The enormous walls of Artemia appeared with the morning sun peeking out from behind the caravan. Imposing white walls millennia old filled Eri's heart with wonder and curiosity, to the point that she jumped out of the coachman's cart, from which she had not been separated during the two-week journey, and ran towards the city gates; her enthusiasm ignited like the very flames she breathed. The soldiers moved out of her way, she had had time to win many sympathies, but also, the incident with the bandits had ignited some fears; Frey had made her promise that she would never hurt anyone again. Eri took that promise very seriously, trying to do things slowly so as not to hurt anyone or break anything.

Runaesthera followed her on horseback begging her to stop, the girl was getting stronger day by day while sleeping less and eating more. It was Freydelhart's voice that finally made her stop in front of the first column of the caravan.

“Eri! Come here. I'll take you for a ride around the wall.” He already had it planned, he would leave the urgent matters to his second for a few hours, and take a walk with his new family. Anyway, he would postpone seeing the king as long as he could.

With wide eyes Eri turned around and jumped on the horse with her father, almost making him fall. He caught her in a hug and shook the dust off the dress Eri was wearing, which was already quite dirty and messy, her little wings had worn away almost all of her back, she moved them frantically when she jumped, but they didn't seem to make any difference. During the trip, she had taken advantage of the breaks to climb the nearby trees, jump from a high branch and try to fly. Apparently, although she couldn't read and understood little of the world, she did know that dragons could fly; she fell like a stone every time, fortunately she didn't get hurt, Runa and Frey had only worried the first time.

“Daddy, let's climb the wall!” Eri had also become more affectionate over the days. Runa galloped up to them, visibly frustrated.

“Eri, please, don't go off by yourself. Frey, sometimes I don't know how you always get her to listen to you.”

“Daddy is scary, his brow furrows ugly.” The couple couldn't help but laugh, Runa made fun of him because his brow furrowed even when he ate or sat down to think. If Eri had the chance, she would try to erase his frown with her little hands.

They let the soldiers march in parade to the castle with Jimmer at the head so that they would disperse to the barracks, while the newly formed family rode around the wall on horseback along the great battlements. Eri was drawn to the crossbows that topped each of the machicolations. Frey had no way of explaining to her what they were for, he still didn't know how much she understood about the war against her race. Instead, he showed her the interior of the opulent city, with districts delimited by the rings of water, canals that provided the entire city with the vital liquid for its inhabitants to use to live, or to put out the fire of a dragon attack; they were fed by a set of rivers that flowed down from the mountain on which the castle stood, an ancient elven construction made entirely of white stone, it practically glowed in the morning sun. The city itself was a testament to the long war with the deadly beasts. With a high mountain range on one side, and the sea on the other, Artemia would always be the center of the world, or so the oracles predicted.

The long ride ended almost at noon, they returned on foot pulling the exhausted horses to the road that led to the royal palace. Artemia's castle was up to ten times larger than Meyrin's, where Eri had lived. It rose from the mountainside so the road was not really a very steep slope, the river that fed the canals ran alongside the road, so it was a very pleasant walk. Frey still didn't feel ready to reach the end.

They were received by the royal guard, copper-skinned elf soldiers dressed in Mythrill armor. The court had gathered in the great court hall to witness the return of Princess Runaesthera and her betrothed, lords from nearby lands had traveled to the capital for the occasion, but no one among all the nobles of the city was prepared to see them enter with Eri, the rumors started immediately, Frey could see them whispering in low voices, although given their unusual relationship they were more than used to it. As they walked down the red carpet of the great throne room, they were given way to the place where King Alistor awaited them.

"My daughter! The goddess of peace has made it possible for you to return safe and sound." The king smiled affably behind a thick beard that was clearly false, as elves were by nature clean-shaven, it was white like his long hair which he wore in a simple ponytail. He told those who would listen that he used it to honor humans in memory of his beloved wife, who died many years ago, Frey suspected he simply liked the idea of having a beard as the old human kings used to do. "Oh, this must be little Eri, Jimmer updated me but I couldn't believe it, she really is as tender as he described her." The king's astute gaze indicated to his daughter and future son-in-law that it was not prudent to talk about Eri being a dragon. It was obvious to anyone who saw her, but for the moment it was better not to confirm anything to the gossips of the court.

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"Daddy, who is the ugly man?" said Eri, pulling on his pants very carefully.

"HAHAHA! A brave girl." The king laughed, opening his mouth wide and putting a hand to his belly, totally unlike him. "If you call the grumpy knight who took my little girl away daddy, I would be your grandfather, little one."

"What's a grandpa?"

"He's mommy's daddy." Runa spoke in a motherly voice, she liked to explain things to Eri, especially about family and relationships.

"Oooh! Grandpa is a very tall man. I like him even though he's ugly." The king seemed pleased with Eri's words.

"I like you too, little one... daughter, Sir Frey, let's talk somewhere more private. The audience chamber awaits us."

The king, Frey, Runa and Eri went into a private chamber, it was spacious and surrounded by thick stone walls. Still, they waited until they were in the center, next to the desk and the guards had left to start talking.

The king's countenance changed as soon as the doors closed, from the relaxed and affable monarch he became tense and stiff. Frey cringed a little, he was already expecting what was coming.

"Imprudent boy! I can hardly believe you left my daughter behind at the mercy of mere bandits! I didn't give you my blessing to put your family in danger." Frey listened ashamed, dumbfounded. "I could have lost my granddaughter before I even met her!"

"Your Majesty," he tried to answer, remaining stoic as much as he could, "I do not underestimate your judgment and I accept my responsibility in the incident, but I expected Your Majesty to be more interested in Eri's nature."

The King lowered his eyebrows in a disappointed expression. "Son, you are human and you have seen little of the world, my daughter is the fruit of loving a woman of another race, this nation is the fruit of acceptance between elves and humans. That took me almost five hundred years, in more than four hundred of them I was not king, do you expect me to reject an orphan because she is a dragon? To break my daughter's heart by blaming a child for these centuries of war?"

Frey felt humbled by his words, Runa had told him something similar in the camp.

"Does that mean you support our decision to take her as our daughter? What would that mean for the kingdom?"

"Well, son, that one day a dragon woman will rule Artemia, the kingdom has a few thousand years to get used to it, but you Frey, you only have the rest of your life to turn her into a good person."

Runaesthera, who had remained on the sidelines while explaining to Eri how to address her grandfather, as well as restraining her as she wanted to defend Frey, languished at the mention of Frey's life.

"Father... thank you." As she spoke, she ripped off his fake beard, revealing a young and beautiful face, with no mark to denote his long age. "Mother would be happy."

"Anyway, what I want now is for your useless fiancé to answer for his irresponsible abandonment..."

"Dad, enough, you know he didn't do anything wrong, it was his duty to order the halt and I was responsible as the highest ranking officer. Eri took care of them anyway and nothing and no one was lost."

"Shame on you Frey, that your little daughter fulfills your responsibilities for you, however much of a dragon she may be." King Alistor was a man who enjoyed pretending, Frey knew he appreciated him, but he enjoyed making him nervous. "Anyway, daughter, get ready and put something decent on your fiancé. We will say goodbye to our guests of honor tonight, well, actually they will leave in a few months, but we will celebrate that their home has been recovered and they wish to thank them in person. It will be a nuisance with all the nobles and courtiers who have come, but it doesn't matter, we will offer a great banquet."

"It's true," said Runa, somewhat excited, "the king and queen of Meyrin will return to their castle with the detachment and the court. Father, please don't denigrate Frey in front of their majesties."

"As long as you make him behave... he needs to relax that uptight temper of his." He addressed Frey, "You could drink a little for a change."

"Daddy," said Eri, who had restrained herself until then on Runa's instructions, "can you bend down?"

Frey lowered himself to her level to hear what she had to say, instead, the little girl ran her hand between his eyes as if rubbing a stain. The king burst out laughing.

That same night, Freydelhart and Runaesthera attended a grand banquet with the entire court in the main hall of the castle. Runa wore a beautiful green dress with gold embroidery of the finest needlework and her best jewels, including one of many crowns she had begun wearing at such events a few years ago; immersed in her role as princess of the kingdom, Frey wore a clean, new uniform with braids befitting his rank but without the symbols of any nation. He looked tall, strong, elegant and he knew it, like the day he met Runa only without so much shame.

Eri was admitted to the banquet, the royal dressmakers made her a beautiful new dress in one afternoon, blue, with lace trim and new shoes and gloves, they took into account her little wings with a kind of sleeves with buttons to let them out and Runa found a small golden tiara among her things. Once again she looked like a little princess, which she already was by recognition. People were either delighted with the sweet little girl, or somewhat wary of her appearance, but no one was indifferent. Runa made sure that everyone had a chance to see her at least once, introducing her at the tables to each group of nobles to avoid them overwhelming her by coming one by one. The poor girl had spent a good time meeting dozens of strangers, which she seemed to enjoy, but when she finished dinner and the novelty of her presence wore off, she began to get bored. As a rule, nobles did not bring their children to banquets.

The king of Meyrin and his consort finally appeared, King Bestolf was a plump man with a rosy face and a thin black mustache. The queen was a refined woman with a slender figure, long pink hair and large blue eyes. Frey wondered why she looked familiar until the woman set her eyes on Eri. And burst into tears.

"That girl..." said King Bestolf, his voice cracking, hesitant, "is the spitting image of my late daughter... Princess Erina."