P
Poldaran
Guest
Original poster
Ashla dropped into a heavily padded chair in the outer room of the small suite she would be sharing with her maid. It had been a long and exhausting three week journey to Woods Keep, the palace of the royal family of Renode. Despite her frustration of the slow pace of the retinue, the prince had assured her that they had made good time and kept to schedule.
She sighed, closing her eyes to the cream-colored decorations in the richly decorated suite. The distance had only been 100 leagues, something that should have taken only two days were she allowed to be herself. Though a comely human, in her true form she was a small but majestic silver dragon. She yearned to soar through open sky again, and dreamed about it frequently at night.
Perhaps she could slip away somehow and go on a ride with Gen? The childhood friend, a great golden dragon, was camped in a forest well outside the city. Too far away to call, but he had said he would fly over the city on the day she arrived, late at night so that he would not be seen.
Their traveling party had spent the night at a small inn outside the city, so that they would arrive early enough to dine the next day with the royal family. Despite the name, Woods Keep was surrounded by a large city. After several weeks of travel, even the few hours they had been on horse-back and in carriages that morning was enough to tire her.
Soon, Ashla's maid would be there to help her clean up and dress for the welcome dinner. Technically, she should be helping the Queen dress before going, but Queen Beth had her own maid, someone she preferred to her Ladies in Waiting, of which there were three. Instead, the ladies took on a more advisory role, with Queen Beth teaching them things that would help them in future marriages. Something that Ashla had no interest in, aside from the help it gave her in navigating this world of humans.
The world of humans. They were so transient. So volatile. Yet, she certainly had a fondness for most of the ones she had met. She knew not all of them were good; the impending war was proof enough of that. But overall, she liked them anyway. The adjustment to being one, however, was harder to take.
The plan was to stay at Woods Keep for about two weeks before a group from the kingdom of Renode joined their party and the moved south to Leena. There, they would hopefully be able to convince the council that ran the kingdom to band with them and forcefully stop the incursions that had begun to spread from their nation and cross the borders to the two neighboring kingdoms. Leena was a keystone to stop the war from happening.
Perhaps Ashla would even be able to figure out why the war was occurring or who was causing it. The humans had been at peace for several thousand years, with only minor occurrences of violence breaking out. Yet this war threatened to be widespread, and coincided with the prophecies a little too well. It was unlikely to be a coincidence. Fate controlled everything.
Her thoughts swirled as the comfort of the chair and exhaustion finally claimed her. She drifted to sleep, curling into the chair to get more comfortable, her feet tucked under her long traveling skirts, and her long, coppery red hair escaping from its braids to flow down her back and cover part of her face.
She sighed, closing her eyes to the cream-colored decorations in the richly decorated suite. The distance had only been 100 leagues, something that should have taken only two days were she allowed to be herself. Though a comely human, in her true form she was a small but majestic silver dragon. She yearned to soar through open sky again, and dreamed about it frequently at night.
Perhaps she could slip away somehow and go on a ride with Gen? The childhood friend, a great golden dragon, was camped in a forest well outside the city. Too far away to call, but he had said he would fly over the city on the day she arrived, late at night so that he would not be seen.
Their traveling party had spent the night at a small inn outside the city, so that they would arrive early enough to dine the next day with the royal family. Despite the name, Woods Keep was surrounded by a large city. After several weeks of travel, even the few hours they had been on horse-back and in carriages that morning was enough to tire her.
Soon, Ashla's maid would be there to help her clean up and dress for the welcome dinner. Technically, she should be helping the Queen dress before going, but Queen Beth had her own maid, someone she preferred to her Ladies in Waiting, of which there were three. Instead, the ladies took on a more advisory role, with Queen Beth teaching them things that would help them in future marriages. Something that Ashla had no interest in, aside from the help it gave her in navigating this world of humans.
The world of humans. They were so transient. So volatile. Yet, she certainly had a fondness for most of the ones she had met. She knew not all of them were good; the impending war was proof enough of that. But overall, she liked them anyway. The adjustment to being one, however, was harder to take.
The plan was to stay at Woods Keep for about two weeks before a group from the kingdom of Renode joined their party and the moved south to Leena. There, they would hopefully be able to convince the council that ran the kingdom to band with them and forcefully stop the incursions that had begun to spread from their nation and cross the borders to the two neighboring kingdoms. Leena was a keystone to stop the war from happening.
Perhaps Ashla would even be able to figure out why the war was occurring or who was causing it. The humans had been at peace for several thousand years, with only minor occurrences of violence breaking out. Yet this war threatened to be widespread, and coincided with the prophecies a little too well. It was unlikely to be a coincidence. Fate controlled everything.
Her thoughts swirled as the comfort of the chair and exhaustion finally claimed her. She drifted to sleep, curling into the chair to get more comfortable, her feet tucked under her long traveling skirts, and her long, coppery red hair escaping from its braids to flow down her back and cover part of her face.
