand up to her head, and undid the twine from one of her hair buns.

Beneath the frizzy red hair was a small horn - a small, brown protrusion, smooth at the base but broken and jagged at the tip.

“Satisfied?” Lonna snapped, quickly tying her hair back into a bun.

“...A dragon’s antlers are usually gold. Yet yours are as dark as a dryad’s tree. You truly are the child of those monsters, aren’t you?” The countess smiled as she spoke, but it didn't reach her stony green eyes, and her voice was cold enough to send chills down Melissa’s spine. 

Which made it all the more shocking when the countess stood, and bowed stiffly to the waist.

“I am Liliath, the countess of Koleff. Loyal servant to the queendom of Resperan.” Straightening with those words, she turned her cold gaze to Melissa. “Now tell me: what in the world are you doing with the heroine?”

“...Sorissa always told me, as a child, that she’d be with me until the heroine herself took her away from me. So I summoned the heroine to do just that.” Lonna jutted her chin out as she spoke, as if daring the countess to speak against her.

Liliath smiled in response, eyes still lingering on Melissa even as she spoke to Lonna. “A loyal subject would bring you to your mother and have your royal behind spanked for such comments about our queen. After seeing to the heroine’s death, that is.”

Melissa swallowed, hard.

Lonna glared at the countess. “Are you a loyal subject, then?”

“I am loyal to the queendom of Resperan,” Liliath responded, smoothly. “Long has it stood, and long may it stand yet.”

“And the queen who rules Resperan?” Lonna pressed, placing her hands on the desk and leaning forward.

Liliath glanced at the small hands on her desk, and smiled faintly. “The queen’s word is meant to represent the queendom.”

“You know it doesn’t…” Lonna snarled back. “Unless you think it was the will of the kingdom for your brother to die?”

Liliath’s hand darted to her sword, a clear threat. Smoke was curling from Lonna’s lips.

“May I say something?” Melissa asked, voice soft, and a little scared, but trying to keep firm.

“No.” Lonna’s eyes snapped to Melissa with that word.

The countess, however, took a step back from the desk and removed her hand from her sword. 

“Speak,” Liliath commanded. “I would hear what the heroine has to say before condemning her to death.”

“...I’m no heroine…” Melissa said, voice quiet. She kept her eyes on the table, not looking at either woman, but she could imagine their reactions: Liliath, eyes wide, staring. Lonna, glaring with all her might. 

“I’m really not the heroine,” Melissa repeated. “I’m not… I’m not even really a girl. My real name’s... I mean… I was born male, and. I just…” 

Melissa sighed.

“I got summoned into this world, in this body. So. I went along with it? I asked everyone to call me Melissa, made them all use she and her pronouns. Played at the idea that I could actually rescue people… But I’m not the heroine.

“I’m not even a girl. I’m just… I’m just a guy, trying to get home. I’m only even trying to defeat Sorissa, so I can use her library to find a spell that’ll take me back. And give me my proper body.

“I just…” Taking a deep breath, Melissa finally lifted her eyes to meet Liliath’s steely gaze. “I’m just a guy. Not the heroine.”

“Why would you reveal this to me?” Liliath asked, voice soft, gaze hard.

“Because if I’m honest about this… Maybe you’ll believe I’m being honest about something else: That from what I’ve seen, the queen isn’t representing this land at all. From what I’ve seen, the queendom would be better off without her. From what I’ve seen… I think you all could do better.”

“I see…” Liliath murmured, a dark chuckle rising from her throat. “Tell me, my self-proclaimed good man. What does it feel like, being in that body? Compared to your old one, I mean.”

“It’s… Lighter?” Melissa offered, blinking in confusion. “I mean, I’m a lot stronger, so. Everything feels… lighter. And smoother. And soft, and nice? Like… Like it’s… I don’t know. Like it’s right. Even though it isn’t.”

“I see,” the countess repeated, a small smile on her features. “Guards!”

The moment she called, the door opened, revealing the rabbit Sapphi that had guarded them earlier.

The countess smiled, sweetly. “Please, take the heroine to her guest chambers. And get her properly dressed.

“We’ll be dining together, tonight. Tell me, Melissa. Have you ever had goose?”

“I… I don’t think so…” Melissa admitted, a little confused.

“Then let tonight be the first time. Now, if you’d please go with my bannerlords? I have a few things to discuss with my Princess.”

Melissa shot Lonna a look, but her companion’s eyes were only for the countess.

After a moment of uncertainty, Melissa nodded her head, and then headed out with the Sapphi guard.

***

 

Lonna stared into the countess’s eyes, full of resentment. Resentment over Talith. Resentment over Melissa’s refusal to accept the role of heroine.

Resentment that the tree-forsaken countess was still standing, too. Lonna’s neck was aching and stiff, raised towards a woman who towered over her. Not that she ever let that stop her when it came to Melissa or Talith. She’d let the trees take her before she let go of a staring match against someone only a hand and two fingers taller than she was!

“You seem to be taking this as a personal grudge…” Liliath murmured, shaking her head, breaking eye contact. She dropped back down in her chair.

“Tabitha. Bring Lonna a chair, would you?”

Tabitha bowed, and scurried out of the room, leaving the two women staring at each other once more.

Once again, it was the countess who broke the silence.

“If the queen of Resperan falls, the queendom will fall into the same chaos as the rest of Auroris. What are your plans to prevent that?”

“E-Excuse me?” Lonna demanded, taken aback by the sudden line of questioning. “I… The people will-”

“Without a proper line of succession, the queendom will fall to infighting among nobles. From there, it’s only a matter of time before the outlaws outside our border try and worm their way in for a slice of the apple.

“Sorissa has made the border towns dependent on the warm bodies she provides - loyal to her, and no one else. They keep the chaos at bay for her alone.  Who will they listen to when Sorissa is gone? Who can keep them untied?”

“I… I don’t know…” Lonna whispered, finally looking away from the countess. “I don’t know.”

“Even Sorissa is better than chaos,” Liliath declared, her voice flat and hard as steel. “But there is a third option.”

“A… What?” Lonna asked, attention now raptly focused on the countess.

“Despite being known as the runaway princess, you are still Sorissa’s one and only heir. The only child born of a handfasting between the dragon and the false queen.”

“The dragon princess had no more right to rule than Sorissa, though,” Lonna pointed out.

“Does any queen? Sorissa founded her rule on Arasitelle’s right to all of Auroris. It was Arasitelle who officially annexed Resperan, and gave it to Sorissa, for all that she had already conquered it herself.

“You are their child. You are their heir. A decision Sorissa has not, to this day, undone. Every house that is pledged to Sorissa will lawfully and rightfully pass to you.  By laws Sorissa legislated. 

“Which means those who respect her law will in turn respect your claim.  Not that you won’t have to work to keep it, of course - we’ll have a lot of work ahead of us, even after Sorissa’s gone, if we want to keep ahead of things.”

“But…” Lonna felt like she’d dunked her head into a stream and came up dry. Nothing was making sense. “The people. The people will never accept me! Not after everything Sorissa’s done!”

“No?” Liliath chuckled. "But they will accept the heroine." 

Lonna’s eyes widened in shock. “The… The heroine?”

"The one who deposed Sorissa. If she were to wed you, and the two of you ruled together as Queen and Princess-Consort, then the people and the nobles both would bend a knee.”

“Melissa would never agree to that,” Lonna protested. “She wants to go back home. She doesn’t even believe she’s the heroine. She…” 

Lonna sighed, looking down at the floor. “She isn’t even a girl.”

“Yet you still call her one in your head, do you not?” Liliath asked.

“She just asked me to use she and her, so…” Lonna frowned, uncertain. “I mean, you can be one thing and call yourself another, I do that all the time, so…”

“...As you say, dear.”

Liliath was still smirking when the door opened, and Tabith came in carrying a cushioned chair. She deposited it quickly behind Lonna, and attempted to scurry back to her position behind Liliath, only for Liliath to raise her hand.

“Take Lonna to her bedroom, would you dear? Her brother is waiting there. I’m sure they’ll want to be reunited, while I have my dinner with Melissa.”

“...Yes, my Countess,” Tabitha said, tugging her skirts up. “If you’ll follow me please.” 

Without so much as meeting Lonna’s gaze, she walked toward the hallway.

Lonna spared the countess a frown, but quickly followed after Tabitha, catching up just in time to catch her as she turned down a hallway.

“What are you trying to do?” Lonna complained. “Get me lost in here?”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be a problem if you got lost, Princess,” Tabitha responded, her voice pitched low enough that no maids they passed might hear them. “You’d simply have to find another servant to guide you.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want another servant to guide me,” Lonna declared, picking up her pace to try and keep up with Tabitha’s longer stride. “Maybe I want to have a little conversation with this maid.”

“And what conversation would that be?” Tabitha asked, voice dripping with all the sweetness of poisoned honey.

“Oh, you know. About how the guards knew I’d be with the heroine? Because it’s funny - back in Ife, Melissa’s poster didn't mention me.”
Lonna picked up her pace until she was side by side with the maid. "You’re the only outsider I told about my plans to, Tabitha. The only one I kept in contact with after leaving for Ife.”

“I…” Tabitha’s footsteps faltered, though only for a moment. “Fine, it was me. Is that what you wish to hear? The countess has been… The countess has been very kind to me, offering me a job here despite my inexperience... and I saw a chance to prove myself.”

“You saw a chance to prove yourself?” Lonna’s voice broke a little, mid sentence, drawing the gaze of an errant blonde maid as Lonna and Tabitha walked through the hallway. “After everything we went through? I thought we had something-”

“Shhhhhhhh!” whispered Tabitha, desperately, gesturing with her hands for Lonna to lower her voice. “You know how maids talk…”

“...Are you ashamed of me?” Lonna demanded.

Tabitha came to a dead stop, before turning around with a quizzical expression on her face. 

“Well. Yes. I thought that was obvious. I mean, Lonna - you’re the runaway dragon princess. Who wouldn’t be ashamed of having slept with you?”

Lonna stared into Tabitha’s eyes for a long moment.

Everything made sense again. Everything was exactly the way she’d always expected it to be.

“...Your room’s here,” Tabitha said, pushing the door open.

Lonna nodded, without a word, and walked right in.