We descended the last step and joined the others in dancing.

My white ballgown dress with three layers flared as I elegantly as I spun in a circle around Paris while he kept one hand on my lower back on the other linked with mine above our heads.

Some of the crowd around us took a moment to appreciate how lovely a couple we looked, despite being different species and not being the prettiest people there.

I felt like my love for Paris was deepened even more as I leaned my head against his chest in comfort and closed my eyes.

Time was passing quickly, however, and if things had gone well, it was nearly time for me and Terry to go.

The bracelet Meridi had given me was rigged with magic to flare red briefly to work as a signal for when she had knocked all the guards outside out. I had handed the bracelet to Terry to that he would know.

And, just on time, I saw the red-headed boy fake tears and run out of the room—making as much of a scene as possible.

I gasped and looked at Paris. “Can I go comfort him? I shouldn’t be more than an hour.”

Paris looked disappointed and said melodramatically, “what shall I do without you? I shall sit on the throne and weep until you return.”

I giggled and kissed his cheek before following Terry out.

I met him outside in the hall. His eyes were still wet and he told me, “you didn’t tell me fake crying was so painful! I can’t stop!”

I chuckled quietly before we set out.

Paul had told us the exact route to go through the castle so we wouldn’t be caught by any guards patrolling. It was all going smoothly, despite having to take a rather round-about way to get to the east wing of the castle where we once again climbed out the window of the chapel and I prayed Meridi had successfully knocked out all the guards.

I had instructed her to leave a letter next to one of the guards pinning the attack on the wild mothmen in the Purjun forest. The letter demanded that Paris hand me over for a ransom because they hated me for being a traitor. Humans, not understanding wild mothmen and their goals, would not realize that mothmen would not care at all of my marriage to a human.

I looked about cautiously once we were outside the castle and saw that the guards outside the castle were, indeed, knocked out. Meridi had used some kind of blowgun and struck the guards with darts.

I sighed with relief and Terry and I began dashing toward the city on the familiar downhill incline as quickly as we could.

Someone tapped my shoulder and I squealed in fear, but then I calmed down when I realized it was only Meridi. I took a deep breath. “Why would you do that?”

“Forgive me, little queen. I’ve been trying to catch up to you on these old knees, and you were going a little fast for me.” Meridi explained.

“Have the moths gathered in the forest?” I asked.

Meridi nodded. “They have. The plan is going off with no problems at all!”

Bless Paris. If he hadn’t kept his advisors from looking upon the letters, the plan would have been a failure and I might have been hanged for treason.

We hurried to the Purjun forest, and I couldn’t help but grin at seeing more guards knocked out on the way. Meridi was a force to be reckoned with!

Meridi told me while we were working out the plan that the silken moths of the north, and particularly the clan she hailed from, were skilled at making potions in which to dip darts in that were ideal for putting people to sleep.

How capable Meridi is! I wished I could be like her… Unlike most female moths, the females of Meridi’s clan were trained to be just as deadly as the males. What they lacked in physical strength, she told me, they made up for in magical power. God saw it fit to bless female moths with more potent magic to even things out, I supposed.

We dashed out the eastern side of the city and into the Purjun forest after running for minutes in silence and I was greeted with about one-hundred moth faces looking back at me.

I curtsied lowly to them, and none of them looked please.

“A curtsy is a human salutation,” an older mothman chided and didn’t look impressed. “A proper moth lady, if you remember, my dear, does a rotine.”

I was sweating nervously already. I did a rotine instead—a little spin where a lady properly stomped her left foot forward at the end and then spread the sides of her dress out gracefully—and hoped I would please the old mothman.

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There was silence for a moment as moths whispered about me. I was sweating buckets.

Terry whispered to me, “don’t panic! I believe in you!”

I cleared my throat at that and took a deep breath. I whispered to Terry, “thank you.”

I addressed the crowd of moths before me with my shoulders back and my chin held high. I imagined, for extra comfort, that Paris had his arms around me and was encouraging me as well. “I organized the ball tonight and gathered you here because I have a plan that will, in the long run, bring humans and moths together and head them toward a peaceful future. I thank you all for not taking this opportunity I have given you to run away…”

A young mothwoman yelled, “I wanted to run, but my mother would not allow it until we heard what you had to say! Give us one reason why we shouldn’t?”

I said determinedly, “I can give you several. For one, your wings are still bound—the keys to the locks to unbind them are in the castle—so unless you want to live life without wings, you have to stay. For two, moths have nowhere to run. We are a dwindling population now, and even if you tried to make a society again away from humans, they could easily find you again and enslave you—perhaps even kill you. For three, if you don’t think that the knights couldn’t easily recapture you once you all run away, you’re wrong. They have horses and weapons, and many of you may die. It is of interest for you all to listen to me.”

The young mothwoman was put in her place, and she crossed her arms looking quite indignant. Her mother who stood next to her asked, “what do you suppose we do then? I thought you brought us out here with some grand plan for escaping?”

“I did. But…” I took a deep breath. “It will require strength, perseverance, and most of all, kindness on your part.”

I had their attention. They all looked at me intently and waited for my solution.

Human scripture was such a wonderful thing… It always suggested to kill your enemies with kindness, and that was what I was going to propose.

“First of all, I want you all to know that I am entirely on your side. And, I am also on the side of the humans.” I announced, and the crowd immediately dissented loudly and cursed me out. I prayed that nobody in the castle would hear us.

Firmly, I took Terry’s hand and held it high above my head in my own hand as I yelled above the din of noise, “this boy is my best friend in the world, and he’s a human. I thought of killing myself several times after being locked in a cage for several years and then forcibly being married to a human, but this boy… He promised me he’d be there for me and convinced me to live. No moth did that for me. Everyone, moth and human alike hated me, but Terry showed me kindness. He’s been there for me since we met.”

Terry looked at me, touched and surprised, and wiped a tear from his blue eyes.

The moths settled down again, and it appeared I had gotten through to them. One announced, however, “then you prefer humans to us? Why should we listen to you at all?”

“I do not prefer humans to moths, nor moths to humans! I love them all!” I cried. “That’s why I want to bring them together. You must listen to me. It’s going to be a long road, but what I need for you all to do, is, once I am done speaking with you tonight, go back to your humans and pretend like this never happened. The only difference will be in your demeanor. You need to love your humans. You need to get to know them, understand them, and befriend them. You need to make the humans so close to you that they consider you family. They will begin to treat you better, and, in a year, I promise you all that I will ask my husband to free you, and he and every human in Nui will agree to it because they will begin to see you as friends instead of beasts.”

There was whispering among the crowd. Some of them liked the idea, and some of them hated it.

I continued. “Nui can be an example for the other kingdoms, and maybe other moths will be freed soon after. Wouldn’t it be nice to have peace?”

Meridi spoke up. “What choice do we have? The humans far outnumber us now. Our only way out is to befriend them.”

There was a long moment of silence.

My heart was warmed when the first old mothman who had criticized my curtsy did a vut—in which a male moth respectfully plants the two arms of his right side on his hip, and the other two arms gently wade downwards in the air—and then all the rest of the crowd followed after him.

“What choice do we have?” I heard many of them mutter.

“Besides, she is sweet and genuine. She would not lie.” I heard many others concur.

I let the moment sink in and I sighed.

I was beaming. We had gotten hem to agree. I had earned their respect. I had accomplished something great. I felt so proud.

I looked up at the sky tearfully. Are you proud, Mother and Daddy?

To show I trusted them, I told them everything that had happened to me since I had been captured—including the lustful god—and Meridi chimed in and told them of the upcoming war she learned of in her dream. I told them of the black eyes and asked if anyone saw them like I did, but they said they didn’t. I tried to tell them how to help anyone who they suspected had a dove in their head, but it didn’t make a lot of sense to them.

“You have to understand them completely; you have to show them you understand them and soothe the bird out.” I tried to explain.

After that, all the moth slaves dutifully filed back into the city and continued their lives as slaves. But now they were slaves who would slay their owners with kindness—slaves who would help me in befriending the humans—and slaves who each pledged their loyalty to me.

I went back to the ball after an hour passed. Paris was overjoyed to see me again and drew me into his arms. He glanced at Terry who had faked more convincing tears and he chuckled. “I don’t understand why no girl will dance with him. He’s very handsome for a boy his age.”

“Not as handsome as you, my darling!” I grinned cheerfully and kissed him aggressively.

As I danced with Paris, I looked at Terry in pride—a boy who previously had a reputation of kissing girls without their permission—and saw him kindly bow to a pretty girl his age and then gracefully, the chubby peasant girl, wearing the most expensive thing she owned—unfortunately, a rag—eagerly accepted his invitation for a dance and he treated her the way a gentleman should treat a lady, gently and with affection--despite stepping on her toes. He had to let her lead after awhile. He had come so far.

I am so happy tonight, my diary! There are so few things standing in my way now! The biggest thing is Paris himself.

I looked at his gloved hands sadly. I needed that piece of information from him that would allow me to understand him. For now, I lifted his hands and kissed his wrists through his gloves. He looked sick with love as he always did and pulled me close.

“You make me want to live.” He whispered to me.

I will write again later.