“I should go talk to them!”

“Liz, no,” Kazumi whispered as I took my first step forward. While the size of the group was daunting, there were just so many interesting people walking in it and I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be getting to know all of them right away. But I understood Kazumi’s urge to get going. It would be a long journey, and I didn’t want to hold everyone up trying to make new friends. Still I felt I had to make a gesture of acknowledgement. Ignoring such a fine procession felt like something the old queen would have done, and that was an image I wanted to distance myself from, so I waved enthusiastically. There wasn’t much of a response, just a few blank stares, but that was to be expected.

Kazumi gently took my arm and urged me inside. The step up was a big one, but I saw some smaller footholds for races that couldn’t take steps four feet high. I decided to be courteous and let them go first, and stepped aside with a smile and a playful bow. Sabine grinned and she and Erza climbed in. Kazumi flushed red and I wondered if I’d done something wrong, but she just shuffled forwards and pushed herself up. It was always a bit strange when she did this, because it was easy to forget just how tall she could make herself. She smiled at me, her cheeks still red, as she went inside the carriage. I looked back at the procession, which I understood we were going to be joining near the front, just behind the centaur guards. They all stood perfectly still. If I’d been my original size, the sight of them would have been more intimidating, but the thought of fighting even one of those was terrifying. If this was what Queen Eliza’s army looked like, I understood why she’d be a credible threat to Wydonia.

Another soft tug at my dress sleeve indicated I was expected to join them, not stare wistfully at the numerous creatures.

Actually being inside the carriage was somehow even worse than looking at its bleak and dark interior. The dark curtains cut off all external light, and one of the first things I did was try to pull them aside. Once again miscalculating my strength -- or overestimating the craftsmanship of the curtains -- I ripped them off. I sheepishly looked over at Kazumi, whose mouth fell open with disbelief, and Sabine, who had her hand in front of her mouth to, I assumed, keep herself from laughing. Even Erza looked a bit baffled.

Then Kazumi let out a soft laugh, and walked over to one of the windows and ripped the curtains off, too. Soon, she, Sabine and I had ripped all of them off, bathing the inside of the carriage in natural light. It didn’t stop the whole room from feeling dour; everything was still black, after all, but at least we could see each other’s faces properly. And I could look out the window now, at least.

With a jolt, the carriage began to roll, and we all got settled on our seats. Sabine and Erza both sat on one bench, and Kazumi rolled herself out on the other, while I sat in my Eliza-sized chair at the end of the ‘room’. I looked at all of them. It was honestly nice to be in a roomful of people, who all knew who I was. More so than most others, at least. The carriage was surprisingly comfortable and steady. I’d expected to be rocked around, but whether it was engineering or magic, it was more like being on a train than it was like what I imagined being on a cart was like.

We saw the castle slowly shrink behind us, though its tallest towers were tall and imposing enough that it wouldn’t disappear out of sight for some time. Looking back, I wondered if Elena would be fine on her own. I’d deliberately not brought her with me, fairly certain that a living flamethrower would be more of a liability than an asset when confronting Angry Otto, and Erza had loaned her some books on anger management, which I’d hoped wouldn’t be too patronizing. Morgana had gone on ahead to the capital of Wydonia. The way I’d planned it, we’d spend a few days at Otto’s castle and then meet Queen Anastasia outside Shereton near the border. I’d need to meet the other queen, after all.

The first leg of the journey was slow. The guards coming with us had to walk the entire way as well, of course, and I wasn’t thrilled about that. Looking on the surrounding landscape through a window instead of being out in the air myself was bad enough, but knowing I was sitting comfortably while other people would have to walk for two days made me feel uncomfortable. I didn’t like putting myself above anyone else, let alone people who were there to make me look good, if not protect me.

The landscape trudged by, and I could see just how bad things had been under Queen Eliza’s rule. The roads were in disrepair, but that was hardly the most of it. People worked in fields, but all they seemed to be doing was haphazardly and half-heartedly raking mud. I asked Kazumi about it, and she looked a little nervous before I shot her an encouraging smile.

“The people of your lands, Liz…” Erza’s eyebrow shot up at her use of the nickname, but if she had something to say she was keeping it to herself. “Most of the people… they don’t really know what they’re doing. One of Queen Eliza’s first reforms was to arm and train every able-bodied person, and everyone rejected from her armies was designated a field and a task. Most of them have no idea how to grow the crops they’re growing. Many of the people who do now have a sword and a shield and are standing guard at your borders.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

She cleared her throat and looked out on the landscape. It was a sad sight, reminding me of pictures of a no man’s land I’d seen in a history museum once.

Kazumi continued. “This wasn’t a sustainable system, Liz. Queen Eliza didn’t care, I think, because the idea was that soon she’d be conquering Wydonia and getting all the resources she’d need. But right now, people are getting hungry, and Queen Eliza was forcing them to police each other. I… the reports aren’t pretty, Liz, but the old queen was not someone you could say no to. Not more than once, at least.”

I looked out the window too. “We’re going to change that, Kazumi,” I mumbled, and then spoke up. “I want to… I want to disarm and disband as much of the standing army as we can. A whole ‘swords-to-plowshares’ kind of thing, you know?” She obviously didn’t, but I kept going. “Send most of them home. I think that’ll be Sabine’s job? When she officially becomes Countess of Innshire?”

“Holy Hells,” Sabine mumbled. “I’m going to be a Countess in a couple of days.” Erza just smiled at her and whispered a congratulations.

“If these are going to be my lands, we’re going to make them prosper. If my kingdom is so fertile, I’m not gonna be happy until there’s not a person who goes hungry in or on it.”

Everyone looked at me expectantly, and I just realized I was speeching and I couldn’t stop now.

“I want Queen Anastasia, when she visits, to be impressed. I want her to see something good when she sees this place. Not…” I gestured out the window. “This.”

The others nodded. Erza raised her hand and I gestured, but then interrupted myself. “You don’t have to ask permission, Erza. I want everyone here to be equals.” She shrugged but the smile that played around her tusks made me feel like she appreciated my desire to abolish the old hierarchy.

“These lands did not belong to humans. Or any of the other races.”

“Then who d-- ohh…”

Erza just shot me a wry smile. “Your promise, Queen Eliza, is that we have our old lands restored. In peace, of course.”

“Of course,” I said. “Would your people be willing to work with the other races to cultivate here?”

She seemed to think on this for a minute, then nodded in agreement. “Restoration is going to take a long time.”

Gosh, I thought. This whole governing thing was going to be a doozy. “So my thinking right now is that we disband the armies still, and people who know how to work the land are sent home to make a living, but with the idea being that the Orc are invited back to their old lands… how far do these old lands go, Erza?”

She chuckled. “All across Wydonia, Queen Eliza. It’s going to take years. But yes, I think we’ll be happy to leave the old mountain homes. Even help the rest of the new… occupants figure out how to properly cultivate the soil. Most of them had no real choice in moving here, after all.”

She shot Kazumi and Sabine a glance, but both of them looked sheepishly at the ground. This was clearly a sensitive subject. I turned to Erza.

“Is there a position where you might be able to achieve more, Erza? I don’t want you to feel like you’re constrained…”

She looked at me and those green eyes of hers bored into my skull with a kind smile.

“I’m happy with whatever position you put in me in, Eliza,” she said.

I didn’t know what to say, so I looked at Kazumi, who was blushing furiously. The silence was deafening, and everyone except Erza -- who seemed to be as comfortable there as she was anywhere else -- was suffering in silence.

After a few hours, we stopped to eat, and I got out to stretch my legs. The mid-afternoon sun was welcome on my skin, and though I didn’t want to get the hem of my dress too dirty, I couldn’t help but jump down onto the road to have a little walk around. We’d stopped by an unoccupied field, but there were people from nearby small towns working and I wondered what they thought when they saw us, the brightly armored escort, the black carriage. I wondered what kind of image I struck, almost ten feet tall (with horns) purple skin, a black dress with silver armor. Would they be scared? Impressed?

Maybe one day they’d see me and feel bolstered when they saw me. I caught myself wanting to be their queen. I wanted to give these people what they deserved, not whatever Queen Eliza had done to them. The thought of lands and their peoples being mistreated, not just by Queen Eliza but by her predecessor, was infuriating. Reparations would have to be made. Would be made. Something about standing there by the side of an old dirt road, looking over fields with only a large black castle in the distance as a landmark made me determined to be the kind of queen people ran to see.

Fuck being feared, I thought. I was going to be loved. Behind me, Kazumi, Sabine and Erza had jumped out of the carriage as well, and they joined me. Kazumi was hauling two large baskets that Erza was happy to help her with. We sat down by the roadside, like most of our retinue was doing. I was sure the guards were happy to relax their feet. I was just glad not to be in a box anymore. As we shared a simple meal -- mostly bread, water and some salted pork-- I looked at the others. Sabine and Kazumi were talking softly but animatedly, and Erza was reading. I was certain she wasn’t missing a word, however, but if she was listening she was hiding her smiles behind the pages. It was good to be surrounded by people like this. Strangely enough, I felt like I belonged here, just us four girls enjoying each other’s company on what was essentially a road trip. I had friends here, friends I genuinely connected with.

“Thank you.” I said.

They turned to me, and I shrugged awkwardly. “Just… in general. For being here with me. It means a lot.”

“Of course,” Kazumi said.

“Glad to be here, Queen Eliza,” Erza said.

“Aww,” said Sabine. “We’re glad to be here too.”

As all of them looked at me with fond smiles, I counted myself lucky to have lived here for only a little over a week and to have already found friends.