Chapter 35

[] indicates inner dialogue

Nyline

It was the music that reached Nyline's ears before anything else and she knew the melody that played in the corner of the large golden ball room by heart, as the music started to hum along. Slowly she opened her eyes to see the people wearing their finest as they danced in circles. The skirts of the lady's dresses and the tailcoats of the men flaring every time they turned in a lavish display of a perfect performance. Then right on time, every dancing woman, switched partners to their right, not even one missed a beat as they continued the perfectly choreographed presentation with ease.

With a shallow breath, Nyline's eyes snapped up to the balcony as her heart started up a new rhythm in her throat before it stuttered as she saw that it was empty. She turned away from it, feeling as though her heart were breaking. She'd never realized how much she'd wanted a connection with her parents before seeing them back in Thaul. Their death had just become something that she had accepted after watching the memory of them dying so many times over the years. It was just been something that she'd come to accept. She'd stolen several memories of them from Uncle John over the years but seeing them in Thaul was different. It was as if her mother had looked directly at her and it had simply opened up a chasm in her heart that blead with the 'what ifs' that circled her mind now. Maybe, all of this mattered now, since she was back. In truth, she'd never planned on actually returning, on meeting Gabriel, or even stepping foot back into Thaul. Now that she was here, everything felt so real and so raw. She walked across the ballroom floor and towards the refreshment's table her mind cluttered with all of the information that swamped her mind.

The memory that Queen Alice had given her of the last time she'd seen her mom, was insane to say the least. She had just vanished. Her original memory of her parent's death was fake, it was obvious to her now that she'd met the people of Vaccoon, she knew that it couldn't be true. So then, what had actually happened? She leaned her hip up against the table that held all the little cakes, cookies, and finger foods, her arms crossing as she stared out across the sea of twirling skirts. Her heart froze in her chest as she saw someone, a someone that did not belong in this memory. That was something that she was positive on, she knew every single person's face that was in this memory, and that man with his bright green eyes, wasn't one of them. Breath caught in Nyline's throat as she felt the panic try and crawl up her throat in desperation. The truth of the matter was that memories didn't change, except for this one it seemed as it kept throwing new things at her at every turn since she'd arrived back in the aether world. It made her skin crawl.

Once their eyes had connected, half of his lips hooked up into a grin, he looked intrigued, his eyes glinting as he started walking towards her. He side stepped every single person dancing, not touching a single skirt as it flared out. His silver hair glinted in the lighting and fell down his back in a tail, bundled together at the nape of his neck with a black ribbon. The bow not quite as perfect as Janti's but it was damn close. The black pressed suit was coupled with a vest that was a couple shades darker than the man's hair, and his shoes were shined so much that the ceiling was reflected.

"Good evening, young lady." The man spoke in a deep rumbling voice that reached into all the way down into her soul and trembled something that hadn't been touched in a very long time. That voice, she knew that voice but if felt like it was from some long-long dream. She had no memories that contained this man's face. The feeling of knowing and the logic swirling around in her mind and started to make her dizzy.

Nyline hadn't taken her eyes off the man since she had first seen him across the hall. The man however, bent into a deep bow, holding it there for a few seconds before he pulled himself upright, those bright green eyes going back to hers. Now that she was looking at him up closely, she couldn't help but feel a pull to those eyes. The man moved easier than he should have with the coloring of his hair, and the deep wisdom that was held inside of those eyes. Endless secrets swirled in them, sending a shiver from her tailbone, up to her spine and into her skull, where it spread out making her nerves tingle.

With an ease that only someone who had stood in front of a mirror and practiced keeping her face still regardless of what was going on, Nyline pulled her normal calm, uninterested mask into place. Regarding the man as though he were a piece of meat, and not someone who had barged into her memory uninvited.

The silence stretched as they both simply looked into each other's eyes before the man broke the contact and looked out over the dancers. Nyline's eyes never strayed from him as she continued to survey his frame. Unsure as to what exactly to do since she'd never encounter this before.

"How are you enjoying the ball?" The man said finally, and it was only then did she rip her gaze from the side of the man's face and look out across the room at the flowing skirts.

"As much as one can when they are simply an onlooker." She spoke and the honesty in those words made her second guess herself as to why she'd said it in the first place. Silence stretched as the man's eyes unforced on the dancers as if he were thinking before he simply nodded.

"I understand where you are coming from. It is difficult to enjoy a ball as wondrous as this when you are unable to interact with the participants. Standing here, watching them dance, unable to eat or smell the food, or even speak to another soul here." Nyline's eyes cut to the man, who was in fact standing in this very ball speaking to her as if they were long lost friends. "Though I must ask, where did you get this memory? It is rather spectacular and special in its own right it seems. You are not currently wearing the skin of the owner and there isn't a single corner in this room that is blurred or incomplete. It seems there must be something very special about this memory."

A breath released from Nyline's lungs in a rush as she forced herself not to look around the room. These were facts that he was stating, nothing more. She'd noticed a long time ago that this memory was unlike any other memory that she'd ever been inside. If she had stolen it, for starters, she would remember who she stole it from, which she did not. Then, she would be wearing the owner's skin, experiencing the memory from their point of view. Furthermore, along with that, there is never a memory where the entire environment is completely without holes or blurry corners. There was no memory that a person examined every part of their surroundings to the point that every detail was intact. It was something that she had simply stopped questioning long ago because there were no one to ask.

"Such an interesting question," Nyline spoke, her brow raising slowly as she continued to gaze at the man. "However, a better one would be: who are you? Or the even better one: How are you here?" There was a beat of silence where the man turned to look her directly in the face as if he were looking for answers that she obviously didn't even have the questions to even start with.

Then with a flick of his wrist a cane appeared, and he leaned on it as if he were a tired old man that needed the support. It wasn't something that she was going to be buying into. Acting old and crotchety wasn't a switch could simply flip and go from someone with the agility of a cat to an old man with arthritis. She could see that he was trying to get her to drop his guard by attempted to look less intimidating, and it wasn't working.

"Dear child, I believe you owe me a couple of answers." Nyline raised a brow at him.

"I believe you should be answering mine first." She scoffed.

"Child, there is nothing to fear from me. I am a friend," He paused as if mulling the words over before he spoke again, "I am more than a friend to you and yours. You do not need to be so guarded around me."

"I assure you; you are getting the same treatment as I would give anyone else that just randomly popped into one of my memories." She commented off handedly, still sounding uninterested. The man looked up at her from his slightly hunched position, it was as if he were assessing her, judging every inch of her in that moment. The man's face changed then, the corners of his mouth and eyes softening, as he glanced away from her and seemed to be thinking.

"You will not answer the questions I have for you then?" He said after only a few heartbeats.

"Not until you tell me how and why you're here." The man let out a long sigh, before he rushed at her with speed that she'd only ever seen Uncle John capable of, but somehow, she knew that this man was faster.

In a blink, the man's hand was around her wrist and she could feel her memories starting to be copied. A growl so feral that she didn't even recognize it as her own rose in her throat as the mental battle started up in a vicious game of tug and war. They wrestled and ripped at each other minds and energies, battling for each grain of sand that he was trying to slip through her defenses. Her mind came to the surface long enough for her to try and remove her wrist from his grasp, but the old man had a vise grip that she was sure if he'd been holding onto her physical body it would have bruised.

Another savage noise escaped her lips as she pulled several more memories back from him before she shifted her weight and slammed her leg into his side as hard as she could. He didn't buckle, like she was sure a normal person would have but it distracted him enough that she was able to rip her arm from his grasp before she used her movement to shoot several feet backwards. She felt wild, angry, and violated. No one stole her memories, and no one took her memories without her permission. She stood squaring her shoulders at him, her eyes narrowing on him as his own bright green ones widened in shock, giving her the impression that this was the first time that he was actually seeing her for who she was.

"I see what they meant, now." He mused as he continued to look at her from the other side of the ballroom, raising his voice only loud enough for her to hear. "You're powerful, I'll give you that. Yet untrained and still not whole, only that half state that they left you in." He tisked his tongue as he thought for a moment. His hand reached up and stroked his chin, his eyes un-focused as he seemed to be processing something. With a jolt, she realized that he must have managed to slip some of her memories past her defenses. Anger rose to the surface and she had difficultly pushing it down so that she could try and get her mask back on, though she already knew that it was cracking with this encounter.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her nerves. Looking at this situation form a logical standpoint was going to be the best way to figure out what was going on. Anger bubbled right under the surface as she felt the want to rush him with her movement so that she could steal every memory back that he'd taken. However, in this situation, Nyline was well aware that she was outmatched and the chances of her losing more memories in the process of trying to get hers back was a possibility that made her skin itch and hands ball into fists, as she strained not to go for this throat in hopes that would give her the upper hand.

"Well, that's certainly interesting." He mused his eyes refocusing onto her. "The guard that you were left with is gone?" His brows rose at that and he looked at her smoothly. She felt her teeth clench as they made a faint squeaking noise. "If you don't answer me, I will simply get them for myself." He warned in a tone that made her feel as though he was trying to be slightly less threatening, however it missed the mark by a mile.

"He isn't gone," She said trying to keep her voice from shouting by speaking evenly. "There's no way in hell that a general class daemon could have killed him." A smirk pulled up one side of the man's face.

"Whereas you're not wrong, I will have to agree with Nic and Alice, no body, no proof." Her throat tightened as she realized the memories that he'd been copying out in the open were to distract her as he stole the ones he really wanted. She felt cross with herself that she hadn't seen it coming. Throughout the years, she'd done that exact same thing to Uncle John more than once.

"Though I am very confused as to why they are claiming Gabriel is your mate." He cocked his head to the side as if he were listening to something. "What a ridiculous notion." He shook his head and Nyline felt her heart do a double beat.

"What do you mean? Of course, Gabriel is my mate." She demanded. The man looked at her again, only this time his eyes held pity as he watched her closely.

"Why on earth would you even begin to think that." He asked with exasperation as his emotions flipped.

"Because we have the mating bond. The second I was dropped back into Thaul, it clicked into place. He understands me more than anyone I've ever met before. He is able to get into my head and see from my perspective. Plus, we are drawn together like a sunflower to the sun as it passes through the sky. At this point, there is no doubt in my mind that Gabriel is my mate." Her voice was harsh as she spoke surprising herself with how strongly she was defending the thing that the two of them had going on.

"That's not how this works, at least not for you. you are not a normal human from the Aether World." He said firmly, his eyes sparking with an emotion she wasn't sure of.

"Neither is Gabriel." She whispered back as though if she spoke to loudly then the entire world would know, and it would all come crashing down on their heads in a rain of fire.

"That's not how this works. The two of you aren't even the same daemon rank, it's impossible for the two of you to be mates according to the rules of the aether world." The man growled, but it wasn't directed at her, more the situation. Her eyes flew wide at that and she took a single step towards the man. The words that he'd just spoken answering one of the top questions that were on her list. Even if it wasn't a compete answer, it was still something.

"So, I'm for sure part daemon, then? That means I'm a darkling, right." When he didn't answer she pressed on, hope filling her that he'd answer at least one of her questions. "How does that work when I don't have a shadow form?" The man looked at her with a pinched brow. He looked at her for a long moment, his lips pressing into a thin line, his eyes warring as if he wanted and didn't want to tell her the truth straight out.

"Yukie is going to gut me like a fish when she finds this out." He said more to himself than to her as his eyes fell onto the floor in front of him. "Why was this not mentioned to me, did something change in that short amount of time? How could it?" He sighed as he slightly deflated before he looked at her again, his eyes invading as they probed every inch of her. When he didn't seem to find what he was looking for his eyes returned to hers with a scowl. He took a minute to bite his thumb nail as he crossed the other arm across his chest.

"Who's Yukie?" Nyline hedged hoping to get more answers from him. He obviously knew something, and she wanted to know what that something was too. However, when he didn't look up at her, her face pulled down. "Do you know what happened to my parents? My kingdom?" She took two small steps towards him and he finally looked up. His bright green eyes glowing softly.

"I have the answers to all of that however, I will not be the one who will be informing you." He spat as if he were really getting annoyed with the situation.

"What are you under the same blood oath as everyone else?" She shot back as her temper finally started to break free of her control.

"As if I'd make a blood oath with a filthy half-blood kingdom." He spat back as his temper responded to hers.

"Don't you dare insult them," She growled and for a second the man looked slightly taken aback, his eyes growing wide at her response, "I don't know who the hell you are or how you even got in here, but if you're not going to answer my questions, then I'll evict you." His eyes darkened at that.

"I don't think you're in a position to be making idle threats." His voice was a low growl as he spoke, his feet staying firmly planted as he crossed his arms and looked away from her.

"Idle threat?" She laughed, and it came out harsh and unfamiliar to her own ears. "You think that I don't have enough power to evict you from a memory that is residing inside my own soul?" The man looked at her sideways as if he were trying to pick his words very carefully.

"I'm not going to answer your questions until I know that I'm giving you the correct information. Spreading lies isn't going to help and after speaking with you, I can tell that the truth has changed since last I knew." She glared at him as he turned and looked her up and down one more time before he stopped on her face and it was as if he were memorizing every detail. Nyline, however, just continued to look into those bright green eyes, her heart telling her that she was missing something vital, but her mind unsure as to what exactly it was.

"Who are you?" She said finally breaking the silence and taking another step towards the man. "I've never seen you before in my life, but I feel like I know you." Those bright green eyes soften, and a sad smile hooked up one side of his mouth.

"You did know me," He confessed, "However, I personally removed those memories. So, tell me young lady, what is tipping you off?"

"Your voice," She paused as she tried to pinpoint the exact details that were making her recognize him. "And your eyes." There was a moment as if something akin to satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

"You sneaky little fox, copying memories a day after you were born and successfully hiding them from me? I should be mad, but I can't even deny myself the pride that I have for you right now." He laughed as he took one longer look at her, before he grinned in such a way it reminded her of a creepy Halloween mask as his face contorted. She fell back a step unsure as to how the lines on his face were darkening and enhancing every etched detail. "Time to wake up Aurea. It's a new day and its high time that you got your shit together and start living the life you were supposed to have." It was then that he snapped his fingers and she got evicted from the memory and was slammed back into her own body with a jolt.

Nyline's eyes snapped open as she shot straight out of the chair and collided with a hard object. There was a loud crack, then a thump as whatever she hit landed on the floor and she tumbled back down into her chair, holding her forehead as if it would split open at any moment. She squinted through the pain as she saw Omega laying back on the ground, one hand holding onto her head. Stacks of books surrounding her from Nyline's late night escapade of reading herself into oblivion.

"Crap, I'm sorry." Nyline stumbled upwards the throbbing in her own head forgotten as she rushed to the girl. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine my lady," Omega spoke as she took the hand that was offered and Nyline pulled her into a sitting position. "I apologize. I was just coming to wake you up; I didn't mean to startle you." Omega startling her? That wasn't what had happened. She felt her emotions dip as her mind went back to the man and their conversation. How the hell had that man evicted her from her own damn memory?

["Everything okay?"] Gabriel's soft voice entered her mind right as Pallsana was asking Omega the same.

["No."] She growled, knowing that she was scowling.

["What happened?"] There was a moment where Nyline focused on Omega as she shook her head as if trying to make the pain fade. She was making a slightly disgruntled noise as she pulled her bag around to her front and started digging around in it.

["Someone…"] She started and then stopped. What was she supposed to say? Someone had appeared in her memory and then evicted her after successfully stealing her memories? That just made her seem… well, weak. She sighed. ["I slammed my head into Omega's when I woke up."] She muttered.

["Having someone break into your mind and steal memories from you doesn't make you weak. You have a very strong mind, so that just means that someone stronger than you targeted you."] Nyline's annoyance two folded. ["Sorry, you were thinking rather loudly."]

Ignoring him for a moment she watched as Omega pulled out several glass bottles with herbs inside and a mortar. She dumped some of the odd-looking plants into the basin, ground them into a paste, before she pulled out a glass container that was filled with what Nyline thought would be water and dumped some inside. She turned her attention as Omega started to stir the substance as the water slowly started to darken.

["Do you know who they were?"] Gabriel pushed.

["No. I didn't. They had bright green eyes, and a voice I remembered but I have no memory connected to it. He said he'd removed the memories himself."]

["Well that's interesting to say the least."] Was all he got out before her attention was turned to Omega as she held out the bowel to her and Nyline only stared at her in response.

"Drink half." Her voice was tight with pain.

"Um, Omega…" Nyline took a second before she blew out a breath, "What the hell is in that?" Omega looked up at her with a grumpy expression.

"Two sprig of lavender, four peppermint leaves, two cloves, and six flowers of feverfew, with three pinches of dried ginger root, ground together before two cups of water were added, then stirred four times clockwise, then twice counter clockwise while adding aether into it to bring out the natural essence of each ingredient." Nyline just stared at her and Omega grumbled, "It'll take the pain away." Then, she didn't hesitate as she downed half of the contents and shoved the bowel into Nyline's hands. "Drink." Her voice was solid with the tone of a well-trained nurse. "Now." She growled when Nyline didn't move. Sighing she tipped the bowl to her lips and tried to chug the liquid as quickly as possible, but only managed half before she had to come up for air.

"Oh man Omega, that taste like ass." She coughed and Omega only gave her a look before she took a deep breath and drank the rest without arguing. Once she had passed the bowl back to Omega and she dumped more water into the bowl then, wiped it out with a cloth, before she poured another solution inside rubbing it around with what looked like wax paper. Finally, in a huff she dumped everything back into her bag and stood.

"The pain should be gone in another minute or two." Nyline raised her brow as she felt where the knot on her forehead was started to tingle, before it spread across her forehead and down her face. The pain melting away with the ongoing tingles.

"That was…" Nyline paused assessing the girl in front of her. "kind of amazing." She muttered. "How did you do that?" Omega offered her a small grin.

"Spent far too much time in the medic wing, there was a reason the royal guard didn't want to accept my refusal." She pushed her sand colored hair back over her shoulder as she glanced at Nyline her face breaking into a soft smile. "I got to avoid that fate, thanks to you."

Nyline just didn't understand why this girl, or her mate, would rather be with her over such exalted positions, but then again, maybe the she and her mate simply didn't want their military positions, and this was a way out? There might not have been another acceptable reason for them not to go into the military, so they'd chosen the alternative. The unknown crazy princess over a life apart. She was unsure of how exactly she felt about those emotions.

"Where's Pallsana?" She asked, pulling her mind away from why these girls were now in her life and back into the present.

"Janti stopped by and said that Queen Alice is waiting for you down on the training grounds. So, she went back to the rooms to grab a few things for us and will be meeting us down there."

"Why?" the skeptical tone on her voice making it clear that she didn't completely trust the queen even after everything that she'd experienced so far, but Omega only shrugged.

"Janti didn't say. Actually, I don't think I've ever heard him say so little before he rushed off."

"That sounds, well, suspicious." Nyline mumbled as Omega lead the way out of the piles of books that were still surrounding the chair that she'd claimed as her own for the night. Taking one last glance around the room, she made a mental note to come back and put all the books on the shelves. She'd thought that Pallsana and Omega had been putting them back as she read them. However, the massive stacks of books that were littered around on the floor told her that they'd probably fallen asleep. Which wasn't something that's she'd hold against them, Nyline didn't sleep much, so it would only be natural for anyone else just not be able to keep up.

Nyline allowed her mind to expand like she had done every day when she walked into school. It seemed as though the inner voices were more than could fit in the space. She could hear, in varying different volumes, mates chatting back to each other as they spoke about their day, and how things were going back home, even one pair talking about a shopping list, and, Nyline cocked her head to the side, someone's birthday was tomorrow. Underneath the endless chatter of the working staff she could faintly hear Sargis and Elewin speaking softly as Alice spoke responded. The three of them sounded strained, as if they were nervous about something. Then Nylah said something else and they lulled into a silence that she didn't understand. She felt herself mentally pause as she perked her ears, listening for Nicholas but not hearing him or his scouts.

Pulling her attention back into her own mind, Nyline looked around her face to see that they'd somehow gotten to a set of large front doors and were now heading out into the front garden that she'd been in last night. "Where are the training grounds?" Omega glanced over her shoulder as if checking that Nyline was actually speaking to her and when she found eyes on her, she slowed so that they were walking side by side, instead of Omega leading Nyline.

"We are heading to the royal training grounds. It's where the primary guard and scouts train mainly, so there will be less people than if we were heading to the main one. But, it's just around the castle on the other side of the inner retaining wall." Nyline tried to think of where it would be located from her view from the airship, however the map in her mind wasn't coming up with much information. "This one exists so that the royalty and scouts are away from the public as they learn their scout skills. Learning scout skills are rather serious, and the general public isn't allowed to understand how the aether works." Omega continued.

"That's understandable. Scout skills are difficult and if they are learned incorrectly, then it is rather easy for them to backlash back onto the user. Depending on the level of aether they have, it could cripple them depending on what skill they were trying to learn." Nyline mumbled as she pulled the sleeves of her large hoody down over her hands and shoved them into the big pocket in the middle. She was still wearing her clothing from last night and hadn't even bothered to change when she'd arrived back at the castle.

"You know a lot about scout skills." Omega looked up at her with those yellow eyes that reminded her so much of Delta. Nyline blinked and looked away from her.

"I grew up with a scout." She said shortly, not truly wanting to go into the discussion about her uncle at this time. Which only made her think of that mysterious man and how he'd agreed with Nicholas and Alice about him running away or if he'd actually died.

The voices around her started to grow louder as they walked through a door in the inner retaining wall and headed down a slight incline on a well-worn path. Originally, she'd thought that this group of voices were part of the castle staff, however, they were getting louder the further they got from the castle. Her head throbbed as they rounded a corner to show what could only be described as a football field that looked as if the military had taken it over. There was an obstacle course that stretched from one side to the other on the inside part where the football would have been played. Then, where the spongy rubber would have gone for the track team, it was packed dirt, but that's as far as her observation got as she saw the massive group of people standing off to the side with Sargis and Elewin standing in front of them. Her feet stopped as her eyes connected with the icy blues of the queens. There was a moment where the two of them just stood there staring at each other before Nyline turned and started walking away. She wasn't entirely sure why the queen was here with tons of people or why she'd been summoned but she was pretty sure that she didn't want to know.

["Your mother set me up to meet a bunch of people."] She whisper shouted at Gabriel as she tried to get away from the area as quickly as possible while also trying not to let the voices invade her mind to badly.

["Today?"] Gabriel spoke right as a glove hand landed on her shoulder.

"Nyline," Alice spoke as she finished her movement skill and landed next to her. Nyline knocked her hand away, holding her gaze.

["Yes today."]

["Ug, let me figure this out."]

"Where are you going?" She asked in a stern motherly tone, that made the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

"You can't expect me to just walk over into a massive group of people like that, I'm not my mother." Nyline scoffed as if the idea was ridiculous. Alice looked slightly shocked at the reason she was walking away.

["You can't just keep walking away from your problems."] Nicholas spoke in Alice's mind and Nyline took a step back. With the voices from the training field starting to overload her mind then with the addition of Nicholas, she was starting to feel the strain. The mental piece of wood in her mind bending and creaking as it threatened to break.

"If you know a way to make it so my mind doesn't get completely overloaded by other's thoughts, then please let me know. I've spent a good chunk of my life trying to figure it out and have come up completely blank." Nyline spoke on a sigh, her eyes closing as if turning off one of her senses would help to not overburden her mind.

"That's not what he means," Alice responded quickly before she let out a long breath and right as she was about to speak again. Janti landed a movement skill right next to them making Nyline jump, her eyes popping open as she looked at him. Alice, on the other hand, just looked annoyed. He glanced between Alice and Nyline for just a split second before his eyes went back to Alice and he visibly swallowed.

"Um, Prince Gabriel would like a word." He said in a hesitant voice and when Alice only raised her brow at him, he continued. "Mom, this isn't what we agreed on. You said that we'd only start looking into mates for her scouts, not that she'd be meeting everyone today." Janti spoke the words Gabriel was silently conveying to him.

"Well, she skipped out on shopping. So, it seemed like a good way to fill the time."

"Scouts?" Nyline glared, "And I've been reading." Alice glanced at her, before she looked back at Janti.

"Mom, we talked about this, and this wasn't what we agreed on." Janti transcribed.

"Everyone is already here." She spoke forcefully.

"How many?"

"Twenty-three pairs out of the twenty-eight that you picked out. The remaining people are either out of town or they are where the messengers can't find them." Alice huffed as she crossed her arms. Nyline felt her head spinning, that was forty-six people standing down there, and that didn't count anyone else in the area, plus the queen and her scouts.

"Mom, you can't push Nyline into these types of situations. This is not the correct way to handle this."

["Why don't we just agree, that if she doesn't want to come, then she doesn't have to. It'll be her choice."] Nicholas spoke and Alice's mouth turned into a thin line as if she knew exactly how that was going to go.

"Okay hold up," Nyline spoke and everyone looked at her. "What exactly is even going on here?" She stressed. "You have twenty-three sets of mates down there for what? A scout audition?"

"Yes," Janti said without missing a beat. "Last night we all spoke and were aware that the queen stated that she'd informed you that you'd be getting scouts. Gabriel and I finalized the list this morning on the people that we thought would best fit your personality and people you'd like, I turned that information into Queen Alice this morning and she set this up for you."

"And what exactly is this even set up as? What are we going to do?"

"Play a game." Alice said quickly as if she were trying to get the words in before Janti could. "That's it."

"What game and why?"

["To test them and you with a little fun."] Nicholas spoke and Nyline looked at Alice and was pretty sure she was looking at Nicholas as well.

"But why?" She stressed again.

"I wanted to introduce you to people and I thought that this would be the best way to figure out who you liked." She paused, "Pallsana and Omega will be joining as well." As if that little tid bit would be enough to throw the scales in her favor.

"But why do I have to meet people? Why do any of this?" Adrenalin pumped its way into Nyline's system, kicking off her fight or flight and she wasn't sure which would win at this moment. "I can't be around people." She stated flatly. "There are too many people down there for me to be able to get close to them, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to focus with all of those voices. So why even bother? Why go to such great lengths to set this up, when it's not even something that I can do physically?"

Her heart pounded in her ears as Alice looked at her with a slightly sad expression on her face. Before she moved slowly, pulling something out of her pocket and pushing it into her hand. Nyline knew instantly that it was her mp3 player, she knew the curve and the texture of the metal on her fingers without even looking at it. She gripped it tightly in her hand as she looked away from the ice blues, her emotions rising to the surface as she tried to express them correctly.

"This," She took a deep breath to try and calm her emotions, "This only has so much battery, and once its dead its dead. If I use it now, I won't have it for later."

"Honey, if you continue to push things off because you are worried about tomorrow, then it will never come, and before you know it, your life will have passed you by. You can't live in fear of what you might need tomorrow just to give up something today." Alice's words were soft as she wrapped her gloved hands around Nyline's. "I know that its hard and I'm aware that this is really out of your comfort bubble, but I can promise you that if you take the chance and let at least one of those people over there into your life, you won't regret it. You won't regret having scouts, having friends." She emphasized the last word and Nyline felt her heartbeat harder in her chest.

"I don't need friends." She whispered, more to herself than to the queen.

"Is that how you honestly feel?" Alice spoke just as softly. "It's kind of lonely isn't it? Haven't you ever wanted to sit down and just chat with someone over coffee? Or maybe even go out shopping with someone so they can tell you how things look on you?"

"I always did that stuff with my uncle." Nyline felt her throat constrict. "And I order all of my clothing online."

"We don't have internet here, to get clothing you have to go down into town and with Johnathan gone, who are you going to have coffee with now?" Nyline felt her heart do a double beat as another reminder of the things that she'd never get to do with her uncle surfaced again. "Haven't you ever just wanted to play a game with someone, no rules or strings attached, but just have fun in the moment and not hold yourself back?"

"No." Nyline spoke making her voice sound final.

"Look, I'm not going to force you into this, but I do wish you'd at least give it a chance. This isn't the human world, the people here, specifically the ones right over there, are the ones that have a chance at actually competing with you and I can tell you right now that showing them how well you can use your scout skills and compete with them is a way for them to get to know you better. To show them that you are more than just a title." Nyline glanced at her with her brow raised. "People here will want to be around you for more than just your title, you just have to show them what you can do."

"What If I don't want to prove myself?" Nyline muttered, "What if I don���t want people to know how well I can use my scout skills? Or how fast I move?" The list continued in her head of how different she was. How odd she was. If she went down there and tried to play this game with them, then she would end up getting singled out. It had happened with Damien's scouts. What's to say that it won't happen with them?

["I can guarantee you that not a single person down there is going to judge you negatively like any of Damien's scouts."] Gabriel's soft voice spoke in the back of her head.

["You don't know that."] She hissed back in a harsher tone than she'd meant to. However, Gabriel didn't make any comment as he continued.

["I do actually. I approved that list, so I know that none of those people are going to be intimidated by your skill level. My scouts haven't even flinched at anything you've shown them."]

["None of those people are scouts."]

["They might not be trained as scouts however; they are from scout families. They know about the skills and some of them even grew up around the castle because they are related to not only my parent's scouts, but some are related to mine."] That made Nyline pause.

["Have they been trained?"]

["No, only scouts and royalty get trained."] She felt her attention get pulled from Gabriel as the air shifted and Sargis landed next to Alice.

"Should we just go ahead and start? There getting a little restless." He spoke to Alice who looked at him and sighed, her attention going to Nyline.

"For the record, no one down there knows that this is a chance at meeting you. They know nothing about possibly being your scout. They were summoned here today under the guise of having their skill tested for a performance evaluation. I'm not going to drag you down to that field like a child throwing a tantrum. If you want to come play then come, if you don't then you don't have to. I can even send Pallsana and Omega back to you and you can go back to the library.�� Nyline paused as she glanced across the hill and down towards the people where Pallsana and Omega were speaking animatedly to a couple of people who were ginning in response.

"No, they can stay." Nyline muttered as she looked away from them and down at the training field.

"If that is what you want." Alice spoke softly before she turned and walked back to the training field with Sargis in tow. Nyline watched as she walked right up to the group of people who all became alert. Alice started talking to them before Elewin pulled out a whistle and gave a short blast as everyone scattered.

"I apologize Lady Nyline," Janti spoke softly pulling her attention to the scattering people and back onto him. "Gabriel and I both knew that she wanted to get you scouts quickly, but we thought that we'd talked her down from throwing people at you directly."

"It's not your fault Janti," She said as she watched the blond hair that resembled Gabriel's so much sway back and forth in its long braid as she regarded what was happening around her.

"Not joining us?" a deep voice spoke from behind her and she turned to look at the guard from the night before. His red eyes looking at her intently, his skin looking even darker in the day light. "I'm assuming that your who we've been waiting on to show up. So, why keep everyone waiting just to not join?" Nyline pressed her lips together into a thin line.

"I don't…" she started but stopped her eyes falling to the ground.

["Jason, where did you go? This is a team evaluation and a team mean you AND me. Its currently just me so I'm missing a vital part of this evaluation."] The women's voice from the night before spoke. To Nyline's surprise she didn't sound annoyed but more that she knew where he was and was just poking him.

"You should probably go," Nyline spoke in a hard voice, "You don't want to score low on your evaluation." Jason laughed.

"My evaluation was last week, so why we are even here doesn't really add up." He gave her a meaning full look as if saying he wasn't buying the queens bullshit. "So, why did the queen go to such efforts to get everyone here, just for the main reason not to join in?" Nyline felt the cold metal of her mp3 player in her hand and felt the tear right down her chest at the concept of just having fun with people and not wanting to get hurt again.

["You could just try."] Gabriel whispered.

"I don't mesh well with others," Nyline said eventually not looking at Jason as she spoke. "It's better if I don't join." Jason laughed again.

"You make yourself sound like some wild animal instead of the cool calculated scout that I ran down last night. Where did all of that confidence go?"

"I'm not a scout." She said shortly as she glanced at Janti who was watching the interaction with cool interest and she just knew that he wasn't going to be helping her out in this situation.

"Could have fooled me." Nyline snapped her attention onto him and just looked at the large man as he crossed his arms over his chest looking down at her as if she were a piece of meat, he wasn't sure if he should eat or toss out. "Being Prince Gabriel's mate, I figured you'd have more backbone, it's disappointing to say the least."

["Jason you cannot talk to the princess like that."] Jason ignored his mate as she continued to tell him off, only keeping eye contact with Nyline.

"Why does my personality matter to you at all?" Her brow rose as she asked the question.

"You're the future queen of this kingdom," he pointed out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Our survival and the stability of our economy will be in your hands one day. Prince Gabriel is a strong capable leader, he will take our kingdom into the next era. You, however, wouldn't even last in a leadership position for a week. You'll just drag the Prince down as you are now." Nyline stared at him as she tried to process his words. At this moment, she was the next ruler of Vaccoon; that alone was terrifying, but to say that she wasn't Gabriel's equal was pushing the point a tad too far.

"How does me not wanting to play some stupid game make me not Gabriel's equal?" She hissed through her teeth.

"The queen summoned all of us for this little game with you, you make us wait to show up and then you don't even join. That just shows that you have no respect for anyone else's time."

"To be fair, the princess was unaware that any of this was going on and the queen did not instruct anyone to fetch her unless everyone had arrived." Janti slid that information between us and she only glanced at him.

"However, now she knows what is going on and is still choosing to walk away from the situation."

["How long are you going to stand over there and goad the princess into playing? You could have just expressed that you want her to join."]

["I don't want to play with her, I don't like my time taken for advantage of when I could be sleeping."]

["If that's what you want to tell yourself."] His mate sighed as if this type of conversation as normal and she just didn't even try to convince him otherwise at this point.

"You don't know me, don't know my situation, or even why I don't want to go down there. Stop lecturing me." He raised a brow.

"You said that you don't play nicely with others." He taunted and she gripped her headset a little harder.

"There are more problems than just that," Nyline whispered. "It's not like I'd expect you to understand."

"Why? Because I'm some lowly guard that doesn't know what it's like to grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth and get everything I could have ever wanted." Janti stepped forward as if he were going to say something but her hand raised ever so slightly, a moment that she didn't even actively register, and he stopped in his tracks.

"You have no idea what my childhood was like and if you think that's how I grew up, then frankly your mistaken."

"You're not wrong," he agreed surprising Nyline. "However, whereas we all now know that, the people down there don't. Everyone here is going to have an idea of who you are without ever meeting you. It's up to you wither you prove them right or wrong." Nyline couldn't help but stare at him. What was he getting at?

"Why do I care about what people think about me?" she hedged as she crossed her arms and glanced out across the training field.

"It's not just your own reputation that you'll be dragging down but also prince Gabriel's. You're his other half and now that you're here, everything you do will not only reflect on yourself but also on him." Nyline bit down on her lip, turning her eyes onto the ground. She had no interest in ruining the life that Gabriel had built for himself, but also… her thoughts trailed off as she looked back at the field again. Forty-six people, twenty-three mates. It was just so many inner voices, but she'd dealt with plenty of people before, mates were just different. They were constantly chattering, constantly interacting. It wasn't a single mind with a single train of thought, it was an ongoing conversation between two people, then multiplied by how many people there were in the area.

"It's just a single game, it's not like it's the end of the world." Jason said after she didn't respond.

"There are just so many people," she muttered without thinking. "If it were even half, it would be easier, but forty-six people plus everyone else in the area? That's just so…"

"What are you afraid of people or something?" Jason's voice was teasing however when Nyline looked up into his face. He saw something that made the corners of his lips turn down slightly.

"No," she said before he could say anything, and she turned away from him. Her eyes once again going to the field. She let her mind focus more on the thoughts of the people below. Most of them minds were blank as they focused on the task that they'd been given. There was the occasional word spoken as directions, movements, and actions. The most words were coming from Alice and her scouts, as they discussed how everyone was doing with the occasional comment about her. They all knew that Jason was over here talking to her, however they didn't care. In a way it was accomplishing part of their goal of her meeting people.

"One game?" She questioned, her eyes glancing sideways at him.

"Unless you want to stay for more." Her shoulders sagged as she looked down at her mp3 player in her hands, clicking the power button to see just how much battery was left. Sadly, she hadn't gotten a chance to charge it before being dropped back into Thaul, so it was less than half. She had, maybe two, three hours before it would die. In truth, it wasn't long enough for her to really do anything meaningful, but once it was dead, it was dead, and she would have no way of dealing with the voices. She took a long breath in and glanced up at Jason before her eyes cut to Janti. They were both watching her, Janti with worry and Jason with interest. Her eyes caught and held Janti's orange orbs.

["It will be fun Princess Nyline,"] Janti promised in a silent thought to her.

["I can have Dashiner come play with you if you want? I'm sure he'd take an evaluation over shopping any day."] Gabriel added in the back of her mind. Truthfully, the thought of Dashiner being a part of this did make her a little more comfortable, but she felt as though if she only showed up after one of Gabriel's scouts came, wouldn't add up correctly and people might get the wrong idea. She did already have Pallsana and Omega, if she needed familiar faces.

["Thanks, but I think I'll be okay."] She could feel Gabriel smiling through their bond. "One game," she muttered to herself as she pushed her ear buds into her ears and ran the cord down her shirt, sticking the mp3 player into the back of yoga pants. She glanced at Jason, who had his brow raised, before she hit the play button and turned the music up. "Let's go." She muttered as if this really might kill her and headed down towards where Alice was with her scouts.

Elewin saw her coming, one side of his face hooked up and he blew on his whistle. By the time Nyline had walked down the hill and over to the queen, everyone was lined back up, and every single eye was trained on her. The voices reached her through her music as the question of if she was the princess crossed almost every mates' minds, followed by an explosion of questions. Without missing a beat, she reached down and turned the volume up.

"Decided to join us?" Alice asked with a smile plastered on her face.

"One game," she muttered, shoving her hands into her hoody pocket as she tried to look anywhere but the sets of eyes that were currently trained on her like a dog on a piece of bacon.

"Fantastic," she grinned as she turned and looked out across the grouping of people. "This is Nyline and this will be the start of the official evaluation." Nyline eyed Alice wondering where she was going with this and why exactly she hadn't chosen to lead with the fact that she was a princess or that she was Gabriel's mate. "I want to make this completely clear before we state the rules. If you are unable to obtain the objective, it does not mean that you've failed. Which means that we are looking at your performance not your achievements today." Silent mummers went up around the mates and Nyline couldn't help but feel like she'd made a mistake by coming here.

"The rules are as follows," Sargis stepped forward, folding his arms behind his back as he spoke, his walnut skin glinting in the sun light. "No shadow form is to be used in this exercise. Partnering with your mate and other mates is encouraged, however it is not required. The use of weapons or claws is band during this exercise." Sargis turned his deep ruby eyes and looked directly into Nyline's, "You have full range of your abilities and skills. Don't hold anything back. Your evaluation will be different from the other's however you will still be judged based off your performance." Nyline stared at him, unsure as to what to say. "And finally, this exercise will either end when someone accomplishes the goal or when Nyline decides that it is over." What…?

"Your objection of this exercise, is to catch Nyline." Elewin spoke and all eyes went from him over to her, some in shock other's in wonderment. The voices started then, about how it was unfair to put them up against a human and how it would be an easy challenge. She felt her face heat as she heard the doubt that all of the people here had that she would be able to get away from them and that it was disappointing that they'd been called up here for such an easy task. She paused, hearing the other voices below the ones that were complaining loudly. There were a few that didn't trust this task. It seemed too easy and the queen never set easy evaluations. Many of those people determined that there was a catch to this and that there was more going on then what was being offered at face value.

Nyline glanced at the queen, who was watching her with an expression void of emotions as she took her time gauging how Nyline was going to react. She felt herself raising to the challenge. This game of cat and mouse could be fun. She'd only ever played these types of games with her Uncle and she'd always lost, so she wasn't sure how she would rank up to these people.

"Define catch." She asked in an even tone and a spark lit up Alice's face.

["Told you."] Nicholas spoke softly and to what that was referenced to she wasn't sure. Alice didn't elaborate by responding to him either.

"They must bring you back to us. Whereas they are unable to physically harm you, they can immobilize you. If in the even that one person catches you, but another one steals you from them, the ones who are the ones that turn you on, and anyone on that team. Win."

"That's it?" Alice nodded, "What's the playing field?"

"The retaining wall on all sides, so you can use the forest that's on the other side of the training grounds, all the way to where the barracks are down south, then that tree line up to the inner retaining wall."

The mutters were still going around the mates and Nyline resisted the urge to turn her music up more. She could clearly hear the people who didn't think this was going to be difficult at all. They were mixed with the ones who were still skeptical, unsure as to how they should approach the situation. Somewhere in all the voices she heard Jason and his mate speaking softly about her scout abilities, and how they could use them to either corner her or trap her in a way that would make it so that she couldn't get away. Then Pallsana and Omega; who were more inclined to wonder how they were even going to find her to begin with, let alone get past her influence to physically bring her back to the queen.

Was the reason why they didn't introduce her as Gabriel's mate or as a princess so that there was an even playing ground or because they wanted the mates to underestimate her? The two pairs here that knew who she was, were the only two sets who understood what exactly they were up against and even then, Jason and his mate didn't know the whole story. Her eye's trailed over to Alice once more, who walked close to her and spoke in a whisper.

"Your maids seemed to think that you might want these." She looked down into Alice's hand to see a set of light grey and pink arm warmers. A small smile spread across her lips as she pulled the large hoody off and pulled the sleeves onto her arms. More judging mutters went between the mates as she turned and looked at them. She found Omega's yellow eyes and Pallsana's orange ones in the crowed and gave them a soft smile. They both beamed.

["Good luck Lady Nyline."] They spoke together and she couldn't help the side of her face that tilted upwards. Warmth filling her and the thought that this might actually be fun filled her.

"Alright," she took a deep breath, her eyes going around to the many people in the area.

["Have fun,"] Gabriel whispered in the back of her mind, and it was almost as if she could tell he was smiling at her. ["Well, try and have fun."] She didn't respond, rotating her neck and looking around once again at all of the expecting faces, she let out a breath to calm her nerves.

"Let's play." She whispered before she vanished with her movement skill.