(Three years later)
"Why are we traveling to Este again, your highness?" Reira asked. Her long, black hair got loose in the winds of the sea and Reira struggled to keep her hair out of her eyes.
Xera smiled at her handmaiden. "I'm going to visit... a good friend," she said, "to complete a promise I made years ago." As they got closer to the island, from a distance Xera saw the beach where she set off to swim from, years ago. She smiled at the distant memory. The ship was drawing close, and in minutes would be docked at the harbor port.
They were walking off the ship, and onto the port, when Reira asked, "Your highness, no welcome from the kingdom?" out of curiosity. Xera looked straight ahead, saying "I'm visiting unannounced. I felt that was more, appropriate here." She knew her royal bodyguards would follow behind, from a distance, disguised as common folk just as Xera and Reira were. She wanted this to be low key, quiet... like the last time she was here.
Xera turned to look at Reira and the rest of her group. "We'll make our way to the royal palace now".