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Becoming Queen

Chapter 1: The Call

By Draconicon

'Proper behavior' was a concept that no less than a dozen teachers, four bodyguards, eight noble relations, three parents, and two monarchs had attempted to teach Jina, or as she was known back in her home country, the Princess Jina Sukhon. Again and again, her family had lectured her on proper behavior, of giving the right impression of the Sukhon line, of being a good representative of her family and home country of Min. A princess was to abstain from the great vices, or if she must indulge, to do so in private and without risk of ruining herself.

Needless to say, those lessons hadn't landed.

"Another!" Jina said, her head wobbling about her shoulders as she held out the emblematic red solo cup that was synonymous with debauchery and pleasure in this country. "Another for the princess. On my tab."

"Your tab's running dry, princess, a lot like these bottles," the bartender she'd summoned to the penthouse said. "Shall I open another?"

"Why not?! As much as we need, right?"

A cheer rose from everyone around her. She laughed as another mix was poured for her. Vodka and something else, she was sure. Someone else carried it from the makeshift bar at the table in the middle of her penthouse. Her vision was a bit blurry from how much she'd already had, but she was pretty sure that she could make out a pretty hot stallion offering it with a bow that was far from professional. She took it anyway, swigging it back and barely caring that he took the opportunity to spread her legs and look under her skirt.

Heh, why would that bother her? She'd been dancing with it half-off anyway, and she'd lost her panties an hour or two back.

"Hic!"

The sudden hiccup almost brought half a stomach's worth of booze back up, and it did make her insides clench down enough to make something slimy bubble up from her depths, running back out of her pussy. The stallion chuckled, patting her sex a few times and rubbing it in.

"Heh, you sure you're a princess, lady?" he asked. "I thought they were all lady-like and shit."

"A princess can do what she wants," she said, her voice better than her vision. "And besides, I got the cash for it. You really care if you got free drinks and free holes?"

"Depends on how tight the hole is, heh. I bet I can get my fist in - a-ah!"

He gasped as she clenched down on him, a self-satisfied smirk crossing her face as she tossed back the rest of her cup. Drunk she might have been, and already-fucked, too, but she'd be damned if someone was going to call her loose. The princess of Min, loose. Ha. As if that would ever happen.

Eventually, she let the stallion's finger go, but apparently, she was a little too intimidating. He took a step back and went for another drink, and she was left to her own devices again. Jina could have gone for another drink, but considering how the room was spinning - but only slowly - she figured it'd be a better idea to wait a bit. Just enough to keep from blacking herself out and tempting people to get the fur-pens out again.

That'd been a hot morning, but it was a pain to wash it all off.

Even through the fish-eye vision that she was starting to get after...well, probably way too many bottles and a few lines of something that she'd need to identify later, the red panda could still make out most of what was happening around her. Bunch of college students, construction workers, and other rough-types that she'd invited to the party. Men, women, didn't really matter. She'd gone down on three, gotten fucked by one, and had gotten her ass sucked on by a badger woman too high to remember her own name, but holy hell that had been some amazing tongue-work.

Half of them were drinking, the other half were working up the nerve to get to some fucking. The couches, the walls, the floors, they were all stained with something, whether it was drink or drugs or whatever someone happened to spill from cock or cunt. She, however, was on the verge of spilling something worse, and she wasn't nearly inebriated enough not to care about that. Jina threw herself to her feet, wobbled forward until she caught herself on the bar-table, and got an arched eyebrow for her trouble.

"I think it's time for you to stop, ma'am," the rabbit bartender said.

"Heh, probably, but I'll be back in an hour. You just keep some...yeah, you keep some bottles for me. Bathroom." She paused, then pointed to the left. "That way?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Still got it."

The princess stood up, wobbled until she found her balance, and then walked down the short hall and around the corner to the bathroom. She passed the stallion that she had scared off with her super-pussy - a thought that made her snort with a soft giggle as she walked by - and his new lady of the night, as well as a rat that was puking into a trash can. Neither held her attention enough to make her stop on the way to the bathroom.

Shutting the door behind her, she pulled her dress up around her waist, not bothering to be lady-like about it as she sat on the toilet. The little rush of relief that followed, the tinkle-tinkle into the water, was enough to make her sigh happily to herself.

"Hehe...better...ahhh..."

Oh, she was drunk, alright. Really drunk if she was talking like that and giggling. Shaking her head, she rubbed her cheeks a few times and tried to snap herself out of it. Not really working with this level of drunk, unfortunately.

Squelch, squish. A bit of cum oozed out with everything else that was coming free, and she groaned as she felt it squelching from both holes. Definitely something that she'd need to clean up later. And probably take the dress for dry cleaning after all of this.

Eventually, it was all done, and she was able to stand up. Walking to the sink, she deliberately turned the water as cold as she could, and then shoved her face under it.

"NNNNGH!"

It was a sharp shock to the system, which was just what she needed at that moment. She gasped as she yanked her head back again, coughing as she stared at herself in the mirror. It hadn't been enough to fix things, but it had been enough to shock her from the depths of her inebriated state.

Coughing a few more times as she caught her breath, she pulled herself upright to look in the mirror. The cold water jolt had been enough to shift some of the fish-eye vision, and she had a better look at what she'd done to herself over the time at the party.

Like most of her species, she didn't have the extra fur that ran long in imitation of horse manes or other species that had 'hair' as well as fur. Instead, she had a well-groomed coat of orange, brown, and white fur, one that was currently rather matted down from the water she'd soaked herself with and the raw sweat that had come through while she was getting high on something or other.

Or maybe that was a result of the last time that she got fucked. Couldn't really tell. At any rate, it was caked on, and that meant that she'd stopped sweating a while back.

She flicked her tail a few times, the long, fluffy thing sweeping from side to side as she patted her cheeks. Her dress, a blue-gold thing that barely came down to mid-thigh and did nothing to present something modest, was pulled down under one breast, and she hadn't even realized it. Jina shook her head, pulling it back up, and reached up to adjust her breasts until they fit properly in her dress again.

Well...at least I didn't come in without clothes this time. That's something.

Realizing that the buzz was fading, she sighed, leaning against the counter and looking at herself properly. She tilted her head to one side, then the other, checking her eyes for any sort of bloodshot marks, seeing if there was anything that looked potentially incriminating. Not seeing anything bad, she huffed a breath into her hand and smelled it, seeing if there was anything that might have given away what sort of substance she'd taken in tonight.

Nothing but alcohol there. She sighed. Well, the bodyguards would probably take a hair and piss test later, and she'd figure it out then. She was still standing and she wasn't having any heart issues, so it couldn't have been anything serious. No hallucinations, either, so that was all for the better.

Knock, knock.

The red panda turned from the mirror, giving her small breasts one more adjustment in the dress before opening the door. The rabbit bartender was waiting for her, a phone in hand.

"Princess, you might want to take this."

"Who is it?" she asked.

"It's a call from home."

"This is home."

"It's from your, um, other home."

Jina cocked her head to the side, stepping out of the bathroom and taking the phone. She put it to her ear, shuffling her bare feet through the penthouse from the bathroom to the bedroom. The various party-goers waved at her as she passed, but she gestured for them to wait a moment. If the palace was calling, then she needed to take it. Much as she'd prefer to be left alone to have her fun, if it was something about some scandal or another cutting her funds, or leaving her at the mercy of some new restriction, she needed to know.

Shutting the door behind her, she sat on the edge of a king-sized mattress, crossing her legs at the knee and pressing the phone to her ears again. They flicked slightly in irritation, something that she hoped that they couldn't hear on the other end.

"This is Princess Jina Sukhon. You may speak."

"Please confirm."

She sighed. "Confirmation code RFP-012."

"Acknowledged." There was a low sigh on the other end of the line. "Princess Jina, you are officially summoned to the capital as fast as possible."

"...Okay, who did I piss off this time?" she asked, trying to go through her recent history, wondering what she'd done to step out of line this time. "Was it the Hand, or -"

"The King, Queen, and heir are dead. All branch members of the royal family are summoned home at this point."

"..."

"A seat has been secured for you on a plane leaving tomorrow morning. Your bodyguards will have the details. We will see you soon, Princess."

Click.

Just like that, the call ended, and Jina was left staring at the cell phone in silence. Her hand shook slightly, but not as much as one would expect upon hearing of the deaths of one's aunt, uncle, and cousin.

Oh. There it was. Thinking about it that way, rather than as the distant rulers that they were, that brought the shakes. The phone was on the verge of slipping through her fingers anyway, and she let it happen, the red panda leaning forward, her breath wheezing through her teeth as she huffed and puffed through the emotional gut punch.

The princess knew that they couldn't have said more over the phone, not without assurance that it was a clean line and that nobody was listening in, but the lack of any other details cut keenly. She slumped further down, her head in her hands, her stomach rebelling against her. Like a good princess, she stomped down on that uprising, but it still rumbled just out of sight.

Dead.

She'd almost forgotten the sheer power of words like that, applied the right way. She'd been away for almost a year this time, almost a whole circling of the sun from home. Her memories of the royal trio had been fading bit by bit, drowned by the alcohol and the drugs and everything else that she had been shoving into her system, but she still remembered a blurry picture of them.

Red pandas, all. The line of Sukhon never deviated from that. The king in his late forties, his wife scarcely a handful of years younger. Strong people, powerful people in the kingdom, trusted by the commons, disliked by the nobility, endured by the rich. The heir, a potential bridge in his twenties, building new links.

And now, they were all gone.

All.

Gone.

The uprising in her stomach threatened to break her hold, and the princess forced herself to her feet, stumbling to the bedroom door and throwing it open. She wobbled through a room that felt quieter than it should with the rumbling speakers in the corner, making her way to the bartender again. He took the phone from her as she handed it over.

"Need anything?" he asked.

"Something."

"Anything specific?"

"Whatever won't kill me and won't make me stupid in the morning."

"...That'll need a needle."

"I'll take it."

#

The next morning required a blindfold and an ice-pack, neither for security, both for comfort. Jina had to be led down to the royal limo, helped into the back seat, and then strapped in, and the red panda groaned throughout the entire process. Her head felt like it was trying to roll off her shoulders, and every bump that they hit on the road made her sure that it was going to be the one that'd mercifully decapitate her from the after-effects of the party.

"Mmmph..."

"What did we learn, princess?" Klahan, the head of her bodyguards, asked.

"Finish the party before midnight," she muttered, starting to lean back only to think better of it. "At least that way I have more time to sleep it off."

"You shouldn't be doing this in the first place."

"Yeah, well, that's your opinion."

"It is the opinion of the Royal Council, and of the chief advisors, and, formerly, of the King and Queen themselves. You could at least honor the opinion of the dead."

"...They're not here to judge," she muttered, taking a deep breath. At least this time, it didn't twist her stomach to take that breath. "Did the palace get in touch with you, too?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"How did they die?"

"A car bomb." She must have reacted more visibly than she thought, because he continued. "There's no danger here, Your Highness. We already checked this one, and then did so again."

"Good...good..."

For a moment, she'd had a horrible premonition of being the next one to die. The idea of following her aunt, uncle, and cousin to an early grave had very nearly kicked the hangover out of her system, something that she rather imagined had been the entire point behind not immediately telling her that the car had been checked.

She uncovered her eyes, fixing the crocodile across from her in the back of the limo with a flat stare.

"You, Klahan, are an asshole."

"Such language is still unbecoming of a princess."

"Well, good thing that it's just the two of us, isn't it?"

Shaking her head, she leaned back, but made sure to keep her head straight. Every bump rattled her around that little bit more, and she didn't need to feel like it was going to rip right off. To distract herself, she glanced at her bodyguard again, seeing if she could guess where he was keeping all of his weapons today.

Being a crocodile, Klahan wasn't a sort of species that most interacted with daily. He had a long face, one that, if he bent forward, would have his nostrils reaching near to his belly. No ears, but rather ear-holes, and his eyes were fitted with black hoods that wrapped around the little ridges that protected them, serving like sunglasses. Rather than the fancy suit that some bodyguards tended to wear, he kept himself dressed to fit the locale. Considering they were in the West, that meant that he was wearing a t-shirt today, a muscle shirt that showed off his arms and had wide holes for his shoulders, as well as a pair of ripped jeans and a pair of expensive sneakers.

She immediately spotted the one-shot pen-gun in his front pocket, as well as the short-range taser that was built into his belt-buckle. The princess wasn't entirely sure if the gold chain around his neck could have been used for a garotte, but she figured that he could improvise if it wasn't directly designed for it. The belt itself, probably relatively harmless, though she wouldn't be surprised if there were spikes on the inner lining made of sharpened rubber or something like that.

As he shifted position, she noted the hidden 'weapon' of a half-present bulge, and she chuckled.

"Thinking of something interesting, Klahan?"

"Don't start this, princess," he said, looking out the window. "The royal family is dead. If anything should shut your libido up for two minutes, couldn't that?"

"On the contrary. It's one of the best distractions."

"Well, you're just going to have to live with this one, Your Highness. I'm not playing along this time."

Jina rolled her eyes, the red panda feeling some of the headache leaving as the limo turned in towards the airport. Sighing, she glanced down to see how she'd been dressed while they were checking out of the hotel.

Nothing outstanding, nothing poor. Quality green silk, dark and snake-like with shimmer bits, ran down from her shoulders to her heels. Black shoes, long sleeves, a few pieces of jewelry to make her look like she was quality without actually going so far as to make her look rich and unique. Her tail - yes, she had thought that there was something there. A gold band around the base and one around the middle, someone foreign, but not someone dangerously so. Exotic, beautiful, but not from a threatening country.

She would have asked if it was a little much, but with what had already happened, the question died on her lips.

"Any guards on the plane besides you?" she asked.

"Not today, Your Highness."

"Good. Then I can enjoy myself."

"Your Highness - Jina. Just for once...think of the state of things. Please."

"Why do you think I want to have fun?" she asked, crossing one leg over the other. "That's the last thing I want to think about."

The crocodile didn't have anything to say to that, unsurprisingly. She shook her head, looking out the window as they drove up to the airport. The limo pulled through a series of different lanes, avoiding the priority lines and going through the standard drop-off line. By the time that it pulled in to park, she had recovered enough to be able to sit up and walk on her own, though she still had more of a wobble than she'd like.

Klahan was waiting with the suitcases by the time that she'd dragged herself from the car, and she shook her head as she took her own carry-on from him.

"I'm not helpless."

"You are, however, impaired."

"Only for the next hour."

"Then for the next hour, you will be taken care of."

"Then you can -"

"Not like that."

"...You're right. Not like that."

The look on Klahan's face when she agreed was almost worth the lack of fun and distractions. She smiled, walking around him into the main terminal, her eyes flicking over the different airline desks. They were flying on a lesser-known name, one of the few that actually went to her country, and it was at the far end of the main terminal.

...Why did they have to put me in high heels? she wondered as she started hoofing it. Do they just make me miserable because I make them - well, that'd make sense, actually.

#

They had their boarding passes and they went through security with ease, or rather, she did. Of course - as Jina could have warned him - Klahan's weapons set off a small warning at the security area, and the crocodile was briefly detained. She waved at him as she grabbed her suitcases on the other side of the checkpoint, fluttering her passport and her boarding passes at him, and started making her way through the airport. Barefoot, of course. The high heels had been murder.

She hummed to herself as she walked through the crowd, her head clearer than it had been at any point during the last twenty-four hours. She rolled her head along her shoulders, a motion used to disguise the way that she was keeping an eye all around her, both for shops and anyone that might be following her.

Party girl or not, Jina had still been trained by the Master at Arms in the palace, and that meant knowing what was going on around her at all times. She knew the difference between someone being interested in her for her body and someone that was interested in her for something else.

So far, nobody fit the second category, but she could see a guy that fit somewhere between the two. An elephant was making his way from one of the waiting areas towards her, and she shook her head. Someone that wanted to get it on would have been fun earlier that morning, but here in the airport?

Fun as tacky sex in a bathroom stall could be, she didn't have time to waste. She'd have to put him off.

Ducking into one of the stores, she started idly going through the wall of gadgets on the far side. She kept to the expensive stuff, knowing that her attire marked her as someone exotic, someone with at least a little disposable income. The elephant followed her in, but he was clumsier about it, faking interest in some of the books on the other side of the store. He would pick one up, but then he'd break his cover by staring at her over the edge of it all the time, something that she could just make out without looking directly at him.

Sloppy...

Then again, she wasn't quite at the top of her game, either. She hadn't noticed him until he was already following her, and that was definitely something that Klahan would have berated her for. She'd have to do something to lose the trail for a bit, and something a bit less than violent. No need to miss their flight because of a fight.

She put on a slightly more helpless expression, letting some of the dumb confusion that she'd felt more than once while high flit across her face. Three, two, one -

"Can I help you, ma'am?"

And just like that, the wolf clerk from the second register was at her side. She smiled at him, putting the headphones she'd pulled off the wall back.

"Oh, if you could, I would really appreciate it."

"Sure, ma'am. Do you have any questions?"

"Well, actually, it's, um, something a bit more serious."

"What's wrong?"

"It's that elephant in the books, sir," she said, playing the weak, foreign woman that needed saving. The wolf was already puffing up, too, poor sap. "He's been following me ever since I came through security. I don't know what he wants. Could you talk to him?"

"Sure, ma'am. You just wait right here, and I'll sort this out for you."

"Thank you so much."

"Won't take a moment. You just keep looking for what you need. Just, um, one thing?"

"Yes?"

"Could you put your shoes back on? It is technically against the rules to have them off in stores."

"Oh. Oh. Thank you for telling me."

And for giving her yet another rule to break. She nodded, though, making a motion as if to put them back on. The wolf nodded in satisfaction, already heading back to the novel part of the store. As soon as he was completely facing the elephant, she started moving. The elephant stared after her, trying to see where she was going, but the store employee had already stopped him before he could follow her out.

And we're done.

Jina smiled, tail swaying slightly as she looked down at her ticket. The soft smack-smack that her feet made as she walked along was a little reminder of how she was breaking the rules, and she curled her toes with a small chuckle. One might have expected a member of a royal family to uphold the rules, but really, when you were above them, what were you supposed to do? What you were told?

Like that's ever going to happen, long-term.

Shaking her head, she rounded a corner and found herself in a food court. A quick glance at her watch confirmed that there was time for her to grab something, and she decided to treat herself to something good and beefy before heading home. She wouldn't be getting nearly as much of that once she was out of the country.

The red panda drew eyes as she walked through the food court, and due to her dress, they mostly went to the exposed part of her. Feeling eyes on her exposed soles and toes with a surprising amount of hunger behind them was a little new to her, but it was soon just as much a part of the fun as everything else that she had done away from home. If she couldn't show off her tits or her ass, then she'd take what she could get.

When she reached the front of the line, a mouse looked up at her from behind the register. His eyes flicked to the shoes she carried in one hand, then back to her face.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we enforce a strict no shoes, no service rule here."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware," she said, her smile barely hidden. "I do not plan to eat here, however. Just let me get something to go?"

"...Ma'am -"

Thump.

And just like that, the fun was over. Jina sighed, knowing the feel of that scaly hand on her shoulder, and she shook her head.

"You're getting more persuasive, Klahan," she said.

"You should have waited. Anyway, excuse me, sir. My cousin doesn't always understand the point of rules."

"No worries. Take care."

Letting herself get led away from the food counter, Jina rolled her eyes as soon as she had her back to the mouse. A pity that she couldn't try and flaunt things a little bit longer, but she supposed that it had only been a matter of time.

As they marched out of the food court, Klahan leaned in surreptitiously. His scaly hand was wrapped around hers once they were far enough away from the mouse to not spoil the 'cousin' story, looking like he was whispering sweet nothings to her. Well, she wished that was what it was, because the reality was quite a bit more disappointing.

"You need to stay close. I can't protect you if you're out of sight."

She sighed. "Yes, I know," she muttered. "You know me, though. Habit. And besides, I can take care of the little things on my own."

"A bomb taking out the royal family is not a little thing. If you aren't going to take care of yourself, then that means you force me to pick how to take care of you."

"...Huh. Loophole."

"What are you talking about?"

"If I want you to stop hemming me in, I have to choose how to take care of things my own way."

"That isn't -"

The crocodile's retort was cut short by the intercom calling all citizens flying to their mutual destination to the gate. She smiled, holding out her shoes before offering one bare foot to him.

"If you wouldn't mind?"

"...I don't know what you're planning, Your Highness, but please keep the shenanigans to a minimum until we get home."

"Klahan. It's me. Do you know how stupid that request is?"

"I will tase you, Your Highness."

"Kinky."

#

They made it to their gate with plenty of time to spare, and while she would have preferred to board early, she knew better than to push for the privilege. Much as she mocked Klahan about the security arrangements, she knew that he was right. They needed to be surreptitious if there were other members of the royal family being targeted, and while she was a cousin to the family rather than in a direct line with them, she was still someone at risk as one of those closer to the throne.

They boarded in the third group, heading towards the rear of the plane. He kept her in the window seat, forcing her to get comfortable - or at least, as comfortable as one could on a plane - before getting in on the aisle side. Their luggage, as well as most of her toys, were kept in the overhead bins, and she sighed as she leaned on her elbow.

"You know, if we were at least sitting in different rows, this would be a great deal more entertaining," she muttered.

"It's safest with a wall behind us and the rest of the plane ahead of us. You know it works, Your Highness."

"Yes, yes. Just...Wish I had a distraction."

"Should I get you some coloring books?"

"That better have been sarcasm."

"Then tell me what, besides something sexual, alcoholic, or otherwise inebriative would suffice, Your Highness?"

She bit her lips at that, considering that she didn't really have an answer. There were things to read on her phone, and there were things to watch on the plane, but they were all...well, they were all low-intensity, things that she had gone through a dozen times or more, and if they happened to be new, then they were low-impact compared to the distractions and pleasures that she'd had while away from home. They just...they didn't hold her attention, and it meant that her mind would start to wander.

And if it wandered, she knew where it was going to go.

She looked out the window, thinking about what might have happened if she had stayed here. Would she have died eventually, of an overdose or something else? Much as she tried to say that she knew her own body, the answer was probably yes. She'd been going down a rabbit hole - and sending rabbits down her holes, sometimes - and even she knew it was a lifestyle that couldn't last forever.

But it had lasted for long enough for her to want it back. The sheer mindlessness of it was so beyond soothing, sometimes...

The pilot started talking over the intercom, reminding everyone of the usual safety procedures. Klahan leaned back in his seat, crossing his hands over his lap and closing his eyes. She knew what he was doing. She'd never seen him sleep, not once in her entire life. He meditated instead, and if he did sleep, he did it when nobody else was watching him. Something about it sharpened him, from what he had said in the past, but she couldn't think of what sort of benefit there might actually be from that.

Soon enough, the plane was in motion and they were heading down the runway. Jina leaned her head back, trying to focus on the vibration, then it was gone. They were heading into the air, and she was forced to say goodbye to the West. At least, for now.

When they leveled out and the plane's entertainment ceased to work as a distraction - as she'd known that it would - she sighed. Poking the crocodile with an elbow until he opened one eye, she said something that she hadn't expected to say.

"Teach me how to do that."

"The meditating?"

"Yes."

"This is hardly a good place for that."

"Look. Either you teach me how to do it so I can get my brain to shut up, or I'm going to spend half the flight in the plane bathroom fingering myself so that I'm not thinking about this mess. Which one do you prefer?"

"...I see your point."

"I thought you might."

"Well...we have at least an hour before they will come by with food. Let's see if we can find a way to settle your mind without being so...vulgar."

"You're killing my enthusiasm here, Klahan."

"Meditation is not about enthusiasm. It's about a calm, open mind."

Well, I have that much, at least, Jina thought, shaking her head and taking a deep breath. If those nights on LSD and ecstasy didn't do that much at least, I don't know what I took 'em for.

"Now, take my hand, and listen..."

#

By the time that they reached the airport for the capital city of the kingdom, Jina had managed to get at least the basics of Klahan's meditation, and while it wasn't the same as sleep, she felt more rested than she had expected after spending a night on a bender and then spending hours on a plane. Did the red panda feel any better about the deaths of close members of the family? Not really, but she didn't feel worse, and all things considered, she'd take that kind of result.

Customs were just past the gate for the plane. Unlike in the airports of other countries, passengers weren't all filed from different flights down to a central processing area. They were passed through checkpoints right off of the plane, and then passed through to luggage claim. Jina would have taken the opportunity for a bit of flirting, but with Klahan passing through ahead of her and waiting, there was little chance for it.

It wasn't until they had grabbed their luggage and left the airport that they were finally recognized, and even then, only by the driver that had come to get them. A hippo, one of the official drivers of the royal family, stood outside the airport with an unfamiliar name on the placard he held. It must have meant something to Klahan, because they moved for him almost immediately. The hippo took her luggage, putting it in the back, and then bowed to her as he held the door open.

"Your Highness," he said.

"Not in public," Klahan said.

"All respect to you, sir, but you aren't the only passengers today."

Jina arched an eyebrow, looking into the back of the limo.

It was a larger interior than she expected, the sort of limo where there was a row of seats that faced backwards and one that faced forward. The one that would face the same direction as the driver was empty, but the one that faced back towards the rear of the car was occupied by two very key individuals.

The first was the Lady Intira, a boa that was in charge of the treasury of the kingdom. While she was of the species of snakes that possessed legs, her tail was long enough that she was both able to sit on it and use it as a skirt for herself at the same time. A dress of shimmering scales rather than silk fibers formed her clothes, ruffled in certain places to create the illusion of curves that the female didn't have. Her eyes were drawn down, ridges above painted in gold and green that made her eyes look even more severe than usual.

The other was an elephant, named Thaksin, and the fact that he was here meant that something serious was going on. He was wrapped in his robes of office, head of the Council of Advisors and the Hand of the Jade Throne, and his long ears flapped slowly as his trunk lifted upon her arrival.

Jina glanced back at Klahan, who gave a minute shrug. He hadn't realized that they would be coming, either, then.

"I can't imagine that you're here just for the joy of my company," Jina said, looking back at the two Advisors. "What brings you down from the palace?"

"Get in," Thaksin muttered.

"Declared yourself regent already, then?"

"As soon as the dust settled, until the throne is occupied again."

That was surprising. Either things were a great deal tenser at home than she thought, or something else had gone wrong. She shook her head, sliding into the limo before they drew even more attention. Klahan followed, darting through before the hippo could close the door. And the hippo certainly tried.

The car was off shortly after, and Jina kept her hands carefully rested on her lap. She was suddenly grateful for the calming efforts Klahan had gone through the trouble of teaching her. Everything felt wrong. Not dangerous, precisely, but like something was closing in.

"How bad is it, then?" she asked.

"Worse than we'd like," Intira admitted, crossing her arms. "Seven of the thirteen branch families are jockeying for position. Some for further advantage, admittedly, but others..."

"There's three that have a serious claim that they can press for the throne," the elephant said. "And unless we settle this quickly, they'll press that claim. Possibly with an army."

...Calm. Calm. Calm. That was what Jina thought to herself, even as she imagined a mini-version of herself running around inside of her own skull shouting 'What the FUCK?!' It was a surprisingly apt copy of herself, honestly. Missed the creampie in either hole, though, so that docked her imagination some points.

She managed to only cock her head to the side, instead.

"So, war, huh?" she said, feeling the utter drippiness of the question even before it left her mouth. "Who are the main contestants for the throne?"

"Branch House Dorji, with Lord Dawa," Intira said. "He's already sowing support among the merchants of the capital."

"You know, they call them businessmen elsewhere," Jina pointed out.

"Elsewhere, they may do what they want. Here, they are still merchants," the boa said. "And Lord Dawa has been a busy little man, making sure that they know where the wind blows and who will be able to fill their pockets with coin."

And she remembered cousin Dawa being fairly profligate with his money, too, always making it up from his supporters and the people that lived on his land. In a more modern country, she was fairly sure that he would have been kicked out of power by now, but such was not the case in the Kingdom of Min. Technology they had, but a modern government, not so much. She rubbed her forehead, trying to keep the image of the sour-faced red panda out of her head.

"Next?"

"House Mongkut," Thaksin said, shaking his head. "That upstart woman..."

"She's hardly an upstart, considering that her dead husband married into her house rather than the other way around," Jina said.

"Her authority is without question. Her methods, on the other hand..."

That would be Pakpao, then. She sighed, rubbing her forehead. Dawa was difficult enough to deal with, considering the way that he was almost a caricature of the old lords that used to rule the country before the last few monarchs got into power. Pakpao, however, was more...devious. Well into her forties, the red panda matriarch ruled her family with an iron fist, and had been the media darling for the country for some time, always stirring the pot. She was the first that the public heard from most of the time, and if Dawa had the merchants in his pocket, then Pakpao had the press.

Not a good combination of front-runners, and there was still one more to hear, and she already had a really bad feeling of who it was going to be.

"And number three? And if you say me, I'm going to throw myself out the window."

Thaksin and Intira glanced at each other, reaching sideways to lock the doors and windows with a flick of their fingers. Jina slapped a hand across her face, covering her eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me. No, wait. Klahan? I'm drunk. Or stoned. Or something. This isn't really happening."

"I'm afraid it is, Princess," the crocodile said.

"As much as it pains me to say it, you are the only other possibility at this point in time, Princess Jina," Thaksin said, the elephant shifting in his seat. "Among other things, you are the only one of the heirs close enough to the Sukhon line to bear the same name. The others are of branch houses, further from the main line of succession. That alone gives your claim a greater validity than the others. And if you should press it properly -"

"Let me stop you right there. Since when do I do anything 'properly'?" she asked, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms under her breasts. "Since when do I do anything the way that you said I should?"

"We would hope starting now, Princess," Intira said. "For the good of the country."

"..."

"And for the sake of what your uncle was trying to accomplish," Thaksin added.

Jina sighed, rubbing her face. No wonder nobody had told her about this until she landed in the capital. She'd distanced herself from the royal line for as long as she could, staying out of the politics of the capital, staying out of the various snooty, up-themselves noble gatherings for nearly her entire life. She hated it here. Everyone was so goddamned attached to what they had that they couldn't see what they were holding themselves back from.

Come to think of it, that was probably why the old king and queen were dead. Too many people that didn't like their way of thinking and had hoped to stop their plans dead in their tracks.

"Thaksin can act as regent for perhaps another week, but after that, we increasingly risk riots in the street, and both Dawa and Pakpao will see it as a chance to win the people to their side if they can quell them. And they will not be gentle," Intira said, coiling her tail yet tighter. "This is an opportunity, Jina. We are not keen on it, either, if I am honest."

"Sure. Throw one more reason why it's great to be home in the pile. Always welcomed by the loyal Advisors," she muttered, rubbing her forehead.

"We are asking you a favor, we recognize that. However, you must know that you haven't always been...desirable. If we are to make this work -"

"Klahan?" Jina said, interrupting the snake.

"Yes, Princess?"

"I'm really sorry about this, but I need room to think."

"What are you -"

In a practiced move that was adapted from all the times that she'd slipped some guy's pants down around his ankles in a restaurant, she grabbed the crocodile's belt buckle and flipped it over. In the same move, she triggered the taser that was attached to it. He was twitching and spasming into unconsciousness before he had a chance to realize what she was doing, and he jerked enough to toss the pen-gun out of his shirt pocket into the air. She caught it, pointed it at the sunroof, and fired.

Thaksin and Intira jerked back, staring at her. The elephant recovered his tongue first as she stood up from her seat.

"Princess Jina, what is the meaning of this?!"

"Like I said, I need room to think."

"You can think at the palace!"

"No, I really can't. And besides, I'm not exactly 'desirable' right now, am I?"

The red panda grabbed the edge of the broken sunroof and yanked herself up and out. It shredded part of her dress and skirt, but she was out of the car. She jumped into the nearest tree as they drove by, and it took the Hand and the Treasurer a good three hundred feet to get the car to slow down. By then, the limo was penned in by at least six other cars going down the road, and the princess shook her head as she climbed down from the tree.

Probably shouldn't have taken it that far, but we're not at war yet. I've got time. And besides...they needed a reminder.

Klahan had been her bodyguard, but he wasn't her only teacher. She'd benefited from many of the same teachings that the royals directly did, and it was time for them to remember that.

But for now...

For now, she needed to drift through the city for a while. She'd been clean for nearly a day, and she felt a horrific need to get dirty again. Quickly. Before the horrible news of her needing to become 'respectable' settled in too deeply.

The End

Summary: Jina wasn't always queen. There was a time when she was a princess instead. How did she become queen? That's the story that this series aims to tell. Enjoy the ride with a debauched red panda trying to be something better.

Tags: M/F, F/solo, red panda, Jina, crocodile, elephant, boa, series, fingering, drugs, alcohol, creampie, exhibitionism, party, death, comedy, barefoot,