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The princess was first to react, being after all a better suited politician than her two companions. She calmed herself and gathered herself mentally, as the other started arguing, but before the debate could escalate, she intervened.

"Malion, we have come to ask a favor of you." She said that, like the last 5 minutes of her life didn't happen. "Detomia and its high king, thank you for saving me and we would like, to ask you for aid in the upcoming battle between our soldiers and bandits roaming this area, in return we..." That's when she was cut off.

"Done" The dragon simply said as he laid down on his belly.

"What, aren't you..." The princess was confused and tried to continue, luckily, the duo standing next to them was listening and trying really hard to ignore each other's presence.

"I said, done." He looked at her. "I may not be some knight of your tales of old, but this is after all my home and I am somewhat responsible for the safety of it and my nearest residents, if this bandits you speak off, truly do pose a threat as big as you claim, then by all means I will assist, as for the reward, I ask you, what can you give a dragon? I doubt your kingdom has anything that I would desire... aside of a small note of privacy, I don't want wandering dragon slayers in my cave, that is the only thing I ask in return." He looked at the trio in front of him, as each displayed their own reaction.

Not wanting to make things even more awkward, Lillian said. "I accept your offer in the name of Detomia and its king and people, thank you noble dragon." She bowed down and the other two did it as well, albeit awkwardly. Lillian then thanked Malion once more and told him he will be informed of the plans of battle and other details, they then told each other goodbye and the trio started to leave.

Malion wanted to ask Lillian for a word, a little explanation on her side, he could read her mind, but he didn't want to. In the end, he decided it would not be wise to do so at this moment and let them leave.

Lillian knew that the fight would either continue the moment they left the cave, or the two would not talk to each other for a while. To her pleasant surprise, they chose the latter option.

She then took a good look at Liura and she nearly gasped for breath, despite her demeanor, she was beautiful, she saw that now that she took off her mask, and true, the mask was very effective at concealing her elven heritage, the long pointy eyebrows and ears, combined with her facial details truly gave out a impressive sight. A few sentences from Malion explained a lot to Lillian, she figured out something, she could not comprehend for a lot of years, of course answering one question about Liura, opened a lot of others and noticed a strange unearthly glow from the elf, she didn't knew much about elves, or many other mythical creatures, but weren't elves supposed to be basked in light, while Liura was radiating... dark light, not dark in color, no, it was white, but gloomy and it seemed to reflect off of her pale skin, now without the mask, Lillian could finally see how pale the elf truly was. Not wanting to get noticed staring, Lillian looked down at the road she walked so many times last month.

She tried to think of something to fix the strained relation of her two companions, Liura was not lurking in the shadows and was walking with them, which was a rare occasion. She couldn't start a conversation, what could she say...

"Arthur put the bracelet back on, we don't want our troops to see a 4 meter giant next to a 1,5 elf." The giant put on the bracelet and Liura her mask, but both refused to talk. "You know, you two are secretive, too secretive, talk to each other but be honest." Both creaked their teeth, but didn't say a word. "That's enough, Arthur. " She stood in front of him. "You can't control an army, if you can't control yourself, I'll come open to you and tell you everything. And Liura, you may not be as grumpy as him, but you linger in the shadows and while I know it is your place to be, you also need to step into the light sometimes."

"Why should I?" The elf responded, still keeping a gender free voice, arrogant, annoyed, but still full of grace, the assassin crossed her arms.

"Because..." The princess exhaled. "Because your family." She placed a hand on the assassins shoulder and the elf didn't flinch, but beneath her mask she moved her long eyebrows and if her face was exposed, everyone could easily see she was surprised.

"Arthur, I told you and Liura I think you heard, I've known Malion for quite some time now and what I told you in those few minutes, could not explain it well enough."

"I don't have time for this, I have an army to lead." Arthur waved his arms and tried to get away, he wanted to listen to her, but he couldn't... not at this moment... not at this emotional.

"ARTHUR NASTRANOV!" She yelled at him, he hated being called like that, because he wasn't officially his fathers son, he did not bore his last name. "Don't you see... you lead your men to war and from it you may not come back, you giant idiot! There is no telling, how many people will die!" He turned around and opened his mouth, but failed to say anything, it was like words refused to come out of his mouth.

Lillian pointed to a fallen tree near the path. "Sit down and listen." The giant murmured to himself, but did as he was told, the princess and Liura sat next to him, but in the way that Lillian was in the middle.

"Now listen." Lillian took a good 20 minutes to explain her experience with Malion, she wanted to tell them more, but didn't want to bore them.

At the end, Liura had her arms in on her lap and Arthur was bending, while holding his arms together and all together leaning on his knees listening.

"Lillian, that's fine but... tell me what does that have to do..." He waved his arms and pointed to the air. "with all of this?" He looked at her.

"Ohhh... Arthur." She put her arm on his chin. "Don't you get it?" He looked at her with questioning eyes. "I was raised all my life, to be safe and I went out to find a dragon and what happened?" She looked at him and saw that he still didn't understood. "A dragon, a creature I didn't believe existed and which could easily maul me to death, took me in. All my life I was a princess, JUST a princess, I was thought curtsy, I had not even one friend in the world and those who I wished to be my friend, were instantly dispatched." She took his hands and looked in his eyes. "In less than a month, a DRAGON became my friend and I got to know him better then I know you." He looked down in shame, of course, how could he not figure it out, he was angry, all his life he was angry, he was angry he could not do anything to help anyone, he was angry he could not do anything at all, he was angry he was a bastard, he hated himself and all the while his own sister was a stranger to him, not that he didn't cared or loved her but she was just... there, like a person you meet every day on your way to work, a stranger... but there. "You are my brother, no matter what ANYONE says and all I wish... is that you act like one." In fact, she wished her family acted like a family.

He let out a long sigh. "Yes I'm sorry, Lillian, from now on I promise to be a better man to you, to me and to everyone else." He turned around to Liura. "Thank you... for being there for me, I don't mind you being a woman, no more than I mind you being an elf, I know you more than my family, but Lillian is right, you ARE my family." The assassin eyed him and then Lillian and did so a few times, moving her head up and down a little, then she looked away and said out loud. "This family is starting to rub off on me." She then turned to the two and smiled. "Yes, well I... wouldn't kill you two."

"That's how she says I love you." Arthur whispered to Lillian and the three chuckled a little, in fact, Lillian couldn't recall ever seeing the two smile, neither individually, nor together.

They spend a good half an hour, talking about events from their childhood, there weren't many, for they were each taken care of and tutored and rarely got to see each other, but the few they did have, were to them like a long lost gold they just found.

"Arthur, I have a confession to make to you." Lillian told him.

"Yes?" He faced her.

"You know, that time you got everyone annoyed, when you pulled the horns off of the statue of Kaharin just when the meeting was supposed to start. (A hero of both Me?ava and Detomia who was known for his horned helmet.)

"I STILL claim I was innocent." He protested.

Liura laughed out loud. "I know you were."

Lillian put a hand on her mouth. "I do too."

He looked at them both. "Explain."

Flashback

"Wow Kharim, no wonder you beat your enemies so easily, look at how strong you were." The 12 year old Lillian talked to the statue in the side hall of the castle, it was used either when a religious happening among royalty occurred, or when smaller meetings were held and today was both. Lillian didn't talk to the statue out of childhood imagination, oh no, she was way too old to know it won't respond, but in truth, she was LONELY. Her tutors wouldn't let her play with common kids, in fact, they didn't want to let her talk to anyone, or so it seemed. And when she was allowed to talk to someone, she needed to follow the etiquette and if she just made one small mishap, she would be given a lecture at best. Now she had some free time and decided to have fun with the statue of the long dead hero. "Hmm, I wonder if its true that you wore a horned helm in life." She touched the left horn and noticed that it was loose, it must be, that they welded it badly. (The statue was made out of iron.) She took the right horn with her other arm and whoops, before you knew it, the horns were in her hands.

She looked left and then right, dropped the horns and ran like mad. A few minutes later, a young 16 year old Arthur came in, looked at the statue, then at the horns at the floor. "What the." He picked them up.

"BLASPHAMY!!! BLASPHAMY!!!! HOW DARE YOU DESACRATE OUR HERO!" Out of all the people, that could've come in, Bishop Ahrac came in and ran towards him, he thought that he was a grown man. (Because of his height and hair.) And he took his arm and gave him a 5 minutes long lecture and if that wasn't enough, he didn't allowed him to say anything and then, suddenly things just got worse.

"I assure you advisor, I have..." The king (Who at that time was way thinner and didn't have any facial hair.) entered with all his escorts.

"SIRE! This commoner desecrated the statue!" The bishop pointed at Arthur and Arthur just stood there frozen, looking at his father with his lower jaw hanging and his eyes wide open, he moved his head from left to right.

"My lord, you must punish him, he is also a trespasser, he is a commoner, his place is not here! Order the guards to take him to the dungeon." The bishop continued, as the king gave himself a facepalm.

Back in the present. The two women laughed uncontrollably, while Arthur had his jaw hanging like he had that day. "You!" He pointed at Lillian. "IT WAS YOU!"

Lillian nodded, giggling. "But tell me Liura, how did you know of this?"

"I was on the roof, guarding the king, but I arrived earlier and saw everything." She said, trying to fake emotionlessness.

"Now I know who to thank for my psychological complexes and traumas..." Arthur responded as he smiled and shook his head.

"Well I'm glad we had this talk, now we have some bandits to crush." The princess got up and the three unlikely companions went to town.

The next few hours were spend trying to prepare... everything, the small village was not used to host so many people and the influx of garrisoned soldiers meant an increased consumption of food, water and all other equipment, the whole area was much noisier then it was in its existence, ever since the first settlement was founded on the isle.

Lillian knew, that she will not be joining the battle, but she worried and persuaded her father, to let her accompany the army and her brothers, her three legitimate brothers would arrive later on, as the battle would commence, Liura was send here to assassinate any potential leadership the enemy had, the king wanted to interrogate the enemy, but authorized her to do what she deemed necessary. As for Arthur, he was here to talk to a dragon and prepare his army.

The three then went to the inn, the garrisoned army didn't seem to mind the old innkeeper, in fact, it seemed that he was happy, VERY happy in fact, by the presence of the potential customers and truth be told, he was right, the army may have brought food with it and the supply road was bringing in new food each day, but still, the army failed to provide the one thing that every man who knew death could find him soon needed... alcohol and the Inn was full of it, both literary and symbolically, the first day the army arrived, all the three huge barrels in the cellar of the inn were emptied and all the tables and seats lost their meaning, as before, there was plenty of room for everyone to sit, now there was barely enough room for everyone to stand let alone walk.

The happy innkeeper saw the Princess and quickly went to service the three, he didn't know about either Arthur or Liura, but that was understandable, one was a bastard of the king, who was kept hidden from the world and the other a person who most people thought didn't exist (An elf.) and she chose to be kept hidden from the world.

The innkeeper bowed and Lillian saw, that he still had a bandage on his forehead.

"My lady, how can I service you this fine day?" He asked. "And who are these fine gentleman with you?"

Arthur half smiled at the older man. "I am Arthur, General Arthur Nastranov." And it was then, that the innkeeper recognized the face of the tall man who barked orders for the past three days. (Since the army arrived.)

"And I'm Liura, head spy and assassin of the kingdom." Liura just tilted her head.

The Innkeeper then made a deep bow, he recognized the Surname of the royal family, the one Arthur only used when he was outside of the capitol, his father had recognized him as a son in privat, but he would not want his secret to be roaming across every housewife in the kingdom, so in privat and in places that are far away he was Arthur Nastranov and in politics he was just Arthur.

"My lords, how can I serve you." The innkeeper said, which made Lillian chuckle inside, since Liura was behaving casually about her gender.

"I see the mark of your bravery is still on you." Lillian said, referring to the bandage on the innkeepers head.

"I would have worn it countless times more, if necessary, my lady." The innkeeper responded. "Pardon for the ruse here, the soldiers are already drunk to the boot in this time of day, otherwise they would have recognized their superiors"

"My sir, may we have the pleasure of knowing your name?" Arthur asked.

"Pijanica Broja?, at your service." Broja?... where did Lillian hear that name before?

Arthur rose and semi yelled. "Pijanica, for the services done to your country and for your acts of bravery, you are awarded the medal of bravery and the title of po?asni. (honorary)

The drunken soldiers roared and applauded, like they just noticed their general, (Which they did.) some of them passed out and hit the floor, Arthur told them that they can drink all they want, but that they must be stone cold sober for the battle, the innkeeper blushed, but bowed and thanked them, claiming he was doing only that, what every other person would have done.

"Father!" A younger man came to him and instantly Lillian noticed where she knew the surname from, a young man with long black brown hair in his twenties, with no beard, which it turns out was the innkeepers son, was none other than Zlatan Broja?, a young rising star in the economics ministry of Detomia and renowned young merchant in the Capitol.

"Your honors." He bowed down to the three.

"You have a good father, I hope you follow his example." The princess told him, which made him sigh and his father chuckle, it was quite obvious, that he was going to tease him to death with it.

The father and son served the drinks to their three esteemed customers and it turns out, that Zlatan was bringing a shipment of Ale to his father.

"It is strange, that you drink with us Liura, have you thought it might be poisoned?" Lillian asked the assassin.

"I would have known by the taste of it and even if it was, then half our troops would be dead before the battle." She responded. "And don't assume that because I'm... well... me, don't assume that I don't have any emotions." She took a sip of the ale she ordered.

"You mean emotions aside angry, irritation and hate." Lillian teased.

"Yes." The assassin casually responded.

"Liura, if you have any more secrets, please tell them to me now, I promise I wont get angry, but I have to know." Arthur told her, partially embarrassed for no particular reason, but that didn't go unnoticed by the girls.

"My my, Arthur, you are one very naughty boy." Lillian winked at Liura, who decided to play the game.

"What... what do you-" Arthur was confused and embarrassed.

Liura gently took his chin and cooed to him. "Awwww, you find out a person has a vagina and you instantly have a crush on her, such a cute horny boy you are."

Arthur was speechless and embarrassed and he flushed like he was a fire giant, instead of a frost giant.

"Tsk tsk tsk, the males are all the same, aren't they." Lillian pointed to Arthurs crotch area, but luckily his plate mail prevented an erection from showing.

"Stop it, the both of you!!" He yelled, as the two women laughed.

Later, when their cups were empty, Liura told them, she needed to go and prepare and meet up with the advance scouting party. "I leave tonight." She told them.

After a while, they left as well and everyone needed to go back to their own responsibilities.

"Our Brothers will come to battle when the time is right, I assume." She told Arthur, as he was doing paperwork for the army, they both went to the mayors house, where their quarters were set up.

"Yes, we are the vanguard of the army, Lillian." He casually said, not lifting his gaze from the papers.

"I know that, don't think that because I'm a princess, I'm not familiar with the ways of the army." For some reason, she was annoyed, it wasn't Arthur, or anyone else, but she had a female intuition, that something bad is going to happen.

"Arthur!" The door slammed open as Liura yelled. "Lillian!" She bowed down gently. "You two must see this."

The two immediately followed the assassin to the entrance of the village, the military camp was on the other side of the river, they hadn't set up a defense, for they were not expecting to be attacked, after all, they had 2000 soldiers garrisoned in the camp.

As the trio somehow managed to break through the soldiers, who seemed to have made a shield wall, Liura disappeared, but by the time the two noticed. Mixture of weapons, shields and plate mail, combined with the mass of people at the entrance, made quite a commotion, but you could still hear the shouting, all of which came from the same voice...

"THAT'S ENOUGH WITH THE LOT OF YA!!! BRING ME THE PRINCESS, OR YOUR COMMANDER IN CHIEF, NOW!!!" As the two broke through the crowds, they saw a tall tanned figure in black plate armor on a black horse, which was running in place, the figure tilted his head towards the two and smiled.

"Your majesty." He said and smiled through his beard.

"YOU!!!" Lillian yelled angrily.

"Do you know this person, Lillian?" Arthur asked raising an eyebrow.

"HOW CAN I NOT!!! THAT" She pointed at the person. "IS MAZZIROG!!!"