Colton tried to rub the pain away from his sore green leg. He knew it would be to no avail; it was sore from too much exercise the prior day. He wasn’t sure what he was doing, playing along with Prince Donn’s weird training regiment; he wanted to become a better fighter, not buff. Their—his and the rest of the Fiona Fan Clubs members—schedule did include some combat training exercises, but it also included many hours in the Prince's private gym lifting weights.

He turned to Sinatra, who was rubbing a sore spot on his arm.

“Do you think we are seeing any benefits from this?” Colton asked bluntly.

The Ruby Red soldier jumped slightly and looked around the room as if someone important might hear before leaning close.

“Be careful; you don’t sound like you are as enthusiastic a member of the Fiona Fan Club. Siegfried and Simion might come to steal your spot as vice president.”

“I’m not an enthusiastic member! They can have it!”

Sinatra did not get a chance to reply, as the door to the room soon opened, and none other than Fiona herself strolled in.

“And this is–” she was saying to some guests beyond the doorframe but was cut off as Sinatra shouted:

“Lady Fiona!”

From across the room, the other fan club members, Siegfried and Simion, let their weights make a loud thud on the floor. Before Colton could blink, all three surrounded the blue princess like a pack of begging dogs, shouting a series of incomprehensible questions and comments for the blue princess to reply to.

“Hold on, you three, we have guests!” the trio hushed up, and Rheba, lowering her head to make it under the doorway, slid into the room. Two other large Bentulousian warriors the green Aqueenian soldier did not recognize followed after.

“It smells like sweat in here!” one with golden fur cried as she covered her nose with her hands. Colton couldn’t help but notice all three had Needaimus bonded to their limbs—he was pretty sure for warriors in their culture, having one was considered a status symbol. Clearly, all three were trouble if they were visiting.

Clearing his throat and crossing the room. He not so gently shoved the fan club away from Fiona. Leaning close, he whispered.

“Is there something going on?”

Fiona replied in an equally hushed and slightly worried voice, “I don’t know. Is there something I forgot I was supposed to be doing?”

“No, the,” Colton pointed to the Bentulousian trio.

“We are here on orders from our leader,” Rheba said. Colton’s face flushed as he whispered back to Fiona.

“Is their hearing that good?”

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The golden-furred Bentulousian replied irritatedly, “Yes, it is.”

“Is he anyone of importance?” the black-furred one asked.

“Oh, Colton is; what is your rank, Colton?” Fiona asked.

“Captain of the castle guards… you were there at the recent promotion ceremony….”

“Oh, was that the one really early in the morning? I was still half asleep for most of it.”

“You’ve done well for yourself, warrior,” Rheba nodded. The fan club hit Colton on the back.

“Yeah, he’s been on fire lately!” Simeon shouted.

“But he better watching his back if he thinks he can hold onto that vice president role,” Siegfried added.

“I don’t want it; please take it from me!”

“You're not my fan anymore!” Fiona said in shock. Colton had thought she was joking, but her face seemed to suggest she might have been hurt—or joking about being hurt—by his comment.

Colton shook his head and stared at the ceiling. Life was evidently full of surprises; he would never have thought to be the only sensible one in the whole castle. He wishes he had settled for a quieter career.

After a moment of pointless chatter from the others, the green captain finally said, “Is there a reason you brought them here?”

“Oh, right! This is one of the training rooms my brother set up for extreme training. I don’t understand most of it, but he says it’s good. These four….uh… gentlemen are learning directly under him!”

The black-furred warrior crossed the room and easily lifted a heavy weight.

“This is hardly anything,” she said in shock.

“Kerra, save your comments,” Rheba barked. The warrior put the weight down and silently shuffled back over to Rheba.

“Well,” Fiona began, clapping her hands, “That’s all the training stuff. What would you like to see next?”

Rheba looked past everyone to the wall and scratched on her Needaimus bonded arm. The ears on her head twitched before she looked down at Fiona.

“We should see the barracks next, but if it is on the way, I’d like to check on Gwyn if we can; you said he wasn’t doing well?”

Colton shook his head, “Not well, doesn’t begin to describe it.”

Fiona hesitated a moment but finally nodded as she noticed all the eyes on her.

“Alright, let’s go then!” Her words sounded forced.

***

Fiona kept a friendly banter up as Rheba walked beside her. She knew Gwyn would be a sorry sight to see, if they even saw him at all, and wanted to keep up some positivity. The blue princess figured she was the only one who should have to feel sad about it. The tall warrior’s two protégés followed close behind, occasionally contributing the occasional comment, and the Fiona fan club followed several paces behind—off in their own world as the founding trio pestered Colton.

“And then I slipped on the tablecloth!” Fiona said as she recounted the night of the banquet. Rheba’s normally upright ears hung low, but otherwise, the princess detected no difference in the tall warrior as she told her tale.

“Fiona, with all due respect,” Rheba started as Fiona began complaining about Bite. She stopped suddenly as a green servant sprinted into view. The right half of his clothes were gone, with some liquid matching the color of his uniform dripping from the intact half.

The man stopped suddenly when he saw Fiona and spoke as fast as he could through heavy breaths.

“Princess… Nonpareil… he….” Fiona didn’t reply and vanished in a flash of light. The surprise might have made the exhausted servant fall to the ground, but she didn’t care. She was standing before Gwyn’s door in seconds—or what was left of it.

The door and surrounding wall looked like it had been melted through, and a trail of deformed floor zigzagged down the hall with the occasional indent in the wall on the most intense points.

Fiona teleported to the end of the trail where the path melted through another wall—going through a series of walls until exiting to a view of Quenth’s skyline. The blue princess zapped to the edge and scanned the ground below frantically. They were several stories up.

The deformed area seemed to shape into a splash on the ground below, then carved a path to the moat around the castle.

“Fiona!” Rheba barked from the first melted wall. The blue princess turned around and shook her head. Gwyn had vanished.