The next three days were almost the same.

I met my father only in the morning and the evening and most of the time was spend with my Mother and Mesana in the sitting room.

On the third day my own bedroom was finally finished and as such the time with my father was sadly reduced. He still visited in the morning and spend most of his evening playing with me, but he still had to go to their bedroom to sleep so I couldn’t fall asleep to his voice when he talked to my mother and in the morning he had only time to kiss me on the forehead and wish me a good day and ask me to be obedient.

The first few months went on like that. I was woken up by my father and shortly afterwards my mother came in to start the daily torture of breast-feeding, diaper change and being bathed. Somewhere along the line, I started to blank out whenever one of these events were due.

Afterwards my Mother and Mesana took me to the sitting room. Over time more and more of the toys that were originally in my bedroom got transferred over and the time my mother spend reading her books lessened.

When Lorain had the time she also played with me helping me build up necessary muscles to start crawling when I was older.

The first time Lorain picked me up and held me close to the ground to see if my step reflex was alright, I looked at her as if I was seeing an idiot. From then on at least once a day she would make me do this exercise until the reflex stopped 2 months after my birth, satisfying Lorain and making her announce to my parents that I was developing normally.

If it was left up to my mother she would have carried me wherever I needed to go.

It was quite tough getting enough strength in my body to support my own weight. In the beginning, I couldn’t even roll over never mind supporting my body with my arms and legs.

As I started playing with my toys I could often be found trying to lift them up which after a while wasn’t difficult. The hard part was holding them up for a period of time. And not just because of my strength. Mostly Mesana or my Mother were in the vicinity when I tried these exercises and somehow they got the idea that I wanted to give them the items that I held up for a long time. A few tears later the toys were returned to me but my playtime also ended, followed by a very long cuddling time … not that I am complaining. But it did hinder my efforts to build up strength.

When I finally had enough to roll over and push myself on my hands and knees, I faced another hurdle … balance.

The first time I tried to crawl, I did a magnificent face plant onto the floor.

Lorain immediately picked me up from the floor and examined me from head to toe but luckily only a small bump on my forehead was the evidence of my failure.

My mother fussed over me for quite a while, even after healing me with her magic, so the day ended in another cuddle session and the praise of my father that after hearing my story sprouted such lines like “As expected of my daughter” and “She is already strong enough for that? That must be because of our outstanding genes!” followed by kisses and a soft hug from him.

Given that my father seemed almost afraid to hold me too tight, that was quite a strong hug from him.

After the next few attempts at crawling, I gave it up for a while and started with something I thought was a little easier. Sitting.

However, it seems that the floor had a particular affinity with my body.

I once again rolled over from my back to my belly. Then slowly as if I wanted to crawl I pushed my upper body upwards. But this time I kept my lower body on the floor.

Just as I reached the posture I wanted to achieve, gravity kicked in once again just like it did before.

I could feel my body slowly tilting backwards and just as I wanted to lean forward my back crossed the angle in which that was possible so I fell on my back hitting my head with a loud “bang” on the floor.

This time it was Mesana that was with me and she totally freaked out.

She immediately called for my mother and started prodding on the back of my head, making the pain much harder to ignore and causing me to start to cry.

My mother immediately took me from Mesana when she saw my tears and healed me however I had already lost myself in the feeling and just couldn’t stop making my mother quite nervous.

Finally after causing a huge ruckus that made even other servants come to see if there was anything they could help with, Lorain showed up and after taking me from my mother and laying my head against her heart, she covered my eyes and my other ear with her hand shutting out all the other sensations that I did not even realised were too much for my head causing me a headache.

After a few minutes I calmed down, being handed over to my mother I could feel her relax under me and cuddled myself into her bosom falling asleep.

After much trial and error I finally beat gravity first sitting on my butt and then crawling for a few steps, a moment that was so exhilarating that I once again lost my balance and came crashing to the floor.

The day I achieved to crawl marked the 5th month anniversary of my birth, which according to Lorain was quite early earning me once again praise from my father for being such a genius.

I think we have a foolish parent in the making … no sorry I was wrong, it was already too late.

I came to such a conclusion the evening of my grand feat.

My mother and father were once again using the little time they had for a bit of family bonding in my room, and I was nestled in my father's arms when my mother asked my father how work was doing.

She became suspicious as his whole body froze for a moment and he answered her without looking her in the eyes, giving an “Everything is fine, you don’t have to worry” answer.

After a bit of prodding she found out that he started leaving work earlier and earlier since my birth so that quite a bit of paperwork had accumulated.

That was the moment that I once again heard a familiar name.

“Mesanth if you don’t take this seriously I have to have with Old Zhong …”

“No please dear, I will finish these papers in three days … no two days ! I can do it so please don’t tell him.”

“Darling … did you lie to him and tell him that everything was ok?” the smile that adorned my mother's face let shivers run through my body, and given my fathers expression and the quivers I could feel through his arms he could feel them too.

That was the first time that my father used me as a shield in front of my mother.

“Thelil, I just wanted to spend more time with our daughter … how is that wrong?”

“That are two different matters. You can’t just neglect your work … even if it is for our daughter. You are the king! The lives of thousand of people depend on you.”

“It is not that bad. You don’t have to worry, I already finished all the important documents it is just the minor problems that pile up.”

“If you let them sit on your desk for long, these minor matters can become big before you know it.”

“I know but I find it unfair that you can have the whole day with Spera and I can only have the evening with her. And I even have to pretend that I don’t care about her so I get no news whatsoever if anything were to happen to her.”

“Mesanth …” I could feel my mother softening. I found it quite sad that they had to act like that but given the clues I overheard these past months it was not only our close family that were in danger, but also everyone loyal to my family and my aunt on my father's side that seemed to be a prisoner of the queen.

After that my mother hugged my father for a while.

“I can understand you … but you still have to finish the documents in the next days or I am going to Old Zhong. Do you understand me, mister?”

“Yes dear. I love you. You are the best,” My father said while kissing her repeatedly.

Old Zhong? Wasn’t that the old man that traveled with us from Coalesco? I didn’t see him since then … who is he exactly?

But I could not find out more from my parents, the discussion had ended before they could say more and I was laid into my crib, my eyes falling shut only moments later, the exhaustion of the day catching up with me.

A few days later …

The days continued with me spending my days with my mother in the sitting room and I slowly got bored by it. Given my newfound mobility I started to slowly explore the room, but is was really just filled with books upon books.

My mother found me when I sat in the corner just staring blankly at the wall in front of me. Even my new toys didn’t help me against my boredom.

Seeing that my mother took pity upon me and started to tell me stories.

They were beautiful stories of the fae, a magical race that seemed to live since the beginning of time and mostly lived within or around their element, like a water-elemental near a lake or a fire-elemental near a bonfire. She told me that they were nature itself and it was extremely rare to come into contact with them since they could only be seen when they wanted to.

Most of her stories were about magical beings making me very curious about the world outside that I would be able to see in the future.

My favorite tale was about the mischief that the fairy folk played upon unsuspected travelers or if somebody offended them.

However, after telling me about them for the first time, my mother’s entire aura changed and she suddenly started to sing to me. However at first, I couldn’t understand her words, not even one word was understandable, the words flowing into each other and the melodie so soothing that I could feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier.

Suddenly I could understand one word. It was repeated again and again, and slowly, I didn’t know why, I knew that it meant “Elementals, children of Nature”.

Then slowly one after another the words started to make sense until I finally realised that she didn’t even sing, she just told me a story.

A story about Elementals and Fairies. About the mischief of the fairies and the shyness of the Elementals and how the races mostly saw them as the same and that lead to the hatred of these two, and the elves, since they were the only race that understood the difference between them and made contracts with the elementals, gaining their power but also the hatred of the races.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Still the lull of her voice made me sleepy and as my eyes closed I thought back to the language that I seemed to have learned in a few minutes.

Could it be that I can understand any language that I hear?

And with that I stepped into the land of dreams forgetting it.

A few weeks later …

Yeay finally some change in the daily schedule~

Yesterday my mother told me that I was now old enough to have my first tour of the castle grounds. I do think it has more to do with the fact that I did not knock myself down the last few days and so they were now sure that I could at least sit and crawl by myself.

I was so excited that I found it hard to sleep.

When my mother picked me up she even said “You are lucky today. Your father will join the soldiers in their training so you can see him in action. But dear don’t look too excited ok? I will never get your father to work if he knows how cool he looks when he is training,” with a sweet smile on her face.

It seems like she is really looking forward to it.

But really? The day I will be seeing the corps training is coincidentally the day my father finally has a day off from work? I am not buying that!

But well, I do want to see him train. Given his physique and the way he moves, he was quite well trained, it was almost impossible to hear his steps if he didn’t want you to.

After exiting my room we met Mesana that had been waiting for us in front of the sitting room. Seeing us not walking in her direction she came over and, hearing that we wanted to see the training field, she followed us. We turned right and walked down the corridor until we reached a staircase that led down.

The way to the training field led us through the big garden that could be seen from the sitting room. The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers and I could hear insects buzzing in the vicinity. My mother had reverted back to her outside persona, her expressions frozen and none of her thoughts could be seen on her face. Even her eyes had cooled down, apathetically looking forward.

We walked for quite a while, passing through the garden, a big portico with a grand staircase and exited hall through a grand door.

We passed by a few maids and butlers on the way, everyone greeting my mother with a curtsey and “Your Highness”, but I could see malice in almost all of their eyes. My mother tightening her grip on me while taking deep breaths, ignored them all, walking by them with her head held high and a regal look to her person.

Walking down a road I could already see a big sandy field in a valley next to the castle, to the right of the road, seperated from the palace by a hill. On top of the hill, which was on the same level as the castle, a road could be seen encircling the field. But I could see why we had to walk for so long. The whole castle was surrounded by a wall which was once again covered by a large hedge.

Mesana who had always walked a few steps behind us hurriedly walked past us to help my mother walk down the steps to the field, which looked like they were carved directly from the hill, each step a bit uneven.

We safely reached the field and I could see a few benches on the site were my mother took a seat, Mesana standing behind us.

My mother shifted me in her arms so that I could see the field, but from the people that I could see I didn’t recognised anybody.

I could see about two to three hundred men running around the field. Then a sharp sound could be heard and they stopped, crouched down and started waddling while holding their arms in a ninety-degree angle from their body.

On the next sound they stood up again but every three steps they crouched down again to touch the floor.

After about five different exercises they started running again but whenever a sharp sound could be heard they turned around to jog backward.

A few minutes later I could hear somebody shout

“Warmup finished. Take a five minute break and then we continue with coordination and balance training.”

The voice sounded like Warthon, but since I didn’t meet him for the last few months I wasn’t quite sure.

Most of the troupe walked to the other end of the field, leaving a group of about ten people, as well as my father, in the middle of the field.

One of the men, he was a bit shorter than the rest and had less muscles with short back hair and black eyes, whispered something to my father on which he immediately turned towards us, but since he was a bit to far away I couldn’t see the expression on his face.

The group started to walk to us. After coming nearer I could recognise Warthon next to my father, his blue eyes, scales and hair in stark contrast to my father’s red hair, scales and eyes.

Most of the group had colour schemes in the black or brown range, three of them without any scales and on the top of two others, that had light brown hair, I could make out furry ears but more pointy then Mesanas and with a bushy tail behind them.

When they arrived before us, my father firstly turned his head from side to side, observing his surroundings.

When the ten men surrounded us in a half circle he finally relaxed a fraction and bend down to give my mother and me a light kiss on the forehead.

“I am happy that you are here my love,” he said to my mother, his eyes warm while looking at my smiling mother.

“Auuu,” I said, taking his attention from her and making him take me from my mother's arms.

“Yes, sweety, I also missed you.” He laughed while rubbing my cheek against his.

Giving me back to my mother he once again had something whispered into his ear by the slim black haired man.

Nodding he turned around and walked back to the field after smiling at us. As he turned around I could see his facial features freezing and his aura radiating an oppressing feeling.

Five of the men immediately followed him, but the rest stayed behind for a bit.

Warthon had moved next to Mesana and was exchanging small talk, both of them having a smile on their face.

The slim black haired one also stayed back, introducing himself as Eric and telling my mother that he was given the duty to protect her while she was out in the open.

The other three, one beastman named Cloude, one with light brown hair named Galven who, at closer inspection, had pointy ears, and one dark brown haired man that told us his name was Ben. My mother seeing me looking at Ben in dissatisfaction since I couldn’t figure out what race he belonged to, told me that he was a human. They were a race that rarely wandered into the Draconian lands and lived mostly on a Continent called Solaris, but Ben was one of the best warriors of my father so his race was not really important to everyone in the troops.

The shrill sound shattered the tranquility of our situation and Cloude, Warthon, Ben and Galven hurriedly jogged to the middle of the field where my father already waited with most of the troops.

My mother looked at Eric with questioning eyes but he just said that my father had released him from the training to watch after my mother.

Suddenly I could hear an audible gasp from Mesana. My mother turning to her giving me the opportunity to see her face which was radiating fury. Following her gaze I could see Warthon standing near a beautiful blonde woman who seemed to almost lean on his body, she stood so close to him.

When she layed one hand on his arm seemingly asking him a question while looking up to him, I could hear a voice from behind my mother that shook with underlying fury.

“Milady, could I maybe join the sparring session?”

Mesana asked my mother with a smile on her face, however her eyes weren’t smiling at all.

“Oh dear, of course. However before that could you maybe enlighten me what brought on this sudden change in demeanor?”

She answered while still trying to control her facial expression, however I could see the corners of her mouth slightly twitching upwards.

“Milady, I just thought that I didn’t have had a workout in recent years and since we are already on the training field I could try and polish up upon my techniques.”

“Well, then, I wouldn’t want my companion to not be able to defend herself.”

My mother motioned her to the field.

Mesana slowly walked onto the field, the pairs starting to move out of her way without her even announcing her presence. It was as if she walked through an alley, the men parting and standing on both sides not daring to move a single muscle.

My mother suddenly turning her body so that I couldn’t see the training field anymore, but given the sounds Mesana had found an unlucky guy that had wanted to try out against her.

Looking up to my mother she just smiled wryly at me.

“Spera, just remember to never make your aunt angry ok?”

After a few moments my body once again started to feel sleepy so I nuzzled into her arms ignoring the screams that came from the training field.

In the evening my father entered my room with a depressed expression on his face. Coincidentally it was in one of the few moments that I was left alone by my mother, Mesana or Lorain.

After entering and closing the door he immediately walked to my crib and picked me up hugging me to his chest.

I could feel that his emotions were in chaos and he forgot about his strength squeezing me stronger than normal causing a slight pain in my body. A whimper slipped from my lips making my father immidiantly loosen his embrace.

He took a few deep breaths and, after gaining back enough control, apologized to me giving me a normal hug and kissing my cheeks and forehead, his stubbles causing a slight itch and making me giggle.

He held me at arm's length and smiled at me but I could still see the torment in his eyes.

In that moment my mother came into the room and hugged my father. He put me once again into my crib and hugged my mother back, giving her a kiss and smiling down on me.

“She is perfect, isn’t she?” He asked my mother who only slightly laughed.

“Come on Mesanth, let’s get to bed. Everything will be fine.”

She also said goodbye to me and then led my father out of the room leaving me with more questions that I had before making it almost impossible to sleep through the night.

The next weeks were normal, so I forgot about this night again but there was always this nagging feeling in the back of my head telling me that not everything was ok.

At seven months, my mother surprised me with the announcement that I will now start receiving other food than her milk. The constant info dumps over the months whenever my mother talked about her dinner with Mesana or Lorain, had started to drive me crazy but also gave me a better understanding of the “outside” world, being both a blessing and a curse.

I was placed in a chair with a little table in front of it, and wiggling left and right I found out that I couldn’t really move that much.

Lorain sat down a bowl with a yellow colour down in front of me. I wasn’t really looking forward to the taste given the colour. However as Lorain filled a spoon with the … mush and held it against my lips, under the motto “You can’t know until you taste it”, I took a bite of the mush and swallowed it.

The slight uncomfortable feeling in the back of my head, that I always had when a info dump happened, the thought “Tastes like Chicken … but doesn’t it always” popped into my head.

To be clear it didn’t taste great, and I really prefered my mother's milk however I was sure that Lorain would only give me something that was good for me so I resigned myself to the task of eating this mush.

Like that the first year of my life went by with nothing serious happening. My father had Lidiana under strong surveillance and never left my side for more than half a day.

Lorain started reading books to me when I was eight months old with me sitting on her lap so I could already read shortly after the written language coming to me as easy as the spoken tongue. Of course, I still pretended to babble nonsense and just listen to the story instead of reading it myself to keep up the appearance of a normal toddler. But I think my mother, Lorain and Mesana couldn’t be fooled. Well, how do you fool people that seemed to observe you for every minute of your life for many months and not give away that you can understand what they are saying and that you are more intelligent than your normal toddler? Given that and Lorain had three kids of her own so she knew from the first week on that I wasn’t normal. But please, who in their right mind would start crying and screaming out of nowhere if you could help it. After my first tantrum just to try it out I had a sore throat and I can say, you can also live without that.

From time to time I could see little specks of light in my environment but every time I wanted to touch them my body seemed to have a life of its own refusing to come even near them. Not that that stopped me but I gave in when I got a mean headache after I forced my body to move towards the speck. After that I tried to stay away from them as far as possible.

My mother told me yesterday that today was my birthday so that would mean I am finally one year old. I think today I should start with “ mommy” and “daddy” maybe even a few words that sound similar to what I wanted to say.

Baby-speech here I come!

I hyped myself up by getting out of bed, my crib having evolved into a large canopy bed when I was 9 months old, and standing in front of the mirror giving myself a little motivation speech practising out loud. But suddenly from one minute to the next just as the old clock in my bedroom struck midnight my body started to ache.

It felt like a hole had opened up in the middle of my chest and pain spread over my body from that point onward.

My little hands clenched onto my clothes and I gave out a painful crying sound as I crumbled to the floor. Loraine was suddenly near me as I fell down and crouched next to me in a panic.

Tears gathered in my eyes and I could feel my body heating up. My breath came out with small gasps and my mind was muddled.

I recognised that someone seemed to lay me on the bed and I could recognise my parents next to me, my mother holding onto my hand while crying, my father standing next to her with a stormy expression on his face. I could feel my consciousness fading and not knowing if I ever wake up again, I wanted to at least accomplish my goal that I just had set to myself.

So I looked at my parents through my tears really trying to make out their faces and breathed out “Mommy …. Daddy.”

I could see the shock on their faces and my mother and father’s tear stricken faces that rapidly came closer as I lost consciousness crying my name, while I just found the strength to smile at them.

I fell into darkness.

I don’t know how long I was in this darkness, but after a while I could feel my senses returning connecting me to a place that felt unfamiliar do me.

Just as my senses fully returned to me I could hear a beautiful voice behind me.

“Huh, what are you doing here?” -?-