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The palace was as it has ever been, a golden jewel of the kingdom for some, a golden cage for the princess, she knew very well that some, if not most girls, would switch places with her in a heartbeat and she was not about to complain, life there was nice if you could manage the politics and the false niceness of some people. She was happy no content of such a life, but it always made her want more, not in the spoiled sense, or any materialistic, no , Lillian wanted to go on an adventure, to meet common people, to see all the things she had seen in her books, the countless times she had asked questions like "Can I go see this" or "Can we please go to" only to be denied for it was not proper. She honestly failed to see the point of reading books about something when she was denied to see the actual thing, not to mention that sometimes they were pretty close by. She thought of such things as she sat in her room thinking of the conversation she had with her father. She mentally giggled at herself, as she remembered the time she was learning history when she was 13, her tutor a strict but fair governess had thought her about the Irenasi rebellion. Oh, the stories she heard from her about the treacherous Irenasi nobles and their uprising against the king Levat and the bravery of the hero knight Djaner. The stories had survived in detail and she was so much taken, that she asked to see the artifacts and even dared to ask to go and see the army so she could have a better picture of the battle. She openly laughed to herself as she recalled the expressions of those who heard her "A PRINCESS AMONG COMMON SOLDIERS?!?!" as if she had told them she had burned the entire city down.

"Well, time's a wasting" She told herself, as she undressed herself and send the clothes down the rupa. (back then, royals had this openings where they would throw down stuff like clothing and the servants would take them and clean them)

As you already know, Lillian never wanted to be taken care of, so instead of calling the servants, she made her own bath and gently dipped herself in, all the way until she relaxed and felt her muscles do the same 'these few months have been tiring' she thought to herself. (and before you ask, royals back then had a bath, a study and a few other rooms attached to their quarters)

She relaxed and let the stress simply fade out of her, she let her mind wander and closed her eyes. For the first time in what felt like forever, she felt like she had time for herself, that she need not worry about the problems of others and it seemed that she fell asleep, with only her head and half of her long hair sticking out of the water. She was not sure how long she stayed there, but she was interrupted, interrupted too soon I may add.

"Lillian, Lillian... Father has need of you" She heard a voice and started going from sleep to half sleep and then, as she realized she was naked in a bathtub, she moved like lightning to cover herself with her arms and looked at the intruder. She relaxed completely as she recognized the beautiful long face and the curly brownish hair that had a very unique shade of brown, his hair was even longer than hers, the color was best described as a mixture of copper red, sandish yellow/orange and dirt brown. It was really hard to describe, really, but this man before her was best known for it. To be more specific he was best known for his hair and for...

"Brother Fabio!!!" Lillians face turned into a smile so big that she looked like a child who got a toy she wanted.

And Fabio was known for being the youngest son of the king, only a year younger than Lillian.

Fabio smiled back at her, as I said, he had a long face with sharp features, each detail standing out on its own, his eyes were sea blue, his face was also a little bit elongated and his cheeks were far formed to accompany the shape, his eyebrows were also perfectly formed, neither forming a T with his nose, nor making a V, but somewhere in between, a little more leaning to T. Suffice to say, he was a dream to many girls who saw him and was one of the three most wanted bachelors in the kingdom, (the other two being his older brothers) many girls wanted his gentle lips. I could tell you a lot more about him, but I'll get back to the story.

(I will make a short description of the characters in my journal, I neither wish to leave them completely detailless, nor do I wish to over bore you with details, I just want to give you my vision of them, but to make you imagine them, I don't want to be the fire of your imagination, but just a spark that will light it)

"Seriously sister, I knew that, like me and the rest of your siblings, you wanted adventure, but getting a dragon to rescue you was out of even my wildest imagination" He smiled at her. The two spend much of their childhood next to each other, so they weren't shy at all with nudity of each other.

Lillian smiled back at him, so the word was already out and pretty much everyone at the royal court would know about her little adventure. "Well the knight in shining armor was not present and the dragon seemed kind enough to save me, I really am indebted to him you know" She decided to play his game.

"Well, if judging from the conversation you had with father, then you really would like him to be your knight in shining armor, to take you to the palace and marry you like the stories of old, I can only imagine the archbishop and all the noble ladies fainting at the sight of a dragon entering the cathedral to marry the princess" He crossed his arms and leaned on the wall.

'You have NO idea how right you are, don't you Fabio' she thought to herself. "Sure and after that we can have many many half dragon half human children, you would take care of them, play with them and teach them wouldn't you? After all, someone would need to teach them that breathing fire and setting the palace ablaze is a bad thing." She said wondering if humans and dragons could make a hybrid.

"Well, I'd try my best to be a good uncle" He teased her, then started laughing. "Anyway, get ready in half an hour, father will talk to us and the generals as well." He said, and then left.

Lillian noticed her body was wrinkly, from long exposure to water, but she proceeded to clean herself and her hair, all the while wondering why father would call them all together, usually he would talk to his family and his officials separately, but it didn't matter really, to her at least. She finished the bath and took some clean clothes out of the closet. She chose a bit more formal dress, that looked a bit more flamboyant. It would have to do, she didn't had time to do her hair so she just let it fall naturally behind her, it was the beginning of summer so she could afford wet hair.

She left her room and went down the halls, soon enough she entered the meeting room and saw that nearly everyone was there and after a small wait, the meeting started. It wasn't a big meeting, like the one in the throne room, here there were present: The royal family, that is Lillian, her little sister, her three brothers and of course the king and queen, aside from them, there were the officials who represented the economic, financial, social and other care takers of Detomia, Lillian noticed 5 of them and of course the top military officials, there were 7 of them, but she knew only Luca personally, he was the captain of the guard and a childhood friend of Fabio. The king spoke first.

"Alright, as I suppose you all know, recently a band of bandits broke in to the village of Valkanrel with the attempt of kidnapping my daughter and robbing the villagers, the report says, that there were about 50 or 60 of them and they were led by the orc raised warrior Mazirog" The king cursed silently under his breath, and then continued. "The scouts say that he has between 100-200 men, but I suspect more, all I know is that they need to be captured and delivered to justice, BUT!" He made sure everyone was listening carefully to him, and then continued. "I will not order my men blindly into combat believing in superior numbers, so I want as much intel on the enemy as possible" He shifted in his chair nervously. "Lastly, I want that dragon taken care of! Before I didn't...." He was cut off by Lillian who very angrily intervened.

"FATHER! I don't know what you are thinking, I know very well that you didn't believe in dragons, neither did I! We all thought, this was some imaginary creature the villagers imagined up, but I assure you it is real. As for what you said, the dragon has NEVER threatened the village, nor did a wrong thing and in fact he has saved not only me but also the villagers and NOT only that, but the enemy will think twice before attacking a place guarded by a dragon. I am sorry for interrupting you, but I know you are a just ruler, and tell me, what just ruler kills someone, be they a dragon or human who saves their subjects and their daughter. I know I speak for the villagers, when I say they are grateful to the dragon and the same goes for myself, he is my savior and my honor drives me to stop you from doing this, I don't know what the people will think of a king who kills a hero, but I know that I will never look at you with the same eyes ever again." It is only after she gave this small speech, that she became aware of her actions, this is why the king usually had separate meetings with his family and officials, but this was something Lillian could turn to her favor. The king was a good politician and only raised his eye brows curiously, but she knew better, he may have a poker face but he did feel her words deeply. After she sat down there was a small commotion before the officials began shouting at each other.

"The princess is right, who kills an ally? This dragon we talk about has saved the kings daughter AND a village for gods sake, who are we to kill it for being a dragon!?!? Its like killing a human for being a human!" one general shouted.

"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! Are we to give it safe haven in our lands!?!?! To let it burn and pillage all it want, while we sit back and pat it on the head saying 'good job" An older official shouted.

"BAH! You old man have it all wrong, If the dragon is sentient, we can even persuade it to fight on our side! What is a few gold for a loyalty of a dragon? The enemy will think ten times over, before attacking us ever again."

The shouting was immense and it was only when queen Ljepotica whispered the king something, he did shout.

"QUIET!" He stood up and just as he was about to say something, the door opened and a very tall young man with curly black hair came in.

"Sorry I'm late everyone, my apologies, I hope that I haven't missed anything important" Said the man, who Lillian easily recognized as her older bastard half-brother Arthur. He had quite the background, which I will explain soon enough. At the site of him, the king changed his facial expression, drastically going from annoyed to a sad one, he continued speaking.

"Ah Arthur, you are just in time" He pointed to the chair. "Have a seat." Everyone knew, he was his son but he couldn't publicly acknowledge that for obvious reasons. "We were just talking about what to do with the dragon that has made its nest in our lands." He said.

"The one that saved our princess Lillian? Yes he seems rather noble and courageous doesn't he, if he was human we'd give him a place in our knights. Now what of him?" Asked Arthur who was shifting uncomfortably in his chair, which was WAY too small for him.

"Well, some of us here want to slay him, some of us want to leave him alone and others think that he is sane and that we can thank him and reward him in the hopes of him aiding us in our battle against the bandits." The king explained.

"Is that all? I'm surprised at you people, first off, our main threat are the bandits who have done more wrong than this dragon, secondly they seem to pose a more imminent threat, even if they are badly equipped and badly trained, they are still scattered in the woods and they have a strategic advantage over us, we know nothing of their forces and as far as I'm aware, they have good leadership and if they are not taken care of, then they WILL train themselves and they WILL equip themselves one way or the other." He couldn't stand the squeaking chair anymore and stood up. "As for the dragon himself, I suggest that we at least TRY to negotiate with him, it is a astronomical coincidence that he showed up when the bandits attacked, that he attacked them and not the villagers, that he didn't burn the village, but saved it and that he didn't kill anyone. So we should at least try and send someone brave enough to try and speak to it and based on the response of the dragon, we should act appropriately." He finished his little speech.

"He is right father, we would be no better than savages if we kill someone who isn't a threat to us and it would be very stupid of us, not to use this chance to enlist the aid of a very powerful ally." The Second oldest son and Lillians brother Ravilon said, he was also a little taller than average, but nowhere near as tall as Arthur and unlike him, he had straight long blond hair.

"Father, when on the topics of allies, I suggest we send out riders to Malonia, after all the bandits are on their borders or perhaps even Me?ava, (Third country on the isle, it was on the most eastern part and was about the size of Detomia) but before hand I suggest we send out spies and scouts, so we gather intel on the enemy." The Oldest son Lorevale ?astinski said.

"Alright alright, quiet everyone." The king spoke as he got up himself. "I have made my mind, we will send captin Valorfar and a handful of men to Valkanrel to enstablish a base and a barracks to recruit people, Captin Falcol and his scouts will seek out the enemy and Liura will spy on them and even perhaps assassinate their leaders." The king took a breath as he wanted to continue, but suddenly there was a voice

"Did someone call?" And the before mentioned spy and assassin dropped in the middle of the room, ready to act, he was a close and personal friend to Arthur. He looked like a human, but everything about him pointed that he was no ordinary human. He had a mask and armor he wore at all times, he was never seen out of it and that's the same armor that he wore the day the soldiers of the royal navy saved him from drowning 12 years ago, he immediately became attached to the bastard son of the king, the two had a lot in common and if anyone knew the assassins secrets it was him.

"Liura please, we are trying to hold a meeting here" Arthur told him and the assassin bowed down and moved to the side.

"As for the Dragon, YOU Arthur will be the one to negotiate with him." The king pointed to his bastard son.

"WHAT?!?!" He was not afraid, but was surprised.

Everyone looked between the king and the would be negotiator. "You were the one to suggest it and you should be the one to set an example then." The king informed him, all knew the kings principals, he was a fair and just ruler and demanded that his servants were like him, righteous and that they uphold honor.

"As you wish, can I be given a book on dragon speech." Arthur bowed ironically and his comment made the advisors laugh.

The king chuckled himself. "It's up to you and your own methods, I know you will do this honorably, but as for how you do it, it is up to you."

And with that the meeting was closed.

On the hallway, the now stressed out princess was pacing, she was now supposed to have a more privat meeting and by privat, it meant that only less people would be involved, take out the generals and the officials and that's it, she knew that Arthur would most likely be present and that Liura would be somewhere in the shadows and perhaps even Luca would be there.

"Princess Lillian!" She heard the deep and strong voice from behind her, she turned around to face what seemed to be a big, wide and tall black wall to her, of course that was the chest plate of her half-brother, she turned her gaze upwards, to see the little annoyed face of Arthur, she smiled at him to which he looked at her awkwardly.

"Brother, dearest, you need not to address me as such, please call me by my name, I am your sister, no matter what anyone says." She took his giant arms in her own.

"I always knew that you held me in such regard, but ever since you left for that village, you became more... emotional. The Lillian I knew would be cold and straightforward, always wearing the frozen face of a politician, who would hide the flame of her emotions deep inside her and when she let them out they would consume all." He leaned down to her. "What has happened to you sister? Ever since you left the palace, ever since this dragon business came about, you seemed... happy, I am glad for you, but I fear... I fear your secrets." He whispered to her ears.

There was a brief moment of silence and Lillian just wanted to say something in her defense, but he was first.

"What has happened there? Tell me. I know there is something amiss here." His eyes seemed to price hers

"It's nothing, it's just that for the first time I feel alive... for the first time my life was at stake and as I expected, no knight came for me, but unlike my realistic expectations, a dragon came and drove the enemy away." She turned away and started walking to the privat quarters of the family as her half-brother was eyeing her from behind, not being able to figure it all out.

Queen Providna was a few years younger than the king, everyone (from the inner circle) called her Clare, for it was her name before she became queen, she had a longer face most of the children inherited and had midnight black hair, which only was passed on to Lillian, she was wearing a long white dress with all the extra flamboyant parts, but in truth she was a modest woman and was much more modest then the nobility of the time. She was the first to whisper something to the king before speaking.

"Lillian child, I am glad you took all these events well." She tilted her head a bit giving her a strange body signal that only women understand. (so it seems)

"Yes mother , I am glad to inform you that I come... enlightened by the experience." She eyed her mother with the black onyx eyes that she inherited from the women she was eyeing.

"Well, now that we are all here, what did you want to say to us Lillian." The king nodded to his daughter.

"Well, to be honest, much was already said on the first meeting, as you can see I'm all well and unharmed. But still there are a few things that I wish to address you. She looked at her family and then eyed her father. "Among other things, I wish to know why you spy on me. But before that, tell me why hasn't Arcanius attended the meeting?"

To this the king swayed his hand, as if dismissing the issue. "He was send to explain the situation to the other mages, rest assured I have already send a messenger informing him of our decisions. As for the spying part well... a father can never be cautious enough."

Lillian tried really hard not to role her eyes, but she failed miserably. "Alright, second part, if the dragon is willing to aid us, I want you to make a dragon haven on that mountain, I think it is only fair, most of the common folk, at least those who aren't driven into fear and hatred of all things foreign and magical will praise the dragon as a ally and a friend to the king, I say this now for I know the lords and generals might think otherwise and even if the dragon proves friendly they would want to kill it to bolster THEIR image to make THEM feel safe." She looked at her father.

The king was looking to the side, betraying his wondering mind, then he spoke "I... agree... but tell me what is this dragon business all of a sudden? You seem to care for it." To this, the entire family eyed her and especially the huge Arthur, who was leaning to the pillar with his arms crossed and his face frowned.

She felt their eyes upon her, but let out a cold non emotional smile. "Well, it did save my life, didn't it? I want to repay my debt, same as Liura... isn't that right assassin." she closed her eyes. "You can come out now." To which a drop was heard and a annoyed murmur.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW?" He asked very silently but annoyed with a great amount of frustration in his voice.

"I didn't." She told him, but before he could even raise his concealed eyebrows, she explained. "I know you for 12 years, you are always here, in fact, I would have been surprised if you weren't. But to tell you the truth, I believe there is not even one man on this isle capable of detecting you." She looked at him affectionately, glad to have changed the subject.

The assassin made a semi smile, he adored to be complimented, in fact, he was proud and people who knew him knew that he would choke on his pride before on anything else. "Thank you milady." He bowed and disappeared into the shadows, despite there being several torches and windows letting sunlight in the room.

"Also father, I know we put the country at the alarm for this, but I fear we actually have caused it this time, it may be that these bandits were either brave or foolish enough, but I fear there is more to this, so please don't take this lightly." She believed that that was all. "Oh and before I forget, father... I would like you to make some reforms to the kingdom, I would be happy even if you make only 20% of this." She gave him a letter she had written in her free time.

After the king opened and read it, he nearly fell out of his chair and his face went pale, the queen looked and read it as well, but she just rose an eyebrow.

"Lillian..." The king said speechless.

"I know it is much to ask, but we can make this a good country, in fact, we ARE a good country but we need to move forward. If I had to highlight the two important things in the letter, it is that you improve our schooling and foreign relations and of course that we send dignitaries to the mainland." She paused.

"Father, we need to accept that the humans aren't the only race that exists, our family knows that, but before most people thought of dragons as a myth and nothing more. I KNOW elves, dwarfs, giants and other creatures exist and I think everyone here does." She eyed Arthur which only grumbled to himself and that unwittingly attracted attention from others.

"I agree with my sister. Father, mother, I think we should change for better or worse, we have everything we need here and it's true, our people have the basic needs, but they want and need more." The heir prince Lorevale said.

The king looked down and after a while he simply said. "I'll think about it."

"King, before we finish this meeting, I want to ask one question." Arthur finally spoke up and everyone eyed him. "Can I bring him with me to battle." And everyone know who 'him' meant and you will find out soon enough.

The king exhaled. "Alright, I think it is time people finally know the truth." And silence fell on the room.

After that, they had a feast and everyone talked about everyday stuff, even the friends of the family were called to the table. The captain of the guard Luca was surprised by the invite, he had participated in some events with the family, but he was there to provide security and nothing more.

Second on the invitation list was Arcanius, who was offered a reward for his actions, he turned it down, claiming he did nothing worthy of it. He also was surprised by this act, but he didn't protest, if a mage is good in his profession, he could conjure food and drinks, but it was nice to eat off of royal plate for once. Not to mention the opportunity to talk to better company, he loved his colleagues, but talking about magic all the time seemed a bit monotonous.

Third on the guest list was the first spy and assassin of the kingdom Liura. He hissed at the thought, not at the idea of eating with high company and eating fine food, but he said. "So many important people in one room so many poisons to try out." He was always like this. But seeing as his friend Arthur accepted, he sighed and rolled his eyes, saying: "Fine." The danger of poison however didn't stop him from eating like a man starved to near death.

They had casual conversations. The princes like any other young nobles at the time, talked eagerly about how they will ride gloriously into battle with the bandits, slaying them all and insuring the safety of the kingdom. The king frowned at such speech, for he was older and wiser than them and knew the value of human life no matter how vile or misguided. But still he thought, better that they kill the enemies of the kingdom, than to be cowards like some others he knew.

The queen was ever so gently whispering conversations to her husband, she was known as one of the most calm and peaceful women of the entire isle.

Arthur and Liura seemed to compete each other at who can eat more. And everyone was proven right by this dilemma as the two eyed each other and as their body language spoke of the fierce competition the two had at the moment. Surprisingly the tall and heavy Arthur had trouble competing with the small and skinny Liura who was not tall enough to touch his ribcage and was nearly 4 times thinner than him.

Luca and Arcanius paid each other company, Luca was always interested in magic and surprisingly for a mage Arcanius always had guardsmen in high regard.

The only one missing in this picture was Lillians younger sister but that is for another time.

________________________________________

One month later, the king managed to put up an expedition to send to Valkenrel, to build the outpost and all the spies and scouts were send out on their mission, it had taken a week to rally the team up, another week to set the provisions and all the data and two weeks to track down the enemy near the border with Malonia, in the mountains of Gola voda, which were sparsely populated and another week for the team to get there. The mountains were a 3 days march from Valkenrel, but not because of the distance, but because of the lack of roads and the rough terrain.

In The village, the mayor was informed of all the planned actions and the engineers and soldiers split ways with scouts and spies, the first two stayed and the later two moved to the enemy camp.

"ARTHUR!" Lillian ran towards the giant of a man, he surprised her, he didn't take off his giant black plate armor, nor did he put down his HUGE warhamer, which would take two average men to carry.

"Where are you going?" She asked him while keeping up, he didn't have a fast pace but he made much bigger steps than she did.

"I'm going to finish this dragon business." He said coldly.

"LIKE THAT?" She pointed to his weapon.

"If he attacks me, I have to be able to defend myself." He said not paying her any attention.

"He WON'T attack you." By this point, they were already out of the village but he wasn't stopping.

"Look sister I'm about to face a dragon, I may be what I am, but I'm still..." He stopped. Made a ugly face then in a single breath screeched the word "Scared" out and continued walking. "I don't know what you've gotten in your head, you are acting as if facing a dragon is a normal thing."

She stepped in his way, he smiled and tried to get past her, but she kept blocking him.

"Just what is your..." He was cut short.

"Because it IS a normal thing." She looked at him then down at the earth.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" He raised his giant eyebrow.

"Promise you won't say anything to anyone and especially not father." She pleaded him with her eyes.

He rolled his eyes. "I promise, now tell me so I can get this over with."

It was there and then, that Lillian explained to him how she met Malion and explained every single thing to her half-brother, who kept the same face expression all of the time, of course all the sexual parts of the story were left out, but everything else including the books he gave her she told him.

It was a good half an hour she was talking and after she had finished, he was looking at her in a emotionless expression which made her worry, but soon after he burst to laughter.

Lillian was angry. "I'M SERIOUS BELIEVE ME."

"I do." He told her once he calmed down. "It sounds like you, but the story... its like out of a magic tale and don't worry." He held her hands. "I won't tell father."

She jumped and hugged him and he had to bend himself in order to do that and making the position even more awkward was the fact, that the princess had to avoid the spikes on her brothers armor. "Just don't harm him alright." She told him. "Not that I'm sure you could, but please."

"He seemed like a nice fellow from what you told me, so you tell me what to do." He finally relaxed, all the past month he thought how he was going to face a dragon and it seemed he had his work cut out for him.

"Come here." She lead him to the cave entrance, which was a few minutes walk from where they were.

"When I call you, come in, okay." She told him, to which he saluted her.

She entered the cave and immediately went to the hall.

"MALION!" She called out and was soon faced with what looked like a very bored dragon, who was extremely happy to see her.

"LILLIAN!" He got up and charged at her his face grinning madly, he was like a dog, which finally got to see his master again.

"SHHHH... stop down!" She managed to stop him from jumping on her. "I'll explain everything later, but right now my half-brother is here, so be on your best behavior alright?" She was serious with him.

He put his right hand on his chest as a dragon symbol of 'I swear it'.

"ARTHUR!" The princess called out and soon enough the man was face to face with the dragon, who was about twice as high as him.

"Malion, my brother Arthur, Arthur, my... friend Malion." She introduced the two.

Both men slightly bowed. "My sister has just explained to me how she knows you, she always was the adventurous type."

Malion smiled. "I can imagine growing up with her would be quite... handful." Lillian was annoyed that they talked about her, but hey it was better than them killing each other.

"She never told me she has a half giant brother." Malion said and the two looked at him. "Tell me, if I may ask was your mother or your father the frost giant." The two widened their eyes. "And who is that dark elf sneaking up on us."

"Malion, Arthur." The princess panicked how did Malion knew her brothers origin. "How did you know." She looked at Malion and then behind her. "And what elf." She was completely confused.

"Dragons have a good sense of smell and I smell a hybrid between a human and a frost giant," Malion explained. "I hope, I didn't say anything awkward."

Arthur was relieved, yes someone finally knew his secret (aside from his family, Lillian knew as well). "Well master Dragon, I am most fortunate that you aren't angry with it." He took the magical bracelet, which was well hidden off of his left arm and he suddenly started to grow, his skin became light blue and his eyes a mixture of red, orange and black, his voice also changed, he was now twice the size he was before and was as high as Malion. Luckily for him, no one was startled by the quick transformation. "But tell me what elf do you speak of?" He turned around.

"This one." Malion said and maneuvered his tail as he pulled Liura out of hiding.

"OY Asha de Raurie LET GO." Liura yelled.

"Besok de anu, calm down." He put the would be spy and assassin down as he was reaching for his weapons.

"LIURA YOU'RE A ELF." Lillian screamed, this wasn't happening to her, she wished this was a dream, it wasn't a bad dream, but what other surprise would she have this day.

"Yes, he only told me this, no one other knows." The half giant confessed.

"He?" Malion eyed the elf and smiled. "Tell me miss what brings a fair lady of the dark elven race such as yourself here?"

This time both Lillian and Arthur said. "WHAT?"

"Liura... is it true, are you a girl?" The giant was sweating like he was in a desert his light blue face turning red out of shock.

Liura rolled hi-her eyes as she pulled off her mask. "You never asked."