"What's wrong with Ash?" the squeaky voice of Fiedo, a forest Gnome from the North-Eastern part of Noaria who was riding a white donkey named Fester. The ordinarily chipper, happy go, lucky girl who had managed to make herself the de facto mascot of the Pae Helmet company looked very serious all day. Something was bothering her, and she hadn't spoken or done anything except stare intensely at the back of her horses head.

Casper looked over at her; she was intensely biting her bottom lip and placed her index finger over it. "She's thinking."

"What?" How can you tell that from looking at her?" The Gnome stared at her and tried to comprehend how he got that from her immense staring.

"If you paid attention to her actions more and not her body, then maybe you'd understand how she worked a little more," he said, rolling his eyes at Fiedo. He had been pawing after the girl since she got assigned to their group over a year ago. Six missions and over a hundred border patrols later, he still hadn't got a grasp on anything about her, except maybe her cup size.

"There is nothing wrong with enjoying the beauty of a woman." Fiedo declared proudly, offended by the lack of taste Casper had.

Having been done with the conversation before it began, Casper rolled his eyes and trotted over to Ash. She was mumbling something to herself but still with the same look she had that concerned the perverted Gnome.

"AH, HA!" She screamed, spooking her and Caspers horse, as well as a few of the others.

"Ash!" The all the nearby scouts hollered her name. She looked around, mouthing her apologies as she moved her steed back, pulling her up next to Tacitus's cage at the back of the leading cart.

"Cat." She said proudly as if it was the most intelligent thing in the whole world.

Tacitus looked up at her, "Excuse me...but what?" Their face showed their apparent confusion.

"Your Riddle. This morning." She said like he was the crazy dumb one. Looking at him with the come-on catch on already.

Tacitus's face turned from confused to unamused, "It's not a cat."

Ash dumbfoundedly gapped at him, "What do you mean? It has to be a cat; nothing else would fit."

"Think about it; I promise you that yes, something else will match my riddle."

Ash bit her lower lip and moved back to her place in line. Tacitus rolled back into his position, looking around the group.

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"Your talking," Reglan said behind him; Tacitus looked back at his caregiver.

Nodding his head, "Yeah, I am. I feel better."

"That's good. And as I promised, once you started talking more, I'd answer any question you had." Reglan looked ahead, keeping an eye on the Captain, who wanted him to not tell the boy anything the day before.

Tacitus showed his obvious wanting to know, but he had also overheard the Captains threat. He didn't want to be the cause of Reglan's reprimand, but he also wanted to know what lay another weeks travel for him.

"Would you get into a lot of trouble?"

Reglan shook his head confidently, "No, and even if I do, Casper over there knows a few people that can help me out. And I am not too good to call in for favours."

"Is that smart?"

"Who knows, but what is your first question?" He pushed past the issues of his possible mark up and continued the conversation forward.

Tacitus sat and thought about that for a moment, "I guess I'll start at the beginning. Who am I going to? I'm not stupid; I realise what my life entailed after my mother handed me off to those slavers."

"You bounce back quick; I meant a while ago, you told me I should have let you die. Now your like a chirper bird just waiting to go on his morning fly."

Tacitus shrugged, "Coping Mechanism or maybe I just bounce who knows. We'll see if I break now in a few weeks, and then we'll know."

"Guess you'll have to keep me updated, but for your question." he continued on, "Technically, King Nicodeme purchased you as a Shira for his younger brother Prince Dominic."

"I've heard the first name being passed around a few times, but not the second. Can you tell me anything about him?"

"Prince Dominic? I can't, but Casper can; he is old friends with the Prince and his personal guard Milovan."

"I guess he can't be all horrible if Casper knows him. So, what is the King like?"

"Complete and total dick, but all of that is off the records. He is a decent leader, I suppose, so I guess that makes his personality obsolete in the long run.

Tacitus thought that before nodding his head, he supposed it really didn't matter what their personality was as long as they lead the nation in the right direction. "Oh, I just thought of another question." He said as he was lost in his own thoughts.

"What is that?"

"You said I was a Shira? Is that like some special gift or something?" Tac leaned his head on his knee that was tucked up by his chest. Staring at the half-elf.

"It's more akin to a spouse. In our lands, the siblings to the King or Queen don't get a wife or husband like everyone else. They get what is called a Shira, which is someone that is the same gender as them. It is to keep them from having kids that could take rights of heir and some other crazy noble crap."

"So, doesn't matter what the siblings want, they are forced no matter what?"

"Yep, and from the little I have heard about Dominic, he chooses to become a social elite and party all the time. Which upset the King who was waiting on him so he and the Queen could have a child, thus why he went ahead and choose for Dominic and thus why you are here in a cage with us."

Tac just went quiet for a long while, thinking about the situation he was about to be thrust into. He figured that if Dominic was anything like most of the men he knew, that he would probably be hostile towards him for a while. He understood that feeling; he literally stood as a symbol of his lack of freedom and choice.

Staring off into the distance, he watched two birds flying. His mind wondered what that would be like, to just leave his cage and bindings and just be a bird.