Fiona appeared outside one of the castle's windows in a flash of red light. She was a story high over the main drawbridge that connected the castle to the rest of the city. As she fell near the ground, the princess started a flip that turned into a somersault which broke her fall. From her roll, she stood back up and started to sprint into Quenth.

"Lady Fiona!" Some guards yelled as they pushed the window open. She ignored them as she ran. "Just don't get into any trouble!" the guards added, having thoroughly given up on the chase. They began to walk back into the castle with their heads slumped.

Fiona did not hear what the guards yelled at the end and kept running. The bridge she ran across was the largest in Quenth. It had large swirling pillars that decorated the ends but still looked typical of any other bridge. It would split apart in the center, and both halves would retract to their respective sides. The feature would connect the castle, which was alone in the center of one of the waterways. The bridge in time had become known as Lover's bridge. The name started due to many relationships coming together at the spot, but later the name became satirical when relationships breaking apart became the norm.

Fiona did not stop her sprint as she reached the end of Lover's bridge. She instead locked onto a building and disappeared in a blue flash, only to reappear on the building's top. She similarly teleported across several buildings, and the castle was far behind her in no time at all.

When she felt she had gotten far enough away, Fiona finally stopped and sat down at the top of the building that she currently stood on. Her feet dangled over the edge as she looked down at the busy city. All the while, she worked to steady her breath that was short after the sprint away from the castle.

You're overtaxing yourself, be mindful of how your abilities drain your stamina, Sun warned, but Fiona ignored its comments as she put a hand over her eyes, like a visor, and looked all around the city.

Her eyes eventually locked on an odd pair of a Netzian and Hobusian walking through the city. She pulled out her spyglass and aimed it at the duo, only to drop it when she realized who they were. In hindsight, Fiona figured she should have expected as much. She barely caught the spyglass before it fell off the building on the street below.

"What are those two doing in the city," Fiona asked herself as she aimed the spyglass back at the duo.

You can ask them. Sun chimed in.

Fiona hummed to herself as she thought about it. In the end, she realized she was overthinking and let it slide with a shrug. She easily locked in on the duo and appeared behind them in a blue flash.

"Odell!" She said happily to great the Hobusian in front of her. He jumped slightly at the sound of his name but turned around with Gwyn to great the Aqueenian princess.

"Ah, Princess Fiona... what brings you out here?" Odell asked.

"Chased out of the castle again, what about you?"

"Ran away from Cecilia again."

"I think she would chill out a little if you married her already," Fiona commented in a laughing tone.

"She has a point," Gwyn added as he jumped into the conversation, "At the very least, please leave me out of future chases."

Odell frowned as he tried to formulate a response. Fiona looked away from Gwyn. She hadn't given him much of a thought since the coliseum. Now she wasn't sure what to say to him.

While everyone tried to think of the next thing to say, Mem popped off Gwyn's right arm and rested on his shoulder.

"You're that Aqueenian that tried to help us escape!" it yelled out. Several Aqueenians passing by turned to see the Needaimus yelling then began to whisper among themselves as they continued walking.

Fiona's mouth was agape, and Odell was pulled out of his thoughts at the shock.

Gwyn was staring at his right hand and slowly opening and closing it while Mem spoke.

"I never saw you come to the room while Gwyn was asleep!" Mem continued.

"Gwyn shut it up!" Odell said in a not-so-hushed whisper.

Gwyn only answered the Hobusian with a look of confusion.

"Wha?" he asked.

"It's taboo for a Needaimus to talk to other people than their partner!" Odell explained.

Odell looked at the mechanical-shaped dragon on his shoulder; Mem looked back at him.

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"What can I say? I like to talk!" Mem said with what looked like a shrug.

"Fair enough." Gwyn just shrugged; he didn't see any issue with it.

Odell and Fiona exchanged a glance and sighed in unison.

At the same time, the Needaimus on Fiona's arm and Odell's arm both popped off. Each jumped off their partner so they could deliver a blow to Mem's head. They smacked the draconic Needaimus and gracefully landed on the ground without making a sound. Mem was not so lucky as it fell off Gwyn's shoulder and hit the ground with a solid thud.

Fiona's Needaimus was called Impression Sunrise. It was yellow. When detached from her arm resembled something with the body of a bull and the head of a snake.

Odell's Needaimus was called Calaba Jester. It was green. When detached from his arm resembled a dog with large, round legs and a small head. The snout barred large saber-tooth fangs.

Both Needaimus jumped high in the air to connect with their respective partner's arms. Mem followed suit without any protest. After a moment of silence from the trio, Gwyn finally spoke up.

"Well, let's not wait any longer. We should go see some history!"

"Is that what you were doing here?" Fiona asked.

"What else would we go to a museum to do?" Odell asked.

Fiona shrugged off Odell's comments.

"All right then, well then have a good time, I suppose," she turned away and began to walk away.

"Wait, why don't you join us!" Gwyn yelled from the top of the museum's stairs; the other two had remained at the bottom. Fiona looked around as she tried to think of an excuse to decline.

"Why not? I'm sure they haven't given you anything to do for conference preparation," Odell added.

Fiona sighed and nodded in agreement. She joined Odell in the ascent up the stairs.

Gwyn was eager as they entered the museum. It was so much of a personality switch that it surprised both Fiona and Odell. As soon as they paid for entry, Gwyn ran forward and began to examine the first piece of architecture on display. He was like a kid in a toy store as he gleefully inspected the artifact.

The museum shape resembled that of a giant circle. The people entering would first head to the right, where the exhibits of early Aqueenian culture were on display. As visitors went around the circle, they would travel through Aqueenian history until they reached the modern-day.

Fiona had no interest in the museum; she had gone through several times more than needed in her lifetime. It was common practice for every Aqueenian school within Quenth to visit the spot once a year, and the royal education was no exception.

Odell also had no interest in the museum, though for different reasons. However, since he had dragged Gwyn along with what he wanted to do, he avoided complaining.

Gwyn was already far ahead of the other two. His enthusiasm overwhelmed his companions, the museum staff, and many visiting school children who stood in the hallway with him. They all gave him odd looks as he closely examined a set of armor and series of tools from the early days.

When finished examining the armor, he took several half steps to his right to look at the following exhibit. Then, he took another half step to view the display after.

"We're going to be here forever," Fiona groaned only quietly enough for herself to hear it. She ignored the chuckles from Sun that echoed only in her head.

Gwyn was several exhibits down the way when Odell and Fiona made their way over to him. He was staring at a large tapestry. With his good arm, bonded to Mem, he pointed and traced some of the wavy lines on it.

"Hey, Fiona, what's this tapestry depicting?" Gwyn asked.

Fiona turned to the tapestry. It depicted a famous battle in the past, though she could hardly remember the name.

"Um, it's an old battle, when the Aqueenians and Hobusians first went to war sometime in the past...."

"Hmm, interesting!" Gwyn concluded. He looked to Fiona as he prepared a slew of questions about the war, but once he noticed that she appeared to be already racking her brain for more information, he decided to move on.

Gwyn examined a couple more exhibits while the other two followed behind him. Odell yawned, and Fiona looked like she was still struggling to recall what she had failed to listen to while in history classes.

They walked through the years of history around the museum. Most depictions seemed to show the Aqueenian development of Quenth and wars with the Hobusians. It wasn't until Gwyn walked into the next marked area when he saw something different.

There was a diorama set out in the middle of a large open space. The events on display were of an apparent significant battle, and a placard on the side displayed with the words 'Battle of Old Quenth' written on them. It gave a brief description of the side of the events.

Gwyn read the card then peered over to take a close look at the battle.

"What's all this? He asked while pointing to some of the miniatures." Fiona looked closely at the miniatures. The battle was famous for starting the first world war on Resh and notably involved every group on the planet at the time. Gwyn was unfamiliar with two groups, and he had chosen to point at two miniatures of species he had not seen who were locked in a deadly dual.

"Bentulousians and Zenototes, they were involved in this battle as well," she explained.

"How many species are on this planet," Gwyn wondered aloud. It was mainly to himself as he rubbed his chin as he spoke. He looked closely at the miniatures to try to make out the details molded into them. All he could make out was one appeared to have scales, and the other appeared to be covered in fur.

Fiona went into deep thought as she tried to come up with an educated guess for the number of creatures that inhabited Resh.

"Hobusians, Aqueenians, Zenototes, and Bentulousians are the four native speaking species to the world. Then the Netzians came afterward," Odell explained.

"Wait, there's more than that, though... I'd say maybe a million or so if I had to guess...."

"If you count all the plants, animals, and bugs, yes maybe, but I think he was wondering about ones that can speak."

"That was meant to be rhetorical, but thanks...." Gwyn said. The other two looked equally shocked. "Sorry," Gwyn added as he rubbed the back of his head and looked down the way. "Hey, is that a place to buy food! Let's go; I'm starving!"

Gwyn waved for the other two to follow him as he charged ahead.

"Hey, wait, you shouldn't run in the museum!" Fiona yelled to him as she chased after.

"You're running as well!" Odell pointed out as he ran behind her.

The trio continued on their way until a museum staff member finally shouted at them

"Stop running!"

They came to an abrupt halt and walked the rest of the way.