It was late when she finally fell into slumber. At least, she thought so. Time had been a little weird for an hour (or lack thereof).

The pocketwatch mirror thingy that Jjorreqe had wanted puzzled Gale. It looked to at least be of some value, then again it was perceived by Jjorreqe to have some other and greater power.

Also, when she had returned to the palace around seventeenth chime Tiger and Truth and Courage were nowhere to befound.

“Mi’lady,” She said to the Matriarch. “Where are Truth and Tiger?”

“I saw them go and explore this palace. I should’ve known they would eventually.”

“Do you not want them to see it?” Gale had asked.

“True.”

That was all the Matriarch had said. She was definitely hiding something.

But that was not a matter that needed tending to this moment. Right now Gale needed to rest. Rest came with quite a lot of reluctance and it was another hour until she finally fell asleep.

She dreamt of her family that she had left behind in the kingdom on Byon. She had said she was going to Phyrries for her last two years of high-school. But in reality she was a drop out. She needed to get away from her family and start anew in a different place.

Don’t get me wrong, she loved her family. But her town had planned her life out and betrothed her to this guy that had questionable associations with some guilds. And he would likely force her to mostly stay at home and do dishes. Gale did not want that. She wanted to live her own life and not be held back by traditions that seemed to have no roots in logic.

She also dreamt of the one time she had brought a little, hurt fox home.

It was the end of a school day and Gale was taking the long way home. This meant she walked by the scenic woods. As she wended her way, she heard some sound that sounded like a cry. She went to find its source and a young fox with a nasty bit on its left hind leg revealed itself to her.

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The fox was lying against a rock. When he saw Gale, he tried to get up and run. But he made it only a step before falling over.

Gale tenderly stuck out a talon for the fox to sniff. The fox did so. He did not back away nor did he except. Gale took that as a good sign and carefully scooped up the small animal. That elicited several squaks, sorta, from the fox. Gale, with her arms full took flight to get the rest of the way home.

As she flew, this jerk kid who Gale called Donky-Boy (for obvious reasons) flew to her. “what ‘s that you got there,” he said mockingly. “Oh, is that your friend? Or just a little thing to hug to get rid of your misery?”

“Ugh,” Gale said “You have no sense of dignity, do you. With that comment you have lowered yourself to the dignity of a pig.” She then flew ahead leaving Donky-Boy with that burn.

But the what he had said stung. She really had trouble making friends and one of her two siblings absolutely hated her. Her sister purposefully put on Gale’s least favorite shows and made obnoxious sound right in her ears.

When Gale finally got home, her parents were understandably shocked to find that she had a fox in her arms.

“Why doyou have a fox? “her father asked.

Gale explained what happened and they agreed to at least treat it for the night. The next morning it was found dead in their backyard. Gale suspected it was her older sister. But did not want to bring false accusations to her sister. That morning, she cried. Her younger brother and parents comforted her while her sister sulked in the corner

She woke up the next morning with the sun in her eyes and a note on the desk she had in her room.

Her room was quite elaborate and had intricate carvings in the wooden walls. There were tapestries of the forest, dessert, and many other landscapes. And the table was made of a wood painted a dark greyish-blue.

She looked at the note that sat on there and after thinking if this was some kind of joke, opened it.

Gale Storm-Bringer, the note read I the Matriarch would like to speak to you and Courage after breakfast in my office. We will discuss the recent goings-on and how to handle small trinkets that lie around that do more than look nice. We will meet at tenth chime today.

-The Matriarch

So, it seemed that the Matriarch knew of her theft. But then why was Courage (the orange dragon?) called as well? This would be a good time to get many bite of information on things. Perhaps blackmail would help.

So Gale went to get some breakfast and went back upstairs to find something incriminating or embarrassing about the Matriarch. This was gonna be fun.